JP2017091711A - Battery cooling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a battery cooling device in which the compactification of a mounting space, a reduction in noise of a blower, and an improvement in cooling efficiency are achieved.SOLUTION: A battery cooling device 1 in which a gas refrigerant C1 cooling a battery circulates includes: a cooler 3 for cooling the gas refrigerant C1 that has cooled the battery; a centrifugal blower 4 provided on a down stream side in a circulation direction of the gas refrigerant C1 with respect to the cooler 3 and supplying the gas refrigerant C1 having been cooled by the cooler 3 toward the battery; and a circulation pipe through which gas refrigerant C1 flows so as to sequentially circulate through the cooler 3, the centrifugal blower 4, and the battery. The cooler 3 is disposed at a suction port of the centrifugal blower 4.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a battery cooling device.

  In recent years, various types of batteries have been adopted as power sources for electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles. Since the temperature of the battery rises when charging and discharging are repeated, various types of battery cooling devices for cooling the battery have been proposed.

  For example, a battery cooling device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-160594 includes a battery, a blower that blows air heated by the battery toward the evaporator, and an evaporator that cools the air sent by the blower. The cooling air is connected to the battery, the blower, and the evaporator so as to circulate sequentially.

  The blower is an electric blower that drives a centrifugal multiblade fan (sirocco fan) with an electric motor.

JP 2014-160594 A

  Generally, the centrifugal multiblade fan includes a plurality of fins arranged concentrically and a circular frame portion connecting the plurality of fins, and the central portion of the centrifugal multiblade fan is formed in a hollow shape. When the centrifugal multiblade fan rotates, the centrifugal multiblade fan is configured to take in air from the central portion and send out air from between the fins.

  The air sent out from between the fins is guided along the wall surface of the case that houses the centrifugal multiblade fan, and blows to the outside from the outlet formed in the case. Generally, the flow passage area of the air outlet is smaller than the flow passage area of the air intake. On the other hand, the evaporator needs to sufficiently cool the air flowing through the evaporator while suppressing an increase in the flow resistance of the air flowing through the evaporator. For this reason, it is necessary to enlarge the area of the evaporator to which air is sprayed.

  Here, in the battery cooling device described in Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2014-160594, the evaporator is disposed on the blower outlet side of the blower. Since the area of the blowout port of the centrifugal multiblade fan is small and it is necessary to secure a wide intake port of the evaporator, the air flow area is widened between the centrifugal multiblade fan blowout port and the evaporator. A tube is required.

  As a result, the duct length of the battery cooling device is increased, and the mounting space occupied by the battery cooling device is increased. Furthermore, when the duct length becomes long, it is necessary to mount various vehicle-mounted devices in a limited space, so that it is necessary to bend the long duct. For this reason, the air flow path becomes complicated, and the air flow is disturbed or biased. Thereby, noise is generated in the blower or the cooling efficiency of the battery is reduced.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a battery cooling device in which a mounting space is made compact, noise in a blower is reduced, and cooling efficiency is improved. It is.

  The battery cooling device is a cooling device in which a gaseous refrigerant for cooling the battery circulates. The battery cooling device is provided with a cooler that cools the gas refrigerant that has cooled the battery, and the gas refrigerant that is provided downstream of the cooler in the flow direction of the gas refrigerant and is cooled by the cooler toward the battery. And a circulation pipe through which the gaseous refrigerant flows so as to sequentially circulate the cooler, the centrifugal blower, and the battery. The said cooler is arrange | positioned at the suction inlet of a centrifugal blower.

  As for said battery cooling device, the cooler is arrange | positioned at the suction inlet of the centrifugal air blower. The suction port of the centrifugal blower is larger than the exhaust port, and is close to the spray area where the gaseous refrigerant is sprayed onto the cooler. For this reason, there is no need to provide a duct for matching the spray area of the cooler with the area of the suction port of the centrifugal blower, and even if the duct is necessary, the length of the duct is shortened. be able to. Thereby, size reduction of a battery cooling device can be achieved.

