JP6522972B2 - Battery unit and battery frame - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a battery unit and a battery frame provided in a vehicle such as an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle.

  2. Description of the Related Art A battery unit containing a plurality of batteries (high voltage batteries) is usually provided in a vehicle such as an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle that uses a motor as a drive source. For example, in patent document 1, when arranging a battery unit (power supply device for vehicles) using the space under the load room of a vehicle, the positional relationship of the gravity center of a battery unit and the fixing | fixed part of the battery unit with respect to a vehicle is optimized. It is disclosed that, by doing so, even when an external force (inertial force at the time of acceleration / deceleration etc.) is input, it is possible to suppress the stress acting on the fixing portion of the battery unit.

JP, 2014-46814, A

  However, when the battery unit is disposed under the load space of the vehicle as shown in Patent Document 1, there is a possibility that the battery in the battery unit may be damaged by a large impact applied at the time of a vehicle rear collision. Incidentally, in the battery unit of Patent Document 1, the battery is protected by a case, but there is room for improvement as a protection structure at the time of a vehicle rear end collision to which a large impact is applied.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object thereof is to provide a battery unit and a battery frame capable of preventing damage to a battery at the time of a vehicle rear collision even when disposed under a load space of a vehicle To provide.

In order to achieve the above object, the invention according to claim 1 is
A battery module having a plurality of batteries (for example, a battery 11a of an embodiment described later) (for example, a battery module 11 of an embodiment described later);
A battery frame (for example, a battery frame 14 of an embodiment described later) for suspending and holding the battery module with respect to a framework member of a vehicle (for example, a vehicle 1 according to an embodiment described later)
A battery unit (e.g., a battery unit 100 according to an embodiment described later) disposed under the load space of the vehicle (e.g., the lower space 5 according to an embodiment described below) such that the longitudinal direction of the battery module is along the vehicle width direction And
The battery frame includes the longitudinally extending front frame member (e.g., the front frame member 21 of the embodiment described below) and the rear frame member (e.g., the rear frame member 22 of the embodiment described below); A frame assembly (e.g., the frame assembly 20 of the embodiment described below) including a frame member and a plurality of connecting rigid bodies (e.g., the connection rigid body 23 of the embodiment described below) connecting the rear frame members;
At the rear of the battery module, a rear protection member (for example, a rear protection member 50 in an embodiment described later) for transmitting an impact at the time of a vehicle rear end collision to the frame assembly is provided .
The battery frame includes a lower rigid body (e.g., a lower rigid body 30 of the embodiment described below) disposed below the battery module, and a connecting member (e.g., a lower rigid body) connected to the frame assembly. A connecting member 40) of an embodiment to be described later;
The rear protection member transmits an impact at the time of a vehicle rear collision to the frame assembly and the lower rigid body.

The invention according to claim 2 is
The battery unit according to claim 1 ,
The battery module is mounted so as to be movable forward of the vehicle relative to the vehicle frame at the time of a vehicle rear end collision while being held by the battery frame.

The invention according to claim 3 is
The battery unit according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein
An electrical component (for example, a battery ECU 13 of an embodiment to be described later) is accommodated in an area (for example, the region 24 of an embodiment to be described later) surrounded by the front and rear frame members and the adjacent connecting rigid body. It was done.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the impact at the time of vehicle rear end collision is transmitted from the rear protection member to the frame assembly, the battery module is protected from the impact at the time of vehicle rear end collision, and the damage thereof is prevented. it can.
In addition, since the impact at the time of vehicle rear end collision is dispersed and transmitted from the rear protection member to the frame assembly and the lower rigid body, the load applied to the frame assembly is reduced and the battery module from the impact at the time of vehicle rear end collision Can be protected.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, the battery module is mounted so as to be movable relative to the vehicle frame relative to the vehicle frame at the time of a vehicle rear end collision while being held by the battery frame. Thus, it is possible to protect the battery module from the impact at the time of a rear collision of the vehicle while reducing the load applied to the battery frame.

