Patent ID: 7651811

Claim:
A thermal management system for cooling of a high-capacity battery including a longitudinally extending top face having terminals thereon, said thermal management system comprising a plate member overlying the entire top face of the battery and parallelly aligned with said top face to form a gap therebetween, the gap at an outer side edge thereof defining a gap opening extending continuously along the full longitudinal extent of said top face, between the plate member and the top face of the battery, with said gap opening communicating with an ambient environment of the thermal management system, said plate member including at least one opening therein, wherein each plate member opening has a cylindrical collar disposed therein, with a fan mounted in the collar to effect down-flow of air drawn from the ambient environment onto the high-capacity battery during at least one of (a) fast charging of the battery, and (b) use of the battery generating heat, so that the air contacting the top face of the battery flows laterally outwardly across the top face of the battery and is laterally discharged through said gap opening into the ambient environment.