KR102358605B1 - Energy storage apparatus - Google Patents

Abstract

An energy storage device is disclosed. An energy storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a main body having a plurality of openings formed on a side having a relatively longer length than a neighboring side among a plurality of side surfaces; a door coupled to the body to open and close the opening formed in the body; a battery installed inside the body; a duct installed in the body to discharge a fluid for cooling the battery; and an air conditioner coupled to the body from the outside of the body and connected to the duct and providing a fluid to cool the battery.

Description

Energy storage device {ENERGY STORAGE APPARATUS}

The present invention relates to an energy storage device, and more particularly, to an energy storage device capable of improving space utilization by removing a space corresponding to a hallway inside a body.

As technology development and demand for mobile devices increase, the demand for secondary batteries as an energy source is rapidly increasing. Conventionally, nickel cadmium batteries or hydrogen ion batteries have been used as secondary batteries, but recently, compared to nickel-based secondary batteries, the memory effect Lithium secondary batteries having a very low self-discharge rate and high energy density have been widely used because they rarely occur, allowing free charging and discharging.

Such a lithium secondary battery mainly uses a lithium-based oxide and a carbon material as a positive electrode active material and a negative electrode active material, respectively. A lithium secondary battery includes an electrode assembly in which a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate to which the positive electrode active material and the negative electrode active material are applied, respectively, are disposed with a separator interposed therebetween, and a casing for sealing and housing the electrode assembly together with an electrolyte, that is, a battery case.

A lithium secondary battery consists of a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a separator and an electrolyte interposed therebetween, and depending on which positive and negative active material is used, a lithium secondary battery (Lithium Ion Battery, LIB), a lithium polymer battery (Polymer Lithium Ion Battery) , PLIB), etc. In general, the electrodes of these lithium secondary batteries are formed by coating a positive or negative electrode active material on a current collector such as an aluminum or copper sheet, a mesh, a film, or a foil, and then drying.

In the secondary battery, one battery may be used alone, but in one energy storage device, a plurality of batteries are used in series or parallel with each other, thereby outputting higher power or generating greater energy. can be saved In particular, in recent years, as carbon energy is gradually depleted and interest in the environment increases, energy storage devices using secondary batteries are increasingly used in large-scale equipment. In addition, since the energy storage device used for such large equipment requires high output or large capacity, a plurality of batteries may be used in a state in which they are connected in series or in parallel. In this way, a plurality of batteries may be interconnected to be used as an energy storage device, and such an energy storage device may be connected to an external device requiring power to transmit electrical energy to the external device.

The energy storage device may be provided in various ways, for example, may be configured as a container type. That is, a plurality of batteries are disposed inside the container body and used as an energy storage device.

1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional container-type energy storage device as viewed from above. Referring to FIG. 1 , a conventional container type energy storage device 1 has a rectangular container body 2 . Doors 3 are formed at both ends of the body 2, which are relatively short in length, and after opening the door 3, the operator enters the container body 2 and moves along the corridor 5 to the battery 4 ) was installed or repaired. That is, the conventional container-type energy storage device 1 necessarily requires as much empty space as the corridor 5 in which the operator can move inside the container body 2 , so the space in which the battery 4 can be installed is relatively small. decreased, and thereby there was a problem in that space utilization was lowered.

Republic of Korea Patent Publication No. 10-2016-0049761 (published date: May 10, 2016)

Accordingly, an object of the present invention is to provide an energy storage device capable of improving space utilization by removing a space corresponding to a hallway inside a body.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an energy storage device capable of improving space utilization inside the main body by installing a duct on the upper side of the main body, which is not easy to install the battery.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an energy storage device capable of preventing a fluid of relatively low temperature discharged from a discharge port of a duct from being mixed with a fluid of relatively high temperature that moves after cooling a battery.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a body having a plurality of openings formed on a side having a relatively longer length than a neighboring side among a plurality of side surfaces; a door coupled to the body to open and close the opening formed in the body; a battery installed inside the body; a duct installed in the body to discharge a fluid for cooling the battery; and an air conditioner coupled to the main body from the outside of the main body, connected to the duct, and providing a fluid to cool the battery.

