CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

[0001] This PCT International Patent Application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Patent Application Serial No. 63/322,268, filed on March 22, 2022 and titled a “Stamped Battery Housing,” the entire disclosure of which is hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

[0002] The present invention relates to a battery housing for an automobile and a method of manufacturing same.

2. Related Art

[0003] This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art.

[0004] Automobiles are the subject of a continuing effort to move away from internal combustion engines towards electrified vehicles, to reduce their dependency on fuel, improve emissions and increase fuel efficiency. Thus, this desire to increase fuel efficiency is both economically and environmentally motivated and has led to advanced internal components in automobiles as evidenced by developments in batteries, particularly in electrified automobiles. Unlike traditional automobiles that operate entirely with fossil fuels, electrified automobiles include a range of technologies that rely on electric energy. Even though electric energy is a more economical and environmentally friendly option over relying completely on fossil fuels, batteries are heavy, expensive, and relatively fragile compared to neighboring mechanical components. As such, the packaging of batteries, particularly within electrified automobiles, requires a number of design considerations including weight distribution, temperature regulation, and serviceability. In terms of serviceability, there is a growing need, particularly with electrified automobiles, for the batteries to be stowed in such a manner to be charged and maintained without removal.

[0005] To meet the above minimum requirements, batteries have traditionally been packaged in protective battery housings. In some cases, these traditional battery housings have been formed from multi-piece aluminum (e.g., a welded structure comprised of multiple aluminum extruded parts or discrete stampings joined together) or SMC plastic materials. However, these exotic, multi-piece aluminum structures and/or requisite SMC materials can be expensive. Furthermore, due to their reduced strength, the battery housing and its associated components, such as the lower tub or upper cover, are often inbuilt with vehicle crash protection structures which deduct volumes for placing battery modules and increase system mass and costs. These additional structural components also lead to complex battery housings with special requirements to meet the requisite performance standards. Accordingly, there remains a continuing need for improved battery housing designs which reduce or eliminate their reliance on multiple parts, such as aluminum extrusions, sheets and SMC materials, for manufacturing components of the battery housing.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

[0006] The subject disclosure is directed to a battery housing including at least a lower tub or an upper cover component formed as a one-piece stamped component. In a preferred embodiment, both the lower tub and the upper cover of the battery housing are each formed as one-piece stamped components to provide a sealed design (i.e., one devoid of welded seams that are prone for leakage) for the resultant battery housing. Stamping these components of the battery housing provides a less complex and more cost effective manufacturing method, namely because a capital reduction is achieved due to elimination of aluminum extrusions or SMC tooling, along with eliminating the need to connect multiple discrete components to form the lower tub and/or upper cover. The stamped lower tub and/or upper cover can also be optimized such that a body of the automobile handles the vehicle crash protection while the battery housing provides the stiffness, fatigue and other load cases required for the battery housing performance, namely to protect the battery modules stored therein. Put another way, cost savings from utilizing a stamped component can be engineering back into the frame structures of the automobile, resulting in optimization of the stamped lower tub and/or upper cover through design changes, such as removal of material or other structure components that would otherwise be required to meet vehicle crash protection for the vehicle. Furthermore, the battery housing including at least one of the lower tub or the upper cover being a one-piece stamped component provides a flexible design that can be quickly adapted to multiple platforms.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0007] These and other advantages of the present disclosure will be more readily understood by reference to the following description in combination with the accompanying drawings wherein:

[0008] Figure 1 is a perspective view of a battery housing in accordance with the subject disclosure;

[0009] Figure 2 is an exploded perspective view of the battery housing illustrating a plurality of battery modules and a plurality of cross members disposed in an internal cavity defined by an upper cover and a lower tub each formed as a one-piece stamped component;

[0010] Figure 3 is a partial cross-sectional view of the battery housing of Figure 1 taken along 3-3 to illustrate one of the plurality of battery modules attached to a base portion of adjacent ones of the plurality of cross members; [0011] Figure 4 is a bottom perspective view of Figure 3 illustrating the plurality of battery modules each including a plurality of flanges extending underneath and attached to the base portion of the plurality of cross members via flange fasteners;

