JP2002274192A - Battery cooling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a battery cooling device reducing a height dimension of a battery chamber structured as a battery tray that can be taken in/out of a storing space formed below a floor of a vehicle and allowing cooling all the battery cells approximately to a uniform temperature. SOLUTION: This battery cooling device arranges and stores many battery cells 2 inside the battery tray 5 in a box shape and lets cooling air 14 from an pressurizing chamber on an upper side of the tray 5 flow through spaces between each cell 2 to a decompressing chamber on a lower side of the tray 5. One corner of the tray 5 is secured for a space for mounting a fan 6 where the cells are not stored. A centrifugal fan 7 is longitudinally installed in the space 6 and a blowing port 8 of the fan 7 is opened to a direction along one side face of the tray 5 at the pressurizing chamber.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a battery cooling device suitable for use in an electric vehicle, a hybrid engine vehicle, and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a diesel-electric hybrid engine has been developed. In this type of diesel-electric hybrid engine, an ultra-thin three-phase AC machine is built in a flywheel housing of the diesel engine. By operating the three-phase AC machine as a starter when starting the engine, operating the three-phase AC machine as a torque assist motor when starting and accelerating the vehicle, and operating the three-phase AC machine as an electric brake when braking the vehicle, The three-phase alternator assists the diesel engine, reducing the load on the diesel engine and reducing the amount of air pollutants emitted by the diesel engine.

[0003] In a bus or the like equipped with such a diesel-electric hybrid engine, a large number of battery cells are arranged and housed in a battery tray which can be taken in and out from the side of the vehicle body in a housing space provided under the floor of the vehicle. The cooling air is blown from above to each battery cell by a propeller fan (axial blower) disposed above the battery tray, and is drawn downward through the space between the battery cells to forcibly cool each battery cell. Like that.

[0004]

However, in such a system in which the cooling air is blown from above each battery cell by a propeller fan, the space for arranging the propeller, the space for arranging the motor, and the space for arranging the air guide port are set vertically. There is a problem that the height of the battery tray becomes longer because it must be secured in three layers in the direction.Especially when applied to buses equipped with a hybrid engine, There is also a problem that it is a great hindrance to the lowering of the floor, which is being promoted in order to make it easier.

Further, in recent years, the use form has been changed from a conventional lead battery to a nickel-metal hydride battery in order to improve performance, and this type of nickel-metal hydride battery is delicate in terms of temperature. However, it is necessary to keep each battery cell at a temperature equal to or lower than a predetermined limit temperature and at a substantially uniform temperature. However, as in the conventional method, in a method in which cooling air is simply blown from above by a propeller fan, a position away from immediately below the propeller fan is used. It is also feared that the cooling efficiency decreases as it becomes smaller and that it is difficult to cool all the battery cells uniformly.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above circumstances, and has been made to reduce the height of a battery chamber configured as a battery tray or the like that can be inserted into and removed from an accommodation space provided under the floor of a vehicle. It is an object of the present invention to provide a battery cooling device capable of cooling all battery cells to a substantially uniform temperature.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION According to the present invention, a plurality of battery cells are arranged and accommodated in a box-shaped battery chamber. A battery cooling device that cools each battery cell by flowing cooling air to the battery compartment, wherein one corner of the battery chamber is secured as a fan installation space that does not accommodate battery cells, and a centrifugal blower is vertically disposed in the fan installation space. The centrifugal blower is installed on a table and the blower port of the centrifugal blower is opened in the overpressure chamber in a direction along one side of the battery chamber.

[0008] According to this configuration, the centrifugal blower is vertically installed in the fan installation space secured at one corner of the battery chamber, so that the centrifugal blower can be efficiently stored in the battery chamber. It becomes possible, and moreover, it is only necessary to form an overpressure chamber on the upper side of each battery cell, the height of which is enough to open the air vent of the centrifugal blower installed vertically. Can be realized.

Further, the cooling air blown out from the blower opening of the centrifugal blower flows along one side of the battery chamber from one corner of the battery chamber, and follows the next side whenever it hits the corner of the battery chamber. As a result, a large swirl flow that covers the entire area of the overpressure chamber is formed above each battery cell. As the cooling air is formed in the chamber and flows between the battery cells and flows into the decompression chamber below the battery chamber, all the battery cells are cooled to a substantially uniform temperature.

