Refrigerant-based Cooling Systems for EV Battery Packs

Battery pack cooling system for electric vehicles that improves cooling efficiency and prevents cooling imbalance. The system uses a modular battery design with separate battery modules that are cooled individually. Each module has a refrigerant inlet and outlet to circulate cooling fluid through the cells. The modules are arranged in a pack with a central case. Refrigerant enters the pack at one end, passes through the modules, and exits at the other end. Sensors monitor the temperature in each module section to optimize cooling. This allows precise cooling of each module while preventing coolant imbalances.

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Thermal management system for electric vehicle batteries that uses a refrigerant-based cooling loop and an air duct to cool the batteries without using liquid coolant. The system has a refrigeration path with a compressor, heat exchangers, and throttle, and a battery cooling path with a fan, duct, and battery pack. In refrigeration mode, the refrigerant circulates and cools the battery pack. In natural cooling mode, the fan circulates air through the duct and cools the pack. This eliminates liquid leakage risks compared to liquid cooling.

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A simplified battery cooling system for electric vehicles that reduces weight and energy consumption compared to conventional systems. It uses a direct contact cooling method where a refrigerant-filled pipe with microchannel aluminum inside is in contact with the battery surface to cool it. This eliminates the need for separate evaporators, condensers, and heat exchangers. The refrigerant loop connects the compressor, condensers, and separator in sequence to enable both refrigeration and heating.

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Integrated cooling system for electric vehicles that combines battery cooling, air conditioning, and refrigeration into a single system. The battery pack cooling circuit uses a liquid to cool the batteries. A separate refrigerant loop is connected to both the battery cooling circuit and the air conditioning system. This allows the refrigerant to be shared between cooling the batteries, the air conditioning, and the cabin. The integrated system reduces size, complexity, and cost compared to separate cooling systems.

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Battery pack design that prevents fires and efficiently cools the cells. The pack has a frame with multiple cell compartments filled with coolant. A heat exchanger directly vaporizes the coolant inside the compartments. This eliminates the need for separate thermal interface materials between components, simplifying cooling and preventing fire spread. The vaporized coolant condenses back into liquid inside the compartments, cooling the cells.

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Battery pack with improved cooling performance and a device including the same. The battery pack has a unique module design with integrated cooling. Each battery module has a heat sink built into the frame. Cooling ports are integrated into the frame. Refrigerant is injected into the heat sink through one port and discharged through another. This allows uniform cooling of each module. The pack frame houses the modules and connects to external refrigerant pipes. This integrated cooling reduces coolant leak paths compared to separate heat sinks and simplifies cooling complexity.

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Battery thermal management system for electric vehicles that uses the refrigerant system of the vehicle's air conditioning to cool the battery pack. The system includes a coolant subsystem for the battery pack and a refrigerant subsystem for the cabin. The refrigerant subsystem has an evaporator, chiller, and expansion devices. A tap line connects the chiller's cold side to the coolant subsystem. This allows the coolant to draw heat from the refrigerant instead of using a separate cooler. The shared refrigerant helps integrate the battery and cabin thermal management.

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A traction battery cooling system for electric vehicles that minimizes temperature fluctuations in the cabin air while cooling the battery. The system uses a refrigerant-to-coolant heat exchanger connected to the air conditioning system. But instead of just using the AC to cool the battery, it has a controller that prioritizes cabin cooling over battery cooling based on factors like blower speed and evaporator temperature. This limits air temperature swings in the cabin. The controller also controls an expansion valve in the refrigerant circuit to optimize cooling based on factors like refrigerant temperature and battery coolant temperature.

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Battery pack design with improved heat management for electric vehicles. The pack has separate cold plates above and below the battery modules to reduce temperature gradients. Liquid cooling channels connect to an in-vehicle compressor for active cooling. This allows parallel flow of coolant through both cold plates. This improves heat exchange consistency between upper and lower portions of the modules. The compressor and cold plates form a closed refrigeration loop. External charging piles can also be connected to the loops. This ensures consistent temperatures across the pack during charging.

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Battery pack and vehicle design that improves cooling and reduces risk of electrical shorting. The battery pack is integrated into the vehicle body and has a housing with interfaces on the front surface. The coolant layer is outside the pack housing inside the vehicle body. The refrigerant layer circulates refrigerant for cooling the battery pack. The coolant layer surrounds the battery pack and is cooled by the refrigerant. This provides uniform cooling to the battery pack without bias. The pack, refrigerant, and coolant are arranged along the pack housing inner surface. This compact layout reduces pack size compared to separate cooling systems. The pack interfaces on the front surface simplify connection compared to side mounting. The pack location inside the vehicle body protects the interfaces from collision damage.

