Evaporator

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10996002-B2
Application number	US-201916371195-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 1, 2019
Priority date	Oct 12, 2016
Publication date	May 4, 2021
Grant date	May 4, 2021

Abstract

An evaporator evaporates a working fluid by heat from a battery. The evaporator includes at least one evaporation channel connected to the battery in a thermally conductive manner. The evaporator includes a supply channel connected to an upstream end of the evaporation channel, and supplies the working fluid in liquid phase from the supply channel to the evaporation channel. The evaporator includes an outflow channel connected with a downstream end of the evaporation channel, and discharges the working fluid. The outflow channel is disposed above the supply channel, and the supply channel is disposed at a position more insulated from the heat of the battery than the evaporation channel is.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An evaporator constituting a part of a thermosiphon heat pipe in which a working fluid circulates and evaporates by absorbing heat from a battery having at least one battery cell, the evaporator comprising:
a fluid evaporation portion including at least one evaporation channel having an upstream end and a downstream end, the fluid evaporation portion being connected to the battery in a thermally conductive manner and evaporating the working fluid flowing in the at least one evaporation channel by heat of the battery;
a liquid supply portion including a supply channel connected to the upstream end of the at least one evaporation channel, the liquid supply portion supplying the working fluid in liquid phase from the supply channel to the at least one evaporation channel; and
a fluid outflow portion including an outflow channel connected to the downstream end of the at least one evaporation channel, the fluid outflow portion discharging the working fluid which has flowed from the at least one evaporation channel into the outflow channel, wherein
the working fluid flows from the upstream end to the downstream end in the evaporation channel,
the fluid outflow portion is disposed above the liquid supply portion,
the liquid supply portion is disposed at a position more insulated from the heat of the battery than the fluid evaporation portion is,
the at least one battery cell is a plurality of battery cells,
the battery is an assembled battery,
the at least one evaporation channel is a plurality of evaporation channels,
the plurality of evaporation channels are arranged in a stacking direction of the battery cells,
the fluid evaporation portion evaporates the working fluid flowing in the plurality of evaporation channels with heat of the assembled battery,
the upstream ends of the plurality of evaporation channels are connected to the supply channel,
the liquid supply portion distributes and supplies the working fluid in liquid phase from the supply channel to each of the plurality of evaporation channels,
the downstream ends of the plurality of evaporation channels are connected to the outflow channel,
the fluid outflow portion discharges the working fluid which has flowed from each of the plurality of evaporation channels into the outflow channel,
the assembled battery has a battery lateral surface extending along a vertical direction,
the fluid evaporation portion is connected to the battery lateral surface of the assembled battery in the thermally conductive manner, the supply channel faces the battery lateral surface, and
each of the plurality of evaporation channels has a supply-side interposed channel interposed between the battery lateral surface and the supply channel.

2. The evaporator according to claim 1 , wherein
the supply-side interposed channel has a lower end as the upstream end, and an upper end provided downstream of the lower end in flow of the working fluid, and
the lower end of the supply-side interposed channel is connected to a lower part of the supply channel.

3. The evaporator according to claim 1 , wherein
the liquid supply portion has a supply-side partition portion having a wall shape and separating the evaporating channel from the supply channel, and
the supply-side partition portion separates at least the supply-side interposed channel of the evaporation channel from the supply channel.

4. The evaporator according to claim 3 , wherein the supply-side partition portion includes a heat insulating material.

5. The evaporator according to claim 1 , wherein
the fluid evaporation portion has evaporation channel partition walls that partition the plurality of evaporation channels in the stacking direction,
the evaporation channel partition walls have supply-side partition wall portions that separate the supply-side interposed channels from one another in the stacking direction,
each of the supply-side partition wall portions has a through hole forming portion that defines a wall through hole that penetrates through the supply-side partition wall portion in the stacking direction, and
the through hole forming portions are arranged in the stacking direction to constitute the liquid supply portion, and define the supply channel including the wall through holes which are aligned in the stacking direction such that the supply channel extends in the stacking direction.

6. The evaporator according to claim 1 , wherein
the outflow channel faces the battery lateral surface,
each of the plurality of evaporation channels has an outflow-side interposed channel disposed downstream of the supply-side interposed channel in flow of the working fluid, and
the outflow-side interposed channel is interposed between the battery lateral surface and the outflow channel.

7. The evaporator according to claim 6 , wherein
the outflow-side interposed channel has an upper end as the downstream end, and a lower end provided upstream of the upper end in flow of the working fluid, and
the upper end of the outflow-side interposed channel is connected to an upper part of the outflow channel.

8. The evaporator according to claim 7 , wherein
each of the plurality of evaporation channels has an evaporation intermediate channel that is connected to the outflow channel through the outflow-side interposed channel and disposed between the liquid supply portion and the fluid outflow portion in the vertical direction,
the fluid outflow portion has an outflow-side partition portion having a wall shape, separating the outflow-side interposed channel from the outflow channel, and separating the evaporation intermediate channel from the outflow channel,
the outflow-side partition portion has a partition communication hole connected to the evaporation intermediate channel in parallel with the outflow-side interposed channel, the outflow channel communicating with the evaporation intermediate channel through the partition communication hole, and
the partition communication hole is disposed below the outflow channel, and has a size such that a flow of the working fluid is more reduced when passing through the partition communication hole than when passing through the outflow-side interposed channel.

9. An evaporator constituting a part of a thermosiphon heat pipe in which a working fluid circulates and evaporates by absorbing heat from a battery having at least one battery cell, the evaporator comprising:
a fluid evaporation portion including at least one evaporation channel having an upstream end and a downstream end, the fluid evaporation portion being connected to the battery in a thermally conductive manner and evaporating the working fluid flowing in the at least one evaporation channel by heat of the battery;
a liquid supply portion including a supply channel connected to the upstream end of the at least one evaporation channel, the liquid supply portion supplying the working fluid in liquid phase from the supply channel to the at least one evaporation channel; and
a fluid outflow portion including an outflow channel connected to the downstream end of the at least one evaporation channel, the fluid outflow portion discharging the working fluid which has flowed from the at least one evaporation channel into the outflow channel, wherein
the working fluid flows from the upstream end to the downstream end in the evaporation channel,
the fluid outflow portion is disposed above the liquid supply portion,
the liquid supply portion is disposed at a position more insulated from the heat of the battery than the fluid evaporation portion is,
the at least one battery cell is a plurality of battery cells,
the battery is an assembled battery,
the at least one evaporation channel is a plurality of

Assignees

• Denso Corp

Inventors

• Omi Yasumitsu
• Yoshinori Takeshi
• Takeuchi Masayuki
• Miura Koji

Classifications

• H01M10/6552

  Closed pipes transferring heat by thermal conductivity or phase transition, e.g. heat pipes · CPC title

• F28D1/0471

  the conduits having a non-circular cross-section (F28D1/0473, F28D1/0476, F28D1/0478 take precedence) · CPC title

• H01M10/613

  Cooling or keeping cold · CPC title

• Y02E60/10

  Energy storage using batteries · CPC title

• F28F9/0265

  by using guiding means or impingement means inside the header box · CPC title