Seoul (South Korea)

Hyundai Motor Co. and Kia Corp. have filed a patent for a new electric vehicle battery design specifically engineered to prevent fires by redesigning the housing to serve as a cooling structure. This development aims to reduce temperature variations across battery locations while enhancing the overall stability of the vehicle.

According to a report by Pulse, the English service of Maeil Business News Korea, the patent was filed with the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office in November 2024 under the title "Battery Storage Case" and saw partial disclosure in late 2023. The design focuses on the cooling architecture of the lower battery case. Industry observers suggest the level of detail indicates the technology has moved past the review stage and may be integrated into electric vehicle platforms within the next two years.

The technical core of the patent involves a grid-type cooling channel located beneath the battery pack. Unlike traditional systems that utilize one-directional flow paths, this design introduces intersecting sub-channels that allow coolant to flow both horizontally and vertically. This configuration ensures that coolant is distributed across multiple paths rather than a single direction, creating a thermal management structure that spreads cooling evenly across the entire underside of the battery.

Current electric vehicle batteries often face cooling performance discrepancies because their simpler flow paths can lead to heat concentration in specific cells or corners, increasing the risk of overheating. The new design addresses this by integrating cooling channels directly into the structure of the battery's lower case. This approach eliminates the need for the separate, thin cooling plates used in traditional multi-layer structures, which are often prone to stress concentration at joints during an impact.

By making the cooling system a structural component of the case, the design allows physical loads and impacts to be distributed across the entire frame. This integration simultaneously reinforces the vehicle's structure and improves cooling efficiency. Because the lower structure of an electric vehicle is a critical factor in crash safety and durability, the design is expected to increase the stability of the battery pack.

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"As EV adoption expands, consumer concerns and regulatory pressure regarding battery fires are also increasing. Once an EV battery fire occurs, it is difficult to extinguish and poses a high risk of casualties. Hyundai and Kia's move to file a patent in the U.S. is interpreted as a strategy aimed at protecting technology and strengthening safety for global markets."