Battery Pack Cooling Duct Connector With Elastic Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
The existing battery pack structures face cooling performance deterioration due to large variations in shape or assembly between the cooling duct and the chamber, leading to leakage of cooling air and reduced battery output and lifespan.
Innovation Solution
A battery pack structure with a connector that includes a first opening sealed by a first sealing member and a second opening sealed by a second sealing member, where the sealing surfaces can absorb variations in shape or assembly, ensuring effective communication between the cooling duct and the chamber as an air flow passage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the cooling duct and the chamber are connected directly, then the structure is simple, but large gaps can be created due to shape or assembly variation, causing cooling air leakage
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a connector as an intermediary component between the cooling duct and the chamber. This connector includes sealing portions that mate with sealing surfaces on both the cooling duct and chamber, acting as a mediator that ensures reliable sealing while accommodating variations in shape and assembly. The connector transfers the sealing function from a direct connection to an indirect connection through this intermediate component.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs flexible sealing portions made of elastic material within the connector. These sealing portions can deform elastically to adapt to variations in the shape and position of the cooling duct and chamber, ensuring continuous sealing contact. The flexibility of these components allows them to compensate for assembly tolerances and maintain reliable sealing performance.
2Ease of manufacture
If the cooling duct and chamber have large variation in shape or assembly, then manufacturing and assembly are easier, but cooling performance deteriorates due to air leakage
Solution Approach 1:
The connector incorporates sealing portions made of elastic material that can deform to accommodate large variations in shape and assembly of the cooling duct and chamber. This flexibility allows the sealing portions to maintain contact and prevent cooling air leakage even when there are significant manufacturing tolerances or assembly variations.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical state of the sealing portions from rigid to elastic, allowing them to undergo deformation. This parameter change in material properties enables the sealing portions to adapt to variations in the cooling duct and chamber geometry, preventing air leakage while maintaining ease of manufacture and assembly.
3Reliability
If a connector with sealing members is used, then sealing performance is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the sealing function with the connection function by integrating sealing portions directly into the connector structure. Instead of using separate sealing components, the sealing portions are combined with the connector body, creating a unified component that performs both connection and sealing functions simultaneously, thereby reducing overall structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The connector is designed as a multi-functional component that simultaneously performs connection, sealing, and positioning functions. By making the connector universal and multi-functional, the patent reduces the need for additional separate components, thereby improving sealing performance without proportionally increasing device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A battery pack structure includes a chamber, a cooling duct arranged outside the pack case, and a connector that communicates the chamber and the cooling duct with each other. The connector includes a first opening, which is connected with the chamber in a state of being sealed by a first sealing member, a second opening, which is connected with a cooling duct in a state of being sealed by a second sealing member, a first sealing surface, which is formed in a peripheral part of the first opening and is either a tube-shaped surface or a plane that faces a chamber inlet surface though the first sealing member, and a second sealing surface, which is formed in a peripheral part of the second opening and is a tube-shaped surface or a plane that faces a duct outlet surface through the second sealing member.