BATTERY MODULE COOLING TUBE INCLUDING AN INTEGRATED TURBULATOR COMPONENT AND METHOD THEREOF
In an embodiment, a battery module is provided with a cooling tube configured to carry liquid coolant for cooling a set of battery cells inside the battery module. A portion of the cooling tube being arranged beneath the set of battery cells and includes an integrated turbulator component configured to transition a flow of the liquid coolant from a laminar flow to a turbulent flow. In an example, the integrated turbulator component may be formed by integrating a turbulent component into a tube (e.g., a straight tube), and then bending the tube to produce the cooling tube portion.
1 . A battery module configured for insertion into a battery module compartment of an energy storage system, comprising:
a cooling tube configured to carry liquid coolant for cooling a set of battery cells inside the battery module, a portion of the cooling tube being arranged beneath the set of battery cells,
wherein some or all of the portion of the cooling tube arranged beneath the set of battery cells includes an integrated turbulator component configured to transition a flow of the liquid coolant from a laminar flow to a turbulent flow.
2 . The battery module of claim 1 , wherein the integrated turbulator component is a spring.
3 . The battery module of claim 2 , wherein the spring is a coiled spring.
4 . The battery module of claim 2 , wherein the spring is a wave spring.
5 . The battery module of claim 2 , wherein the spring includes coils or waves with different diameters.
6 . The battery module of claim 5 , wherein the different diameters repeat in accordance with an alternating sequence.
7 . The battery module of claim 2 , wherein the spring includes adjacent coils or waves that are staggered apart from each other by different gradients.
8 . The battery module of claim 1 , wherein the integrated turbulator component is a chain.
9 . The battery module of claim 1 , further comprising:
a cooling plate arranged between the set of battery cells and the cooling tube.
10 . The battery module of claim 1 ,
wherein the portion of the cooling tube arranged beneath the set of battery cells is bent at multiple points to provide cooling to each battery cell among the set of battery cells, and
wherein the integrated turbulator component is included in each bent section of the cooling tube.
11 . A method of generating a cooling tube for a battery module, comprising:
integrating a turbulator component into a tube, the integrated turbulator component configured to transition a flow of liquid coolant from a laminar flow to a turbulent flow;
bending the tube with the integrated turbulator component into a shape that is configured to fit into the battery module; and
installing the bent tube inside the battery module as part of a cooling tube for the battery module.
12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein a set of battery cells to be cooled by the cooling tube is arranged over a portion of the cooling tube inside the battery module.
13 . The method of claim 12 , wherein a cooling plate is arranged between the set of battery cells and the portion of the cooling tube.
14 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the integrated turbulator component is a spring.
15 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the spring is a coiled spring.
16 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the spring is a wave spring.
17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the spring includes coils or waves with different diameters.
18 . The method of claim 17 , wherein the different diameters repeat in accordance with an alternating sequence.
19 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the integrated turbulator component is a chain.
20 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the integrating is performed while the tube is straight.