[0012] Figure 5 is a partial cross-sectional view of the battery housing of Figure 1 taken along 5-5 to illustrate a lower tub reinforcement extending within the internal cavity and disposed between a cooling plate and a base surface of the lower tub;

[0013] Figure 6 is a magnified cross-sectional view of a portion of Figure 1 taken along 6- 6 to illustrate a frame for the battery housing formed as a one-piece stamped component in accordance with a first aspect; and

[0014] Figure 7 is an alternative magnified cross-sectional view of the battery housing illustrating the lower tub reinforcement alternatively disposed outside of the battery housing along an exterior, bottom surface of the lower tub and the frame alternatively comprised of a roll formed component in accordance with a second aspect.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE ENABLING EMBODIMENTS

[0015] Example embodiments will now be described more fully with reference to the accompanying drawings. In general, the subject embodiments are directed to a battery housing for an automobile and a method of manufacturing same. However, the example embodiments are only provided so that this disclosure will be thorough, and will fully convey the scope to those who are skilled in the art. Numerous specific details are set forth such as examples of specific components, devices, and methods, to provide a thorough understanding of embodiments of the present disclosure. It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that specific details need not be employed, that example embodiments may be embodied in many different forms and that neither should be construed to limit the scope of the disclosure. In some example embodiments, well-known processes, well-known device structures, and well-known technologies are not described in detail.

[0016] As illustrated in Figures 1-3 and 5-7, the battery housing 10 includes a lower tub 12, and an upper cover 14 is disposed on the lower tub 12 to collectively define an internal cavity 16. At least one battery module 18, and preferably a plurality of battery modules 18 are disposed in the internal cavity 16 and enclosed between the lower tub 12 and the upper cover 14 to seal and isolate the plurality of battery modules 16 from an environment of the battery housing 10. At least one of the lower tub 12 or the upper cover 14 is formed from stamping metal, such as steel or aluminum, to provide a one-piece integral component. Put another way, at least one of the lower tub 12 or the upper cover 14 is formed as an integral one-piece stamped component. In a preferred embodiment, both the lower tub 12 and the upper cover 14 of the battery housing are each formed as integral one-piece stamped components. Use of a one-piece stamped lower tub 12 and upper cover 14 eliminates the presence of any leak paths in these components (because a weld is not present and required to form the individual components), and thus provides an improved seal design over the prior art designs which require multiple pieces to form the lower tub and/or the upper cover. As described in the previous section above, use of stamping to form one-piece components for the lower tub 12 and/or the upper cover 14 also reduces complexity of design and related materials.

[0017] As best illustrated in Figure 2, the lower tub 12 includes a base surface 20 and a lower sidewall 22 extends upwardly from a peripheral lower edge 24 of the base surface 20. Similarly, the upper cover 14 includes a top surface 26 and an upper sidewall 28 extends downwardly from a peripheral upper edge 30 of the top surface 26. As best illustrated in Figures 2-3 and 5-7, the lower tub 12 includes a lower rim 32 extending outwardly from the lower sidewall 22, and the upper cover 14 includes an upper rim 34 extending outwardly from the upper sidewall 28 and which is disposed in overlaying relationship with the lower rim 32 when the upper cover 14 is disposed on the lower tub 12. As best illustrated in Figures 5-7, a seal 36 is disposed between the upper rim 34 and the lower rim 32 and preferably extends around the entire perimeter of the battery housing 10 to establish a sealed relationship between the upper cover 14 and the lower tub 12 when these components are interconnected to one another for preventing the passing of contaminants from the environment and into the internal cavity 16 of the battery housing 10.

[0018] As illustrated in Figures 1-2 and 5-7, in a preferred arrangement, the lower rim 32 defines a plurality of lower apertures 38 disposed in spaced relationship with one another, and the upper rim 34 defines a plurality of upper apertures 40 disposed in spaced relationship with one another and each disposed in aligned relationship with a respective one of the plurality of lower apertures 38. A plurality of rim fasteners 42, such as a paired bolt and nut, are each passed through and secured to a respective pair of the aligned lower and upper apertures 38, 40 to secure the upper cover 14 and the lower tub 12 to one another and enclose the plurality of battery modules 18 within the internal cavity 16. However, the lower rim 32 and the upper rim 34 could alternatively be connected to one another via other means, such as via welding, without departing from the scope of the subject disclosure.

