JP2018137193A - Battery pack - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To solve such a problem that, in the conventional pack structures, secondary batteries and a control board are configured as an all-in-one unit, but miniaturization for an improvement in mountability to a vehicle or the like is not particularly taken into account.SOLUTION: A battery pack includes, as one example, a battery group including a plurality of storage batteries stacked therein, a block member arranged to one end of the battery group, and a control board having a connector on one side surface and controlling charge/discharge of the battery group. In the battery pack, the block member has a recess, and the control board faces the block member so that the connector is received in the recess.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 7

Description

  The present invention relates to a battery pack used for in-vehicle use.

  Conventionally, in the field of rechargeable secondary batteries, aqueous batteries such as lead batteries, nickel-cadmium batteries, and nickel-hydrogen batteries have been mainstream. However, as electric devices have become smaller and lighter, lithium secondary batteries having high energy density have attracted attention, and their research, development, and commercialization have been promoted rapidly.

  On the other hand, electric vehicles (EV) and hybrid electric vehicles (HEV) that assist part of driving with electric motors have been developed by each automobile manufacturer due to global warming and depleted fuel problems. Secondary batteries have been demanded. As a power source that meets such requirements, a non-aqueous lithium secondary battery having a high voltage has attracted attention. In particular, since the prismatic lithium secondary battery is excellent in volumetric efficiency when packed, the expectation for development of the prismatic lithium secondary battery for HEV or EV is increasing.

  Simplify handling by assembling a cell control unit with a secondary battery voltage detection function, voltage control function, or detection signal and control signal input / output function in a module case containing a large number of secondary batteries. In addition, a battery device for mounting on a moving body has been proposed in which reliability is improved. (Patent Document 1)

JP 2000-228178 A

  In recent automobiles, the battery pack is required to be as small as possible in order to improve the mountability. The pack structure (battery device structure) disclosed in Patent Document 1 includes a large number of secondary batteries and cell controllers as an all-in-one unit. However, this pack structure is not considered to be downsized. Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide a battery pack that is turned and downsized.

  In order to solve the above problems, for example, the configuration described in the claims is adopted.

  The present application includes a plurality of means for solving the above-described problems. To give an example, a battery group in which a plurality of storage batteries are stacked, a block member disposed at one end of the battery group, and a surface on one side. And a control board for controlling charging / discharging of the battery group, the block member has a recess, and the control board is configured so that the connector is accommodated in the recess. A battery pack that faces the block member.

  According to the present invention, by storing the side having the connector of the control board in the concave portion of the block member disposed at one end of the battery group in which a plurality of storage batteries are stacked, the battery pack can be reduced in height and size.

The external appearance perspective view of a battery pack. The exploded perspective view of a battery pack. The exploded perspective view of the battery pack seen from the opposite direction of FIG. The perspective view of a side plate. The perspective view which shows the structure of a terminal block. The perspective view seen from the opposite direction of FIG. The perspective view seen from the back side of FIG. The perspective view which shows the structure of a contactor box. The perspective view seen from the back side of FIG. The figure which showed the flow path formed with a side plate and a case main body. The figure which showed the circulation path | route of the refrigerant | coolant circulated by a fan. The perspective view which shows the contactor box in 2nd Embodiment. The perspective view which shows the contactor box seen from the back side direction of FIG. The figure which showed the circulation path | route of the refrigerant | coolant circulated by the fan in 2nd Embodiment. The figure which shows the controller 12

  Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1
FIG. 1 is an external perspective view as an embodiment of a battery pack. The battery pack 1 includes a case composed of a case main body 2 and an upper cover 3. HV terminals 21 and 81 are provided at both longitudinal ends of the upper surface of the battery pack 1. The HV terminals 21 and 81 are external terminals, and the battery pack 1 is connected to the HV terminals 21 and 81 to supply power to the electric vehicle, the hybrid electric vehicle, or the electric device. In the present embodiment, the HV terminal 21 is the (−) side and the HV terminal 81 is the (+) side.

  A signal connector 4 is disposed on the side surface of the battery pack 1. The signal connector 4 is a signal connector for the controller of the battery pack 1 and is connected to the controller on the vehicle side to receive information exchange and power supply.

  FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of the battery pack 1 shown in FIG. In the following, when using the terms up / down / left / right / front / rear, follow the direction shown in the lower left of the figure. The case body 2 is a box-shaped member having a bottom 2a and having an upper opening. One end side of a region in which the case body 2 accommodates a plurality of prismatic secondary batteries 5 and end plates 7 that pressurize partition members 6 interposed between adjacent prismatic secondary batteries 5 from both ends in the stacking direction. The contactor box 8 is accommodated on the (rear side). A terminal block 9 is arranged at the end (front side) opposite to the stacking direction of the rectangular secondary battery 5 of the contactor box 8. Side plates 10 are arranged on both sides of the short side surface of the prismatic secondary battery group. Further, a bus bar case 11 is disposed on the upper upper cover 3 side of the square secondary battery group.

  The square secondary battery is, for example, a lithium ion secondary battery. In the prismatic secondary battery 5, a power generation element (not shown) is accommodated in a battery container formed by joining a battery can 52 and a battery lid 51, and a non-aqueous electrolyte is injected. A positive external terminal 53 is provided near one end of the battery lid 51 in the width direction (front-rear direction), and a negative external terminal 54 is provided near the other end. The positive and negative external terminals 53 and 54 are connected to the positive and negative electrodes of the power generation element, respectively. The positive / negative external terminals 53 and 54 protrude upward from the flat upper surface of the battery lid 51.

  The prismatic secondary battery 5 has a bottom surface opposite to the battery lid 51, a large area front and back surfaces facing in the left-right direction, and a pair of small side surfaces facing in the front-rear direction. The prismatic secondary battery 5 is arranged in a straight line so that the front and back surfaces are opposed and the positive external terminal 53 and the negative external terminal 54 are alternately arranged on the opposite side.

  A partition member 6 is disposed between the square secondary batteries 5 to constitute a battery module 1R. The partition member 6 is also disposed on the left side of the square secondary battery 5 on one end side (rear side) and on the right side (front and rear ends in the arrangement direction) of the square secondary battery 5 on the right end side. The partition member 6 has a plate shape and is formed of a resin such as PBT (polybutylene terephthalate).

  A plurality of prismatic secondary batteries 5 are arranged in one direction. At this time, the prismatic secondary battery 5 is disposed between a pair of end plates 7 that are spaced apart from each other so that the wide surfaces of the prismatic secondary battery 5 face each other. The pair of end plates 7 are arranged so as to be in surface contact with the outermost partition plate 6 and pressurize the plurality of prismatic secondary batteries 5 inward. At this time, the side plates 10 are fastened to the pair of end plates 7 in order to keep the plurality of prismatic secondary batteries 5 in a pressurized state. At this time, the main body of the side plate 10 is in contact with the short side surface of the rectangular secondary battery.

  FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of the battery pack 1 viewed from the opposite direction of FIG. As shown in the figure, the terminal block 9 accommodates the controller 12 (control board 12) with the communication connector 12a, the main relay drive connector 12b, and the voltage detection connector 12c arranged on the surface. It is integrated with the terminal block 9. With such a structure, the thickness of the connector disposed in the controller 12 can be suppressed, and the battery pack 1 can be prevented from being enlarged in the front-rear direction. Further, as will be described later, since the terminal block 9 has a structure with a built-in fan 22, the thickness of the fan 22 can be suppressed, and further, the battery pack 1 can be prevented from being enlarged in the front-rear direction. It becomes. The detailed structure of the controller 12 will be described in detail with reference to FIG.

  Next, the side plate 4 will be described. FIG. 4 is a perspective view of the side plate. The side plate 10 has an L-shape and is bent from the main body 10a that is in contact with the short side surface of the prismatic secondary battery 5 and the fixed portion 10b that is bent from the main body and fixed to the case, and the main body. The fastening portion 10c is fastened to the end plate 7. The side plate fastening portion 10c is provided with a bolt insertion hole 10d, which is fastened to the fastening portion of the end plate 7 by a bolt. The fixing portion 10b of the side plate 10 is provided with a bolt insertion hole 10e. The battery module 1R is fixed to the case main body 2 by being fastened to the case main body 2 with bolts 13. That is, since the side plate 10 made of metal is in direct contact with the side surface of the battery module 1R and the side plate 10 is in direct contact with the case body 2, the heat of the rectangular secondary battery 5 is transferred to the case. The number of paths that flow through the main body 2 increases. Therefore, by using such a structure, cooling of the battery module 1R is further promoted.

