The present disclosure relates to a battery pack and a battery system thereof, and more specifically, to a battery pack utilizing a pipe assembly to be coupled to battery modules along a first side portion, a back portion and a second side portion of a casing sequentially and a battery system thereof.
The development of electric vehicles is progressing rapidly. For increasing fast charging and slow discharging capability, it is important to manage the heat generated during the charging and discharging processes of a battery pack.
Currently, there are two types of conventional cooled battery packs: a modular cooled battery pack and a non-modular cooled battery pack. The non-modular cooled battery pack may enclose several cell assemblies in one large fluid tank, which may make the entire pack bulky and heavy. Thus, the non-modular cooled battery pack is difficult to employ on various sizes of vehicle platforms. The modular cooled battery pack may solve the aforementioned problem of the non-modular cooled battery pack by making the fluid tank modularized (e.g., by enclosing each cell assembly in an independent fluid container to form one battery module). However, the modular cooled battery pack may require more connectors (e.g., cables, busbars, and fluid pipes) between the battery modules to cause a messy and exposed cable/busbar/pipe arrangement. Moreover, since the fluid pipes for heat dissipation of the battery modules are usually coupled in series connection in the prior art, uneven heat dissipation occurs due to excessive flow resistance or inconsistent flow rates of fluid in the fluid pipes. On the other hand, if the prior art adopts the design in which the fluid pipes are coupled in parallel connection, it may lead to a complex, time-consuming and strenuous parallel pipeline arrangement.
The present disclosure provides a battery pack including a casing, a plurality of first battery modules, a plurality of second battery modules, a plurality of third battery modules, and a pipe assembly. The casing has a first frame, a second frame, and at least one third frame sequentially arranged from up to down. The casing further has a front cover detachably covering a front portion of the casing, and the front cover has a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet. The plurality of first battery modules is disposed within the first frame. The plurality of second battery modules is disposed within the second frame. The plurality of third battery modules is disposed within the at least one third frame. The pipe assembly includes an input pipe, a first pipe set, a second pipe set, a third pipe set, an output pipe, and a communication pipe set. The input pipe is coupled to the fluid inlet. The first pipe set is disposed at a first side portion of the casing. The first pipe set is coupled to the input pipe and coupled in series to the plurality of first battery modules within the first frame. The second pipe set is disposed at a second side portion of the casing and coupled in series to the plurality of second battery modules within the second frame. The second side portion is opposite to the first side portion. The third pipe set is disposed at the second side portion of the casing and coupled in series to the plurality of third battery modules within the third frame. The output pipe set is coupled to the second battery module, the third battery module, and the fluid outlet. The communication pipe set is disposed at a back portion of the casing, coupled to the first battery module, and coupled in parallel to the second battery module and the third battery module.
The present disclosure further provides a battery system including a battery pack, a pump, and a heat management module. The battery pack includes a casing, a plurality of first battery modules, a plurality of second battery modules, a plurality of third battery modules, and a pipe assembly. The casing has a first frame, a second frame, and at least one third frame sequentially arranged from up to down. The casing further has a front cover detachably covering a front portion of the casing, and the front cover has a fluid inlet and a fluid outlet. The plurality of first battery modules is disposed within the first frame. The plurality of second battery modules is disposed within the second frame. The plurality of third battery modules is disposed within the at least one third frame. The pipe assembly includes an input pipe, a first pipe set, a second pipe set, a third pipe set, an output pipe, and a communication pipe set. The input pipe is coupled to the fluid inlet. The first pipe set is disposed at a first side portion of the casing. The first pipe set is coupled to the input pipe and coupled in series to the plurality of first battery modules within the first frame. The second pipe set is disposed at a second side portion of the casing and coupled in series to the plurality of second battery modules within the second frame. The second side portion is opposite to the first side portion. The third pipe set is disposed at the second side portion of the casing and coupled in series to the plurality of third battery modules within the third frame. The output pipe set is coupled to the second battery module, the third battery module, and the fluid outlet. The communication pipe set is disposed at a back portion of the casing, coupled to the first battery module, and coupled in parallel to the second battery module and the third battery module. The pump is coupled to the fluid inlet and the fluid outlet. The thermal management module is coupled to the pump for thermal management of the battery pack in an immersion cooling manner by controlling the pump to pump a fluid into the battery pack.
These and other objectives of the present invention will no doubt become obvious to those of ordinary skill in the art after reading the following detailed description of the preferred embodiment that is illustrated in the various figures and drawings.
The following disclosure contains specific information pertaining to exemplary implementations in the present disclosure. The drawings in the present disclosure and their accompanying detailed disclosure are directed to merely exemplary implementations. However, the present disclosure is not limited to merely these exemplary implementations. Other variations and implementations of the present disclosure will occur to those skilled in the art. Unless noted otherwise, like or corresponding elements among the figures may be indicated by like or corresponding reference numerals. Moreover, the drawings and illustrations in the present disclosure are generally not to scale and are not intended to correspond to actual relative dimensions.
