Press-Hardened EV Battery Tray With Integrated Cooling Channels
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing battery carriers for electric vehicles lack efficient cooling capacity and adequate crash performance, leading to potential thermal issues and mechanical vulnerabilities during crashes.
Innovation Solution
A battery tray made from a hot-formed and press-hardened steel alloy with integrated cooling channels and angled side walls, featuring a serpentine pattern and additional beads for enhanced heat dissipation and crash resistance, coupled with a cover plate for fluid-tight cooling medium passage.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Temperature
If a conventional battery tray structure is used, then manufacturing is simpler, but cooling capacity is insufficient
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling channel structure is integrated directly into the battery tray floor as an integral component made from the same hot-formed steel alloy. This merging of the cooling system with the structural tray eliminates the need for separate cooling components, thereby improving cooling capacity while avoiding the complexity of assembling multiple parts. The cooling channels are formed as embossed features or ribs within the tray floor itself.
Solution Approach 2:
The battery tray floor serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides structural support for the batteries and integrates the cooling channel structure for thermal management. This multi-functionality allows the same component to fulfill both mechanical and thermal management roles, improving cooling capacity without adding separate dedicated cooling structures.
2Strength
If standard steel alloy is used, then material costs are lower, but crash performance is inadequate
Solution Approach 1:
The patent specifies using a hardenable steel alloy with tensile strength of at least 1200 MPa, which is a significant parameter change from standard steel alloys. This high-strength material is then subjected to hot-forming and press-hardening processes that further enhance its mechanical properties. The parameter change in material strength directly improves crash performance while the integrated design minimizes the total material quantity required.
Solution Approach 2:
The battery tray is made from a composite structure involving hot-formed steel alloy with specific mechanical properties (tensile strength ≥1200 MPa). The combination of the base steel alloy with the hot-forming and press-hardening treatment creates a composite material system that achieves superior crash performance. The anti-corrosion protective coating (aluminum-silicon-based and/or zinc-based) adds another layer, creating a multi-layer composite protection system.
3Temperature
If cooling channels are added as separate components, then cooling capacity improves, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling channel structure is merged with the battery tray floor to form a single integral component. The cooling channels are created as embossed features or ribs during the hot-forming process itself, rather than being added as separate manufactured parts. This integration eliminates the need for additional manufacturing steps for separate cooling components, thereby improving heat dissipation while maintaining cost-effective production.
Solution Approach 2:
The cooling channel structure is formed during the initial hot-forming and press-hardening process of the battery tray, before final assembly. By creating the cooling channels as integral features during the primary manufacturing process, the patent avoids subsequent complex assembly operations and reduces overall production complexity. The cooling channels are preliminarily formed as part of the tray structure itself.
4Temperature
If the contact surface is made flat, then heat transfer area is maximized, but cooling channel volume is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling channel structure utilizes the thickness dimension of the battery tray floor to create volumetric cooling channels, rather than only expanding in the planar dimensions. By forming embossed features or ribs that protrude through the floor thickness, the patent creates three-dimensional cooling pathways that provide sufficient cooling channel volume while maintaining a flat contact surface for optimal thermal contact with battery undersides.
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 optimizes heat transfer and cooling capacity while reducing material and production costs, while also enhancing crash performance by minimizing mechanical deformation and protecting batteries during impacts.
Implementation Method 1
heat transfer is able to occur by means of heat conduction from the battery floor into the cooling channels
Implementation Method 2
a sheet metal blank made of a hardenable steel alloy is used, for example 22 MnB5... The battery tray is made from a hot-formed and press-hardened component
Data Source
AI summary
A battery carrier for an electric vehicle having a battery tray produced as a hot-formed and press-hardened component from a sheet steel plate, having a floor and side walls rising from the floor with a flange encircling the top of the battery tray and projecting outwards. A cooling channel structure is formed integrally in the floor and made from one material, wherein a cover plate is arranged on the floor in the battery tray or a cover plate is arranged underneath the floor of the battery tray in such a way that cooling channels are formed between the cooling channel structure and the cover plate.