According to the invention of claim 3 , since the electric component is accommodated in the area surrounded by the front frame member and the rear frame member and the adjacent connecting rigid body, the electric component is efficiently accommodated to obtain the battery unit The electric component can be protected from the impact at the time of a rear collision of the vehicle while realizing downsizing.

It is a perspective view showing the luggage compartment of the vehicle by which the battery unit concerning one embodiment of the present invention is arranged. It is a disassembled perspective view of the battery unit of FIG. It is an exploded perspective view of a battery frame. It is a perspective view showing a battery module and ducts. It is a sectional view showing the front of a tire pan. FIG. 6 is a schematic side view of a battery frame schematically showing an impact transmission path at the time of a vehicle rear-end collision.

  Hereinafter, an embodiment of a battery unit of the present invention will be described based on the attached drawings. In the following description, front and rear, left and right, up and down indicate the front of the vehicle by Fr, rear by Rr, left by L, right by R is shown as U above, D below.

[vehicle]
FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a luggage compartment 3 of a vehicle 1 in which a battery unit 100 according to the present embodiment is disposed.
As shown in FIG. 1, the vehicle 1 in which the battery unit 100 according to the present embodiment is disposed has a luggage compartment 3 behind the rear seat 2. A concave lower space 5 is formed by the tire pan 4 below the cargo compartment 3, and the battery unit 100 of the present embodiment is disposed in the lower space 5.

[Battery unit]
2 is an exploded perspective view of the battery unit 100 according to the present embodiment, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the battery frame 14, and FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the battery module 11 and ducts. FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view showing the front of the tire pan.
As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, the battery unit 100 according to the present embodiment includes a battery module 11 having a plurality of batteries 11 a, a DC-DC converter 12 as an accessory, a battery ECU 13 as an electrical component, and a battery A battery frame 14 for holding the module 11, the DC-DC converter 12 and the battery ECU 13, a case 15 for housing them, a cover 16 for covering an upper opening of the case 15, a battery module 11 and the DC-DC converter 12 are cooled By fixing the fixing portion 14a of the battery frame 14 protruding from the case 15 to the left and right to the frame member (not shown) of the vehicle 1, as shown in FIG. It is disposed in the lower space 5 of the loading space 3.

Battery module
The battery module 11 has a rectangular shape, and is disposed in the battery unit 100 such that the longitudinal direction is along the left-right direction (the vehicle width direction). In each battery module 11, a plurality of batteries 11a vertically disposed are arranged in the left-right direction. Here, vertically placed means that the shortest side of the three sides extends in the left-right direction. Moreover, between the adjacent batteries 11a, a cooling flow passage 11b, which is a flow passage of cooling air described later, is formed along the front-rear direction. The front and rear sides of the cooling channel 11b are open, and the upper and lower sides are airtightly closed.

  The battery unit 100 according to the present embodiment includes four battery modules 11 such that two battery modules 11 are aligned in the left-right direction and two battery modules 11 are aligned in the front-rear direction (vehicle length direction). In the battery unit 100. As shown in FIG. 4, the front end portions of the left and right battery modules 11 disposed on the front side are airtightly fitted in the front duct 111, and the rear end portions are airtightly fitted in the intermediate duct 112. The rear end of the left and right battery modules 11 disposed on the rear side is airtightly fitted in the rear side duct 113, and the front end is airtightly fitted in the intermediate duct 112. The front duct 111, the intermediate duct 112, and the rear duct 113 are the cooling parts described above together with the introduction ducts 114 and 115, the branch duct 116, the cooling fan 117, the intake duct 118, the exhaust duct 119 and the cooling portion forming member 120 described later. Configure 18

