Chassis components, vehicle battery system integrally formed with chassis components, and integrated battery system vehicle comprising same

Abstract

The present invention relates to a vehicle body part including a battery system carrier integrally formed in a vehicle body to include a plurality of battery cells, a vehicle battery system integrally with the vehicle body part, and an integrated battery system vehicle including the same.

Claims

1. A vehicle body with a battery system comprising: a vehicle bottom portion; and a battery system carrier in the vehicle bottom portion, the battery system carrier comprising carrier frame integrated in the vehicle bottom portion, wherein the carrier frame is configured to accommodate a plurality of battery cells therein.

2. The vehicle body of claim 1, wherein the carrier frame is configured to accommodate a plurality of battery submodules, an electronic control assembly, and a connection member.

3. The vehicle body of claim 1, wherein the carrier frame comprises two longitudinal frames and two transverse frames perpendicularly connected to the longitudinal frames, wherein the battery system carrier further comprises a battery system cover coupled to the carrier frame, and wherein at least the battery system cover is formed as a portion of a vehicle underbody.

4. The vehicle body of claim 3, wherein the vehicle underbody separates an interior and an exterior of the vehicle body, and wherein the battery cells are disposed outside the vehicle body.

5. The vehicle body of claim 1, wherein the battery system carrier accommodates a plurality of removable battery component carriers, and wherein each of the battery component carriers accommodates a battery submodule including a group of the battery cells, and wherein each of the battery component carriers is mechanically and electrically connected to at least one of the other battery component carriers and the battery system carrier to form the battery system.

6. A vehicle battery system comprising: a battery system carrier comprising a carrier frame, the carrier frame being formed integrally with a vehicle body part formed integrally in a vehicle body; and a plurality of battery cells disposed in the carrier frame.

7. The vehicle battery system of claim 6, wherein the carrier frame comprises two longitudinal frames and two transverse frames perpendicularly connected to the longitudinal frames, wherein the battery system carrier further comprises a battery system cover coupled to the carrier frame, and wherein at least the battery system cover is formed integrally with a vehicle underbody of the vehicle body.

8. The vehicle battery system of claim 7, wherein the carrier frame accommodates a plurality of removable battery component carriers, wherein each of the battery component carriers accommodates at least one battery submodule including a group of the battery cells, and wherein each of the battery component carriers is detachable from the carrier frame.

9. The vehicle battery system of claim 8, wherein each of the battery component carriers includes: a base plate; a pair of side plates disposed perpendicularly to the base plate to extend along two edges facing each other in a longitudinal direction of the base plate; a pair of end plates disposed perpendicularly to the base plate and the side plates to extend along two edges facing each other in a width direction of the base plate; and a cell cover disposed parallel to the base plate, wherein the end plates are mechanically coupled to the base plate or the pair of side plates to fix the plurality of battery cells, and wherein the cell cover, the base plate, the side plates, and the end plates form an accommodating space of the battery submodule.

10. The vehicle battery system of claim 9, wherein each of the battery component carriers further includes a cell connection and sensing unit disposed between the cell cover and the battery submodule.

11. The vehicle battery system of claim 7, further comprising an electronic component carrier that is detachable from the carrier frame to accommodate an electronic control assembly.

12. The vehicle battery system of claim 9, wherein the carrier frame includes a coolant port connected to a cooling channel disposed in the base plate of the battery component carrier.

13. An integrated battery system vehicle comprising: a vehicle body; and a battery system carrier integrally formed in the vehicle body and configured to accommodate a plurality removeable battery component carriers, each of the battery component carriers comprising a plurality of battery cells.

14. The integrated battery system vehicle of claim 13, wherein the battery system carrier includes a carrier frame comprising two longitudinal frames and two transverse frames perpendicularly connected to the longitudinal frames; and a battery system cover coupled to the carrier frame and configured as a portion of a vehicle underbody, wherein the vehicle underbody separates an interior and an exterior of the vehicle body, and the carrier frame accommodates the battery component carriers disposed outside the vehicle body.

