KR20130005756A - Battery having heat-conductive case for water cooling - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: A battery with a thermoconductive case is provided to facilitate heat emission to outside and to improve convertibility and assembility of a battery pack. CONSTITUTION: A battery(500) with a thermoconductive case for water-cooling consists of a plurality of unit batteries(100) each of which comprises laminated many cells(111). The cell laminate of the unit battery comprises a battery cooling pathway(510) through which a heat-exchange medium circulates. The unit battery comprises a unit cell case(120) accepting the cell laminate, and a plurality of partitions(121) which is placed on the unit battery case, inserted between at least one or more cell bundles and accepting the respective cell bundles in a space independent to each other.

Description

Battery with Heat-Conductive Case for Water Cooling {Battery having Heat-Conductive Case for Water Cooling}

The present invention relates to a battery having a thermally conductive case for water-cooled cooling.

Batteries can be largely divided into primary and secondary batteries. Primary batteries generate electricity by using an irreversible reaction, so they cannot be reused after being used once. In this regard, a voltaic battery, and the like, and the secondary battery uses a reversible reaction, and thus, a rechargeable battery, a lithium ion battery, a Ni-Cd battery, and the like may be used as a rechargeable battery after use. 1 conceptually illustrates a structure of a general lithium ion battery which is one of secondary batteries. Lithium ion batteries and lithium ion polymer batteries have the same structure except that they differ only in the properties of the electrolyte (liquid / solid). In addition, depending on the battery, the material of the electrolyte or the electrode may be slightly different from the material of FIG. 1. As shown in FIG. 1, a lithium ion battery includes a cathode 1 generally made of carbon and a cathode 2 generally made of a lithium compound, an electrolyte 3 positioned between two poles 1, 2, and And a wire 4 connecting the cathode 1 and the anode 2. Lithium ions in the electrolyte 3 move toward the cathode 1 when charged and toward the anode 2 when discharged, and cause a chemical reaction by emitting or absorbing excess electrons at each pole. do. In this process, electrons flow through the wire 4, and thus electric energy is generated. Although described using a lithium ion battery herein, other secondary batteries also have the same basic principle and structure as those used as electrodes or electrolytes. That is, the secondary battery generally 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 with a single negative electrode 1, a positive electrode 2, an electrolyte 3 and an electric wire 4, but more generally, a single negative electrode 1 and a positive electrode ( 2), a plurality of unit cells 10 composed of an electrolyte 3 and an electric wire 4 are connected. That is, a plurality of unit cells 10 as described above are contained in 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 therein, and generally, a pair of external terminal tabs connected to the electrodes of each cell (that is, one negative electrode to which negative electrodes of each unit cell are connected, A positive electrode is connected to each other, and a pair is provided per cell to serve as an electrode. Such secondary cells are generally connected to a plurality of secondary batteries rather than a single one to form a battery as a pack. In this pack type battery, each of the cells is called a cell (distinguishable from the unit cells constituting the battery), and the tabs of each cell are electrically connected. As such, an assembly in which several cells are electrically connected and physically stacked and arranged is called a unit cell. In order to obtain high power, a plurality of such unit cells are also arranged to form a battery pack.

As described above, a battery generally includes a structure in which cells are stacked, and a stack of cells is accommodated and disposed in a case separately configured for protection from external impact and the like.

On the other hand, when power is generated in a cell, heat is generated according to an electrochemical reaction. If the heat remains in the cell, the cell temperature may be increased to deteriorate operating conditions of the cell, thereby degrading power generation efficiency. . In particular, such a heating problem becomes an important consideration factor toward a large battery pack composed of a plurality of cells, and therefore, in order to solve the heating problem, a battery is generally provided with a structure for cooling.

In particular, in recent batteries, technologies for cooling a battery using a heat exchange medium such as cooling water have been disclosed. For example, in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2010-0041452 shown in FIG. 2 ("battery module assembly", hereinafter referred to in the prior art), a battery having a structure in which a plurality of battery cells or unit modules are connected in series and embedded in a module case Disclosed is a battery module assembly in which a plurality of modules are arranged to be adjacent to each other in a lateral direction in an electrically interconnected state, and a cooling member including a refrigerant conduit for the flow of liquid refrigerant is mounted on an outer surface of the battery module. have.

