Ford Global Technolgoies, LLC

Tommy M Gunther

Rajaram Subramanian

Francisco Fernandez

Yunan Guo

Stuart Schreiber

John Jardine

Keith Kearney

Louis Paspal

Steven Droste

Wei Long Qiu

Patrick Daniel Maguire

Daniel Miller

James M McManaman

Andrew Elms

A vehicle traction battery assembly including a pair of battery cells and a busbar is provided. Each of the battery cells may include a terminal and one or more locating features. The busbar may span between the cells and define a pair of arms each having a member sized to at least partially interlock with the one or more locating features. The busbar may span between the cells such that the busbar covers at least a portion of upper surfaces defined by each of the cells. At least one of the terminal apertures may be spaced in between outer edges of the respective arms such that a first and second surface area provide space sufficient for weld spots.

Busbar assembly for vehicle traction battery

A fastener assembly includes a stud and a nut. The stud has a proximal end and a distal end with a body therebetween. The stud also has a central axis extending from the proximal end to the distal end. The proximal end has a flange for coupling to a surface. The body has a cavity opening to an orifice at the distal end. The nut is retained within the cavity. Rotation of the nut about the central axis is inhibited.

Locator fastener with bolt mis-alignment feature

An assembly connecting a battery bus bar to battery cell terminals, with the bus bar provided with spring clips. The clips fit over the battery terminals and hold the bus bar and terminals in contact, with welding attaching the clip to the terminals.

Bus bar attachment to battery terminals

A method of welding a bus bar to battery cell terminals to produce a bus bar clip assembly. A bus bar is provided with spring clips. The clips fit over the battery terminals and hold the bus bar and terminals in contact for welding the components together.

Method of welding a bus bar to battery cell terminals

A vehicle including a pair of spaced apart battery cell arrays, a pair of sub-structures configured to retain the arrays, and a thermal plate assembly disposed between the arrays is provided. Each of the sub-structures may include opposing endplates and opposing upper and lower sidewalls secured to the endplates and each having a flange extending toward and overlapping with the respective flange of the other sub-structure to join the sub-structures without mechanical fastening. The thermal plate assembly may be disposed between the overlapping flanges and the arrays to form a sandwich formation. The thermal plate assembly may include at least one thermal interface component disposed on a side of a thermal plate, and in contact with a portion of at least one of the battery cell arrays.

Support structure for traction battery assembly with integrated thermal plate

A traction battery assembly for a vehicle includes an array of cells stacked on a tray. The array of cells defines opposing longitudinal sides and opposing lateral sides. First and second L-shaped components are attached to the tray. Each of the components includes an end wall and a sidewall that are integrally formed to define a substantially 90&#xb0; corner. The first and second components are attached together such that each of the sidewalls is disposed adjacent one of the longitudinal sides and each of the end walls is disposed adjacent one of the lateral sides to form a housing around the tray that has an open top and an open bottom.

Traction battery assembly

A battery assembly includes a lower array including opposing endplates having upwardly protruding pins, and an upper array including opposing endplates having pin bores. The upper array includes a mid-tray defining holes positioned such that the pins are receivable in the holes and the bores when the arrays are properly oriented and such that the mid-tray blocks the pins from being received within the bores when the arrays are positioned in a reverse orientation.

Growing community of inventors

Canton, MI, United States of America

Tommy M Gunther