JP7423232B2 - Cooler for vehicle battery case - Google Patents

Description

The present invention relates to a cooler for cooling batteries such as battery modules and battery packs made of secondary batteries used as drive sources of electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, etc., and its structure.

Electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, etc. are equipped with motors for driving, and secondary batteries are used as power sources to supply the motors.
Rechargeable batteries are repeatedly charged and discharged, but as the cruising distance increases, the number of batteries mounted on vehicles increases, and the amount of heat generated during charging and discharging increases, so cooling means are required. .

For example, Patent Document 1 has a main flow path and a sub flow path branching from the main flow path between the battery cells, and by providing a convex portion on the main flow path side that reduces the cross-sectional area, the pressure difference due to the change in flow rate can be reduced. A cooling structure that promotes flow in a secondary channel is disclosed.
However, such a structure induces a pressure loss due to the convex portion, and the flow of the refrigerant is adversely affected.

Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2018-163732

An object of the present invention is to provide a cooler that has a compact structure, has high cooling efficiency, and is easy to attach to a battery case of a vehicle.

A cooler for a battery case of a vehicle according to the present invention includes a pair of first main flow path portions and a second main flow path portion that are arranged opposite to each other, the first main flow path portion and the second main flow path portion. and a rectifying member for switching the flow direction of the refrigerant at a connecting portion between the first and second main flow paths and the sub flow path. It is characterized by

Here, the pair of the first main flow path section and the second main flow path section arranged opposite to each other are for connecting to a circulating refrigerant source, and the first main flow path section and the second main flow path section are connected to a circulating refrigerant source. A structure may be used in which the refrigerant flows in from one side and the refrigerant flows out from the other, but for example, if both the refrigerant inflow part and the refrigerant outflow part are provided in the first main flow path part, the connection structure with the refrigerant source can be made compact. Become.
In this case, the inflow path and the outflow path formed in the first main channel portion may be separated by a partition wall portion, but they do not necessarily need to be partitioned.

In the present invention, the rectifying member has a predetermined inclination angle, and has one for rectifying the flow from the first or second main outflow portion toward the sub flow path portion, and one for rectifying the flow from the sub flow path portion to the first or second flow path portion. It is preferable to have something for rectifying the flow toward the second main flow path.
Here, the flow of the refrigerant can be adjusted by adjusting the angle of inclination of the rectifying member and the size of the inclined surface.

In the present invention, the cooling panel has the first and second main flow path sections and a plurality of sub flow path sections attached to one side, and the other side of the cooling panel can be placed on the battery case side. Good too.
In this way, it can be attached to battery cases of various vehicles.
Note that disposing on the battery case side may mean direct contact with the battery to cool the battery, or contact through the battery case, and there are no restrictions on the structure.

The cooler according to the present invention includes a pair of main flow passages and a plurality of sub flow passages provided between them, and guides flow from the main flow passages to the sub flow passages, or from the sub flow passages to the main flow passage. Since a rectifying member for guiding the flow to the flow path is provided inside, the overall structure is compact with fewer piping parts.
In addition, by adjusting the slope and size of the rectifying member, it is possible to circulate the refrigerant inside the cooler while mixing it with the relatively warm refrigerant through heat exchange with the refrigerant that has cooled during the flow. .

Further, when the cooling structure according to the present invention is provided on one side of the cooling panel, it is only necessary to attach the other side of the cooling panel to the battery case side of the vehicle, and it is not limited to the internal structure of the battery case. It is possible to add a cooling function.
As a result, it can be installed in a wide range of vehicle models with various specifications, providing a high degree of freedom in design.In addition, by attaching the cooler according to the present invention to the battery case, it is also protected against external loads on the battery case. Improves effectiveness.

1 shows a structural example of a cooler for a vehicle battery case according to the present invention. (a) shows a sectional view of the main part, and (b) shows an external view. (a) shows the cooler with the cooling panel removed, and (b) shows the internal structure of the flow path. An exploded view of the first main flow path section and the second main flow path section is shown. (a) shows an example of the structure of a connection part between the first main flow path section and the sub flow path section, and (b) shows an example of the connection structure between the cooling panel and the sub flow path section. (a) shows a second embodiment, and (b) shows a partial cross-sectional view taken along the line AA. (a) shows a sectional view taken along the line BB, (b) shows a sectional view taken along the line CC, and (c) shows a sectional view taken along the line DD. An example of a continuous partition wall section is shown.

The cooler according to the present invention is attached to a battery case of a secondary battery such as a battery module mounted on a vehicle to perform cooling control, and an example of its structure will be described below with reference to the drawings.
In FIG. 1, (b) shows the external appearance of a cooler 10 as Example 1, and (a) shows the refrigerant flow path structure (cross-sectional view of main parts).
2(a) shows the cooling panel 20 removed, FIG. 2(b) further shows its internal structure, and FIG. 3 schematically shows the internal structure of the component as an exploded view.

