Corrugated Fin Cooling Plate for Uniform Battery Temperature
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing cooling devices for vehicles, such as electric and hybrid vehicles, face inefficiencies in cooling batteries and other heat-generating components due to temperature variations across their surfaces, leading to non-uniform cooling.
Innovation Solution
The cooling device incorporates corrugate fins positioned by stoppers that are arranged in a staggered manner perpendicular to the fluid flow direction, allowing for homogeneous fluid distribution and reducing turbulence, with connecting holes serving as both inlets and outlets for enhanced flexibility.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If coolant channels are provided inside a cooling plate arranged at the bottom of the battery, then the battery can be cooled by vaporization heat of coolant, but temperature deviation occurs on the cooling device surface due to thermal boundary layers created between battery cells
Solution Approach 1:
The patent employs corrugate fins with wavy/curved surfaces instead of flat planar fins. The corrugated structure creates varying flow paths and disrupts thermal boundary layers, promoting more uniform heat distribution across the cooling device surface while maintaining effective cooling contact with battery cells.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention introduces a third dimension by adding corrugations to the fin structure, transforming flat 2D fins into 3D corrugated fins. This dimensional change increases surface area, creates turbulence in coolant flow, and eliminates stagnant thermal boundary layers, thereby improving temperature uniformity across the cooling surface.
2Power
If radiator fins are attached to aluminum flat pipe with parallel coolant channels, then cooling capacity is provided, but homogeneous cooling of battery and power devices cannot be achieved due to surface temperature variation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces flat radiator fins with corrugate fins having wavy surfaces. This curvature disrupts laminar flow patterns, creates turbulence that enhances heat transfer, and eliminates thermal boundary layers that cause temperature deviation, thereby achieving more uniform temperature distribution while maintaining cooling capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The invention changes the geometric parameters of the fins from flat to corrugated, altering the flow characteristics and heat transfer parameters. The corrugations modify the coolant velocity distribution and pressure drop characteristics, leading to improved thermal uniformity across the cooling device surface.
3Manufacturing precision
If stoppers are used to fix corrugate fins at heat transmission sites, then temperature variation is suppressed and homogeneous cooling is achieved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent integrates the stoppers as integral parts of the cooling device structure, merging the fin positioning function with the existing cooling plate or fin support structure. This consolidation reduces the number of separate components while achieving the desired fin positioning for optimal heat transmission and temperature uniformity.
Solution Approach 2:
The stoppers are designed to automatically position and secure the corrugate fins at optimal locations during assembly. The fins self-align with the stoppers, eliminating the need for complex positioning mechanisms or additional adjustment steps, thereby reducing overall device complexity while ensuring proper heat transmission contact.
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 configuration ensures homogeneous and efficient cooling of heat-generating elements by minimizing temperature variations and simplifying installation, while reducing the number of parts and facilitating easy assembly.
Implementation Method 1
the battery is cooled by transferring heat of the battery to the cooling device thus cooled
Implementation Method 2
cooled by vaporization heat of coolant supplied to the coolant channel
Implementation Method 3
a coolant channel is provided inside a cooling plate... coolant supplied to the coolant channel thereby cooling the battery
Data Source
Figure 1(a)~1(b)
Figure 2(a)~2(b)
Figure 3
AI summary
To provide a cooling device that cools a heating element such as a battery homogeneously and efficiently, by suppressing a temperature variation on a surface of the cooling device while suppressing an increase in a temperature variation of the heating element. The cooling device comprises: an upper plate 10 serving as a heat receiving surface; a lower plate 20 arranged parallel to the upper plate across a fluid passage 2; and a corrugate fin 30 interposed between the upper plate and the lower plate. A plurality of the corrugate fins are arranged perpendicular to the fluid passage at predetermined intervals in a flowing direction of fluid, and both side edges of each of the corrugate fins in the flowing direction of the fluid are supported by stoppers protruding from the upper plate or the lower plate. The upper plate and the lower plate are joined to each other through pedestals 21 each of which bulges from any one of the upper plate and the lower plate to be fixed to the other one of the upper plate and the lower plate, and a peripheral edge of the upper plate and a peripheral edge of the lower plate are joined to each other.