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US 9,543,556 B2Granted
Battery assembly
AssigneeFord Global Technologies, LLC
InventorsBhaskara Boddakayala, Thomas M. Gunther, Rajaram Subramanian
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A battery stack is provided having lower and upper battery tiers each formed of at least two battery cell arrays. A pair of brackets are provided for connecting the lower arrays along a top surface of the lower tier and connecting the upper arrays to a bottom surface of the upper tier. The lower and upper battery tiers are secured together by the brackets without hardware mounted to an exterior surface of the stack.
Claims13
A battery stack comprising:
- lower and upper battery tiers each formed of at least two battery cell arrays;
- a plurality of array frames each housing one of the battery arrays;
- a lower bracket connecting the lower arrays along a top surface of the lower tier;
- an upper bracket connecting the upper arrays along a bottom surface of the upper tier;
- and
- a plurality of fasteners each extending only through connection locations on the upper bracket and the lower bracket to connect the upper battery tier to the lower battery tier wherein the fasteners do not extend through any of the array frames,
- wherein the lower and upper battery tiers are secured together by the brackets without the plurality of fasteners mounted to an exterior surface of the stack.
4 more elements
A battery stack comprising:
- a lower battery tier having at least two lower arrays of battery cells connected together;
- a top middle bracket connecting the two arrays and mounted to a top surface of the lower tier;
- a pair of side brackets mounted along opposite side regions of the lower tier on the top surface of the lower tier;
- an upper battery tier having at least two upper arrays of battery cells connected together;
- and
- a bottom tray connecting the two upper arrays and mounted to a bottom surface of the upper tier,
- wherein the bottom tray is aligned and fastened together with the top middle bracket and the pair of side brackets when the upper battery tier is mounted to the lower battery tier, thereby securing and aligning the lower and upper tiers together, and
- wherein the brackets and bottom tray allow an airflow between the lower and upper battery arrays when the lower and upper battery tiers are secured together;
- a plurality of fasteners, wherein an upper mounting footprint is defined by the bottom tray and a lower mounting footprint is defined by the top middle bracket and the side brackets, wherein the upper mounting footprint and lower mounting footprint are the same, wherein each mounting footprint includes a plurality of connecting locations that align to connect the lower and upper battery tiers, and wherein at least one of the fasteners extends through a connecting location defined in the top middle bracket and the bottom tray to secure the lower and upper battery tiers together;
- a plurality of array frames each housing one of the arrays, wherein each of the array frames includes a pair of top rails and a pair of bottom rails, wherein the top and bottom rails are connected by a pair of opposing end plates, wherein the lower arrays are connected by the top middle bracket along adjacent top rails of the array frames and the upper arrays are connected by the bottom tray along adjacent bottom rails of the array frames, and wherein the plurality of fasteners extend only through the connection locations on the upper bracket and the lower bracket to connect the upper battery tier to the lower battery tier such that the fasteners do not extend through any of the array frames.
7 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.