Battery Pack Crossbeam Venting Path Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing battery packs face challenges in safely managing thermal runaway events, where hot venting gases can cause electrical arcs and contamination, leading to potential destruction and safety risks due to inadequate separation and venting mechanisms.
Innovation Solution
The battery pack design incorporates a housing with crossbeams that separate the interior space into accommodation chambers, each with its own venting path and spacer, preventing venting gases from passing between cell units and ensuring efficient guidance to venting devices, while also using a disconnecting member to split voltage and reduce arcing risks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If battery cells are arranged in a compact configuration to maximize space utilization, then productivity and energy density are improved, but thermal runaway risks increase due to insufficient separation between cell units
Solution Approach 1:
The battery housing is divided into multiple accommodation chambers by crossbeams, with each chamber housing one or more cell units. This segmentation physically isolates cell units from each other, preventing thermal runaway propagation while maintaining compact overall structure. The crossbeams create firewalls that block the path of hot venting gases between adjacent cell units.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple cell units are nested within the same accommodation chamber, with spacers positioned between them to maintain separation. This nested arrangement allows efficient space utilization while the spacers ensure minimum safe distances between cell units, balancing compactness with thermal safety.
2Duration of action of moving object
If venting paths are designed to allow hot gases to escape quickly to prevent pressure buildup, then duration of action is improved, but harmful factors increase due to electrical arcs and contamination from venting gases
Solution Approach 1:
The venting path extracts hot venting gases directly from the source cell unit and channels them through dedicated pathways to external venting devices. This extraction prevents the gases from contacting adjacent cell units, eliminating the risk of electrical arcs and contamination while maintaining rapid venting speed.
Solution Approach 2:
The venting path acts as an intermediary channel between the cell unit and the external environment. It provides a controlled route for hot gases to escape without directly exposing other cell units to the harmful venting gases, thus mediating between the need for rapid venting and the need to prevent harmful effects.
3Reliability
If crossbeams are added to separate accommodation chambers to improve thermal safety, then reliability is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The crossbeams serve multiple functions simultaneously: they provide structural support for the battery housing, act as firewalls to prevent thermal runaway propagation, and create the framework for accommodating multiple cell units. This multi-functionality reduces the need for additional dedicated safety components, thereby limiting the increase in device complexity.
4Reliability
If spacers are positioned between cell units to prevent thermal propagation, then reliability is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase due to precise positioning needs
Solution Approach 1:
The spacers are pre-positioned and fixed to the battery housing or crossbeams during assembly, establishing predetermined separation distances between cell units before the cells are installed. This preliminary positioning simplifies the assembly process and reduces the need for high-precision positioning during final cell installation, as the spacer locations are already established.
Data Source
AI summary
A battery pack includes: a battery housing including a plurality of crossbeams dividing an interior space of the battery housing into a plurality of separated accommodation chambers; a plurality of cell units arranged within the battery housing, each of the cell units including a plurality of stacked battery cells, each of the accommodation chambers accommodating at least two of the cell units separated by a spacer stacked between the at least two cell units; and a plurality of venting paths respectively arranged per each of the cell units, each of the venting paths connecting the respective cell unit with a respective venting device of the corresponding accommodation chamber without passing an adjacent one of the cell units.