15. The integrated battery system vehicle of claim 14, further comprising an underbody protecting member connected to the carrier frame, and wherein the battery cells accommodated in the battery component carriers are wrapped by the underbody protecting member between the battery system cover and the underbody protecting member.

Description

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic perspective view of a vehicle body according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(2) FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic side view of a vehicle body according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(3) FIG. 3 to FIG. 6 illustrate an assembling process of a battery system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(4) FIG. 7 illustrates a schematic perspective view of a battery system accommodated in a battery system carrier according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(5) FIG. 8 illustrates a perspective view of a battery component carrier separated from a carrier frame of FIG. 7 and a battery submodule accommodated in the battery component carrier.

(6) FIG. 9 illustrates a vertical cross-sectional view taken along a line A-A′ of FIG. 8.

MODE FOR INVENTION

(7) The present invention will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown. As those skilled in the art would realize, the described embodiments may be modified in various different ways, all without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. The drawings and description are to be regarded as illustrative in nature and not restrictive. Like reference numerals designate like elements throughout the specification.

(8) Throughout this specification and the claims that follow, when it is described that an element is “coupled/connected” to another element, the element may be “directly coupled/connected” to the other element or “indirectly coupled/connected” to the other element through a third element. In addition, unless explicitly described to the contrary, the word “comprise” and variations such as “comprises” or “comprising” will be understood to imply the inclusion of stated elements but not the exclusion of any other elements.

(9) The terms “first”, “second”, “third”, and the like may be used herein to describe various members, constituent elements, regions, layers, and/or sections, but these members, constituent elements, regions, layers, and/or sections should not be limited by these terms. These terms are used to distinguish one member, element, region, layer, or section from another member, element, region, layer, or section.

(10) In the present specification, the term “comprise”, “include”, or “have” should be understood as specifying the presence of practiced features, steps, constitutional elements, or a combination thereof, but not precluding the possibility of presence or addition of one or more of other features, steps, constitutional elements, or a combination thereof.

(11) In addition, as used herein, the term “and/or” includes any plurality of combinations of items or any of a plurality of listed items. In this specification, “A and/or B” may include “A”, “B”, or “A and B”.

(12) The use of “can/may” in describing an exemplary embodiment of the present invention indicates “at least one exemplary embodiment of the present invention.”

(13) As used in this specification, terms such as “use,” “using,” and “used” may be understood to have the same meaning as “utilize”, “utilizing”, and “utilized”, respectively.

(14) FIG. 1 illustrates a schematic perspective view of a vehicle body according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(15) Referring to FIG. 1, the vehicle body 99 may be formed of a chassis or a frame, which includes a plurality of vehicle body parts. For example, the vehicle body 99 may have an integral structure in which the vehicle body parts are strongly coupled to each other by welding. Although not illustrated therein, additional parts such as doors, hoods, and trunk lids, or a power unit such as an engine, may be coupled to or mounted on the vehicle body.

(16) The vehicle body 99 may include a plurality of cross beams 81 disposed at a rear or roof portion thereof as vehicle body parts.

(17) The vehicle body 99 may further include a vehicle bottom portion 82 that constitutes a cabin floor of the vehicle body 99. In this specification, it may be understood that a vehicle body part 90 corresponding to the vehicle bottom portion 82 among the vehicle body parts included in the vehicle body 99 is distinguished from other vehicle body parts.

(18) The vehicle bottom portion 82 may include a battery system carrier 91 integrally formed with the bottom portion 82.

(19) The battery system carrier 91 may include a battery system cover 13, which is a portion of a vehicle underbody 92, and a carrier frame 10, which is disposed at a lower portion of the vehicle underbody 92. The carrier frame 10 and the battery system cover 13 may be integrally formed with the vehicle bottom portion 82.

(20) The vehicle underbody 92 may separate an interior and an exterior of the vehicle, and the carrier frame 10 may be disposed outside the vehicle.

(21) FIG. 2 illustrates a schematic side view of a vehicle body according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(22) Referring to FIG. 2 together with FIG. 1, a vehicle 100 may include additional parts such as a hood 97 disposed in front of the vehicle and a fender 98 disposed in front and rear thereof, coupled to the vehicle body 99.