The door may further include a hinge member coupled to the door and the body so that the door is rotatably coupled to the body.

In addition, at least one pair of doors may be provided, and the pair of doors may rotate in opposite directions.

In addition, further comprising a battery rack in which the battery is installed, the battery rack may be disposed on the main body to face a direction that can lead or withdraw the battery through the opening formed in the main body.

In addition, the duct may be disposed above the battery.

In addition, the duct includes an inlet formed toward a side having a relatively shorter length than a neighboring side among a plurality of sides of the body so that the fluid can be introduced, and an outlet formed toward the battery to discharge the fluid can do.

And, to prevent the fluid discharged from the outlet of the duct from mixing with the fluid moving after cooling the battery, it may further include a barrier coupled to both sides of the duct.

In addition, the outlet may be formed at a lower portion of the duct, and the barrier may be provided to surround a lower portion of the duct and a side surface of the duct except for the outlet.

In addition, the barriers are provided as a pair, and each of the barriers may be formed with a bent portion to be bent.

Also, the battery may be at least one of a battery module and a battery pack.

In the embodiments of the present invention, a door is installed on a side having a relatively longer length than a neighboring side among a plurality of sides of the body, so that battery installation or maintenance work is possible from the outside of the body, so that the space corresponding to the hallway inside the body is There is no need, therefore, there is an effect that can improve the space utilization by removing the space corresponding to the hallway inside the body.

In addition, there is an effect that can improve the space utilization inside the body by installing a duct on the upper side of the inside of the body, which is not easy to install the battery.

In addition, there is an effect that can prevent the relatively low temperature fluid discharged from the outlet of the duct by the barrier coupled to both sides of the duct from mixing with the relatively high temperature fluid that moves after cooling the battery.

1 is a cross-sectional view of a conventional container-type energy storage device as viewed from above.
2 is a schematic overall perspective view of an energy storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is a cross-sectional view viewed from above of an energy storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
4 is a side view of a door closed state in the energy storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a side view of an opened state of the door in the energy storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a perspective view illustrating a lower portion of a duct in an energy storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the duct and the barrier taken along line AA of FIG. 2 .

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The terms or words used in the present specification and claims should not be construed as being limited to their ordinary or dictionary meanings, and the inventor may properly define the concept of the term in order to best describe his invention. Based on the principle that there is, it should be interpreted as meaning and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention. Therefore, the configuration shown in the embodiments and drawings described in this specification is only the most preferred embodiment of the present invention and does not represent all of the technical idea of the present invention, so at the time of the present application, various It should be understood that there may be equivalents and variations.

In the drawings, the size of each component or a specific part constituting the component is exaggerated, omitted, or schematically illustrated for convenience and clarity of description. Accordingly, the size of each component does not fully reflect the actual size. If it is determined that a detailed description of a related known function or configuration may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention, such description will be omitted.

As used herein, the term 'coupled' or 'connected' refers to a case in which one member and another member are directly coupled or directly connected, as well as when one member is indirectly coupled to another member through a joint member, or indirectly. Including cases connected to

2 is a schematic overall perspective view of an energy storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view viewed from the top of the energy storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is an embodiment of the present invention A side view of the energy storage device according to an embodiment in a closed state, FIG. 5 is a side view of the energy storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention in an open state, and FIG. 6 is an embodiment of the present invention A perspective view showing a lower portion of the duct in the energy storage device according to FIG. 7 , and FIG. 7 is a cross-sectional view of the duct and the barrier taken along line AA of FIG. 2 .

In the energy storage device 10 , the battery 300 may be installed inside the body 100 of various materials and various shapes. However, hereinafter, for convenience of explanation, a case in which the battery 300 is installed inside the body 100 of the container type of the rectangular parallelepiped shape will be mainly described.

