JP2010244802A - Cooling structure for battery pack - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a cooling structure for a battery pack that prevents deterioration in cooling efficiency and a drop in the degree of freedom in cable routing. <P>SOLUTION: Each coolant supply passage is respectively connected to an intake exhaust passage 24 in a confluent manner. The intake exhaust passage 24 is connected with an inlet 36 of a centrifugal fan 30. The inlet 36 is partitioned at least into a large intake region where a coolant intake amount is large and a small intake region where the coolant intake amount is smaller than that of the large intake region. The intake exhaust passage 24 is provided with: a large intake passage 26 communicating between a coolant supply passage 20a on the upstream side and the large intake region of the inlet 36; and a small intake passage 27 communicating between a coolant supply passage 20b on the downstream side and the small intake region of the inlet 36. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2011,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an assembled battery cooling structure.

In a vehicle such as a hybrid vehicle equipped with an electric motor as a drive source, electric power for driving the electric motor is supplied from an on-board storage battery. As a storage battery mounted on a vehicle, there is an assembled battery composed of a plurality of battery modules. In such an assembled battery, the efficiency of charging / discharging tends to decrease due to the heat generated by each battery module. A cooling structure for cooling the battery module is provided (for example, see Patent Document 1).
When the assembled battery is composed of a plurality of battery module rows, the cooling structure is arranged in each branch channel in which each battery module row is branched and connected in parallel from the coolant introduction channel of the cooling duct. The downstream side of the branch flow path is joined and connected to the blower fan device. In this case, when the refrigerant is caused to flow through the flow path by the blower fan device, as shown in FIG. , 101 refrigerant flows (indicated by arrows in FIG. 10) were uneven.
Therefore, in recent years, in order to eliminate the non-uniformity of the refrigerant flow rates of the branch flow channels 100 and 101, as shown in FIG. On the other hand, there have been proposed ones (not shown) in which the introduction passage 103 on the side of the branch passage 100 having a small refrigerant flow is formed thick.

JP 2007-321738 A

However, in the conventional assembled battery cooling structure described above, there is a problem in that the duct shape is complicated by providing the throttle 104 in the introduction flow path 103, the pressure loss increases, and the cooling efficiency decreases.
In addition, when the introduction flow path 103 on the branch flow path 100 side connected to the upstream side is formed thick, the introduction flow path 103, that is, the cooling duct is enlarged, so that the degree of freedom in routing is reduced. is there.

  This invention is made in view of the said situation, and provides the cooling structure of the assembled battery which can prevent the fall of cooling efficiency and the fall of a routing freedom degree.

In order to solve the above-described problem, the invention described in claim 1 is a cooling system in which battery modules (for example, battery modules 12 in the embodiment) are arranged in a plurality of rows and a refrigerant is introduced in the arrangement direction of the battery modules. A passage (for example, the introduction cooling passage 18 in the embodiment) is provided, and a plurality of refrigerant supply passages (for example, for branching the refrigerant from the upstream side and the downstream side in the refrigerant introduction direction of the introduction cooling passage to divert the refrigerant, for example, In the embodiment, the refrigerant supply passages 20a, 20b, and 20c) are provided with a cooling structure for an assembled battery, and each of the refrigerant supply passages is joined and connected to a discharge duct (for example, the exhaust suction passage 24 in the embodiment). The discharge duct has a suction port (for example, a suction port in the embodiment) of a centrifugal fan (for example, the centrifugal fan 30 in the embodiment). Port 36) is connected, and the suction port includes a large suction region where the refrigerant suction amount is large (for example, region B in the embodiment) and a small suction region where the refrigerant suction amount is smaller than the large suction region. (E.g., region A in the embodiment)
A large suction passage (for example, the large suction passage 26 in the embodiment) that communicates the upstream refrigerant supply passage and the large suction area of the suction port to the discharge duct, and a downstream refrigerant supply passage and the suction port A small suction passage (for example, the small suction passage 27 in the embodiment) communicating with the small suction region is provided.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the invention, the large suction area and the small suction area are partitioned based on a deviation in suction flow rate at the suction port of the centrifugal fan. And

  The invention described in claim 3 is characterized in that, in the invention described in claim 1, the area of the large suction area at the suction port is set larger than the area of the small suction area at the suction port. To do.

