JP2022173733A - Cell device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a cell device capable of improving housing strength with a simple configuration.SOLUTION: A cell device 1 includes a battery 10, a housing 20, and side plates 30. A plurality of batteries 10 are provided. The housing 20 has a tubular shape and has openings 21 at both ends in the extending direction Y of the housing 20, and the battery 10 is accommodated in a space 22 inside. The side plate 30 closes the opening 21 and seals the space 22. The space 22 of the housing 20 is configured to allow a coolant for cooling the battery 10 to circulate.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

The present invention relates to battery devices.

2. Description of the Related Art Conventionally, a battery device is used in which a plurality of batteries and a cooling mechanism for circulating a coolant for cooling the batteries are accommodated in a housing. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a configuration in which an evaporative cooling member and a compressor for pressure-feeding a refrigerant to the cooling member are provided inside a housing, and a plurality of batteries are arranged on the cooling member. ing.

Japanese Patent No. 6019212

On the other hand, if the power supply system receives an impact from the outside, there is a risk that the internal battery and cooling member will be damaged. In particular, moving media such as vehicles are more likely to receive external impacts. Therefore, in order to prevent damage to the battery or the like, it is required to increase the strength of the housing. However, in the configuration disclosed in Patent Document 1, if the thickness of the material forming the housing is increased in order to increase the strength of the housing, the weight of the housing increases and the manufacturing cost also increases, which is not preferable.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of such problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a battery device that has a simple structure and is capable of improving the housing strength.

One aspect of the present invention is a battery,
a housing having a cylindrical shape and having openings at both ends in the extending direction, and housing the battery in an inner space;
a side plate that closes the opening to seal the space;
with
The battery device is configured such that a coolant for cooling the battery flows through the space portion of the housing.

In the battery device described above, the battery is housed in a space within the cylindrically extending housing, so that the housing functions as a reinforcing member against impact in the extending direction. As a result, the strength in the extending direction can be improved, and damage to the internal battery or the like due to an external impact can be prevented. Further, the opening of the housing is closed by a side plate so that a coolant for cooling the battery is circulated in the space inside the housing. As a result, the pressure in the space inside the housing can be adjusted to allow the coolant to easily come into contact with the battery housed in the space, thereby achieving a high cooling effect. Since the sealing portions of the space are formed between the openings at both ends of the housing and the side plates, the sealing portions can be relatively reduced and the sealing structure can be simplified.

As described above, according to the above aspect, it is possible to provide a battery device with a simple structure and improved housing strength.

FIG. 2 is a conceptual perspective view showing an exploded state of the battery device according to the first embodiment; FIG. 2 is a conceptual perspective view showing a state in which the battery device is assembled according to the first embodiment; 1 is a conceptual top view showing the configuration of a power supply system including the battery device of Embodiment 1. FIG. FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of line IV-IV in FIG. 3 ; (a) Conceptual cross-sectional view of the power supply system at a position perpendicular to the extending direction of the housing in Modification 1, (b) Conceptual cross-section of the power supply system at a position perpendicular to the extending direction of the housing in Modification 2 figure. (a) Conceptual cross-sectional view of the battery device at a position perpendicular to the extending direction of the housing in Modified Embodiment 3, (b) Conceptual cross-sectional view of the battery device at a position perpendicular to the extending direction of the housing in Modified Embodiment 4 FIG. (c) is a conceptual cross-sectional view of the battery device at a position perpendicular to the extending direction of the housing in Modified Embodiment 5. FIG.

It is preferable that a cross-sectional shape of the housing perpendicular to the extending direction is an oval shape. In this case, deformation of the housing can be suppressed even when the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the housing is large.

The battery device is for a vehicle, and can be configured to be mounted on the vehicle with the extension direction of the housing parallel to the vehicle width direction of the vehicle. In this case, when the battery device is mounted on a vehicle, the strength of the battery device against a side collision, which is an impact from the vehicle width direction, is improved. As a result, it is possible to prevent the internal battery from being damaged by the side collision.

(Embodiment 1)
Embodiments of the battery device will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4. FIG.
As shown in FIG. 1 , the battery device 1 of this embodiment includes a battery 10 , a housing 20 and side plates 30 .
The housing 20 has a tubular shape and has openings 21 at both ends in the extending direction Y of the housing 20 , and accommodates the battery 10 in an inner space 22 .
The side plate 30 closes the opening 21 and seals the space 22, as shown in FIG.
A space 22 of the housing 20 is configured to allow a coolant for cooling the battery 10 to circulate.

