Battery Fire-Extinguishing Packages with Phase Transition Triggers
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle battery thermal management systems in hybrid and electric vehicles are complex and require reforming to provide both cooling and fire-extinguishing functions, posing safety risks and complicating the design, especially when battery temperatures exceed safe limits.
Innovation Solution
A thermal management and automatic fire-extinguishing system featuring fire-extinguishing packages filled with agents that release when the battery temperature exceeds a preset level, using upper and lower packages connected in parallel with a pump for temperature regulation and fire extinguishing, with materials like EVA plastic and silicone oil for effective and simple integration.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a cooling system is designed to provide both cooling and fire-extinguishing functions, then the fire safety of the vehicle battery is improved, but the system complexity and material requirements increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The system is divided into two independent parts: a conventional cooling system for thermal management and a separate fire-extinguishing package for fire suppression. The fire-extinguishing package includes fire-extinguishing agents and a container that breaks at high temperature, allowing the agent to be discharged. This segmentation resolves the contradiction by providing fire safety without complicating the existing cooling system.
Solution Approach 2:
A temperature-sensitive material (such as paraffin or low-melting-point alloy) is introduced as an intermediary between the battery and the fire-extinguishing agent. When the battery temperature exceeds a preset threshold, this intermediary material melts or breaks, triggering the discharge of the fire-extinguishing agent. This mediator enables automatic fire suppression without requiring complex sensing and control systems.
2Reliability
If the cooling system is reformed to achieve both cooling and fire-extinguishing functions, then fire protection capability is enhanced, but the design and implementation difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The fire-extinguishing function is merged with the existing cooling system by placing fire-extinguishing packages adjacent to the battery, which are triggered by the same high-temperature condition that the cooling system monitors. This merging approach enhances fire protection capability while avoiding the need to completely redesign the cooling system, thus maintaining ease of manufacture.
Solution Approach 2:
The fire-extinguishing package is designed to automatically activate when the battery temperature exceeds a preset threshold. The package includes a temperature-sensitive triggering mechanism that causes the container to break and discharge the fire-extinguishing agent without requiring external control. This self-service mechanism simplifies the design and implementation by eliminating the need for complex control systems.
3Device complexity
If a conventional cooling system is used without fire-extinguishing integration, then the system simplicity is maintained, but the fire safety response capability is insufficient when battery temperature exceeds safe limits
Solution Approach 1:
Fire-extinguishing packages are pre-positioned adjacent to the battery in a ready-to-activate state. These packages contain fire-extinguishing agents and are designed to break and discharge automatically when the battery temperature exceeds a preset threshold. This preliminary positioning ensures that fire suppression action is immediately available without requiring system reconfiguration or complex response mechanisms.
Solution Approach 2:
The fire-extinguishing package utilizes phase transition of a temperature-sensitive material (such as paraffin or low-melting-point alloy) to trigger fire suppression. When the battery temperature exceeds the melting point of this material, it transitions from solid to liquid, causing the package container to break and discharge the fire-extinguishing agent. This phase transition mechanism provides automatic fire safety response while maintaining system simplicity.
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 a simple, reliable, and cost-effective solution for preventing combustion and extinguishing fires in vehicle batteries, ensuring passenger safety without requiring modifications to the existing cooling system, while maintaining temperature regulation and fire-extinguishing functions.
Implementation Method 1
When the temperature of the vehicle battery is higher than a preset temperature, the fire-extinguishing package is opened, so that the fire-extinguishing agent filled in the fire-extinguishing package can be released out
Implementation Method 2
A relatively good solution is to arrange a cooling system for cooling the vehicle battery
Data Source
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AI summary
The present invention provides a thermal management and automatic fire-extinguishing system of a vehicle battery, used for managing the vehicle battery in a hybrid vehicle or an electric vehicle, including: fire-extinguishing packages which are adjacent to or in contact with the vehicle battery, wherein the fire-extinguishing package is filled with a fire-extinguishing agent; and the fire-extinguishing package is configured to be opened when the temperature of the vehicle battery is higher than a preset temperature, so that the fire-extinguishing agent can be released and then filled into a space where the vehicle battery is located, thereby achieving the effects of automatic combustion prevention and fire extinguishing of the vehicle battery, effectively protecting the vehicle battery and the whole vehicle, reserving more escape time for passengers and improving the safety of the vehicle. On the whole, the thermal management and automatic fire-extinguishing system of the vehicle battery of the present invention is simple and reliable in structure, low in cost and strong in universality, and can be directly mounted on the vehicle without reforming the existing vehicle battery cooling system