JP3250429B2 - Electric vehicle battery cooling system - Google Patents

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 for cooling a battery as a drive source of an electric vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A battery as a drive source for driving an electric motor of an electric vehicle has been disposed under the floor of a vehicle 50 as shown in FIG. The battery 51 is arranged inside a case 52 provided under the floor of the vehicle 50. An external air inlet 53 for cooling the battery 52 is formed on the front end face of the vehicle of the case 52, while a cooling fan 54 for sucking the air inside the case 52 is arranged at the rear end of the case 52. Have been. By arranging the battery 51 under the floor in this manner, the center of gravity of the vehicle is lowered, which helps to ensure stable running of the vehicle.

The outside air inlet 53 has a small opening area so that rainwater does not enter the case 52. The end face of the case 52 in which the outside air inlet 53 is formed is formed perpendicular to the ground. Cooling fan 54
The number of cooling fans 54 has been reduced as much as possible in order to prevent the traveling distance of the vehicle 50 from decreasing due to the power consumed by the vehicle.

[0004]

The above-mentioned technology has a problem that since the opening area of the outside air inlet is set to be small, the outside air for cooling hardly enters the case and the battery cannot be cooled sufficiently. is there. Further, since the end face of the case in which the outside air inlet is formed is formed perpendicular to the ground, there is a problem that aerodynamic characteristics are deteriorated.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and has as its object to provide a battery cooling device for an electric vehicle that can reliably lead outside air into a case while improving aerodynamic characteristics. .

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention,
In a battery cooling device for an electric vehicle that runs by driving an electric motor with a vehicle-mounted battery, a plurality of batteries are mounted at intervals and a box formed by curving the front end side of the vehicle upward, A plurality of external air inlets formed on the front end side of the vehicle, provided at least in the box on the opposite side of the external air inlet, and a plurality of detectors for gas generated in the box and operated by the detector signals. A cooling fan device having a fan is provided.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, there is provided a battery cooling device for an electric vehicle which runs by driving an electric motor with a vehicle-mounted battery, wherein the plurality of batteries are mounted at intervals and the front end of the vehicle is directed upward. A box formed by bending the battery, an outside air inlet provided in the box, and a plurality of fans provided in the box at least on the opposite side to the outside air inlet formed on the front end side of the vehicle. A cooling fan device that operates the fan when the vehicle speed of the vehicle is equal to or higher than a predetermined value.

[0008]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings. 1 and 2, reference numeral 10 denotes an electric vehicle. The electric vehicle 10 includes a motor 11 as an electric motor for driving the electric vehicle 10, a battery 12 for driving the motor 11, a battery cooling device 20 for cooling the battery 12, and an engine 13 as a prime mover for charging the battery 12. And a generator (not shown) driven by the engine 13 and a connection terminal (not shown) provided for charging the battery 12 from an external charging device (not shown) provided outside the vehicle.

The battery cooling device 20 includes a box 14 on which a plurality of batteries 12 are mounted at intervals, an inlet port 15 provided on an end surface 14a of the box 14 on the vehicle front side, and an inlet port 15 for introducing outside air. Box 14 on the other side
, A cooling fan device 16 having a plurality of fans 18 provided therein, and a temperature sensor 17 as a battery state detecting means for detecting the state of the battery 12.

A radiator 19 for cooling the motor 11 and a fan 21 are arranged in front of the motor 11.
On the other hand, a radiator 22 for cooling the engine 13 and a fan 21 are also arranged in front of the engine 13.

An end surface 14a of the box 14 on the vehicle front side.
Is curved upward as shown in FIG. 3 in order to improve the aerodynamic characteristics.
5 are formed. The inlets 15 are formed at three places in the vehicle width direction (the direction perpendicular to the plane of the drawing in the figure). A spoiler 24 is provided at the lower edge of the inlet 15 to facilitate outside air into the box 14. In this example, the spoiler 24 is configured separately from the box 14,
It may be formed integrally with the box 14.

A baffle plate 26 is provided inside the box 14 to prevent rainwater that has entered the box 14 from the inlet 15 from splashing on the battery 12. Further, a discharge port 25 for discharging rainwater that has entered the box 14 is formed in the end surface 14 a of the box 14.

The cooling fan device 16 is provided at a rear portion of the box 14 and includes a fan 18 for sucking outside air introduced into the box 14 and a duct 26 for discharging air from the fan 18. In this example, a sirocco fan having excellent PV characteristics is used as the fan 18, and three fans are arranged in parallel in the vehicle width direction. Each fan 18 is connected to a control unit (hereinafter simply referred to as a CU) 30 which will be described later, and is driven to rotate in response to an ON / OFF signal from the CU 30.

