Heat Sink Designs for Passive Cooling of EV Batteries
21 patents in this list
Updated:
Electric vehicles (EVs) demand efficient cooling to maintain battery performance and longevity, especially under high loads. Passive cooling systems, like heat sinks, play a crucial role in dissipating heat without relying on energy-intensive methods. As EVs push for longer ranges and faster charging, effective thermal management becomes essential to prevent overheating and ensure safety.
Designing heat sinks for EV batteries involves overcoming challenges such as maximizing thermal dissipation while minimizing weight and space. Engineers must balance these factors against the need for robust and reliable cooling solutions. The intricacies of airflow management, material selection, and structural integration add layers of complexity to this task.
This webpage explores a variety of heat sink designs aimed at enhancing passive cooling for EV batteries. From finned structures and airflow channels to direct contact cooling and integrated duct systems, these solutions focus on improving thermal dissipation. By examining these approaches, professionals can gain insights into optimizing battery thermal management, thereby enhancing overall vehicle performance and reliability.
1. Battery Module Housing with Finned Structure and Airflow Channels for Enhanced Thermal Dissipation
CITIBANK NA, 2024
Battery module housing design with fins and channels to improve thermal management and dissipation of internal heat. The housing has a grid of fins extending from the walls. The fins absorb heat from the battery cells and dissipate it to air. The fins have channels between them to facilitate airflow. This allows natural convection cooling to distribute the heat more evenly. A heat sink can also be used to absorb heat from the fins and further enhance dissipation.
2. Battery with External Heat Sink for Enhanced Thermal Dissipation
CALB CO LTD, 2024
Battery design with improved safety by dissipating internal heat more effectively. The battery has a housing, cell, pole element, and heat sink. The heat sink is attached to the housing to quickly discharge heat from the battery. By adding the external heat sink, it prevents excessive heat buildup inside the battery which can improve safety and reliability compared to just using an internal cooling plate.
3. Battery Module with Direct Cell-to-Heat Sink Cooling via Interposed Structural Fins
LG Energy Solution Limited, LG ENERGY SOLUTION LTD, 2023
Battery module, battery pack, and vehicle design to improve cooling performance of high capacity battery cells. The battery module has a frame holding the battery cells, heat sinks on both sides of the cells, and fins between the cells and heat sinks. The fins directly contact the cells for cooling and also structurally support them. This provides direct cell-to-heat sink cooling instead of relying on indirect fin-to-heat sink cooling.
4. Battery Module with Bent Heat Sink Enclosing Thermally Conductive Material
LG Energy Solution Ltd., 2023
Battery module with improved cooling for high power, high capacity batteries like those used in electric vehicles. The module has a heat sink that surrounds part of the battery cell on one side. The heat sink has a bent shape that wraps around the cell edge to enclose a thermally conductive material inside. This design allows effective cooling of the battery cell by transferring the heat generated during charging/discharging through the heat sink and bent structure to the thermally conductive material. It prevents heat accumulation and deterioration of the battery cells.
5. Battery Pack Cooling System with Integrated Duct, Heat Pipe, and Heat Sink Arrangement
HNC MOBILITY CO LTD, 2022
Battery pack cooling system for electric vehicles that maximizes cooling efficiency even when a duct structure is used inside the battery pack housing. The system includes a duct extending from an intake port to an exhaust port, a heat pipe contacting the battery cells, and a heat sink inside the duct. This allows airflow through the duct to extract heat from the heat pipe and cells. The duct, heat pipe, and heat sink are arranged in the pack housing to isolate the cooling system from the internal battery space. This prevents contamination and allows natural air intake while driving.
6. Battery Pack with Integrated Heat Sinks and Coolant Channels for Individual Module Temperature Regulation
LG Energy Solution Limited, LG ENERGY SOLUTION LTD, 2022
Battery pack with integrated cooling for minimizing temperature differences between cells and improving pack lifespan. The pack has heat sinks underneath each battery module that circulate coolant. Coolant is supplied through channels to each heat sink. This direct cooling provides better temperature control versus conventional under-pack channels. It allows individual module cooling instead of relying on overall pack flow.
