Assembly and method for cooling a traction battery of a vehicle using fuel
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsThomas Zenner, Caroline Born, Daniel Kok
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
This disclosure relates to an assembly that cools a traction battery of a vehicle, in particular a hybrid electric vehicle. The assembly can include at least one fuel tank, and at least one traction battery that is arranged outside the fuel tank and is thermally connected to the fuel tank. The assembly can further include at least one fuel pump that is arranged in the fuel tank and at least one fuel line that is connected and/or can be connected to a pressure side of the fuel pump. A connection portion of the fuel tank is thermally connected to the traction battery. Fuel can be used to cool the connection portion, which cools the traction battery.
Claims18
An assembly for a vehicle, comprising:
- at least one fuel tank;
- at least one traction battery arranged outside the fuel tank and thermally connected to the fuel tank;
- at least one fuel pump arranged in the fuel tank;
- at least one fuel line configured to connect to a pressure side of the fuel pump;
- and
- at least one line portion of the fuel line disposed inside the fuel tank, the at least one line portion thermally connected to a connection portion of the fuel tank or partially formed by the connection portion, the connection portion thermally connected to the traction battery,
- wherein the at least one line portion of the fuel line includes at least one expanded flow chamber, wherein a vertical height of the at least one expanded flow chamber is less than a horizontal width of the flow chamber and less than a horizontal length of the flow chamber.
An assembly for a vehicle, comprising:
- at least one fuel tank;
- at least one traction battery arranged outside the fuel tank and thermally connected directly to a connection portion of the fuel tank;
- at least one fuel pump arranged in the fuel tank;
- and
- at least one fuel line configured to connect to a pressure side of the fuel pump, the at least one fuel line having at least one fuel outlet opening arranged in the fuel tank relative to the connection portion of the fuel tank such that a fuel discharged from the fuel outlet opening flows over at least a portion of a connection portion that is thermally connected to the traction battery.
A traction battery thermal management method, comprising:
- pumping fuel through a fuel line within a fuel tank to cool a connection portion of the fuel tank, wherein in at least one traction battery is arranged outside the fuel tank and is thermally connected directly to a connection portion of the fuel tank.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.