The cooler 10 has a first main flow path section 11 having an inflow section 11a and an outflow section 11b for a refrigerant such as cooling water, and has a second main flow path section 12 opposite thereto at a predetermined interval. .
The first main flow path section 11 and the second main flow path section 12 are connected by a plurality of sub flow path sections 13.
Embodiment 1 shown in FIG. 1 is composed of six sub-channel sections 13, and each sub-channel section 13 has a Japanese-letter cross-sectional shape, as shown in a partial cross-sectional view in FIG. 4(b). It has become.
The cross-sectional shape of the sub-channel section 13 and the number of channels are set in consideration of the required cooling performance.
These sub flow path portions and main flow path portions can be easily manufactured using extruded aluminum alloy material.

The first main flow path section 11 is partitioned by an intermittent partition wall section 11c having an opening section 11d in the middle, and an inner inflow section 11a and an outer outflow section 11b are formed.
In this way, if the openings 11d are provided in the partition wall 11c in an intermittent manner, the cold refrigerant and the warm refrigerant can be mixed, but depending on the refrigerant specifications, for example, as shown in FIG. The partition wall portion 111c may be continuous except for the opening portion leading to the partition wall portion 111c.
The flow direction of the refrigerant supplied from the inflow part 11a is switched by a rectifying member 14 provided on the rear side of the connection part between the first main flow path part 11 and the sub flow path part 13, and Flows along the inside.
The rectifying member 14 has an inclined piece 14a having a predetermined inclination angle in the horizontal direction.
This inclined piece 14a does not completely block the cross section of the flow path, but has a predetermined size, and a part of the refrigerant flows rearward along the first main flow path portion 11 as it is.
The refrigerant that has flowed from the sub-channel section 13 to the second main channel section 12 side is sequentially guided to the next sub-channel section 13 side by the next rectifying member 14 .
In FIG. 1, the water flows out from the rightmost sub-channel section 13 via the first main channel section 11 and from the outflow section 11b.
The flow of refrigerant is shown by arrows in Figure 1.

The cooler 10 according to the present invention may have a structure in which the pipe-shaped first main channel section 11 and the second main channel section 12 are connected by a plurality of pipe-shaped sub-channel sections 13.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3, the frame is made up of a front end member 15 placed on the side of the refrigerant inlet/outlet and a rear end member 16 placed on the opposite side, and a cooling panel 20 is attached to the upper surface of the frame. This is an example of modularization.

In the present invention, there are no restrictions on the mounting structure of the rectifying member 14 to the main flow path section or the connection structure with the sub flow path section.
In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, a predetermined angle is provided on the upper surfaces of the first main flow path section 11 and the second main flow path section 12, a slit section 11e is formed, and an inclined piece 14a is inserted and sealed. It has become.
Further, as shown in FIG. 4(a), an example is shown in which the ends of the sub-channel section 13 are inserted and connected to the first and second main channel sections, and the upper surface of the sub-channel 13 has unevenness. By forming the cooling panel 13a, it becomes easy to connect and fix the cooling panel 20 using a thermally conductive adhesive.

FIG. 5 shows a cooler of Example 2.
This embodiment is an example in which the cross section of the sub flow path section 13 forms four hollow sections.
Flange parts 13b, 13b are formed on both sides of the sub-channel part 13, and these flange parts are fastened to the lower surface of the cooling panel, thereby applying compressive force to the thermally conductive adhesive 23 and fixing it to the cooling panel 21. can do.
In this case, as shown in FIG. 5(c), it may be fixed with bolts 30a or the like via a spot-welded bracket 30, or it may be fixed to the bottom of the cooler 10 as shown in FIG. 5(d). The undercover 31 may be attached via bolts 31a or the like.
FIG. 6 shows an example of a structure in which the cooler 10 is attached to the frames 1 and 2 of the battery case.
They can also be connected via flange portions 11g and 12a provided on the first main flow path portion 11 and the second main flow path portion 12.
In this embodiment, the front end member 15 and the rear end member 16 are also provided with connecting flanges 15a and 16a, respectively.
At this time, as shown in FIG. 6(a), a sealing material 17 may be provided at the end of the sub-channel portion 13 for connection.
Alternatively, the heat conductive member 22 may be attached to the upper surface of the cooling panel 21 and attached to the battery case side via this.

10 Cooler 11 First main flow path section 11a Inflow section 11b Outflow section 12 Second main flow path section 13 Sub flow path section 14 Straightening member 14a Slanted piece 15 Front end member 16 Rear end member 20 Cooling panel

Claims (3)

It has a pair of first main flow path portions and second main flow path portions that are arranged opposite to each other,
It has a plurality of sub flow path sections connecting the first main flow path section and the second main flow path section,
a rectifying member for switching the flow direction of the refrigerant at a connecting portion between the first and second main flow path portions and the sub flow path portion ;
The first main flow path section has a refrigerant inflow section and an outflow section ,
The inflow section and the outflow section are separated by intermittent partitions having openings in the middle, and the inflow section is connected to the sub flow path section. cooler. The rectifying member has a predetermined inclination angle, and is for rectifying the flow from the first or second main flow path toward the sub flow path, and vice versa. 2. The vehicle battery case cooler according to claim 1, further comprising a cooler for rectifying the flow toward the flow path. a cooling panel having the first and second main flow path portions and a plurality of sub flow path portions attached to one surface;
3. The vehicle battery case cooler according to claim 2 , wherein the other surface of the cooling panel can be placed on the battery case side.

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