  Cooling air inlets 111a and 113a are formed at the upper right end of the front side duct 111 and the rear side duct 113, and the respective cooling air inlets 111a and 113a are provided via the inlet ducts 114 and 115 and the branch duct 116, respectively. It is in communication with the cooling fan 117. The cooling fan 117 sucks in the cooling air (air-conditioned air) from the compartment 6 of the vehicle 1 via the air intake duct 118, and the front air duct via the branch duct 116 and the introduction ducts 114 and 115. 111 and the inside of the rear duct 113. The cooling air sent into the front duct 111 and the rear duct 113 flows into the cooling flow passage 11 b of each battery module 11 to cool the battery 11 a, and then reaches the inside of the intermediate duct 112. The cooling air that has reached the inside of the intermediate duct 112 is discharged to the accessory cooling portion 121 (see FIG. 3) located below the battery module 11 through the discharge hole 112a formed in the lower part of the intermediate duct 112. After cooling the DC-DC converter 12 in the accessory cooling unit 121, the DC-DC converter 12 is discharged from the exhaust duct 119 provided at the rear of the battery unit 100 to the lower space 5 of the luggage space 3. It is returned to the passenger compartment 6 of

Battery frame
As shown in FIG. 3, the battery frame 14 includes a frame assembly 20 disposed above the battery module 11, a lower rigid body 30 disposed below the battery module 11, a lower rigid body 30, and a frame assembly. A plurality of connecting members 40 for connecting 20 and a rear protection member 50 disposed behind the battery module 11 are provided. On the upper surface of the lower rigid body 30, a cooling portion forming member 120 which forms the accessory cooling portion 121 inside with the lower rigid body 30 is provided.

[Frame assembly]
The frame assembly 20 includes a front frame member 21 and a rear frame member 22 extending in the left-right direction, which is the longitudinal direction of the battery module 11, and four connecting rigid bodies 23 connecting the front frame member 21 and the rear frame member 22. It is a frame-like frame of the planar view ladder shape shape which has.

  The front frame member 21, the rear frame member 22 and the connecting rigid body 23 of the present embodiment are all formed through punching and bending of a metal plate material. The front frame member 21 and the rear frame member 22 have a hollow rectangular pipe shape, and the fixing portions 14a are integrally provided at the left and right end portions thereof, and as described above, through the fixing portions 14a. Is fixed to a frame member (not shown) of the vehicle 1. The front frame member 21 has a large cross-sectional shape at the connection portion with the connecting rigid body 23, and a cross-sectional shape at one portion between adjacent connection portions is small. The front duct 111 is bolted to the front frame member 21 via the four upper mounting arm portions 111 b (see FIG. 4) extended to the upper portion of the front duct 111, and the rear frame member 22 is The rear duct 113 is bolted via two left and right upper mounting arm portions 113 b (see FIG. 4) extended to the upper portion of the side duct 113. A clip is provided on a central arm portion 113c extending up and down at the center of the rear duct 113, and is used to temporarily fix the rear protection member 50. The plurality of connecting rigid bodies 23 have a U-shape in cross section opened downward, are connected to the upper end of the connecting member 40, and hold the battery module 11 in a suspended state via the connecting member 40. There is.

  The frame assembly 20 is configured to function as a load path member for transmitting an impact at the time of a rear collision of the vehicle forward. That is, when a rear collision load is applied to the rear protection member 50 at the time of a rear collision, the rear collision load is input to the rear frame member 22 of the frame assembly 20 and the front frame member via the plurality of connecting rigid bodies 23 It is transmitted to 21.

  In the frame assembly 20, the load-deformation characteristics (F-S characteristics) of the front frame member 21, the rear frame member 22 and the connecting rigid body 23 are optimum in order to reliably transmit the impact at the time of a vehicle rear collision forward. It has been Specifically, the plurality of connecting rigid bodies 23 have higher load-deformation characteristics than the front frame member 21, and the rear frame member 22 has higher load-deforming characteristics than the connecting rigid bodies 23. A high load-deformation characteristic (F-S characteristic) means that the reaction force for a predetermined stroke is large.

