Folded Battery Housing With Sealed Double-Layer Edge
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing sheet metal housings for batteries in motor vehicles face challenges in achieving optimal space-saving arrangement, stability, and corrosion resistance due to manufacturing limitations and complex joint connections, leading to potential contamination and reduced durability.
Innovation Solution
A cuboid housing design with folded sheet metal components featuring a double-layer hem structure and beveled edges, where the upper hem area is tightly connected to the lid, creating a reinforced and sealed environment that prevents corrosion and ensures tightness, allowing for efficient space utilization and protection from external influences.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If deep-drawn or die-cast housing is used, then the housing can be produced with good structural integrity, but the required draft angles prevent optimal space-saving arrangement of batteries
Solution Approach 1:
The housing is segmented into multiple sheet metal components that are folded and joined together, allowing each component to be manufactured independently with optimal geometry while maintaining overall structural integrity. This segmentation enables right-angled corners without draft angles.
Solution Approach 2:
The housing transitions from traditional 3D formed geometries to a folded sheet metal construction, adding the dimension of folding lines and creases. This allows the housing to achieve sharp corners and right angles that are impossible with conventional deep-drawn or die-cast methods.
2Ease of manufacture
If assembled housing with multiple components is used, then the housing can be manufactured flexibly, but the complex joining of numerous components creates leakage risks and reduces tightness
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple sheet metal components are merged through folding and joining operations to create an integrated housing structure. The folding seams are sealed to eliminate leakage paths, combining the manufacturing flexibility of multiple components with the tightness of a unified structure.
Solution Approach 2:
The housing employs composite construction with sheet metal components joined through sealed folding seams. This composite approach combines the formability of sheet metal with sealing mechanisms to achieve both manufacturing flexibility and leakage prevention.
3Reliability
If steel housing with anti-corrosive coating is used, then corrosion protection is provided, but edge misalignment causes corrosion and reduces durability
Solution Approach 1:
The sheet metal components are folded and sealed before final assembly, creating protected edges in advance. This preliminary folding action ensures that cut edges are sealed against corrosion before any potential misalignment can occur during assembly.
Solution Approach 2:
The naturally occurring rounded edges from folding operations, which traditionally increase edge radius and prevent misalignment, are converted into a beneficial feature that inherently protects against corrosion by eliminating the need for precise edge alignment.
4Volume of moving object
If housing walls are folded at right angles with small corner radii, then space-saving battery arrangement is achieved, but the housing stability and rigidity are compromised
Solution Approach 1:
The housing employs controlled curvature at folding seams and edges, creating rounded transitions that maintain structural rigidity while preserving the overall sharp cubic geometry needed for space-efficient battery arrangement. The curvature is localized to stress-bearing areas rather than compromising the entire housing geometry.
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3a~3b
AI summary
The invention relates to a cuboid-shaped housing (1) for receiving a plurality of cuboid-shaped batteries (2) which are intended as an energy source for the traction drive of motor vehicles, in particular automobiles, the housing (1) having a bottom wall (3), first and second side walls (4, 5) peripherally connected to said bottom wall, and a top (6) connected detachably to the free ends of the side walls (4, 5), wherein: the housing (1) is a sheet metal component folded from a sheet metal panel; the side walls (4, 5) are folded in the same orientation at right angles to the bottom wall (3), the free ends of which are folded outwardly at right angles oriented away from the housing interior, and a narrow edge region is turned in the opposite direction such that a double layer (7) is formed; the exposed upper edge region (8) of the double layer (7) is connected in a sealed manner to the top (6); and the cut edge (10) of the edge region lies within the sealed housing region.