Battery Cooling Plate Assembly for Uniform Low-Flow Heat Exchange
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cooling systems for batteries in electric or hybrid motor vehicles face challenges in maintaining a uniform temperature profile, particularly when cooling multiple batteries simultaneously. High thermal inertia fluids require high fluid flow rates, leading to oversized coolant handling systems and increased parasitic power consumption. Two-phase refrigerant cooling can result in sharp temperature discontinuities and dry-out phenomena, detrimental to battery life and performance.
Innovation Solution
A plate assembly for a heat exchanger comprising a first plate, a second plate, and an intermediate plate, where the intermediate plate is joined to the first and second plates at peripheral edges to create a sealed periphery. The intermediate plate has corrugations that separate two volumes, allowing for hydraulically separate or communicating fluid paths between the plates, enabling efficient heat transfer and uniform temperature maintenance.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If high thermal inertia fluid is used for cooling batteries, then uniform temperature profile is maintained, but fluid flow rate must be very high leading to oversized coolant handling system
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system is divided into multiple independent cooling circuits, each serving specific battery modules. This segmentation allows each circuit to operate at optimized flow rates rather than requiring one massive high-flow circuit to cool all batteries simultaneously, thus maintaining temperature uniformity without prohibitively high overall flow rates.
Solution Approach 2:
The system dynamically adjusts coolant flow distribution to match varying heat loads of different battery modules. By making the flow rate adaptive rather than static, the system maintains optimal cooling efficiency across all batteries without requiring continuously high flow rates, reducing the size of coolant handling equipment.
2Reliability
If multiple batteries are cooled in parallel with high fluid flow rates, then each battery receives adequate cooling, but the coolant handling system becomes prohibitively oversized
Solution Approach 1:
The parallel cooling architecture is segmented into multiple independent circuits that can be stacked or configured according to the number of batteries. This modular approach allows the coolant handling system size to scale linearly with battery count rather than requiring a single oversized system, making the cooling infrastructure proportionate to the actual cooling demand.
Solution Approach 2:
The coolant handling system is designed with universal components that can serve multiple batteries across different configurations. A single pump and reservoir system can manage multiple cooling circuits through manifold distribution, eliminating the need for dedicated handling equipment for each battery and reducing overall system size.
3Volume of stationary object
If batteries are cooled in series along the coolant circuit, then system size is reduced, but coolant temperature rises causing temperature disparity between batteries
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling system segments the coolant circuit into multiple parallel paths rather than a single series path. This allows each battery or battery module to receive coolant at approximately the same temperature, maintaining thermal uniformity across all batteries while keeping the overall system compact through modular circuit design.
Solution Approach 2:
The system transitions from a one-dimensional series cooling arrangement to a multi-dimensional parallel network. By distributing coolant flow across multiple spatial dimensions and pathways, the system achieves both compact size and temperature uniformity, as each battery receives cooling from the same temperature baseline simultaneously.
4Loss of energy
If two-phase refrigerant is used for cooling, then high effective heat capacity is achieved, but sharp temperature discontinuities occur when refrigerant fully vaporizes
Solution Approach 1:
The system uses an intermediary single-phase liquid coolant to transfer heat from the batteries rather than allowing two-phase refrigerant to contact the batteries directly. This intermediary approach maintains the high heat capacity benefits of phase change cooling while avoiding the temperature instability and dry-out issues that occur when refrigerant fully vaporizes, ensuring continuous temperature stability.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the direct two-phase refrigerant cooling mechanism with a single-phase liquid cooling system that uses convection and conduction for heat transfer. This substitution eliminates the problematic phase change behavior at the battery interface while maintaining effective heat removal through optimized liquid flow and heat exchanger design.
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 solution allows for efficient heat transfer between two separate fluids within a single plate assembly, avoiding the drawbacks of single-phase liquid cooling and two-phase refrigerant cooling. It enables the use of lower flow rates while maintaining a uniform temperature profile, reducing system size and power consumption, and improving battery performance and longevity.
Implementation Method 1
The intermediate plate separates a first volume defined by the intermediate plate and the inwardly facing surfaces of the first plate from a second volume defined by the intermediate plate and the inwardly facing surfaces of the second plate
Data Source
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AI summary
A plate assembly for a heat exchanger includes a first plate, a second plate, and an intermediate plate arranged between the first and second plates. The intermediate plate is joined to the first and second plates at peripheral edges to create a sealed periphery of the plate assembly. Corrugations of the intermediate plate provide crests and troughs that are in contact with inwardly facing surfaces of the first and second plates. The plate assembly can be configured as a battery cooling plate heat exchanger to transfer heat from a battery to fluid flowing through the plate assembly.