KR101281036B1 - Secondary battery cooling apparatus with enhanced cooling efficiency and secondary battery system having the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The secondary battery cooling apparatus of the present invention is a secondary battery cooling apparatus for cooling secondary battery cells in a secondary battery module formed by accommodating a plurality of secondary battery cells each having a protruding positive and negative electrode tabs in parallel with each other. A plurality of partial heat absorbing plates in close contact with only portions of at least one of the positive electrode tab and the negative electrode tab protruding from each of the secondary battery cells of the secondary battery cell; And a common cooling member connected in common with the secondary battery cells of the plurality of partial heat absorbing plates and the far end, and having a cooling medium flow path through which the cooling medium flows. According to the present invention, the partial heat absorbing plate is formed in close contact with only the electrode tab periphery, which is the site where heat is generated the most, thereby selectively cooling the periphery of the electrode tab with the greatest amount of heat generation and maximizing rapid cooling and cooling efficiency.

Description

Secondary battery cooling apparatus with enhanced cooling efficiency and secondary battery system having the same}

The present invention relates to a cooling device for a secondary battery used as an energy supply source for a vehicle or a house, and a secondary battery system having the same.

In addition to the primary advantages of the secondary battery, the charging and discharging can be repeated continuously by electrochemical reactions between components including an electrode current collector, a separator, an active material, an electrolyte, and the like, thereby dramatically reducing the use of fossil fuels. It is attracting attention as a new source of energy for improving eco-friendliness and energy efficiency in that no by-products are generated. In particular, with the development of high capacity lithium secondary batteries, such secondary batteries are commonly applied to electric vehicles (EVs) or hybrid vehicles (HVs), which are driven by electric driving sources as well as portable devices.

In addition, recently, the issue of depletion of energy resources by fossil fuels, the issue of environmental pollution, the economics of energy use, etc. have been highlighted, effectively overcoming inconsistencies between power consumption and power production, In order to solve the overload phenomenon caused by waste and lack of power supply, the concept of a smart grid system that flexibly adjusts the power supply in connection with various information communication infrastructures is being actively researched.

In other words, in the smart grid system, when the power consumption is low, the power is stored, and when the power consumption is high, the infrastructure has such an electric power supply to the consumer along with the generated power.

A medium for storing power produced in such a smart grid system should be utilized. In this case, a secondary battery pack, which is a collection of a plurality of secondary batteries, functions as a main element for storing power. Such a power storage system can be used not only in a smart grid system but also in many other fields. For example, since a large amount of electric power needs to be stored in an electric vehicle charging station that supplies charging power to an electric vehicle, a power storage system can be used here, and can also be used as an energy supply source for a house.

The secondary battery pack constituting such a power storage system is a large number of secondary batteries are assembled in a variety of structures (for example, a stack of secondary battery packs stacked in a vertical structure, etc.) to form a large capacity system, In the secondary battery, the charging or discharging occurs repeatedly repeatedly by an internal electrochemical reaction, and the charging and discharging process inevitably involves heat generation. Thus, when the secondary battery becomes high in capacity, the heat generation due to the charge and discharge increases dramatically. .

Such heat generation may cause inherent damage (damage) to the secondary battery causing the electrochemical reaction, which may result in deterioration of performance, and may cause ancillary problems that cannot guarantee the life of the secondary battery and explode due to heat generation. It is known to be a fatal weakness in safety, such as a phenomenon.

Therefore, there is a need for a device for cooling the heat generated by the operation of the secondary battery, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2005-78970, Korean Patent Registration No. 10-0534730, Japanese Patent Publication No. 2008-159440, Korean Patent Publication No. 2007 -14658 and the like disclose an apparatus or method for cooling such a secondary battery.

However, such a conventional cooling device or method uses various means and methods to cool the secondary battery, but its cooling efficiency is not satisfactory yet, and there is a demand for a cooling device capable of cooling the secondary battery with rapid and high efficiency. Is still going on.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made in view of the above background, and an object thereof is to provide a secondary battery cooling device capable of cooling the heat generated by the operation of a secondary battery quickly and with high efficiency.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a secondary battery system having a cooling device of a secondary battery having improved cooling efficiency.

