| CPC H01M 10/6556 (2015.04) [H01M 10/613 (2015.04); H01M 10/625 (2015.04); H01M 10/647 (2015.04); H01M 10/6568 (2015.04); H01M 50/211 (2021.01); H01M 2220/20 (2013.01)] | 17 Claims |
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1. A battery module, comprising:
a cell stack defined by a stack of a plurality of battery cells, the battery cells in the cell stack collectively defining a lower surface of the cell stack; and
a module housing configured to accommodate the cell stack, the module housing having a lower housing, a pair of side housings, a front housing, a rear housing, and an upper housing, for respectively covering a lower portion, a left and right side portion, a front portion, a rear portion, and an upper portion of the cell stack,
wherein the lower housing includes:
a base plate configured to cover an entire lower surface of the cell stack, the base plate having a planar surface and first and second side walls projecting upwardly from the planar surface in a height dimension, the first and second side walls extending parallel to one another along a longitudinal dimension and being positioned on opposite sides of the base plate in a width dimension, the width dimension being orthogonal to the longitudinal dimension; and
a plurality of spacers positioned on the planar surface of the base plate and elongated so as to extend across the base plate in the width dimension, each of the plurality of spacers having opposing first and second ends in the width dimension in contact with the respective first and second side walls, the plurality of spacers being disposed at predetermined intervals along the longitudinal dimension of the base plate so as to define respective empty spaces therebetween, the plurality of spacers being configured to support the cell stack so as to space the cell stack away from the planar surface of the base plate, such that each of the empty spaces is defined: between the lower surface of the cell stack and the planar surface of the base plate in the height dimension, between the first and second side walls in the width dimension, and between two successive ones of the plurality of spacers in the longitudinal dimension; wherein the plurality of spacers includes a first spacer, a second spacer, and a third spacer, with a first one of the empty spaces being defined between the first spacer and the second spacer, and with a second one of the empty spaces being defined between the second spacer and the third spacer,
wherein the first side wall defines a first channel therein extending along the longitudinal dimension, and wherein the second side wall defines a second channel therein extending along the longitudinal dimension, the first channel having an upstream end in communication with an inlet and a downstream end in communication with the first empty space via a first opening through the first side wall in the width dimension, and the second channel having an upstream end in communication with the first empty space via a second opening through the second side wall in the width dimension and having a downstream end in communication with the second empty space via a third opening through the second side wall in the width dimension,
whereby a cooling liquid can be supplied from the inlet to the second empty space via a flow path passing sequentially through the first channel, the first opening, the first empty space, the second opening, the second channel, and the third opening, and wherein the cooling liquid in the first and second empty spaces comes into direct contact with the battery cells via the lower surface of the cell stack exposed to the first and second empty spaces.
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