JPH08164750A - Battery frame structure for electric vehicle - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To avoid interference of a bottom plate with the road surface to prevent damage to batteries by setting the aboveground height of the part of a bottom plate, which closes the inside bottom part of an outside frame and which is surrounded by the outside frames and a central frame higher than the bottom faces of both the frames. CONSTITUTION: A battery frame 1 is composed of an outside frame 2 consisting of front- and rear frame, and right and left frames 3 to 7, a central frame 7 extending over the front- and rear frame 5, 6, a bottom plate 8 closing the inside bottom part of the outside frame 2, an intermediate frame 9 consisting of lateral and longitudinal frames 10, 11. The peripheral part of the bottom plate 8 is lapped with the undersides of the flanges of the outside and central frames 2, 7 to be fixed by a mechanical clinch means. The central part of the bottom plate 8 is made to be higher than the peripheral part, and the aboveground height H of the bottom plate is set higher than the bottom faces of the outside frame 2 and the central frame 7. Batteries B are widely placed on the battery-placing shelves 3a, 4a, 10a of the front- and rear frames 3, 4, and the lateral frames 10. Thus, interference of the bottom plate 8 with the road surface can be avoided to prevent damage to the batteries B.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a battery frame structure for an electric vehicle.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In an electric vehicle, a vehicle-mounted battery occupies a considerable weight and a mounting space. A dedicated rigid battery frame is provided, a plurality of batteries are mounted on the battery frame, and the batteries are hermetically stored between the vehicle body floor and the battery frame.

[0003]

In the battery frame, an outer frame composed of front, rear, left and right frames is increased in rigidity by using a structural material having a closed cross section, and an inner bottom portion of the outer frame is closed by a bottom plate. It is designed to be equipped with multiple batteries.

Further, among such battery frames, there is a battery frame in which the inside of the outer frame is partitioned by an intermediate frame into a grid shape, and the battery is mounted on the partitioned part.

However, in any case, since the bottom surface of the outer frame of the battery frame and the bottom plate are substantially flush with each other, when the road surface interferes, the bottom surface of the outer frame and the bottom plate interfere with each other at substantially the same time. The battery on the bottom plate can be damaged.

Therefore, the present invention provides a battery frame structure for an electric vehicle which can avoid road surface interference of the bottom plate of the battery frame and prevent damage to the mounted battery.

[0007]

According to a first aspect of the present invention, there are provided an outer frame including front and rear frames, a left and right frame, a central frame inside the outer frame and extending over the front and rear frames, and an inner bottom portion of the outer frame. A battery frame that includes a closing bottom plate and an intermediate frame that partitions the outer frame and the central frame into a grid pattern so that a battery is mounted on the partition portion, at least the outer frame and the center of the bottom plate. It is characterized in that the height of the bottom plate surrounded by the frame is set higher than the bottom of the outer frame and the center frame.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, the intermediate frame according to the first aspect is formed of a vehicle width direction frame and a front-rear direction frame, and the front and rear direction frame is arranged on an upper surface of the vehicle width direction frame. I am trying.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, at least the lower front edge of the front frame and the lower rear edge of the rear frame of the outer frame according to the first and second aspects have rounded chamfers. It is characterized by that.

A fourth aspect of the present invention is characterized in that the outer frame according to the first to third aspects is formed into a quadrangular plane.

[0011]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the ground height of the bottom plate is set higher than the bottom surfaces of the outer frame and the center frame. Alternatively, the bottom surface of the center frame hits the road side first, so that the driver can clearly feel the road surface interference and prompt an emergency stop of the vehicle, avoiding the road surface interference of the bottom plate and damaging the onboard battery. It can be prevented.

According to the second aspect, since the front-rear direction frame of the intermediate frame is disposed on the upper surface of the vehicle width direction frame, a vertical gap is formed between the vehicle width direction frame and the front-rear direction frame, Usually, the circulation of cooling air introduced from the front of the battery frame for battery cooling can be promoted, and moreover, the cooling air can be smoothly passed rearward along the front-rear frame, so that the cooling effect of the battery is improved. It can be significantly increased.