(23) The vehicle 100 may further include the vehicle bottom portion 82 which is one of the vehicle body parts 90 including the battery system carrier 91 including the carrier frame 10, and the battery system cover 13.

(24) FIG. 3 to FIG. 6 illustrate an assembling process of a battery system according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(25) First, in an assembling step of FIG. 3 (A), a wiring carrier 93 including a high voltage bus bar 94 and a low voltage wiring harness 95 illustrated in FIG. 3 (C) may be mounted in the battery system carrier 91.

(26) Referring to FIG. 3 together with FIG. 6, the wiring carrier 93 may electrically and electronically connect an electronic component carrier 20 and a battery submodule 40 of a battery system 50, to be assembled.

(27) The wring carrier 93 may be formed as a center frame of the carrier frame 10 having a rectangular structure included in the battery system carrier 91 to provide mechanical stability and an additional space for mounting the electronic component carrier 20 and a battery component carrier 30 to be subsequently mounted.

(28) Next, in an assembling step of FIG. 3 (B), the electronic component carrier 20 illustrated in FIG. 3 (D) may be mounted in the battery system carrier 91.

(29) The electronic component carrier 20 may include at least one battery junction box (BJB) and a battery management unit (BMU).

(30) Both of the wiring carrier 93 and the electronic component box 20 may be fixed to the carrier frame 10 by a bolt, clip, or a locking system.

(31) Next, in the assembling step of FIG. 4, a plurality of battery component carriers may be mounted on the battery system carrier.

(32) As will be described in detail below, the battery submodule 40 formed to include a plurality of arranged battery cells 1 may be mounted in the battery component carrier 30.

(33) The battery component carrier 30 may be made of a molded steel or aluminum profile that can cool the battery cells 1, battery cell connectors, and module electronic devices (not illustrated) while structurally fixing them. Such a plurality of battery component carriers 30 may be mounted and fixed in the carrier frame 10 at a lower portion of the vehicle 100.

(34) Finally, in the assembling step of FIG. 5, an underbody protecting member 96 may be mounted in the battery system carrier 91 formed integrally with the vehicle bottom portion 82 at the lower portion of the vehicle 100.

(35) Accordingly, the underbody protecting member 96 may enclose the battery component carrier 30 and the electronic component carrier 20 accommodated in the carrier frame 10, which is disposed between the vehicle underbody 92 and the underbody protecting member 96.

(36) FIG. 6 illustrates an underbody protecting member mounted in the battery system carrier through the step of FIG. 5.

(37) FIG. 7 illustrates a perspective view of a rechargeable battery according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

(38) Referring to FIG. 7 together with FIG. 1 to FIG. 6, the battery system 50 includes the carrier frame 10, which is integrally formed with the vehicle body part 90 and is coupled to the system cover 13.

(39) However, in this drawing, the carrier frame 10 is separated from the vehicle component 90 in order to easily illustrate this exemplary embodiment.

(40) Referring to FIG. 7, the carrier frame 10 may include two longitudinal frames 16 and two transverse frames 17.

(41) At least one of the two transverse frames 17 includes an external signal port connected to an external control unit (not illustrated) and an external power port (not illustrated) connected to an external power signal (not illustrated).

(42) The carrier frame 10 may further include a center frame 18 that extends parallel to the longitudinal frames 16 to divide an inner space of the carrier frame 10 into two subspaces 11, and the central frame 18 may be the wiring carrier 93 illustrated in FIG. 3.

(43) In other words, the longitudinal frames 16 and the transverse frames 17 may be portions of the carrier frame 10 integrally formed with the vehicle body part 90, while the wiring carrier 93 may be installed as the center frame in an assembling process of the battery system 50 for the vehicle 100.

(44) The carrier frame 10 having such a structure may accommodate the removable electronic component carrier 20 and a plurality of removable battery component carriers 30. Although it is illustrated in the drawing that one electronic component carrier 20 and six battery component carriers 30 are accommodated in the carrier frame 10, a number of the accommodated carriers is not limited thereto.