  According to the battery cooling device of the present invention, it is possible to reduce the mounting space, reduce noise in the blower, and improve the cooling efficiency.

1 is a circuit diagram schematically showing a battery cooling device 1 according to Embodiment 1. FIG. It is a front view which shows the cooler 3 typically. It is a perspective view which shows the centrifugal blower 4 typically. It is a top view which shows typically the positional relationship of the cooler 3 and the centrifugal blower 4. FIG. It is sectional drawing in the VV line shown in FIG. It is a circuit diagram which shows the modification of the battery cooling device 1 shown in FIG. It is a circuit which shows battery cooling device 1B typically.

(Embodiment 1)
FIG. 1 is a circuit diagram schematically showing a battery cooling device 1 according to the first embodiment. The battery cooling device 1 is a cooling device in which a gas refrigerant C that cools the battery 2 circulates, and is mounted on a vehicle.

  The battery cooling device 1 includes a cooler 3 that cools the air warmed by the battery 2, a centrifugal blower 4 that supplies the gas refrigerant C <b> 1 cooled by the cooler 3 toward the battery 2, and the gas refrigerant C inside. A flowing circulation pipe 5 and a cooling circuit 6 for cooling the refrigerant C2 flowing in the cooler 3 are provided. Note that air or the like can be used as the gas refrigerant C1, and chlorofluorocarbon or the like can be used as the refrigerant C2.

  The battery 2 can be applied to various batteries such as a lithium ion battery and a nickel battery.

  FIG. 2 is a front view schematically showing the cooler 3. The cooler 3 is provided at the suction pipe 11 into which the refrigerant C2 flows, the micro flow path 13 through which the refrigerant C2 flows in from the suction pipe 11, the fins 14, the heat insulating material 15, and the end of the micro flow path 13. And a discharge pipe 12 through which the refrigerant C2 is discharged.

  The microchannel 13 is formed in a meandering shape, and a plurality of fins 14 are provided between the microchannels 13. The fins 14 are also formed so as to meander between the micro flow paths 13, and the heat insulating material 15 is formed so as to surround the micro flow paths 13, the suction pipes 11, and the discharge pipes 12. The heat insulating material 15 is formed of, for example, a sponge.

  And the gas refrigerant C1 is sprayed to the part in which the fin 14 is provided, the gas refrigerant C1 flows between the fins 14, and the refrigerant C2 flows in the microchannel 13, whereby the gas refrigerant C1 is cooled. . In addition, the refrigerant | coolant C2 cools gaseous refrigerant | coolant C1 by vaporizing and expanding in the process which flows in the inside of the microchannel 13. FIG.

  In the first embodiment, a plate fin type or corrugated fin type evaporator is employed.

  FIG. 3 is a perspective view schematically showing the centrifugal blower 4. As shown in FIG. 3, the centrifugal blower 4 includes a case 20, a fan body 21 accommodated in the case 20, a suction pipe 22 connected to the case 20, and a discharge pipe 23 connected to the case 20. And a motor 24 for rotating the fan main body 21.

  The fan main body 21 includes a plurality of fins arranged concentrically and a circular frame portion that integrally connects the plurality of fins, and the fan main body 21 has a hollow central portion.

  The inner peripheral surface of the case 20 is formed in a substantially circular shape, and the discharge pipe 23 extends in the tangential direction of the inner peripheral surface of the case 20. When the motor 24 is driven to rotate the fan main body 21, the gas refrigerant C <b> 1 is sucked from the suction pipe 22 and enters the hollow central portion of the fan main body 21. And the gaseous refrigerant | coolant C1 blows off from between each fin.

  The gaseous refrigerant C <b> 1 blown from between the fins flows along the inner peripheral surface of the case 20, and then blown out from the discharge pipe 23. Here, the area of the discharge port 29 of the discharge pipe 23 is smaller than the area of the suction port 28 of the suction pipe 22.

  In FIG. 1, the circulation pipe 5 includes a housing part 25 in which the battery 2 is housed, a connecting pipe 26 that connects the housing part 25 and the case 20, and a connecting pipe 27 that connects the housing part 25 and the cooler 3. including.

