Vehicle Battery Cooling Plate Using Continuous Refrigerant Phase Change
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing battery cooling systems for electric vehicles, such as air and water cooling systems, struggle to maintain optimal temperature ranges for battery cells during high-power and long-distance driving, leading to reduced battery life due to excessive heat generation.
Innovation Solution
A battery cooling device utilizing a refrigerant with continuous phase change, where evaporated refrigerant is restored to a liquid state using a coolant, enhancing cooling performance by leveraging latent heat of vaporization and incorporating corrugated plate members to increase heat exchange efficiency and rigidity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If a water cooling system with increased capacity of air conditioner compressor and battery chiller is used to cool heat produced in battery cells during high-power driving, then cooling performance is improved, but device complexity and system capacity requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies phase transition of refrigerant (evaporation and condensation) to cool battery cells. The refrigerant evaporates at low temperature absorbing heat from battery cells, then condenses at higher temperature releasing heat to the environment. This phase change mechanism provides high cooling efficiency without requiring increased system capacity, directly resolving the contradiction between cooling performance and device complexity
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the thermal parameter by using refrigerant with appropriate boiling point that is lower than battery operating temperature. This parameter selection allows the refrigerant to absorb heat efficiently through phase change at constant temperature, providing effective cooling without needing high-capacity compressors or chillers
2Temperature
If a water cooling system with high capacity is used to maintain battery temperature during long-distance driving, then cooling performance is improved, but loss of energy increases due to high-power operation of air conditioner compressor
Solution Approach 1:
The refrigerant's phase transition from liquid to gas during evaporation absorbs large amounts of latent heat from battery cells, providing efficient cooling. This process occurs at constant temperature and requires minimal energy input compared to mechanical compression systems, significantly reducing energy loss while maintaining effective temperature control during long-distance driving
3Device complexity
If air cooling system is used to cool battery cells, then device complexity is reduced, but cooling performance is insufficient for high-power driving conditions
Solution Approach 1:
The patent uses a refrigerant circulation system with evaporation and condensation chambers, utilizing fluid phase changes instead of air flow. This pneumatic-hydraulic approach provides superior heat transfer efficiency compared to air cooling, effectively controlling battery temperature during high-power driving while maintaining relatively simple system structure through the use of phase change materials
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
The system provides even cooling across all battery cells, improving cooling performance by up to six times compared to sensible heat alone, without increasing the capacity of air conditioner components, and maintaining battery cell temperatures within a predetermined range using minimal refrigerant.
Implementation Method 1
the refrigerant evaporated by heat produced in the battery cells
Implementation Method 2
improving cooling performance by up to six times compared to sensible heat alone
Implementation Method 3
the refrigerant evaporated by heat produced in the battery cells may be restored to a liquid refrigerant using a coolant
Implementation Method 4
a pair of plate members having corrugated parts are used to configure a refrigerant plate having the refrigerant channel, thereby increasing heat exchange efficiency
Data Source
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AI summary
A battery cooling device for a vehicle is provided. The battery cooling device generates a continuous phase change of the refrigerant within an entire area of a refrigerant channel having a refrigerant flowing for cooling a battery module to maximize a cooling performance of all battery cells of the battery module, and enable even cooling of the battery cells.