Battery Pack Cooling Layout for Uniform Refrigerant Flow
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional battery pack cooling systems face challenges in uniformly distributing refrigerant, leading to wide temperature differences between battery cells, which degrades performance, and increase the overall system size due to separate refrigerant introduction and discharge sections.
Innovation Solution
A cooling system design where the refrigerant introduction and discharge sections are located at the same side of the battery pack, with internally divided passages to ensure a constant refrigerant flow rate through each battery module, minimizing temperature differences and reducing system size.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If refrigerant introduction and discharge sections are located at opposite sides of the battery pack, then refrigerant flow path is established, but system size increases due to need for dual refrigerant guide members
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the refrigerant introduction section and discharge section to the same side of the battery pack, eliminating the need for separate guide members at opposite ends. This consolidation reduces the number of refrigerant guide members from two to one, thereby reducing system size while maintaining functional effectiveness.
2Temperature
If conventional refrigerant distribution is used, then refrigerant flows through battery modules, but temperature difference between battery cells increases due to non-uniform distribution
Solution Approach 1:
The refrigerant introduction section is divided into multiple independent refrigerant introduction passages, with each passage dedicated to a specific battery module. This segmentation ensures uniform refrigerant distribution to each module, preventing hot spots and maintaining consistent temperature across all battery cells, thereby improving both temperature uniformity and cooling efficiency.
3Power
If high output and capacity battery configuration is used, then power source capability is improved, but heat generation increases requiring more effective cooling
Solution Approach 1:
The battery pack is divided into multiple battery modules, each with dedicated refrigerant introduction passages. This modular segmentation allows for localized heat management, ensuring that heat generated by high-output batteries is efficiently removed from each module independently, preventing thermal accumulation while maintaining high power capability.
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
This design effectively dissipates heat from battery cells, maintains optimal temperature control, and reduces the overall system size by ensuring uniform cooling and constant refrigerant flow.
Implementation Method 1
a refrigerant, introduced via the introduction section 30, is used to dissipate heat generated from the battery cells 60 while moving through the gaps
Implementation Method 2
The used refrigerant, after that, is discharged via the discharge section 40 provided at the top of the battery pack 20
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein is a cooling system for a battery pack that is usable as a power source of electric vehicles and hybrid-electric vehicles. The cooling system has the effect of effectively dissipating heat generated from battery cells by supplying a refrigerant to the battery cells at a constant flow rate, and of minimizing a temperature difference between the battery cells during a cooling process. This prevents degradation in the performance of the battery cells, and achieves optimal temperature control. Also, the cooling system employs a single refrigerant guide member arranged at a side of the battery pack, resulting in a reduction in the size of an overall battery system.