BATTERY WITH INTEGRATED BUS BAR COOLING SYSTEM AND MOTOR VEHICLE

Abstract

A battery for a motor vehicle, having battery housing with a first receiving area, a housing base which bounds the receiving area with respect to a first direction, and at least one first side wall arranged on the housing base, which bounds the receiving area with respect to a second direction, and at least one first cell stack is arranged in the first receiving area and has at least one first battery cell which has a first cell pole connection on an upper side. The first side wall is formed as a first cooling wall, and the battery has at least one heat conducting element and a coupling device which includes an electrical insulation, wherein the heat conducting element has a first connection area connected to the first cell pole connection of the at least one first battery cell via the coupling device and a second connection area arranged on the first cooling wall.

Claims

1. A battery for a motor vehicle, wherein the battery comprises: a battery housing with a first receiving area, a housing base which bounds the receiving area with respect to a first direction, and at least one first side wall arranged on the housing base which bounds the receiving area with respect to a second direction, at least one first cell stack with at least one first battery cell having a first cell pole connection on an upper side, wherein the at least one first cell stack is disposed in the first receiving area, and wherein the first sidewall is formed as a first cooling wall, and the battery has at least one heat conducting element and a coupling device comprising an electrical insulation, wherein the heat conducting element has a first connection area connected via the coupling device to the first cell pole connection of the at least one first battery cell and a second connection area arranged at the first cooling wall.

2. The battery according to claim 1, wherein the first cooling wall has at least one integrated cooling channel through which a cooling medium can flow.

3. The battery according to claim 1, wherein the heat conducting element is formed of an electrically conductive material, in particular a metal or an alloy, preferably aluminum.

4. The battery according to claim 1, wherein the coupling device comprises a conductor rail electrically conductively connected to the first cell pole connection, wherein the electrical insulation is arranged between the conductor rail and the heat conducting element, in particular wherein a part of the electrical insulation is additionally arranged between an area of the upper side of the at least one first battery cell provided by a part of a cell housing of the at least one first battery cell and the heat conducting element.

5. The battery according to claim 1, wherein the heat conducting element is simultaneously formed as a hold-down element, which is designed to prevent a movement of the at least one first battery cell in the first direction away from the housing base, and in particular to apply a counterforce in the direction of the housing base to the at least one first battery cell.

6. The battery according to claim 1, wherein the first cell stack comprises a plurality of the at least one first battery cell, wherein the plurality of first battery cells are juxtaposed in a third direction defining a stack length direction, wherein the first cell pole connections of at least two of the first battery cells juxtaposed in the third direction are electrically conductively connected via the conductor rail.

7. The battery according to claim 1, wherein the heat conducting element extends in the third direction continuously over all the first cell pole connections of the first battery cells of the first cell stack, and in particular also extends in the second direction continuously at least up to the first side wall.

8. The battery according to claim 1, wherein each of the first battery cells has a second cell pole connection on the upper side, wherein the first cell stack is arranged in the receiving area such that the respective first cell pole connections are arranged closer to the first cooling wall than the second cell pole connections, and the first cell pole connections are arranged in the third direction along an imaginary line extending parallel to the first side wall.

9. The battery according to claim 1, wherein the battery housing has a second receiving area with a second cell stack received therein, which comprises at least one second battery cell having at least one third cell pole connection on an upper side, wherein the first side wall separates the first and second receiving areas from each other with respect to the second direction, wherein the battery has a second coupling device, and wherein the heat conducting element has a third connection area connected via said second coupling device to the at least one third cell pole connection of the at least one second battery cell.

10. The battery according to claim 2, wherein the heat conducting element is formed of an electrically conductive material, in particular a metal or an alloy, preferably aluminum.

11. The battery according to claim 2, wherein the coupling device comprises a conductor rail electrically conductively connected to the first cell pole connection, wherein the electrical insulation is arranged between the conductor rail and the heat conducting element, in particular wherein a part of the electrical insulation is additionally arranged between an area of the upper side of the at least one first battery cell provided by a part of a cell housing of the at least one first battery cell and the heat conducting element.

12. The battery according to claim 3, wherein the coupling device comprises a conductor rail electrically conductively connected to the first cell pole connection, wherein the electrical insulation is arranged between the conductor rail and the heat conducting element, in particular wherein a part of the electrical insulation is additionally arranged between an area of the upper side of the at least one first battery cell provided by a part of a cell housing of the at least one first battery cell and the heat conducting element.