  The invention described in claim 4 is the invention according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the refrigerant supply passage communicated with the large suction region (for example, the first refrigerant supply passage 40, the first refrigerant supply passage in the embodiment, Two refrigerant supply passages 41 and a plurality of third refrigerant supply passages 42) and a plurality of large suction passages (for example, parallel passages 50 in the embodiment) respectively connecting the refrigerant supply passages and the large suction region, The large suction passage connected to the refrigerant supply passage arranged on the downstream side is formed to have a longer passage length.

  According to the first aspect of the present invention, the refrigerant supply passage connected to the downstream side of the introduction cooling passage where the refrigerant flow rate is large is connected to the small suction region via the small suction passage, and the refrigerant flow rate is small. By connecting the refrigerant supply passage connected to the downstream side of the introduction cooling passage to the large intake region via the large intake passage, the refrigerant flow rate between the upstream refrigerant supply passage and the downstream refrigerant supply passage is made uniform. Can be Accordingly, there is no need to provide a throttle in the introduction cooling passage or to widen the introduction cooling passage, so that it is possible to prevent the cooling efficiency from being lowered due to pressure loss or the like and the freedom in routing the passage from being lowered. is there.

  According to the invention described in claim 2, by dividing the large suction area and the small suction area based on the bias of the suction flow rate at the suction port of the centrifugal fan, the refrigerant flow rate can be appropriately set without lowering the cooling efficiency. There is an effect that can be adjusted.

  According to the third aspect of the present invention, the refrigerant in the large suction region is increased by setting the area of the suction port of the large suction region to be larger than the area of the suction port of the small suction region. There is an effect that the inhalation amount can be set large.

  According to the fourth aspect of the present invention, the lengths of the plurality of large suction passages connecting the plurality of refrigerant supply passages to the large suction region are set longer as the connected refrigerant supply passage is upstream. There is an effect that the refrigerant flow rate can be finely adjusted by the channel resistance corresponding to the passage length.

It is a schematic block diagram which shows the cooling structure of the assembled battery in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure for demonstrating the deviation of the flow rate ratio of the inlet of the centrifugal fan in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the connection state of the large suction flow path and the small suction flow path in 1st Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure equivalent to FIG. 3 in 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure equivalent to FIG. 3 in the other Example of 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure which shows the division example of the inlet in the 1st modification of the other Example of 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure equivalent to FIG. 6 in the 2nd modification of the other Example of 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a longitudinal cross-sectional view of the suction inlet vicinity in the 3rd modification of the other Example of 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure equivalent to FIG. 1 in the 4th modification of the other Example of 2nd Embodiment of this invention. It is a figure equivalent to FIG. 3 in the cooling structure of the conventional assembled battery. It is a figure equivalent to FIG. 3 at the time of providing an aperture | diaphragm | restriction in the introduction cooling channel | path in the cooling structure of the conventional assembled battery.

Next, the assembled battery cooling structure in the first embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 schematically shows a cooling structure of an assembled battery 10 according to the first embodiment. The assembled battery 10 is used, for example, as a drive power source for an electric vehicle including a hybrid vehicle. The assembled battery 10 includes a plurality of battery modules 12 arranged in series inside a housing 11 arranged in a plurality of rows, and each battery module 12 is maintained at a constant interval by battery holders 14a and 14b. Is retained.

  At one end of the battery holders 14a and 14b in the series direction of the battery modules 12 (hereinafter simply referred to as the row direction), inlets 16a and 16b into which air as a coolant for cooling the battery modules 12 is introduced are arranged for each row. The introduction cooling passage 18 for introducing external air in the column direction is connected to the introduction ports 16a and 16b. More specifically, connection portions 19a and 19b are respectively formed on the upstream side wall and the downstream side wall in the flow direction of the introduction cooling passage 18, and the upstream connection portion 19a is connected to the introduction port 16a. The downstream connection portion 19b is connected to the introduction port 16b. In FIG. 1, for the sake of illustration, a gap is formed between the connecting portions 19a and 19b and the introduction ports 16a and 16b, but in reality, an airtight structure is formed.