  Next, the terminal block 9 that is a characteristic part of the present invention will be described. A perspective view of the terminal block 9 is shown in FIGS. 5 and 6 are views of the terminal block viewed from the side where the controller 12 is not disposed, and FIG. 7 is a view of the terminal block 9 viewed from the side where the controller 12 is disposed. The terminal block 9 includes a (−) side HV terminal 21, a fan 22, and a controller 12. The fan 22 is accommodated in a space provided in the lower center of the terminal block 9. On the other hand, in the controller 12, the communication connector 12a, the main relay drive connector 12b, and the voltage detection connector 12c are connected by solder. The controller 12 has a shunt resistor 12d fixed on the control board with screws. The controller 12 is attached so that the connector is housed in the terminal block recess 9a provided in the terminal block 9 on the side having the connector, and is attached to the surface of the terminal block opposite to the battery module by bolts. The controller 12 is electrically connected to the inter-cell bus bar to which the square secondary battery 5 is connected, and measures and monitors the voltage of each square secondary battery 5. The inter-cell bus bar is joined by welding or the like to the positive electrode external terminal 53 of one square secondary battery 5 and the negative electrode external terminal 54 of the other square secondary battery 5 adjacent to each other in the stacking direction of the square secondary battery. All the square secondary batteries 5 constituting the module 1R are connected in series. A circuit for monitoring and controlling the entire battery pack 1 is mounted on the controller 12.

  The terminal block 9 is provided with a partition plate 24 and a protruding portion 25. The partition plate 24 closes the gap between the case body 2 and the protrusion 25 is provided to close the gap between the battery module 1R. The terminal block 9 is provided with an opening 26. The refrigerant sucked by the fan 22 moves to the flow path side formed by the side plate fixing portion 10b and the case body 2 through the opening 26.

  Here, the controller 12 will be described in detail with reference to FIG. As described above, the controller 12 is provided with the communication connector 12a, the main relay drive connector 12b, and the voltage detection connector 12c. The communication connector 12a and the main relay drive connector 12b are low-power connectors, and the voltage detection connector 12c is a high-power connector. For this reason, in this embodiment, the weak electrical connector is divided on the left side of the controller 12 and the high electrical connector is divided on the right side of the controller 12. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to suppress noise from the strong electrical connector to the weak electrical connector. In this embodiment, the controller 12 is divided into the right side and the left side, but is not limited to the right side. If the controller 12 can be arranged separately on a pair of opposing sides, an effect of suppressing noise from entering the weak electric system can be obtained. In the present embodiment, the number of connectors is three. However, considering the downsizing in the front-rear direction, the number of connectors provided in the controller 12 is one or two, and more. It may be.

  Further, in this embodiment, a shunt resistor 12d is provided on the upper side of the controller 12. By adopting such a configuration, the shunt resistor 12d is positioned close to the terminal of the square secondary battery, and the bus bar wiring can be simplified and shortened.

  Next, perspective views of the contactor box 8 are shown in FIGS. FIG. 8 is a view of the contactor box 8 as seen from the front, and FIG. 9 is a view of the contactor box 8 as seen from the rear. The contactor box 8 is provided with a (+) side HV terminal 81, a fuse 82 and a relay 83. Thus, by storing the fuse 82 and the relay 83 in the contactor box 8, it becomes possible to attach to the case main body 2 collectively, and workability | operativity improves. In addition, as shown in FIG. 9, the contactor box 8 is thinned and the weight is reduced.

  Next, the flow channel structure of the present invention will be described. A flow path formed by the side plate 10 and the case body is shown in FIG. The fixing portion 10 b is fixed to the case body 2 with bolts 13 in a state where the short side surface of the rectangular secondary battery 5 is in contact with the side plate 10. A left channel 14a and a right channel 14b through which a coolant flows can be formed on the main body 10a and the fixed part 10b of the side plate 10 and the side surface of the case. The left channel 14a is closed in the depth direction of the drawing by the partition plate 24 of the terminal block 9. Therefore, since air flows through the fan 22 without leakage, the cooling efficiency of the battery module 1R is improved.

