Electrified vehicle battery pack attachment and sealing strategies
This disclosure details electrified vehicles that are equipped with one or more attachment and sealing assemblies for securing a battery pack to vehicle body components. An exemplary attachment and sealing assembly may establish a mid-span attachment point of the battery pack. The attachment and sealing assembly may include an attachment column and a sealing ring that cooperate to secure the battery pack to the vehicle and to seal openings formed through the battery pack and the vehicle body component.
1. A battery pack, comprising:
an enclosure assembly;
a battery array housed inside the enclosure assembly;
a battery internal structure adjacent to the battery array,
wherein the battery internal structure is a cross member that extends upwardly from a tray of the enclosure assembly; and
an attachment and sealing assembly including:
an attachment column connected to the battery internal structure and extending through a portion of the enclosure assembly; and
a sealing ring received around a portion of the attachment column.
2. The battery pack as recited in claim 1 , wherein the attachment and sealing assembly establishes a mid-span attachment point of the battery pack.
3. The battery pack as recited in claim 2 , comprising an attachment assembly that establishes a peripheral attachment point of the battery pack.
4. The battery pack as recited in claim 1 , wherein the portion of the attachment column is a tube.
5. The battery pack as recited in claim 4 , wherein the tube extends through a cover of the enclosure assembly, and an upper edge of the tube abuts against an undersurface of a vehicle body component to which the battery pack is mounted.
6. A battery pack, comprising:
an enclosure assembly;
a battery array housed inside the enclosure assembly;
a battery internal structure adjacent to the battery array; and
an attachment and sealing assembly including:
an attachment column connected to the battery internal structure and extending through a portion of the enclosure assembly;
a sealing ring received around a portion of the attachment column; and
a fastener secured to a threaded portion of a hollow passage of a tube of the attachment column.
7. The battery pack as recited in claim 1 , wherein the attachment column includes a tube that extends through a cover of the enclosure assembly and a stanchion that extends into the battery internal structure.
8. The battery pack as recited in claim 7 , wherein a threaded portion of the stanchion engages a threaded opening formed in the battery internal structure.
9. The battery pack as recited in claim 1 , wherein the attachment column includes a flange, a tube that extends in a first direction from the flange, and a stanchion that extends in a second direction from the flange.
10. The battery pack as recited in claim 9 , comprising a circular ledge disposed at an interface between the tube and the flange.
11. The battery pack as recited in claim 10 , wherein the flange is received against an underside of a cover of the enclosure assembly, and the circular ledge is received against an inner surface of the sealing ring.
12. The battery pack as recited in claim 1 , wherein the sealing ring includes a body, a first seal received in a first groove of the body, and a second seal received in a second groove of the body.
13. The battery pack as recited in claim 1 , wherein the sealing ring includes a rubber gasket and a threaded internal sleeve.
14. An electrified vehicle, comprising:
a vehicle body component;
a battery pack mounted to the vehicle body component; and
an attachment and sealing assembly that establishes a mid-span connection point for securing the battery pack to the vehicle body component,
wherein the attachment and sealing assembly includes an attachment column and a sealing ring disposed about a tube of the attachment column.
15. The electrified vehicle as recited in claim 14 , wherein the vehicle body component is a floor pan or a rail of a vehicle frame.
16. The electrified vehicle as recited in claim 14 , wherein the attachment column is connected to a battery internal structure of the battery pack.
17. The electrified vehicle as recited in claim 16 , wherein a stanchion of the attachment column is received by a threaded opening formed in the battery internal structure.
18. The electrified vehicle as recited in claim 14 , wherein the sealing ring includes a body, a first seal received in a first groove of the body, and a second seal received in a second groove of the body, and the first seal seals a first opening formed in the vehicle body component and the second seal seals a second opening formed in an enclosure assembly of the battery pack.
19. The electrified vehicle as recited in claim 14 , comprising a fastener connected to the tube of the attachment column, wherein the fastener extends through an opening formed in the vehicle body component, and a threaded stud of the fastener engages a threaded portion formed in a hollow passage of the tube.
20. The electrified vehicle as recited in claim 14 , wherein the sealing ring is positioned within a space that extends between the vehicle body component and a cover of the battery pack.