Further, since the front-rear direction frame is arranged on the upper surface of the vehicle width direction frame in this manner, the welding length of the joint portion between the front-rear direction frame and the vehicle width direction frame can be shortened as much as possible. , It is possible to improve the molding accuracy of the battery frame by suppressing the twisting due to welding distortion of the intermediate frame, and to improve the matching between the upper surface of the battery frame and the battery cover or the lower surface of the vehicle body floor to improve the sealing performance between them. You can

According to the third aspect of the present invention, since the chamfered portion is formed on the lower front edge of the front frame of the outer frame and the lower rear edge of the rear frame, the chamfered portion is formed. When the vehicle travels backward, the chamfered portions can prevent the phenomenon of rolling up of water, prevent the battery frame from being exposed to water, and improve the sealing performance.

Further, at the time of road surface interference, the chamfered portion allows the bottom edge portion of the front frame or the bottom edge portion of the rear frame to ride on an obstacle on the road surface smoothly and reduce the degree of damage to these frames.

According to the fourth aspect, the outer frame is provided with the flat surface 4
Since it is formed in a rectangular shape, it is possible to reduce the number of joints between the front and rear frames and the left and right frames as much as possible, suppress twisting due to welding distortion of the outer frame, and further improve the molding accuracy of the battery frame. it can.

[0017]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS An embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the drawings.

1 to 6, reference numeral 1 denotes a bottomed battery frame on which a plurality of batteries B are mounted, and an outer frame 2 including front and rear frames 3 and 4 and left and right frames 5 and 6, and an outer frame. 2, a center frame 7 that straddles the front and rear frames 5, 6 inside 2, a bottom plate 8 that closes the inner bottom portion of the outer frame 2, and a vehicle width direction that partitions the outer frame 2 and the center frame 7 in a grid pattern. A frame 10 and an intermediate frame 9 including a front-rear direction frame 11 are provided.

Front and rear frames 3, 4, left and right frames 5,
6, the central frame 7, the vehicle width direction frame 10, and the front-rear direction frame 11 are all extruded into a rectangular closed cross section using a lightweight metal material such as an aluminum alloy.

In this embodiment, the end faces of the front and rear frames 3 and 4 are abutted against the side faces of the left and right frames 5 and 6 and the peripheral edges thereof are welded to form the outer frame 2 in a plane quadrangular shape.

Battery mounting shelves 3a, 4a having a closed cross section are extended in the longitudinal direction at the lower edges of the inner walls of the front and rear frames 3, 4, and flanges 3b, 4b are provided at the lower edges of the frames. It extends on the same plane as the bottom surface.

Frame mounting shelves 5a, 6a having a closed cross section lower than the battery device shelves 3a, 4a are provided in the lower edges of the inner side walls of the left and right frames 5, 6 and extend in the longitudinal direction. Flange 5b and 6b are provided on the lower edge of the frame so as to extend in the same plane as the bottom surface of the frame.

The central frame 7 is formed to be lower than the outer frame 2, and the end faces thereof are abutted against the side faces of the front and rear frames 3, 4 and the peripheral edges thereof are welded to each other to form the front and rear frames 3, 4.
It is connected across four.

At the lower edges of both side walls of the central frame 7, frame mounting shelves 7a having a closed cross section are provided at the same height as the frame mounting shelves 5a, 6a of the left and right frames 5, 6 so as to extend in the longitudinal direction. At the same time, a flange 7b is provided on the lower edge of the frame and extends in the same plane as the bottom surface of the frame. In this embodiment, the bottom plate 8 is divided into left and right portions at the central frame 7, and the peripheral portion is overlapped with the flanges 3b, 4b, 5b, 6b of the outer frame 2 and the lower surface of the flange 7b of the central frame 7. Then, they are fixed by mechanical clinch means 12 such as caulking fixing, bolt fixing and nut fixing.

The bottom plate 8 is formed by step-forming its central portion one step higher than the fixed portion of the peripheral edge by an appropriate height, and the bottom plate ground height H is set higher than the bottom surfaces of the outer frame 2 and the central frame 7. There is.

Each end of the vehicle width direction frame 10 of the intermediate frame 9 is mounted on the frame mounting shelf 7a of the central frame 7 and the frame mounting shelves 5a and 6a of the left and right frames 5 and 6, and the end faces are The side faces of the central frame 7 and the side faces of the left and right frames 5, 6 are butted against each other and their peripheral edges are welded and joined.

