Expandable Cooling Lines for Vehicle Battery Thermal Management
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing vehicle batteries face complexity in achieving homogeneous heat dissipation due to poor contact between cooling devices and battery cells.
Innovation Solution
The battery design incorporates plastically deformable cooling lines that expand when filled with a medium, ensuring close contact with battery cells for efficient heat dissipation, and uses thermally conductive materials to enhance heat transfer.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Manufacturing precision
If conventional cooling devices are used with rigid cooling elements, then the structure is simple to manufacture, but the contact between cooling device and battery cells is poor leading to non-uniform heat dissipation
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling lines are designed to be plastically deformable and are expanded from a basic state to an expanded state, transforming the cooling device from a static rigid structure to a dynamic adaptable structure that can conform to battery cell surfaces for uniform heat dissipation
Solution Approach 2:
The physical state of the cooling lines changes from unexpanded to expanded by introducing a medium, altering their volume and shape parameters to achieve better contact with battery cells while maintaining manufacturing simplicity
2Manufacturing precision
If pre-expanded cooling lines are used to ensure good contact, then heat dissipation is uniform, but the device becomes complex to manufacture and install
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling lines are prepared in a basic unexpanded state before installation, allowing easy placement in the housing, and then expanded in situ to achieve the desired contact quality, reversing the conventional sequence of expansion before installation
Solution Approach 2:
Instead of expanding cooling lines before installation as in conventional designs, the invention introduces the cooling lines in a compressed basic state and expands them after installation, inverting the traditional sequence to simplify manufacturing and installation
3Reliability
If rigid cooling lines are used, then the structure is stable, but the risk of damage and coolant leakage in accidents is high
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling lines are designed as plastically deformable flexible structures that can absorb impact forces through deformation, preventing catastrophic failure and coolant leakage in accident scenarios while maintaining structural stability during normal operation
4Manufacturing precision
If complex cooling structures with multiple components are used, then heat dissipation can be effective, but the leak testing and quality control become difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The cooling lines are designed as integrated continuous structures without multiple joints or connections, merging what would traditionally be separate components into a single unit, thereby simplifying leak testing and quality control while maintaining heat dissipation effectiveness
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 design ensures uniform and efficient heat dissipation with reduced risk of damage and coolant leakage, even in accidents, and allows for easy manufacturing and leak testing.
Implementation Method 1
The at least one cooling line is formed from a material which can be plastically deformed by introducing the medium into the cooling line. This 'blowing up' of the cooling lines results in particularly good contact between the cooling device and the at least one battery cell.
Implementation Method 2
The close contact of the cooling device with the at least one battery cell leads to a particularly good, uniform dissipation of the heat released by the at least one battery cell during operation of the cooling device.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2~3
Figure 4
AI summary
The invention relates to a battery (10) for a vehicle, wherein at least one battery cell (12) and a cooling device (24) designed for dissipating heat from the at least one battery cell (12) are arranged in a housing (16, 18, 36) of the battery (10). The cooling device (24) comprises at least one cooling line (22). The at least one cooling line (22) is brought from a normal state into an expanded state, in which it assumes an enlarged volume in comparison with the normal state, by a medium being introduced into said cooling line. Given the presence of the expanded state of the at least one cooling line (22), at least a region of the cooling device (24) is pressed against the at least one battery cell (12). Furthermore, the invention relates to a method for manufacturing such a battery (10).