2 to 7 , the energy storage device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a body 100 , a door 200 , a battery 300 , a duct 400 , and an air conditioner. (500).

The body 100 may have a rectangular parallelepiped shape, and in this case, it may have four side surfaces, and an upper surface and a lower surface connected to the four side surfaces. And, any two of the four side surfaces are provided with a relatively longer length than the other two side surfaces. Here, the side surface formed with a relatively short length is the first side surface 110 , and the side surface formed with a relatively long length is the second side surface 120 . The first side 110 is adjacently coupled to the second side 120 .

One or more openings 130 are formed in the second side surface 120 of the main body 100 , and the openings 130 may be opened and closed by a door 200 to be described later. That is, the door 200 is coupled to the second side surface 120 having a relatively longer length than the first side surface 110 so that the second side surface 120 can be opened and closed, and the operator can open and close the door ( 200 , the battery 300 may be installed through the open second side 120 , or the already installed battery 300 may be maintained, repaired, or repaired. Thereby, since the operator does not need to go directly into the main body 100, unlike the prior art, the main body 100 does not need a space corresponding to the corridor required for the operator to move, and thus, the battery ( 300) can be further disposed, so that the space utilization inside the body 100 can be improved.

The door 200 is coupled to the main body 100 to open and close the opening 130 formed in the second side surface 120 of the main body 100 . Various methods may be applied to the door 200, for example, as shown in FIG. 3 , a plurality of a pair of doors 200 rotating in opposite directions may be provided. In addition, the pair of doors 200 may be hingedly coupled to the body 100 by a hinge member 210 , whereby the door 200 may be rotatably coupled to the body 100 . However, the opening and closing method of the door 200 is not limited thereto.

The door 200 is provided to close the second side 120 of the main body 100 when the energy storage device 10 is used to supply energy to other equipment (see FIG. 4 ). And, the door 200 is provided to open the second side 120 of the main body 100 so that the operator can work on the battery 300 from the outside of the main body 100 (see FIG. 5 ).

The battery 300 is installed inside the body 100 . A battery rack 600 may be installed inside the body 100 so that the battery 300 can be installed inside the body 100 , and the battery 300 is coupled to the battery rack 600 . Here, the battery rack 600 is the body 100 in a direction toward the opening 130 so that the battery 300 can be drawn in or withdrawn through the opening 130 formed in the second side surface 120 of the main body 100 . can be installed on That is, the operator approaches the battery rack 600 from the outside of the main body 100 after opening the door 200 and installs the battery 300 in the battery rack 600, or the battery 300 from the battery rack 600 separation, etc.

The battery 300 may be a battery module or a battery pack. A battery module is a structure in which a plurality of battery 300 cells are stacked on each other, and a battery pack means a structure including a plurality of battery modules. That is, the battery 300 installed in the battery rack 600 may be a battery module in which a plurality of battery 300 cells are stacked and accommodated in a case, or a battery pack in which a plurality of battery modules are accommodated in a housing. have.

The duct 400 is installed in the body 100 to discharge the fluid for cooling the battery 300 . Since heat is generated in the battery 300 , a low-temperature fluid for cooling the battery 300 moves toward the battery 300 through the duct 400 .

The duct 400 may be installed at various positions inside the body 100 , and may be disposed on the upper side of the battery 300 , for example, as shown in FIG. 2 . Here, the duct 400 may be coupled to the ceiling inside the body 100 . Since the battery 300 is not easily installed on the ceiling due to its own load, when the battery 300 is installed in a stacked form from the floor, an empty space remains on the ceiling. By installing the duct 400 in the empty space formed in the ceiling inside the body 100, the space utilization inside the body 100 can be improved.