[0019] A plurality of cross members 44 are disposed inside the internal cavity 16 and extend transversely between opposing sides of the lower sidewall 22 of the lower tub 12 and the upper sidewall 28 of the upper cover 14 to provide support for the battery housing 10 for crash performance. As best illustrated in Figure 2, the cross members 32 are preferably disposed between adjacent rows of the plurality of battery modules 18 to also provide support for and absorb side-to-side movement of the battery modules 18 during operation of the battery housing 10. As best illustrated in Figure 3, each of the cross-reinforcement members are preferably U-shaped when viewed in cross-section along plane 3-3 of Figure 1 to define a base portion 46 disposed adjacent and arranged generally planar with the base surface 20 and a flanged portion 48 disposed in abutting and underlying relationship with the top surface 36 of the upper cover 14. As further illustrated in Figures 3-4, each of the plurality of battery modules 18 are secured to adjacent ones of the plurality of cross members 18, preferably with a plurality of flanges 50 that extend underneath and are attached to the base portions 46 of the adjacent cross members 44 with a plurality of flange fasteners 52.

[0020] As best illustrated in Figure 1 and 5-6, at least one cooling plate 54 is disposed within the internal cavity 16 and extends underneath and preferably in contact with the plurality of battery modules 16 for cooling the battery modules 16 during operation. Although not expressly illustrated, the cooling plate 54 can be connected to a coolant system of the automobile to introduce coolant to the at least one cooling plate 54. As illustrated in Figure 7, a coolant pipe 56 can extend within the internal cavity 16 and be disposed in fluid communication with the coolant plate 54 to establish the fluid communication between the cooling plate 54 and the coolant system.

[0021] As best illustrated in Figures 1 and 5-6, a lower tub reinforcement 58 extends within the internal cavity 16, and is disposed between the cooling plate 54 and the base surface 20 of the lower tub 12, to protect the at least one cooling plate 24 and the plurality of battery modules 16 from a lower impact. However, as best illustrated Figure 7, the lower tub reinforcement 58 can be disposed outside of the battery housing 10 and extend along an exterior surface of the lower tub 12 without departing from the scope of the subject disclosure, fn a preferred arrangement, the lower tub reinforcement 58 is comprised of a reinforcement plate 60 which extends along the base surface 20 of the lower tub 12 and includes a plurality of support members 62 extending upwardly in spaced relationship with one another, each having an inverted U-shaped cross-section. As best illustrated in Figures 5-6, the at least one cooling plate 54 extends along and is supported by the plurality of support members 62 to dispose the at least one cooling plate 24 in spaced relationship with the base surface 20 of the lower tub 12. The at least one cooling plate 24 is preferably secured to the plurality of support members 62 via a plurality of plate fasteners 64.

[0022] As illustrated in Figures 2 and 5-7, the battery housing 10 includes a frame 66 disposed in surrounding relationship with the lower sidewall 22 of the lower tub 12 and extending underneath a portion of the base surface 20 to provide additional structural integrity and protection to the battery housing 10. In a preferred arrangement, the frame 66 is also formed from stamping metal, such as steel or aluminum, to provide a one-piece integral component, and includes a lip 68 which extends and is arranged underneath the lower rim 32. As best illustrated in Figures 1 and 6, the lip 68 defines a plurality of lip apertures 70 disposed in spaced relationship with one another and each disposed in aligned relationship with a respective pair of the aligned lower and upper apertures 38, 40. Accordingly, the plurality of rim fasteners 42 additionally pass through respective ones of the plurality of lip apertures 70 to secure the frame 66 to the lower tub 12 and the upper cover 14. However, as illustrated in Figure 7, in an alternative arrangement the frame 66 can be formed as a roll formed component and secured to the lower tub 12 via spot welding, laser welding, adhesive, riveting or the like. As best illustrated in Figure 1, the battery housing 10 can include a plurality of body mounts 72 disposed along and outwardly of the upper sidewall 28 of the upper cover 14 for use in mounting the battery housing 10 to a portion of the vehicle.

[0023] Obviously, many modifications and variations of the present disclosure are possible in light of the above teachings and may be practiced otherwise than as specifically described.