However, when using such a cooling method, when the passage is made so that the refrigerant flows between the cells, the refrigerant leaks into the cell is likely to cause damage, failure, abnormal operation and the like. On the other hand, when the refrigerant is to be distributed only to the outside of the stack in which the cells are stacked, the area where the refrigerant and the cell can be heat exchanged is extremely small, so that effective cooling is difficult.

Meanwhile, a battery pack for obtaining high power has a structure in which unit cells made by stacking cells are stacked and placed in one case again. When the replacement is necessary, the entire battery pack is made of one part surrounded by one case, which makes it difficult to replace and consumes a lot of cost and manpower. Of course, in such a case, as described above, when the cooling unit using the refrigerant is provided in the entire battery pack, such replacement work becomes more difficult.

In order to comprehensively improve these problems, technologies related to various structures for maximizing both assembling and cooling in battery packs have been steadily studied.

1. Korean Patent Publication No. 2010-0041452 2. Korean Patent Publication No. 2011-0011068 3. Japanese Patent Application Publication No. 2011-013269

Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the problems of the prior art as described above, the object of the present invention is to allow the heat dissipated from the cell to be easily conducted to be discharged to the outside and at the same time in the battery pack type battery To provide a battery having a thermally conductive case for water-cooled cooling, improving the exchangeability, assemblability, and the like.

The battery having a thermally conductive case for water-cooled cooling of the present invention for achieving the above object, in the battery 500 is made by stacking a plurality of cells 111 each having a pair of electrodes, the battery The unit 500 is formed by stacking a plurality of unit cells 100 in which a plurality of cells 111 are stacked, and the heat generated from the cells 111 is included in the stack of the unit cells 100. A battery cooling passage 510 is provided for circulating a heat exchange medium for absorbing and cooling the cell 111. The unit cell 100 includes a cell stack 110 including a plurality of cells 111. A plurality of unit battery cases 120 and provided in the unit battery case 120 are interposed between at least one bundle of cells 111 so that the bundles of cells 111 are accommodated in spaces independent from each other. It characterized in that it comprises two partitions (121).

The unit cell 100 may further include a heat dissipation fin 511 provided in the battery cooling passage 510.

In this case, the unit battery 100 is formed to surround at least one or more of the cells 111, characterized in that the cell cover 112 made of a high thermal conductive metal material including Al is provided. do.

In addition, the unit battery case 120 is characterized in that made of a high thermal conductivity metal material containing Al.

In addition, the partition 121 is characterized by being made of a high thermal conductive metal material containing Al.

In addition, the partition 121 is formed as a separate component from the unit battery case 120 is characterized in that the bolt coupled to the unit battery case 120.

In addition, the unit battery case 120 is characterized in that the bracket 122 for stably fixing the connection parts including the wires connected to the unit battery on the unit battery case 120.

According to the present invention, a plurality of cells are assembled to form a unit cell, and a plurality of unit cells are assembled to form a battery pack, wherein the cells forming the unit cell are accommodated in one case per unit cell. In case of damage or failure of a cell or a single unit battery, only the corresponding unit battery needs to be replaced, thereby increasing the exchange and assemblability, and saving a large amount of resources such as cost, time, and manpower. have.

First of all, according to the present invention, the heat discharged from the cell can be effectively transferred to the refrigerant through the case in the water-cooled cooling using the refrigerant such as the cooling water by increasing the assemblability and making the unit battery case a conductive material. By doing so, there is a great effect of increasing the cooling efficiency of the cell.

1 is a structural diagram of a typical lithium ion battery.
Figure 2 is an embodiment of a conventional water-cooled cooling battery.
3 is an exploded perspective view of a unit cell of a battery of the present invention.
4 is a perspective view of one embodiment of a battery of the present invention.
5 is a perspective view of another embodiment of a battery of the present invention.
6 is a detailed view of one embodiment of a battery cooling passage of the present invention.

