JP3493006B2 - Battery cooling device - 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 suitable for use in electric vehicles, hybrid engine vehicles and the like.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In recent years, a diesel-electric hybrid engine has been developed. This type of diesel-electric hybrid engine has an ultra-thin three-phase AC machine 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 AC machine assists the diesel engine to reduce the burden on the diesel engine and reduce the emission of air pollutants by the diesel engine.

In a bus or the like equipped with such a diesel-electric hybrid engine, a large number of battery cells are arranged side by side in a battery tray that 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 onto each battery cell from above by a propeller fan (axial blower) arranged on the upper side of the battery tray, and the cooling air is passed through between the battery cells and extracted downward to forcibly cool each battery cell. I am trying.

[0004]

However, in such a system in which the cooling air is blown from above the battery cells by the propeller fan, the propeller arrangement space, the motor arrangement space, and the air guide opening arrangement space are vertically arranged. There is a problem that the height of the battery tray becomes long because it must be secured in three layers in the same direction, especially when applied to buses equipped with hybrid engines, etc. There was also a problem that it would be a major obstacle to the reduction of floor space that is being promoted in order to make it easier.

Further, in recent years, the form of use has been changed from a conventional lead battery to a nickel-hydrogen battery in order to improve the performance, and since this kind of nickel-hydrogen battery is delicate in temperature. , 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, in the conventional method, in which cooling air is simply blown from above with a propeller fan, a position away from directly below the propeller fan It is feared that the cooling efficiency will decrease as it becomes, and it will be difficult to uniformly cool all the battery cells.

The present invention has been made in view of the above situation, and is intended to reduce the height dimension of a battery chamber configured as a battery tray or the like that can be put in and taken out from a storage 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]

According to the present invention, a large number of battery cells are accommodated side by side in a box-shaped battery chamber, and a decompression chamber under the battery chamber is passed from an overpressure chamber above the battery chamber through each battery cell. A battery cooling device that cools each battery cell by flowing cooling air to the battery compartment, and secures one corner of the battery chamber as a fan installation space that does not house the battery cell, and installs a centrifugal blower vertically in the fan installation space. It is characterized in that it is installed on a stand and the blower opening of the centrifugal blower is opened in a direction along one side surface of the battery chamber in the overpressure chamber.

In this way, since the centrifugal blower is installed vertically in the fan installation space secured in one corner of the battery chamber, the centrifugal blower can be efficiently stored in the battery chamber. In addition, it is only necessary to form an overpressure chamber on the upper side of each battery cell that is high enough to open the ventilation port of a vertical centrifugal blower. Can be converted.

Further, the cooling air blown from the blower port of the centrifugal blower flows from one corner of the battery chamber along one side surface of the battery chamber, and every time it hits a corner of the battery chamber, it follows the next side surface. As a result, a large swirl flow is formed above each battery cell so as to cover the entire region of the overpressure chamber. While being formed in the chamber, cooling air flows between the battery cells and flows into the decompression chamber on the lower side of the battery chamber, whereby all the battery cells are cooled to a substantially uniform temperature.

Further, in the present invention, the battery chamber may be constructed as a battery tray which can be put in and taken out from the accommodation space provided under the floor of the vehicle. In such a case, the hybrid engine is particularly preferable. By applying it to vehicles such as buses equipped with, it is possible to reduce the floor.

[0011]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 4 show an example of an embodiment for carrying out the present invention. In the battery cooling device of this embodiment, the case where the 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 that can be opened and closed by opening and closing a door 4 from a side surface of a vehicle body in a housing space 3 provided under the floor of a bus 1. There is.

In the case of the battery tray 5 shown here, in particular, as shown in FIG. 1, a box shape in which a total of 7 battery cells 2 are arranged side by side with 10 battery cells 2 as one set. 6 sets of the battery cells 2 are arranged inside the battery tray 5 so as to form a row in the vehicle width direction (vertical direction in FIG. 1), and the remaining one set of battery cells 2 is formed. 2 are arranged in the vehicle front-rear direction (left-right direction in FIG. 1) so as to form a row in the front side of the vehicle on the front side of the battery tray 5 (closer to the left side in FIG. 1). A fan installation space 6 that does not house the battery cells 2 is secured in one corner of the vehicle on the rear side (on the right side in FIG. 1).

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a centrifugal blower 7 is vertically installed in the fan installation space 6, and a blower port 8 of the centrifugal blower 7 has a battery cell 2 in a battery tray 5. The upper space is opened in a direction along one side surface of the battery tray 5.

Further, as shown in FIG. 3, the battery cells 2 of each set are placed on a perforated plate 9 composed of a frame body having one side having an L-shaped cross section, and are assembled into each set.
Moreover, the seal plate 10 is provided so as to close the gap between the respective sets, and is installed at an appropriate position on the framework plate 11, while the centrifugal blower 7 also closes the gap at the installation position. It is arranged to be installed at an appropriate position on the framework plate 11 via the seal plate 10 thus configured.

Each set of battery cells 2 and the centrifugal blower 7 thus installed on the frame plate 11 are
The framework plate 11 is housed in the battery tray 5, and the framework plate 11 is assembled to the outer edge of the open bottom of the battery tray 5, and below the framework plate 11. A metal net 12 is stretched over and the bottom of the battery tray 5 is closed so as to allow ventilation.

Further, as shown in FIG. 2, the battery tray 5
The open ceiling part of is covered with 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 separated from the blower port 8 of the centrifugal blower 7. An overpressure chamber 15 is formed in which the cooling air 14 is blown out.

