Battery Module Cooling Structure With Direct Oil Contact
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional battery modules face inefficiencies in cooling due to high contact thermal resistance between metal cooling fins and pouch-type cells, leading to potential performance degradation and safety risks from excessive heat.
Innovation Solution
A battery module design featuring a housing structure with spacers and channels that allow direct contact between a cooling medium, such as insulating oil, and the battery cells, enhancing heat dissipation by creating empty spaces for medium flow and using spacers to support the cell stack while preventing medium leakage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If metal cooling fins are used to cool pouch-type battery cells, then cooling capability is provided, but contact thermal resistance increases due to material differences between metal fins and cell surfaces
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a cooling plate as an intermediary component between the battery cells and cooling fins. The cooling plate is in direct contact with the battery cell surfaces, providing a large contact area for heat transfer, while the cooling fins attach to the cooling plate rather than directly to the cells. This mediator structure eliminates the thermal resistance issue caused by direct metal-to-cell contact while maintaining effective cooling capability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates a cooling medium circulation system with channels formed in the cooling plate. A cooling medium (liquid or gas) flows through these channels to actively remove heat from the battery cells. This hydraulic/pneumatic cooling approach provides superior heat dissipation compared to passive conduction through metal fins alone, while the cooling plate ensures low thermal resistance contact with the cells.
2Temperature
If cooling fins are placed between pouch-type cells, then cooling efficiency improves, but device complexity increases due to additional structural components
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the cooling plate with the battery module housing structure. The cooling plate serves dual functions: it acts as a structural support component within the module and simultaneously functions as the heat dissipation component. By integrating these functions into a single component, the design reduces the number of separate parts and assembly steps while maintaining effective cooling efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling plate is designed to perform multiple functions: providing structural support for the battery cells, serving as a heat transfer interface, and containing internal channels for cooling medium flow. This multi-functional design eliminates the need for separate cooling fin structures, thereby reducing device complexity while maintaining or improving cooling efficiency.
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 improves cooling efficiency, reduces the risk of heat-related performance degradation and safety accidents, such as ignition, by allowing direct contact between the cooling medium and battery cells, thereby effectively managing heat in high-capacity and high-output battery modules.
Implementation Method 1
a cooling structure for allowing the insulating oil to directly contact battery cells
Implementation Method 2
uses an insulating oil for cooling and has a cooling structure for allowing the insulating oil to directly contact battery cells
Data Source
AI summary
A battery module includes a module housing having a lower housing, a pair of side housings, front and rear housings, and an upper housing, for respectively covering a lower portion, both side portions, front and rear portions, and an upper portion of a cell stack. The lower housing includes a base plate configured to cover an entire lower surface of the cell stack and having a hole region forming a channel in at least one side of the base plate along a longitudinal direction; and a plurality of spacers disposed at predetermined intervals along the base plate and configured to support the cell stack apart from a surface of the base plate to form an empty space between the cell stack and the base plate. The hole region communicates with the empty space so that a cooling medium can be supplied to the empty space.