Hereinafter, a battery having a thermally conductive case for water-cooled cooling according to the present invention having the configuration as described above will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

3 shows an exploded perspective view of a unit cell of a battery of the invention, and FIG. 4 shows a perspective view of one embodiment of the battery of the invention. 3 and 4, the basic configuration of the battery of the present invention will be described first.

Like the general battery, the battery 500 of the present invention is basically made by stacking a plurality of cells 111 each having a pair of electrodes formed thereon. In this case, in the present invention, the battery 500 is formed by stacking a plurality of unit cells 100. In this case, the unit cell 100 is formed by stacking a plurality of cells 111 having a pair of electrodes formed thereon. That is, the battery 500 of the present invention has a configuration in which a plurality of unit cells 100 including a plurality of cells 111 are stacked. In addition, the stack of the unit cells 100 includes a battery cooling passage 510 in which a heat exchange medium for absorbing heat generated in the cell 111 and cooling the cell 111 is distributed. The heat exchange medium is generally cooling water.

The battery 500 of the present invention allows the cell 111 to be cooled by absorbing heat generated from the cell 111 by using a heat exchange medium such as cooling water as described above. However, when only the cells 111 are stacked, the area where the cells 111 and the battery cooling passages 510 are substantially in contact is considerably narrow, so that the heat generated from the cells 111 may be reduced. It may be difficult to be smoothly absorbed into the heat exchange medium in the cooling passage 510. In order to overcome this problem, structures for allowing a cooling passage through which a heat exchange medium is distributed between the cells 111 have been previously disclosed. However, in the case of such a structure, the cooling efficiency will be increased, but if the heat exchange medium leaks from the cooling passage as described above, the cell 111 may be damaged to cause problems such as deterioration of the power generation efficiency of the battery 500. It is true that there is.

In order to eliminate this problem, the present invention provides the following structure. That is, in the battery 500 of the present invention, as shown in FIG. 3, the unit cell 100 includes a unit cell case 120 in which a cell stack 110 including a plurality of cells 111 is accommodated. And a plurality of partitions 121 provided in the unit battery case 120 to be interposed between at least one bundle of cells 111 so that the bundles of cells 111 are accommodated in independent spaces. It is characteristic that it is made. In addition, in particular, the unit battery case 120 or the partition 121 is characterized by being made of a high thermal conductive metal material such as Al. 3 illustrates a configuration in which a bundle of cells 111 including a pair of cells 111 is accommodated in a space formed by a partition 121.

The battery 500 of the present invention can greatly increase the cooling efficiency by having such a configuration. As described above, the bundles of the cells 111 may be accommodated and disposed in separate spaces formed by the partitions 121, so that heat generated from the cells 111 may be easily transferred to the partitions 121. At this time, since the partition 121 and the unit battery case 120 are made of a high thermal conductive metal such as Al, heat is smoothly transferred through the partition 121 and the unit battery case 120. do. At this time, since the unit battery case 120 has a wide contact area with the battery cooling passage 510 as shown, heat transferred to the unit battery case 120 is transferred to the battery cooling passage 510. It can be smoothly absorbed into the heat exchange medium circulated into.

In addition, FIG. 6 illustrates an enlarged view of the battery cooling passage 510. As shown in FIG. 6, the unit cell 100 includes a heat dissipation fin provided in the battery cooling passage 510. 511) may be further included. The heat dissipation fins 511 may better transfer heat transferred from the unit battery case 120 to the heat exchange medium circulating in the battery cooling passage 510.

In addition, in order to further increase the effect, the unit battery 100 is formed to surround at least one or more of the cells 111 and includes a cell cover made of a high thermal conductive metal material including Al. 112 may be further provided. 3 illustrates a configuration in which the cell cover 112 surrounds the pair of cells 111.

