Battery Pack Cooling via Segmented In-Duct Airflow
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional battery packs face challenges in cooling battery cells evenly due to variations in air distribution capacity among cells and suffer from insufficient cooling performance, especially at high ambient temperatures, as they rely on closed air circulation systems that suppress noise leakage but hinder heat radiation.
Innovation Solution
The battery pack design incorporates a fan unit, a circulation passage, an air introduction passage, and an air discharge passage to create a continuous air flow that mixes external air with circulating air, ensuring uniform cooling and reducing noise leakage by using in-duct passages within the case to distribute air evenly among battery cells.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If a closed air circulation system is used to cool battery cells, then noise leakage is suppressed, but cooling performance becomes insufficient when ambient temperature is high
Solution Approach 1:
The air circulation system is segmented into multiple independent pathways: a closed circulation passage for noise suppression and an open air introduction/discharge passage for heat radiation. This allows the system to simultaneously achieve noise suppression through the closed loop and effective cooling through the open pathways that enable heat exchange with the external environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The circulation fan acts as an intermediary that drives air flow through both the closed circulation passage and the open air introduction/discharge passages. By controlling the fan operation, the system mediates between the conflicting requirements of noise suppression and cooling performance, enabling the air to be circulated internally while also being exchanged with external air for heat dissipation.
2Temperature
If air flow rate is increased to improve cooling performance, then cooling uniformity deteriorates due to difference in air distribution capacity among battery cells
Solution Approach 1:
The circulation passage is divided into multiple distribution channels that individually connect to different battery cells or cell groups. This segmentation ensures that air is distributed evenly across all cells regardless of the total flow rate, as each channel provides a dedicated pathway that maintains relatively uniform flow distribution even at high overall flow rates.
Solution Approach 2:
The circulation passage structure is designed with varying cross-sectional areas and flow path lengths tailored to the specific cooling requirements of different battery cell locations. Cells that require more cooling receive air through channels with optimized dimensions, ensuring that each cell receives appropriate air flow for uniform cooling across the entire battery pack.
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 enhances cooling uniformity among battery cells, improves cooling performance, and suppresses noise leakage by adjusting air flow and incorporating external air to reduce temperature, maintaining effective heat dissipation even at high ambient temperatures.
Implementation Method 1
a fan unit for supplying air to cool the batteries... a circulation passage formed in the case, the circulation passage forming a distribution channel into which the air blown out from the fan unit is sucked as circulating air after exchanging heat with the batteries
Implementation Method 2
air blown out from the fan unit is sucked as circulating air after exchanging heat with the batteries
Data Source
AI summary
A battery pack includes batteries, a fan unit, a case housing the batteries and the fan unit, an air circulation passage formed in the case, an air introduction passage that makes communication between a suction part of the fan unit and outside of the case, and an air discharge passage that makes communication between the outside and an inside of the case. The air circulating passage includes a blow-off side passage that makes communication between a blowoff part of the fan unit and battery passages through which the circulating air flows to exchange heat with the batteries, and a suction side passage that makes communication between the battery passages and the suction part of the fan unit. At least one of the blow-off side passage and the suction side passage is an in-duct passage formed inside a duct disposed in the case.