Vehicle battery unit

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11424503-B2
Application number	US-202016871484-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 11, 2020
Priority date	May 16, 2019
Publication date	Aug 23, 2022
Grant date	Aug 23, 2022

Abstract

A vehicle battery unit includes: a battery module; and a battery case configured to accommodate the battery module. The battery case includes: a case body; and a cover configured to seal an upper opening of the case body, the case body is provided with a front-rear reinforcement member disposed in a bottom portion of the case body and extending in a front-rear direction of a vehicle, and the front-rear reinforcement member includes a first battery support portion which supports the battery module.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A vehicle battery unit comprising:
a battery module; and
a battery case configured to accommodate the battery module, wherein:
the battery case includes: a case body; and a cover configured to seal an upper opening of the case body;
the case body is provided with a front-rear reinforcement member disposed in a bottom portion of the case body and extending in a front-rear direction of a vehicle;
the front-rear reinforcement member includes a first battery support portion which supports the battery module;
the case body is provided with a left-right reinforcement member extending in a vehicle width direction of the vehicle;
a part of the left-right reinforcement member is located above the front-rear reinforcement member;
the part of the left-right reinforcement member has a second battery support portion which supports the battery module;
the left-right reinforcement member includes an upper surface portion, a pair of leg portions extending downward from the upper surface portion, and lower surface portions extending from the pair of leg portions along the bottom portion of the case body;
the second battery support portion is provided in the lower surface portion;
a bolt is fixed on a back of the second battery support portion; and
the front-rear reinforcement member is provided with a through-hole or a notch portion to avoid a bolt head.

2. The vehicle battery unit according to claim 1 , wherein
the front-rear reinforcement member and the left-right reinforcement member are welded at a plurality of locations.

3. The vehicle battery unit according to claim 1 , wherein:
a plurality of the battery modules are provided along the front-rear direction;
the battery case is provided with a plurality of battery cooling units along the front-rear direction; and
the plurality of battery cooling units are fixed to at least one of the first battery support portion and the second battery support portion.

4. A vehicle battery unit comprising:
a battery module; and
a battery case configured to accommodate the battery module, wherein:
the battery case includes: a case body; and a cover configured to seal an upper opening of the case body;
the case body is provided with a front-rear reinforcement member disposed in a bottom portion of the case body and extending in a front-rear direction of a vehicle;
the front-rear reinforcement member includes a first battery support portion which supports the battery module;
a plurality of the battery modules are provided along the front-rear direction;
the battery case is provided with a plurality of battery cooling units along the front-back direction;
the plurality of battery cooling units extend above the front-rear reinforcement member in the vehicle width direction of the vehicle;
the plurality of battery cooling units have at least two different configurations of battery cooling units; and
the front-rear reinforcement member is provided with a misassembly prevention unit configured to prevent erroneous assembly of the plurality of battery cooling units.

5. The vehicle battery unit according to claim 4 , wherein
the battery cooling units having different configurations are configured to have different supply amounts of refrigerant.

6. The vehicle battery unit according to claim 4 , wherein
the battery cooling units having different configurations have different diameters of refrigerant supply ports.

7. The vehicle battery unit according to claim 6 , wherein:
the battery case is provided with:
a supply pipe configured to introduce refrigerant to the plurality of battery cooling units; and
a discharge pipe configured to discharge the refrigerant from the plurality of battery cooling units; and

in a flow direction of the refrigerant flowing through the supply pipe, the diameter of the refrigerant supply port is larger in the battery cooling unit located downstream than in the battery cooling unit located upstream.

8. The vehicle battery unit according claim 4 , wherein:
the misassembly prevention units are a plurality of protrusions provided at different positions in the vehicle width direction of the front-rear reinforcement member; and
the plurality of battery cooling units are provided with protrusion receiving portions corresponding to the positions of the protrusions.

9. The vehicle battery unit according to claim 8 , wherein
the plurality of protrusions are configured by bending parts of the front-rear reinforcement member.

Assignees

• Honda Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Shinoda Ryo
• Koike Eiji
• Yamagishi Yosuke

Classifications

• H01M10/613 Primary

  Cooling or keeping cold · CPC title

• B60L50/64

  Constructional details of batteries specially adapted for electric vehicles · CPC title

• H01M50/289

  characterised by spacing elements or positioning means within frames, racks or packs (spacing elements inside cells other than separators, membranes or diaphragms H01M50/471) · CPC title

• H01M50/244

  Secondary casings; Racks; Suspension devices; Carrying devices; Holders characterised by their mounting method · CPC title

• H01M50/262

  with fastening means, e.g. locks · CPC title