  The cooler 3 is provided at the suction port of the suction pipe 22. 4 is a plan view schematically showing the positional relationship between the cooler 3 and the centrifugal blower 4, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along line VV shown in FIG. As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, it is provided at the suction port 28 of the centrifugal blower 4.

  Here, the area of the suction port 28 is larger than the area of the discharge port 29 of the discharge pipe 23. For this reason, the area of the suction port 28 is closer to the plane area of the cooler 3 shown in FIG. For this reason, as shown in FIG. 5, when the cooler 3 is arranged on the suction port 28 side, the gas refrigerant C <b> 1 entering the fan main body 21 can be prevented from being biased depending on the position of the fan main body 21. .

  As a result, the cooler 3 can be brought close to the suction port 28, and the connection pipe connecting the cooler 3 and the centrifugal blower 4 can be omitted or the connection pipe can be shortened.

  As a result, the total length of the circulation pipe 5 can be shortened, and the battery cooling device 1 itself can be made compact.

  In FIG. 1, a cooling circuit 6 includes a compressor 30 that compresses a gaseous refrigerant C2, a heat radiating unit 31 that cools the refrigerant C2 that has been heated by the compressor 30 with outside air, and a refrigerant C2. An expansion valve 32 that expands the refrigerant C2 to a low temperature and a low pressure and a cooler 3 are included.

  In the battery cooling device 1 configured as described above, the gas refrigerant C1 is cooled by the cooler 3, and the centrifugal gas blower 4 supplies the cooled gas refrigerant C1 to the battery 2. When the gaseous refrigerant C1 passes through the cooler 3, the gaseous refrigerant C1 passes between the fins 14 shown in FIG. At this time, the gas refrigerant C1 is rectified by the fins 14, the gas refrigerant C1 is in a laminar flow state, and the flow of the gas refrigerant C1 is prevented from being disturbed or vortexed. As a result, when the gaseous refrigerant C <b> 1 that has passed through the cooler 3 is supplied to the centrifugal fan 4, it is possible to suppress the generation of abnormal noise in the centrifugal fan 4.

  Furthermore, since it is suppressed that the full length of the circulation pipe 5 becomes long, it becomes possible to mount the battery cooling device 1 in a vehicle without the circulation pipe 5 being bent in a complicated manner. As a result, it is possible to prevent the gas refrigerant C <b> 1 flowing through the circulation pipe 5 from being greatly disturbed, and to suppress the occurrence of bias in the gas refrigerant C <b> 1 supplied to the centrifugal blower 4.

  In addition, when the refrigerant | coolant C2 is cooled with the cooler 3, the water contained in the refrigerant | coolant C2 will condense and water will adhere to the centrifugal blower 4. FIG. However, since the circulation pipe 5 is a sealed pipe line, it is possible to suppress water from adhering to the centrifugal blower 4 by making the gas refrigerant C1 sealed in the circulation pipe 5 dry air in the manufacturing process. . That is, the amount of water contained in the gas refrigerant C1 can be suppressed lower than in the vehicle interior air conditioning that cools the air in the vehicle interior, and water is prevented from adhering to the centrifugal blower 4 with a simple countermeasure against condensed water. Can do. For example, a measure for providing a drain outlet for discharging water generated in the cooler 3 to the outside can be mentioned.

FIG. 6 is a circuit diagram showing a modification of the battery cooling device 1 shown in FIG. In the battery cooling device 1 </ b> A shown in FIG. 6, a drain discharge port 35 is formed in a portion of the connection pipe 27 located below the cooler 3.
(Embodiment 2)
In the first embodiment described above, the example in which the gas refrigerant circulation circuit is employed as the cooling circuit for cooling the gas refrigerant C1 has been described. However, the liquid refrigerant circuit in which the liquid refrigerant circulates as the cooling circuit for cooling the gas refrigerant C1. While adopting, a cooling cycle for cooling the liquid refrigerant may be provided.