Objects and advantages according to the invention will be described below and will be appreciated by the embodiments of the invention. Further, the objects and advantages of the present invention can be realized by a combination of the constitution and the constitution shown in the claims.

A secondary battery cooling apparatus of the present invention for achieving the above object, the secondary battery for cooling the secondary battery cells in a secondary battery module formed by receiving a plurality of secondary battery cells each having a protruding positive electrode tab and negative electrode tab in parallel with each other. A cooling device for a battery, comprising: a plurality of partial heat absorbing plates in close contact with a portion where at least one of the positive electrode tab and the negative electrode tab protrudes from a surface of a secondary battery cell with respect to each of the plurality of secondary battery cells; And a common cooling member connected to an end portion far from the secondary battery cells of the plurality of partial heat absorbing plates, and having a cooling medium flow path through which a cooling medium flows.

Here, the plurality of secondary battery cells may have a rectangular plate shape, and the positive electrode tab and the negative electrode tab may protrude toward one side of the rectangle, and in this case, each of the plurality of partial heat absorbing plates may include the secondary battery cell. The positive electrode tab and the negative electrode tab of the surface of the may be in close contact with the protruding side.

In addition, the plurality of secondary battery cells may have a rectangular plate shape, and the positive electrode tab and the negative electrode tab may protrude from two opposite sides of the rectangle, and in this case, each of the plurality of partial heat absorbing plates may include Among the surfaces of the secondary battery cell, the positive electrode tab and the negative electrode tab may be in close contact with each other protruding and may be connected to the common cooling member outside of one side positioned between two opposite sides of the rectangle.

A secondary battery system according to another aspect of the present invention is a secondary battery system formed by stacking or arranging a plurality of secondary battery modules. Each of the plurality of secondary battery modules includes a secondary battery cooling device as described above. A common cooling member provided in each of the plurality of secondary battery modules is connected to each other to form a closed loop so that the cooling medium can be circulated through the cooling medium flow path, and a pump for forcibly circulating the cooling medium on the closed loop. Is installed.

Preferably, the secondary battery system includes a heat dissipation fin formed at a portion where the common cooling member is exposed to the outside air, and further includes a cooling fan for supplying external air toward the heat dissipation fin.

According to the secondary battery cooling apparatus and the secondary battery system according to the present invention, the partial heat absorbing plate is formed in close contact with only the electrode tab periphery, which is the site where the most heat is generated, from the surface of the secondary battery cell, thereby selectively selecting the electrode tab periphery with the highest amount of heat generation. Cooling to maximize the operating heat cooling efficiency of the secondary battery and enables rapid cooling.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention and, together with the description of the invention given below, serve to further the understanding of the technical idea of the invention. And should not be construed as limiting.
1 is a view schematically showing the configuration of a secondary battery system according to an embodiment of the present invention;
2 is a side view (a) and a front view (b to d) illustrating a state in which a secondary battery cooling apparatus is coupled to a secondary battery cell according to an embodiment of the present invention;
3 is an exploded perspective view illustrating a structure in which a secondary battery cooling apparatus according to an embodiment of the present invention is coupled to a secondary battery cell;
4 is a side view illustrating a state in which a secondary battery cooling device is coupled to a secondary battery cell according to another embodiment of the present invention;
5 is a perspective view illustrating a state in which a secondary battery cooling device is coupled to a secondary battery cell according to another embodiment of the present invention;
6 is a side view illustrating a state in which a secondary battery cooling device is coupled to a secondary battery cell according to another embodiment of the present invention;
7 is a perspective view illustrating a state in which the secondary battery cooling apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention is coupled to a secondary battery cell.

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to this, terms and words used in the present specification and claims should not be construed as limited to ordinary or dictionary terms, and the inventor should appropriately interpret the concepts of the terms appropriately It should be interpreted in accordance with the meaning and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention based on the principle that it can be defined.

Therefore, the embodiments described in this specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are merely the most preferred embodiments of the present invention and do not represent all the technical ideas of the present invention. Therefore, It is to be understood that equivalents and modifications are possible.

On the other hand, in the description of the present invention and the claims to be described later, the terms indicating directions such as up, down, left, right, front and back are relative terms, it is noted that the direction that can be reversed according to the viewing direction.