  Refrigerant supply passages 20a and 20b are formed in the battery holders 14a and 14b so as to efficiently bring the air introduced from the inlets 16a and 16b into contact with the battery module 12 in the row direction to cool it. Further, at the other end in the row direction of the battery holders 14a and 14b, discharge ports 22a and 22b for discharging the cooled air are formed, respectively.

  A centrifugal fan 30 such as a sirocco fan is connected to the discharge ports 22 a and 22 b through an exhaust suction passage 24. The exhaust suction passage 24 is separated and formed by a plate-like separator 25 extending in the direction of air flow, and has a large suction passage 26 and a small suction portion having a substantially semicircular cross section at least on the end side connected to the centrifugal fan 30. And a passage 27.

  The centrifugal fan 30 includes a fan unit 32 in which blades F having a predetermined angle are arranged in a substantially cylindrical shape and are driven to rotate by a motor (not shown), and surrounds the fan unit 32. And a fan case 34 that guides air pushed radially outward from the inner circumferential side to the discharge port 35. Further, the fan case 34 is provided with a suction port 36 having a substantially circular shape in plan view for taking air into the fan case 34 when the fan portion 32 rotates. In the suction port 36 of the centrifugal fan 30, the suction flow rate is biased depending on the position in the suction port 36. Hereinafter, the bias of the suction flow rate at the suction port 36 will be described.

  FIG. 2 shows a region of the suction port 36 to which the large suction passage 26 and the small suction passage 27 are connected when the exhaust suction passage 24 is connected to the suction port 36 of the centrifugal fan 30. Region B shows the flow rate ratio [%] of the air suction flow rate when these arrangements are changed. Here, the angle [°] is an angle of the separator 25 with reference to the discharge direction of the air from the discharge port 35. The rotational speed of the centrifugal fan 30 is constant.

  As shown in FIG. 2, when the angle of the separator 25 is 0 °, the flow rate ratio of the passage connected to the region B closer to the discharge port 35 is 58 [%], which is farther from the discharge port 35. The flow rate of the passage connected to the region A is 42 [%], and the region B closer to the discharge port 35 has a larger inflow rate [%] than the region A far from the discharge port 35. . When the separator 25 having an angle of 0 ° is displaced clockwise and set to 45 °, the region A is 46 [%] and the region B is 54% and the difference is smaller than the case of 0 °. . When the angle of the separator 25 is further displaced clockwise to 90 ° and 135 °, the region A is 50 [%] and the region B is 50 [%]. There is no difference.

  In the cooling structure of the assembled battery 10 of this embodiment, the angle of the separator 25 is set to 0 ° with respect to the discharge direction of the centrifugal fan 30 as shown in FIG. 3 in order to equalize the refrigerant flow rate in the refrigerant supply passages 20a and 20b. The discharge port 22a of the refrigerant supply passage 20a, which is connected to the upstream side of the introduction cooling passage 18 and has a small refrigerant flow rate, is large in the region B (58%), which is a large suction region with a relatively large inflow rate. A region that is connected through the suction passage 26 and is connected to the downstream side of the introduction cooling passage 18 and is a small suction region with a relatively small inflow rate of the discharge port 22b of the refrigerant supply passage 20b having a high original refrigerant flow rate. By connecting the small suction passage 27 to A (42%), the refrigerant flow rates in the refrigerant supply passage 20a and the refrigerant supply passage 20b are made uniform. In addition, although the flow rate ratio has been described by taking the region A = 42 [%] and the region B = 58 [%] as an example, the present invention is not limited to this, and the separator 25 corresponds to the variation in the refrigerant flow rate in the refrigerant supply passages 20a and 20b. The desired flow rate ratio may be obtained by adjusting the angle.

  Therefore, according to the cooling structure of the assembled battery 10 in the above-described embodiment, the refrigerant supply passage 20b connected to the downstream side of the introduction cooling passage 18 where the refrigerant flow rate is large is transferred to the region A which is the small suction region. 27, and the refrigerant supply passage 20a connected to the upstream side of the introduction cooling passage 18 where the refrigerant flow rate is small is connected to the region B, which is the large suction region, via the large suction passage 26. The refrigerant flow rates in the upstream refrigerant supply passage 20a and the downstream refrigerant supply passage 20b can be made uniform. As a result, it is necessary to provide a throttle in the introduction cooling passage 18 or widen the introduction cooling passage 18. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the cooling efficiency from being reduced due to the pressure loss of the throttle, and the freedom of routing from being reduced due to the enlargement of the refrigerant flow path.

