Traction battery assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9929388-B2
Application number	US-201514694388-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 23, 2015
Priority date	Apr 23, 2015
Publication date	Mar 27, 2018
Grant date	Mar 27, 2018

Abstract

A traction battery assembly includes first and second arrays each having cells with terminals on a terminal side of the array. The arrays are arranged with the terminal sides facing each other. A thermal plate is disposed between the arrays and is in contact with the terminal sides. A busbar mechanically and electrically connects a terminal of a cell in the first array to a terminal of a cell in the second array.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A traction battery assembly comprising:
first and second arrays each including cells having terminals on a terminal side of the array, and arranged with the terminal sides facing each other; and
a thermal plate disposed between the arrays and in contact with the terminal sides, wherein a terminal of a cell in the first array is mechanically and electrically connected to a terminal of a cell in the second array via a busbar.

2. The assembly of claim 1 wherein another terminal of the cell in the first array is mechanically and electrically connected to a terminal of another cell in the second array via another busbar.

3. The assembly of claim 1 wherein each of the cells further includes a vent arranged on the terminal side of the array.

4. The assembly of claim 3 wherein the thermal plate defines a channel in fluid communication with at least one of the vents.

5. The assembly of claim 2 wherein the cell of the first array and the cell of the second array are positioned directly across from each other.

6. The assembly of claim 5 wherein a major side of the cell of the second array is disposed against a major side of the another cell of the second array.

7. A traction battery assembly comprising:
first and second arrays each including cells having terminals on a terminal side of the array, and arranged with the terminal sides facing each other, wherein a cell of the first array is mechanically and electrically coupled to a coplanar cell of the second array via a first busbar and to another cell of the second array that abuts the coplanar cell via a second busbar.

8. The assembly of claim 7 further comprising a thermal plate disposed between the first and second arrays and engaging with the terminal side of each array.

9. The assembly of claim 8 wherein each of the cells includes a vent disposed on the terminal side.

10. The assembly of claim 9 wherein the thermal plate defines a vent channel that is in fluid communication with at least one of the vents.

11. The assembly of claim 7 wherein each of the cells includes a major side extending substantially perpendicular to the terminal side, and wherein the cells of the first and second arrays are arranged in a stack with the major side of each of the cells engaging the major side of an adjacent cell.

12. The assembly of claim 7 wherein each of the first and second arrays defines a longitudinal axis, and the longitudinal axis of the first array is substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of the second array.

13. The assembly of claim 12 wherein a major axis of the first busbar is substantially perpendicular to the longitudinal axes of the arrays.

14. The assembly of claim 13 wherein a major axis of the second busbar is angled between 15 and 85 degrees, inclusive, relative to the longitudinal axis of the first array.

15. A traction battery assembly comprising:
first and second arrays each including a plurality of cells having a pair of opposing major sides and arranged in a stack such that the major sides of adjacent cells face each other, wherein each of the cells includes terminals on a terminal side extending between the major sides, wherein a first cell of the first array and a second cell of the second array are coplanar with respect to each other and are arranged with the terminal sides facing each other, and the first cell is mechanically and electrically coupled to the second cell by a first busbar and is mechanically and electrically coupled to a third cell by a second busbar, and wherein the third cell is in the second array and adjacent to the second cell.

16. The assembly of claim 15 further comprising a thermal plate disposed between and touching the terminal sides of the first, second, and third cells.

17. The assembly of claim 15 wherein a major axis of the first busbar is substantially coplanar with the first and second cells.

18. The assembly of claim 17 wherein a major axis of the second busbar is offset at an angle that is between 5 to 85 degrees, inclusive, relative to the major axis of the first busbar.

19. The assembly of claim 16 wherein the thermal plate defines a vent channel and at least one of the cells further includes a vent disposed on the terminal side and in fluid communication with the vent channel.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Lohr Jonathan
• Baek Hyung Min

Classifications

• H01M10/625 Primary

  Vehicles · CPC title

• H01M50/291

  characterised by their shape · CPC title

• H01M50/507

  comprising an arrangement of two or more busbars within a container structure, e.g. busbar modules · CPC title

• H01M50/249

  specially adapted for aircraft or vehicles, e.g. cars or trains (constructional details of batteries specially adapted for electric vehicles B60L50/64) · CPC title

• H01M50/209

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