The battery mounting shelves 3a, 4 of the front and rear frames 3, 4 are provided at the lower edges of both side walls of the vehicle width direction frame 10.
Battery mounting shelf 1 with a closed cross section so that it has the same height as a
0a is extended in the lengthwise direction, and flanges 10b are extended at the lower edges thereof in the same plane as the frame bottom surface, and these flanges 10b are superposed on the raised central portion of the bottom plate 8 to be described above. Are joined by a mechanical clinch means 12 similar to. The front-rear direction frame 11 of the intermediate frame 9 is arranged orthogonal to the upper surface of the vehicle width direction frame 10, the end faces thereof are abutted against the side surfaces of the front and rear frames 3, 4 and their peripheral edges are welded, and the upper surface of the vehicle width direction frame 10 is formed. Both side edges are welded and joined to the upper surface of the vehicle width direction frame 10 at the overlapping portion with.

The battery B is connected to the intermediate frame 9
The front and rear frames 3,
4 is mounted across the battery mounting shelves 3a and 4a of the front and rear frames 3 and 4 and the battery mounting shelves 10a of the vehicle width direction frame 10 in the portion adjacent to 4, and the front and rear in the center portion. Is mounted on the battery mounting shelves 10a, 10a of the vehicle width direction frames 10, 10 adjacent to the vehicle mounting frame 3 and fixed to the battery mounting shelves 3a, 4a, 10a by clamping means (not shown).

On the other hand, rounded chamfers R are formed on the lower front edge of the front frame 3 and the lower rear edge of the rear frame 4 of the outer frame 2.

In this embodiment, the end portions of the left and right frames 5 and 6 are closed by the end plates 13, and the chamfers in which the front lower edges and the rear lower edges of the left and right frames 5 and 6 are also rounded. In addition to forming the portion R, the chamfered portion R having rounded edges is also formed on the lower edges of the outer walls of the left and right frames.

According to the structure of the above embodiment, the flanges 3b, 4b, 5b and 6b of the outer frame 2 and the central frame 7 are provided.
The bottom plate 8 having its peripheral portion overlapped and fixed to the lower surface of the flange 7b is stepped to a height higher than the fixed portion of the peripheral edge by an appropriate height to form the bottom plate ground height H to the outer frame 2
Since it is set higher than the bottom surface of the central frame 7, when the battery frame 1 interferes with the road surface while the vehicle is traveling, the bottom surface of the outer frame 2 or the central frame 7 is not supported.
Since the bottom surface of the vehicle hits the road surface side in advance, the driver can experience road surface interference and urge an emergency stop of the vehicle. Therefore, the road surface interference of the bottom plate 8 is avoided and the battery B mounted is damaged. Can be prevented in advance.

On the other hand, the intermediate frame 9 partitioning the outer frame 2 and the central frame 7 in a grid pattern has the front-rear direction frame 11 arranged on the upper surface of the vehicle width direction frame 10. A vertical gap is formed between the frame 10 and the front-rear frame 11, so that the circulation of the cooling air introduced from the front of the battery frame 1 for cooling the battery can be promoted, and the cooling air can be directed to the front-rear frame. It is possible to smoothly flow backward along 11 and to significantly enhance the cooling effect of the battery B.

Further, since the front-rear direction frame 11 is welded and joined to the upper surface of the vehicle-width direction frame 10 at both lower edges at the intersection with the vehicle-width-direction frame 10, the end surface of the front-rear direction frame 11 is joined. Butt against the front surface of the vehicle width direction frame 10, or conversely, butto the end surface of the vehicle width direction frame 10 against the side surface of the front-rear direction frame 11 and weld the butted peripheral edges to form a grid of the same height. The welding length of the joint portion can be shortened as much as possible as compared with the structure, and as a result, the twisting due to the welding distortion of the intermediate frame 9 can be suppressed and the molding accuracy of the battery frame 1 can be enhanced, and the battery can be improved. The upper surface of the frame 1 and the battery cover (not shown) or the lower surface of the vehicle body have good matching, and the sealing performance between them can be improved.

In addition to this, according to this embodiment, the end faces of the front and rear frames 3 and 4 of the outer frame 2 are connected to the left and right frames 5, 5.
The outer frame 2 is formed into a flat quadrangular shape by butt-joining the side faces of the plate 6 at right angles, and the peripheral edges thereof are welded to each other. Since it can be minimized and the twist due to welding distortion of the outer frame 2 can be suppressed, the molding accuracy of the battery frame 1 can be further enhanced.

Further, the lower peripheral edge of the outer frame 2, particularly the lower front edge of the front frame 3 and the rear frame 4
Since the rounded chamfered portion R is formed at the rear lower edge of the rear side, the chamfered portion R guides the water downward to prevent the water winding phenomenon when traveling forward or backward in the submerged channel. As a result, the battery frame 1 can be prevented from being exposed to water, and the sealing performance can be further improved.

