Classifications

• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F28—HEAT EXCHANGE IN GENERAL
  • F28F—DETAILS OF HEAT-EXCHANGE AND HEAT-TRANSFER APPARATUS, OF GENERAL APPLICATION
  • F28F9/00—Casings; Header boxes; Auxiliary supports for elements; Auxiliary members within casings
  • F28F9/02—Header boxes; End plates
  • F28F9/0246—Arrangements for connecting header boxes with flow lines
  • F28F9/0251—Massive connectors, e.g. blocks; Plate-like connectors
  • F28F9/0253—Massive connectors, e.g. blocks; Plate-like connectors with multiple channels, e.g. with combined inflow and outflow channels
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F28—HEAT EXCHANGE IN GENERAL
  • F28F—DETAILS OF HEAT-EXCHANGE AND HEAT-TRANSFER APPARATUS, OF GENERAL APPLICATION
  • F28F9/00—Casings; Header boxes; Auxiliary supports for elements; Auxiliary members within casings
  • F28F9/02—Header boxes; End plates
  • F28F9/0246—Arrangements for connecting header boxes with flow lines
  • F28F9/0256—Arrangements for coupling connectors with flow lines
• • F—MECHANICAL ENGINEERING; LIGHTING; HEATING; WEAPONS; BLASTING
  • F28—HEAT EXCHANGE IN GENERAL
  • F28F—DETAILS OF HEAT-EXCHANGE AND HEAT-TRANSFER APPARATUS, OF GENERAL APPLICATION
  • F28F2230/00—Sealing means
• • Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
  • Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
  • Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
  • Y02E60/00—Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
  • Y02E60/10—Energy storage using batteries

Definitions

• the present invention relates to a cooling assembly of an electrical storage device and more particularly to the connection means implemented to allow the connection of refrigerant fluid pipes.
• Electric and hybrid vehicles are equipped with at least one electrical storage device made up of an assembly of electrical modules, themselves made of an assembly of electrochemical cells.
• the electrical storage device should be heat treated.
• a heat treatment of the electrical storage device aims to maintain the temperature of the electrical modules that compose it, at a temperature of approximately between 20 ° C and 40 ° C. Indeed, when the temperature of an electrical module is too low, the capacity of these electrochemical cells decreases and when the temperature of an electrical module is too high, the service life of these electrochemical cells is degraded.
• cooling comprising at least one heat exchange member positioned directly in contact with an electrical module of the electrical storage device, said exchange member being configured to be traversed by a refrigerant.
• exchange member is meant both a heat exchange plate inside which the refrigerant fluid is forced to circulate and a plurality of these plates successively crossed by the refrigerant fluid.
• the refrigerant can in particular consist of 1234yf or R134a.
• the refrigerant fluid is brought into the exchanger via tubing in aluminum dimensioned to allow such a refrigerant fluid to circulate under a pressure of about six 6 bars.
• the pipes are configured to bring the refrigerant fluid into the heat exchange member or, where appropriate, to allow the passage of the refrigerant fluid from one heat exchange member to another.
• connection assembly with the pipes which are fixed, at their end made integral with a male connection flange, to a female connection flange integral with the heat exchanger or a plate of this exchanger. More particularly, the pipes are brazed onto this male connection flange and this assembly is screwed onto the female connection flange.
• the position of the exchangers in a cooling system can vary from one system to another depending on the accumulation of dimensional dispersions of the components and of the assembly and that the variation of this position of a system to the other can go up to 4 to 5mm in each direction and in one direction or the other, which is particularly problematic in the two directions perpendicular to the direction of elongation of the final portion of the tubing.
• the male connection flange and the associated aluminum tubing must be forced and plastically deformed manually by the operator during assembly in order to be able to cooperate with the female connection flange.
• the invention consists of a connection interface of a connection assembly of refrigerant fluid pipes in a cooling assembly of a motor vehicle battery system, the connection assembly comprising at least one flange made integral with a heat exchange member, said interface of
• connection being arranged at two end portions of refrigerant pipes to be connected to said heat exchange member.