7. Battery Assembly with Vertically Stacked Cells and Insulated Metal Cooling Plates
AUDI AG, 2022
A battery design for electric vehicles that improves efficiency and reliability by using a metal cooling plate with vertically stacked battery cells sandwiched between adjacent metal cooling elements. The cooling elements are coated with the insulating material parylene on the battery cell facing side. This allows efficient heat transfer between the cells and plate, preventing hotspots and improving cycle life. The metal construction enables high power density and thermal conductivity.
8. Battery Module with Housing-Integrated Heat Sink for Enhanced Thermal Dissipation
CPS TECH HOLDINGS LLC, JOHNSON CONTROLS ADVANCED POWER SOLUTIONS GMBH, 2022
Battery module with improved thermal management for xEVs that uses the housing itself as a heat sink to dissipate heat generated by the cells. The cells are attached to heat sink metal embedded inside the housing walls. This allows the housing exterior to act as a large heat transfer surface to the ambient air, improving heat dissipation compared to just using the cells as heat sinks.
9. Heat Sink with Microfin Structure for Direct Contact Cooling of Battery Cells
SIEMENS AG, SIEMENS AKTIENGESELLSCHAFT, 2021
Cooling solution for battery cells in electric vehicles and aircraft that improves cell cooling to prevent overheating. The cooling is achieved using a specially designed heat sink with microscopic fins that encloses the cell. The heat sink fits around the cell in a receptacle when inserted. This provides direct contact cooling to the cell surface. The microfin structure has very small height, less than 1mm.
10. Battery Module with Dual Heat Sink Configuration for Enhanced Thermal Management
FENGJIANG INTELLIGENCE CO LTD, FENGJIANG INTELLIGENCE SHENZHEN CO LTD, 2020
Battery module design with integrated heat abstraction for faster and more consistent cooling of high-power batteries to prevent overheating and extend lifetime. The module has an inner heat sink around the cells and an outer heat sink on the surface. This sandwiches the cells between two heat dissipation layers. The inner sink conducts heat from the cells, while the outer sink transfers it out. This allows quicker, more uniform cooling compared to just one sink or external liquid cooling.
11. Battery Module with Heat Sink and Thermally Conductive Pads for Passive Thermal Management
CPS TECHNOLOGY HOLDINGS LLC, 2020
Battery module with passive thermal management for cooling lithium-ion cells. The module has a heat sink on the back side, thermally conductive pads between the cells and heat sink, and openings in the module cage. Air is drawn through the openings and passes over the heat sinks to extract heat from the cells. The module design extracts heat from the cells and directs it away using the heat sinks and cage openings to passively cool the cells during operation.
12. Battery Pack with Integrated Internal and External Heat Sink Sections for Enhanced Thermal Management
FJ DYNAMICS TECH CO LTD, FJ DYNAMICS TECHNOLOGY CO LTD, 2020
A battery pack design with integrated internal and external heat sinks for rapid cooling during high-power discharges. The pack has separate inner and outer heat dissipation sections that distribute between the cells. The inner section separates cells and conducts heat internally. The outer section dissipates heat externally. This allows quick cooling of cells at hotspots while preventing thermal runaway propagation. The inner section also helps balance temperatures across the pack.
13. Heat Sink with Horizontally Connected Sections for Battery Modules
LG ENERGY SOLUTION LTD, 2020
A heat sink design for battery modules that improves space utilization and reduces pressure drops in the cooling system. The heat sink has separate sections on each side of the battery module that connect via horizontal tubes. This allows the heat sink to be sandwiched between the module and case without increasing overall height. The horizontal tubes reduce bending stresses on the coolant tubes compared to vertical routing. This reduces differential pressure and improves cooling efficiency.