An inlet 410 and an outlet 420 may be formed in the duct 400 (see FIGS. 2 and 6 ). The inlet 410 is a hole through which a low-temperature fluid generated from the air conditioner 500 to be described later, for example, low-temperature air is introduced, and may be formed to face the first side surface 110 . An upper hole 140 is formed in the first side 110 to communicate with the inlet 410 , and the air conditioner 500 communicates with the upper hole. That is, the air conditioner 500 is coupled to the first side surface 110 from the outside of the first side surface 110 , and the low-temperature fluid generated from the air conditioner 500 enters the inlet 410 through the upper hole 140 . After the inflow, it moves along the duct 400 . Referring to FIG. 6 , the discharge port 420 may be formed at the lower side of the duct 400 to face the battery 300 installed under the duct 400 . That is, the low-temperature fluid flowing along the duct 400 after being introduced through the inlet 410 is discharged through the outlet 420 formed in the lower portion of the duct 400 and moves toward the battery 300 while moving toward the battery 300 . ) is cooled. Meanwhile, the air conditioner 500 communicates with the lower hole 150 formed in the first side surface 110 , and the fluid whose temperature is relatively increased while cooling the battery 300 , that is, the fluid with a high temperature is the first side 110 . ) and moves to the air conditioner 500 through the lower hole 150 formed in the first side surface 110 . As such, the high-temperature fluid that has moved to the air conditioner 500 is cooled in the air conditioner 500 and then again moves to the duct 400 through the inlet 410, and the cooling of the battery 300 by the circulation of this fluid it becomes possible

The air conditioner 500 is coupled to the main body 100 from the outside of the main body 100 (see FIG. 3 ) and is connected to the duct 400 , and provides a fluid to cool the battery 300 . That is, the duct 400 is installed inside the main body 100 , but the air conditioner 500 is installed outside the main body 100 and may be coupled to the first side surface 110 of the main body 100 . The air conditioner 500 communicates with each of the upper hole 140 and the lower hole 150 of the first side surface 110 of the main body 100, and the low-temperature fluid generated in the air conditioner 500 is transferred to the upper hole 140. It may move to the inlet 410 communicating with the upper hole 140 through the duct 400 and may be introduced into the interior. Then, after being discharged through the outlet 420 of the duct 400, the high-temperature fluid that has cooled the battery 300 moves to the air conditioner 500 through the lower hole 150 and is cooled again in the air conditioner 500. . Then, the cooled fluid flows back into the duct 400 through the inlet 410 .

The barrier 700 may be coupled to both sides of the duct 400 (see FIG. 2 ). The low temperature fluid discharged from the discharge port 420 of the duct 400 toward the battery 300 increases in temperature after cooling the battery 300 , so that the heated fluid may rise upward. At this time, the low-temperature fluid discharged from the discharge port 420 of the duct 400 to the battery 300 side, that is, the low-temperature fluid discharged from the upper side to the lower side of the battery 300, cools the battery 300 and then the temperature When in contact with the fluid rising upward, heat is transferred from the high-temperature fluid and the temperature rises before cooling the battery 300 , so that the cooling effect of the battery 300 may be reduced. In order to solve this problem, the barrier 700 is coupled to both sides of the duct 400, and the barrier 700 moves after the fluid discharged from the outlet 420 of the duct 400 cools the battery 300. Mixing with the fluid can be prevented.

As shown in FIG. 7 , the barrier 700 may be provided to surround the lower portion of the duct 400 and the side surface of the duct 400 , except for the outlet 420 . That is, the discharge port 420 is not wrapped because the fluid must be discharged. That is, a hole corresponding to the discharge port 420 may be formed in the barrier 700 . After cooling the battery 300, the high-temperature fluid whose temperature rises is blocked by the barrier 700 and cannot move to the duct 400 side, and is formed on the first side 110 of the body 100 along the barrier 700 After moving to the lower hole 150 , it enters the air conditioner 500 . That is, the fluid discharged from the discharge port 420 of the duct 400 toward the battery 300 by the barrier 700 and the fluid whose temperature rises after cooling the battery 300 do not contact each other. A pair of barriers 700 may be provided, and a pair of barriers 700 may be disposed on both sides of the duct 400 , respectively. In addition, each of the barriers 700 may have a bent portion 710 formed to be bent, whereby the barrier 700 may be provided to surround a lower portion of the duct 400 and a side surface of the duct 400 . However, the bent portion 710 does not necessarily have to be formed in the barrier 700 , and may be provided to be rounded without the bent portion 710 . In addition, the barrier 700 may be coupled to and in contact with the duct 400 , or may be disposed to be spaced apart from the duct 400 . That is, the barrier 700 and the duct 400 may be spaced apart at a preset interval. When the barrier 700 is disposed to be spaced apart from the duct 400 , the barrier 700 may be coupled to the upper side of the battery rack 600 . And, even when the barrier 700 is coupled in contact with the duct 400 , the barrier 700 may be coupled to the upper side of the battery rack 600 .

