Battery Module Gas Barrier and Thermal Substrate Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Lithium ion battery modules face challenges in preventing thermal runaway events during charge/discharge cycles, fast charging, collisions, and environmental exposure, with existing solutions inadequate in minimizing or preventing such events.
Innovation Solution
A battery module design featuring a thermally conductive substrate with an array of wells to enclose battery cells, allowing for efficient heat transfer and gas barrier protection, combined with a heat exchanger and phase-changing fluid to manage thermal runaway, and a method of prefabricating a collector with thermally conductive materials to facilitate easy assembly and protection.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If battery cells are enclosed within wells in a thermally conductive substrate, then heat transfer efficiency is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The substrate is divided into multiple wells that individually enclose each battery cell, allowing heat to be managed cell-by-cell through the thermally conductive substrate structure
Solution Approach 2:
The thermally conductive substrate serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides structural support for the battery cells, acts as a heat sink for thermal management, and serves as a mounting platform for electrical interconnects
2Reliability
If side walls of wells make physical contact with battery cells to transfer heat, then thermal runaway prevention is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The well structure provides localized thermal management at each battery cell position, with the side walls creating intimate thermal contact zones where heat transfer is most needed
Solution Approach 2:
The well structure anticipates thermal expansion and positioning variations by providing a confining geometry that ensures thermal contact is maintained under various operating conditions
3Object-affected harmful factors
If battery cells are partially or fully enclosed within wells, then gas barrier protection is improved, but ease of manufacture decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Each battery cell is nested within its own well enclosure, creating a hierarchical structure where the well provides gas barrier protection while the cell remains accessible for manufacturing operations
4Reliability
If a venting space is disposed above battery cells, then thermal runaway event management is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The venting space extracts and isolates potential hazardous gases and thermal events from the main battery module structure, containing them in a dedicated space above the cells
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 effectively minimizes or prevents thermal runaway by enhancing heat transfer and gas barrier protection, ensuring structural integrity and safety during thermal events, while allowing for efficient assembly and protection of battery cells.
Implementation Method 1
a first thermally conductive substrate having a top surface, an array of wells disposed on at least one side of the first substrate... at least one of the wells has a side wall that makes physical contact with a side wall of each battery cell so as to transfer heat from said battery cell to the first substrate
Implementation Method 2
combined with a heat exchanger and phase-changing fluid to manage thermal runaway
Data Source
AI summary
A method to prevent or minimize an occurrence of a thermal runaway event in a battery module of an electric vehicle. The method places a gas barrier between a venting space and a wall of each battery cell so that escaped gas from one battery cell does not impinge onto another battery cell.