Further, a bottom plate 16 having a plurality of louver-shaped openings for preventing splashing of mud and water from the road surface is attached to the lowermost portion of the battery tray 5. Between the frame plate 11 and the frame plate 11, there is a decompression chamber 17 open to the atmosphere for receiving the cooling air 14 guided from the overpressure chamber 15 through a vent hole (not shown) in the adjacent portion of the battery cells 2 of each set. To be formed.

A guide flange 18 extending long from the front side to the rear side of the battery tray 5 is attached to the lower end portions of the left and right side surfaces when viewed from the direction of pulling out the battery tray 5 (downward direction in FIG. 1). The lower surface of the guide flange 18 is supported by a guide roller 19 arranged in the accommodation space 3 so that the battery tray 5 can be taken in and out.

In the figure, reference numeral 20 denotes a grip portion for pulling out the battery tray 5 to the outside, and reference numeral 21 denotes an inlet of the centrifugal blower 7 opened on the front side surface of the battery tray 5.

If the battery cooling device is constructed in this way, the centrifugal blower 7 is installed vertically in the fan installation space 6 secured at one corner of the battery tray 5, so that the centrifugal blower 7 is installed. Can be efficiently accommodated in the battery tray 5, and moreover, by forming the overpressure chamber 15 at a height high enough to open the air outlet 8 of the centrifugal fan 7 installed vertically above each battery cell 2. Therefore, the height dimension of the battery tray 5 can be significantly reduced as compared with the conventional case.

Further, the cooling air 14 blown out from the air outlet 8 of the centrifugal blower 7 flows from one corner of the battery tray 5 along one side surface of the battery tray 5, and whenever it hits the corner of the battery tray 5. Since it flows while bending along the next side surface, a large swirl flow (see FIG. 1) is formed on the upper side of each battery cell 2 so as to cover the entire overpressure chamber 15. By forming such a large swirl flow in the overpressure chamber 15 on the upper side of the battery tray 5, the cooling air 14 flows into the depressurization chamber 17 on the lower side of the battery tray 5 through the ventilation holes between the battery cells 2. The battery cell 2 of 1 is cooled to a substantially uniform temperature.

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

By the way, 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 the vicinity of the longitudinal middle of one side surface of the battery tray 5, FIG. As shown by the chain double-dashed line, when 1000 seconds have passed since the start of the experiment, the temperature was 33% to 38% higher and the variation was about 50% larger than the experiment result of the previous solid line. The distributed unfavorable temperature measurement results were obtained, and it was confirmed that the battery cells 2 could not be cooled well simply by introducing the cooling air 14 into the overpressure chamber 15 of the battery tray 5 using the centrifugal blower 7.

Therefore, according to the above-described embodiment, it is possible to reduce the height dimension of the battery tray 5 that can be put in and taken out from the accommodation space 3 provided under the floor of the vehicle. It can be applied to a bus 1 equipped with a diesel-electric hybrid engine to lower the floor of the bus 1 and facilitate the ease of getting on and off an elderly person or the like on the bus 1 equipped with a diesel-electric hybrid engine. it can.

Further, since all the battery cells 2 can be cooled to a substantially uniform temperature, a temperature-sensitive nickel-hydrogen battery can be used without any trouble, and the battery performance can be greatly improved. You can

The battery cooling device of the present invention is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiment, and various modifications can be made without departing from the scope of the present invention.

[0028]

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

(I) Since it is possible to reduce the height dimension of the battery chamber configured as a battery tray or the like that can be put in and taken out from the accommodation space provided under the floor of the vehicle, for example, a hybrid engine is mounted. By applying it to a vehicle such as a bus, the floor of the vehicle can be lowered, and the ease of getting on and off an elderly person or the like can be facilitated.

(II) Since all the battery cells can be cooled to a substantially uniform temperature, a temperature-sensitive nickel-hydrogen battery can be used without any problems, and the battery performance can be greatly improved. You can

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a plan view showing an example of an embodiment for carrying out the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a view taken along the line II-II in FIG.

FIG. 3 is an exploded view showing a detailed housing structure of each set of battery cells in FIG.

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

[Explanation of symbols]

1 bus (vehicle) 2 battery cells 3 accommodation space 5 Battery tray (battery compartment) 6 fan installation space 7 Centrifugal blower 8 air outlet 14 Cooling wind 15 Overpressure chamber 17 Decompression room

─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (56) Reference JP-A-11-180169 (JP, A) JP-A-8-310256 (JP, A) JP-A-7-186734 (JP, A) JP-A-2000-280759 (JP, A) Actual Kaihei 6-18042 (JP, U) Actual Kaihei 5-46527 (JP, U) (58) Fields investigated (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) B60K 1 / 00-8 / 00 B60K 9/00 B60K 11/06 H01M 2/10 H01M 10/50

Claims (2)

(57) [Claims] 1. A box-shaped battery chamber, in which a large number of battery cells are housed side by side, and cooling air is passed from an overpressure chamber on the upper side of the battery chamber to a depressurized chamber on the lower side of the battery chamber. A battery cooling device for cooling a battery cell, wherein one corner of a battery chamber is secured as a fan installation space that does not house a battery cell, and a centrifugal blower is installed vertically in the fan installation space. The battery cooling device is characterized in that the blower opening is opened in a direction along one side surface of the battery chamber in the overpressure chamber. 2. The battery cooling device according to claim 1, wherein the battery chamber is configured as a battery tray that can be put in and taken out from an accommodation space provided under the floor of the vehicle.