Battery Shell Spacer Shoulder for Axial Clamping
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing methods for fixing traction batteries under hybrid or electric vehicles face challenges due to limited accessibility for spacer maintenance, making it difficult to secure the battery assembly, especially with thin half-shells and reduced flange sizes, which often requires additional parts or operations, increasing complexity and cost.
Innovation Solution
A shell system with two half-shells and spacers featuring a circular shoulder that inserts between the flanges, allowing axial tightening and secure spacer positioning, enabling easy assembly and maintenance without additional welding or complex adaptations.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of repair
If spacers are welded to the shell or body to ensure maintenance, then spacer maintenance is improved, but welding is not possible with thin half-shells and reduced flange sizes
Solution Approach 1:
The invention extracts the spacer from the welding process and repositions it to be placed on the outer face of the lower half-shell, where it can be accessed and maintained without welding to thin-walled components. This eliminates the manufacturing constraint while preserving the maintenance benefit.
Solution Approach 2:
The spacer acts as an intermediary element that provides a maintenance-accessible interface between the battery assembly and the vehicle body, allowing clamping screw engagement without requiring direct welding to the thin half-shells or flanges.
2Ease of repair
If additional parts are made to hold the spacer, then spacer maintenance is improved, but assembly complexity and costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The invention merges the spacer function directly into the battery assembly structure by positioning it on the outer face of the lower half-shell, eliminating the need for separate holding parts and reducing overall assembly complexity while maintaining ease of spacer maintenance.
Solution Approach 2:
The spacer is positioned to be self-accessible on the outer face of the lower half-shell, allowing maintenance operations to be performed directly on the spacer without requiring additional holding structures or complex assembly/disassembly procedures.
3Ease of repair
If support plates have very high bosses to integrate spacer height, then spacer maintenance is improved, but production is not always possible
Solution Approach 1:
The invention segments the spacer height function from the support plate by placing the spacer on the outer face of the lower half-shell, allowing the support plate to maintain its standard dimensions while the spacer provides the necessary height and maintenance accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The spacer is extracted from the support plate structure and positioned independently on the lower half-shell, eliminating the need to produce support plates with complex high-boss geometries while achieving the same maintenance accessibility goal.
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3~5
AI summary
Shell system designed to receive traction batteries of a hybrid or electric vehicle, comprising two half-shells (10, 12) each comprising an edge (26) along a horizontal plane so that they can be superimposed with a seal interposed between them, and comprising spacers forming cylindrical tubes designed to each receive a clamping screw passing through at least one edge (26), then the spacer, in order to be subsequently clamped under the body of the vehicle, characterised in that the spacer has a circular shoulder that is inserted between the two edges (26) of the half-shells (10, 12) in the thickness of the seal.