RU2785964C2 - Electric or hybrid automobile vehicle with a cooling system for cooling removable battery modules - Google Patents

Abstract

FIELD: automotive industry.

SUBSTANCE: invention relates to an automobile vehicle with a modular battery system. The system comprises: a fixed battery module, a removable battery module and a battery management system. The stationary module is permanently installed on board the vehicle. The removable module contains: an outer shell, the first and second heat-conducting plates, a rechargeable battery pack, an inner circuit. The first heat-conducting plate is placed inside the outer shell. The rechargeable battery pack is placed inside the outer shell. The battery pack is mounted in contact with the first heat transfer plate. The inner loop continues inside the first plate and is filled with a heat exchange fluid. The second heat-conducting plate is configured to be in fluid communication with the inner loop so that the heat exchange fluid flows through it in the inner loop. The second heat-conducting plate is made with an outer surface outside the shell. The motor vehicle contains an auxiliary cooling circuit. The auxiliary cooling circuit has a direct expansion plate. The direct evaporation plate is attached to the vehicle and is configured to contact the second plate of the removable battery module when the removable battery module is installed on the vehicle.

EFFECT: increased cooling efficiency of the removable battery module.

6 cl, 4 dwg

Description

FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY

The present invention generally relates to a motor vehicle with an electric or hybrid drive, and more particularly to a motor vehicle equipped with a modular battery system.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

As is known, the high cost of an electric or hybrid vehicle is mainly due to the high cost of the battery cells. To overcome this shortcoming, modular battery systems have been introduced that comprise one or more fixed battery modules and one or more additional battery modules that can be installed or removed depending on needs.

Figure 1 of the accompanying drawings shows a bottom view of an electric or hybrid vehicle, generally designated V, which is provided with a power supply unit including a plurality of rechargeable battery modules B1 and B2 located in a suitable housing space in the floor of the vehicle, designed to power the electric propulsion system of this vehicle, as well as the BMS battery management system, to which the battery modules B1 and B2 are connected. The battery modules B1 (two modules in the illustrated example), hereinafter referred to as the fixed battery modules, are permanently mounted on board the vehicle and therefore permanently connected to the battery management system BMS, while the battery modules B2 (in the illustrated there are also two in the embodiment), hereinafter referred to as removable battery modules, can be mounted on board the vehicle upon request and quickly replaced by simple removal (from the side, as shown by the arrows F in Fig. 1, or from the rear) from the vehicle. Such plug-in battery modules B2 can be connected via appropriate N connectors to the battery management system BMS.

It has been confirmed that when a battery cell is being discharged or is in a charging phase, in particular in a fast charge cycle, or when high power is consumed (for example, during acceleration), a certain amount of energy is dissipated in the form of heat due to the Joule effect. In order for the performance of the cells that make up the battery to remain unchanged and their service life to be extended, the heat generated in this way must be properly dissipated. Three battery cooling solutions are currently envisaged: air-cooled (possibly using a secondary evaporator), liquid-cooled (possibly using an auxiliary cooler) and cooling by direct evaporation with a conductive plate.

Batteries should be placed in a completely waterproof, safe and shockproof compartment. On the other hand, with the exception of air cooling, the other known cooling solutions mentioned above require connections between the batteries and the cooling system. Therefore, in the above-described modular battery system, there is a problem of providing efficient cooling of the removable battery modules.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

Thus, the object of the present invention is to propose a cooling system for plug-in modules of a modular battery system of an electric or hybrid automobile vehicle, which, on the one hand, allows efficient cooling of the plug-in battery modules, and on the other hand, provides the necessary watertightness of the plug-in battery modules. .

This and other objects are fully solved in accordance with the present invention by an automobile vehicle with a modular battery system, as defined in independent claim 1 of the appended claims.

Briefly, the present invention is based on the idea of providing an automotive vehicle with a modular battery system having at least one removable battery module comprising

outer shell,

the first heat-conducting plate placed inside said shell,

one or more battery packs placed inside said shell and placed in contact with said first heat-conducting plate,

an inner loop that extends inside said first heat-conducting plate and is filled with a heat-exchange fluid, and

a second heat-conducting plate which is configured to communicate in fluid with said inner circuit so that the heat exchange fluid flows through it in said inner circuit, and which is made with an outer surface outside of said shell, and

also in the proposal of an automobile vehicle with an auxiliary cooling circuit having at least one direct evaporation plate, which is attached to the automobile vehicle and is made with the possibility of contact with the second plate of at least one removable battery module, when the latter is installed on a motor vehicle.