• the interface comprises a first part integral with
• connection interface being configured to cooperate with a fixing member capable of fixing the position of the two parts with respect to one another.
• the first part comprises a plurality of end pieces respectively attached to one end of a tubing, each end piece having a contact surface forming a stop to the movement of the second part;
• the second part comprises at least one fixing bore and in that the first part is configured so as to present a passage between the end pieces, the two parts being movable with respect to each other to take a position assembly in which the fixing bore is opposite the passage between the end pieces;
• each end has a hollow tube extending the tubing
• the hollow tube being adapted to be housed in a connection orifice formed in the corresponding flange of the connection assembly;
• the second part has an orifice through which a first tube passes, which has a closed profile, and a orifice which passes through a second tube, which has an open profile.
• connection assembly comprising at least one flange made integral with a heat exchange member and a connection interface as described above, characterized in that it comprises a fixing member of the connection interface in the flange configured to simultaneously press the two parts of the
• connection assembly comprises at least one clamping screw forming a fixing member, one head of which bears against an external face of the second part of the connection interface and one of which threaded body is able to cooperate with a threaded fixing orifice of the flange, the first part of the connection interface being arranged between the flange and the second part of the
• the flange comprises at least one connection orifice which has a receiving portion, the dimension of which in a direction perpendicular to the direction of elongation of the end portion of the corresponding tubing is greater than the corresponding dimension of the hollow tube of the end piece which is housed in this receiving portion.
• At least one sealing device is arranged between the connection interface and the flange, around at least one of the pipes.
• the sealing device may comprise an annular metal reinforcement plate overmolded with an elastically deformable element, a junction zone between the deformable element and the reinforcement forming an annular bead, said elastically deformable element being dimensioned so that this annular bead is always clamped between the flange and the first part of the connection interface.
• FIG. 1 schematically illustrates a heat exchange member associated with an electrical storage device, the heat exchange member being able to be fitted with a connection assembly according to the invention
• FIG. 2 illustrates an exploded representation of an exemplary embodiment of a heat exchange member, equipped with a flange forming part of the connection assembly according to the invention
• FIG. 3 illustrates an exploded representation of the various components of
• connection assembly notably making visible a flange, a sealing device, a two-part connection interface and associated pipes, and fasteners;
• FIG. 4 illustrates a perspective representation of all
• FIG. 5 illustrates a representation of the connection assembly of Figure 4, in top view
• FIG. 6 illustrates the connection interface in two parts visible on the
• FIG. 7 illustrates the connection assembly in a top view and in a sectional view along the straight section line B-B identified in the top view;
• FIG. 8 illustrates the connection assembly in a top view and in a sectional view along the broken section line C-C identified in the top view;
• FIG. 9 is a schematic representation of a particular application of the invention with two connecting assemblies arranged respectively at each end of a set of tubes, for the connection between them of two heat exchange members;
• FIG. 10 is a schematic representation making it possible to illustrate both the particular application of the invention in accordance with that illustrated in FIG. 9 and a second embodiment of the connection interface illustrated above; and [38] [Fig. 11] is a schematic representation of an alternative embodiment of the connection interface illustrated above.
• an LVT trihedron is illustrated in Figures 3 to 6, so as to identify the longitudinal L, vertical V, and transverse T directions.
• Figure 1 illustrates a cooling assembly 1 of a
• the assembly comprises in particular a heat exchange member 4, here in the form of a plate heat exchanger 6, configured to be pressed onto a housing 8 of the electrical storage device inside which are housed for example electrochemical cells.
• the heat exchange unit is configured to be traversed by a refrigerant fluid, type 1234yf or R134a.
• the cooling assembly further includes a set of
• connection 10 for conducting the coolant to this heat exchange member the connection assembly comprising in particular pipes 12 and flanges and interfaces arranged between these pipes and the heat exchange member.
• connection assembly 10 is specific in that it comprises at least one floating element 16, that is to say mobile to take an assembly position determined as a function of the dimensional play of the elements to be connected.
