JPH11195437A - Vehicular battery cooling device - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To reduce unpleasant feeling to a driver and a passenger due to the noise of a cooling fan in relation to a battery cooling device to cool the battery by means of the air inside the vehicle. SOLUTION: Since a cooling fan 3 is arranged at more downstream side of a cooling air flow than a secondary battery 2, the secondary battery 2 functions as a sound insulation material and the noise at the cooling fan 3 is hardly heard inside the vehicle. As a result, unpleasant feeling and a sense of incompatibility to a driver and a passenger can be reduced and restrained. In addition, the cooling fan 3 is arranged at the side opposite to a space A inside the vehicle with respect to the secondary battery 2, that is, the secondary battery 2 is arranged in between the cooling fan 3 and the space A inside the vehicle, so that the secondary battery 2 functions as a sound insulation wall. Whereby, the noise at the cooling fan 3 is hardly heard by the driver or the passenger and the unpleasant feeling to them is further reduced as well.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a vehicular battery cooling device for blowing cooling air to a secondary battery as a vehicle driving source, and more particularly to an electric vehicle having a vehicular electric motor (e.g. (Including a so-called hybrid vehicle having both).

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art The applicant of the present invention has previously filed a Japanese Patent Application No. 9-279098 as a battery cooling device. In this prior application, in the hybrid vehicle described above, a battery as a driving source for traveling is disposed between the rear seat of the vehicle and the trunk room. The battery is arranged in a duct-like casing forming an air passage, and a cooling fan for generating cooling air for cooling the battery is provided between the battery and the rear seat on the upstream side of the battery in the casing. Is arranged. The upstream end of the casing communicates with the vehicle interior (specifically, opens to the rear package tray), so that the battery is cooled by the air in the vehicle interior.

[0003]

However, when the present inventor examined the prototype of the prior application, the cooling fan was located on the air upstream side of the battery.
There is a problem that the noise from the cooling fan is easily heard in the vehicle interior through the casing, which gives a feeling of discomfort to the occupant.

Further, in the above-mentioned prior application, since the cooling fan is disposed in front of the battery in the vehicle interior and close to the vehicle interior, the noise caused by the cooling fan is easily heard by the occupant in the vehicle interior, and gives a discomfort to the occupant. There is a problem. The present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to reduce discomfort to an occupant due to noise of a cooling fan in a battery cooling device that cools a battery with air in a vehicle compartment.

[0005]

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention employs the following technical means. According to the first aspect of the present invention, there is provided a cooling fan (3) for cooling the secondary battery (2) by blowing cooling air, which is room air, to the cooling battery (2). It is characterized by being arranged on the downstream side of the cooling air.

[0006] Thus, since the cooling fan is arranged downstream of the secondary battery in the air of the cooling air, the secondary battery functions as a sound insulating material, and noise from the cooling fan is hardly heard in the vehicle interior. As a result, discomfort to passengers in the vehicle cabin can be reduced. The invention according to claim 2 is characterized in that when the temperature of the secondary battery (2) becomes equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature, the cooling fan (3) is automatically driven.

By the way, if the cooling fan is automatically driven according to the temperature of the secondary battery, the cooling fan is driven regardless of the occupant's intention, and the noise from the cooling fan is uncomfortable for the occupant. Gives a sense of incongruity with.
Therefore, according to the second aspect of the invention, it is possible to prevent the occupant from feeling uncomfortable and uncomfortable.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, the cooling fan (3) is provided in the vehicle interior space (A) with respect to the secondary battery (2).
And can be arranged on the opposite side. Thereby, since the secondary battery is disposed between the cooling fan and the vehicle interior space, the secondary battery functions as a sound insulation wall. For this reason, the noise from the cooling fan is more difficult to be heard by the occupant, and discomfort to the occupant can be further reduced.

In the invention described in claim 5, the cooling fan (3) can be arranged on the side opposite to the interior space (A) with respect to the secondary battery (2). And This achieves the same functions and effects as the third aspect of the present invention. In addition, the code | symbol in the parenthesis of each said means shows the correspondence with the concrete means of embodiment mentioned later.

