Vehicle Battery Housing With Internal Routing for Connecting Means
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Solution Overview
Problem
The bulky electrochemical battery in electric or hybrid motor vehicles occupies a large volume, limiting the space for connection means between vehicle systems and exposing them to damage, reducing passenger compartment volume and increasing the risk of shock or damage.
Innovation Solution
An energy storage device with a profiled and hollow stretcher supporting the battery, where connecting means such as hydraulic lines, electrical cables, or mechanical rods extend through the device, utilizing the available volume inside the battery to house these connections, providing protection and maintaining the device's compact size.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If the battery contains a large number of electrochemical modules to ensure maximum autonomy, then the energy storage capacity is improved, but the volume occupied by the battery increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies nesting by placing connecting means (hydraulic lines, electrical cables, mechanical rods) inside the hollow interior chambers of the battery's structural elements (stretchers and housing). This allows the connecting means to be nested within the battery's existing structure, utilizing otherwise wasted space and eliminating the need for separate routing paths outside the battery.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent transitions from two-dimensional surface routing of connecting means to three-dimensional internal routing by creating hollow profiled elements with interior chambers. This dimensional change allows connecting means to pass through the volume of the battery structure rather than along its external surfaces, effectively using the third dimension (depth/volume) to resolve space constraints.
2Ease of operation
If connection means extend above the battery between the upper face of the battery and the passenger compartment floor, then the connecting means can be routed, but the volume available to passengers is reduced and the connecting means are exposed to damage
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting means are nested within the hollow interior chambers of the battery structure, protecting them from external damage while routing them through the battery's own structural elements. This eliminates their exposure to the passenger compartment environment and potential impact hazards.
Solution Approach 2:
The hollow profiled structural elements of the battery act as intermediary protective channels, mediating between the need to route connecting means and the need to protect them from damage. These structural elements serve as both load-bearing components and protective conduits for the connecting means.
3Ease of operation
If connection means extend above the battery, then the connecting means can be connected, but the volume available for passengers is severely limited
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting means are nested within the battery's hollow structural elements, removing them from the passenger compartment space entirely. This nesting approach allows the connecting means to be routed through the battery's interior chambers without encroaching on passenger volume.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent moves the routing of connecting means from the vertical space above the battery (which would reduce passenger volume) to the horizontal/three-dimensional space within the battery structure itself, effectively using the battery's internal volume rather than external space.
Data Source
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AI summary
Energy storage device (6) for a vehicle (1), in particular for a motor vehicle, the energy storage device comprising an electrochemical battery (4) and at least one connecting means (10) intended to connect two components (8, 9) of the vehicle separate from the energy storage device, the at least one connecting means passing through the energy storage device.