Common Cooling Plate Layout for Space-Efficient Battery Stacks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing battery stack cooling systems, particularly in vehicles, face challenges in providing sufficient cooling due to limited space and inefficiencies in typical bottom-side cooling designs, which can impact temperature control, safety, storage capacity, and charging speed.
Innovation Solution
A battery stack design featuring a common cooling plate with apertures that allows for side cooling, providing direct contact and increased surface area with battery cells while maintaining robust support, using connecting elements to secure the cooling plate between supporting side walls and bottom plates across multiple battery modules.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If a common cooling plate is arranged between supporting side walls and bottom plates, then cooling performance is improved through increased surface area contact, but device complexity increases due to additional connection arrangements
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges multiple cooling functions into a single common cooling plate that serves multiple battery modules simultaneously. The cooling plate is positioned between the supporting side walls and bottom plates, providing thermal management across several modules through increased surface area contact, thereby improving cooling performance while consolidating what would otherwise require multiple separate cooling components
Solution Approach 2:
The common cooling plate performs multiple functions: it provides cooling contact with battery cells, serves as a structural support element between side walls and bottom plates, and facilitates coolant distribution across multiple modules. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate cooling and support structures, addressing the complexity issue
2Stability of the object's composition
If connecting elements are used to secure cooling plate, then structural stability is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The connecting elements are integrated within the existing structural framework of the battery module assembly. The cooling plate is nested between the supporting side walls and bottom plates, with connecting elements positioned to secure the cooling plate without requiring external fastening mechanisms, thereby simplifying the manufacturing process while maintaining structural stability
3Volume of moving object
If side cooling with common cooling plate is implemented, then space utilization is improved, but manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling plate is positioned in the vertical dimension between the supporting side walls and bottom plates, utilizing the height direction of the battery stack. This spatial arrangement optimizes volume utilization by employing the vertical space that would otherwise be unused, while the connecting elements provide tolerance compensation to manage manufacturing precision requirements
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
Enhances cooling performance by allowing liquid coolant to flow between multiple battery modules, maintaining temperature within specified ranges, thereby improving safety, storage capacity, and charging speed while optimizing space utilization.
Implementation Method 1
The first common cooling plate is provided with apertures extending through the first common cooling plate. The apertures are configured for allowing each of the connecting elements of the first connection arrangements to extend therethrough and the first common cooling plate to be arranged between the first supporting side wall and the bottom plate of the respective battery module.
Implementation Method 2
Liquid cooling is a popular solution within battery systems for vehicles. This involves pumping coolant through pipes and plates built into the battery packs.
Data Source
AI summary
A battery stack includes a first battery module and a second battery module, each comprising battery cells being stacked in a depth direction of the battery stack. The first and second battery modules comprises a first and a second supporting side wall respectively for supporting the battery cells. The first and second battery modules include a respective bottom support plate, the first and the second battery modules include a respective first connection arrangement connecting the respective bottom plate to the respective first supporting side wall of the respective battery module. The first connection arrangements comprises connecting elements protruding from the bottom plate or from the first supporting side wall of the respective battery modules. A first common cooling plate is arranged between the first supporting side wall and the battery cells in both the first and the second battery modules, the first common cooling plate has apertures extending through the first common cooling plate and allows each of the connecting elements of the first connection arrangements to extend therethrough and the first common cooling plate to be between the first supporting side wall and the bottom plate of the respective battery module.