(45) In summary, the wiring carrier 93 as the central frame 18 may provide mechanical stability to the carrier frame 10, and may provide an additional space for accommodating the electronic component carrier 20 and the battery component carrier 30.

(46) The electronic component carrier 20 may include a base plate 21 and an electronic control assembly 22 disposed in the base plate 21.

(47) The electronic component carrier 20 may further include a signal port 23 for transmitting a control signal between the electronic control assembly 22 and an external control circuit (not illustrated), and a power port 23 for electrically connecting the carrier frame 10 to an external power circuit (not illustrated), e.g., a battery system or a battery management system.

(48) In addition, the electronic component carrier 20 may be connected directly to one or more electrical consumers.

(49) The electronic control assembly 21 may control the battery submodule 40 accommodated in the battery component carrier 30 based on a control signal, and, for example, may control the battery submodule 40 in order to supply power that satisfies a power demand based on an actual demand of power.

(50) For an electrical connection relationship between the respective constituent elements, the electronic control assembly 22 may be electrically connected to the electronic component carrier 20, and the electronic component carrier 20 may be electrically connected to the battery component carrier 30 that is disposed adjacent thereto. In addition, the battery component carrier 30 may be electrically connected to the battery submodule 40 mounted therein and another battery component carrier 30 disposed adjacent thereto.

(51) Through the electrical connection, the electronic control assembly 22 may transmit a signal for controlling the battery submodule 40, the battery submodule 40 may supply a current in response to the signal, and the supplied current may be transmitted.

(52) According to the exemplary embodiment of the present invention, the control signal may be modulated to a current or voltage between the electronic component carrier 20 and the battery component carrier 30 or between the battery submodules 40.

(53) A cooling channel (not illustrated) through which a coolant can flow may be formed at a lower portion of the bottom plate 20 of the electronic component carrier 20.

(54) Since the electronic component carrier 20 is individually detachable from the carrier frame 10, the electronic control assembly 22 may be easily replaced or repaired.

(55) FIG. 8 illustrates a battery component carrier separated from a carrier frame of FIG. 7 and a battery submodule accommodated in the battery component carrier, and FIG. 9 illustrates a vertical cross-sectional view taken along a line A-A′ of FIG. 8.

(56) Referring to FIG. 8, the battery component carrier 30 may include one or more battery submodules 40. Although it is illustrated in this drawing that two battery submodules 40 are housed in the battery component carrier 30, a number of battery submodules 40 to be accommodated is not limited thereto.

(57) Referring to FIG. 8, the battery component carrier 30 may include a base plate 32 and a pair of side plates 31 disposed at edges of the base plate 32 in a longitudinal direction thereof to extend toward an upper side of the base plate 32 from the edges thereof.

(58) The battery submodule 40 may be disposed in an accommodation space formed by the base plate 32 and the pair of side plates 31 to be mechanically fixed to the battery component carrier 30 in a tightly wrapped state. The battery submodule 40 may be adhered to the side plates 31 or the base plate 32 to be further fixed in a vertical direction.

(59) The base plate 32 and the side plates 31 may be formed as a single member. The base plate 32 and the side plates 31 may be made of an extruded aluminum profile, a reinforced plastic extrusion profile, or a rolled and welded steel carrier, including a bottom portion and a side portion.

(60) Referring to FIG. 8 together with FIG. 7, the battery component carrier 30 includes a connection member (not illustrated) that is detachable from the longitudinal frames 16 of the carrier frame 10, and the connection member may be a screw hole for fixing the battery component carrier 30 to the carrier frame 10.

(61) The battery component carrier 30 may further include a connection member (not illustrated) for electrically connecting the battery component carriers 30 or for electrically connecting the battery component carriers 30 to the electronic component carrier 20 in the battery system 50.

(62) The connection member may include an electrical connection member such as a high voltage bus bar capable of providing high voltage power connection between the battery submodules 40 on the battery component carrier 30.

(63) The connection member may further include an electronic connection member such as a wiring harness capable of providing low voltage connection between the electronic component carrier 20 and a cell monitoring circuit (CSC) or between the cell connection and sensing units (CCU) of the battery submodules 40.

