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EP-4742391-A1 - ASSEMBLY FOR BATTERY HOLDER COMPRISING A SEALING AGENT, AND BATTERY HOLDER FOR TRANSPORT VEHICLE

EP4742391A1EP 4742391 A1EP4742391 A1EP 4742391A1EP-4742391-A1

Abstract

The invention concerns an assembly (1) for battery holder comprising a first structural element (10) presenting a first contact surface (s10); a second structural element (30) presenting a second contact surface (s30) in direct contact with the first contact surface (s10); at least one mechanical fastener (50) securing the first structural element (10) with the second structural element (30); and an sealing agent (70) disposed inside a groove (20) defined between the second structural element (30) and the first structural element (10). The invention also concerns an assembling method for assembling such an assembly (1) and a battery holder for a transport vehicle comprising such an assembly (1).

Inventors

  • BEN TAHAR, Mehdi
  • BUTLER, COLIN

Assignees

  • Constellium UK Limited
  • Constellium Singen GmbH

Dates

Publication Date
20260513
Application Date
20241107

Claims (15)

  1. Assembly (1) for battery holder comprising: - a first structural element (10) extending in a first direction (Y) and presenting a first contact surface (s10); - a second structural element (30) extending in a second direction (X) distinct from the first direction (Y), the second structural element (30) presenting a second contact surface (s30) in direct contact with the first contact surface (s10) of the first structural element (10), the second structural element (30) and the first structural element (10) defining between them a groove (20) surrounding the first contact surface (s10) and the second contact surface (s30); - at least one mechanical fastener (50) securing the first structural element (10) with the second structural element (30); and - a sealing agent (70) disposed inside the groove (20) defined between the second structural element (30) and the first structural element (10).
  2. Assembly (1) according to claim 1, wherein the mechanical fastener (50) comprises a fixing bolt.
  3. Assembly (1) according to any one of claims 1 or 2, wherein the groove (20) presents a width (w20) which is comprised between 2 mm and 3 mm, preferably 2mm.
  4. Assembly (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the groove (20) presents a depth (d20) comprised between 2 mm and 5 mm, and preferably between 2 mm and 3 mm.
  5. Assembly (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein at least one structural element chosen between the first structural element (10) and the second structural element (30) comprises a shoulder (13) which defines partially the groove (20).
  6. Assembly (1) according to claim 5, wherein the shoulder (13) comprises the first contact surface (s10) or the second contact surface (s30).
  7. Assembly (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the sealing agent (70) comprises an adhesive, a sealant or a jointing agent.
  8. Assembly (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 7, wherein the sealing agent (70) completely fills the groove (20) defined between the second structural element (30) and the first structural element (10)
  9. Assembly (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 8, wherein the second structural element (30) is a profile.
  10. Assembly (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the second structural element (30) is a hollow structural element presenting an internal wall (31), said internal wall (31) presenting the second contact surface (s30) and a second bearing surface (s31) opposite to the second contact surface (s30); the at least one mechanical fastener (50) comprising a bearing head (51) leaning on the second bearing surface (s31).
  11. Battery holder for a transport vehicle, the battery holder comprising a frame and a floor delimiting between them a housing intended to receive all or part of a battery, said frame comprising at least one assembly (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 10.
  12. Assembling method for assembling an assembly (1) according to any one of claims 1 to 10, the assembling method comprising the following steps: - a providing step (E1), wherein the first structural element (10) and the second structural element (30) are provided; - a fixing step (E2), wherein the first contact surface (s10) and the second contact surface (s30) are placed in direct contact with each other, and wherein the at least one mechanical fastener (50) is fixed to secure the first structural element (10) with the second structural element (30); - a sealing step (E3), wherein the sealing agent (70) is disposed inside the groove (20) defined between the second structural element (30) and the first structural element (10).
  13. Method according to claim 12, wherein the sealing step (E3) is performed after the fixing step (E2).
  14. Method according to any one of claims 12 or 13, wherein the providing step (E1) comprises the provision of at least one structural element according to claim 5, the sealing step (E3) being thus performed by disposing the sealing agent (70) at the level of the shoulder (13).
  15. Method according to claim 14, wherein during the sealing step (E3), the sealing agent (70) comprises an adhesive, the sealing step (E3) being performed before the fixing step (E2).

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD OF THE INVENTION This invention relates to the field of electric or hybrid motorized transport vehicle, and more particularly to a battery holder intended to receive all or part of a battery to be supported by the battery holder. More particularly, the invention relates to an assembly for such a battery holder. BACKGROUND The state of the art described below presents applications in the field of electric or hybrid vehicles, but it could also relate to other fields or applications requiring the use of a battery holder. It is known from the state of the art to use a battery enclosure presenting a structural frame designed to support the battery, and eventually to protect the battery cells or modules from damages in the event of side impact, or shock and from environmental ingresses. Said battery enclosure generally comprises the following elements: a circumferential structural frame usually fastened into the vehicle body structure using a bolting system;a floor closing the bottom of the frame and configured to receive all or part of the battery cells or modules;a lid made of plastic, steel or aluminum and placed on top of the above structure to seal completely the battery enclosure. The role of said enclosure is to hold and protect the cells or the modules of the battery. However, depending on the needs, and depending on the type of battery cells or modules intended to be held by the battery holder, the shape for the overall structure of the frame can change drastically. Indeed, the battery system for an electric vehicle is built by a combination of individual cells. Generally, there are three main cell types which can determine the geometry, the size, the range as well as the vulnerability of the energy storage system. Consequently, the type of cells selected will influence the final design and shape of the battery enclosures. A first main characteristic that a battery enclosure should have is that it needs to be sufficiently robust to reduce the chances of deforming when the vehicle is involved in a miss-use situation or in an accident. For this reason, the battery enclosure must have sufficient strength in order to reduce the chances of damaging internals of the enclosure, which could eventually cause serious damage to the vehicle and its surroundings. A second primordial characteristics a battery enclosure must have is that it must meet standards that are mandatory, such as leak tightness. That is to say that no water or any other debris must penetrate the battery enclosure. A key parameter allowing to meet this requirement is to ensure a battery enclosure showing good flatness, especially to seal the lid on top of the above structure of the battery enclosure or the bottom floor to the bottom of the above structure. The most common joining method to assemble the frame parts constituting the frame requires the use of welding to secure the frame parts with each other. This solution offers good mechanical resistance along with good fluid tightness. However, using welding to secure frame parts could raises post welding distortion between the frame parts, which could generate geometrical defect in the battery holder, in particular in the corners of the frame. Besides, in order to allow the flat positioning of the lid or of the floor, a post welding machining operation is often needed to remove the excess of material present at the level of the welding. Such post welding operation significantly increase the manufacturing time and the overall manufacturing cost of the battery holder. An alternative joining method is fastening, namely bolting. It does solve the problem of post-welding distortion and machining but brings-in the challenge of sealing like for example the type of sealing agent, the volume of sealing agent, and in some cases the management of the excess of sealing agent. Therefore, there is a need to find a cost-effective solution to design a battery holder showing improved mechanical resistance along with a good fluid tightness. SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention aims at solving the aforementioned problems. To this end, the invention concerns an assembly for battery holder comprising: a first structural element extending in a first direction and presenting a first contact surface;a second structural element extending in a second direction distinct from the first direction, the second structural element presenting a second contact surface in direct contact with the first contact surface of the first structural element, the second structural element and the first structural element defining between them a groove surrounding the first contact surface and the second contact surface;at least one mechanical fastener securing the first structural element with the second structural element; anda sealing agent disposed inside the groove defined between the second structural element and the first structural element. The provisions described above enable to design an assembly for bat