  FIG. 7 is a circuit diagram schematically showing the battery cooling device 1B. In FIG. 7, the same or substantially the same configuration as that shown in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 7, the battery cooling device 1B includes a cooling circuit that circulates the gas refrigerant C1 to cool the battery 2, a cooling circuit 40 that circulates the refrigerant C3 and cools the gas refrigerant C1, and circulates the refrigerant C4. And a cooling circuit 50 for cooling the refrigerant C3.

  The cooling circuit 40 includes a cooler 45, a pump 41 connected to the cooler 45, a heat exchanger 42 through which the refrigerant C3 discharged from the pump 41 flows, and a circulation pipe 43 through which the refrigerant C3 flows. The cooler 45 is disposed at the suction port of the centrifugal blower. The circulation pipe 43 sequentially connects the cooler 45, the pump 41, and the heat exchanger 42. Then, the pump 41 discharges the refrigerant C3 so that the refrigerant C3 sequentially flows through the pump 41, the heat exchanger 42, and the cooler 45. The refrigerant C3 is a liquid refrigerant, and a refrigerant such as water can be adopted.

  The cooling circuit 50 includes a heat exchanger 42, a compressor 51, a heat radiating unit 52, an expansion valve 53, and a circulation path 54 through which the refrigerant C4 circulates. The circulation path 54 sequentially connects the heat exchanger 42, the compressor 51, the heat radiating unit 52, and the expansion valve 53. In the heat exchanger 42, the refrigerant C4 cools the refrigerant C3, and the refrigerant C4 is warmed by the refrigerant C3. The warmed refrigerant C <b> 4 is compressed by the compressor 51 and becomes a high temperature, and is cooled in the heat radiating unit 52. Thereafter, the expansion valve 53 enters a low temperature and low pressure state. In addition, a gaseous refrigerant is employ | adopted for the refrigerant | coolant C4.

  In the battery cooling device 1B, in the cooler 45, the gaseous refrigerant C1 is cooled by the refrigerant C3. The refrigerant C3 warmed by the gaseous refrigerant C1 is cooled by the refrigerant C4.

  Also in this Embodiment 2, since the cooler 3 is arrange | positioned at the suction inlet of the centrifugal blower 4, it is suppressed that the occupied volume of the battery cooling device 1B whole becomes large. As described above, as the device for cooling the gaseous refrigerant C1, as shown in the first embodiment, the cooler 3 as an evaporator may be used, and any of the coolers through which the cooled liquid refrigerant flows is adopted. be able to.

  Thereby, also in the battery cooling device 1B according to the second embodiment, it is possible to obtain the same operational effects as those of the battery cooling device 1 according to the first embodiment.

  It should be understood that the embodiment disclosed this time is illustrative in all respects and not restrictive. The scope of the present invention is defined by the terms of the claims, rather than the description above, and is intended to include any modifications within the scope and meaning equivalent to the terms of the claims.

  The present invention can be applied to a battery cooling device.

  1,1B Battery cooling device, 2 battery, 3 cooler, 4 centrifugal blower, 5,43 circulation pipe, 6,40,50 cooling circuit, 11,22 suction pipe, 12,23 discharge pipe, 13 micro flow path, 14 Fin, 15 Heat insulating material, 20 Case, 21 Fan body, 24 Motor, 25 Housing, 26, 27 Connection pipe, 28 Suction port, 29 Discharge port, 30, 51 Compressor, 31, 52 Heat radiation unit, 32, 53 Expansion Valve, 35 drain outlet, 41 pump, 42 heat exchanger, 54 circuit.

Claims (1)

A cooling device in which a gaseous refrigerant for cooling the battery circulates,
A cooler for cooling the gaseous refrigerant warmed by cooling the battery;
A centrifugal blower that is provided on the downstream side in the flow direction of the gas refrigerant with respect to the cooler and supplies the gas refrigerant cooled by the cooler toward the battery,
A circulation pipe through which the gaseous refrigerant flows so as to sequentially circulate the cooler, the centrifugal blower, and the battery;
With
The said cooler is a battery cooling device arrange | positioned at the suction inlet of the said centrifugal blower.

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