  Further, in the frame assembly 20, a region 24 surrounded by the front frame member 21 and the rear frame member 22 and the adjacent connecting rigid bodies 23 is formed. In the present embodiment, by arranging the battery ECU 13 using this area 24, the storage efficiency of parts is enhanced to realize downsizing of the battery unit 100, and the battery ECU 13 is protected from the impact at the time of a rear collision of the vehicle. ing.

[Lower rigid body]
The lower rigid body 30 is a plate-like rigid body that constitutes the bottom of the battery unit 100, and the lower rigid body 30 in the present embodiment is formed by aluminum die casting. The lower rigid body 30 is connected to the lower end portion of the connecting member 40, and is held suspended by the frame assembly 20 via the connecting member 40.

  The lower rigid body 30 is configured to function as a load path member for transmitting an impact at the time of a rear collision of the vehicle forward. That is, when a rear collision load is applied to the rear protection member 50 at the time of a rear collision, the rear collision load is input to the lower rigid body 30 and is transmitted forward via the lower rigid body 30.

  On the lower surface of the lower rigid body 30, as shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of rib groups 31 extending in the front-rear direction are formed in parallel in order to reliably transmit the impact at the time of a rear collision. The rear end portion 31a of each rib group 31 is formed to project rearward relative to the other portion of the lower rigid body 30 in order to securely input a rear collision load from the rear protection member 50, as shown in FIG. The front end portion 31b of each rib group 31 transmits the rear impact load reliably to the front disposition member of the lower rigid body 30 (in the present embodiment, the front wall 4a of the tire pan 4 (see FIG. 5)). , And projecting forward than the other portion of the lower rigid body 30. The lower rigid body 30 in the present embodiment has a load-deformation characteristic higher than that of the tire pan 4. Further, the front duct 111 is bolted to the vicinity of the front end portion 31 b of each rib group 31 via the four lower attachment arm portions 111 c extended to the lower portion of the front duct 111.

  Further, the DC-DC converter 12 is disposed on the lower surface portion of the lower rigid body 30. In the present embodiment, when the lower surface region of the lower rigid body 30 is divided into four in the left and right, the DC-DC converter 12 is disposed in the lower surface region which is the left front. The DC-DC converter 12 includes a converter body 12a and a plurality of cooling fins 12b erected on the upper surface thereof, the converter body 12a is located on the lower surface side of the lower rigid body 30, and the cooling fins 12b are It is mounted on the upper surface side of the lower rigid body 30 so as to penetrate the converter mounting hole 32 of the lower rigid body 30 so as to be exposed to the accessory cooling portion 121.

  The DC-DC converter 12 is a high voltage system device that transforms the direct current of the battery module 11, and the transformed direct current is not shown disposed at the front of the vehicle 1 via the DC line 17 (see FIG. 5). Is supplied to the inverter. The DC line 17 is drawn out from the front side of the case 15 and drawn out of the tire pan 4 through an unshown drawing hole formed in the front wall 4 a of the tire pan 4 and led to the front of the vehicle 1 .

[Connection member]
The connecting member 40 of the present embodiment is formed by punching and bending a metal plate, and the upper end portion thereof is provided with the upper fixing portion 41 fixed to the frame assembly 20, while the lower end portion is provided. A lower fixing portion 42 fixed to the lower rigid body 30 is provided. In addition, a battery mounting portion 43 is formed at the upper and lower middle portions of the connecting member 40, and the left and right end portions of the battery module 11 are attached to the battery mounting portion 43. The frame assembly 20 is held suspended.