13. The battery according to claim 2, wherein the heat conducting element is simultaneously formed as a hold-down element, which is designed to prevent a movement of the at least one first battery cell in the first direction away from the housing base, and in particular to apply a counterforce in the direction of the housing base to the at least one first battery cell.

14. The battery according to claim 3, wherein the heat conducting element is simultaneously formed as a hold-down element, which is designed to prevent a movement of the at least one first battery cell in the first direction away from the housing base, and in particular to apply a counterforce in the direction of the housing base to the at least one first battery cell.

15. The battery according to claim 4, wherein the heat conducting element is simultaneously formed as a hold-down element, which is designed to prevent a movement of the at least one first battery cell in the first direction away from the housing base, and in particular to apply a counterforce in the direction of the housing base to the at least one first battery cell.

16. The battery according to claim 2, wherein the first cell stack comprises a plurality of the at least one first battery cell, wherein the plurality of first battery cells are juxtaposed in a third direction defining a stack length direction, wherein the first cell pole connections of at least two of the first battery cells juxtaposed in the third direction are electrically conductively connected via the conductor rail.

17. The battery according to claim 3, wherein the first cell stack comprises a plurality of the at least one first battery cell, wherein the plurality of first battery cells are juxtaposed in a third direction defining a stack length direction, wherein the first cell pole connections of at least two of the first battery cells juxtaposed in the third direction are electrically conductively connected via the conductor rail.

18. The battery according to claim 4, wherein the first cell stack comprises a plurality of the at least one first battery cell, wherein the plurality of first battery cells are juxtaposed in a third direction defining a stack length direction, wherein the first cell pole connections of at least two of the first battery cells juxtaposed in the third direction are electrically conductively connected via the conductor rail.

19. The battery according to claim 5, wherein the first cell stack comprises a plurality of the at least one first battery cell, wherein the plurality of first battery cells are juxtaposed in a third direction defining a stack length direction, wherein the first cell pole connections of at least two of the first battery cells juxtaposed in the third direction are electrically conductively connected via the conductor rail.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0025] Examples of embodiments of the disclosure are described below. Showing for this purpose:

[0026] FIG. 1 a schematic diagram of a battery with a battery housing with integrated busbar cooling system in a cross-sectional view according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure; and

[0027] FIG. 2 a schematic representation of a motor vehicle with a battery according to an exemplary embodiment of the disclosure in a plan view.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] The embodiments explained below are preferred exemplary embodiments of the disclosure. In the exemplary embodiments, the described components of the embodiments each represent individual features of the disclosure that are to be considered independently of one another, and which also each independently further the disclosure. Therefore, the disclosure is intended to include combinations of the features of the embodiments other than those shown. Furthermore, the described embodiments can also be supplemented by further of the already described features of the disclosure.

[0029] In the figures, identical reference signs denote elements with identical functions.