(64) Referring to FIG. 8, the battery submodule 40 may include a plurality of battery cells 1, each of which has a planar shape. The plurality of battery cells 1 may constitute a battery cell array 5, and may be mounted in the battery component carrier 30 in a state where a pair of end plates 33 are respectively disposed at battery cells positioned at outermost sides of the battery cell array 5.

(65) Alternatively, the battery cell array 5 may be mounted in the battery component carrier 30 in a state where one of the pair of end plates 33 is first fixedly coupled to the side plates 31 or the base plate 32 of the battery component carrier 30.

(66) The end plates 33 may be fixedly coupled to another member of the battery component carrier 30. The battery cell array 5 may be primarily assembled in the longitudinal direction together with the end plates 33, which may be disposed at one side or opposite sides thereof. This primary assembly step may be performed by a means such as an elastic member, a spring, or a screw.

(67) Referring to FIG. 8, the end plates 33 may be mechanically coupled to the side plates 31 of the battery component carrier 30. The end plates 33, the base plate 32 and the side plates 31 of the battery component carrier 30 may be coupled to each other by a type of welding, which may be, e.g., friction stir welding or tungsten inert gas welding—clinching, clamping, riveting, wedging, or gluing.

(68) Accordingly, the plurality of battery cells 1 may be fixed in a first direction by the end plates 33, and may be fixed in a second direction by the side plates 31. Herein, the first direction indicates a longitudinal direction of the battery component carrier 30, and the second direction indicates a width direction of the battery component carrier 30 that is perpendicular to the first direction.

(69) The end plates 33 may be formed of an extruded aluminum profile, aluminum or steel sheet metal, an aluminum cast part, a reinforced plastic extrusion profile, or a molded part so as to provide stiffness and mechanical stability to the battery submodule 40.

(70) In addition, a swelling phenomenon in which the battery cells swell occurs in a process of aging the battery cells. The end plate 33 may contain an expansion force generated when the battery cells 1 are swollen and guide the battery cells into the battery component carrier 30, thereby suppressing the effect of the swelling phenomenon.

(71) A cell cover 34 may be disposed at an upper portion of the battery submodule 40.

(72) The cell cover 34 may be fixedly coupled to the side plate 31. Accordingly, the battery cells 1 may be more strongly fixed in a third direction by the cell cover 34, wherein the third direction indicates a direction perpendicular to both the first direction and the second direction.

(73) Referring to FIG. 8 together with FIG. 9, the cell cover 34 may be clamped between the battery cells 1 and the side plates 31.

(74) For example, the cell cover 34 may include a pair of clamps 341 extending from opposite sides thereof, and the pair of clamps 341 may be inserted and clamped between the battery cell 1 and the side plate 31 and fixed.

(75) In addition, the cell cover 34 may be fixed to the side plates 31 by a coupling method using a screw 342.

(76) The cell cover 34 may not only fix the battery cells 1 in place, but may also prevent contact from the outside.

(77) The battery component carrier 30 including the battery cells 1, the end plates 33, the cell cover 34, and additional components may be separately removable from a state of being mounted in the carrier frame 10 of the battery system 50, and may be separately removable even when the battery system 50 is mounted to the vehicle 100.

(78) Referring to FIG. 9 together with FIG. 8, the base plate 32 may include a plurality of cooling channels 321.

(79) The cooling channels 321 may be formed at a lower portion of the base plate 32, and an arrangement direction of the cooling channels 321 may be independent of the direction in which the battery cells 1 are arranged.

(80) In the meantime, an external coolant port (not illustrated) is arranged on the transverse frames 17 of the carrier frame 10, and a coolant distribution line (not illustrated) connected to the external coolant port may be formed.

(81) In this case, a plurality of connection pieces (not illustrated) included in the coolant distribution line may connect the coolant distribution line to any one of the cooling channels 321 of the base plate 32 through respective coolant ports (not illustrated) of the battery component carriers 30.

(82) Therefore, a coolant supplied to the external coolant port of the carrier frame 10 by the external coolant circuit (not illustrated) may be supplied to the coolant ports of the battery component carriers 30 and the electronic component carrier 20 through the coolant distribution lines.

