Lateral Battery Cell Arrangement with Side Terminals
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional lithium-ion batteries face challenges in achieving high energy and power density while optimizing space, particularly in vehicles, and require improved thermal management and safety features to prevent overheating and explosions.
Innovation Solution
The battery cell design features a base, top, and angled side surfaces with terminals and bursting pressure openings positioned on the side surfaces, allowing for efficient cooling, reduced height, and centralized fluid drainage, along with thermally conductive partitions to manage heat and a layered cooling plate configuration for enhanced thermal management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If battery cells are arranged in dense packets with closely spaced electrodes to increase energy density, then energy and power density are improved, but thermal management becomes more difficult and safety risks increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent repositions terminals from the top surface to the side surface of battery cells, enabling lateral arrangement of cells in the battery pack. This dimensional change allows cooling plates to be placed on top surfaces of cell groups, improving thermal management while maintaining high energy density through optimized space utilization in the lateral direction.
Solution Approach 2:
The battery pack is divided into multiple cell groups, with cooling plates positioned between groups. This segmentation allows distributed thermal management, where each cooling plate handles heat from adjacent cell groups, preventing heat accumulation while maintaining high cell density throughout the pack.
2Ease of manufacture
If terminals and bursting pressure openings are positioned on the top surface of battery cells, then conventional assembly is simplified, but space utilization is reduced and thermal management efficiency decreases
Solution Approach 1:
Terminals are relocated from the vertical top surface to the lateral side surface of battery cells. This positional change in another dimension enables lateral cell arrangement with improved space utilization, while cooling plates can be positioned on top surfaces without interfering with terminal connections.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple cell groups are arranged laterally with shared cooling plates positioned between them. This merging approach allows adjacent cell groups to share thermal management infrastructure, reducing overall space requirements while maintaining manufacturing simplicity through standardized assembly patterns.
3Temperature
If cooling plates are positioned on top and bottom surfaces of battery cells, then thermal management is improved, but height requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent transitions from vertical stacking with top-bottom cooling to lateral arrangement with side cooling. By positioning cooling plates on the sides of laterally arranged cell groups rather than on top and bottom surfaces, thermal management efficiency is maintained while significantly reducing the vertical height of the battery pack.
4Volume of moving object
If battery cells are arranged laterally with terminals on side surfaces, then space optimization is improved, but connection complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
Adjacent cell groups are arranged laterally with shared cooling plates and interconnected terminal systems. This merging approach allows standardized connection patterns to be repeated across the pack, reducing overall complexity despite the lateral arrangement. The modular group structure enables systematic assembly procedures.
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 enhances energy and power density, reduces material costs, and improves safety by enabling effective heat dissipation and fluid management, thereby addressing the challenges of space optimization and thermal safety in lithium-ion batteries.
Implementation Method 1
The battery cells resting with their bases on the first cooling plate and/or that the battery has at least one second cooling plate, with the second cooling plate on the top surfaces of the battery cells are in place
Data Source
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AI summary
The invention relates to a battery cell (10), the body of which has a main surface (19), a cover surface (20) and at least one side surface (18) arranged at an angle to the main surface (19), wherein the maximum extension (22) of the main surface (19) is greater than the height (21) of the battery cell body (10) defined by the side surface (18) and the battery cell (10) comprises the terminals (30) allocated to the respective battery cell poles, wherein the terminals (30) are arranged on at least one side surface (18) of the battery cell (10). The invention further relates to a battery (60) having a plurality of battery cells (10) according to the invention, wherein the battery cells (10), forming the battery (60) in the package (70), are arranged such that the battery poles (62) thereof are located on at least one side surface (18) of the battery cell package (70).