Vehicle Traction Battery Supporting Element Casting
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Solution Overview
Problem
The die casting process for manufacturing large-surface components, such as supporting elements for vehicle traction battery housings, faces challenges with explosive forces that limit the production of components in one piece, leading to increased complexity, weight, and costs due to the need for partitioning and separate mold sets.
Innovation Solution
A supporting element is designed with a module supporting element and a plate-shaped closing element, featuring a large-area recess that reduces surface area and explosive forces, allowing for single-piece casting, and optimizing the design to maintain stability and reduce weight by using a hybrid construction method with die-cast and sheet metal components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Stability of the object's composition
If a large-surface supporting element is manufactured as a single piece by die casting, then structural integrity and stability are improved, but explosive forces during casting increase making the process infeasible
Solution Approach 1:
The supporting element is divided into two separate casting operations, creating two halves that are subsequently joined. This segmentation reduces the surface area of each individual casting, thereby reducing explosive forces during the die casting process while maintaining the overall structural integrity through the joining of the two halves.
2Ease of manufacture
If the supporting element is divided into two halves and produced separately, then explosive forces during casting are reduced, but device complexity and manufacturing costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The two separately cast halves are joined together to form the complete supporting element. This merging combines the benefits of reduced explosive forces during casting with the restoration of full structural functionality, while the joining process is designed to be straightforward, minimizing the increase in manufacturing complexity.
3Ease of manufacture
If the supporting element is divided into two halves and connected by welding or screwing, then casting feasibility is improved, but weight and manufacturing costs increase
Solution Approach 1:
The supporting element is segmented into two castable halves that are joined together. This segmentation enables feasible die casting by reducing surface area and explosive forces, while the joining method is optimized to minimize additional weight compared to a single-piece construction.
Data Source
AI summary
The present invention relates to a supporting element for a housing for a vehicle traction battery, the vehicle traction battery being constructed of a number of power storage modules. The supporting element is constructed of a module supporting element and at least one closing element, which has a plate-shaped design, the module supporting element having a number of module fastening elements, to which the number of power storage modules are fastened. Furthermore, the module supporting element has at least one recess which is closed by the plate-shaped closing element. The present invention further relates to a process of producing a corresponding support element for a housing for a vehicle traction battery.