Battery Module Case With Cutout Plates For Cooling Fluid Passage
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing battery module cases fail to provide uniform cooling to all battery cells, particularly those at the end portions, leading to inefficient heat dissipation and potential battery degradation due to insufficient cooling fluid passage.
Innovation Solution
The battery module case design includes cutout portions on face plates at both ends to expose the end surfaces of battery cells and connect rectangular frames with thin and reinforcement plates, allowing for a continuous cooling fluid passage between adjacent module cases, ensuring both-sided cooling of all cells.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If face plates are provided on both sides of the frame element to enclose battery cells, then structural strength and containment are improved, but cooling fluid passage formation between adjacent modules is hindered
Solution Approach 1:
The face plates are designed with differentiated local properties: most areas remain intact for structural strength, while specific local regions (opposite ends) have cutout portions removed to enable cooling fluid passage formation. This allows different parts of the same component to serve different functions - structural support versus fluid flow enablement.
Solution Approach 2:
The face plates are segmented into functional zones: intact portions for structural support and cutout portions for cooling fluid access. This segmentation allows the face plate to simultaneously maintain structural integrity while enabling thermal management functionality.
2Productivity
If battery cells are stacked densely to maximize space utilization, then productivity and space efficiency are improved, but cooling fluid access to end portion cells is restricted
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of attempting to provide cooling fluid access from the same dimension (lateral sides only) for all cells, the invention extends cooling access to the third dimension by exposing end surfaces through cutout portions. This allows cooling fluid to reach end portion cells from both lateral and end directions.
3Reliability
If cooling fluid passages are formed between all battery cells, then cooling uniformity is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the structural function of face plates with the cooling fluid passage formation function. By integrating cutout portions directly into the face plates, the design eliminates the need for separate cooling channel structures, reducing overall device complexity while achieving uniform cooling.
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 ensures uniform cooling of battery cells within the module, maintaining high efficiency and extending battery life by ensuring all cells receive cooling fluid from both sides, thereby preventing uneven temperature variations and degradation.
Implementation Method 1
a cooling fluid passage is formed between the one-end cutout portion and the other-end cutout portion of the face plates so as to communicate from the other-end cutout portion to the one-end cutout portion, thereby allowing a cooling fluid to flow on both board surfaces of the battery cells irrespective of their positions within the battery module case
Data Source
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AI summary
A battery module case includes: a first case in which a plurality of first battery cells are held in a stacked state and which includes a first plate formed with a first cutout portion from which an end surface of one of the first battery cells which is adjacent to the first plate is exposed; and a second case in which a plurality of second battery cells are held in a stacked state and which includes a second plate confronting the first plate and formed with a second cutout portion from which an end surface of one of the second battery cells which is adjacent to the second plate is exposed. When the first plate and the second plate are arranged adjacent to each other, the first cutout portion and the second cutout portion define a passage in which cooling fluid can flow between the first plate and the second plate.