VEHICULAR POWER SUPPLY SYSTEM

• US 20100294580A1
• Filed: 01/23/2009
• Published: 11/25/2010
• Est. Priority Date: 02/07/2008
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Original Assignee: Honda Motor Co., Ltd. (Honda Motor Company)
• Inventors: Kawata, Masao, Kubota, Shinya
• Granted Patent: US 8,556,017 B2
• Time in Patent Office: Days
• US Class Current: 180/68.1
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 1/04 of the electric storage means for propulsion exchanging batteries for electric propulsion of vehicles B60L53/80; for auxiliary purposes only B60R16/04; supplying batteries to, or removing batteries from, vehicles B60S5/06
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2001/005 the electric storage means
• CPC Class Codes: B60K 2001/0416 Arrangement in the rear part of the vehicle
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/64 Constructional details of batteries specially adapted for electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/625 Vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/643 Cylindrical cells
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/6565 with recirculation or U-turn in the flow path, i.e. back and forth
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/6566 Means within the gas flow to guide the flow around one or more cells, e.g. manifolds, baffles or other barriers H01M10/6565 takes precedence
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/667 the system being an electronic component, e.g. a CPU, an inverter or a capacitor
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 50/249 specially adapted for aircraft or vehicles, e.g. cars or trains constructional details of batteries specially adapted for electric vehicles B60L50/64
• CPC Class Codes: H05K 7/20909 Forced ventilation, e.g. on heat dissipaters coupled to components
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries
• CPC Class Codes: Y02T 10/70 Energy storage systems for electromobility, e.g. batteries

Abstract

A vehicular power supply system is provided in which the interior of a waterproof case (14) is partitioned into a first cooling air passage (39) on the lower side and a second cooling air passage (40) on the upper side, a battery module (24) is cooled with cooling air that is introduced from an intake passage part (41) of a duct member (18) and flows through the first cooling air passage (39) on the lower side, and high voltage electrical components (33, 34) are then cooled by guiding the cooling air to the second cooling air passage (40) on the upper side via an intermediate duct (36). After a cooling fan is stopped, air that has been heated by the high voltage electrical components (33, 34), which have a high temperature, is discharged via an exhaust passage part (42) of the duct member (18) without contacting the battery modules (24) on the lower side. Moreover, since the intake passage part (41) and the exhaust passage part (42) are provided integrally in the duct member (18), which is provided at one end of the waterproof case (14), compared with an arrangement in which they are provided separately at opposite ends of the waterproof case (14), the power supply system can be made smaller.

Claims

1. A vehicular power supply system in which a power unit (P) comprising an electrical condenser (24) and an electrical component (33, 34) is disposed within a case, the interior of the case (14) is partitioned into a first cooling air passage (39) and a second cooling air passage (40), cooling air is supplied to the first and second cooling air passages (39, 40) by cooling air supply means (21), the electrical condenser (24) is cooled by cooling air flowing through the first cooling air passage (39), and the electrical component (33, 34) is cooled by cooling air flowing through the second cooling air passage (40),

wherein a duct member (18) integrally comprising an intake passage part (41) and an exhaust passage part (42) is provided at one end of the case (14), an outlet opening (18d) of the intake passage part (41) is connected to the upstream end of the first cooling air passage (39), an inlet opening (18e) of the exhaust passage part (42) is connected to the downstream end of the second cooling air passage (40), and the downstream end of the first cooling air passage (39) and the upstream end of the second cooling air passage (40) are connected via an intermediate duct (36) at the other end of the case (14).

2. The vehicular power supply system according to claim 1, wherein the first cooling air passage (39) is provided under the second cooling air passage (40).

3. The vehicular power supply system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the electrical component comprises an inverter (33) and a DC-DC converter (34) arranged side by side in the vehicle width direction, and heat sinks (37, 38) extending downward from lower faces of the inverter (33) and the DC-DC converter (34) face the second cooling air passage (40).

4. The vehicular power supply system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the intake passage part (41) and the exhaust passage part (42) of the duct member (18) provided on one end of the case (14) are formed so as to be adjacent to each other with a partition wall (18a) interposed therebetween, an inlet opening (18b) of the intake passage part (41) and an outlet opening (18c) of the exhaust passage part (42) are dividedly disposed at opposite ends in the lengthwise direction on said one end, the width, in the lengthwise direction, of the outlet opening (18d) of the intake passage part (41) is substantially the same as the width, in the lengthwise direction, of the first cooling air passage (39), and the inlet opening (18e) of the exhaust passage part (42) is provided within the width, in the lengthwise direction, of the outlet opening (18d) of the intake passage part (41).

5. The vehicular power supply system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the passage cross-sectional area of the outlet opening (18d) of the intake passage part (41) is larger than the passage cross-sectional area of the inlet opening (36a) of the intermediate duct (36), and the passage cross-sectional area of the outlet opening (36b) of the intermediate duct (36) is larger than the passage cross-sectional area of the inlet opening (18e) of the exhaust passage part (42).

6. The vehicular power supply system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the intermediate duct (36) is formed in a U-shape that curves smoothly from the downstream end of the first cooling air passage (39) to the upstream end of the second cooling air passage (40).

7. The vehicular power supply system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein an intake duct (19) connected to the inlet opening (18b) of the intake passage part (41) of the duct member (18) extends toward the front of the vehicle body, and an exhaust duct (20) connected to the outlet opening (18c) of the exhaust passage part (42) of the duct member (18) extends toward the rear of the vehicle body.

8. The vehicular power supply system according to claim 1 or claim 2, wherein the power unit (P) is disposed underneath a floor of a luggage compartment (43) interposed between left and right side frames (12).