EV Battery Support Assembly With Integrated Underride Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing battery carrier arrangements in electric vehicles are structurally complex, costly, and lack sufficient crash safety, necessitating additional components for underride protection and maintenance access.
Innovation Solution
A simplified battery carrier arrangement featuring a single-piece steel base with frame side walls projecting laterally and obliquely, a trough-like configuration, and integrated ribs for underride protection, combined with a cover and base that can be easily disassembled for maintenance, and reinforced with stiffening frames and ribs for enhanced crash safety.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a traditional battery tray with separate underride protection plate is used, then crash safety is improved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The base plate is designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: it serves as the structural foundation of the battery carrier, provides underride protection in the event of a collision, and acts as a mounting surface for the battery box. This consolidation of functions into a single component eliminates the need for separate underride protection plates and reduces overall structural complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The base plate is designed as a multi-functional component that provides structural support, crash protection, and mounting functionality. By making the base plate universal in its utility, the design eliminates redundant components and simplifies the overall battery carrier structure while maintaining or improving crash safety performance.
2Ease of manufacture
If a single-piece base with frame side walls is used, then manufacturing cost and material usage are reduced, but structural complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The base plate and frame side walls are manufactured as a single integrated component rather than separate parts. This merging of components reduces the number of manufacturing steps, eliminates the need for joining operations, and simplifies assembly processes, thereby reducing manufacturing cost despite the increased complexity of the individual component design.
Solution Approach 2:
The base plate is designed with integrated frame side walls that extend upward to form a cage-like structure. This segmentation of the base plate into functional zones (flat base area for mounting, vertical frame walls for protection and structural integrity) allows a single component to perform multiple structural roles, reducing the need for additional separate components.
3Device complexity
If the base serves as underride protection, then the number of components is reduced, but the base requires higher material strength
Solution Approach 1:
The base plate is manufactured from high-strength steel with a minimum tensile strength of 1350 MPa. This parameter change in material properties enables the base plate to serve as underride protection, as the high strength-to-weight ratio allows a single component to provide both structural support and crash protection without requiring additional reinforcement elements.
Solution Approach 2:
The use of high-strength steel alloy (minimum 1350 MPa tensile strength) as the base plate material provides the necessary mechanical properties to function as underride protection. The superior strength characteristics of this material allow the base plate to absorb and distribute impact forces during a collision, eliminating the need for separate protection plates.
4Ease of repair
If the cover and base are easily disassembled, then ease of maintenance is improved, but connection reliability may decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The battery carrier is divided into separable modules: the cover (containing the battery box) and the base plate. These modules are connected through standardized mounting points that allow for easy assembly and disassembly. This segmentation enables maintenance personnel to access the battery box by simply removing the cover, significantly improving maintenance accessibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The cover and base are designed with pre-positioned mounting holes and connection points that align during assembly. This preliminary arrangement of connection features ensures that when the components are assembled, they form reliable connections without requiring complex alignment procedures, thus maintaining connection reliability while enabling easy disassembly for maintenance.
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
The solution reduces material usage and manufacturing costs while providing increased crash safety and ease of maintenance, with the base serving as underride protection and dissipating crash energy effectively.
Implementation Method 1
the base plate can simultaneously serve as underride protection. An additional base plate in the battery tray can therefore be omitted
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
Figure 4~5
AI summary
The present invention relates to a battery carrier arrangement (1) for an electric vehicle, comprising a battery tray, a base (6) and a hood (7.1) mounted on the base (6) with a hood base (7) and side walls (4, 5), wherein the base (6) is manufactured as a hot-formed and press-hardened component from a sheet steel blank, characterized in that the base (6) has frame side walls (8) extending laterally beyond the side walls (4, 5) of the battery tray in one piece and of a single material, which extend obliquely upwards in the vehicle vertical direction (Z) in sections.