The battery device 1 of this embodiment will be described in detail below.
As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the battery device 1 is equipped with a battery 10 . The battery 10 may be a battery module with multiple cells or a battery with a single cell. In this embodiment, the battery 10 includes two battery modules 10a. The number of batteries 10 (the number of battery modules 10a) is not limited, and may be one or three or more. As shown in FIG. 1, in the present embodiment, a battery module 10a includes a pair of end plates 12 positioned at both ends in the stacking direction by stacking a plurality of battery cells 11, and the battery cells 11 sandwich the pair of end plates 12. and a constraining plate 13 that constrains the The battery cells 11 are chargeable and dischargeable, and the battery module 10a constitutes a secondary battery. In the present embodiment, the stacking direction of the battery cells 11 coincides with the extension direction Y of the case described later, and the outer shape of the battery module 10a is aligned in the stacking direction of the battery cells 11 (that is, the extension direction Y). It is shaped like an elongated quadrangular prism. The two battery modules 10a are arranged in a housing 20 which will be described later.

As shown in FIG. 1, the housing 20 has a tubular shape and has openings 21 at both ends in the extending direction Y of the tubular shape. In this embodiment, the cross-sectional shape of the housing 20 perpendicular to the extending direction Y is not particularly limited, but may be an oval shape, a square shape, a circular shape, or a combination thereof. It has an oval shape. In this specification, an oval shape includes not only an elliptical shape and an oval shape, but also a rectangular shape in which opposing short sides and/or long sides are smoothly curved outward. In this embodiment, the cross-sectional shape of the housing 20 is constant from one end to the other end in the extending direction Y of the housing 20, and the openings 21 are also oval-shaped. It has become. The length of the housing 20 in the extending direction Y can be appropriately set according to the length of the battery 10 housed in the space 22 described later.

As shown in FIG. 1, a space 22 is formed inside the housing 20 . Battery 10 is housed in space 22 . In this embodiment, two battery modules 10a as the batteries 10 are arranged in the space 22 with their short sides aligned so that the stacking directions Y of the respective battery cells 11 are parallel.

Although the material of the housing 20 is not limited, it can be made of metal in consideration of strength and moldability. In this embodiment, an aluminum alloy is used as the material of the housing 20 . The molding method of the housing 20 is also not limited, and extrusion molding, casting, forging, press working, cutting, etc. can be adopted. In this embodiment, since the housing 20 is cylindrical, it can be easily molded with high accuracy by extrusion molding.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, side plates 30 are attached to both ends of the housing 20 in the extending direction Y. As shown in FIGS. The side plate 30 has a plate shape. The outer shape of the side plate 30 is similar to the shape of both ends in the extending direction Y of the housing 20 provided with the opening 21, and has an oval shape in this embodiment. The side plate 30 has a coolant flow hole 31 and a harness hole 32 through which a harness (not shown) connected to the battery 10 is inserted. Both the coolant flow hole 31 and the harness hole 32 are through holes penetrating through the side plate 30 in the thickness direction.

As shown in FIG. 2 , the side plates 30 are joined to both ends of the casing 20 in the extending direction Y to close the opening 21 with the batteries 10 arranged in the space 22 . A joint portion between the side plate 30 and the housing 20 is formed over the entire circumferential direction. In this embodiment, the side plate 30 and the housing 20 are joined by welding. Although not shown, the refrigerant circulation hole 31 and the harness hole 32 are sealed by a sealing member (not shown) in a state in which the cooling pipe 40 is connected to the refrigerant circulation hole 31 and the harness is inserted through the harness hole 32 . As a result, the sealing performance of the space 22 is maintained with the battery 10 arranged. Although the material of the side plate 30 is not limited, the same material as that of the housing 20 can be adopted.

In this embodiment, as shown in FIG. 3 , a plurality of battery devices 1 are connected by cooling pipes 40 and harnesses (not shown) to form a power supply system 100 . In the power supply system 100, four battery devices 1 are arranged on the same plane as shown in FIG. It is Note that the direction in which the plurality of battery devices 1 are arranged is defined as X, and the direction perpendicular to the extension direction Y and the direction X is defined as thickness direction Z. As shown in FIG. A cooling pipe 40 is connected to each of the coolant flow holes 31 of the battery device 1 . The cooling pipe 40 has a tubular shape, and a coolant can be circulated inside. Although not shown, the cooling pipe 40 includes, on the left side of the paper surface of FIG. It has a battery management unit that controls the operation of 10. Then, the pressure in the space 22 can be adjusted by the compressor. An accumulator or the like for accumulating the pressure of the refrigerant may be provided.

