Abstract
A heat exchanger includes at least one plate, which heat exchanger or plate can be mounted on a battery module of an electric vehicle, and a plurality of at least partially parallel channels for the evaporation of refrigerant are formed in a plane parallel to the plate and are branched from at least one common inlet and/or outlet.
Claims
1-12. (canceled)
13. A heat exchanger comprising: at least one plate, which heat exchanger or plate can be mounted on a battery module of an electric vehicle, wherein a plurality of at least partially parallel channels for the evaporation of refrigerant are formed in a plane parallel to the at least one plate and are branched from at least one common inlet and/or outlet.
14. The heat exchanger according to claim 13, wherein at least one intermediate channel, which starts at a branching, is branched again.
15. The heat exchanger according to claim 14, wherein more than two intermediate channels start at at least one branching.
16. The heat exchanger according to claim 13, wherein at least one flow guiding element is provided in at least one branching.
17. The heat exchanger according to claim 16, wherein the at least one flow guiding element is formed over an entire internal height of a channel.
18. The heat exchanger according to claim 16, wherein the at least one flow guiding element is formed so as to be essentially round in a top view of the plane of the at least one plate.
19. The heat exchanger according to claim 13, wherein all of the plurality of channels have a same internal height.
20. The heat exchanger according to claim 13, wherein there are two or more inlets and/or outlets, ones of the plurality of channels connected to a same one of the inlets or outlets are at least partially symmetrical to other ones of the plurality of channels connected to another one of the inlets or outlets.
21. The heat exchanger according to claim 13, wherein the at least one plate can withstand a pressure of at least 20 bar.
22. The heat exchanger according to claim 13, wherein at least two of the plurality of channels are locally connected to each other.
23. The heat exchanger according to claim 13, wherein the inlet and the outlet are arranged in such a manner that the plurality of channels arranged next to each other are flowed through in counterflow.
24. A heat exchanger arrangement comprising a plurality of heat exchangers according to claim 13.
Description
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS
[0023] Preferred embodiment examples of the invention are explained in more detail below, with reference to the figures, wherein:
[0024] FIG. 1 is a top view of a heat exchanger according to the invention;
[0025] FIG. 2 is a top view of a section of a heat exchanger that is similar to the one shown in FIG. 1;
[0026] FIG. 3 is a top view of a second embodiment of the heat exchanger according to the invention; and
[0027] FIG. 4 is a heat exchanger arrangement according to the invention.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF AN EMBODIMENT
[0028] FIG. 1 shows a top view of the heat exchanger 10 according to the invention on the plate 12 thereof, on which numerous channels 14 run largely parallel to each other. They start from a common inlet 16 to which an inlet channel 18 is connected. In the shown embodiment, said channel branches into four intermediate channels 20, and each one of these intermediate channels 20 branches into two channels 14 which are not further branched, but run largely parallel to each other over the entire plate, including in the region of bends of 90° or even 180°, for example, before they merge upstream of an outlet 22 in a manner essentially corresponding to the situation at the inlet 16. In the shown embodiment, two channels 14 respectively merge to form an intermediate channel 20, and four intermediate channels 20 merge to form the outlet channel 24 leading to the outlet 22.
[0029] As is apparent from the drawing in FIG. 1, the entire surface of the plate can essentially be covered by the numerous channels 14 such that no significant temperature differences are to be expected for a plurality of battery cells or accumulator cells arranged next to each other in such a manner that the plate 12 can be mounted on a plurality of such cells.
[0030] In the shown embodiment, the inlet 16 and outlet 22 are located comparatively close to each other and are in particular located approximately in the middle of one side of the plate. A preferred measure is furthermore shown, according to which the individual channels 14 are largely symmetrical to each other with respect to an axis of symmetry running transversely over the plate, i.e. from left to right in FIG. 1. Moreover, the preferred measure according to which a plurality of, in the shown case all, parallel channels are connected to each other in order to enable mixing of the fluid flows is shown in FIG. 1 in the form of the connection 28. Ultimately, it is particularly apparent from FIG. 1 that channels lying next to each other are flowed through in counterflow. Using the spaces available on the shown plate 12, the refrigerant flows in the shown case from the bottom right to the top right in the parallel channels on the outside of the plate, and, following the bend of 180° in the upper right region according to FIG. 1, it flows back in the inner region of the plate, thus resulting in the above-described counterflow and the specified advantages. It should be noted that this similarly applies to the embodiment of FIG. 3, albeit to a lesser extent. It should furthermore be mentioned that the heat exchanger of FIG. 1 could also be flowed through in the opposite direction, i.e. first in the inner region and then in the outer region. This would have the advantage that there would be a comparatively cold refrigerant in the inner region and thus in the comparatively hot region of a battery to be cooled.
[0031] FIG. 2 shows the region with the branchings between the inlet channel 18 and the individual channels 14, which corresponds in this case to the situation at the outlet 22 but could also be provided with this configuration in the region of the inlet 16. In particular in the region of the inlet, a flow guiding element 26 is of importance, which is located at the branching of the inlet channel 18 into the three intermediate channels 20, and which ensures a favorable distribution among said intermediate channels 20. In the shown case, the flow guiding element 26 is formed so as to be essentially round in the top view and interrupts the flow channel in its entirety. In other words, the upper boundary (facing the observer) of the flow channels is connected to the plate 12 (facing away from the observer; cf. FIG. 1) such that a “dimple” blocking the flow is formed. In the shown case, said flow guiding element is provided between the second and the third intermediate channel 20 such that, as mentioned above, a favorable distribution among all three intermediate channels 20 takes place.
[0032] FIG. 3 shows an alternative embodiment of the heat exchanger 10 according to the invention, in which two inlets 16 and two outlets 22 are provided. In this embodiment, the flow channels starting from the inlet 16 merge towards the edge (i.e. the right edge according to FIG. 3) of the plate 12, where they are re-united. From there, there can either be a connection to the backflow channels apparent at the bottom of FIG. 3, the inlet 16 of which is accordingly at the bottom on the far right in FIG. 3. Alternatively, the shown heat exchanger can be connected by means of the outlet 22 thereof to further heat exchangers of an arrangement that will be described in more detail below. Two of the heat exchangers shown in FIG. 3 can essentially be provided symmetrically to a transverse axis of symmetry. Furthermore, the number of backflow channels can be higher (eight, for example) than the number of inflow channels (six, for example), in particular in a heat exchanger that lies directly at the inlet and outlet of an entire heat exchanger arrangement.
[0033] This is apparent from FIG. 4, for example, in which the heat exchanger of FIG. 3 is provided as the left, first heat exchanger 10.1. As is apparent from FIG. 4, the heat exchanger 10.1 is connected to a further heat exchanger 10.2 which can be configured as according to FIG. 1 such that the refrigerant first flows through the heat exchanger 10.1, then through the heat exchanger 10.2, and then flows back therefrom to the outlet 22 through the heat exchanger 10.1. A plurality of accumulators arranged in a dispersed manner can be cooled by the arrangement shown in FIG. 4. Ultimately, a plurality of arrangements according to or similar to FIG. 4 can be provided, for example with a mirror-inverted heat exchanger according to 10.1, a further heat exchanger that is parallel below or above 10.2, or with the arrangement of FIG. 4 mirror-inverted once again.
