Battery Module Housing with Liquid-Cooled and Empty Channels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing motor vehicle traction battery modules face challenges in providing stable and accessible electrical connections while maintaining cooling efficiency and mechanical stability, particularly in confined spaces.
Innovation Solution
A motor vehicle traction battery module design featuring a rigid housing with liquid-cooled walls that include parallel coolant and empty channels for cooling and structural support, allowing for a contact-making opening for easy electrical terminal access and ventilation, enabling efficient cooling and mechanical stability with reduced weight.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of operation
If a contact-making opening is created in the liquid-cooled housing wall to access battery elements for electrical connections, then electrical accessibility and assembly simplicity are improved, but the mechanical strength and cooling efficiency of the housing wall are worsened
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the contact-making opening from the liquid-cooled housing wall by creating it in an empty channel zone rather than in a solid wall or cooling channel. This allows electrical terminals to access battery elements through the housing wall without compromising the structural integrity of the cooling channels, as the opening is placed in a region already designated for non-structural purposes.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies local quality by differentiating the functional zones of the housing wall: regions with cooling channels maintain full structural strength for thermal management, while regions with empty channels provide structural support with reduced weight and accommodate electrical access openings. This localized differentiation allows the housing wall to simultaneously provide cooling, strength, and electrical accessibility where needed.
2Weight of moving object
If empty channels are introduced parallel to coolant cooling channels in the housing wall, then weight is reduced and electrical access is enabled, but structural complexity and manufacturing difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The empty channels serve multiple functions simultaneously: they reduce housing wall weight by replacing solid material, provide structural support ribs to maintain housing integrity, and create pathways for electrical terminals to access battery elements. This multi-functionality justifies the additional manufacturing complexity by delivering multiple benefits from a single design feature.
Solution Approach 2:
The housing wall is segmented into distinct functional zones with cooling channels for thermal management and empty channels for weight reduction and electrical access. This segmentation allows each zone to be optimized for its specific function while being manufactured as an integrated structure, balancing complexity with functional efficiency.
3Stability of the object's composition
If the housing wall maintains constant total thickness to preserve stability, then mechanical stability is improved, but the ability to accommodate electrical components and ventilation is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent resolves the conflict between constant wall thickness and component accommodation by utilizing the depth dimension within the wall structure. Empty channels create internal cavities that provide space for electrical terminals and ventilation pathways without reducing the external dimensions or overall wall thickness, thereby maintaining structural stability while enabling component integration.
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 design provides a lightweight, mechanically stable, and easily assembled battery module with simplified electrical connections, resolving space conflicts and ensuring effective cooling and pressure compensation within the battery module.
Implementation Method 1
The battery module housing has a coolant cooling channel in at least one housing wall, with a coolant flowing through said coolant cooling channel which then transports away the heat accumulating in the battery elements
Implementation Method 2
the empty channel or the empty channels, on the other hand, are parallel to one another with respect to the channel axes. Although the liquid-cooled housing wall is not directly cooled by the coolant in the region of the empty channel or the empty channels
Data Source
AI summary
A motor vehicle traction battery module includes a rigid battery module housing having at least one battery element. The battery module housing has at least one planar and liquid-cooled housing. The liquid-cooled housing wall has at least one continuously linear coolant cooling channel and at least one continuously linear empty channel, which is parallel thereto and through which there is no liquid flowing. The liquid-cooled housing wall has a contact-making opening, by means of which exclusively the empty channel is interrupted, and wherein an electrical terminal element is arranged in the region of the contact-making opening, with electrical contact being made with at least one battery element by means of said electrical terminal element.