Battery Cooling Element for Cell Pole Heat Dissipation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing battery designs for motor vehicles face challenges in efficiently cooling cell pole connections, leading to uneven temperature distribution and potential thermal runaway, as these connections are often not thermally connected to a cooling structure due to complexity in installation and tolerance compensation.
Innovation Solution
A battery design that incorporates a passive cooling element thermally connected to the battery housing, allowing for efficient cooling of cell pole connections without the need for cooling channels, using materials like metallic alloys for high thermal conductivity and electrically insulating elements for safety, enabling direct or indirect connection to the housing component as a heat sink.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If cell pole connections are thermally connected to a cooling structure, then temperature distribution uniformity is improved, but device complexity increases due to tolerance compensation requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a housing component as an intermediary thermal connection medium between the cell pole connections and the cooling structure. This housing component serves as a heat sink that indirectly cools the cell pole connections, eliminating the need for direct thermal contact between the cooling device and cell terminals, thereby simplifying the cooling device design while maintaining effective heat dissipation.
Solution Approach 2:
The housing component is designed to serve multiple functions: it acts as both the structural housing for the battery cells and as a thermal management system component that functions as a heat sink. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate dedicated cooling structures at the cell terminals, reducing overall device complexity.
2Temperature
If cooling channels are integrated into the cooling structure, then cooling efficiency is improved, but manufacturing complexity and installation difficulty increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the cooling channels from the cell-terminal cooling structure and relocates them to the housing component. This separation allows the housing to be manufactured as a standard component with integrated cooling channels, while the cell mounting structure remains simple and modular, significantly easing manufacturing and assembly processes.
3Reliability
If cell pole connections are cooled directly, then thermal runaway prevention is improved, but electrical insulation requirements and safety complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The housing component serves as an intermediary that provides both thermal conduction and electrical insulation. It thermally connects to the cell pole connections to dissipate heat, while simultaneously providing electrical isolation between the conductive cell terminals and the cooling system, thereby simplifying the insulation design while maintaining safety.
4Adaptability or versatility
If tolerance compensation mechanisms are added to the cooling device, then assembly flexibility is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The housing component is designed with universal thermal and mechanical connection features that naturally accommodate manufacturing tolerances. The housing serves as a common reference structure for both cell mounting and cooling system integration, providing inherent assembly flexibility without requiring additional compensation mechanisms.
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 provides efficient, space-saving, and safe cooling for battery cells, simplifying tolerance compensation and preventing thermal propagation between cells, thereby enhancing safety and performance by ensuring uniform temperature distribution and reducing the risk of thermal runaway.
Implementation Method 1
a passive cooling element associated with the at least one battery cell, which itself cannot be flowed through by a cooling medium, and which has a first connection region which is coupled in an electrically insulated manner to the first cell pole connection
Implementation Method 2
has a second connection region, which is coupled to the housing component and/or a module housing different from the battery housing to provide a heat sink
Data Source
AI summary
A battery for a motor vehicle, which has a battery housing with a receiving region, a housing component which delimits the receiving region with respect to a first direction, and has at least one cell stack with at least one battery cell, which is arranged in the receiving region, so that a first side of the at least one battery cell faces the housing component and a second side of the at least one battery cell, which is different from the first side, has a first cell pole connection. Furthermore, the battery includes a passive cooling element associated with the at least one battery cell, which has a first connection region, which is coupled to the first cell pole connector of the at least one battery cell.