[Rear protection member]
The rear part protection member 50 is a member for protecting the rear part of the battery unit 100 at the time of a rear collision and transmitting the impact at the rear rear collision to the frame assembly 20 and the lower rigid body 30, as shown in FIG. The rear protection member 50 of the present embodiment is formed by punching and bending a metal plate material. The upper end portion of the rear protection member 50 is provided with four upper fixing portions 51 fixed to the rear frame member 22 of the frame assembly 20, while the lower end portion is fixed to the lower rigid body 30 with four lower fixing portions. A side fixing portion 52 is provided. The four upper fixing portions 51 are fixed to the rear surface of the rear frame member 22 at the rear position of the connecting rigid body 23 together with the two upper mounting arm portions 113b (see FIG. 4) extending to the upper portion of the rear duct 113. Be done. By fixing the upper fixing portion 51 to the rear frame member 22 as described above, the rear collision load can be reliably transmitted to the connecting rigid body 23 which is the main load path path of the frame assembly 20. Further, the four lower fixing portions 52 are both the rear ends of the respective rib groups 31 of the lower rigid body 30 for the two left and right lower mounting arm portions 113d (see FIG. 4) extended to the lower portion of the rear duct 113. By being fixed to the portion 31 a, the rear collision load is reliably transmitted to the rib group 31 which is the main load path path of the lower rigid body 30.

  Also, the rear protection member 50 has higher load-deformation characteristics than the frame assembly 20 and the lower rigid body 30 in order to reliably transmit the impact at the time of vehicle rear collision to the frame assembly 20 and the lower rigid body 30. .

[Install the battery unit]
The battery unit 100 configured as described above is preassembled and attached to the vehicle 1 as a unit. Specifically, the battery unit 100 is disposed in the lower space 5 of the luggage compartment 3 by fixing the fixing portion 14 a of the battery frame 14 protruding leftward and rightward from the case 15 to the frame member of the vehicle 1. At this time, the battery unit 100 is attached so as to be movable forward relative to the vehicle frame with respect to the vehicle frame at the time of a vehicle rear end collision while holding the battery module 11 by the battery frame 14. For example, by intentionally reducing the connection strength of the fixing portion 14a to the battery frame 14, the rigidity of the fixing portion 14a, the fixing strength of the fixing portion 14a to the frame member of the vehicle 1, etc. Forward movement is permitted.

  Specifically, as shown in FIG. 5, the lower end portion of the front end of the battery unit 100 disposed in the lower space 5 of the loading space 3 is close to the front wall 4 a of the tire pan 4. The front wall 4a of the tire pan 4 is inclined so as to be displaced downward toward the rear, and its upper end 4b is fixed to the cross member 7 which is a vehicle frame member. Therefore, the upper end 4b of the front wall 4a is substantially stationary relative to the cross member 7 even when the vehicle is in a rear collision, but the lower side of the front wall 4a is a rear impact when the rear collision. When it receives from the above, the displacement to the front is permitted by the deformation which makes the upper end part 4b of the front wall part 4a a fulcrum. For example, displacement to the position of the imaginary line L shown in FIG. 5 is permitted.

[Action at the time of a vehicle after collision]
Subsequently, the operation at the time of a vehicle rear end collision will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 6 is a schematic side view of a battery frame schematically showing an impact transmission path at the time of a rear collision of a vehicle, and in the figure, an arrow indicates an impact transmission path at the time of a rear collision of the vehicle.
As shown in FIG. 6, when the rear collision occurs in the vehicle 1 on which the battery unit 100 is mounted and the collision intrusion amount reaches the rear end of the battery unit 100, the rear protection member of the battery unit 100 is Rear load is added to 50. The rear impact load is transmitted from the rear protection member 50 to the frame assembly 20 and the lower rigid body 30. Then, the frame assembly 20 and the lower rigid body 30 are connected with the connected rigid body 23 of the frame assembly 20 and the rib group 31 of the lower rigid body 30 that function as a main load path path with the rear collision load input from the rear protection member 50. By transmitting it forwardly, the battery module 11 is protected from the impact at the time of a rear collision of the vehicle, and the damage thereof is prevented.

  In addition, since the rear protection member 50 has higher load-deformation characteristics than the frame assembly 20 and the lower rigid body 30, it reliably transmits the rear collision load to the frame assembly 20 and the lower rigid body 30. Can. Also, in the frame assembly 20, the plurality of connecting rigid bodies 23 have higher load-deformation characteristics than the front frame member 21 and the rear frame member 22 has higher load-deforming characteristics than the connecting rigid bodies 23, The rear impact load input from the rear protection member 50 can be reliably transmitted to the front frame member 21.

