Battery Pack Cooling Channels for Uniform Cell Temperature
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing battery packs face challenges in efficiently managing cooling fluid flow resistance and temperature variation across battery cells, leading to localized overheating and reduced performance.
Innovation Solution
The battery pack design includes inlets and outlets positioned to face the narrower side surfaces of battery cells, reducing flow resistance and pressure drop, and employs a closed-loop cooling system with symmetrical fluid flow to enhance cooling efficiency and uniform temperature distribution.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Loss of energy
If inlets and outlets are positioned to face the narrower side surfaces of battery cells, then flow resistance and pressure drop are reduced, but the cooling coverage area is limited
Solution Approach 1:
The patent positions inlets and outlets on side surfaces of the battery cells rather than on the larger main surfaces. This dimensional change in inlet/outlet placement creates a cooling flow pattern that moves perpendicular to the battery stacking direction, reducing flow resistance in the fluid passage while the cooling fluid still covers the necessary heat-generating areas through optimized flow distribution
Solution Approach 2:
The patent applies different cooling strategies to different parts of the battery cell. By positioning inlets and outlets on specific side surfaces and using multiple inlet/outlet pairs, the system creates localized high-velocity cooling zones at the inlet regions and ensures comprehensive coverage through the distributed outlet arrangement, matching cooling intensity to local heat generation characteristics
2Temperature
If cooling fluid flow rate is increased to prevent local overheating, then temperature uniformity is improved, but flow resistance and energy loss increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent divides the cooling system into multiple inlet and outlet pairs distributed across the battery cell surfaces. This segmentation allows the cooling fluid to flow through multiple parallel paths rather than a single high-resistance channel, enabling adequate cooling flow rate while distributing the pressure drop across multiple lower-resistance pathways, thus reducing overall energy loss
Solution Approach 2:
The patent optimizes the hydraulic characteristics of the cooling system by carefully designing the fluid passage geometry and inlet/outlet positioning. The arrangement creates a balanced pressure distribution and optimized flow velocity profile that achieves effective heat removal with minimal pumping power, reducing the energy loss associated with high flow rates
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 improves driving efficiency by minimizing flow resistance and pressure drop, ensuring balanced cooling and preventing local overheating, thereby enhancing the performance and reliability of the battery pack.
Implementation Method 1
cooling fluid which flows through an accommodating space of the housing from the inlets to the outlets and immerses at least a portion of each of the battery cells
Implementation Method 2
increasing the driving efficiency to form a forced flow of cooling fluid due to the reduced flow resistance or reduced pressure drop caused by the reduced flow resistance
Data Source
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AI summary
A battery pack includes battery cells capable of reducing flow resistance of cooling fluid through inlets for inflow of cooling fluid and outlets for outflow of cooling fluid, increasing driving efficiency to form a forced flow of cooling fluid due to the reduced flow resistance or a reduced pressure drop caused by the reduced flow resistance, and reducing temperature variations on different sides of the battery cells, thereby preventing local overheating.