Battery cooling structure for vehicle

• US 8,893,839 B2
• Filed: 07/19/2012
• Issued: 11/25/2014
• Est. Priority Date: 07/26/2011
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Original Assignee: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha (Toyota Motor Corporation)
• Inventors: Saeki, Koji
• Primary Examiner(s): VANAMAN, FRANK BENNETT
• Application Number:
  US13/552,901
• Publication Number:
  US 20130025953A1
• Time in Patent Office: 859 Days
• Field of Search: 180/68.5, 429/71, 429/120
• US Class Current: 180/68.5
• 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 2001/0438 Arrangement under the floor
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 50/64 Constructional details of batteries specially adapted for electric vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: B60L 58/26 by cooling
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/613 Cooling or keeping cold
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/625 Vehicles
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/647 Prismatic or flat cells, e.g. pouch cells
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/6554 Rods or plates
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 10/6563 with forced flow, e.g. by blowers
• 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 2220/20 Batteries in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane
• 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 battery cooling structure for a vehicle includes: a vehicle body floor part; and a battery module that is located under the vehicle body floor part, and that is arranged such that a clearance is formed between the battery module and the vehicle body floor part and an airflow that is introduced from the front side of a vehicle body into the clearance is discharged from the rear end of the clearance. At least one of the vehicle body floor part and the battery module has a wall portion that is formed so as to gradually decrease the area of a cross-section of the clearance, the cross-section being perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, along the direction toward the rear of the vehicle body.

Claims

1. A battery cooling structure for a vehicle, comprising:

a battery module that is located under a vehicle body floor part, that is fixed to a frame of a vehicle body via a battery frame having a rear frame disposed at a lower side of a rear face of the battery module and protruded from the rear face toward a rear of the vehicle body, the battery module being arranged next to the rear frame in a stepwise manner in a side view, a clearance is formed between a top face of the battery module and the vehicle body floor part and an airflow that is introduced from a front side of the vehicle body into the clearance is discharged from a rear end of the clearance;

a slant wall formed in the vehicle body floor part, and slanted downward along a direction toward the rear of the vehicle body so as to gradually decrease an area of a cross-section of the clearance, the cross-section being perpendicular to a longitudinal direction of the vehicle body, along the direction toward the rear of the vehicle body;

a middle wall that is formed in the vehicle body floor part, that extends from a rear end of the slant wall toward the rear of the vehicle body, and that extends beyond a rear end of the battery module in the direction toward the rear of the vehicle body;

a vertical wall that is formed in the vehicle body floor part, that extends from a rear end of the middle wall downward in a height direction of the vehicle body such that a space through which the clearance is communicated with a space outside of the vehicle body is formed between the battery module and the vertical wall; and

a lower wall that is formed in the vehicle body floor part, that extends from a lower end of the vertical wall toward the rear of the vehicle body, and that is arranged at substantially the same height as a bottom face of the battery module.

2. The battery cooling structure according to claim 1, wherein a metal heat conducting portion is formed in an upper wall of the battery module arranged to face the vehicle body floor part.

3. The battery cooling structure according to claim 2, wherein the heat conducting portion is formed in at least a rear part of the upper wall in the longitudinal direction of the vehicle body.

4. The battery cooling structure according to claim 1, wherein the vertical wall is substantially perpendicular to the middle wall.