Tesla, Inc.

Tesla Motors, Inc.

Paul Daniel Yeomans

Vincent George Johnston

Franz Von Holzhausen

Joseph Mardall

Riccardo Marco Pagliarella

Per Thomas Vikstrom

An electric vehicle drive unit includes an inverter, a gear box, an electric motor coupled to the inverter and to the gear box, a cooling jacket, and coupled to the gear box, a main coolant inlet, a coolant outlet, and an external passive air bleed device. The cooling jacket has a cooling chamber and surrounds at least a portion of the electric motor. The main coolant inlet couples to the cooling jacket. The coolant outlet is located at a lower portion of the gear box. The external passive air bleed device runs between an upper portion of the cooling jacket and the coolant outlet. The inverter may couple to a first side of the gear box and the electric motor may couple to a second side of the gear box such that the inverter and the electric motor reside on opposite sides of the gear box.

Passive air bleed for improved cooling systems

A heat exchanger integrated into an electric vehicle's battery pack enclosure is provided, where the heat exchanger conduits are mechanically and thermally coupled to the inside surface of the enclosure base plate and where the battery pack enclosure is mounted such that ambient air flows over the outside surface of the enclosure base plate during vehicle motion. A thermal management system is coupled to, and controls operation of, the integrated battery pack heat exchanger such that in a first operational mode the heat exchanger is thermally coupled to the batteries within the battery pack, and in a second operational mode the heat exchanger is thermally decoupled from the batteries within the battery pack.

Battery pack base plate heat exchanger

A vehicle thermal management system is provided that includes two or more heat exchangers configured in a non-stacked arrangement, where separate air inlets corresponding to each of the heat exchangers allow a direct intake of ambient air. Active louver systems consisting of sets of adjustable louvers and a control actuator are used to control and regulate air flowing directly into one or more of the heat exchangers, where the adjustable louvers are either adjustable between two positions, i.e., opened and closed, or adjustable over a range of positions. Air ducts may be used to couple the output from one heat exchanger to the input of a different heat exchanger.

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Oxfordshire, United Kingdom

Paul Daniel Yeomans