Tesla, Inc.

Tesla Motors, Inc.

Robert David Sumpf, Jr

Bruce P Edwards

Peter Dore Rawlinson

Alan Paul Clarke

Hitendra Laxmidas Gadhiya

David Elias Hegeman

Jayesh Bharat Gorasia

William B Stockton

Andrew Pires

Cole Prodan

Cole Spooner

Kenton Harris

Dafna Gabriela Szafer

Krupal Patel

Dan Burke

Benjamin Parker

Scott Ira Kohn

Ernest Matthew Villanueva

Alexi Charbonneau

Peter Thomas Tennessen

Alex Prilutsky

Malcolm Burgess

Ganesh Ramanarayan Singh

Hugh Burnett Ross

Satvik Vipin Batavia

Vivek Attaluri

An integrated, unitary battery pack may be formed and used as part of the structural support for a vehicle frame. The unitary battery pack includes arrays cells having all positive and negative electrical terminals aligned in-plane on a common face of the product assembly. The unitary battery pack includes cooling components for passively or actively cooling the cell arrays. The unitary battery pack is encased in a potting material that allows that forms part of the structure support for the unitary battery pack. The unitary batter pack may be integrated into the vehicle with or without additional support structures.

Integrated energy storage system

An energy absorbing and distributing side impact system for a vehicle includes first and second side sills, each of the first and second sills comprising multiple longitudinal channels, at least an upper longitudinal channel positioned above a vehicle floor panel and at least a lower longitudinal channel positioned below the vehicle floor panel, a battery enclosure mounted between front and rear suspensions of the vehicle, the battery enclosure having a first side member attached to the first side sill, and a second side member attached to the second side sill; cross-members integrated into the battery enclosure; and at least one mechanical connection securing the cross-members to the vehicle floor panel.

System for absorbing and distributing side impact energy utilizing an integrated battery pack

An energy absorbing and distributing side impact system for a vehicle includes: first and second side sills, each of the first and second sills comprising multiple longitudinal channels, at least an upper longitudinal channel positioned above a vehicle floor panel and at least a lower longitudinal channel positioned below the vehicle floor panel; a battery enclosure mounted between front and rear suspensions of the vehicle, the battery enclosure having a first side member attached to the first side sill, and a second side member attached to the second side sill; cross-members integrated into the battery enclosure; and one or more bolts each extending though a respective opening in one of the cross-members and extending to an opposite side of the vehicle floor panel from the cross-member.

An energy storage pack includes a coolant inlet manifold, a coolant outlet manifold, and a plurality of thermal-exchange tubes extending between the coolant inlet manifold and the coolant outlet manifold to exchange heat between coolant passing through the plurality of thermal-exchange tubes and a plurality of battery cells mounted adjacent to and among the plurality of thermal-exchange tubes within the energy storage pack. In one embodiment, at least one of coolant inlet manifold and the coolant outlet manifold includes a plurality of thermal-exchange tube terminating structures and a plurality of hose segments intercoupling the plurality of thermal-exchange tube terminating structures. The energy storage pack may further include a coolant inlet opening located on the coolant inlet manifold and a coolant outlet opening located on the coolant outlet manifold.

Energy storage pack

An energy absorbing and distributing side impact system for use with a vehicle is provided, the system utilizing a battery pack enclosure that includes a plurality of cross-members that transverse the battery pack enclosure and absorb and distribute at least a portion of the load received when either the first or second side of the vehicle receives a side impact. The battery pack enclosure is positioned between the front and rear vehicle suspension assemblies and mounted between, and mechanically coupled to, vehicle structural members (e.g., rocker panels) located on either side of the vehicle. In addition to providing rigidity, strength and impact resistance, the battery pack cross-members segregate the batteries contained within the battery pack enclosure into battery groups.

A vehicle seat mounting assembly is provided in which the seat mounts are attached to body cross-members that are, in turn, mechanically coupled to battery pack cross-members contained within a battery pack enclosure mounted under the vehicle.

Augmented vehicle seat mount

An energy absorbing and distributing side impact system for use with a vehicle is provided, the system utilizing a collapsible side sill along with multiple vehicle cross-members to achieve the desired level of vehicle side impact resistance, the combination of these elements absorbing and distributing the impact load throughout the vehicle structure. A battery pack enclosure that includes a plurality of cross-members that transverse the battery pack enclosure also help to absorb and distribute at least a portion of the load received when either the first or second side of the vehicle receives a side impact. In this configuration the battery pack enclosure is positioned between the front and rear vehicle suspension assemblies and mounted between, and mechanically coupled to, the side sill assemblies. In addition to providing rigidity, strength and impact resistance, the battery pack cross-members segregate the batteries contained within the battery pack enclosure into battery groups.

System for absorbing and distributing side impact energy utilizing an integrated battery pack and side sill assembly

Growing community of inventors

San Francisco, CA, United States of America

Robert David Sumpf, Jr