Meanwhile, the battery 500 of the present invention is formed by stacking the cells 111 as described above, wherein the cells 111 are separated and stacked in the form of the unit cells 100, and the unit cells 100 are stacked. Gathered together to form one battery (500). Therefore, when a defect or damage occurs in any one of the cells 111, instead of disassembling the entire battery 500, only one unit cell 100 in which the defective or damaged cell 111 is accommodated is replaced or Disassemble and repair. In other words, the battery 500 of the present invention takes the configuration of the unit cell 100 in which the cells 111 are gathered-the battery 500 in which the unit cells 100 are gathered, whereby a defect in any one cell 111 is caused. In case of damage or damage, it is much easier to replace, disassemble or repair the user convenience.

In order to facilitate replacement of the cell 111 as described above, the partition 121 is formed as a separate component from the unit battery case 120 and has a configuration that is bolted to the unit battery case 120. It is preferable. Of course, the partition 121 may be formed integrally with the unit battery case 120, but as such, the partition 121 is formed as a separate part from the unit battery case 120 so that assembly and disassembly are easier. Become. On the other hand, in the drawing, one bundle of cells 111 is contained in a space formed of one partition 121. However, by partitioning the partition 121 separately, one partition 121 is formed according to the purpose or intention of a designer. Design changes such as two cell 111 bundles into the space consisting of can be made much easier.

In this way, the battery 500 of the present invention also allows the cell 111 to be systematically stacked by using the unit cell 100 structure, and thus, due to the structural stability of the unit cell 100 itself, the battery The design, fabrication and assembly of the 500 becomes much easier.

As the shape of the battery 500 becomes simpler and easier to design, manufacture, and assemble, it is also easier to further include other structures in the battery 500. For example, in the present invention, the unit battery case 120 may include a bracket 122 stably fixing various connection parts on the unit battery case 120. Herein, the connection parts collectively refer to components connecting the battery 500 and external devices, such as wires connected to the unit cell 100. FIG. 5 illustrates an embodiment in which the bracket 122 is provided in the unit battery case 120 to fix the connection parts. In FIG. 5, the unit battery case 120 is provided with a cover to form the cell 111 so that the cells 111 may be more securely protected from the outside.

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: unit battery 110: cell laminate
111: cell 112: cell cover
120: unit battery case
121: partition 122: bracket
500: battery
510: battery cooling passage 511: heat dissipation fin

Claims (7)

In a battery formed by stacking a plurality of cells each having a pair of electrodes,
The battery is formed by stacking a plurality of unit cells in which a plurality of cells are stacked, and a heat exchange medium for distributing heat generated in the cells to cool the cells in a stack of the unit cells. Cooling passages are provided,
The unit cell,
A unit battery case accommodating a cell stack composed of a plurality of cells;
A plurality of partitions provided in the unit battery case and interposed between at least one bundle of cells so that the bundles of cells are accommodated in spaces independent from each other.
Battery having a thermally conductive case for water-cooled cooling, characterized in that comprises a.
The method of claim 1, wherein the unit cell
The battery having a thermally conductive case for water-cooled cooling further comprises a heat radiation fin provided in the battery cooling passage.
The method of claim 1, wherein the unit cell
A battery having a thermally conductive case for water-cooled cooling, wherein the cell cover is formed to surround at least one of the cells and is formed of a high thermal conductive metal material including Al.
The method of claim 1, wherein the unit battery case
A battery having a thermally conductive case for water-cooling cooling, characterized by being made of a high thermal conductive metal material containing Al.
The method of claim 1 wherein the partition is
A battery having a thermally conductive case for water-cooling cooling, characterized by being made of a high thermal conductive metal material containing Al.
The method of claim 1 wherein the partition is
A battery having a thermally conductive case for water-cooled cooling, which is formed as a separate component from the unit battery case and is bolted to the unit battery case.
The method of claim 1, wherein the unit battery case
A battery having a thermally conductive case for water-cooled cooling, characterized in that a bracket for stably fixing the connection parts including the wires connected to the unit cell on the unit battery case.

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