Battery Cell Side Walls With Thermal Conduction for Dense Modules
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Solution Overview
Problem
Battery modules with tightly packed cells often experience overheating due to insufficient cooling, which can lead to performance degradation and safety issues.
Innovation Solution
The implementation of battery cells with thermally conductive side walls, where a thermally conductive shell encloses the energy storing portion and thermally conductive adhesive is used to fold and bond the shell's perimeter edge portions to form side walls, enhancing heat dissipation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If battery cells are tightly packed in a battery module to meet space and weight constraints, then space utilization and weight efficiency are improved, but heat dissipation capability deteriorates leading to overheating
Solution Approach 1:
The shell is designed with differentiated thermal conductivity in different regions: the bottom and top surfaces have lower thermal conductivity to maintain battery encapsulation, while the side surfaces have higher thermal conductivity to enable heat dissipation. This local quality differentiation allows the shell to simultaneously provide structural protection and thermal management functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The shell employs composite material construction with at least two different materials having different thermal conductivity characteristics. The first material (lower thermal conductivity) is used for bottom and top surfaces, while the second material (higher thermal conductivity) is used for side surfaces, creating a composite structure that balances encapsulation and heat dissipation requirements.
2Strength
If conventional non-thermally conductive shells are used to enclose battery cells, then structural protection is provided, but heat transfer capability deteriorates causing battery overheating
Solution Approach 1:
The shell is designed with differentiated thermal conductivity in different regions: the bottom and top surfaces have lower thermal conductivity to maintain battery encapsulation, while the side surfaces have higher thermal conductivity to enable heat dissipation. This local quality differentiation allows the shell to simultaneously provide structural protection and thermal management functions.
Solution Approach 2:
The shell employs composite material construction with at least two different materials having different thermal conductivity characteristics. The first material (lower thermal conductivity) is used for bottom and top surfaces, while the second material (higher thermal conductivity) is used for side surfaces, creating a composite structure that balances encapsulation and heat dissipation requirements.
3Ease of manufacture
If traditional battery cell packaging methods are used, then manufacturing simplicity is maintained, but thermal management capability deteriorates requiring additional cooling components
Solution Approach 1:
The shell serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides structural protection, electrical insulation, and thermal management. By integrating heat dissipation functionality directly into the shell structure through thermally conductive side surfaces, the design eliminates or reduces the need for separate cooling components, simplifying the overall battery module construction.
Solution Approach 2:
The shell is designed with differentiated thermal conductivity in different regions: the bottom and top surfaces have lower thermal conductivity to maintain battery encapsulation, while the side surfaces have higher thermal conductivity to enable heat dissipation. This local quality differentiation allows the shell to simultaneously provide structural protection and thermal management functions.
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 solution effectively transfers heat from the battery cells through the thermally conductive side walls to external members, which can be configured with cooling fins, thereby mitigating overheating and improving the reliability and safety of battery modules.
Implementation Method 1
a thermally conductive adhesive is applied to side portions of the perimeter edge portion of the thermally conductive shell and each of the side portions is folded and bonded to a side surface of the thermally conductive shell via the thermally conductive adhesive to form one of the thermally conductive sidewalls
Implementation Method 2
The thermally conductive shell includes a thermally conductive base membrane and a thermally conductive cover membrane that are bonded together along a perimeter edge portion of the thermally conductive shell... effectively transfers heat from the battery cells through the thermally conductive side walls to external members
Data Source
AI summary
Battery cells with a thermally conductive side wall, methods and tooling for forming the battery cells, and battery modules including the battery cells employ a thermally conductive adhesive to form the thermally conductive side wall. A battery cell includes an energy storing portion, a thermally conductive shell the encloses the energy storing portion, and a thermally conductive adhesive layer. The thermally conductive shell includes a base membrane and a cover membrane. The thermally conductive shell includes a perimeter portion including a perimeter portion of the cover membrane attached to a perimeter portion of the base membrane. A folded portion of the perimeter portion of the thermally conductive shell is bonded to a side surface of the thermally conductive shell via the thermally conductive adhesive to form a thermally conductive side wall of the battery cell.