Rapidgate cooling blanket

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watchdoc

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 19, 2021
Messages
157
Location
Greenville, NC
My son had ACL surgery a couple years ago and they sent him home with this cold therapy contraption that would keep his knee cool overnight. I wonder if one of these cooling blankets could be placed on top of the leaf battery pack and then when you take a long trip where you would be facing rapidgate, you simply add ice or cold packs to the cooler to absorb a bunch of the heat. What do you guys think?

https://www.uniquefit1.com/polar-pr...s2DsnXqj9ayRstxronBExfCUpfNoTnUIaAk2BEALw_wcB
 
I don't see why it would hurt but I'm not sure how much it would help. The batteries are a huge mass and 10lbs of ice, which is a somewhat large quantity, still pales in comparison. Kind of like when some people are thinking about extending the capacity of their battery and think about adding an auxiliary battery, it makes very little difference. Then you'd have to have a good place to place the cold pad as well as put a cooler that would hold 10lbs of ice. Again not saying it wouldn't work but just not sure how much it would help and the cost of the ice and all around hassle :)
BTW I used one of those coolers for my knee replacement and while it worked well for my small knee, it's a lot less mass than a battery.
 
jjeff said:
I don't see why it would hurt but I'm not sure how much it would help. The batteries are a huge mass and 10lbs of ice, which is a somewhat large quantity, still pales in comparison. Kind of like when some people are thinking about extending the capacity of their battery and think about adding an auxiliary battery, it makes very little difference. Then you'd have to have a good place to place the cold pad as well as put a cooler that would hold 10lbs of ice. Again not saying it wouldn't work but just not sure how much it would help and the cost of the ice and all around hassle :)
BTW I used one of those coolers for my knee replacement and while it worked well for my small knee, it's a lot less mass than a battery.

Good point. They make several sizes of these blankets but even the largest would struggle to adsorb that kind of heat for any length of time.

Maybe instead of ice, a heat exchanger could be mounted somewhere instead of the cooler?
 
I live in the desert southwest. Because it is dry here, evaporative cooling works great. I drip distilled water onto micro-fiber towels on top of the battery case. I use a small positive displacement chemical pump that has a capacity of 3 gallons a day. The pump only runs when the car is on. I have not perfected the system, but the cooling seems to be working great.
 
kmcmahan said:
I live in the desert southwest. Because it is dry here, evaporative cooling works great. I drip distilled water onto micro-fiber towels on top of the battery case. I use a small positive displacement chemical pump that has a capacity of 3 gallons a day. The pump only runs when the car is on. I have not perfected the system, but the cooling seems to be working great.

Very interesting;
How did you access the top battery case? Do you have any approximation of how much battery heat actually needs to be removed to drop, lets say, 5 oF (I measure via LeafSpy)?
I have sprayed water under the battery case on the concrete floor of my carport for evaporative cooling of the concrete itself. Even in Houston, TX, the concrete areas that are kept wet are 10-15 oF cooler than the surrounding areas - so some cooling likely takes place via radiant heat removal - just anecdotal however.
 
watchdoc said:
My son had ACL surgery a couple years ago and they sent him home with this cold therapy contraption that would keep his knee cool overnight. I wonder if one of these cooling blankets could be placed on top of the leaf battery pack and then when you take a long trip where you would be facing rapidgate, you simply add ice or cold packs to the cooler to absorb a bunch of the heat. What do you guys think?

https://www.uniquefit1.com/polar-pr...s2DsnXqj9ayRstxronBExfCUpfNoTnUIaAk2BEALw_wcB

Explain to me why your LEAF has enough clearance to do this while mine does not?

Also you do realize without "any" air circulation, the cooling effectiveness is greatly limited. The oft mentioned "air cooling" LEAF pack is a myth. No active cooling of any kind here.
 
Dave

I have often wondered if one could put a small fan inside the pack, that by itself would accelerate the rate of pack cooling enough to avoid much of the reported rapid gate (providing ambient was lower than pack temp) as it would push the air around against the walls of the pack allowing for better heat dispersion.
 
DougWantsALeaf said:
Dave

I have often wondered if one could put a small fan inside the pack, that by itself would accelerate the rate of pack cooling enough to avoid much of the reported rapid gate (providing ambient was lower than pack temp) as it would push the air around against the walls of the pack allowing for better heat dispersion.

A few have tried but there is no venting so the fan would be ineffective. What is also missing is channels between modules not to mention cells. Most EVs with active liquid cooling touch nearly every CELL. That isn't even possible in the LEAF.

Now the Kia Soul has air cooling with the vent in the hatch area but you basically need to ice up the cabin to make it work. I know someone who drove around all Summer long with a coat because his A/C was blasting away nearly all the time. He did do some monumental road trips when many many DC charges and had impressive results. He only had around 30 kwh usable so a lot of charging was just part of the game.

Personally, I think the temperature thing is overblown. Still not seeing much as far as definitive data but I still hold to the theory that Current and SOC management is more critical. Too many LEAFers in unrelenting heat are doing just fine.

Sure we have spectacular failures but also a LOT of misguided info about charging as well.

"Just plug it in"
"Nissan took away the 80% charge option because its not needed any more"
 
This is to answer some questions about my battery cooling setup. I attached the micro fiber towels with super magnets before putting the battery in the car. I also fabricated a drip system out of 1/4 soaker hose and tubing from home depot. I also attached these to the top of the battery before installing the battery. There is almost no clearance on top of the battery once it is installed, but there is enough. Check this out. Remove the covers to the battery disconnect. Now turn on your AC with the fan on high. Turn the recir off so that you are pulling in fresh air. Put your in the hole that was created when when you took the covers off. There is lots of air flow and probably in the most critical area, the rear stack. I will post more details and photos if anyone shows interest. Thanks Kevin
 
Please post some videos and leafspy data with the rate of cooling. Very curious.

When I drove back from Kansas t9 Chicsgo in November, with my low weight wheels I was able to take about 15-18F off of the battery during a drive at modest power (tail wind helped) pull. Not quite enough for a full QC, but enough to get it started in the 40s (KW) for half the charge before throttling. 5F more and I would been fine.
 
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