Vehicle Battery Pack Bottom Panel Layout for Crash Load Paths
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing energy stores for motor vehicles are complex, heavy, and prone to failure in accidents due to rigid housing designs that complicate load transfer and require extensive installation space, leading to issues with vehicle packaging and accident behavior.
Innovation Solution
An energy store design featuring a bottom panel that supports battery modules indirectly, with lines running above it to avoid stub tunnels and allow continuous bottom panel placement, and additional longitudinal carriers for reinforcement, separating sealing and reinforcing functions, and using individual non-load-bearing housings without frame elements for improved manufacturing and rigidity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If the energy store housing is designed to be rigid and load-bearing to improve accident behavior, then the strength and stability are improved, but the device complexity and weight increase significantly
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the energy store into modular battery modules that can be individually supported and replaced. The bottom panel is segmented to provide indirect support to each module, allowing the housing to be simpler while maintaining overall structural integrity through modular design
Solution Approach 2:
The patent extracts the load-bearing function from the housing and transfers it to the vehicle floor assembly and bottom panel. The housing is deliberately designed to be non-load-bearing, removing the complexity of designing a rigid housing while maintaining structural strength through the vehicle's existing floor structure
2Reliability
If the energy store housing is made rigid to absorb side impact forces, then the accident behavior is improved, but the weight of the energy store increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the crash load-bearing function from the housing and assigns it to the vehicle floor assembly. The bottom panel and floor structure are designed to absorb and distribute impact forces, allowing the housing to be lightweight while maintaining accident safety through the vehicle's existing structural components
Solution Approach 2:
The vehicle floor assembly serves multiple functions: it supports the energy store, provides structural reinforcement, and acts as the primary load-bearing element in accident scenarios. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for additional weight in the housing while maintaining safety performance
3Ease of manufacture
If a stub tunnel is provided for line routing between front and rear regions, then the line installation is simplified, but the installation space in the interior compartment increases and load paths are interrupted
Solution Approach 1:
The patent routes lines through the bottom panel in the vertical dimension rather than creating a horizontal stub tunnel through the energy store. Lines can pass through openings in the bottom panel or be routed along its edges, utilizing the vertical space beneath the vehicle floor to maintain interior compartment volume while achieving simplified line installation
4Force
If the energy store housing is designed as a compound structure with the floor assembly to improve load transmission, then the force transmission is improved, but the manufacturing complexity and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the load-bearing function from the housing and assigns it separately to the bottom panel and vehicle floor assembly. This separation allows each component to be manufactured and optimized independently, reducing manufacturing complexity while maintaining effective force transmission through the bottom panel's connection to the floor structure
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the load-bearing structure into distinct components: the bottom panel that directly supports the battery modules and the vehicle floor assembly that provides structural reinforcement. This segmentation allows independent optimization of each component while maintaining effective load transmission paths
Data Source
AI summary
A stored energy source for a motor vehicle has a bottom plate, by which battery modules in question are at least indirectly supported and by which the stored energy source is delimited at the bottom. In order to provide a stored energy source that is optimized with respect to its behavior during an accident and with respect to the vehicle package and does not require any installation space in the interior of the motor vehicle, the stored energy source has at least one line, which runs above the bottom plate and exits the stored energy source at a front and a rear end.