Assembly and method to maintain clearance to a thermal fin within a battery assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017263986-A1
Application number	US-201615069513-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 14, 2016
Priority date	Mar 14, 2016
Publication date	Sep 14, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

An exemplary battery assembly includes, among other things, a thermal fin, a frame holding the thermal fin, and a stand-off of the frame configured to limit relative movement of the thermal fin toward a thermal exchange plate. An exemplary thermal fin positioning method, includes limiting relative movement of a thermal fin toward a thermal exchange plate using a stand-off disposed upon a battery cell assembly frame.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A battery assembly, comprising:
a thermal fin; a frame holding the thermal fin; and a stand-off of the frame configured to limit relative movement of the thermal fin toward a thermal exchange plate.

2 . The battery assembly of claim 1 , wherein the thermal fin is in-molded together with the frame.

3 . The battery assembly of claim 1 , wherein the thermal fin extends a first distance away from a surface of the frame toward the thermal exchange plate, and the stand-off extends a second distance toward the thermal exchange plate, the second distance greater than the first distance, wherein the surface faces the thermal exchange plate.

4 . The battery assembly of claim 1 , comprising a plate portion of the thermal fin configured to be positioned between axially adjacent electrodes within a battery pack array, and comprising a first foot and a second foot of the thermal fin, the first foot and second foot both extending axially from the plate portion.

5 . The battery assembly of claim 4 , wherein the first foot is positioned between a first pair of stand-offs, and the second foot is positioned between a second pair of the stand-offs.

6 . The battery assembly of claim 4 , wherein the first foot is laterally spaced from the second foot.

7 . The battery assembly of claim 1 , comprising a thermal interface material between the thermal fin and the thermal exchange plate.

8 . The battery assembly of claim 7 , wherein the thermal interface material is a liquid.

9 . The battery assembly of claim 7 , wherein the thermal interface material is a non-liquid.

10 . The battery assembly of claim 7 , wherein the thermal interface material directly contacts the stand-off and the thermal fin.

11 . A thermal fin positioning method, comprising:
limiting relative movement of a thermal fin toward a thermal exchange plate using a stand-off disposed upon a battery cell assembly frame.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the stand-off is integral with the battery frame.

13 . The method of claim 11 , comprising in-molding the thermal fin with the frame.

14 . The method of claim 11 , comprising contacting a thermal interface material with the thermal fin.

15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the thermal interface material is a liquid.

16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the thermal interface material is a non-liquid.

17 . The method of claim 11 , comprising contacting the stand-off against the thermal exchange plate to limit movement of the thermal fin toward the thermal exchange plate.

18 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the thermal fin and the stand-off extend from the frame in the same direction.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Subramanian Rajaram
• Droste Steve
• Jardine John
• Paramasivam Saravanan
• Yum Juil

Classifications

• H01M10/6556

  Solid parts with flow channel passages or pipes for heat exchange (closed pipes H01M10/6552) · CPC title

• H01M10/613 Primary

  Cooling or keeping cold · CPC title

• H01M2220/20

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

• H01M10/6551 Primary

  Surfaces specially adapted for heat dissipation or radiation, e.g. fins or coatings · CPC title

• H01M10/625

  Vehicles · CPC title