In the present invention, the battery compartment may be configured as a battery tray that can be inserted into and removed from a storage space provided under the floor of the vehicle. In such a case, a hybrid engine is particularly preferred. By applying the present invention to a vehicle such as a bus equipped with a vehicle, the floor can be reduced.

[0011]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 4 show an embodiment of the present invention. In the battery cooling device of this embodiment, a case where the present invention is applied to a bus 1 equipped with a diesel-electric hybrid engine is illustrated. A battery chamber for accommodating a large number of battery cells 2 is configured as a battery tray 5 which can be opened and closed by opening and closing the door 4 from the side of the vehicle body with respect to an accommodation space 3 provided under the floor of the bus 1. I have.

In the case of the battery tray 5 shown here, as shown in FIG. 1 in particular, a box-shaped structure in which ten battery cells 2 are set as a set so that a total of seven sets of battery cells 2 can be accommodated side by side. Six battery cells 2 are arranged on the back side of the battery tray 5 so as to form a row in the vehicle width direction (vertical direction in FIG. 1). 2 are arranged in front of the battery tray 5 (to the left in FIG. 1) on the front side of the battery tray 5 so as to form a row in the vehicle front-rear direction (left-right direction in FIG. 1). A fan installation space 6 not accommodating the battery cells 2 is secured in one corner of the vehicle rear side (right side in FIG. 1).

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a centrifugal blower 7 is installed vertically in the fan installation space 6, and an air outlet 8 of the centrifugal blower 7 is connected to the battery cell 2 in the battery tray 5. In the upper space, the battery tray 5 is opened in a direction along one side surface.

As shown in FIG. 3, the battery cells 2 of each set are placed on a perforated plate 9 composed of a frame having one side having an L-shaped cross section, and are assembled for each set.
In addition, it is installed at an appropriate position on the frame plate 11 via a seal plate 10 that closes the gap between the sets. On the other hand, the centrifugal blower 7 also closes the gap at the installation location. It is set at an appropriate position on the frame plate 11 via the seal plate 10 thus configured.

Then, each set of the battery cells 2 and the centrifugal blower 7 installed on the frame plate 11 are
The framing plate 11 is housed in the battery tray 5 together with the framing plate 11, and the framing plate 11 is attached to an outer edge of the open bottom of the battery tray 5. A metal net 12 is stretched, and the bottom of the battery tray 5 is closed so as to allow ventilation.

Further, as shown in FIG.
The open ceiling is covered by a tray cover 13, and an upper space formed between the tray cover 13 and the upper surface of each set of battery cells 2 is connected to the air outlet 8 of the centrifugal blower 7. The overpressure chamber 15 from which the cooling air 14 is blown out.

Further, a bottom plate 16 having a plurality of louver-shaped openings for preventing mud and water from jumping from the road surface is attached to the lowermost portion of the battery tray 5. Between the frame plate 11 and an air opening decompression chamber 17 that receives the cooling air 14 guided from the overpressure chamber 15 through a ventilation hole (not shown) in an adjacent portion between the battery cells 2 of each set. Is formed.

A guide flange 18 extending from the near side to the far side of the battery tray 5 is attached to a lower end portion of the left and right sides of the battery tray 5 when viewed from the drawing direction of the battery tray 5 (downward direction in FIG. 1). The lower surface of the guide flange 18 is supported by a guide roller 19 disposed in the housing space 3 so that the battery tray 5 can be taken in and out.

In the drawing, reference numeral 20 denotes a grip for pulling out the battery tray 5 to the outside, and reference numeral 21 denotes a suction port of the centrifugal blower 7 which is opened on the side of the battery tray 5 on the near side.

With this configuration of the battery cooling device, the centrifugal blower 7 is installed vertically in the fan installation space 6 secured at one corner of the battery tray 5. Can be efficiently stored in the battery tray 5, and furthermore, only by forming an overpressure chamber 15 above the battery cells 2, the height of which is such that the blower opening 8 of the vertical centrifugal blower 7 is opened. As a result, the height of the battery tray 5 can be significantly reduced as compared with the related art.