  Further, by dividing the region A (large suction region) and the region B (small suction region) based on the deviation of the inflow rate (suction flow rate) at the suction port 36 of the centrifugal fan 30, the cooling efficiency is lowered. The refrigerant flow rate can be adjusted appropriately without any change.

Next, the cooling structure of the assembled battery 10 of 2nd Embodiment of this invention is demonstrated. In the second embodiment, the above-described three introduction supply passages are provided. The same parts as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed description thereof is omitted.
FIG. 4 shows a schematic configuration of the cooling structure of the assembled battery 10 of the second embodiment. In FIG. 4, for the sake of illustration, only the flow path through which air as the refrigerant passes is shown, and the battery module 12 in the refrigerant supply passage is omitted.

  A first refrigerant supply passage 40, a second refrigerant supply passage 41, and a third refrigerant supply passage 42 are connected to the introduction cooling passage 18 in order from the upstream side. Further, exhausts constituted by a large suction passage 43, a middle suction passage 44, and a small suction passage 45 at downstream end portions of the first refrigerant supply passage 40, the second refrigerant supply passage 41, and the third refrigerant supply passage 42, respectively. A suction passage 46 is connected.

A centrifugal fan 30 is connected to the downstream end of the exhaust suction passage 46, and a large region with a relatively large flow rate and a small region with a relatively small flow rate according to the flow rate ratio of the suction port 36, respectively. And the middle region where the flow rate ratio is a proportion between the large region and the small region is set separately.
The large suction passage 43 is connected to the large area of the suction port 36, the middle suction path 44 is connected to the middle area of the suction port 36, and the small suction path 45 is connected to the small area of the suction port 36. ing.

  Therefore, according to the cooling structure of the assembled battery 10 of the second embodiment, the number of battery modules 12 of the assembled battery 10 is increased, and the number of refrigerant supply passages is increased as compared to the refrigerant supply passages 20a and 20b of the first embodiment. However, based on the bias of the suction flow rate at the suction port 36 of the centrifugal fan 30, a plurality of, for example, first coolant supply passages 40 to 3 that originally have different coolant flow rates by partitioning a region where an appropriate suction flow rate can be obtained. By communicating with the refrigerant supply passage 42, the refrigerant flow rates in the first refrigerant supply passage 40 to the third refrigerant supply passage 42 can be made uniform without reducing the cooling efficiency.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 5 as another example, the present invention is not limited to the configurations of the first embodiment and the second embodiment described above, and the refrigerant supply having a large original refrigerant flow rate among the plurality of refrigerant supply passages 20a and 20b. You may change suitably the area of the division of the area | region of the inlet port 36 with which the channel | path 20b is connected, and the area | region of the inlet port 36 with which the refrigerant | coolant supply channel | path 20a with the original small refrigerant | coolant flow volume communicates. With this configuration, in each region partitioned by the suction port 36 of the centrifugal fan 30, a deviation in the flow rate ratio that is larger than the maximum value of the flow rate deviation occurring in the region of the same area is caused. Therefore, the refrigerant flow rates of the refrigerant supply passages 20a and 20b can be made uniform even when the variation of the refrigerant flow rates of the refrigerant supply passages 20a and 20b is relatively large.

  Further, as shown in FIG. 6 as a first modified example of another embodiment, a partition is made from the center of the suction port 36 toward the radially outer side (FIG. 6 shows an example of a cross-shaped partition). The refrigerant flow rates in the plurality of refrigerant supply passages may be made uniform according to the flow rate ratio in the region. Further, as shown in FIG. 7 as a second modification, each region partitioned in FIG. 6 may be appropriately combined to obtain a desired flow rate ratio.

