Battery Housing Thermal Shielding at Cell Degassing Zones
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional high-voltage batteries in vehicles lack sufficient safety measures to prevent fire hazards during extreme mechanical damage or short circuits, where hot or burning gas can leak and pose risks to the passenger compartment.
Innovation Solution
The high-voltage battery housing is locally thermally reinforced in regions around emergency ventilation openings, using materials like aluminum, plastic, or ceramic coatings to withstand high temperatures and prevent the spread of fire, with additional thermally resistant layers applied directly or through injection molding, ensuring the housing can handle temperatures up to 2000°C without perforation or melting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the entire high-voltage battery housing is designed to be fire-resistant using steel and sufficient wall thickness, then safety against fire hazards is improved, but the weight of the housing increases significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies local thermal reinforcement by providing thermally resistant layers only in specific regions of the housing where emergency ventilation openings are located, rather than making the entire housing fire-resistant. This localized approach maintains safety where thermal events are most likely to occur while avoiding the weight penalty of a completely fire-resistant housing structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent uses composite material structures combining aluminum or plastic housing base material with additional thermally resistant layers (such as ceramic coatings or intumescent layers) in critical regions. This composite approach provides enhanced thermal resistance at the emergency ventilation openings while maintaining the overall lightweight characteristics of the original housing material.
2Reliability
If thermally resistant layers are added to the housing wall, then resistance to hot or burning gas is improved, but the complexity of manufacturing increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies thermally resistant layers only to the extent necessary for safety - specifically in regions around emergency ventilation openings where hot gas may escape. This partial application rather than complete coverage reduces manufacturing complexity while providing sufficient protection where it is most needed.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent modifies the thermal resistance parameter of the housing wall locally by adding thermally resistant layers with specific temperature resistance characteristics (withstanding up to 2000°C). This parameter change is applied selectively to critical regions, balancing enhanced safety with manageable manufacturing requirements.
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 enhances safety by containing hot or burning gas within the battery housing, preventing it from reaching the passenger compartment and reducing the risk of fire hazards during thermal events, while maintaining a lightweight structure by only reinforcing critical areas.
Implementation Method 1
the wall of the housing of the high-voltage battery, in the region of the at least one emergency ventilation opening, has at least one thermally resistant layer more, that is to say at least one additional thermally resistant layer, than in regions of the wall that are at a distance therefrom
Data Source
AI summary
A vehicle includes a high-voltage battery that has a housing and at least one battery cell arranged in the housing. The battery cell has a battery cell housing with an emergency degassing opening which opens at a specified cell inner pressure and through which hot or burning gas can pass out of the interior of the battery cell housing into the housing of the high-voltage battery in the event of a disruption or damage to the battery cell. The emergency degassing opening faces a housing wall against which hot or burning gas flows in the event of the disruption or damage to the battery cell. The housing wall of the high-voltage battery is designed to be more thermally resistant locally in the region in which the emergency degassing opening is arranged and in which the hot or burning gas flows out of the battery cell housing in the event of a disruption or damage to the battery cell than in the wall regions at a distance from the emergency degassing opening.