EV Battery Underbody Floor Openings for Drainage Without Height Increase
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing underbody arrangements in electrically operable motor vehicles face challenges in achieving a low height and compact design while effectively protecting high-voltage storage devices from damage and contamination, particularly during manufacturing processes like cathodic dip painting.
Innovation Solution
The underbody arrangement features a floor panel with openings that overlap with the high-voltage storage device in the vehicle height direction without overlapping the battery cells, allowing for media drainage and installation space for components, and includes a plug element to seal the openings, ensuring protection and compact design.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If the floor panel overlaps the high-voltage storage device in the vehicle height direction, then the high-voltage storage device is protected from damage and concealed from the vehicle interior, but the installation space requirement in the vehicle height direction increases
Solution Approach 1:
The opening in the floor panel is positioned to overlap with the base element in the vehicle height direction while avoiding overlap with the battery cells. This spatial arrangement in the vertical dimension allows the opening to serve its drainage function without increasing the overall vehicle height requirement, as the opening aligns with the lower base element rather than extending above the battery cells.
Solution Approach 2:
The floor panel structure is designed with different functional zones: the base element region contains the opening for drainage, while the battery cell region maintains full coverage for protection. This local differentiation allows the opening to be present without compromising the protective function where battery cells are located, resolving the contradiction between needing openings and maintaining protection.
2Ease of manufacture
If openings are provided in the floor panel for media drainage, then paint and cleaning media can drain away, but the height of the underbody arrangement increases due to addition of height requirements
Solution Approach 1:
The opening is positioned in the vehicle height direction to overlap with the base element rather than extending above the battery cells. This vertical positioning allows the drainage function to be achieved without adding to the overall height of the underbody arrangement, as the opening aligns with the lower portion of the high-voltage storage device.
3Device complexity
If the opening overlaps with the battery cells in the vehicle height direction, then the floor panel can be simpler in design, but the height of the underbody arrangement increases
Solution Approach 1:
The floor panel is designed with differentiated coverage: full coverage over the battery cell regions for protection, and localized openings over the base element regions for drainage. This spatial differentiation allows the panel to maintain its protective function where needed while providing drainage capability where the base element is located, without requiring increased height.
Data Source
AI summary
An underbody arrangement of a high-voltage storage device, which is overlapping with a floor panel of an electrically operable motor vehicle, in which the floor panel having at least one opening is arranged at least in some regions in the direction of the vehicle height so as to overlap with the high-voltage storage device, which includes a plurality of battery cells arranged on a base element. The at least one opening is arranged in the direction of the vehicle height so as to overlap with the base element of the high-voltage storage device and without overlap with the battery cells of the high-voltage storage device.