• connection assembly 10 comprises a flange 18 made integral with the heat exchange member 4 on which it is desired to connect the pipes 12 and a connection interface 20 configured to be fixed on the flange , as will be described in more detail below.
• Figure 2 illustrates, in exploded view, an example of an exchange
• connection assembly according to the invention, with particular reference to Figures 3 to 8 illustrating a first embodiment.
• connection assembly 10 comprises at least a plurality of pipes 12, here two in number, a flange 18 made integral of the heat exchange member 4 on which it is desired to connect the two pipes, and a connection interface 20 configured to be fixed on the flange 18. And this connection assembly 10 is specific in that this connection interface 20 has a floating element 16.
• the pipes 12 are made of bent aluminum. This results in rigidity
• the pipes are in particular sized to be able to withstand a pressure of up to about fifty bars.
• the flange 18 has the form of a block of material, here made of aluminum, secured to the heat exchange member 4 here by brazing without this being limiting.
• the block forming the flange has an oblong shape with a large dimension along a longitudinal axis L.
• the flange 18 comprises at least one connection hole 26 for each of the pipes to be connected and at least one threaded fixing hole 28 able to cooperate with a fixing member, here clamping screws 36 as illustrated on the figure. figure 3.
• the flange has two connection holes 26 and two fixing holes 28, the connection holes being arranged close to the longitudinal ends of the block 30 and the fixing holes 28 being arranged substantially in the center of the block relative to the longitudinal dimension of this block and respectively in the vicinity of a transverse edge of the flange 32.
• the block forming the flange 18 has a first face 34, in particular visible in Figure 3, capable of being in contact with the heat exchange member 4. At least the connection orifices 26 open onto this first face 34.
• the fixing holes 28 are also opening out, but it should be noted that such a configuration is not restrictive since the flange 18 is made integral with the heat exchange member 4. by means other than by clamping screws brought to cooperate with these fixing holes.
• the flange 18 is preferably brazed on the heat exchange member and the clamping screws 36 only participate in the fixing of the connection interface 20 on the flange 18.
• the first face 34 of the flange 18 further comprises, around each connection orifice 26, an annular groove 40 configured to receive a brazing ring 41 allowing the brazing of the flange 18 on the exchange member. heat 4, as can be seen in particular in the sectional views of FIGS. 7 and 8.
• the block forming the flange 18 has a second face 42 opposite to the
• Each fixing hole 28 is threaded and substantially straight, of constant diameter from one face to the other of the flange 18.
• connection port 26 has two portions 44, 46
• a first portion 44 of larger dimension forms a portion reception which extends from the second face 42 to the shoulder 48, this first portion 44 having the function of accommodating the free ends associated with the tubes 12, having a dimension, here a diameter D1, of value greater than that of the diameter D2 of a nozzle mounted at the end of the tubing 12.
• the flange 18 is positioned so that the connection holes 26 opening onto the first face 34 of the flange are aligned vertically with respect to the orifices of passage 22 of refrigerant provided in the heat exchange member 4.
• the position of the flange 18 relative to the heat exchange member 4 is theoretically fixed, but it is understood that it is possible that a dimensional play appears due in particular to the mounting play in the aligned positioning of the orifices and passages and the manufacturing play of the flange.
• connection interface 20 is associated with the pipes 12 so as to allow the connection and reliable maintenance in position thereof relative to the flange 18 and the associated heat exchange member 4.
• the connection interface 20 comprises according to the invention a first part 50 integral with the end of each of the pipes 12 and a second part 52 forming the floating element 16 mentioned above, these two parts being movable one by one. relative to each other before assembling the connection interface on the flange, this assembly helping to fix the position of the two parts of the connection interface 20.
• the first part 50 consists of at least one end piece 54 configured to be integral with each corresponding end portion of the tubes.
• the first part 50 of the connection interface 20 consists of two end pieces 54 separate and respectively integral with an end portion 24 of a tube 12.
