Battery module having a flow-directing configuration in the module housing

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-11437670-B2
Application number	US-201815994602-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	May 31, 2018
Priority date	Jun 7, 2017
Publication date	Sep 6, 2022
Grant date	Sep 6, 2022

Abstract

n a battery module, having a module housing in which a plurality of battery cells are arranged in such a way that a flow space is formed between each two adjacent battery cells and/or between a peripheral battery cell and a wall portion, adjacent to the peripheral battery cell, of the module housing, through which space a cooling fluid can flow for convective cooling of the battery cells, the module housing having an admission opening for admitting cooling fluid into the module housing, and a discharge opening, different from the admission opening, for discharging cooling fluid from the module housing, there is provided, in an inflow region between the admission opening and the plurality of battery cells, a flow-directing configuration that subdivides the inflow region at least locally into different flow regions.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A battery module, having a module housing in which a plurality of battery cells are arranged in such a way that a flow space is formed between each two adjacent battery cells and/or between a peripheral battery cell and a wall portion, adjacent to the peripheral battery cell, of the module housing, through which space a cooling fluid can flow for convective cooling of the battery cells, the module housing having an admission opening for admitting cooling fluid into the module housing, and a discharge opening, different from the admission opening, for discharging cooling fluid from the module housing, there being provided, in an inflow region between the admission opening and the plurality of battery cells, a flow-directing configuration that subdivides the inflow region at least locally into different flow regions, wherein the flow-directing configuration comprises at least two flow-directing sub-configurations that are separate from one another, the at least two flow-directing sub-configurations include a first flow-directing sub-configuration and a second flow-directing sub-configuration, the first flow-directing sub-configuration being located farther upstream in a flow incidence direction than the second flow-directing sub-configuration, the first flow-directing sub-configuration including a first flow-directing wall arrangement and the second flow-directing sub-configuration including a second flow-directing wall arrangement, the first flow-directing wall arrangement being separate from the second flow-directing wall arrangement, the first flow-directing wall arrangement includes at least two diverging first walls that diverge relative to one another and the second flow-directing wall arrangement includes at least a first diverging second wall and a second diverging second wall, the first diverging second wall having a first downstream extent relative to the flow incidence direction and the second diverging second wall having a second downstream extent relative to the flow incidence direction, the first downstream extent being located farther upstream in the flow incidence direction than the second downstream extent, the first flow-directing sub-configuration having said at least two diverging first walls diverging in a first divergence direction, the second flow-directing sub-configuration having said first and second diverging second walls diverging in a second divergence direction, and wherein the first divergence direction is different from the second divergence direction.

2. The battery module according to claim 1 , wherein the flow-directing configuration extends from an initial region, located closer to the admission opening, to the plurality of battery cells.

3. The battery module according to claim 1 , wherein a plurality of flow regions selected from the different flow regions have associated with them a predetermined number of flow spaces that correlate with the associated flow region in terms of fluid mechanics in such a way that the cooling fluid flowing through the associated flow region can flow through them.

4. The battery module according to claim 3 , wherein it is the case for at least one flow region of the plurality of flow regions that the flow spaces associated with a flow region have flowing through them only the cooling fluid flowing through the respective flow region.

5. The battery module according to claim 3 , wherein it is the case for at least a substantial portion of the plurality of flow regions that the flow spaces associated with a flow region have flowing through them only the cooling fluid flowing through the respective flow region.

6. The battery module according to claim 3 , wherein at least two of the plurality of flow regions have the same number of flow spaces respectively associated with them.

7. The battery module according to claim 1 , wherein the at least two first walls having a first thickness that firstly increases in the flow incidence direction and decreases after reaching a maximum thickness and wherein the cooling fluid passes in the same general direction on either side of each of the at least two first walls, the first and second diverging second walls having a second thickness that is constant in the flow incidence direction.

8. The battery module according to claim 1 , wherein the first and the second divergence direction are orthogonal to one another.

9. The battery module according to claim 1 , wherein the at least two diverging first walls have at least at a downstream longitudinal end region of the first flow-directing sub-configuration a greater spacing from one another than at an upstream longitudinal end region of the first flow-directing sub-configuration, and wherein the first and second diverging second walls have at least at a downstream longitudinal end region of the second flow-directing sub-configuration a greater spacing from one another than at an upstream longitudinal end region of the second flow-directing sub-configuration.

10. The battery module according to claim 1 , wherein the plurality of battery cells includes a group of battery cells that are all side-by-side one another, wherein the first diverging second wall and the second diverging second wall both direct the cooling fluid toward the group of battery cells that are all side-by-side one another.

11. The battery module according to claim 1 , wherein the inflow region includes a first wall section and an opposition second wall section that partially defines the cooling fluid flow through the inflow region of the battery module, the at least two diverging first walls of the first flow-directing wall arrangement extending fully from the first wall section to the second wall section.

Assignees

• Roechling Automotive Se & Co Kg

Inventors

• Schmitt Andreas
• Humza Rana Muhammad
• Nies Juliane

Classifications

• H01M50/204

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

• H01M2220/20

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

• H01M10/613 Primary

  Cooling or keeping cold · CPC title

• H01M10/625

  Vehicles · CPC title

• H01M10/6562 Primary

  with free flow by convection only · CPC title