In brief: Hyundai and Kia describe a battery-cooling structure with two condensation surfaces instead of one. Application US20260331629A1, published on October 22, combines a pulsating heat pipe with an I-shaped heat-transfer member. The additional contact with coolant channels is intended to improve heat rejection. Without measurements, the size of any improvement remains unknown.
Evaporation in the middle, condensation on two sides
The vertical section of the heat-transfer member sits between battery cells. A working fluid absorbs heat and evaporates inside its embedded, closed pipe system. Horizontal condenser sections extend from the top and bottom. There, a separate coolant circuit cools the pipe system through interface materials. The working fluid condenses; repeated phase changes produce pulsating motion that transports heat.
The I-shaped cross-section increases available contact area compared with the described T-shaped version, which has only one condenser side. The applicants intend to avoid inadequate condensation under high heat loads. Description paragraphs [0048]–[0055] and Figure 3 explain this process. The internal motion does not replace the separate coolant circuit.
Structure and publication status
Claims 1–2 concern the heat-transfer member and its I-shaped configuration; claims 13–19 add battery cells, interface material and upper and lower coolant channels. The applicants are Hyundai Motor Company and Kia Corporation. US application 19/301,142 was filed on August 15, 2025, claiming Korean priority 10-2025-0049436 dated April 16, 2025.
The original title is “Battery Module Using a Battery Heat-Dissipation Device of a Pulsating Heat Pipe.” A1 identifies an application publication, not a grant. We could not independently confirm the current official prosecution status on October 24, 2026.
Pandorex View: A design proposal, not a charging record
Pulsating heat pipes for batteries have been studied for years. The specific application is new here. It includes no quantified cooling experiments, reduced charging times or evidence of fire prevention. Practical deployment would require examining startup behavior, installation orientation and long-term sealing, among other factors. Measurements from earlier research on other configurations do not demonstrate the performance of this design either.