Q: how to access battery cooling fan

I assume you mean something like what @alanclarkeau showed in the pictures in his first post in this thread. That's normal.

 

Yes, that white one on the right, before the 'mouse-wheel' fan...
Being normal... Does it not have any maintenance or cleaning procedure?

 

Does air even pass through that? Maybe a sound-deadener?

 

I'd like to know what that is

 

Its for sound deadning

 

The 'v' looks nothing like the H/B shown, but here's a YouTube

If you have to remove the fan to clean, this is a little more in-depth

 

If you really want a tool to remove those pop-up fasteners, Amazon sells one for a few dollars.