• the first part 50 is configured so as to
• Each end piece 54 is brazed to the end portion 24 of a tube so as to form a one-piece sub-assembly, in that the end piece 54 and the tube 12 cannot be separated without destroying one. or the other.
• Each tip has an annular-shaped base 56, which is brazed around the tubing and a hollow tube 58 projecting from the base in the center thereof.
• the base 56 of the end piece has a diameter of a first dimension D3, and it has a projecting bearing surface 60 from which the hollow tube 58 is formed, the bearing surface being turned towards the end of the tubing and intended to be opposite the flange when the connection assembly 10 is assembled.
• the base also has a contact surface 62 facing away from the bearing surface and intended to be in contact with the second part 52 forming the floating element during assembly of the assembly of
• the hollow tube 58 of the end piece vertically extends the end portion 24 of the tubing to be connected and it has a substantially conical shape with a diameter decreasing as it moves away from the base 56 of so as to facilitate the insertion of the tube into the corresponding connection port 26 of the flange 18.
• the second part 52 consists of a block of material presenting here a
• second part an outer face 70 facing away from the flange, and a face opposite internal 72 intended to be opposite the end pieces forming the first part 50 of the connection interface 20.
• the second part 52 of the connection interface 20 has an oblong shape and the openings 64, 66 are arranged at each end
• the openings 64, 66 are respectively associated with the passage of a
• the openings 64, 66 have a longitudinal dimension and a transverse dimension, that is to say in the directions perpendicular to the direction of elongation of the end portion of the corresponding tubing, which are larger than the diameter of the tubings 12.
• the longitudinal dimension of the opening D4 is greater than the diameter of the corresponding tube D5 by a value Ad allowing the movement in this longitudinal direction.
• the floating element 16 takes the form of a hook, with a first opening 64 which has a closed profile and a second opening 66 which has a profile. open on a transverse edge 76 so that the tubing can be released from the opening by this transverse edge.
• first opening 64 is of a value greater than that of the diameter D5 of the corresponding tubing so as to allow movement play between the floating element 16 on the one hand and the tubings 12 and the associated end pieces on the other hand.
• edge 78 delimiting the first opening 64 forms a limit stop for the movement of the floating element 16 formed by the second part 52 relative to the pipes 12, and this in both directions of the two directions perpendicular to the direction of elongation of the end portion 24 of the corresponding tubing.
• the second opening 66 opens onto a transverse edge 76 of the block.
• a groove 80 is formed in the extension of the second opening from this transverse edge, the passage section being enlarged in the groove 80 relative to the second opening 66.
• connection assembly 10 also comprises a plurality of seals forming a sealing device 82 at the junction between the flange 18 and the connection interface 20. These seals are particularly visible in FIG. 3 in an exploded view. , as well as in Figures 6 to 8. To illustrate the placement of a gasket between the flanges, only one of these gaskets has been illustrated in Figure 6.
• Each seal is a flat seal comprising an annular metal frame 84 and an elastically deformable element 86, of the rubber type, arranged on the inner periphery 88 of the annular frame.
• the deformable element is perforated in its center, this hole 90 being dimensioned so as to be able to be fitted around the tube 58 forming a projection of the end piece 64 made integral with the end of a tube 12.
• the elastically deformable element 86 is overmolded on the metal frame and a junction zone between the elastically deformable element 86 and the metal frame 84 forms an annular bead 92.
• each flat seal is oversized with an internal part formed by the elastically deformable element 86 which is sufficiently large so that the annular bead 92 is always clamped between the flange 18 and the corresponding end piece 54.
• the tightening screws 36 forming a fastener are dimensioned to pass through the second part 52 of the connection interface, respectively through one of the fastening bores 68, and to cooperate with a threaded fastening hole 28 formed in the flange 18, with a screw head 94 which is able to come to bear on the external face 70 of the floating element formed by the second part 52 of the connection interface 20.
• connection method to illustrate the advantage of the invention to have at least two independent pipes, unlike the solutions of the prior art where each pipe is directly brazed on a flange configured to be welded. or screwed onto a corresponding flange of the heat exchange member.