The cooling air 14 blown out from the blower opening 8 of the centrifugal blower 7 flows from one corner of the battery tray 5 along one side of the battery tray 5 and hits the corner of the battery tray 5 each time. Since it flows while bending along the next side surface, a large swirling flow (see FIG. 1) covering the entire area of the overpressure chamber 15 is formed on the upper side of each battery cell 2 as a result. While such a large swirling flow is formed in the overpressure chamber 15 on the upper side of the battery tray 5, the cooling air 14 flows into the decompression chamber 17 on the lower side of the battery tray 5 through the ventilation holes between the battery cells 2. Is cooled to a substantially uniform temperature.

In fact, according to a verification experiment conducted by the inventors of the present invention, as shown by a solid curve in FIG. 4, an appropriate portion of each set of battery cells 2 (shown with a cross hatch in FIG. 1). The result of the temperature measurement in the battery cells 2) obtained as described above is a favorable result that the temperature is sufficiently low and falls within the relatively small variation range A, and the battery cooling device according to the present embodiment cools each battery cell 2 to a substantially uniform temperature. It was actually confirmed that it could be retained.

Incidentally, in a comparative experiment in which the centrifugal blower 7 is arranged outside the battery tray 5 and the cooling air 14 is introduced into the overpressure chamber 15 from near the longitudinal center of one side of the battery tray 5, FIG. As shown by the two-dot chain line, when 1000 seconds have elapsed from the start of the experiment, the temperature is higher by about 33% to 38% and the variation is about 50% larger than the previous experiment result of the solid line. The results of the unfavorable temperature distribution were distributed, and it was confirmed that simply introducing the cooling air 14 into the overpressure chamber 15 of the battery tray 5 using the centrifugal blower 7 could not cool the battery cells 2 properly.

Therefore, according to the above-described embodiment, the height of the battery tray 5 that can be inserted into and removed from the storage space 3 provided under the floor of the vehicle can be reduced. The present invention can be applied to the bus 1 equipped with a diesel-electric hybrid engine to reduce the floor of the bus 1 and facilitate the getting on and off of the elderly and the like in the bus 1 equipped with the diesel-electric hybrid engine. it can.

Further, since all the battery cells 2 can be cooled to a substantially uniform temperature, a nickel-hydrogen battery which is delicate in terms of temperature can be used without any trouble, and the battery performance can be greatly improved. Can be.

It should be noted that the battery cooling device of the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and it goes without saying that various changes can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0028]

According to the battery cooling device of the present invention described above, the following various excellent effects can be obtained.

(I) Since the height of a battery chamber configured as a battery tray or the like which can be taken in and out of a housing space provided under the floor of a vehicle can be reduced, for example, a hybrid engine is mounted. By applying the present invention to a vehicle such as a bus, the floor of the vehicle can be reduced, and the ease of getting on and off the elderly can be facilitated.

(II) Since all the battery cells can be cooled to a substantially uniform temperature, a nickel-hydrogen battery which is delicate in terms of temperature can be used without any trouble and the battery performance can be greatly improved. Can be.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view illustrating an example of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view in the direction of arrows II-II in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is an exploded view showing a detailed accommodation structure of each set of battery cells of FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a graph of an experiment for verifying a cooling state of a battery cell according to the embodiment.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Bus (vehicle) 2 Battery cell 3 Housing space 5 Battery tray (battery room) 6 Fan installation space 7 Centrifugal blower 8 Air blow port 14 Cooling air 15 Overpressure chamber 17 Decompression chamber

Claims (2)

[Claims] A battery chamber having a box shape accommodates a number of battery cells arranged side by side, and flows cooling air from an overpressure chamber on the upper side of the battery chamber to a decompression chamber on the lower side of the battery chamber through each battery cell. A battery cooling device configured to cool a battery cell, wherein one corner of a battery chamber is secured as a fan installation space not accommodating the battery cell, and a centrifugal blower is installed vertically in the fan installation space. A battery cooling device characterized in that the air outlet of (1) is opened in the overpressure chamber in a direction along one side of the battery chamber. 2. The battery cooling device according to claim 1, wherein the battery compartment is configured as a battery tray that can be taken in and out of a storage space provided under the floor of the vehicle.