Low profile battery assembly for electrified vehicles

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10199699-B2
Application number	US-201615388198-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 22, 2016
Priority date	Nov 12, 2014
Publication date	Feb 5, 2019
Grant date	Feb 5, 2019

Abstract

A battery assembly includes a plurality of battery cells and a support structure positioned about the plurality of battery cells. The support structure includes at least one sidewall and the at least one sidewall includes a first flange that extends adjacent a top surface of each of the plurality of battery cells and a second flange that extends beyond a bottom surface of each of the plurality of battery cells.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A battery assembly, comprising:
a cold plate;
a plurality of battery cells atop said cold plate;
a sidewall including a first flange adjacent a top surface of said plurality of battery cells and a second flange extending beyond a bottom surface of each of said plurality of battery cells to a position that is adjacent to a side of said cold plate, said second flange directly attached to said side; and
a weld bead configured to secure said second flange to said side.

2. The assembly as recited in claim 1 , comprising a thermal interface material compressed between said cold plate and said plurality of battery cells.

3. The assembly as recited in claim 1 , wherein said sidewall includes a first height that is greater than a second height of said plurality of battery cells.

4. The assembly as recited in claim 1 , wherein said sidewall is part of a support structure of said battery assembly.

5. The assembly as recited in claim 4 , wherein said support structure includes opposing endwalls and opposing sidewalls.

6. The assembly as recited in claim 1 , wherein said first flange wraps around a portion of said top surface of each of said plurality of battery cells.

7. The assembly as recited in claim 1 , wherein said first flange extends in a plane that is transverse to said second flange.

8. The assembly as recited in claim 1 , wherein said first flange extends in a first plane and said second flange extends in a second plane that is parallel to said first plane.

9. The assembly as recited in claim 1 , comprising a tray, and said sidewall is attached to said tray.

10. A battery assembly, comprising:
a cold plate;
a plurality of battery cells atop said cold plate;
a sidewall including a first flange adjacent a top surface of said plurality of battery cells and a second flange extending beyond a bottom surface of each of said plurality of battery cells to a position that is adjacent to a side of said cold plate, said second flange directly attached to said side,
wherein said sidewall includes a body extending between said first flange and said second flange, wherein said second flange includes a flared portion that flares outwardly from said body.

11. A battery assembly, comprising:
a tray;
a cold plate positioned on said tray;
a battery cell positioned on said cold plate and including a sidewall attached to one of said tray and said cold plate and extending beyond a bottom surface of said battery cell; and
a weld bead configured to secure said sidewall to said tray or said cold plate.

12. The assembly as recited in claim 11 , wherein said sidewall includes a first flange that wraps around a portion of a top surface of said battery cell.

13. The assembly as recited in claim 11 , wherein said sidewall includes a second flange that extends to a position adjacent to a side of said cold plate.

14. The assembly as recited in claim 11 , wherein said sidewall is secured to said tray or said cold plate with a plurality of weld beads.

15. The assembly as recited in claim 11 , comprising a second sidewall secured to said tray or said cold plate with a second weld bead.

16. The assembly as recited in claim 15 , wherein said weld bead is located on a first side of said tray or said cold plate and said second weld bead is located on a second side of said tray or said cold plate.

17. The assembly as recited in claim 11 , wherein said sidewall includes a plurality of weight reducing openings.

18. The assembly as recited in claim 11 , wherein said weld bead is a continuous weld bead that extends along an entire span length of said cold plate.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Schreiber Stuart
• Maguire Patrick Daniel
• Subramanian Rajaram
• Popyk Edward
• Kearney Keith

Classifications

• H01M50/209 Primary

  adapted for prismatic or rectangular cells (H01M50/216 takes precedence) · CPC title

• H01M2220/20

  Batteries in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane · CPC title

• B60L11/1874

  Operations & Transport · mapped topic

• H01M10/625

  Vehicles · CPC title

• H01M2/1077

  Electricity · mapped topic