Please refer to
The battery pack 12 includes the casing 18, a plurality of first battery modules 20, a plurality of second battery modules 22, a plurality of third battery modules 24, and a pipe assembly 26. The casing 18 has a first frame 28, a second frame 30, and at least one third frame 32 (one shown in
Moreover, the casing 18 further has a front cover 34 detachably covering a front portion F of the casing 18, and the front cover 34 has a fluid inlet 36 and a fluid outlet 38 disposed thereon. The pump 14 is coupled to the fluid inlet 36 and the fluid outlet 38, and the thermal management module 16 could include electronic components (e.g., management circuit boards, flow meters, and temperature sensors, but not limited thereto) applied to thermal management of a battery pack for collecting heat dissipating information of battery cells and fluid in the battery modules. As such, the thermal management module 16 could be coupled to the pump 14 for thermal management of the battery pack 12 in an immersion cooling manner by controlling the pump 14 to pump the fluid into the battery pack 12, wherein the fluid could be preferably an inert dielectric fluid and may provide a fire suppression capability (but not limited thereto, meaning that the present disclosure could adopt other thermal management fluid, such as mineral oil, silicone oil, ester-based oil, or engineered fluid, etc.). As for the thermal management design of the thermal management module 16 and the fluid cooling process of the battery system 10, the related description is commonly seen in the prior art and omitted herein for simplicity.
More detailed description for the pipe connection design of the pipe assembly 26 is provided as follows. Please refer to
As shown in
In this embodiment, the first pipe set 42 could include one first pipe 43 for coupling to the two first battery modules 20 along with the input pipe 40 and the communication pipe set 48 to make the fluid flow through the two first battery modules 20 sequentially (as shown in
Furthermore, the communication pipe set 48 is disposed at a back portion B of the casing 18, coupled to the first battery module 20, and coupled in parallel to the second battery module 22 and the third battery module 24. To be more specific, in this embodiment, the communication pipe set 48 includes a first communication pipe 52, a second communication pipe 54, a third communication pipe 56, and a three-way valve 58. As shown in
In practical application, a number of curves of the second communication pipe 54 (three curves shown in
As for the output configuration of the output pipe set 50, please refer to
To be noted, for further ensuring that the fluid flow at the consistent flow rate in the second battery modules 22 and the third battery modules 24, a total pipe length of the second pipe set 44 and the second output pipe 62 could be preferably equal to a total pipe length of the third pipe set 46 and the third output pipe 64, so as to make the fluid flow in the second pipe set 44, the third pipe set 46 and the output pipe set 50 at the consistent flow rate for achieving the even heat dissipation effect. In addition, the curve design and the pipe passing design mentioned above could also be applied to the output pipe set 50, and the related description could be reasoned by analogy according to
In summary, via the aforesaid design in which the pipe assembly is coupled to the first battery modules, the second battery modules, and the third battery modules along the first side portion, the back portion and the second side portion sequentially in the casing without overlapping the pipes at the same side portion of the casing, the present disclosure can efficiently solve the messy and exposed pipe arrangement problem of the modular cooled battery pack aforementioned in the prior art, so as to greatly save the pipe routing space of the battery pack.
Furthermore, the present disclosure adopts the design in which the first pipe set is coupled in series to the first battery modules and the second pipe set and the third pipe set are coupled to the first pipe set in parallel connection, to solve the prior art problem of excessive flow resistance or inconsistent flow rates of the fluid in the fluid pipes in series connection or the complex, time-consuming, and strenuous pipeline arrangement caused by all the fluid pipes coupled in parallel connection. In such a manner, the present disclosure not only improves the heat dissipation efficiency of the battery pack and maintains the temperature uniformity between battery cells in the battery pack, but also simplifies the pipe configuration in the battery pack.
It should be mentioned that the aforesaid routing design could also be applied to electrical connection between the battery modules of the battery pack. For example, as shown in
In this embodiment, the first busbar set 76 could include two first busbars 77, the second busbar set 78 could include five busbars 79, and the third busbar set 80 could include five third busbars 81, for establishing series connection of the two first battery modules 20, the three second battery modules 22, and the three third battery modules cooperatively with the positive busbar 74, the cable set 84, and the negative busbar 82. As shown in
Furthermore, the cable set 84 is disposed at the back portion B of the casing 18. To be more specific, as shown in
As such, the cable set 84 can establish the series connection between the first busbar set 76 and the second busbar set 78, the series connection between the second busbar set 78 and the third busbar set 80, and the series connection between the third busbar set 80 and the first busbar set 76, respectively. Moreover, in this embodiment, as shown in
In summary, via the aforesaid design in which the busbar connection assembly is coupled in series to the first battery modules, the second battery modules, and the third battery modules around the casing without overlapping the busbars and cables at the same side portion of the casing, the present disclosure can efficiently solve the messy and exposed cable/busbar arrangement problem of the modular cooled battery pack aforementioned in the prior art, so as to greatly save the cable/busbar routing space of the battery pack.
Those skilled in the art will readily observe that numerous modifications and alterations of the device and method may be made while retaining the teachings of the invention. Accordingly, the above disclosure should be construed as limited only by the metes and bounds of the appended claims.