KR101321371B1 - Battery having Air-Permeable Case - Google Patents

Abstract

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION An object of the present invention is to provide a battery having a breathable case, which has a breathable case which restricts the passage of moisture and foreign substances while freely passing air, thereby increasing cooling performance through the air.
In the battery having a breathable case of the present invention, a plurality of cells in which electrodes are formed are stacked to form a stack, and the battery includes a case surrounding the stack of cells. It has a wall surface, characterized in that formed in such a way that the area of the through hole is 1/2 or more of the area of the wall surface. In particular, the case is characterized in that the wall surface is formed in a mesh (mesh) structure.

Description

Battery with Breathable Case {Battery having Air-Permeable Case}

The present invention relates to a battery having a breathable case.

The battery can be largely divided into a primary cell and a secondary cell. Since the primary cell produces electricity using an irreversible reaction, it can not be reused after being used once. As a battery, a battery, a mercury battery , And voltaic batteries. Rechargeable batteries use a reversible reaction. Therefore, rechargeable batteries such as lead-acid batteries, lithium-ion batteries, and Ni-Cd batteries can be recharged after use. FIG. 1 conceptually shows a structure of a general lithium ion battery as one of the secondary batteries. The lithium ion battery and the lithium ion polymer battery have the same structure except that the properties (liquid / solid) of the electrolyte are different. Also, the material of the electrolyte or the electrode may be slightly different from the material described in Fig. 1 depending on the battery. 1, a lithium ion battery includes a negative electrode 1 made of carbon and a positive electrode 2 generally made of a lithium compound, an electrolyte 3 positioned between the two electrodes 1 and 2, And a wire (4) connecting the cathode (1) and the anode (2). Lithium ions in the electrolyte 3 move toward the cathode 1 at the time of charge and toward the anode 2 at the time of discharge and release a surplus of electrons from each electrode or cause a chemical reaction do. In this process, electrons flow to the electric wire 4, thereby generating electric energy. Although the lithium ion battery has been described here, the basic principle and structure of the secondary battery are the same as those of the secondary battery, except that the materials used for the electrode or the electrolyte are different. That is, in general, the secondary battery includes the negative electrode 1, the positive electrode 2, the electrolyte 3 and the electric wire 4 as described above.

At this time, the secondary battery may be formed by providing the cathode 1, the anode 2, the electrolyte 3 and the electric wire 4 in a single unit, but more generally, a single cathode 1, 2, the electrolyte 3 and the electric wire 4 are connected to each other. That is, a plurality of unit cells 10 as described above are contained in the interior of the secondary battery pack. Of course, each unit cell 10 is electrically connected to each other.

In general, a secondary battery includes a plurality of unit cells, and a pair of external terminal tabs (that is, one cathode connected to the cathodes of each unit cell, connected to the electrodes of each cell, A pair of positive electrodes connected to the positive electrodes and a pair of the positive electrodes serving as electrodes functioning as an electrode) are exposed to the outside. In general, such secondary batteries are connected to a plurality of batteries rather than a single battery pack.

On the other hand, when power is generated in a cell, heat generated by an electrochemical reaction is generated. If the heat remains in the cell, the temperature of the cell is increased to deteriorate operating conditions of the cell, thereby deteriorating power generation efficiency. have. In particular, a support member such as a case for fixing the cell inevitably wraps a substantial portion of the surface of the cell, which prevents the heat generated from the cell from being smoothly released to the outside, thereby deteriorating the cooling performance of the cell.

2 illustrates various structures for conventional cell heat dissipation or cooling. FIG. 2 (A) is Korean Patent Publication No. 2009-0000313 (“Medium and Large Battery Packs”, hereinafter referred to as Prior Art 1), and forms a coolant flow path in a housing formed to surround an outer surface of a stack of battery cells, thereby cooling the coolant. The technology for the structure of a medium-large battery pack that can efficiently cool while moving along this well-contained path is disclosed. In addition, Figure 2 (B) is a Korean Patent Publication No. 2010-0059083 ("vehicle battery cooling device", hereinafter prior art 2), to improve the shape of the inlet and exhaust port of the battery case to improve the flow resistance of the cooling wind flowing to the center of the battery Disclosed is a technology for a vehicle battery cooling device which is intended to be relatively increased to increase cooling performance. Prior arts 1 and 2 both use air as a medium for absorbing the heat of the cell, i.e., an air-cooled cooling technology structure. As described above, air-cooled cooling is difficult in this air-cooled structure because air is not easily passed because of the case. It is true that the cooling efficiency in the technology is somewhat limited.

In order to overcome this problem, a water-cooled cooling technique using a coolant is used, which is more limited in designing a coolant flow path than air, and there are many problems that may occur when the coolant leaks. Accordingly, there has been a constant demand among those skilled in the art for a battery structure that can achieve higher cooling efficiency than the prior art while taking a more safe air-cooled cooling structure.