(83) The coolant thus supplied flows from the transverse frame 17 disposed at a first side to the transverse frame 17 disposed at a second side through the respective coolant channels 321 of each of the base plates 32, and flows back to one of the external coolant ports through another coolant distribution line.

(84) Referring to FIG. 8, a cell connection and sensing unit 35 including a cell connector, a sensor, and an electronic device may be provided between the cell cover 34 and the battery submodule 40.

(85) The cell connection and sensing unit 35 includes a flexible circuit board (FCB) having connection terminals connected to electrode terminals of the battery cells 1, and a semiconductor element (not illustrated) formed on an upper surface of the flexible circuit board. A wiring pattern (not illustrated) may be formed on a surface of the flexible circuit board.

(86) A main body of the flexible circuit board may be formed of a flexible electrically insulating material such as polyimide (PI) or polyethylene (PET), and the wiring pattern may be formed of copper (Cu), titanium (Ti), nickel (Ni), or palladium (Pd).

(87) The semiconductor element may apply a signal for controlling an operation of the battery cells 1. Particularly, the semiconductor element may control a degree of charge or discharge of the battery cells 1 through a high voltage connection. In addition, the semiconductor element may apply a signal indicative of a voltage, a current, and a state of charge (SOC) in order to prevent overcharge or overdischarge.

(88) In other words, the cell connection and sensing unit 35 may provide a main power supply path by interconnecting the electrode terminals of the battery cells 1 and the electrode terminals of the battery submodule 40.

(89) The cell connection and sensing unit 35 may further include voltage sensing lines (not illustrated) for voltage sensing and cell balancing, and may further include a temperature sensor capable of sensing a temperature of the battery cells 1.

(90) The cell connection and sensing unit 35 is composed of a lightweight flexible carrier to compensate movement of the battery cells when they expand or contract.

(91) The cell connection and sensing unit 35 may be configured to mount a printed circuit board of a cell supervision circuit (CSC-PCB).

(92) An electronic or electrical device and/or any other related device or component in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention described herein may be used interchangeably with hardware, firmware (e.g., a specific purpose integrated circuit), software, or a combination of software, firmware, and hardware.

(93) For example, various constituent elements of such devices may be formed on one integrated circuit (IC) chip or on an individual integrated circuit chip.

(94) In addition, various constituent elements of such devices may be implemented on a flexible circuit film, a tape carrier package (TCP), a printed circuit board (PCB), or a single substrate.

(95) Further, various constituent elements of such devices may be executed on one or more processors or executed on one or more computing devices, may execute computer program instructions, and may be processes or threads that interact with other system constituent elements to perform various functions described herein.

(96) The computer program instructions may be stored in a memory that is operable on a computing device using standard memory devices such as a random access memory (RAM).

(97) In addition, the computer program instructions may also be stored in a non-volatile computer readable medium, such as a CD-ROM, a flash drive, or the like.

(98) It will also be recognized by those skilled in the art that functions of the various computing devices may be combined or integrated in a single computing device, or functions of a particular computing device may be distributed across one or more other computing devices without departing from the scope of embodiments of the present invention.

(99) While this invention has been described in connection with what is presently considered to be practical exemplary embodiments, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed embodiments, but, on the contrary, is intended to cover various modifications and equivalent arrangements included within the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

(100) TABLE-US-00001 <Description of Symbols> 1: battery cell 10: carrier frame 11, 12: subspace 13: battery system cover 16: longitudinal frame 17: transverse frame 18: center frame 20: electronic component carrier 21: base plate 22: electronic control assembly 23: signal port 30: battery component carrier 31: side plate 32: base plate 321: cooling channel 33: end plate 34: cell cover 35: cell connection and sensing unit 40: battery submodule 50: battery system 81: cross beam 82: vehicle bottom portion 90: vehicle body part 91: battery system carrier 92: vehicle underbody 93: wiring carrier 94: high voltage bus bar 95: low voltage wiring harness 96: underbody protecting member 99: vehicle body 100: vehicle