The box 14 has a detector 27 for detecting gas generated from the battery 12 when the battery 12 is charged.
Is arranged. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 1, the temperature sensors 17 are arranged at six places in the box 14, but the arrangement places and the number of the temperature sensors 17 are not limited to this.

The main part of the CU 30 is constituted by a well-known microcomputer having a ROM and a RAM.
The input terminal of the I / O port (not shown) receives the temperature of the battery 12 and the detection signal of the gas in the box 14 from each of the temperature sensors 17 and the detector 27. Further CU3
To 0, a speed sensor 28 for detecting the speed of 10 of the electric vehicle is connected. From the output end of an I / O port (not shown) of the CU 30, when the speed of the electric vehicle 10 is a predetermined speed, for example, 50 miles or more, and when the battery 12
A drive signal is output to the fan 18 when the temperature of the fan 18 exceeds a predetermined value.

Further, a generator (not shown) is driven by the engine 13 to generate electricity, and the battery 12 is charged to generate gas from the battery 12 or from an external charging device (not shown) provided outside the vehicle. Even when the battery 12 is charged through a connection terminal (not shown) and gas is generated from the battery 12, a drive signal is output to the fan 18.

Hereinafter, the operation of the apparatus having the above configuration will be described. When the main switch is turned on and the motor 11 is started, the CU 30 checks each function and performs an initial function setting such as an initial value setting. Subsequently, the CU 30 sends information on various states of the battery 12 and vehicle speed to the temperature sensor 1.
7. Captured by detector 27 and speed sensor 28.

When the temperature of the battery 12 is equal to or higher than a predetermined value or the speed of the electric vehicle 10 is equal to or higher than a predetermined speed, the CU 30 outputs a drive signal to the fan 18 and takes in outside air from the inlet 15 into the box 14. The battery 12 is cooled. At this time, the outside air is smoothly guided into the box 14 by the spoiler 24. On the other hand, the battery 12
When gas is generated from the battery 12 during the charging of
U30 outputs a drive signal to fan 18 to discharge gas out of the vehicle.

[0019]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the cooling fan device is driven based on the battery state information detected by the battery state detecting means to take in outside air from the inlet and cool the battery. It can be kept in a predetermined state.

In particular, since the cooling fan device is provided with a detector for the gas generated in the box and a plurality of fans which are activated by the detector signal, even if gas is generated from the battery, the gas can be discharged out of the vehicle. .

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the battery is cooled by operating the fan when the speed of the electric vehicle is equal to or higher than a predetermined value, a rapid rise in the temperature of the battery can be prevented.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a cooling device for an electric vehicle showing one embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a configuration diagram of an electric vehicle to which the cooling device shown in FIG. 1 is applied.

FIG. 3 is a side sectional view of a part of the box of the cooling device shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is a configuration diagram illustrating a conventional cooling device for an electric vehicle.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Electric vehicle 11 Motor as an electric motor 12 Battery 13 Engine as a prime mover 14 Box 15 Inlet 16 Cooling fan device 17 Temperature sensor 18 Fan 20 Battery cooling device 24 Introducing portion 25 Outlet 26 Duct 27 Detector 28 Temperature sensor 30 Control unit

Continuation of the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B60K 1/04 B60K 9/00 B60K 11/06 H01M 2/12

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A battery cooling device for an electric vehicle that travels by driving an electric motor with a vehicle-mounted battery, wherein the plurality of batteries are mounted at intervals and the front end side of the vehicle is curved upward. box provided in the box, the external air inlet port formed on the vehicle front end, set on the opposite side of the box and at least the outside air introduction port
And the same detector as the gas detector in the above box
A battery cooling device for an electric vehicle, comprising: a cooling fan device including a plurality of fans that are activated by an alarm signal . According to a second aspect of the present invention, a vehicle-mounted battery is provided.
Battery cooling device for electric vehicles that run by driving an electric motor
In location, it mounted at intervals to the plurality of batteries, the vehicle front end
A box formed by curving its side upward, and the outside air formed in the box and formed on the front end side of the vehicle
In the inlet, at least in the box opposite the outside air inlet
And the speed of the electric vehicle is
A cooling fan that activates the above fan when it exceeds a predetermined value
Device, battery cooling instrumentation for an electric vehicle characterized by comprising a
Place.