• the flange 18 is made integral with the exchange member
• the flange 18 is for this purpose positioned relative to the heat exchange member 4 and the passage orifices 22 through which the coolant must enter the plates forming here the heat exchange organ, the positioning 38 protruding from the first face 34 of the flange 18 being inserted into the passage holes.
• the flange thus takes a fixed position, with a center distance between the passage openings.
• connection interface 20 associated with the pipes 12 will be fixed on the flange 18 ensuring that the center distance between the pipes 12 and the end pieces 54 which extend them is equal to the center distance between the orifices passage 22, so as not to have to generate forces on the pipes to force them to enter.
• each part of the connection interface is placed in relation to the pipes.
• the floating element 16 formed by the second part 52 is first of all threaded around the pipes 12.
• the floating element has the shape of a hook
• only the first opening 64 with the closed circular profile is threaded around a pipe 12.
• the floating element is slid along the pipe or pipes so as to release the end portion of each pipe.
• the hook shape can be used to rotate the floating element 16
• the end pieces 54 are made integral, here by brazing or alternatively for example by gluing, of the end portion 24 of the tubes 12.
• the tubes 58 of the end pieces 54 form a projection extending the tubes, at the opposite of these.
• the seals forming a sealing device 82 are respectively fitted around the tubes 58 of the end pieces 54.
• connection interface 20 On the flange 18.
• each of the end pieces 54 is positioned in the connection openings 26 opening onto the second face 42 of the flange, and therefore more particularly in the receiving portion 44 of each connection orifice 26.
• the advantage of having independent tubes, that is to say made respectively integral with a nozzle which is specific to them and not on a solid flange and common to all the tubes, is to be able to manage the setting. places tubings independently of one another. Thus, the lack of parallelism from one heat exchange member to the other can be compensated by independently placing each tube and its associated end piece in the receiving portion which corresponds to it. It is thus possible to make correspond, by an independent movement of each tube, the center distance between the tubes and the center distance between the connection orifices without having to force the tubes to separate them or bring them closer to one another to adapt to the center distance between the connection holes.
• each orifice have dimensions greater than those of each end piece allows each end piece to move in directions perpendicular to the axis of elongation of the tubing once installed. in the orifices of the flange and this makes it possible to compensate for the position defect of the heat exchange members that is desired
• the seals take position against the second face of the flange.
• the seals are sized so that the bead forming the junction between the metal frame and the deformable material
• connection 20 are made integral with one another by the screwing of the clamping 36 in the flange 18.
• the floating element 16 formed by the second part 52 of the connection interface should be moved in the longitudinal and transverse plane, perpendicular to the direction of elongation of the pipes in order to align vertically each of the fixing holes 68 of the floating element of the connection interface 20 with the fixing holes 28 of the flange 18.
• each fixing bore 68 is opposite a fixing hole 28
• the second part 52 forming the floating element is also positioned so that each fixing bore 68 of the second movable part is opposite the passage 55 formed between the end pieces 54 at the level of the first part 50 fixed to allow the insertion of the clamping screws 36.
• connection assembly 10 is configured such that in this position of alignment of the bores 68 and the orifices 28, visible in particular in Figures 5, 7 and 8, the seals forming a device
• sealing 82 are dimensioned so that the outer peripheral contour 89 of the metal frame is flush with the rods of the clamping screws 36 without hindering their tightening, even in an extreme position of the end caps
• This tightening implies that the annular bead 92 of the seals forming a sealing device 82 is clamped between the flange and the connection interface, which tends in compressing the elastically deformable element 86 against the tube 58 of the corresponding end piece 54 and which thus tends to ensure the sealing of the connection assembly.
• the floating part 16 forming the second part 52 of the connection interface is thus placed above the end pieces 54 forming the first part 50 of the connection interface.
• connection 20 so as to bear on these end pieces and compress the joints in order to ensure the fluid-tightness to the passage of fluid while allowing the pipes 12 to move within this floating part 16 to compensate for the defect in positioning between the pipes 12 and flange 18 integral with the heat exchange member.
