Deformable Cooling Columns for Battery Crash Protection
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current battery pack designs for hybrid and electric vehicles face challenges in crashworthiness, weight, and thermal management, as lithium-ion battery packs are unstable under impact and heavy enclosures compromise vehicle range and occupant safety.
Innovation Solution
A novel battery packaging arrangement featuring a base structure with deformable cooling columns that absorb impact forces and provide thermal management, reducing deceleration and weight while protecting the battery cells.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If heavy enclosures are used to protect battery cells during collision, then crashworthiness is improved, but vehicle weight increases and range decreases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent applies beforehand cushioning by incorporating deformable cooling columns between battery cells that are pre-configured to collapse and absorb impact energy during collision. These columns act as predetermined energy-absorbing structures that deform in a controlled manner to protect battery cells from impact forces while being integrated into the cooling system, thus providing crashworthiness without requiring heavy external enclosures.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling columns serve multiple functions: they provide thermal management for battery cells during normal operation and act as energy-absorbing structures during collision. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate protective enclosures, reducing overall vehicle weight while maintaining crashworthiness.
2Reliability
If conventional protective enclosures are used for battery packs, then battery protection during crash is improved, but occupant deceleration increases
Solution Approach 1:
The deformable cooling columns act as intermediary elements positioned between the battery cells and the external environment. During collision, these columns deform and absorb impact energy, serving as a mediator that protects battery cells from direct impact while simultaneously reducing the transmission of deceleration forces to the vehicle structure and occupants.
3Temperature
If separate cooling systems are added to battery packs, then thermal management is improved, but weight and volume increase
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling columns are designed to serve dual purposes: providing thermal management for battery cells during normal operation and acting as energy-absorbing structures during collision. By integrating the cooling function into the same structural elements that provide impact protection, the system avoids the weight and volume penalty of separate cooling systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent merges the cooling function with the protective structure by incorporating cooling channels within the deformable columns. This combination of thermal management and impact protection into a single integrated system reduces overall weight and volume compared to having separate cooling and protective 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
The solution effectively absorbs impact energy, reduces deceleration forces on occupants, and enhances thermal management, achieving a balance between energy density, weight reduction, and crash protection.
Implementation Method 1
Each of the plurality of cooling columns is configured to deform when the second base in response to a force moves towards the first base
Implementation Method 2
A method of an absorbing impact force by a battery packaging arrangement
Implementation Method 3
a plurality of cooling columns inter-disposed between the first base and the second base... provide thermal management
Data Source
AI summary
A battery packaging arrangement. The battery packaging arrangement includes a first base configured to be fixedly coupled to a frame of a vehicle, a second base moveable with respect to the first base, and a plurality of cooling columns inter-disposed between the first base and the second base. Each of the plurality of cooling columns includes a plurality of receiving surfaces for receiving a corresponding plurality of battery cells. Each of the plurality of cooling columns is further configured to deform when the second base in response to a force moves towards the first base.