1. Korean Patent Publication No. 2009-0000313 ("Medium and Large Battery Packs") 2. Korean Patent Publication No. 2010-0059083 ("vehicle battery cooling device")

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, an object of the present invention is to cool through the air by having a breathable case that is limited to the passage of moisture and foreign matter while the passage of air is freely formed It is to provide a battery having a breathable case, to increase the performance.

In the battery having a breathable case for achieving the above object, a plurality of cells in which the electrode is formed is stacked to form a stack, the battery comprising a case surrounding the stack of cells, the case The wall has a plurality of through-holes are formed, characterized in that formed in such a way that the area of the through-hole is 1/2 or more of the area of the wall. In particular, the case is characterized in that the wall surface is formed in a mesh (mesh) structure.

In addition, the case is characterized in that the wall is formed to be covered with a waterproof material having a waterproof and breathable.
In one embodiment, the case may be formed such that the wall surface is formed of a hexahedron form of a plate. In this case, the case may be such that the through-hole is formed on at least four of the six surfaces. In this case, the plate may be made of a metal or plastic material.
As another embodiment, the case may be formed in a hexahedral shape each corner is composed of a frame, so that the mesh material is provided to be fixed and supported by the frame. In this case, the case may be provided with the mesh material on at least four of the six surfaces. In this case, the frame may be made of a metal or plastic material. In addition, the mesh material may be made of a metal or plastic material.

According to the present invention, in a battery including a case in which a plurality of cells are stacked and including the case surrounding the stack, the case is designed to allow air to pass easily, thereby greatly improving air-cooling performance. . More specifically, in the battery of the present invention, a plurality of through holes are formed in the wall of the case, and in particular, the case wall is formed in a mesh structure, so that the flow of air is much more free than in the prior art, thereby greatly improving breathability. Therefore, the air-cooled cooling efficiency is greatly increased. Of course, in the present invention, by covering the through-holes of the wall surface with a waterproof material such as Cortex having a breathability but also waterproof, there is also an effect of increasing the breathability while maintaining waterproofness.

In addition, according to the present invention, a plurality of through-holes are formed on the wall, and thus the case weight is greatly reduced compared to the conventional case, and thus, the weight of the battery can be reduced.

1 is a structural view of a general lithium ion battery.
2 shows examples of a battery having a conventional air-cooled cooling structure.
3 and 4 illustrate an embodiment of a battery of the invention.
5 is another embodiment of a battery of the present invention.

Hereinafter, a battery having a breathable case according to the present invention having the configuration as described above will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 and 4 show an embodiment of a battery of the invention. As shown in FIG. 3, the battery 100 of the present invention is basically similar to a conventional battery, in which a plurality of cells 111 in which electrodes are formed are stacked to form a stack 110, and the cells It comprises a case 120 surrounding the stack 110 of (111). In the present invention, by improving the structure of the case 120 is to improve the air-cooled cooling performance by improving the air permeability to the stack 110 of the cells (111).

In the present invention, the case 120 has a wall surface on which a plurality of through holes 121 are formed, and the area of the through holes 121 is formed to be 1/2 or more of the area of the wall surface. Conventionally, there have been many forms of forming a through hole in the case to allow air to pass through for air cooling, but in the present invention, the through hole 121 formed on the wall surface of the case 120 is particularly the area of the through hole 121. It is to be formed so much as to be at least 1/2 of the area of the wall surface.

In FIG. 3, the case 120 forms an enclosure similar to a conventional case, but shows an embodiment in which a large number of the through holes 121 are formed on the wall thereof. The case 120 of this form can be easily manufactured by forming the through hole 121 on the plate forming the wall surface of the case 120 through press working or the like.
Referring to the embodiment of Figure 3 in more detail as follows. The case 120 is configured to accommodate the stack 110, in which case the stack 110 has a substantially hexahedron shape. In the embodiment of FIG. 3, the case 120 is formed in a hexahedron shape. To accommodate the stack 110. In this case, as shown in FIG. 3, the through hole 121 may be formed on at least four of six surfaces of the case 120. As described above, since the through hole 121 formed in the case 120 may be formed by press working on a plate, the material of the plate forming the case 120 at this time may be pressed. It may be made of a material having a suitable rigidity of the degree that can be performed, that is, a material such as metal or plastic.

In FIG. 4, the case 120 illustrates the most preferred embodiment as an embodiment in which the wall surface is formed in a mesh structure. As such, the wall surface is formed to have a mesh structure having a lattice form, and thus the air permeability can be increased remarkably. In this case, each eye of the mesh forming the wall surface may be said to be the through hole 121.
Hereinafter, the embodiment of FIG. 4 will be described in detail. Similar to the embodiment of FIG. 3, the case 120 is formed in a hexahedral shape to accommodate the stack 110. In this case, in the embodiment of FIG. 4, the case 120 has a wall surface made of a mesh instead of a through hole. In this case, as shown in FIG. It is possible to have a structure provided in the form that the mesh material is fixed and supported on the frame. In this case, as shown in FIG. 4, at least four of the six surfaces of the case 120 may be formed in a mesh structure. In the embodiment of Figure 4, the frame constituting the skeleton of the case 120 may be made of a material having a suitable rigidity, that is, a metal or plastic material to the extent that can stably support the mesh material. In addition, the mesh material may be made of a metal mesh, a plastic mesh and the like.

