Thermal insulation of a battery having an elevated operating temperature

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10424766-B2
Application number	US-201515509260-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Aug 5, 2015
Priority date	Sep 22, 2014
Publication date	Sep 24, 2019
Grant date	Sep 24, 2019

Abstract

A battery housing including at least one interior space for accommodating at least one battery, and including at least one contact element which, in a connection position, establishes a connection to a counter-contact element, the connection passing through the battery housing out of the interior space and/or into the interior space, the connection being cut off in an out-of-contact position with the counter-contact element, the counter-contact element being situated on an insulation component movable relative to the battery housing, which is movable from a first position, in which the counter-contact element and the contact element are in the connection position, into a second position, in which the counter-contact element and the contact element are in the out-of-contact position, the contact element being thermally insulated in the out-of-contact position by the insulation component.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A battery housing including at least one interior space for accommodating a battery, and including at least one contact element and a counter-contact element, wherein the counter-contact element is situated on an insulation component which is movable relative to the battery housing, the insulation component being movable from a first position, in which the counter-contact element and the contact element are in a connection position, into a second position, in which the counter-contact element and the contact element are in an out-of-contact position, wherein in the connection position, the contact element and the counter contact element together establish a connection, passing through the battery housing, between the interior space of the battery housing and external to the battery housing, the connection being an electrical connection, or a data connection, or a fluid connection, and wherein in the out-of-contact position, the connection is cut off and the contact element is thermally insulated by the insulation component.

2. The battery housing as recited in claim 1 , wherein at least one of the insulation component and a material coating the interior space, is formed, at least in sections, from a thermal insulation material, the thermal insulation material being a vacuum insulation material.

3. The battery housing as recited in claim 1 , wherein to restore the connection, the insulation component is movable via a linear movement from the second position back into the first position, the movement taking place in parallel to the battery housing and orthogonally to the connection.

4. The battery housing as recited in claim 1 , wherein the insulation component is integrally formed with the battery housing.

5. The battery housing as recited in claim 1 , wherein the insulation component is a plate, which is at least one of slidable and rotatable, relative to the battery housing.

6. The battery housing as recited in claim 1 , further comprising a spring element, the spring configured to apply a force to the contact element, wherein in the connection position, the contact element abutting the counter-contact element in at least a force-fitting manner.

7. The battery housing as recited in claim 1 , wherein the insulation component is operationally connected to an electromagnet and to a return spring in such a way that the insulation component is movable from the second position into the first position for establishing the connection via a mechanism when the electromagnet is energized and a force is applied to the return element, and the insulation component is movable from the first position into the second position as a result of the return force of the return element and cuts off the connection when the electromagnet is de-energized.

8. The battery housing as recited in claim 1 , wherein a battery having an operating temperature of 20° C. to 1,000° C. is accommodated in the interior space.

9. The battery housing as recited in claim 1 , wherein a battery having an operating temperature of 40 C. to 400 C. is accommodated in the interior space.

10. The battery housing as recited in claim 1 , wherein a battery having an operating temperature of 60° C. to 140° C. is accommodated in the interior space.

11. A battery-operated device, including a battery housing having an interior space for accommodating a battery, including at least one contact element and a counter-contact element, wherein the counter-contact element is situated on an insulation component which is movable relative to the battery housing, the insulation component being movable from a first position, in which the counter-contact element and the contact element are in a connection position, into a second position, in which the counter-contact element and the contact element are in an out-of-contact position, wherein in the connection position, the contact element and the counter contact element together establish a connection, passing through the battery housing, between the interior space of the battery housing and external to the battery housing, the connection being an electrical connection, or a data connection, or a fluid connection, and wherein in the out-of-contact position, the connection is cut off and the contact element is thermally insulated by the insulation component.

12. The battery-operated device as recited in claim 11 , wherein the device is one of a power tool, a garden tool, a computer, a notebook, a PDA, a mobile telephone, a hybrid vehicle, a plug-in hybrid vehicle, an electric vehicle, or an electric motor vehicle.

13. A method for thermally insulating a battery having an elevated operating temperature, comprising:
accommodating the battery in an interior space of a thermally insulated battery housing, the battery housing including at least one contact element and a counter-contact element which, in a connection position of the counter-contact element and the contact element, the counter-contact element and the contact element together establish a connection, passing through the battery housing, between the interior space of the battery and external to the battery, the connection being an electrical connection, or a data connection, or a fluid connection, and the connection being cut off when the counter-contact element and the contact element are in an out-of-contact position;
cutting off the connection passing between the interior space of the battery housing and external to the battery housing as a result of the cutoff of the contact element from a counter-contact element when the battery is taken out of operation, the counter-contact element being situated on an insulation component movable relative to the battery housing, which is moved linearly from a first position, in which the counter-contact element and the contact element are in the connection position, into a second position in parallel to the battery housing and orthogonally to the connection, in which the counter-contact element and the contact element are in the out-of -contact position;
thermally insulating the contact element at a contact surface of the contact element by the insulation component, the thermally insulating component being moved onto the contact surface of the contact element, wherein the contact surface is a surface of the contact element that contacts the counter-contact element when the counter-count element and the contact element are in the connection position; and
restoring the connection by coupling the contact element to the counter-contact element when putting the battery into operation via a linear movement of the insulation component from the second position back into the first position, the insulation component being guided in parallel to the battery housing and orthogonally to the connection.

Assignees

• Bosch Gmbh Robert

Inventors

• Tenzer Martin
• Fanous Jean
• Poehler Joerg

Classifications

• H01M10/058 Primary

  Construction or manufacture · CPC title

• H01M50/204

  Racks, modules or packs for multiple batteries or multiple cells · CPC title

• H01M2220/20

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

• H01M2220/30

  Batteries in portable systems, e.g. mobile phone, laptop · CPC title

• H01M10/0525

  Rocking-chair batteries, i.e. batteries with lithium insertion or intercalation in both electrodes; Lithium-ion batteries · CPC title