  The battery pack 1 of the present invention is a system in which air circulates in a space formed by a case main body 2 and an upper cover 3. FIG. 11 shows a circulation path of the refrigerant circulated by the fan 22. As shown in FIG. 11, the cooling flow path of the present invention is classified into several flow paths. Specifically, the flow path 14 (14a, 14b) formed by the side plate 10 and the case body 2, the flow path from the partition plate of the terminal block 9 to the protruding portion 25 of the terminal block 9, A flow path 15a provided between the base 9 and the end plate 7, a flow path 15b connected to the fan 22 inside the terminal base 9, a flow path 16 formed by the contactor box 8 and the end plate 7, a contactor box 8 is a flow path 17 formed between the case body 2 and the case body 2. A refrigerant is circulated in these flow paths using a fan 22. The heat transferred from the short side surface of the rectangular secondary battery 5 to the side plate is transferred to the circulating refrigerant. One of the features of the present invention is a structure in which the refrigerant is applied to the side plate 10 to remove heat from the side plate 10 instead of flowing the refrigerant between the rectangular secondary batteries 5. With such a structure, the temperature of the refrigerant in the case becomes uniform, so that the side plate 10 can be efficiently cooled. Since the side plate 10 is fixed to the case body 2, the heat transmitted from the short side surface of the rectangular secondary battery 5 to the side plate 10 is transmitted to the case body 2. Since the side plate 10 is cooled by transferring heat to the case body 2, the prismatic secondary battery can be cooled.

    Further, when a current flows through the relay 83 disposed in the contactor box 8, the temperature of the relay rises due to heat generation. Since the refrigerant circulated by the fan flows on both sides of the contactor box 8, the relay 83 can be cooled. Further, in terms of one of the features of the present invention, the flow path 15 b connected to the fan 22 is provided inside the terminal block 9. The fan 22 draws the refrigerant into the flow path 15 b inside the terminal block 9. At this time, since the controller 12 is disposed so as to face the fan 22 and the terminal block 9, sufficient cooling is possible even if the electronic components of the controller 12 generate heat. In the present embodiment, the terminal block 9 is interposed between the fan 22 and the controller 12. However, the fan 22 and the controller 22 may communicate with each other without the member of the terminal block 9 interposed therebetween. . In the case of such a structure, cooling of the controller 12 is further promoted.

  In the present invention, the controller 12 is accommodated using the thickness of the terminal block 9, but another block member accommodated in the battery pack (the end plate 7 in the case of a battery pack without the terminal block 9). Etc.) may be used for storing the controller 12. Even if it is a case where it is such a structure, it becomes possible to make the battery pack 1 small in the front-back direction.

  The present invention will be briefly described above. In the present invention, a controller that has been disposed on the terminal side (upper surface side) of the square secondary battery 5 in order to increase the efficiency of connection of the voltage detection line is brought to the side surface side of the square secondary battery 5 in the present invention. The point which miniaturized the battery pack 1 to the up-down direction is excellent. On the other hand, simply bringing the controller 12 to the side surface of the square secondary battery 5 makes it difficult to connect the voltage detection line and other wiring to the controller 12, and therefore the connector (12a, 12b, 12c) is connected to the controller 12. However, there is a problem that the controller 12 becomes thick accordingly. Therefore, the battery pack 1 according to the present invention includes a battery group (1R) in which a plurality of storage batteries (5) are stacked, a block member (7, 9) disposed at one end of the battery group (1R), and one side. And a control board (12) for controlling charging / discharging of the battery group (1R), and the block members (7, 9) have recesses (9a). The control board (12) faces the block members (7, 9) so that the connectors (12a, 12b, 12c) are accommodated in the recesses (9a). By adopting such a configuration, the connector (12a, 12b, 12c) of the controller 12 can be accommodated in a member (terminal block 9 or end plate 7) that originally requires a thickness to be compact, and the battery pack 1 can be The size can be reduced in the direction and the front-rear direction.

  Moreover, the block member of this invention is a terminal block (9) by which the terminal is arrange | positioned. Since it is necessary to press the end plate 7 with a certain amount of force, the terminal block 9 which does not apply such a large force has less influence on the substrate and improves the yield.

  In the battery pack according to the present invention, the control board (12) has two connectors (12a, 12c), and one connector (12c) is connected to a member having a higher voltage than the other connector (12a). The control board (12) is arranged such that one connector (12c) is arranged on one side of the battery group (1R) and the other connector (12a) is arranged on the other side of the battery group (1R). Provided. By adopting such a configuration, it is possible to separate the weak electric system wiring from the high electric system wiring, and to reduce the influence of the noise of the weak electric system wiring due to the strong electric system wiring. Further, by arranging the weak electric system wiring and the strong electric system wiring in the left and right direction of the controller 12, wiring work can be performed in the flow paths 14a and 14b having a certain amount of space, so that workability is improved.