[0010]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a vehicle battery cooling device 1 according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is a vehicle mounting diagram of the vehicle battery cooling device 1. FIG. 3 is an arrow B in FIG.
It is the schematic perspective view seen from the direction. In the present embodiment, an engine (not shown) and an electric motor (not shown) are switched according to running conditions or applied to a hybrid vehicle that can be used together.

The vehicle battery cooling device 1 is disposed in a trunk room on the vehicle rear side of the vehicle interior space A (see FIG. 2). Further, the vehicle battery cooling device 1 of the present embodiment includes:
It is installed substantially at the center in the vehicle width direction so as to avoid the tire houses 20 on both sides in the vehicle width direction. In FIG. 1, reference numeral 2 denotes a chargeable / dischargeable secondary battery (a nickel-metal hydride battery in the present embodiment) which is a driving source of the vehicle. The secondary battery 2 includes a plurality of (seven) columnar battery cells similar to a normal dry battery (primary battery) connected in series to form a battery module,
Further, a plurality of the battery modules are housed and arranged in a battery box (not shown, the outline of the secondary battery 2 in FIGS. 1 and 2). The size of the secondary battery 2 is about 800 mm in the vehicle width direction, about 500 mm in height, and about 200 mm in the vehicle front-rear direction.

Reference numeral 3 denotes two cooling fans (in this example, centrifugal multi-blade fans) for sending cooling air to the secondary battery 2 to cool them, and these two cooling fans 3 are connected to one fan shaft 4. It is fixed to. The cooling fan 3 is a secondary battery 2
The cooling air is disposed downstream of the cooling air. Also,
The cooling fan 3 is arranged on the side opposite to the vehicle interior space A with respect to the secondary battery 2 as shown in FIG. That is, in the present example, the secondary battery 2 is disposed on the vehicle rear side of the vehicle interior space A, and the cooling fan 3 is disposed on the vehicle rear side of the secondary battery 2.

The two cooling fans 3 are driven to rotate by an electric motor (driving means) 5 disposed at one longitudinal end (right side in FIG. 1) of the fan shaft 4 via the fan shaft 4. A motor (hereinafter abbreviated as a motor) 5, a fan 4, and a secondary battery 2 are provided in a casing 6
Is housed inside. The casing 6 forms a duct that takes in the air in the vehicle compartment and guides the air toward the secondary battery 2.

More specifically, the casing 6 has a suction port 7 through which air blown to the secondary battery 2 is sucked, and a discharge port 8 through which air is discharged outside the casing 6. The space is separated into a space in which the secondary battery 2 and the cooling fan 3 are provided, and a space in which the motor 5 is provided, and a metal (stainless in this embodiment, stainless steel) separating member 9 made of a nonmagnetic material. Are arranged.

As shown in FIG. 2, the suction port 7 communicates with the interior of the vehicle through a resin duct 12. The air inlet 21 of the duct 12 is located below the rear glass 22. It is open in the rear package tray (usually a member on which audio speakers and the like are installed). That is, since the duct 12 is arranged so as to extend from above to below as shown in FIG. 1, vehicle interior air flows from above to below as shown by the arrow in FIG. As shown in FIG.
Is sucked toward the lower part of the battery (flows between the battery modules), and then the air that has cooled the secondary battery 2 flows out of the casing 6 through an outlet 8 formed on the upper side of the secondary battery 2. Is discharged.

As shown in FIG. 3, the casing 6 accommodates the secondary battery 2 and has a discharge port 8 formed therein, and a second casing 6b constituting a scroll-type casing of the cooling fan 3; And a third casing 6c that accommodates the motor 5 and forms the partition member 9. These casings 6a to 6c are fastened by bolts.

