Integrated Battery Vent Manifold With Coolant Heat Exchange
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing electrified vehicle traction battery packs face challenges in effectively managing thermal events and venting battery byproducts, leading to potential thermal propagation and inefficiencies in heat transfer.
Innovation Solution
A thermal management and venting system comprising a vent manifold and a main coolant passage, with a heat exchanger that facilitates heat transfer between battery vent byproducts and coolant, preventing thermal propagation and efficiently managing heat during battery thermal events.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If a separate venting system and thermal management system are used, then each system can be optimized independently, but the overall device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the vent manifold and coolant manifold into a single integrated manifold structure. The vent manifold includes both vent ports for battery byproducts and coolant passages for thermal management, allowing both functions to coexist in one component. This reduces the number of separate parts and simplifies the overall system architecture while maintaining independent functionality for both venting and cooling operations.
Solution Approach 2:
The integrated manifold serves multiple functions simultaneously: it acts as a venting pathway for battery byproducts, a coolant distribution system, and a structural support element. The vent manifold specifically provides both vent ports for gas/liquid byproducts and internal coolant passages, making a single component perform what previously required separate systems.
2Ease of manufacture
If battery byproducts are vented directly without cooling, then the venting process is simpler, but thermal propagation risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The coolant acts as an intermediary substance that transfers heat from the battery byproducts to the thermal management system. The coolant flows through passages within the vent manifold, absorbing heat from byproducts as they pass through the vent ports, thereby cooling the byproducts before they are discharged to the exterior environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the thermal energy contained in hot battery byproducts into a beneficial cooling effect. Instead of treating the thermal energy as purely harmful, the system uses it to pre-cool the byproducts through heat exchange with circulating coolant, reducing the thermal load on the exterior environment and preventing thermal propagation to adjacent battery modules.
3Temperature
If coolant passages are added to the vent manifold, then thermal management during venting improves, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The coolant passages are nested within the walls and structure of the vent manifold itself. Rather than adding separate external cooling components, the thermal management channels are integrated into the manifold's internal architecture, with coolant flow paths routed through the manifold body to maximize heat exchange efficiency while minimizing additional manufacturing steps.
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 system effectively expels battery vent byproducts and manages thermal events by cooling them with a coolant before discharge, preventing thermal propagation and maintaining battery array stability.
Implementation Method 1
a heat exchanger fluidly connected to the vent manifold and the main coolant passage and configured to facilitate a heat transfer between the battery vent byproduct and the coolant
Data Source
AI summary
Thermal management and venting systems are provided for traction battery packs. An exemplary thermal management and venting system may include a vent manifold and a main coolant passage extending through the vent manifold. The vent manifold may be configured to expel a battery vent byproduct from the traction battery pack during a battery thermal event, and the main coolant passage may be configured to communicate a coolant for thermally managing a battery array of the traction battery pack. A heat exchanger of the thermal management and venting system may be configured to facilitate heat transfer between the battery vent byproduct and the coolant prior to expelling the battery vent byproduct from the traction battery pack.