Battery Module Cell Positioning for Uniform Cooling Assembly
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing battery modules experience inhomogeneous cooling and challenging assembly due to the lack of precise positioning of individual battery cells, leading to premature aging and reduced capacity during fast charging.
Innovation Solution
A battery module design with a module housing featuring receiving openings for individual battery cells, where a plate with apertures and a thermally conductive adhesive ensures precise and efficient insertion, combined with a cooling medium flow for uniform cooling, and optional use of a height-adjustable carrier plate or latent heat accumulator material for enhanced temperature control.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If individual battery cells are cooled by a cooling plate on one side only, then the cooling structure is simple, but the cooling becomes inhomogeneous leading to premature aging and reduced capacity
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is segmented into multiple cooling zones: a first cooling plate contacting the first end face of battery cells, a second cooling plate contacting the second end face, and side cooling regions. This segmentation allows heat to be dissipated from multiple surfaces simultaneously, achieving homogeneous cooling and preventing the reliability issues caused by one-sided cooling.
Solution Approach 2:
Different regions of the battery module are provided with different cooling structures tailored to local heat generation characteristics. The first and second cooling plates address heat at the end faces, while side cooling regions address heat along the lateral surfaces. This local quality approach ensures uniform temperature distribution across the entire cell surface, preventing premature aging and capacity loss.
2Ease of manufacture
If receiving openings are made large to facilitate easy insertion of battery cells, then assembly becomes easier, but precise positioning of cells becomes difficult to maintain
Solution Approach 1:
Positioning structures act as intermediary elements between the receiving openings and the battery cells. These structures include positioning protrusions on the cooling plates that engage with corresponding positioning recesses on the cell housings. This intermediary mechanism guides cells into precise positions during insertion, maintaining manufacturing precision while keeping the receiving openings sufficiently large for easy assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The positioning structures are pre-configured in the cooling plates and module housing before cell insertion. The positioning protrusions and recesses are predetermined in location and geometry, so that when cells are inserted through the large receiving openings, they automatically engage with the pre-positioned guiding features. This preliminary action ensures precise cell positioning is achieved automatically during assembly, resolving the contradiction between ease of insertion and positioning precision.
3Manufacturing precision
If stops are added to individual battery cells for precise positioning, then positioning accuracy improves, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The positioning functionality is merged into the existing cooling plate and module housing structures. Positioning protrusions are integrated into the cooling plates, and positioning recesses are formed as part of the cell housing design. This merging approach achieves precise cell positioning without adding separate, complex positioning mechanisms, thereby improving positioning accuracy while minimizing increases in device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling plates serve multiple functions: they provide thermal management by contacting the battery cell end faces for heat dissipation, and they provide positioning functionality through integrated positioning protrusions. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate positioning components, achieving precise cell positioning while avoiding additional structural complexity. The universal design of the cooling plates accomplishes both cooling and positioning tasks simultaneously.
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 solution provides uniform cooling and efficient assembly, enhancing fast-charging capabilities and reducing the time to fully charge the battery by ensuring precise positioning and consistent temperature distribution across the battery cells.
Implementation Method 1
the individual battery cells are fixed in the receiving openings by a thermally conductive adhesive
Implementation Method 2
regions are arranged around these receiving openings in the module housing, which are to have a cooling medium flow through them, such that jacket cooling of the individual battery cells can therefore take place
Implementation Method 3
the stops are formed by a self-adhesive material. They can, in particular during the production of the individual battery cells, be adhered directly to the exterior of the individual battery cells
Data Source
AI summary
A battery module includes a module housing which has a receiving opening. A battery cell is disposed in the receiving opening and a region that is flowable through by a cooling medium is disposed adjacent to the receiving opening. A plate is disposed on a side of the module housing where the plate has an aperture that corresponds to a dimension of the battery cell. The receiving opening has, at least in a section, a greater cross-section than the aperture. The battery cell has a stop where the stop is contactable with a tapered portion of the receiving opening and/or with the plate.