  When a large rear collision load is applied to rear protection member 50, battery unit 100 moves forward relative to cross member 7. At this time, when the front end portion 31b of each rib group 31 formed on the lower rigid body 30 pushes the front wall portion 4a of the tire pan 4 forward, the front wall portion 4a is deformed with the upper end portion 4b as a fulcrum Displace forward. As a result, the forward movement stroke of the battery unit 100 is expanded, and the rear impact load is absorbed by the tire pan 4.

  As described above, according to the battery unit 100 of the present embodiment, the impact at the time of a rear collision is transmitted from the rear protection member 50 to the frame assembly 20. Can protect and prevent its damage.

  In addition, since the impact at the time of the rear collision of the vehicle is also dispersed and transmitted to the lower rigid body 30, the battery module 11 is protected from the impact at the time of the rear collision of the vehicle while reducing the load applied to the frame assembly 20. Can.

  Further, in the impact transmission path at the time of the rear collision of the vehicle, the higher the member on the upstream side has the load-deformation characteristic, the impact at the time of rear collision of the vehicle can be reliably transmitted to the downstream member.

  In addition, battery module 11 is attached to be able to move forward relative to the vehicle frame with respect to the vehicle frame at the time of a rear-end collision, when battery module 11 is held by battery frame 14. The battery module 11 can be protected from the impact at the time of a rear collision of the vehicle while reducing the load applied to the vehicle.

  Further, since the battery ECU 13 is accommodated in the area 24 surrounded by the front frame member 21 and the rear frame member 22 and the adjacent connecting rigid body 23, the battery ECU 13 is efficiently accommodated to miniaturize the battery unit 100. While the battery ECU 13 can be protected from an impact at the time of a rear collision of the vehicle.

The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and appropriate modifications, improvements, and the like can be made.
For example, in the above embodiment, the rear protection member 50 is formed of a member separate from the case 15 and provided on the battery unit 100 side, but the rear protection member 50 is formed of a member separate from the case 15 and It may be provided on the case 15 side. Further, the rear protection member 50 may be integrally formed with the case 15, and a part of the case 15 may function as a rear protection portion.
Moreover, in the said embodiment, although the battery unit 100 had the four battery modules 11, the battery unit 100 should just have at least one battery module 11. FIG.

1 vehicle 5 lower space 11 battery module 11a battery 13 battery ECU
14 battery frame 20 frame assembly 21 front frame member 22 rear frame member 23 connecting rigid body 24 area 30 lower rigid body 40 connecting member 50 rear protective member 100 battery unit

Claims (3)

A battery module having a plurality of batteries,
A battery frame for suspending and holding the battery module with respect to a vehicle frame member;
A battery unit disposed under a luggage space of a vehicle such that a longitudinal direction of the battery module is along a vehicle width direction,
The battery frame comprises a frame assembly having the longitudinally extending front and rear frame members, and a plurality of connecting rigid bodies connecting the front and rear frame members.
The rear of the battery module is provided with a rear protection member for transmitting an impact at the time of a vehicle rear collision to the frame assembly .
The battery frame includes a lower rigid body disposed below the battery module, and a connecting member connecting the lower rigid body and the frame assembly.
The rear protection member is a battery unit that transmits an impact at the time of a vehicle rear end collision to the frame assembly and the lower rigid body . The battery unit according to claim 1 ,
The battery unit is mounted so as to be movable forward relative to the vehicle frame with respect to a vehicle frame at the time of a vehicle rear end collision while being held by the battery frame. The battery unit according to claim 1 or 2 , wherein
The battery unit by which the electrical component was accommodated in the area | region enclosed by the said front frame member and a back frame member, and the said adjacent connection rigid body.

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