1 is a view schematically showing the configuration of a secondary battery system according to an embodiment of the present invention. A general and general description of the secondary battery system of the present invention will be described first with reference to FIG. 1, and each detailed configuration will be described later with reference to the corresponding drawings.

As shown in FIG. 1, in the secondary battery system to which the cooling apparatus of the present invention is applied, a plurality of secondary battery modules 100 are stacked or arranged. Here, the plurality of secondary battery modules 100 may be electrically interconnected in series or parallel structure in various forms according to the embodiment, and may be arranged to function as an independent power source.

Each secondary battery module 100 is formed by accommodating a plurality of secondary battery cells 10 having protruding positive electrode tabs 11 and negative electrode tabs 12 in parallel with each other. In the following description of the present invention, the secondary battery module 100 may refer to a plurality of secondary battery cells 10 or an assembly assembled according to an embodiment, and may be referred to as a 'battery module' or a 'battery pack'. .

Meanwhile, in FIG. 1, although the plurality of secondary battery modules 100 are illustrated as being arranged in two columns, this is only one example, and the plurality of secondary battery modules 100 may be arranged in one column and may be arranged in one column. Stacked in a direction perpendicular to the ground). In addition, in the present embodiment, the secondary battery system is not limited to the plurality of secondary battery modules 100, but may be formed of only one secondary battery module 100. That is, the number and arrangement of the secondary battery modules 100 may be changed as much as possible.

A component indicated by reference numeral 22 in FIG. 1 is a cooling medium flow path that is one component of a secondary battery cooling apparatus to be described later. The cooling medium flow path 22 is connected to the partial heat absorbing plates 21, 21 ', 21 "described later above the plurality of secondary battery modules 100 in common to cool the heat from the partial heat absorbing plate (cooling water) Liquid or gas), etc. As shown in Fig. 1, the cooling medium flow path 22 is connected in common with the plurality of secondary battery modules 100 and forms a closed loop so that the cooling medium can be circulated. Therefore, the cooling medium flow path 22 constitutes a common cooling member for cooling the plurality of secondary battery modules 100 in common.

In addition, the component shown at 31 in FIG. 1 is a pump forcibly circulating the cooling medium. Thus, the cooling medium is forcedly circulated by the pump 31 through the cooling medium flow path 22 forming the closed loop.

In addition, in the present embodiment, the heat dissipation fin 32 is formed at a portion where the cooling medium flow path 22 constituting the common cooling member is exposed to the outside air for quick and efficient cooling. Furthermore, a cooling fan 33 may be further provided to supply external air toward the heat dissipation fin 32 for faster and more efficient cooling.

Meanwhile, in FIG. 1, the pump 31, the heat dissipation fin 32, and the cooling fan 33 are illustrated as being provided with two, one on each side, but they may be provided with only one each, and some components may not be provided. have.

As described above, according to the secondary battery system according to the present invention, the plurality of secondary battery modules 100 are uniformly formed by forming a closed loop and forced circulation of the cooling medium flow path 22 common to the plurality of secondary battery modules 100. Can be cooled efficiently.

Hereinafter, the detailed configuration of the secondary battery cooling device configuring the secondary battery system will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG. 2 is a side view (a) and a front view (b to d) illustrating a state in which a secondary battery cooling apparatus is coupled to a secondary battery cell according to an embodiment of the present invention, and the secondary battery module 100 illustrated in FIG. 1. ) Shows only one.

As described above, each secondary battery module 100 is formed by accommodating a plurality of secondary battery cells 10 in parallel with each other. Here, each of the secondary battery cells 10 may have a rectangular plate shape, and may be a typical lithium secondary battery in which a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate are laminated through a separator and filled with an electrolyte therein. In addition, the secondary battery cell 10 may include an explosion-proof safety device or a control circuit for preventing ignition or explosion due to misuse such as overcharging. In addition, each secondary battery cell 10 may be a unit secondary battery cell, or may be an aggregate of a plurality of unit cells. The components 11 and 12 in the drawings are positive electrode tabs and negative electrode tabs which are positive and negative terminals protruding toward the front side of the secondary battery cell 10. The electrode tabs 11 and 12 of each secondary battery cell 10 are electrically connected to each other in series or in parallel by connecting them with a bus bar or the like.

