US Patent 9306247 Method of detecting battery pack damage

A method is provided for detecting when a vehicle mounted battery pack is damaged from an impact with a piece of road debris or other obstacle. Positioned within the battery pack is a plurality of deformable cooling conduits located between the lower surface of the batteries within the battery pack and the lower battery pack enclosure panel. One or more sensors are incorporated into the cooling conduits which monitor coolant flow rate or pressure. When the cooling conduits deform, a change in coolant flow/pressure occurs that is detected by the sensors integrated into the conduit's coolant channels. A system controller, coupled to a sensor monitoring subsystem, may provide any of a variety of responses when cooling conduit deformation is detected.