The both ends of the fan shaft 4 are
As shown in FIG. 3, it is rotatably supported by the second casing 6b via a ball bearing 23. The fan shaft 4 is press-fitted into the mounting boss 24 of the two cooling fans 3 and fixed. Specifically, since the hole shape of the mounting boss 24 and the press-fit portion of the fan shaft 4 are D-shaped, the mounting boss portion 24 of the cooling fan 3 is formed.
When the fan shaft 4 is press-fitted into the inside, the rotation of the cooling fan 3 and the fan shaft 4 is prevented.

The motor 5 and the cooling fan 3 are separated from each other by a partition member 9.
, The cooling fan 3
The transmission of the driving force to the (fan shaft 4) is performed by the electromagnetic coupling 10 in the present embodiment. The electromagnetic coupling is, as shown in FIG. 4A, a motor shaft 5 of the motor 5.
Permanent magnet (magnet) 10a that rotates integrally with a
And permanent magnets (magnets) 10b that rotate integrally with the fan shaft 4 via joints that absorb eccentricity such as flexible shaft joints (rubber shaft joints and universal joints). The driving force is transmitted by the magnetic force between them.

As shown in FIG. 4B, the permanent magnets 10a and 10b have fan-shaped magnets arranged circumferentially so that N-poles and S-poles appear alternately. , FIG.
In (a), 5b is a fan that rotates integrally with the motor shaft 5a and cools the motor 5. As shown in FIG. 1, the third casing 6c has two breathing holes 1 whose opening area is set to be sufficiently smaller than that of the suction port 7.
1 are formed, and these breathing holes 11 communicate with the vehicle interior via a duct (hose) 11a.

In this embodiment, the motor 5 is controlled by an electronic control unit (ECU) 13 as shown in FIG. A signal from a temperature sensor (temperature detecting means) 14 for detecting the temperature of the secondary battery 2 (hereinafter, this temperature is referred to as battery temperature) is input to the ECU 13.
13, when the battery temperature is equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature (35 degrees),
The motor 5 is automatically driven, and as the battery temperature rises, the voltage applied to the motor 5 is increased to increase the amount of air blown by the cooling fan 3. When the battery temperature is lower than the predetermined temperature, the motor 5 is stopped. It should be noted that the secondary battery 2 of this example is most effective when it is necessary to maintain it at 50 or less in terms of characteristics. Also, the temperature of the secondary battery 2 is
The ability is even better when it is uniform throughout. For this reason, in this example, the secondary battery 2 is
The distribution of cooling air passing through the inside is made uniform.

Next, the features of this embodiment will be described. In this embodiment, since the cooling fan 3 is automatically driven according to the battery temperature of the secondary battery 2, the cooling fan is driven regardless of the occupant's intention. For this reason, the noise generated by the cooling fan is uncomfortable and uncomfortable for the occupant. However, in this example, since the cooling fan 3 is arranged downstream of the secondary battery 2 in the air of the cooling air, the secondary battery 2 functions as a sound insulating material, and the noise from the cooling fan 3 is hardly heard in the vehicle interior. . As a result, discomfort and discomfort to passengers in the vehicle cabin can be reduced and suppressed.

In this embodiment, the cooling fan 3 is disposed on the opposite side of the vehicle compartment space A with respect to the secondary battery 2.
That is, as shown in FIG.
The secondary battery 2 functions as a sound insulation wall because the secondary battery 2 is disposed between the battery and the battery. For this reason, the noise from the cooling fan 3 is more difficult to be heard by the occupant, and discomfort to the occupant can be further reduced.

In this embodiment, the partition wall 9 separates the space in which the motor 5 is disposed from the space in which the secondary battery 2 is disposed. 2
Functions as a blocking wall that blocks heat conducted from the motor to the motor 5. Therefore, the heat of the secondary battery 2 causes the motor 5
Can be prevented from rising excessively, so that the insulation covering the windings of the motor 5 exceeds the allowable temperature and dielectric breakdown can be prevented.

Further, a space in which the motor 5 is provided,
Since the space in which the secondary battery 2 is provided is separated, it is possible to prevent dust sucked together with air from the suction port 7 from adhering to the motor 5. Therefore,
Since it is not necessary to provide an air filter in the suction port 7, it is possible to prevent a decrease in the amount of air blown to the secondary battery 2 and to prevent a decrease in durability of a rotating portion of the motor 5 and the like. Thus, an increase in the manufacturing cost of the motor 5 can be prevented.

