Battery Pack Spacer Structure for Cell Swelling and Rigidity
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing battery packs face challenges in maintaining structural rigidity and accommodating swelling between battery cells, leading to potential stress and distortion, especially when used in applications requiring high power and capacity like electric vehicles.
Innovation Solution
A battery pack design incorporating spacers with multiple spacer units and connection bars that extend across multiple battery cells, providing a gap for swelling and enhancing rigidity through lateral and bottom connection bars, while allowing for modular expansion.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If battery cells are arranged closely to increase energy density, then the volume efficiency is improved, but the structural rigidity deteriorates and stress accumulation occurs during swelling
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces spacers as intermediary components between adjacent battery cells. These spacers maintain a predetermined gap that prevents direct contact between cells, allowing each cell to swell independently without transmitting stress to neighboring cells. This mediator structure resolves the contradiction by enabling close arrangement for high energy density while preventing stress accumulation that would compromise structural rigidity.
Solution Approach 2:
The battery pack is segmented into modular units with spacers creating distinct compartments between battery cells. This segmentation allows independent movement and swelling of each cell while maintaining overall structural integrity. The modular design with connection bars further divides the structure into manageable sections that can accommodate thermal expansion and swelling without compromising the entire pack's rigidity.
2Reliability
If spacers are added between battery cells to accommodate swelling, then the reliability is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functions into the spacer component: it provides swelling accommodation, maintains electrical insulation, and contributes to structural rigidity through integration with connection bars. By merging these functions into a single integrated component rather than using separate elements, the design achieves high reliability while minimizing the increase in device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The spacers are designed as multi-functional elements that simultaneously perform mechanical support, electrical insulation, and swelling accommodation. This universal design approach allows a single component to address multiple requirements, improving reliability without proportionally increasing the number of parts or assembly complexity.
3Stability of the object's composition
If connection bars are used to enhance rigidity, then the structural stability is improved, but the manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The connection bars are designed to nest with the spacers and battery cell structures. The bars fit into predetermined spaces between cells and spacers, creating a nested assembly pattern that enhances rigidity while following a systematic assembly sequence. This nesting approach allows complex structural reinforcement to be achieved through repetitive, standardized assembly steps rather than custom fabrication.
Solution Approach 2:
The connection bars are designed with uniform cross-sections and standardized dimensions that match the regular spacing of battery cells. This homogeneous design allows for repetitive assembly patterns and simplifies manufacturing tooling, as the same components and assembly procedures can be used throughout the entire battery pack assembly process.
4Adaptability or versatility
If modular design with multiple modules is implemented, then the adaptability is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The battery pack is divided into independent modular sections separated by spacers and connection bars. Each module can be configured with a specific number of battery cells and can be easily added or removed from the overall assembly. This segmentation enables flexible adaptation to different power requirements while maintaining a standardized interface that limits the complexity of module integration.
Solution Approach 2:
The spacers and connection bars serve as universal interface components that work across all module configurations. These standardized elements provide consistent mechanical and electrical interfaces regardless of the number or arrangement of modules, allowing scalable design without increasing integration complexity proportionally to the system size.
Data Source
AI summary
A battery pack including m number of battery cells arranged in a first direction; and spacers on the battery cells, the spacers each including a plurality of spacer units arranged in the first direction, wherein each of the spacer units extends across n number of battery cells, in which n<m, and each of the spacer units includes a plurality of spacing bars, each spacing bar being between adjacent ones of the battery cells, and connection bars connecting the plurality of spacing bars to each other.