Due to this arrangement of the battery module, the heat generated by the battery pack (or packs) is transferred by thermal conduction to the first plate and, through the coolant flowing in the internal circuit, is transferred from the first plate to the second plate, where this heat can be dissipated by conduction for outside the battery module by contacting the outer surface of the second plate with a corresponding surface of the direct evaporation plate attached to the motor vehicle in such a position to come into contact with the second plate of the battery module when the latter is mounted on the motor vehicle.

In this way, a cooling system for cooling removable battery modules is obtained, which, in the first place, allows minimizing the increase in weight and cost of the vehicle, given that most of the components of the cooling system are installed in the battery module itself. Moreover, such a cooling system, although using a heat exchange fluid, does not require connections between the internal circuit of the battery module and the air conditioning system of the vehicle, and therefore allows watertightness of the battery module. Another advantage of the present invention is the high cooling efficiency by using a heat exchange fluid to transfer heat from the first plate to the second plate and hence from the inside to the outside of the battery module shell.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Additional features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description, made solely by way of non-limiting example with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which:

Fig. 1 is a bottom view of an electric or hybrid vehicle equipped with a modular battery system;

Fig. 2 is a perspective view of a removable battery module according to the present invention that can be used in the modular battery system of an automobile vehicle shown in FIG. one;

Fig. 3 is a plan view of the removable battery module shown in FIG. 2; and

Fig. 4 is a schematic representation of the air conditioning system of the automobile vehicle shown in FIG. 1 and the cooling circuit related to the removable battery module shown in FIG. 2 and FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

First, with reference to FIG. 2 and 3, a removable battery module that can be used in a modular battery system similar to that described above with reference to FIG. 1 is in most cases designated as B2. As already explained above, such a battery module B2 can be installed on board the vehicle by insertion in a predetermined direction, preferably in a horizontal direction (in particular in the longitudinal direction or in the transverse direction), and can be removed from the vehicle by being pulled out in direction opposite to the insertion direction.

The battery module B2 primarily comprises an outer shell 10 and one or more (rechargeable) battery packs 12 housed within the shell 10. In the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, the battery module B2 includes two battery packs 12, but of course a different number of battery packs may be provided.

The battery packs 12 are positioned in contact with a first thermally conductive plate 14 (hereinafter referred to simply as the “first plate”) also placed within the shell 10. Preferably, the first plate 14 is located on the bottom wall 10a of the shell 10, and the battery packs 12 rest on the top surface. 14a of the first plate 14.

Inside the first plate 14 is provided an internal circuit filled with a heat exchange fluid (eg water). The forced flow of the heat exchange fluid in the inner loop is provided by a pump 16, also located inside the shell 10. The inner loop includes an inlet tube 18, which extends from the discharge port of the pump 16 towards the inside of the first plate 14, and an outlet tube 20, which extends from the first plate fourteen.

As shown in FIG. 1, after being mounted on board the vehicle, the battery module B2 is connected via the N connector to the vehicle battery management system BMS. In addition to controlling the flow of electricity to and from the battery packs 12 of the battery module B2, the N connector also provides the electrical and electronic connections needed to power the pump 16 on the one hand and to control the temperature of the battery packs 12 on the other.

The battery module B2 further comprises a second heat transfer plate 22 (hereinafter referred to simply as "the second plate") that is in fluid communication with the internal circuit so that the heat exchange fluid flows through it in the internal circuit. More specifically, the second plate 22 is connected on one side to the outlet tube 20 and on the other side to the inlet of the pump 16 through a section of the connecting tube 24. The heat exchange fluid then enters the second plate 22 through the outlet tube 20 and flows out of this plate through the connecting tube. tube 24, after which, under the action of the pump 16, it flows forcibly in the remaining part of the circuit, continuing inside the first plate 14.

The second plate 22 is integral with the shell 10 and is positioned with its outer surface 22a outside the shell 10 so that it ensures complete watertightness of the battery module B2, and can be located in contact with the front surface 26a of the corresponding direct evaporation plate 26 which is permanently installed on board the vehicle, as will be explained in detail below.

A layer of soft thermally conductive material is preferably provided between the second plate 22 and the direct evaporation plate 26 to compensate for tolerances and possible deviations from parallelism between the respective surfaces 22a and 26a in contact with each other.

As shown in FIG. 4, the direct expansion plate 26 is installed along the auxiliary cooling circuit 28 in which the cooling gas flows. The auxiliary cooling circuit 28 includes a thermostatic expansion valve 30 (commonly known and hereinafter referred to as a valve TXV) located in series with the direct expansion plate 26 to cool the latter, as well as the second plate 22 of the battery module B2.