Further, in this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 2, air is blown below the secondary battery 2 and the outlet 8 is formed above the secondary battery 2, so that the suction port is formed. In the air passage from the outlet 7 to the outlet 8, air can flow smoothly without stagnation. Therefore, the secondary battery 2 can be efficiently cooled. In addition, since the suction port 7 communicates with the vehicle interior, it is possible to cool the rechargeable battery 2 by the air-conditioned cold air, especially in summertime, so that the rechargeable battery 2 can be cooled more efficiently. Can be. On the other hand, in winter, the conditioned air in the vehicle compartment is blown toward the secondary battery 2, so that the battery temperature can be prevented from greatly fluctuating. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the life of the secondary battery 2 from being shortened.

(Modification) In the above embodiment, the motor 5
Although the magnetic coupling is used as the driving force transmitting means for transmitting the driving force from the fan to the cooling fan 3 (fan shaft 4), the driving force transmitting means is not limited to this, for example, the fan shaft 4 and the motor shaft 5a. And a space in which the motor 5 is provided and a space in which the secondary battery 2 is provided may be separated by a shaft seal such as a V-packing or a shaft seal such as a mechanical seal. .
Further, the driving force transmitting means may be constituted by a cable like a speedometer cable.

In the above-described embodiment, the motor 5, the partition member 9 and the magnetic coupling 10 allow the fan shaft 4
Although the drive unit that applies the rotational force to the motor 5 is configured, a hydraulic motor that obtains the rotational force by hydraulic pressure may be used instead of the motor 5. In this case, the partition member 9 may be omitted. Also,
In the above-described embodiment, the cooling fan 3 is a centrifugal multi-blade fan. However, the present invention is not limited to this, and a different type of fan such as a radial fan may be used.

In the above embodiment, the present invention is applied to a hybrid vehicle. However, the present invention may be applied to a normal electric vehicle running only on electricity. Further, the vehicle battery device of the present invention is not limited to the above-described layout (including the layout of the fan 3 and the battery 2 and the arrangement position of the vehicle battery device itself). For example, the battery 1 may be arranged under the floor of the vehicle.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a schematic diagram of a battery device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a state where the battery device is mounted on a vehicle.

FIG. 3 is a detailed view of a battery device.

4A is an enlarged view of a motor and a magnetic coupling, and FIG. 4B is a front view of a permanent magnet.

FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram of a control system of a motor 5.

[Explanation of symbols]

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Battery device, 2 ... Secondary battery, 3 ... Cooling fan,
4 ... shaft, 5 ... electric motor.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (51) Int.Cl. ⁶ Identification code FI // B60K 11/06 B60K 11/06

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A secondary battery (2) that is a driving source of a vehicle, and a cooling fan (3) that blows cooling air that is vehicle interior air to the secondary battery (2) to cool the secondary battery (2). A battery cooling device for a vehicle, wherein the cooling fan (3) is arranged downstream of the secondary battery (2) in the air of the cooling air. 2. The vehicle according to claim 1, wherein when the temperature of the secondary battery becomes equal to or higher than a predetermined temperature, the cooling fan is automatically driven. Battery cooling device. 3. The battery cooling device for a vehicle according to claim 2, wherein the cooling fan (3) can be arranged on a side opposite to the interior space (A) with respect to the secondary battery (2). 4. The secondary battery (2) is arranged on the vehicle rear side of the vehicle interior space (A), and the cooling fan (3) can be arranged on the vehicle rear side of the secondary battery (2). The vehicle battery cooling device according to claim 3, wherein 5. A secondary battery (2) that is a driving source of a vehicle, and a cooling fan (3) that blows cooling air that is vehicle interior air to the secondary battery (2) to cool the secondary battery (2). The battery cooling device for a vehicle, wherein the cooling fan (3) can be arranged on the opposite side of the interior space (A) with respect to the secondary battery (2).