Cell Frame Cooling with Gravity Heat Pipes and Phase-Change Return
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cooling devices for electrical energy storage cells in motor vehicles face challenges in efficiently integrating gravity heat pipes, which are essential for effective waste heat management, while also requiring space-saving and protective features against mechanical forces.
Innovation Solution
The integration of gravity heat pipes within a frame that forms receptacles for energy storage cells, utilizing a working medium that transitions from liquid to gas and back, driven by temperature changes, and is thermally connected to a heat sink, with the frame made from materials like aluminum or magnesium for efficient heat conduction and structural integrity.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If gravity heat pipes are integrated into the frame walls, then ease of manufacture and space utilization are improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The frame and cooling device are merged into a single integrated structure. The frame walls contain cavities that serve as channels for the working medium, eliminating the need for separate cooling components and reducing assembly steps while maintaining effective heat removal from the energy storage cells.
Solution Approach 2:
The frame performs multiple functions simultaneously: it provides mechanical support for the energy storage cells, acts as a structural element of the housing, and serves as a heat conduction path with integrated gravity heat pipes for thermal management. This multi-functionality reduces the total number of components needed.
2Temperature
If the frame is made from materials with good thermal conductivity like aluminum or magnesium, then heat conduction is improved, but strength against mechanical forces may be reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The frame is constructed as a composite structure combining aluminum or magnesium alloy materials that provide both the necessary thermal conductivity for effective heat removal and sufficient mechanical strength to withstand vehicle operation forces. The material composition is optimized to balance thermal and mechanical properties.
3Productivity
If the working medium transitions from liquid to gas and back, then heat transport efficiency is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system utilizes phase transitions of the working medium between liquid and gas states to efficiently transport waste heat. The medium evaporates at the heat source (energy storage cells) absorbing heat, rises as vapor, condenses at the heat sink (housing cover) releasing heat, and returns as liquid to repeat the cycle, providing high heat transfer efficiency without external pumps.
Solution Approach 2:
The gravity heat pipe system is self-regulating and requires no external control mechanisms. The phase change process automatically responds to temperature differences, with the working medium naturally circulating through evaporation and condensation cycles driven by heat transfer needs and gravity, eliminating the need for complex control systems.
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
This solution allows for easy integration of gravity heat pipes, efficient waste heat management, and enhanced protection against mechanical forces, while optimizing space and thermal conductivity, ensuring effective cooling and safety for energy storage cells in electrical energy stores used in motor vehicles.
Implementation Method 1
Gravity heat pipes, or two-phase thermosiphons, are heat exchangers which transport the waste heat by way of heat of evaporation
Implementation Method 2
As soon as the temperature exceeds the boiling point, the working medium evaporates. In other words, the working medium transitions from the liquid state to the gaseous state
Implementation Method 3
The return transport of the condensed working medium is thus effected by the gravitational force
Implementation Method 4
The frame is made from a material with good thermal conductivity, for example aluminum or magnesium
Data Source
AI summary
A cooling device for an electrical energy store for cooling energy storage cells of the electrical energy store, the cooling device comprising gravity-assisted heat pipes having a working medium for absorbing waste heat of the energy storage cells, and a frame having walls for forming receptacles for the energy storage cells, wherein the gravity-assisted heat pipes are integrated into the walls.