PCB Laminate Battery Clamshell for Lightweight Air Cooling
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Solution Overview
Problem
Developing battery modules for applications like aircraft poses challenges in mechanically and electrically coupling large numbers of battery cells while minimizing weight, resisting shock and vibration, and ensuring thermal management, particularly with lithium batteries, where liquid cooling is impractical and thermal runaway and fire protection are concerns.
Innovation Solution
A battery module clamshell plate constructed from stacked laminate layers, including a top, bottom, and middle laminate layer, which can incorporate printed circuit board (PCB) layers for mechanical support, electrical connections, and thermal management, using friction fits or adhesives for assembly, and incorporating bus bars, heat tracing, and sensors for efficient thermal and electrical management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If battery cells are mechanically and electrically coupled together in large numbers, then the battery module capacity increases, but the weight and structural complexity increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines multiple functions into the clamshell plate structure: mechanical support, electrical connection pathways, and thermal management integration. The laminate construction merges structural layers with functional layers (conductive pathways, cooling channels) into a single integrated component, reducing the need for separate structural and functional elements that would add weight.
Solution Approach 2:
The clamshell plate serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides mechanical support for battery cells, establishes electrical connections between cells, incorporates thermal management pathways, and provides structural protection. This multi-functionality eliminates the need for separate components for each function, thereby reducing overall weight.
2Temperature
If liquid cooling systems are implemented for thermal management, then cooling efficiency improves, but system complexity and weight increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the thermal management function from a separate liquid cooling system and integrates it directly into the clamshell plate structure. Cooling channels are incorporated within the laminate layers of the clamshell itself, eliminating the need for external liquid cooling pumps, reservoirs, and complex fluid circulation systems.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent utilizes air cooling through integrated channels within the clamshell plate structure. The laminate construction incorporates pathways that allow air flow between and around battery cells, providing thermal management through simpler gaseous convection rather than liquid cooling systems.
3Strength
If laminate layers are stacked and connected together, then structural strength and thermal management improve, but manufacturing complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The clamshell plate is constructed from multiple discrete laminate layers that can be manufactured separately and then assembled by stacking. This segmentation allows each layer to be optimized for its specific function (structural support, electrical conductivity, thermal pathways) and manufactured using appropriate processes, then combined through relatively simple stacking and connection operations.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention is a battery clamshell plate comprising a plurality of laminate layers stacked and connected together. The laminate layers may be made of printed circuit board (PCB). The laminate layers may have cut outs to house battery cells, of which the battery cells are connected to the battery clamshell plate by friction or mechanical means. The invention considers strategies to minimize weight and to ensure resistance to shock and vibration failures. This invention also considers air cooling in between cells.