The cooling apparatus according to the present embodiment for cooling each secondary battery cell 10 of the secondary battery module 100 configured as described above, as shown in (a) and (b) of FIG. 2, each secondary battery cell A plurality of partial heat absorbing plates 21 in close contact with a portion where the positive electrode tab 11 protrudes, and a plurality of intermediate plates 23 interposed between the plurality of partial heat absorbing plates 21; It consists of the cooling medium flow path 22 which penetrates these some heat absorption board 21 and some middle board 23. As shown in FIG. That is, in the cooling apparatus according to the present embodiment, each of the heat absorbing plates 21 is a separate cooling member that absorbs heat generated from each of the secondary battery cells 10, and the cooling medium flow path 22 and the intermediate plate 23 are It corresponds to a common cooling member common to all secondary battery cells 10 of the secondary battery module 100.

The partial heat absorbing plate 21 is a member that absorbs heat generated during operation of the secondary battery. On the other hand, the heat absorbing member itself, which is in close contact with the surface of the secondary battery cell 10 and absorbs heat generated from the secondary battery, is already known. However, the conventional heat absorbing member is attached to the entire surface of the secondary battery cell to absorb as much heat as possible, whereas the heat absorbing member of the present invention is attached only to a part of the surface of the secondary battery cell 10. Thus, the reason why the heat absorbing member is a partial heat absorbing plate in close contact with only part of the surface of the secondary battery cell 10 is as follows.

Although the secondary battery cell 10 generates heat in an operation process as described above, the secondary battery cell 10 does not uniformly generate heat on the entire surface of the secondary battery cell 10. That is, the portion of the surface of the secondary battery cell 10 that generates the most heat is the electrode tabs 11 and 12, and also the peripheral portion of the positive electrode tab 11. Therefore, when attaching the heat absorbing member to the entire surface of the secondary battery cell 10 as in the related art, heat absorbed from the periphery of the relatively high temperature electrode tabs 11 and 12 is diffused through the heat absorbing member to be relatively low in temperature. The relatively low temperature region, which is transferred to the substrate, results in heating rather than cooling. As a result, when viewed as a whole of the secondary battery cell 10, the efficiency of cooling becomes very low. In view of this, the inventors have made the heat absorbing member the electrode tabs 11 and 12, the partial heat absorbing plate 21 attached only to the periphery of the positive electrode tab 11, which is the hottest region among them, to produce the positive electrode tab having the highest amount of heat generation ( 11) By selectively cooling the periphery, it maximizes the cooling efficiency and enables rapid cooling.

On the other hand, the specific configuration of the cooling medium flow path 22 and the intermediate plate 23 constituting the common cooling member can be variously changed. That is, as illustrated in FIG. 2C, the cooling medium flow path 22 which omits the intermediate plate 23 and commonly passes through the end portion far from the secondary battery cell 10 of the partial heat absorbing plate 21 is common. It is also possible to configure a common cooling member. In addition, as illustrated in FIG. 2D, a common block 24 connected to ends of the plurality of partial heat absorbing plates 21 far from the secondary battery cells 10 and a cooling medium penetrating the common block 24 are provided. The common cooling member can also be comprised by the flow path 22. That is, in this case, the plurality of partial heat absorbing plates 21 and the common block 24 are integrally formed, and a portion between the plurality of partial heat absorbing plates 21 forms a slot so that each of the secondary battery cells is in this slot. By inserting 10, the secondary battery module 100 is assembled (see FIG. 3).

Here, it is preferable that the above-mentioned partial heat absorbing plate 21, the intermediate plate 23, the common block 24, and the cooling medium flow path 22 consist of metals, such as aluminum and copper with high thermal conductivity.

4 and 5 are side and perspective views illustrating a state in which a secondary battery cooling apparatus according to another embodiment of the present invention is coupled to a secondary battery cell, according to another embodiment of the present invention with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. The secondary battery cooling apparatus will be described focusing on differences from the above-described embodiment.

The cooling device of the present embodiment differs from the cooling device of the above-described embodiment in that the partial heat absorbing plate 21 ′ adheres closely to the periphery of the negative electrode tab 12 as well as the positive electrode tab 11 on the surface of the secondary battery cell 10. It is formed. That is, in this embodiment, the heat generation amount is less than the peripheral portion of the positive electrode tab 11, but takes a structure to selectively cool to the peripheral portion of the negative electrode tab 11 more than other areas.