In this embodiment, the power supply system 100 shown in FIG. 3 is mounted on a vehicle (not shown). In the power supply system 100, the battery device 1 is installed so that the extending direction Y is parallel to the width direction of the vehicle (not shown). Alternatively, the battery device 1 may be installed so that the extending direction Y is orthogonal to the width direction of the vehicle (not shown).

Next, the effects of the battery device 1 of this embodiment will be described in detail.
In the battery device 1 of the present embodiment, the battery 10 is housed in the space 22 in the housing 20 extending in the extension direction Y, so that the housing 20 serves as a reinforcing member against impact in the extension direction Y. Function. As a result, the strength in the extending direction Y can be improved, and damage to the internal battery 10 and the like due to an external impact can be prevented. Further, the opening 21 of the housing 20 is closed by the side plate 30 so that the cooling medium for cooling the battery 10 is circulated in the space 22 inside the housing 20 . As a result, the pressure in the space 22 inside the housing 20 can be adjusted so that the coolant can easily come into contact with the battery housed in the space 22, thereby achieving a high cooling effect. Since the sealing portion of the space 22 is formed between the openings 21 at both ends of the housing 20 and the side plates 30, the sealing portion can be relatively reduced and the sealing structure can be simplified. can be done.

Further, in this embodiment, the shape of the cross section of the housing 20 perpendicular to the extending direction Y is an oval shape. Thereby, deformation of the housing 20 can be suppressed even when the pressure difference between the inside and outside of the housing 20 is large.

Further, in the present embodiment, the battery device 1 is for a vehicle, and is mounted on the vehicle with the extending direction Y of the housing 20 parallel to the width direction of the vehicle. As a result, when the battery device 1 is mounted on a vehicle, the strength of the battery device 1 against a side collision, which is an impact from the vehicle width direction, is improved. As a result, it is possible to prevent the internal battery 10 from being damaged by the side collision.

As described above, according to the above-described aspect, it is possible to provide a battery device with a simple structure and improved housing strength.

In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, the four battery devices 1 are arranged on the same plane along the direction X when viewed from the extending direction Y of the battery device 1. . Alternatively, the three battery devices 1 may be arranged side by side in the X direction on the same plane as in Modified Embodiment 1 shown in FIG. 5(a).

5(b), the four battery devices 1 are aligned along the alignment direction X on the same plane, and the thickness of the battery device 1 located at one end of the alignment direction X is A battery device 1 may be further arranged on the vertical direction Z. The arrangement and the number of battery devices 1 used are not limited to those of Embodiment 1 and Modified Embodiments 1 and 2, and the type of vehicle in which the power supply system 100 including the battery device 1 is installed and the size of the installation location of the device may vary. It can be appropriately changed according to the shape of the sheath installation place.

In the first embodiment, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, in the battery device 1, the battery 10 is a battery module 10a formed by stacking the battery cells 11, and the two battery modules 10a are arranged in the X direction. , and housed in the housing 20 . Instead of this, in the battery device 1, the battery module 10a may be housed alone in the housing 20, as in Modified Embodiment 3 shown in FIG. 6(a).

Alternatively, as in Modified Mode 4 shown in FIG. 6B, battery module 10a in which battery cells 11 are stacked in the X direction may be housed in housing 20 . Further, as in Modified Mode 5 shown in FIG. 6(c), a columnar dry battery type battery module 10a may be accommodated in the housing 20. As shown in FIG. Note that the shape and size of the housing 20 can be appropriately changed according to the shape of the battery 10 housed in the housing 20 .

The present invention is not limited to the above embodiments and modifications, and can be applied to various embodiments without departing from the scope of the invention.

Reference Signs List 1 battery device 100 power supply system 10 battery 20 housing 22 space 30 side plate 40 cooling pipe

Claims (3)

a battery;
a housing having a cylindrical shape and having openings at both ends in the extending direction, and housing the battery in an inner space;
a side plate that closes the opening to seal the space;
with
A battery device, wherein a coolant for cooling the battery is circulated in the space of the housing. 2. The battery device according to claim 1, wherein the housing has an oval cross section perpendicular to the extending direction. 3. The battery device according to claim 1, wherein the battery device is for a vehicle, and is configured to be mounted on the vehicle with the extending direction of the housing parallel to the vehicle width direction of the vehicle. battery device.

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