Electric vehicle battery thermocouple

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10454145-B2
Application number	US-201715409638-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 19, 2017
Priority date	Oct 17, 2013
Publication date	Oct 22, 2019
Grant date	Oct 22, 2019

Abstract

An example electric vehicle battery thermocouple includes a temperature sense lead of a first material, and an electric vehicle battery component of a second material different than the first material.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A method of sensing a temperature of an electric vehicle battery, comprising:
using an electric vehicle battery component as a portion of a thermocouple; and
using the thermocouple when sensing the temperature.

2. The method of claim 1 , further comprising using a temperature sense lead as another portion of the thermocouple.

3. The method of claim 2 , further comprising welding the temperature sense lead to the electric vehicle battery component.

4. The method of claim 2 , further comprising clamping a ring terminal of the temperature sense lead to the electric vehicle battery component to couple the temperature sense lead to the electric vehicle battery component.

5. The method of claim 2 , wherein the temperature sense lead is a first material and the electric vehicle battery component is a second, different material.

6. The method of claim 5 , wherein the temperature sense lead is aluminum or constantan, and the electric vehicle battery component is copper.

7. The method of claim 5 , further comprising coating a junction between the temperature sense lead and the electric vehicle battery component with a third material that different than both the first material and the second material, the third material separating the first material from the second material.

8. The method of claim 5 , wherein the first material interfaces with the second material at a junction, and the method further comprises providing a temperature measurement at the junction using the thermocouple.

9. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electric vehicle battery component is a bus bar.

10. The method of claim 9 , further comprising welding the bus bar to a terminal of an electric vehicle battery.

11. The method of claim 1 , wherein the electric vehicle battery component is a terminal.

12. The method of claim 2 , wherein the electric vehicle battery component is a voltage sense lead.

13. The method of claim 12 , further comprising welding the voltage sense lead to the temperature sense lead.

14. The method of claim 13 , further comprising welding the voltage sense lead and the temperature sense lead to a bus bar.

15. The method of claim 1 , further comprising a bus bar and a terminal, wherein the electric vehicle battery component comprises the bus bar, the terminal, or both, and the bus bar is secured to the terminal with a mechanical fastener.

16. A method of sensing a temperature of an electric vehicle battery, comprising:
estimating a temperature at a junction between a temperature sense lead and a component of the electric vehicle battery based on at least a difference between a first and second voltage, the first voltage developed across a first branch of a thermocouple that includes the temperature sense lead, the second voltage developed across a second branch of the thermocouple that includes the component.

17. The method of claim 16 , wherein the temperature sense lead and the component are dissimilar materials.

18. A method, comprising:
establishing a thermocouple using an electric vehicle battery component of a first material and a temperature sense lead of a second, different material; and
using the thermocouple when estimating a temperature.

19. The method of claim 18 , further comprising using the thermocouple when estimating the temperature at a junction between the electric vehicle battery component and the temperature sense lead.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Turgeon Thomas Joseph
• Kimoto Masahiro

Classifications

• H01M10/48 Primary

  Accumulators combined with arrangements for measuring, testing or indicating the condition of cells, e.g. the level or density of the electrolyte (constructional details of current conducting connections for detecting conditions inside cells or batteries, e.g. details of voltage sensing terminals, H01M50/569) · CPC title

• G01K7/02 Primary

  using thermoelectric elements, e.g. thermocouples · CPC title

• H01M2220/20

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

• G01K7/08

  the object to be measured forming one of the thermoelectric materials, e.g. pointed type · CPC title

• G01K2217/00

  Temperature measurement using electric or magnetic components already present in the system to be measured · CPC title