As described above, in the battery 100 of the present invention, the wall surface of the case 120 has the through-holes 120 having a very large area compared to the conventional, so that the inflow and discharge of air is much higher than that of the conventional battery. It becomes easy. In addition, since the heat emitted from the cell 111 is easily absorbed into the newly introduced air, and the air absorbing the heat is easily discharged, the cooling efficiency by air-cooled cooling is dramatically increased compared to the conventional. Of course, according to this, the load of a fan or the like, which is conventionally used for effectively blowing air between the cells 111 (that is, used to generate a cooling wind) can also be greatly reduced, which can improve the energy consumption efficiency. To get it.

In addition, as described above, in the present invention, since the through hole 121 is formed on the wall surface of the case 120, the weight of the case 120 may be much reduced as compared with the related art. In particular, the field in which the battery 100 is used is a fuel cell vehicle or a hybrid vehicle, and in such a vehicle, it is one of the important design improvement factors to reduce the weight of various components to increase fuel economy. At this time, in the battery 100 of the present invention, the case 120 is formed so that the through holes 121 are formed so that the area of the through holes 121 is 1/2 or more of the area of the wall surface. That is, a large amount of material is deleted from the case 120 by the through hole 121, which results in directly reducing the weight of the case 120.

That is, the case 120 of the present invention, not only maximizes breathability, but also greatly reduces the weight (by removing a large amount of material constituting the case 120). Accordingly, when the battery 100 of the present invention is used in particular, such as a fuel cell vehicle or a hybrid vehicle, ultimately, the fuel efficiency of the vehicle may be greatly improved.

3 and 4 will also be described later in Figure 5 to omit the top and bottom of the case 120 for the sake of simplicity, of course, of course, the case 120 is naturally formed to have both the top and bottom, In addition, it is natural that the through hole 121 is also formed on the upper and lower surfaces.

FIG. 5 illustrates a structure in which a waterproof material 122 made of a cloth material having waterproofness and breathability is covered on a wall surface of the case 120 as another embodiment of the battery of the present invention.

As described above, when the wall surface of the case 120 has the through-hole 121 having a large area such as a mesh structure, it is true that the air permeability is maximized. However, in this case, there is a risk that substances that adversely affect the operation of the cell 111, such as moisture or foreign matter, are introduced through the through hole 121.

In order to exclude such a risk, in the present invention, the wall surface of the case 120 is formed to cover the waterproof material 122 made of cloth material having waterproof and breathable. In the waterproofing material 122, a well-known material such as cortex may be used as a material having the properties described above. Herein has been illustrated that Cortex can be used as the waterproof material 122, but of course, the present invention is not limited, and the waterproof material 122 has waterproofness to prevent moisture and foreign matter and passes through air at the same time. As long as the material is breathable so that it can be made of any material.

As the waterproof material 122 is covered in the case 120 as described above, moisture and foreign matters are effectively prevented from entering the stack 110 of the cells 111, and the air permeability can be maintained almost intact. Thus, the effect of improving the cooling performance can be obtained as it is.

It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and details may be made therein without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined by the appended claims. It goes without saying that various modifications can be made.

100: Battery (of the present invention)
110: stacked body 111: cell
120: case 121: through
122: waterproofing material

Claims (10)

In a battery comprising a case in which a plurality of cells in which electrodes are formed are stacked to form a stack, and surrounding the stack of cells,
The case has a wall having a plurality of through-holes, the battery having a breathable case, characterized in that the area of the through-hole is formed to be 1/2 or more of the area of the wall.
The method of claim 1, wherein the case
Battery having a breathable case, characterized in that the wall is formed in a mesh (mesh) structure.
The method of claim 1, wherein the case
A battery having a breathable case, characterized in that formed on the wall is covered with a waterproof material of waterproof material and breathable. The method of claim 1, wherein the case
A battery having a breathable case formed in the form of a hexahedron with a wall surface.
The method of claim 4, wherein the case
A battery having a breathable case in which the through hole is formed on at least four of six surfaces.
The method of claim 4, wherein the plate material
A battery having a breathable case made of metal or plastic.
The method of claim 2, wherein the case
A battery having a breathable case each corner is formed in a hexahedral form consisting of a frame, the mesh material is fixed and supported by the frame.
The method of claim 7, wherein the case
A battery having a breathable case in which the mesh material is provided on at least four of six surfaces.
The method of claim 7, wherein the frame is
A battery having a breathable case made of metal or plastic.
The method of claim 7, wherein the mesh material
A battery having a breathable case made of metal or plastic.

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