Battery module and use of such a battery module

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10868345-B2
Application number	US-201816049231-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 30, 2018
Priority date	Aug 1, 2017
Publication date	Dec 15, 2020
Grant date	Dec 15, 2020

Abstract

A battery module comprising at least one battery cell ( 2 ), in particular a lithium-ion battery cell, and a cooling plate ( 3 ) thermally conductively connected to the at least one battery cell ( 2 ), a thermal compensation layer ( 4 ) configured in order to increase the thermal conductivity between the at least one battery cell ( 2 ) and the cooling plate ( 3 ) furthermore being arranged between the at least one battery cell ( 2 ) and the cooling plate ( 3 ), wherein
the thermal compensation layer ( 4 ) is formed from a base material ( 5 ), and furthermore comprises at least one bimetallic actuator ( 6 ), which has a conversion temperature above a temperature of 20° C.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A battery module, comprising
at least one battery cell ( 2 ),
a cooling plate ( 3 ) thermally conductively connected to the at least one battery cell ( 2 ), and
a thermal compensation layer ( 4 ) configured to increase thermal conductivity between the at least one battery cell ( 2 ) and the cooling plate ( 3 ), the thermal compensation layer being arranged between the at least one battery cell ( 2 ) and the cooling plate ( 3 ),
wherein the thermal compensation layer ( 4 ) is formed from a base material ( 5 ) and comprises at least one bimetallic actuator ( 6 ), which has a conversion temperature above 20° C.,
wherein the at least one bimetallic actuator ( 6 ) is separate from the battery cell ( 2 ), and
wherein the bimetallic actuator ( 6 ) is configured to change shape when a temperature of the thermal compensation layer ( 4 ) reaches the conversion temperature, thereby causing a volume of the thermal compensation layer ( 4 ) to increase so that the thermal compensation layer ( 4 ) fills a space between the battery cell ( 2 ) and the cooling plate ( 3 ) and contacts both the battery cell ( 2 ) and the cooling plate ( 3 ), so that the thermal compensation layer ( 4 ) conducts heat from the battery cell ( 2 ) to the cooling plate ( 3 ).

2. The battery module according to the preceding claim 1 , characterized in that the base material ( 5 ) of the thermal compensation layer ( 4 ) is formed from an electrically insulating material ( 7 ).

3. The battery module according to claim 1 , characterized in that the base material ( 5 ) of the thermal compensation layer ( 4 ) is elastically and/or plastically deformable.

4. The battery module according to claim 1 , characterized in that the at least one bimetallic actuator ( 6 ) is arranged inside the base material ( 4 ).

5. The battery module according to claim 1 , characterized in that the at least one bimetallic actuator ( 6 ) is arranged between the at least one battery cell ( 2 ) and the base material ( 5 ).

6. The battery module according to claim 1 , characterized in that the thermal compensation layer ( 4 ) comprises a multiplicity of bimetallic actuators ( 6 ) inside the base material ( 5 ), wherein the multiplicity of bimetallic actuators ( 6 ) are configured to change shape so that the thermal compensation layer ( 4 ) expands when a temperature of the thermal compensation layer ( 4 ) reaches the conversion temperature.

7. The battery module according to claim 1 , characterized in that the at least one bimetallic actuator ( 6 ) is configured in such a way that the at least one bimetallic actuator ( 6 ) has a first shape ( 61 ) above the conversion temperature and a second shape ( 62 ) below the conversion temperature, the first shape ( 61 ) and the second shape ( 62 ) differing.

8. The battery module according to claim 7 , wherein the first shape ( 61 ) has a larger volume than the second shape ( 62 ).

9. The battery module according to claim 1 , characterized in that the thermal compensation layer ( 4 ) furthermore comprises at least one phase change material.

10. A method of operating a battery module according to claim 1 , the method comprising increasing the thermal conductivity between the at least one battery cell ( 2 ) and the cooling plate ( 3 ) during operation of the battery module ( 1 ).

11. The battery module according to claim 1 , wherein the conversion temperature is above 30° C.

12. The battery module according to claim 1 , wherein the conversion temperature is above 40° C.

13. The battery module according to claim 1 , characterized in that the at least one bimetallic actuator ( 6 ) is arranged between the cooling plate ( 3 ) and the base material ( 5 ).

14. The battery module according to claim 13 , characterized in that the at least one bimetallic actuator ( 6 ) is arranged between the at least one battery cell ( 2 ) and the base material ( 5 ).

15. The battery module according to claim 1 , wherein the bimetallic actuator ( 6 ) is configured to expand when a temperature of the thermal compensation layer ( 4 ) reaches the conversion temperature so that the thermal compensation layer ( 4 ) fills an air gap ( 8 ) between the at least one battery cell ( 2 ) and the thermal compensation layer ( 4 ).

Assignees

• Bosch Gmbh Robert

Inventors

• Ruehle Andreas
• Pflueger Claus Gerald
• Seib Jonas
• Koller Torsten

Classifications

• H01M50/20

  Mountings; Secondary casings or frames; Racks, modules or packs; Suspension devices; Shock absorbers; Transport or carrying devices; Holders (structural combination of accumulators with charging apparatus H01M10/46) · CPC title

• H01M10/6554

  Rods or plates · CPC title

• H01M10/613 Primary

  Cooling or keeping cold · CPC title

• H01M10/655

  Solid structures for heat exchange or heat conduction · CPC title

• H01M2220/20

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