  The control board (12) according to the present invention has a shunt resistor (12d), and the shunt resistor (12d) is provided on the control board (12) so as to be arranged on the upper surface side of the battery group (1R). It is done. By adopting such a configuration, the shunt resistor 12d is positioned close to the terminal of the square secondary battery, and the bus bar wiring can be simplified and shortened.

  The terminal block (9) according to the present invention has a fan (22) built therein, and further has a flow path (15d) for the fan (22) inside the terminal block (9). With such a configuration, even if the electronic components of the controller 12 generate heat, sufficient cooling is possible.

<< Embodiment 2 >>
Next, a second embodiment will be described. The present embodiment is largely different from the first embodiment in that the cooling flow path on the rear side of the contactor box 8 is eliminated. With such a structure, it is possible to prevent the temperature of the refrigerant from rising and cool the controller 12 more efficiently.

  A second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 12 is a view of the contact box 8 as seen from the front side, and FIG. 13 is a view of the contactor box 8 as seen from the back side. In this embodiment, two partition plates 84 and 85 are provided in the contactor box 8 in order to eliminate the cooling flow path behind the contactor box 8. More specifically, partition plates 84 and 85 were installed on both sides in the width direction of the contactor box 8 toward the case body 2 side. The partition plates 84 and 85 become walls between the flow paths 14 a and 14 b and the flow path 17 in the first embodiment, so that the refrigerant cannot pass through the rear side of the contactor box 8. Therefore, the pressure loss of the entire flow path is reduced, and the square secondary battery 5 can be cooled more effectively by the controller 12.

  FIG. 14 is a view showing a cooling flow path according to the present embodiment. The flow path of the present embodiment is basically the same as that of the first embodiment, but is described in the first embodiment by the right partition plate 84 and the left partition plate 85 provided in the contactor box 8. The flow path connected to the flow path 17 is blocked. Therefore, the refrigerant by the fan 22 circulates through the flow paths 14, 15, and 16 around the battery module 1R, and the prismatic secondary battery 5 can be cooled more efficiently.

The present embodiment will be briefly summarized above. In the battery pack described in the present embodiment, a contactor box (8) is disposed on the other end side of the battery group (1R), and a flow path is disposed between the contactor box (8) and the battery group (1R). The Furthermore, the right-side partition plate 84 and the left-side partition plate 85 provided in the contactor box 8 are configured to block the flow path connected to the flow path 17 described in the first embodiment. By adopting such a structure, the pressure loss of the flow path is reduced, and the refrigerant can cool the square secondary battery 5 more efficiently by the refrigerant.
Although the embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiments, and various designs can be made without departing from the spirit of the present invention described in the claims. It can be changed. For example, the above-described embodiment has been described in detail for easy understanding of the present invention, and is not necessarily limited to one having all the configurations described. Further, a part of the configuration of an embodiment can be replaced with the configuration of another embodiment, and the configuration of another embodiment can be added to the configuration of an embodiment. Furthermore, it is possible to add, delete, and replace other configurations for a part of the configuration of each embodiment.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Battery pack 2 Case main body 3 Top cover 5 Rectangular secondary battery 8 Contactor box 9 Terminal block 9a Terminal block recessed part
10 Side plate 12 Controller 12a Communication connector 12b Main relay drive connector 12c Voltage detection connector 12d Shunt resistor 14, 15, 16, 17 Channel 21 HV terminal (−) side (external terminal)
22 Fan 24 Partition 25 Projection 81 HV terminal (+) side (external terminal)

Claims (5)

A battery group in which a plurality of storage batteries are stacked;
In the battery pack comprising: a block member disposed at one end of the battery group; and a control board having a connector on one surface and controlling charging / discharging of the battery group, the block member has a recess. And the said control board faces the said block member so that the said connector may be accommodated in the said recessed part, The battery pack characterized by the above-mentioned.   The battery pack according to claim 1, wherein the block member is a terminal block on which terminals are arranged.   The battery pack according to claim 2, wherein the control board has two connectors, one connector is connected to a member having a higher voltage than the other connector, and the one connector is one side surface of the battery group. The battery pack, wherein the other connector is provided on the control board so as to be disposed on the other side surface side of the battery group.   4. The battery pack according to claim 1, wherein the control board has a shunt resistor, and the shunt resistor is provided on the control board so as to be disposed on an upper surface side of the battery group. 5. Battery pack featuring.   5. The battery pack according to claim 2, wherein a fan is built in the terminal block, and a flow path of the fan 22 is further provided.

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