14. Battery Module with Integrated Heat Sink and Meshed Case for Direct Airflow
LG Chem, Ltd., 2020
Battery module, battery pack, and electric vehicle designs that improve cooling performance, reduce manufacturing costs, and enable slimmer form factors compared to conventional battery packs. The innovations include integrating the battery cells, heat sink, and module case to eliminate additional components between them. This eliminates multiple layers of thermal interface materials and reduces the number of components overall. The module case has meshed surfaces to allow airflow. This allows direct airflow through the module instead of around it. The pack design also reduces components by packaging the modules in a case instead of individually boxing each module. The vehicle design uses these optimized packs.
15. Battery Cell with Edge-Branching Heat Sink for Enhanced Thermal Dissipation
FEV GMBH, 2020
Battery design to improve cooling and prevent overheating. The battery has a heat sink attached to the cell to dissipate heat. The heat sink branches off at the edge, allowing airflow around the cell. This improves cooling and prevents hot spots that can lead to cell failure. It's useful for high power applications like electric vehicles.
16. Battery Pack with Dual-Material Heat Sink and Dual Cooling Channels for Thermal Isolation
LG Chem, Ltd., 2019
Battery pack and vehicle design to prevent cooling capacity reduction in the heat sink due to heat transfer from other heating elements. The battery pack has a heat sink to cool the battery module. The heat sink has two cooling channels, one close to the battery and a second spaced farther away. The first channel has a specific metal material for cooling, and the second channel has a different metal material with lower thermal conductivity. This prevents heat from other components transferring to the first channel, maintaining full cooling capacity for the battery module. The vehicle design includes this battery pack.
17. Battery Module with Direct Contact Heat Sink and Internal Coolant Channels
LG Chem, Ltd., 2019
Battery module, battery pack, and vehicle design to improve cooling and increase battery cell volume ratio for high performance, high capacity battery packs. The battery module has a stack of battery cells covered by a heat sink that directly contacts the cells. This eliminates fins and plates between the cells. The heat sink has internal channels for coolant circulation. The heat sink covers both sides of the cell stack. This allows better cell-to-cell cooling without reducing cell volume. The pack has multiple of these modules packaged in an enclosure. The design enables high density, high output packs with optimized cooling.
18. Battery Module with Stacked Cells and Fastened Cooling Fins for Reduced Contact Resistance
SK INNOVATION CO LTD, 2019
Battery module design to improve cooling efficiency by reducing contact resistance between cooling fins and heat sinks in indirect liquid cooling. The module has stacked battery cells with fins between them that contact the cells. The fins extend outward and have a fastening part. The fins contact a heat sink. Closely spaced fasteners join the fastening parts to the heat sink surface, tightly mating the fins and sink for low contact resistance cooling.
19. Battery Modules with External Thermal Interfaces for Heat Transfer to Isolated Thermal Management Systems
CITIBANK NA, 2017
Battery systems for electric vehicles that have external thermal management systems to improve performance and safety compared to internal systems. The battery modules have thermal interfaces that transfer heat from the cells to external heat sinks. This allows isolation of the thermal management fluid from vented gases and electrolytes during cell venting. It also prevents liquid thermal fluids leaking into the battery chamber. The external thermal management system provides better thermal regulation and prevents contamination compared to internal systems.
20. Battery Pack with Integrated Heatsink Frame Featuring Surrounding Walls and Fins for Direct Cell Cooling
ROBERT BOSCH GMBH, SAMSUNG SDI CO LTD, 2015
Battery pack and heatsink frame design for electric vehicle batteries that provides improved cooling and packaging efficiency. The battery pack has a heatsink member with walls and fins that surround and cool the battery cells. Multiple battery cells are fixed inside the heatsink member. The heatsink member can be a single piece or two interlocking halves. This allows direct contact cooling of the cells without needing separate cooling plates or pipes. The heatsink fins on the outside dissipate the heat to the air.
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