Since the front frame 3 is provided with the rounded chamfered portion R at the front lower edge thereof, the chamfered portion R of the underflow of the vehicle body is generated especially when the vehicle is traveling at high speed.
As a result, it can be smoothly distributed along the lower surface of the battery frame 1, and the aerodynamic characteristics of the lower surface of the vehicle body floor can be improved.

Although the bottom plate 8 is divided into the left and right sides at the central frame 7 in the above embodiment, the central frame 7 may be fixed to the bottom plate 8 as a single panel.

[0038]

As described above, according to the present invention, the following effects can be obtained.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, the ground height of the bottom plate of the portion of the battery frame on which the battery is mounted is set higher than the bottom surfaces of the outer frame and the central frame. In this case, the bottom surface of the outer frame or the bottom surface of the central frame hits the road side first, so that the driver can clearly feel the road surface interference and can promptly stop the vehicle. It is possible to avoid interference and prevent damage to the mounted battery.

According to the second aspect, since the front-rear direction frame of the intermediate frame which partitions the outer frame and the central frame into a grid pattern is arranged on the upper surface of the vehicle width direction frame, A vertical gap is formed between the frame and the front-rear direction frame, so that the circulation of the cooling air that is normally introduced from the front of the battery frame can be promoted, and moreover, the cooling air can smoothly flow rearward along the front-rear frame. Therefore, the cooling effect of the battery can be remarkably enhanced.

Further, the front and rear frames may be joined at their lower edges at the intersections with the vehicle width direction frame to the upper surface of the vehicle width direction frame. Therefore, the joining portions of these front and rear direction frames and the vehicle width direction frame are joined. The length can be shortened as much as possible,
It is possible to suppress twisting due to welding distortion of the intermediate frame, improve the molding accuracy of the battery frame, improve the matching between the upper surface of the battery frame and the lower surface of the battery cover or the vehicle body floor, and improve the sealing performance between them. it can.

According to the third aspect of the invention, since the lower front edge of the front frame and the lower rear edge of the rear frame of the outer frame are provided with rounded chamfers, the chamfered portion travels forward in the submerged passage or When the vehicle travels backward, the chamfered portions can prevent the phenomenon of rolling up of water, prevent the battery frame from being exposed to water, and improve the sealing performance.

Further, since the front lower edge of the front frame is provided with a rounded chamfer, the underbody floor flow of the airflow smoothly flows along the lower surface of the battery frame by the chamfer especially at high speeds. Therefore, the aerodynamic characteristics of the lower surface of the vehicle body floor can be improved.

According to the fourth aspect, the outer frame is provided with the flat surface 4
Since it is formed in a rectangular shape, it is possible to reduce the number of joints between the front and rear frames and the left and right frames as much as possible, suppress twisting due to welding distortion of the outer frame, and further improve the molding accuracy of the battery frame. it can.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic sectional view taken along the line AA of FIG. 3 showing an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line BB of FIG.

FIG. 3 is a plan view showing a half portion of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a periphery of a joint portion between a front frame and a central frame according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a periphery of a joint portion between a front frame and a right frame according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a view on arrow C of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1 Battery Frame 2 Outer Frame 3 Front Frame 4 Rear Frame 5 Left Frame 6 Right Frame 7 Central Frame 8 Bottom Plate 9 Middle Frame B Battery H Bottom Plate Ground Height

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. An outer frame composed of front and rear, left and right frames, a central frame extending over the front and rear frames inside the outer frame, a bottom plate closing an inner bottom of the outer frame, an outer frame and a central frame. An intermediate frame for partitioning the spaces between them in a grid pattern, wherein a battery is mounted on the partition part, the bottom plate ground height of a part of the bottom plate surrounded by at least the outer frame and the central frame is A battery frame structure for an electric vehicle, wherein the outer frame and the center frame are set higher than the bottom surfaces. 2. The intermediate frame is formed of a vehicle width direction frame and a front-rear direction frame, and the front-rear direction frame is arranged on an upper surface of the vehicle width direction frame.
A battery frame structure for the electric vehicle described. 3. A chamfered portion having roundness is formed on at least a lower front edge of the front frame and a lower rear edge of the rear frame of the outer frame.
A battery frame structure for the electric vehicle described. 4. The battery frame structure for an electric vehicle according to claim 1, wherein the outer frame is formed into a quadrangular plane.