• FIG. 9 is a schematic representation of a particular application of the invention with two connection sets disposed respectively at each end of a set of tubes, for the connection between them of two heat exchange members.
• each of the pipes is equipped at each of its end portions with a connection assembly.
• the connection sets are identical and take the form of a connection set 10 as described above.
• Such an application with two connection assemblies is particularly provided for cooling systems where several heat exchange members are arranged in series and where pipes are arranged between two successive heat exchange members.
• FIG. 9 also makes it possible to make visible from another angle of view the interest of the oversizing of the openings 64 of the floating element with respect to the corresponding dimensioning of the pipes 12.
• the displacement of the tubing in the corresponding orifice was essentially longitudinal in order to allow longitudinal play to be taken up.
• FIG. 10 also illustrates the particular application with two connection sets arranged respectively at each end of a set of tubes, for the connection between them of two heat exchange members.
• This FIG. 10 also illustrates a second embodiment in which a first connection assembly 101 conforms in all respects to what has just been described in the first embodiment and in which, at the other end of the pipes, a second connection assembly 102 is distinguished from the first connection assembly by the shape of the floating element of connection interface 20.
• connection no longer has the shape of a hook with an orifice with an open profile, but forms a floating flange 104 with two orifices with a closed profile. It is understood that this second connection assembly can have two closed profile openings because the bending of the tubes is substantially the same from one tube to the other in the vicinity of this second connection assembly. Therefore, the arrangement of the tubes allows sufficient movement of the floating element, so that the pivoting of the floating element and therefore the hook shape is not necessary.
• the mounting method is the same as that described above, but such a floating element can only be implemented if the shape of the two tubes allows a sufficiently long translational clearance of the floating element to allow brazing of the end caps on the flange.
• FIG. 11 illustrates an alternative embodiment in which the connection assembly 10 is configured to allow the connection to the heat exchange member of three pipes instead of two pipes in what has been described above.
• the connection assembly has the same configuration with respect to what has been described for the second connection assembly of FIG. 10, namely the connection assembly with the flange 18 and the connection interface 20 of which the second part 52 forming the floating element is equipped openings 64 with closed profile.
• the pipes 12 must have a first bent portion 74 sufficiently far from their free end to allow the floating element to slide along the pipes. And it should be noted that the number of fasteners, here clamping screws 36, is greater due to the increase in the longitudinal dimension of the flange and the corresponding connection interface.
• connection assembly such as has just been described according to the two embodiments or any combination of these two embodiments is all the more advantageous as the pipes are short, it being understood that is all the more difficult to force them without damaging them.
• the invention should not however be limited to the means and configurations described and illustrated here, and it also extends to all equivalent means or configurations and to any technically operative combination of such means.
• the two embodiments described above are in no way limiting and it is in particular possible to imagine variants of the invention comprising only a selection of characteristics described below isolated from the other characteristics mentioned in this document. , if this selection of characteristics is sufficient to confer a technical advantage or to differentiate the invention from the state of the prior art.

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• Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Physics & Mathematics (AREA)
• Thermal Sciences (AREA)
• Mechanical Engineering (AREA)
• General Engineering & Computer Science (AREA)
• Heat-Exchange Devices With Radiators And Conduit Assemblies (AREA)
• Cooling Or The Like Of Electrical Apparatus (AREA)

Applications Claiming Priority (2)

Publications (1)

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• 2019
  • 2019-03-29 FR FR1903358A patent/FR3094471B1/fr active Active
• 2020
  • 2020-03-26 WO PCT/EP2020/058545 patent/WO2020201011A1/fr unknown
  • 2020-03-26 EP EP20713006.3A patent/EP3948139A1/fr active Pending
  • 2020-03-26 US US17/599,927 patent/US20220196346A1/en not_active Abandoned
  • 2020-03-26 CN CN202080037928.0A patent/CN113874676A/zh active Pending

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