  Furthermore, as a third modification of another embodiment, as shown in FIG. 8, a plurality of parallel passages 50a partitioned by a separator 25 into a large suction passage 26 connected to a large suction region having a relatively large flow rate ratio. ˜50c may be formed, and these parallel passages 50a˜50c may be communicated with a plurality of refrigerant supply passages (not shown) sequentially connected from the upstream side to the downstream side of the introduction cooling passage 18 (see FIG. 3). These parallel passages 50a to 50c are formed such that the passage length on the suction port 36 side is shorter as the refrigerant supply passage to be communicated is upstream. A chamber (space) is formed between the suction port 36 and each outlet of the parallel passages 50a to 50c by changing the passage length of the parallel passages 50a to 50c on the centrifugal fan 30 side as in the third modification. Therefore, the total flow rate of the parallel passages 50a to 50c can be controlled through this chamber. Further, the flow rate ratio of the refrigerant flow rate is finely adjusted according to the original flow rate of the refrigerant supply passage by changing the passage length of the parallel passages 50a to 50c, and the refrigerant in the upstream side refrigerant supply passage and the downstream side refrigerant supply passage The flow rate can be made uniform.

  Furthermore, as a fourth modification of the other embodiment, as shown in FIG. 9, discharge passages 23a to 23c are formed in the discharge ports 22a to 22c of the battery holders 14a to 14c, respectively, and the first refrigerant supply passage 40 to the first The flow rate ratio of the three refrigerant supply passages 42 may be finely adjusted by changing the lengths (distances) of the discharge passages 23a to 23c. Further, in FIG. 9, only the third refrigerant supply passage 42 connected to the most downstream side of the introduction cooling passage 18 is connected to the small suction passage 27, and the other two upstream first refrigerant supply passages 40, 2 The refrigerant supply passage 41 is connected to a single large suction passage 26, and the area ratio of the suction port 36 to which the large suction passage 26 and the small suction passage 27 are connected is changed to change the first refrigerant passage 40 to the third refrigerant passage. The refrigerant flow rate in the refrigerant supply passage 42 is made uniform.

  In each of the above-described embodiments, other examples, and modifications, the case where air is used as the refrigerant has been described. However, any refrigerant that can be blown using the centrifugal fan 30 is limited to air. is not.

12 Battery Module 18 Introduction Cooling Passage 20a, 20b, 20c Refrigerant Supply Passage 24 Exhaust Suction Passage (Exhaust Duct)
26 Large suction passage 27 Small suction passage 30 Centrifugal fan 40 First refrigerant supply passage (refrigerant supply passage)
41 Second refrigerant supply passage (refrigerant supply passage)
42 Third refrigerant supply passage (refrigerant supply passage)
50a, 50b, 50c Parallel passage (large suction passage)
A area (small inhalation area)
B area (large inhalation area)

Claims (4)

The battery modules are arranged in a plurality of rows, an introduction cooling passage for introducing the refrigerant in the arrangement direction of the battery modules is provided, and the refrigerant is branched and connected from the upstream side and the downstream side in the refrigerant introduction direction of the introduction cooling passage. An assembled battery cooling structure provided with a plurality of refrigerant supply passages for shunting
Each of the refrigerant supply passages is joined and connected to a discharge duct, and a suction port of a centrifugal fan is connected to the discharge duct. The suction port includes a large suction area where a refrigerant suction amount is large, Is divided into at least a small suction area where the refrigerant suction amount is smaller than
A large suction passage communicating the upstream refrigerant supply passage and the large suction region of the suction port to the discharge duct, and a small suction passage communicating the downstream refrigerant supply passage and the small suction region of the suction port And a cooling structure for the assembled battery.   The assembled battery cooling structure according to claim 1, wherein the large suction area and the small suction area are partitioned based on a bias of a suction flow rate at a suction port of the centrifugal fan.   2. The assembled battery cooling structure according to claim 1, wherein an area of the large suction region at the suction port is set larger than an area of the small suction region at the suction port.   A plurality of refrigerant supply passages communicated with the large suction region and a plurality of large suction passages connecting the refrigerant supply passage and the large suction region, respectively, are connected to a refrigerant supply passage disposed downstream. The assembled battery cooling structure according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the larger suction passage is formed to have a longer passage length.

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