As shown in FIG. 4, the auxiliary cooling circuit 28 for cooling the removable battery module(s) B2 is advantageously integrated with the air conditioning system for air conditioning in the passenger compartment of the vehicle. In particular, in the embodiment proposed herein, the auxiliary cooling circuit 28 is connected by means of a three-way valve 32 and a check valve 34 to the main cooling circuit 36 of the vehicle air conditioning system, which contains a method known per se - a compressor 38, a condenser 40 , expansion valve 42 and evaporator 44 arranged in series one after the other. By appropriately controlling the three-way valve 32, the refrigerant gas of the main cooling circuit 36 can also be made to flow in the auxiliary cooling circuit 28 to cool the removable battery module(s) B2. Naturally, the three-way valve 32 will be controlled to connect the main cooling circuit 36 to the auxiliary cooling circuit 28 and thus ensure the flow of refrigerant gas within the latter, as soon as the battery management system BMS detects the presence of at least one removable battery module B2 .

Even if only one removable battery module is shown in the embodiment of FIG. 4, the use of multiple removable battery modules may be provided, as already suggested above, in which case either one direct evaporation plate may be provided, positioned to cooperate with the battery modules facing it, or multiple direct evaporation plates, one for each battery module. All direct expansion plates will be installed along the auxiliary cooling circuit 28.

During operation, the heat generated by the battery packs 12 is transferred by conduction to the first plate 14 and, via a heat exchange fluid that flows in an internal circuit extending within the first plate 14, is transferred from the first plate 14 to the second plate 22 where it can be dissipated by conduction (or rather mainly conduction) outside the battery module B2 by contacting the outer surface 22a of the second plate 22 with the corresponding surface 26a of the direct evaporation plate 26. The flow of heat exchange fluid in such a circuit is controlled by a pump 16 controlled by the battery management system BMS so as to maintain the temperature of the battery packs 12 within a predetermined optimum temperature range.

It should be noted that the proposed embodiment of the present invention is provided by way of example only and is not limiting. A person skilled in the art can easily carry out the invention in accordance with various embodiments thereof, which do not deviate from the principles set forth herein, and which should be considered as falling within the scope of this invention, limited in the attached claims.

This applies in particular to the possibility of suggesting a number and/or location of removable battery modules that differ from those presented in this document.

Claims (8)

1. Automobile vehicle with electric or hybrid drive (V) with a modular battery system containing at least one stationary battery module (B1) permanently installed on board the vehicle (V), at least one removable battery module (B2 ) a battery and a battery management system (BMS) configured to control the operation of said battery modules (B1, B2), wherein said at least one removable battery module (B2) comprises an outer shell (10), a first heat-conducting plate (14) placed inside said shell (10), at least one rechargeable battery pack (12) which is placed inside said shell (10) and is placed in contact with said first plate (14), an internal contour that continues inside said first plate (14) and is filled with a heat-exchange fluid, and a second heat-conducting plate (22) that is configured to communicate with the fluid medium with said internal circuit so that the heat exchange fluid flows through it in said internal circuit, and which is made with an outer surface (22a) outside of said shell (10), and in which such an automobile vehicle contains an auxiliary cooling circuit (28) having at least one plate (26) of direct evaporation, which is attached to the automobile vehicle (V) and is made with the possibility of contact with the said second plate (22) of the said at least at least one removable battery module (B2) when said at least one removable battery module (B2) is installed on the motor vehicle (V). 2. An automobile vehicle according to claim 1, in which said at least one removable battery module (B2) further comprises a pump (16) which is placed inside said shell (10) and is configured to force the heat exchange fluid to flow into said inner loop. 3. An automobile vehicle according to claim 2, wherein said at least one removable battery module (B2) further comprises a measuring means providing a signal indicative of the temperature of said at least one battery pack (12), and an electrical or electronic connection means (N) configured to transmit the signal supplied by said measuring means to said battery management system (BMS) and to power said pump (16). 4. Automobile vehicle according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein said auxiliary cooling circuit (28) further comprises a thermostatic expansion valve (30) installed in series with said at least one direct expansion plate (26). 5. An automobile vehicle according to any of the preceding claims, further comprising a main cooling circuit (36) for air conditioning in the passenger compartment of an automobile vehicle, in which said auxiliary cooling circuit (28) is connected to said main cooling circuit (36) by means of valve means (32, 34) flow control for controlling the flow of cooling gas between said main cooling circuit (36) and said auxiliary cooling circuit (28). 6. Automobile vehicle according to claim 5, wherein said battery management system (BMS) is configured to control said flow control valve means (32, 34) so as to bring said main cooling circuit (36) into fluid communication with said auxiliary cooling circuit (28) when at least one removable battery module (B2) is installed in the motor vehicle (V).

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