MONITORING DEVICE

Abstract

A control device for a battery storage device, which is equipped with components of the electronics system, e.g. battery management system and current measurement shunt, and with components of the electromechanical system, e.g. in the form of relays, fuses, bus bars, and plug connectors, and is accommodated in a closed housing. In order to create a control device in which a predetermined service life can be reliably achieved even without an oversizing of components, it is proposed for the closed housing to be embodied to form a free and/or forced convection, it being possible for the convection to balance out temperature differences inside the housing and throughout the control device.

Claims

1. A control device of a battery storage device, comprising components of an electronics system and components of an electromechanical system, the control device is accommodated as a unit in a closed housing, and wherein the closed housing is embodied to form a free and/or forced convection so that the convection balances out temperature differences inside the housing and throughout the control device, and wherein a supporting element constitutes a base of the control device inside the closed housing and the supporting element is embodied as a plastic support so that along a longitudinal axis and in the longitudinal direction of the housing, it forms a free flow cross-section that is elevated relative to a bottom of the module housing.

2. (canceled)

3. The control device according to claim 1, wherein a device fan, which is electrically driven in an active fashion, is provided at an inlet of the free flow cross-section.

4. The control device according to claim 3, wherein an opening is provided between a lower housing part and an upper part of the closed housing of the control device, which is provided at an end of the supporting element opposite from the device fan.

5. The control device according to claim 4, wherein in the closed housing, a removal of the heat that has been absorbed by means of convection is provided by means of a heat exchanger.

6. The control device according to claim 5, wherein an underside of the free flow cross-section is directly embodied as a heat exchanger, in particular as a heat exchanger of the module housing.

7. The control device according to claim 6, wherein the underside of the free flow cross-section is embodied to produce a flow across a cooling plate of the battery modules or electric storage cells.

8. The control device according to claim 4, wherein the lower housing part forms a partition wall between an upper and lower volume of the closed housing of the control device.

9. The control device according to claim 8, wherein this partition wall has openings for air to flow out into the upper, equipped housing part.

10. The control device according to claim 9, wherein the openings are intentionally positioned at or under components with particularly high electrical heat losses and are especially directed at them.

Description

[0023] Additional features and advantages of embodiments according to the invention will be explained in greater detail below with reference to exemplary embodiments based on the drawings. In the schematic drawings:

[0024] FIG. 1: shows a perspective view of a part of a battery storage device with a control unit and a plurality of electric storage cells;

[0025] FIG. 2: shows a side view of the battery storage device from FIG. 1; and

[0026] FIG. 3: shows a view of a longitudinal side of FIG. 1 in a cut-away view.

[0027] The same reference numerals are always used for the same elements throughout the different drawings. Without limiting the field of use, the discussion below will focus only on a use of a device according to the invention in a vehicle. It is, however, very clear to the person skilled in the art that because of high currents and corresponding requirements for contact prevention, devices according to the invention can also be used very advantageously in stationary energy storage devices, particularly in connection with wind power and/or photovoltaic systems.

[0028] The diagram in FIG. 1 shows a perspective view of a part of a battery storage device 1 with a control device 2 and a plurality of electric storage cells 3. In this case, the control unit 2 is physically separated from storage cells 3 by a module housing 4 in a separate housing 5 that is closed off from the rest of the battery storage device 1.

[0029] In addition to components of the electronics system, e.g. an electronic battery management system BM with power semiconductors and current measurement shunts, the closed housing 5 also accommodates components of the electromechanical system, e.g. in the form of relays, fuses Si, bus bars S, and plug connectors. In order to create a control device 2 without an oversizing of at least some of its components that are mentioned above only by way of example, in order to reliably achieve a predetermined service life of these components, the closed housing 5 is embodied so as to form a free and/or forced convection. By means of the convection, it is possible to balance out temperature differences inside the housing 5 such that all of the components are operated in normal temperature ranges and can thus achieve their predetermined service life. In addition to eliminating increased costs, this also effectively saves on the need for installation space, which is only ever very rarely available.

[0030] The depiction in FIG. 2, with a side view of the battery storage device 1 from FIG. 1 shows a path, indicated with arrows, of a convection inside the closed housing 5 of the control device 2. In order to achieve the intentional formation of the convection, a supporting element 6, which constitutes a base for the control device 2 inside the closed housing 5, is embodied to function as a mechanical support for all of the components and to secure them inside the closed housing 5. The supporting element 6 is embodied in the form of a plastic component so that along a longitudinal axis or in the longitudinal direction of the housing 5, it produces a free flow cross-section 7 that is elevated relative to a bottom B of the module housing 4. For this purpose, the supporting element 6 has supports formed onto it or legs, which in an installed position are barely visible in the drawing because the supporting element 6 is densely equipped with numerous components of the control device 2, and like a partition wall, divides an upper part oT of the volume of the closed housing 5 for the control device 2 from a lower part uT. The lower part uT serving as a free flow cross-section 7 then closes a loop of the convection.

[0031] In order to produce a forced convection, a receptacle is provided at an inlet of the free flow cross-section 7 and a device fan 8, which is electrically driven in an active, controlled fashion, is positioned therein. In addition, an opening 9 is provided between the lower housing part uT and upper part oT of the closed housing 5 of the control device 2, which opening is positioned at an end of the supporting element 6 opposite from the device fan 8. It is thus possible to form a flow essentially for the entire length of the closed housing 5. An underside of the free flow cross-section 7 is also directly embodied as a heat exchanger 10 by means of a flow across of a cooling plate 11 of the battery modules or electric storage cells 3.

[0032] Not shown in greater detail in the images in the figures, special openings, which are provided extending from the lower housing part uT through the supporting element 6 that constitutes a partition wall between the upper and lower volumes of the closed housing 4, are intentionally positioned at or under components with particularly high electrical heat losses or are especially directed at them. This makes it possible to achieve a selective heat extraction with a point-by-point, so to speak, removal of the electrical heat losses inside the closed housing 5.

[0033] The drawing in FIG. 3 is a view of a longitudinal side of FIG. 1 in a cut-away view and, through the clearly optimized utilization of the generally tight installation space, emphasizes the fact that through an above-described embodiment of a supporting element 6, the advantages of a space-saving, compact design of the control device 2 are retained. In addition, such an embodiment makes enables the formation of a thermal balancing with a significant reduction in the development of thermal nests accompanied by an extensive elimination of the possibility of local or regional overheating phenomena during the operation of the control device 2. But it is not just a thermal balancing inside the closed housing 5 of the control device 2 that is achieved; instead, without additional expense, a cooling plate 10 provided for the cooling of battery modules or electric storage cells 3 is also advantageously used to transport heat out of the closed housing 5 as part of the module housing 4.

REFERENCE NUMERAL LIST

[0034] 1 battery storage device [0035] 2 control device [0036] 3 electric storage cell [0037] 4 module housing [0038] 5 closed housing [0039] 6 supporting element/partition [0040] 7 free flow cross-section [0041] 8 device fan [0042] 9 opening [0043] 10 fluid-heat exchanger in the module housing 4 [0044] 11 cooling plate [0045] B bottom [0046] BM battery management system [0047] S conductor rail [0048] Si fuse [0049] oT upper part of the closed housing 5 [0050] uT lower part of the closed housing 5