Cooling system for vehicle batteries

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9647249-B2
Application number	US-201213352145-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jan 17, 2012
Priority date	Jan 17, 2012
Publication date	May 9, 2017
Grant date	May 9, 2017

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a cooling system for a vehicle battery, having: a cooling plate; an inlet manifold configured to supply fluid from a heat exchanger to the cooling plate; an outlet manifold configured to return fluid to the heat exchanger; and a plurality of micro-conduits formed in the cooling plate, configured to deliver fluid between the inlet manifold and outlet manifold.

First claim

I claim:

1. A cooling system for a vehicle battery, comprising:
a cooling plate;
an inlet manifold configured to supply fluid from a heat exchanger to the cooling plate;
an outlet manifold configured to return fluid to the heat exchanger; and
a plurality of micro-conduits formed in the cooling plate, configured to deliver fluid between the inlet manifold and outlet manifold, wherein one of the inlet manifold or outlet manifold is positioned between a first and second set of micro-conduits formed in the cooling plate.

2. The cooling system of claim 1 , further comprising:
an inlet at an end of the inlet manifold; and
an outlet at an end of the outlet manifold.

3. The cooling system of claim 2 , wherein the inlet has a varying cross-sectional area.

4. The cooling system of claim 2 , wherein the inlet and outlet are positioned at a common end of the cooling system.

5. The cooling system of claim 2 , wherein the inlet and outlet are positioned collinearly with respect to the cooling plate.

6. The cooling system of claim 1 , wherein the micro-conduits are channels.

7. The cooling system of claim 1 , wherein the micro-conduits are grooves.

8. The cooling system of claim 7 , wherein at least some of the micro-conduits in the plurality of micro-conduits are interconnected.

9. The cooling system of claim 8 , further comprising:
fins incorporated between interconnected micro-conduits.

10. A vehicle battery package, comprising:
a plurality of battery cells;
a cooling plate adjacent the battery cells;
an inlet manifold or outlet manifold configured to extend along a center section of the cooling plate; and
a plurality of micro-conduits formed in the cooling plate, configured to deliver fluid between the inlet manifold and outlet manifold, wherein the battery cells are positioned on each side of the inlet or outlet manifold.

11. A vehicle battery package, comprising:
a plurality of battery cells;
a cooling plate adjacent the battery cells;
an inlet manifold or outlet manifold configured to extend along a center section of the cooling plate;
a plurality of micro-conduits formed in the cooling plate, configured to deliver fluid between the inlet manifold and outlet manifold; and
an inlet at the end of the inlet manifold, wherein the inlet has a varying cross-sectional area.

12. The vehicle battery pack of claim 11 , further comprising:
an outlet at an end of the outlet manifold, wherein the outlet has a varying cross-sectional area.

13. The vehicle battery pack of claim 12 , wherein the inlet and outlet are positioned at a common end of the cooling system.

14. The vehicle battery pack of claim 10 , wherein the micro-conduits are channels.

15. The vehicle battery pack of claim 10 , wherein the micro-conduits are grooves.

16. The vehicle battery pack of claim 15 , further comprising:
fins incorporated between interconnected grooves.

17. The cooling system of claim 3 , wherein the inlet extends from the inlet manifold along an axis, the inlet at a first axial distance from the inlet manifold having a first cross-sectional diameter, the inlet at a second axial distance from the inlet manifold having a second cross-sectional diameter that is greater than the first cross-sectional diameter, the second axial distance greater than the first axial distance.

18. The cooling system of claim 8 , wherein at least some of the micro-conduits are interconnected such that some of the fluid within one of the micro-conduits can pass through another one of the microconduits.

Assignees

• Boddakayala Bhaskara
• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Boddakayala Bhaskara

Classifications

• H01M10/613 Primary

  Cooling or keeping cold · CPC title

• H01M2220/20

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

• H01M10/6556

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

• H01M10/625 Primary

  Vehicles · CPC title

• H01M10/647

  Prismatic or flat cells, e.g. pouch cells · CPC title