Distribution system for unswitched high voltage power

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11289766-B2
Application number	US-201916680267-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Nov 11, 2019
Priority date	Nov 13, 2018
Publication date	Mar 29, 2022
Grant date	Mar 29, 2022

Abstract

A battery enclosure is provided having unswitched positive and negative terminals that are physically separated. The unswitched positive and negative terminals may be connected to circuit protection components, such as contactors and fuses. The contactors are set to an opened or closed state via a contactor control module. The battery enclosure includes external terminals that electrically couple the battery and circuit protection devices to external components, such as charging ports and electrical loads.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A battery enclosure comprising:
at least one battery cell comprising a first unswitched terminal and a second unswitched terminal;
a first and a second contactor each comprising an unswitched terminal and a switched terminal;
a first and a second busbar; and
a third contactor having a first contactor terminal and a second contactor terminal, wherein:
the first busbar is electrically coupled to the first unswitched terminal of the at least one battery cell and the unswitched terminal of the first contactor;
the second busbar is electrically coupled to the second unswitched terminal of the at least one battery cell and the unswitched terminal of the second contactor;
the first contactor and the second contactor are physically separated by at least a threshold distance within the battery enclosure;
the first contactor terminal of the third contactor is electrically coupled to the switched terminal of the first contactor; and
the second contactor terminal of the third contactor is electrically coupled to a charging port.

2. The battery enclosure of claim 1 , wherein the threshold distance is at least 450 mm.

3. The battery enclosure of claim 1 , wherein the battery enclosure is located within an electric vehicle, and wherein the threshold distance is less than a track of the electric vehicle.

4. The battery enclosure of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first fuse comprising a first fuse terminal and a second fuse terminal, wherein:
the first fuse terminal is electrically coupled to the first unswitched terminal of the at least one battery cell; and
the second fuse terminal is electrically coupled to the unswitched terminal of the first contactor.

5. The battery enclosure of claim 1 , wherein the first unswitched terminal of the at least one battery cell is of positive polarity and wherein the second unswitched terminal of the at least one battery cell is of negative polarity.

6. The battery enclosure of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first region comprising the at least one battery cell;
a second region comprising the first contactor; and
a third region comprising the second contactor, wherein:
the second region and the third region are physically separated by at least the threshold distance.

7. The battery enclosure of claim 6 , wherein the second region and the third region are substantially triangular regions.

8. The battery enclosure of claim 6 , wherein the first region further comprises a plurality of fuses.

9. The battery enclosure of claim 1 , wherein:
the at least one battery cell comprises a plurality of battery cells electrically coupled in series;
the first unswitched terminal of the at least one battery cell is electrically coupled to a positive terminal of a first battery cell, of the plurality of battery cells; and
the second unswitched terminal of the at least one battery cell is electrically coupled to a negative terminal of a second battery cell, of the plurality of battery cells.

10. The battery enclosure of claim 1 , wherein:
a first terminal of a load is electrically coupled to the switched terminal of the first contactor; and
a second terminal of the load is electrically coupled to the switched terminal of the second contactor.

11. The battery enclosure of claim 10 , wherein the load substantially comprises at least one motor of an electric vehicle.

12. The battery enclosure of claim 1 , wherein an electrical potential across the first unswitched terminal and the second unswitched terminal is at least 300 V.

13. The battery enclosure of claim 1 , further comprising:
a contactor control module configured to control a state of the first contactor and the second contactor.

14. The battery enclosure of claim 1 , wherein the contactor control module maintains a same state for the first contactor and the second contactor.

15. The battery enclosure of claim 1 , further comprising:
a contactor control module, wherein:
the contactor control module is configured to control a state of the third contactor, based on detecting an input at the charging port.

16. The battery enclosure of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first fuse comprising a first fuse terminal and a second fuse terminal;
a second fuse comprising a first fuse terminal and a second fuse terminal;
an additional contactor comprising an unswitched terminal and a switched terminal, wherein:
the first fuse terminal of the second fuse and the first fuse terminal of the first fuse are electrically coupled in parallel to the first unswitched terminal of the at least one battery cell;
the second fuse terminal of the second fuse is electrically coupled to the unswitched terminal of the additional contactor; and
the switched terminal of the additional contactor and the switched terminal of the first contactor are electrically coupled.

17. The battery enclosure of claim 1 , further comprising:
an additional contactor comprising an unswitched terminal and a switched terminal, wherein:
the unswitched terminal of the additional contactor and the unswitched terminal of the second contactor are electrically coupled in parallel to the second unswitched terminal of the at least one battery cell;
the switched terminal of the additional contactor and the switched terminal of the second contactor are electrically coupled.

18. The battery enclosure of claim 1 , further comprising:
a first load terminal and a second load terminal located on an exterior of the battery enclosure, wherein:
the first load terminal is electrically coupled to the switched terminal of the first contactor; and
the second load terminal is electrically coupled to the switched terminal of the second contactor.

19. The battery enclosure of claim 18 , wherein the first load terminal and the second load terminal are physically separated by at least the threshold distance.

Assignees

• Rivian Ip Holdings Llc

Inventors

• O'Neil Kyle
• Baseri Ehsan
• Butterfield Kyle
• Wynn Nathaniel C
• Collins Tyler
• Putnam Todd
• Sekar Vignesh

Classifications

• H01M50/296 Primary

  characterised by terminals of battery packs (terminals of batteries H01M50/543) · CPC title

• H01M50/583

  in response to current, e.g. fuses · CPC title

• H01M50/209

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

• H01M50/242

  adapted for protecting batteries against vibrations, collision impact or swelling · CPC title

• H01M50/204

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