Cooling assembly for a battery pack

A battery pack comprising:

• a battery tray;
• a plurality of cylindrical battery cells supported on the battery tray;
• a cooling assembly comprising:
• a manifold having an inlet line for receiving a coolant and an outlet line for discharging the coolant, the inlet line having a plurality of feed ports extending to a bottom surface of the manifold, and the outlet line having a plurality of return ports extending to the bottom surface of the manifold;
• a plurality of ribbon headers each connected to the bottom surface of the manifold and each having a ribbon feed line in fluid communication with one of the feed ports and a ribbon return line in fluid communication with one of the return ports;
• a plurality of ribbons in contact with the plurality of cylindrical battery cells and each defining an outgoing channel and a return channel therethrough, wherein each of the plurality of ribbons is connected to a respective one of the plurality of ribbon headers and each of the outgoing channels is in fluid communication with the ribbon feed line of the respective one of the plurality of ribbon headers and each of the return channels is in fluid communication with the ribbon return line of the respective one of the plurality of ribbon headers;
• and
• a spacer plate disposed between the manifold and the plurality of ribbon headers, the spacer plate configured to seal the manifold to the plurality of ribbon headers,
• wherein the coolant flows from the inlet line of the manifold to the ribbon feed lines of the plurality of ribbon headers via the feed ports, and for each of the plurality of ribbon headers, the coolant flows to the outgoing channel of the respective one of the plurality of ribbons to cool the cylindrical battery cell, and the coolant flows from the outgoing channel to the return channel and through the ribbon return lines of the plurality of ribbon headers to the outlet line of the manifold via the return ports
• wherein each of the plurality of ribbons is connected to a front surface of the respective one of the plurality of ribbon headers,
• wherein the manifold is connected to the plurality of ribbon headers by a plurality of mechanical fasteners each extending parallel to the front surfaces and through the spacer plate, thereby preventing forces from being transferred to the plurality of ribbons during assembly of the manifold to the plurality of ribbon headers,
• wherein each of the front surfaces includes a slot defined by parallel flanges extending out from the front surface, and a proximal end of one of the plurality of ribbons is disposed within each of the slots, and
• further comprising a ribbon feed port disposed within the slot at the front surface and a ribbon return port disposed with the slot at the front surface, the ribbon feed port in communication with the ribbon feed line and the outgoing channel of one of the plurality of ribbons and the ribbon return port in communication with the ribbon return line and the return channel of one of the plurality of ribbons.

A battery thermal management system for a cylindrical battery cell, comprising:

• a recovery tank storing a coolant;
• a pump in fluid communication with the recovery tank for pumping the coolant;
• a cooling assembly comprising:
• a manifold having an inlet line in fluid communication with the pump for receiving the coolant and an outlet line for discharging the coolant;
• a ribbon header connected to the manifold and having a feed line in fluid communication with the inlet line and a return line in fluid communication with the outlet line;
• a ribbon in contact with the cylindrical battery cell and defining an outgoing channel and a return channel therethrough, wherein the ribbon is connected to the ribbon header and the outgoing channel is in fluid communication with the feed line and the return channel is in fluid communication with the return line;
• and
• a spacer plate disposed between the manifold and the ribbon header;
• wherein each of the plurality of ribbons is connected to a front surface of the respective one of the plurality of ribbon headers,
• wherein the manifold is connected to the plurality of ribbon headers by a plurality of mechanical fasteners each extending parallel to the front surfaces and through the spacer plate, thereby preventing forces from being transferred to the plurality of ribbons during assembly of the manifold to the plurality of ribbon headers,
• wherein each of the front surfaces includes a slot defined by parallel flanges extending out from the front surface, and a proximal end of one of the plurality of ribbons is disposed within each of the slots, and
• further comprising a ribbon feed port disposed within the slot at the front surface and a ribbon return port disposed with the slot at the front surface, the ribbon feed port in communication with the ribbon feed line and the outgoing channel of one of the plurality of ribbons and the ribbon return port in communication with the ribbon return line and the return channel of one of the plurality of ribbons;
• and
• a heat exchanger in fluid communication with the outlet line of the manifold and the recovery tank,
• wherein the coolant is pumped by the pump to the inlet line of the manifold, the coolant flows from the inlet line of the manifold to the feed line of the ribbon header to the outgoing channel of the ribbon to cool the cylindrical battery cell, and the coolant flows from the outgoing channel to the return channel and through the return line of the ribbon header to the outlet line of the manifold, and from the outlet line to the heat exchanger and then to the recovery tank.