Electricity: battery or capacitor charging or discharging – Cell or battery charger structure – For battery pack
Reexamination Certificate
2003-04-08
2004-01-13
Luk, Lawrence (Department: 2838)
Electricity: battery or capacitor charging or discharging
Cell or battery charger structure
For battery pack
C320S107000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06677728
ABSTRACT:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery box for containing a plurality of cells and a battery holder for holding the cells.
2. Description of the Related Art
In a known battery structure (refer to a battery structure employed in an electric vehicle, disclosed in Japanese Unexamined Patent Application, First Publication No. Hei 9-86188), (i) a plurality of cylindrical battery cells, held by rib walls, are arranged in a box-shaped battery case in a manner such that the central axes of the battery cells pass through lattice points which are positioned on a specific lattice, and (ii) air vents, through which cooling air passes, are formed in the upper and lower walls (of the battery case) which face each other along the direction perpendicular to the central axes of the battery cells, so as to ventilate the inside of the battery case with the cooling air in the vertical direction and to cool the battery cells held by the rib walls.
In the above-explained conventional battery structure having the air vents provided in the upper and lower walls, the cooling condition is different between the battery cells positioned in the vicinity of the air vents at the cooling-air drawing side and the battery cells positioned in the vicinity of the air vents at the cooling-air discharging side, thereby producing a large temperature difference.
For example, in comparison with the vicinity of the air vents at the cooling-air drawing side, flowability around the battery cells is degraded in the vicinity of the air vents at the cooling-air discharging side, thereby degrading the degree of cooling for the battery cells.
Also in the above-explained conventional battery structure in which a plurality of the battery cells are arranged in a lattice pattern, the battery case should be large and thus it is difficult to improve the flexibility for building the battery case into a vehicle such as an electric car.
In addition, the rib walls for holding the battery cells in the battery case are formed integrally with the battery case; thus, the structure of the battery case is complicated and it is difficult to suitably modify the arrangement of the battery cells in the battery case.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
In consideration of the above circumstances, the first object of the present invention is to provide a battery box for containing a plurality of cells and suppressing nonuniformity in the temperature distribution between the cells.
The second object of the present invention is to provide a battery box and a cell holder, by which the battery box for containing a plurality of cells can be smaller and the arrangement of the cells can be flexibly and easily modified.
Therefore, the present invention provides a battery box (e.g., the battery box
10
in an embodiment explained below) comprising:
a container (refer to the internal space
21
in the embodiment explained below) formed by connecting an upper portion (e.g., the upper portion
11
in the embodiment explained below), a lower portion (e.g., the lower portion
12
in the embodiment explained below), a front portion (e.g., the front portion
13
in the embodiment explained below), a rear portion (e.g., the rear portion
14
in the embodiment explained below), and two side portions (e.g., the right portion
15
and the left portion
16
in the embodiment explained below), where the container can be disassembled and the front portion has a coolant supply opening (e.g., each front opening
22
in the embodiment explained below) from which a coolant is drawn into the container, and the rear portion has a coolant discharge opening (e.g., each rear opening
23
in the embodiment explained below) from which the coolant is discharged from the container;
a battery holder (e.g., the battery holder
17
in the embodiment explained below) having a plurality of cell holding members (e.g., the grommets
61
, . . . ,
61
in the embodiment explained below) for holding a plurality of cells (e.g., the battery cells
18
, . . .
18
in the embodiment explained below) in the container, wherein the cell holding members are detachably connected to each other in a manner such that central axes of the cells held by the cell holding members are parallel to a direction along which the two side portions face each other and that the cells are arranged in a zig-zag matrix form in a section perpendicular to the central axes of the cells;
a shielding member (e.g., the first shielding member
43
, the second shielding member
44
, or the third shielding member
45
in the embodiment explained below), provided in the vicinity of the coolant supply opening, for changing the flow direction of the coolant which is drawn from the coolant supply opening into the container, and for preventing the coolant from directly blowing onto at least one of the cells in the vicinity of the coolant supply opening; and
a flow control member (e.g., the first flow control member
32
or the second flow control member
33
in the embodiment explained below), provided in the vicinity of the coolant discharge opening, for changing the flow direction of the coolant in a manner such that the coolant flows towards the rear side of at least one of the cells in the vicinity of the coolant discharge opening.
According to the above battery box, the cells can be arranged in a zig-zag matrix form by using the cell holding members, so that the arrangement efficiency of the cells in the container can be improved and the battery box can be smaller. In addition, the arrangement density with respect to the cells in the container is relatively increased, and accordingly, even when the volume of the space through which the cooling air passes relatively decreases, the shielding member in the vicinity of the coolant supply opening and the flow control member in the vicinity of the coolant discharge opening prevent nonuniformity in the temperature distribution, thereby improving the cooling efficiency.
That is, the shielding member may be arranged in a manner such that the shielding member interrupts the flow of the coolant, which is directed towards the surface of a cell which faces the coolant supply opening, so as to prevent the coolant from directly blowing onto the cell. In this case, it is possible to prevent (i) the cell in the vicinity of the coolant supply opening from being excessively cooled, and (ii) the temperature of the coolant in the vicinity of the coolant supply opening from excessively increasing.
In addition, in order to improve the cooling efficiency of the coolant in the vicinity of the coolant discharge opening, the flow control member is arranged, which can narrow the coolant passage around a target cell and increase the flow rate of the coolant. Accordingly, desired capability for cooling the cell in the vicinity of the coolant discharge opening can be obtained, thereby suppressing the temperature of the cell in the vicinity of the coolant discharge opening from being relatively increased.
In the above battery box, each of the front and rear portions may have a support portion (e.g., the concave portion
47
and the convex portion
48
in the embodiment explained below) for supporting the battery holder. According to this structure, the battery holder is fixed between the front and rear portions in the container. Therefore, the battery holder can be easily fixed simply by providing the support portion at each of the front and rear portions (i.e., constituents of the container), without providing any additional members between which the battery holder can be fixed.
As a preferable example, each cell holding member of the battery holder has at least a pair of a convex portion (e.g., the convex portion
51
in the embodiment explained below) and a concave portion (e.g., the concave portion
52
in the embodiment explained below) which are provided on an outer surface of the cell holding member; and
the cell holding members are detachably connected to each other by fitting the convex portion of one cell holding member into the concave portion of anoth
Koike Eiji
Kousaka Keishi
Takedomi Harumi
Armstrong Westerman & Hattori, LLP
Honda Giken Kogyo Kabushiki Kaisha
Luk Lawrence
LandOfFree
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