Hereinafter, the operation and effect of the energy storage device 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

An opening 130 is formed in the second side surface 120 having a relatively long length in the main body 100 , and the door 200 is coupled to the main body 100 to open and close the opening 130 . That is, the door 200 opens the second side surface 120 of the main body 100 so that the operator can perform various operations such as installing or repairing the battery 300 from the outside of the main body 100 . According to this, since the operator does not need to go inside the main body 100, a space such as a corridor for movement of the operator is unnecessary, and since the battery 300 can be placed in a space such as the corridor, space utilization can be improved there is an effect

And, since the air conditioner 500 is coupled to the first side 110 from the outside of the main body 100 and the duct 400 is installed on the ceiling inside the main body 100 and communicates with the air conditioner 500, the duct located on the upper side ( The battery 300 may be cooled by supplying a fluid at a low temperature from the 400 ) to the battery 300 located at the lower side.

On the other hand, in order to prevent the low-temperature fluid discharged from the duct 400 to the battery 300 from contacting the fluid heated after cooling the battery 300, a barrier 700 is provided on both sides of the duct 400. may be combined, thereby increasing the cooling efficiency.

In the above, although the present invention has been described with reference to limited embodiments and drawings, the present invention is not limited thereto and will be described below with the technical idea of the present invention by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains. Of course, various modifications and variations are possible within the scope of equivalents of the claims.

10: energy storage device 100: body
110: first side 120: second side
130: opening 140: upper hole
150: lower hole 200: door
210: hinge member 300: battery
400: duct 410: inlet
420: outlet 500: air conditioner
600: battery rack 700: barrier
710: bent part

Claims (10)

a body having a plurality of openings formed on a side having a relatively longer length than a neighboring side among the plurality of side surfaces;
a door coupled to the body to open and close the opening formed in the body;
a battery installed inside the body;
a duct installed in the body to discharge a fluid for cooling the battery; and
and an air conditioner coupled to the main body from the outside of the main body and connected to the duct and providing a fluid to cool the battery,
The duct is disposed on the upper side of the battery,
The duct includes an inlet formed toward a side having a relatively shorter length than a neighboring side among a plurality of sides of the body so that the fluid can be introduced, and an outlet formed toward the battery to discharge the fluid,
Further comprising a barrier coupled to both sides of the duct to prevent the fluid discharged from the outlet of the duct from mixing with the fluid moving after cooling the battery,
The outlet is formed in the lower part of the duct, and the barrier is provided to surround the lower part of the duct and the side surface of the duct except for the outlet,
A hole corresponding to the discharge port is formed in the barrier,
An energy storage device, characterized in that spaced apart from the barrier and the duct at a predetermined interval. According to claim 1,
The energy storage device further comprising a hinge member coupled to the door and the body so that the door is rotatably coupled to the body. 3. The method of claim 2,
The door is provided in at least one pair, and the pair of doors rotate in opposite directions to each other. According to claim 1,
Further comprising a battery rack in which the battery is installed,
The battery rack is an energy storage device, characterized in that arranged in the main body to face the direction in which the battery can be drawn in or out through the opening formed in the main body. delete delete delete delete According to claim 1,
The barriers are provided as a pair, and each of the barriers is an energy storage device, characterized in that the bent portion is formed to be bent. 10. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4 and 9,
The battery is an energy storage device, characterized in that at least one of a battery module and a battery pack.

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