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Battery pack cooling structure for efficiently cooling battery modules using a cooling fluid and refrigerant while preventing moisture buildup inside the pack. The structure includes a water-absorbing material surrounding the refrigerant passages inside the battery pack case. This absorbs any condensation that forms on the refrigerant pipes, preventing moisture accumulation. An ambient temperature sensor can detect when it's cold enough to extract refrigerant from the passages to cool the pack.

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Cooling arrangement for battery packs in electric vehicles that prevents refrigerant overheating and allows optimized cooling capacity. The battery pack has separate, isolated cooling lines for each cell, with shutoff valves. In normal operation, only one line is used. But if high cooling demand occurs, both lines can be activated. This prevents overheating in one line while providing extra capacity. It enables balanced cooling across cells without oversizing the entire system.

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Cooling device for battery packs in electric vehicles that provides more uniform cooling and better temperature control compared to conventional designs. The cooling device has multiple separately formed individual cooling elements, each with its own dedicated valve, opposed to the battery pack. This allows more parallel cooling paths and independent control of cooling medium allocation to balance temperature differences between cells and modules. The elements can have multiple cooling plates, one for each module, resting against the battery. This provides direct refrigerant cooling of the cells. The vertical stacked module arrangement enables vertical stacking of the cooling elements above the modules.

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Battery pack with improved cooling performance to prevent overheating and reduce risk of fire or explosion in applications like electric vehicles. The pack has a unique refrigerant flow configuration that enhances cooling while preventing coolant leakage. It uses separate refrigerant pipes connected to each battery module, rather than a central coolant loop. The module pipes connect to a central refrigerant tube housed within the pack frame. This allows direct cooling of each module without shared coolant paths. If coolant leaks from a module, it cannot reach other modules or the pack interior. This prevents coolant contamination and reduces risk of coolant-caused fires or explosions.

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Battery pack design with integrated cooling for high density battery modules to minimize temperature differences between cells and prevent premature aging. The pack has heat sinks below each module, connected by a refrigerant loop. The refrigerant flows through the space between the heat sink and module bottom to directly cool the cells. This integrates cooling into the module structure instead of separate external loops.

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Power supply system for electric vehicles with parallel-connected batteries and a dedicated cooling system. The cooling system uses multiple refrigerant-cooled heat exchangers, one for each battery pack, connected in parallel in a loop. This allows independent cooling of each battery pack to maintain optimal operating temperature, even as the number of packs increases. A central temperature control device manages the refrigerant flow through the parallel paths to balance cooling requirements.

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Cooling system for battery packs in electric vehicles that uses the vehicle's air conditioning refrigerant to cool the battery instead of a separate cooling system. The system involves mounting a refrigerant inducing unit inside the battery pack that allows the AC refrigerant to circulate through the pack and cool the battery cells. This leverages the existing air conditioning system to provide an efficient and integrated cooling solution for the battery pack without needing separate cooling components.

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Vehicle battery pack design for easy mounting in vehicles while maintaining cooling performance. The pack has an integrated radiator, pump, and coolant circuit inside the pack case. The radiator is mounted below the vehicle floor with an intake port on the lower wall and an exhaust port on the upper or rear wall. This allows outside air to be drawn in through the intake port as the vehicle moves and exhausted through the other ports. The pack can also have guides to direct the airflow. This eliminates the need for external radiators and pipes. The pack can also have a refrigerant system with a compressor, condenser, heat exchanger, and liquid heater inside the pack case for enhanced cooling.

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Electric vehicle battery cooling system that reduces power consumption by leveraging ambient conditions to passively cool the battery when possible. The system has a refrigerant-based battery cooler and radiator, with an electromagnetic valve. When the ambient temperature is below the refrigerant's liquefaction point, the valve closes to isolate the cooler from the radiator. This allows the radiator to liquefy the refrigerant passively. If the ambient temperature is above the liquefaction point, the valve opens to cycle the refrigerant through the cooler and radiator. This actively cools the battery. The system intelligently switches between passive and active cooling modes based on ambient temperature to optimize battery cooling while minimizing power consumption.

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Cooling system for battery packs that uses direct liquid cooling of the battery modules and internal phase change materials to extract heat. The system has a liquid refrigerant that contacts the battery modules directly to absorb heat. It also has heat transfer members between modules filled with a refrigerant that can absorb heat through phase changes. This internal refrigerant transfers heat through capillary action or convection. The direct module contact and internal phase change allows efficient cooling without electrical connections.

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