Battery Stack Brackets for Tier Alignment and Airflow
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing traction battery systems for electric and hybrid-electric vehicles face challenges in securely stacking and aligning battery cell arrays while maintaining airflow for thermal management, which affects the battery's performance and manufacturing efficiency.
Innovation Solution
A battery stack design that uses brackets with a common mounting footprint to secure lower and upper battery tiers without external hardware, allowing airflow between tiers and simplifying assembly by using a consistent fastening pattern and array frames with locating features for precise alignment.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If brackets with common mounting footprint are used to secure battery tiers, then structural integrity is enhanced and alignment is improved, but device complexity increases due to the need for precise footprint alignment and airflow integration
Solution Approach 1:
The brackets are designed with a common mounting footprint that serves multiple functions: securing the battery tiers together, providing alignment through consistent footprint geometry, and incorporating airflow passages for thermal management. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate components while maintaining structural integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The bracket structure is segmented into distinct functional zones: mounting regions with standardized footprints for secure attachment, alignment features for precise positioning, and integrated airflow passages for thermal management. This segmentation allows each zone to optimize its specific function while contributing to overall system performance.
2Temperature
If brackets with integrated airflow passages are used, then thermal management is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases due to the need to integrate airflow features with structural elements
Solution Approach 1:
The airflow passages are merged directly into the bracket structure during manufacturing, combining the structural support function with the thermal management function. This integration eliminates the need for separate airflow components and reduces the number of assembly steps while improving thermal management efficiency.
Solution Approach 2:
The brackets serve dual purposes: providing mechanical support for the battery tiers and facilitating airflow for thermal management. The same structural elements that hold the batteries together also channel cooling air between tiers, reducing the overall component count and simplifying manufacturing.
3Manufacturing precision
If multiple connection locations are aligned between brackets, then assembly precision is improved and errors are reduced, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The mounting footprints are designed with predetermined connection locations that are pre-aligned during bracket manufacturing. This preliminary alignment of connection points ensures that when brackets are assembled, the battery tiers automatically align with high precision, reducing assembly errors without requiring complex adjustment procedures.
Solution Approach 2:
All brackets use the same common mounting footprint design with identical connection location patterns. This homogeneity ensures consistent alignment across all battery tier connections, simplifying the manufacturing process while maintaining high precision through standardized, repeatable geometry.
Data Source
AI summary
A battery stack is provided having lower and upper battery tiers each formed of at least two battery cell arrays. A pair of brackets are provided for connecting the lower arrays along a top surface of the lower tier and connecting the upper arrays to a bottom surface of the upper tier. The lower and upper battery tiers are secured together by the brackets without hardware mounted to an exterior surface of the stack.