[0030] FIG. 1 shows a schematic cross-sectional view of a battery 10 according to an embodiment of the disclosure. In this regard, the battery 10 includes a battery housing 12. In this example, this battery housing 12 provides a first receiving area 14 in which a first cell stack 16 having a plurality of first battery cells 18 is disposed, and a second receiving area 20 in which a second cell stack 22 having a plurality of second battery cells 24 is disposed. A respective cell stack 16, 22 thus comprises several battery cells 18, 24, which are arranged next to each other in the y-direction shown here. In the illustration in FIG. 1, therefore, only one battery cell 18, 24 can be seen per cell stack 16, 22. A respective battery cell 18, 24 has an upper side 18a, 24a on which two cell pole connections 26a, 26b and 28a, 28b are arranged in each case. One of the two cell pole connections 26a, 26b, 28a, 28b is designed as a positive pole, the other as a negative pole. The cell pole connections 26a, 26b, 28a, 28b are further interconnected via conductor rails 30. In particular, those cell pole connections 26a, 26b, 28a, 28b which belong to a same cell stack 16, 22 and also belong to directly adjacent battery cells 18, 24 in the y-direction are interconnected via such conductor rails 30. The respective receiving areas 14, 20 are here bounded on the one hand by the battery housing 12 downwardly by a housing base 32 of the battery housing 12, and with respect to a second direction, namely the x-direction shown here, by respective side walls 34, 36, 38. For example, the two outermost side walls 34, 38 may provide outer walls of the battery housing 12, while the middle side wall 36 provides a common side wall with respect to the two receiving areas 14, 20, or a partition wall of these two receiving areas 14, 20. The housing base 32 is designed as a cooling base and for this purpose has cooling channels 42 through which, for example, a coolant 40 can flow. In addition, a busbar cooling system is now also advantageously integrated into this battery housing 12. This is provided on the one hand by the fact that the side walls 34, 36, 38, which delimit the receiving areas in the x-direction, are designed as cooling walls. This is illustrated in FIG. 1 as an example for the center partition wall 36. These side walls 34, 36, 38 can also be formed accordingly with cooling channels 44 through which a coolant 40 can flow. These cooling channels 44 may be provided, for example, as through-holes in the y-direction, of which a through-hole 46 in the central side wall 36 is shown here as an example. Thus, coolant routing is provided via these channels 44. Further, the battery 10 advantageously includes a heat conducting element 48 which acts as a thermal bridge. This heat conducting element 48 is connected on the one hand to the cell pole connections 26a, 28a in the present example, and on the other hand to the cooling wall 36. An electrical insulator 50 is also disposed between the conductor rail 30 and this heat conducting element 48, which is preferably formed of aluminum. The combination of the conductor rail 30 and this electrical insulation 50 may be considered a coupling element or coupling device 52 through which the heat conducting element 48 is connected to the respective cell pole connection 26a, 28a. The electrical insulation 50 is preferably formed from a plastic. Further, this is preferably configured to fill the entire area in the z-direction between the conductor rail 30 and the heat conducting element 48. In this regard, the electrical insulation 50 need not necessarily be limited to the area of the conductor rail 30, but may further extend to other areas of the upper side 18a, 24a of the cell housing. Although such a heat conducting element 48 is shown for only one of the two cell poles 26a, 28a of a respective battery cell 18, 24 of a respective cell stack 16, 22, a connection of the other cell pole connections 26b, 28b via their conductor rails 30 can be made quite analogously. In other words, a corresponding insulation 50 may also be arranged on these conductor rails 30, and on this insulation in turn a heat conducting element 48, which on the other hand is coupled to or arranged on the outer sides 38, 34 of the battery housing 12. This allows particularly simple and efficient cooling to be implemented. It is also particularly advantageous that adjacently arranged cell stacks 16, 22 can utilize a common partition wall 36 and a common heat conducting element 48 for cooling.

[0031] FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of a motor vehicle 54 with a battery 10 arranged therein, in accordance with a further exemplary embodiment of the disclosure. This battery 10 is shown here in a plan view and can be designed generally as already described for FIG. 1, in particular except for the differences described below. In the present example, in addition to the two cell stacks 16, 22 in corresponding receiving areas 14, 20, a third cell stack 56 is provided in a third receiving area 58. This third cell stack 56 may again include a plurality of battery cells 60 arranged side by side in the y-direction. These are also connected and interconnected via respective conductor rails 30, which are shown here as dashed lines. In this example, the outer wall 34 described with respect to FIG. 1 is consequently not an outer wall of the battery housing 12, but likewise a partition wall separating the two receiving areas 20, 58 from one another, in particular in the x-direction. The third receiving area 58 is bounded in the x-direction against another side wall 62. Thus, in the present example, the side walls 38, 36, 34, 62 may be cooling walls. In addition, the respective heat conducting elements 48 are also shown schematically here. These are in turn separated from the respective conductor rails 30 by electrical insulation 50, but this is not explicitly shown here. As can be seen here, a respective heat conducting element 48 extends continuously in the y-direction across all of the cell pole connections and the conductor rails 30 that make electrical contact therewith. The heat conducting elements can be designed as three-dimensionally shaped plates, so to speak. In addition, the heat conducting elements 48 may be attached to the respective cooling walls 38, 36, 34, 62, in particular on the side opposite the cooling base 32, for example glued on, welded on, screwed on or the like. Moreover, the thermal bridges, i.e. the thermal conduction elements 48, can also be used at the same time as hold-downs for the cells 18, 24, 60. In order to design the respective side walls as cooling walls, the distance between the cell stacks, i.e. the cell stacks 16, 20, 56, can be increased and thus coolant guides can be easily integrated into the intermediate housing wall. The same applies to the outer walls. So from there, thermal bridges can be electrically isolated to the connections and busbars.

[0032] Overall, the examples show how the disclosure can provide a battery housing with integrated busbar cooling system, by means of which the cells, connections and busbars can be cooled. Furthermore, in case of thermal runaway of a cell, neighboring cells are not heated and their thermal runaway is prevented. Furthermore, there are no coolant-carrying parts inside the battery and leakage over service life is therefore not possible.