In FIG. 5, the partial heat absorbing plate 21 ′ and the common block 24 are integrally formed, but the specific structure of the common cooling member is illustrated in FIGS. 2B and 2C. It is a matter of course that the structure can be the same.

6 and 7 are side and perspective views illustrating a state in which a secondary battery cooling apparatus is coupled to a secondary battery cell according to another embodiment of the present invention, with reference to FIGS. 6 and 7. The secondary battery cooling apparatus according to the present invention will be described based on differences from the above-described embodiments.

First, in the present exemplary embodiment, each of the secondary battery cells protrudes from two opposite sides of the rectangular secondary battery cell 10 having the positive electrode tab 11 and the negative electrode tab 12. In the present embodiment, the partial heat absorbing plate 21 '' is formed in close contact with the periphery of the positive electrode tab 11 and the negative electrode tab 12 similarly to the above-described embodiment described with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. However, in the present exemplary embodiment, since the positive electrode tab 11 and the negative electrode tab 12 protrude to two opposite sides of the rectangular secondary battery cell 10, the partial heat absorbing plate 21 ″ may be a secondary battery cell 10. The positive electrode tab 11 and the negative electrode tab 12 are closely formed along the protruding sides of the surface of the " In addition, the partial heat absorbing plate 21 ″ has a 'c' shape and is located outside of one side of the positive electrode tab 11 and the negative electrode tab 12 protruding from each other (upper side of the secondary battery cell 10 in the drawing). Are connected to the common cooling member.

7 illustrates a structure in which the partial heat absorbing plate 21 ″ and the common block 24 are integrally formed, but a specific configuration of the common cooling member may be similar to that shown in FIGS. 2B and 2C. It is a matter of course that the structure can be the same.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the details thereof and that various changes and modifications will be apparent to those skilled in the art. And various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of the appended claims.

10: secondary battery cell 11: positive electrode tab
12: cathode tabs 21, 21 ', 21 ": partial heat sink
22: cooling medium flow path (common cooling member)
23: Intermediate plate (common cooling member) 24: Common block (common cooling member)
31: pump 32: heat sink fin
33: cooling fan 100: secondary battery module

Claims (6)

In the secondary battery module for cooling the secondary battery cells in the secondary battery module formed by receiving a plurality of secondary battery cells each having a positive electrode tab and a negative electrode tab in parallel to each other,
A plurality of partial heat absorbing plates in close contact with portions of the surfaces of the secondary battery cells protruding to each of the plurality of secondary battery cells only to a portion where at least one of the positive electrode tab and the negative electrode tab protrudes; And
And a common cooling member connected to an end portion far from the secondary battery cells of the plurality of partial heat absorbing plates and formed with a cooling medium flow path through which a cooling medium flows. The method of claim 1,
The plurality of secondary battery cells has a rectangular plate shape, the positive electrode tab and the negative electrode tab protrude to one side of the rectangle,
Each of the plurality of partial heat absorbing plates is in close contact with the sides protruding from the positive electrode tab and the negative electrode tab of the surface of the secondary battery cell. The method of claim 1,
The plurality of secondary battery cells have a rectangular plate shape, and the positive electrode tab and the negative electrode tab protrude from two opposite sides of the rectangle, respectively.
Each of the plurality of partial heat absorbing plates may be in contact with each other on one side of the surface of the secondary battery cell, which is in close contact with each side protruding from the positive electrode tab and the negative electrode tab, and positioned between two opposite sides of the rectangle. A secondary battery cooling device, characterized in that connected to the cooling member. In a secondary battery system formed by stacking or arranging a plurality of secondary battery modules,
Each of the plurality of secondary battery modules is provided with a secondary battery cooling device according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
A common cooling member provided in each of the plurality of secondary battery modules is connected to each other to form a closed loop to allow the cooling medium to be circulated through the cooling medium flow path,
A secondary battery system, characterized in that a pump for forcibly circulating the cooling medium is provided on the closed loop. 5. The method of claim 4,
The secondary battery system, characterized in that the heat dissipation fin is formed in a portion of the common cooling member exposed to the outside air. The method of claim 5,
The secondary battery system further comprises a cooling fan for supplying the outside air toward the heat dissipation fins.

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