KR20160041407A - Battery Module - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a battery module which comprises: a plurality of battery cells arranged to be separated from each other; at least one cooling plate inserted into a separation space provided between the battery cells, and cooling the battery cells; and a heat absorbing unit arranged to be in contact with an end unit area of each of the cooling plates, and absorbing heat of the cooling plate. The cooling plate is provided in a plate shape having the predetermined thickness, and has at least one heat pipe embedded therein.

Description

A battery module {Battery Module}

The present invention relates to a battery module, and more particularly, to an indirect cooling type battery module having an excellent cooling efficiency.

Secondary batteries having high electrical characteristics such as high energy density and high ease of application according to the product group can be applied not only to portable devices but also to electric vehicles (EVs) or hybrid electric vehicles (HEVs) driven by electric driving sources, Storage devices (Energy Storage System) and so on. Such a secondary battery is not only a primary advantage that the use of fossil fuel can be drastically reduced, but also produces no by-products resulting from the use of energy, and thus is attracting attention as a new energy source for enhancing environmental friendliness and energy efficiency.

The battery pack applied to the electric vehicle has a structure in which a plurality of cell assemblies including a plurality of unit cells are connected in series in order to obtain high output. The unit cell includes a positive electrode and a negative electrode current collector, a separator, an active material, an electrolyte, and the like, and can be repeatedly charged and discharged by an electrochemical reaction between the components.

In recent years, as a need for a large-capacity structure including an application as an energy storage source has increased, a demand for a multi-module battery pack in which a plurality of secondary batteries are connected in series and / or in parallel is assembled .

Since the battery pack of the multi-module structure is manufactured in such a manner that a plurality of secondary batteries are densely packed in a narrow space, it is important to easily discharge heat generated from each secondary battery. Since the process of charging or discharging the secondary battery is performed by the electrochemical reaction as described above, the battery is affected by the ambient temperature condition environment. For example, the battery is affected by the temperature condition such as cryogenic temperature or extreme high temperature The charging and discharging efficiency of the battery is lowered. As a result, it is difficult to guarantee performance for normal driving.

As one of various methods of releasing heat generated in a secondary battery, Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 10-2013-0062056 discloses a cooling method using cooling water.

Generally, since the power that can be produced by one secondary battery cell is not large, a commercially available secondary battery includes a stack in which a required number of a plurality of secondary battery cells are stacked. In order to maintain the temperature of the secondary battery properly by cooling the heat generated in the unit cell of the secondary battery, a heat sink is inserted in the middle of the cell. The heat sink, which absorbs heat in each unit cell, transfers the heat to the heat sink and the heat sink is cooled by the cooling water.

However, existing heat sinks have limitations in that heat generated from the battery cells can not be discharged smoothly due to low thermal conductivity, and further, if the cooling device for supplying the coolant to the heat sink fails to operate, There is a problem of remarkably falling down. For example, in the conventional case, when a malfunction of a cooling system or a mechanical failure due to an external impact occurs, heat dissipation is not properly performed in each fuel cell. In this case, the heat accumulation of the battery cells is intensified and the service life of the battery cells is shortened, and the operation of the normal range can not be guaranteed for a proper period. In addition, the risk of explosion of the secondary battery is high, which may be a critical risk to the safety of the vehicle to which the fuel cell is applied.

Korea Patent Publication No. 10-2013-0062056 2013.06.12 SK Innovation Co., Ltd.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a cooling device for a refrigerator which can improve the heat conduction from the battery cell to the outside, And to provide a battery module capable of delaying heat accumulation.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited thereto. It will also be readily apparent that the objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

According to the present invention, there are provided a plurality of battery cells arranged to be spaced apart from each other; At least one cooling plate inserted in a space provided between the battery cells to cool the battery cells; And a heat absorbing member disposed in contact with an end region of each of the cooling plates to absorb heat of the cooling plate, wherein the cooling plate is provided in a plate-like shape having a predetermined thickness, and at least one heat pipe a battery module in which a heat pipe is embedded can be provided.

The at least one heat pipe may be a plurality of heat pipes, and the plurality of heat pipes may be arranged in parallel with the battery cells, respectively.

The at least one heat pipe may be a plurality of heat pipes, and each of the plurality of heat pipes may be formed by selectively combining at least one of a straight path and a curved path.

The at least one heat pipe may be one, and the heat pipe may be formed by selectively combining at least one of a straight path and a curved path.

The cooling plate may include a heat absorbing portion disposed in parallel with the battery cell, the heat absorbing portion extending longer than the length of the battery cell; And a heat dissipation unit that extends at one end of the heat absorbing unit so as to be bent, and the heat dissipation unit can be disposed in contact with the heat absorbing member.

The battery cells and the cooling plates may be alternately arranged one by one.

The heat absorbing member may be made of a material having a specific heat relatively larger than that of the cooling plate.

And a heat sink disposed in contact with the heat absorbing member to absorb heat of the heat absorbing member.

The heat sink may include a cooling channel through which the refrigerant flows.

The heat absorbing member may include two heat absorbing members. The cooling plate may include a heat absorbing portion disposed in parallel with the battery cell, the heat absorbing portion extending longer than the length of the battery cell. And two heat dissipating portions that are bent and extended at both ends of the heat absorbing portion, and the two heat dissipating portions can be disposed in contact with the two heat absorbing members, respectively.

And a heat sink disposed in contact with any one of the two heat absorbing members to absorb heat.

According to another aspect of the present invention, a battery pack including the above-described battery module can be provided.

According to another aspect of the present invention, an automobile including the battery pack may be provided. The automobile may be any one of an electric vehicle, a hybrid electric vehicle, and a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.

According to an aspect of the present invention, a heat pipe may be provided inside the plate-type cooling plate to significantly increase the thermal conductivity to the outside of the battery cell.

According to another aspect of the present invention, by placing the heat absorbing member having a relatively large heat capacity in contact with the heat radiating portion of the cooling plate, it is possible to delay the accumulation of heat in the battery cell for a considerable time have.

According to another aspect of the present invention, it is possible to easily assemble the cooling plate and the battery cell by inserting the heat pipe into the cooling plate.

1 is a perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a battery module according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a view showing the unit cooling plate of FIG. 1. FIG.
FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of FIG. 2. FIG.
4 is a view for explaining a heat conduction process by a cooling plate according to an embodiment of the present invention.
5 is a schematic view showing a unit cooling plate having a heat pipe according to another embodiment of the present invention.
6 is a schematic view showing a unit cooling plate having a heat pipe according to another embodiment of the present invention.
7 is a perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a battery module according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, preferred 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 construed 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.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a battery module according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a view showing the unit cooling plate of FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of FIG. 2, Is a view for explaining a heat conduction process by a cooling plate according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 1, a battery module 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a battery cell 110, a cooling plate 120, and a heat absorbing member 130.

The battery cells 110 are preferably plate-shaped so as to provide a high laminating ratio in a limited space, and are stacked or parallel so as to face one or both sides of the adjacent battery cells 110, A sieve can be formed.

Each of the battery cells 110 includes an electrode assembly composed of a positive electrode plate, a separator, and a negative electrode plate. Although not shown, a plurality of positive electrode tabs and negative electrode tabs protruded from the positive electrode plate and the negative electrode plate of each battery cell 110, The negative electrode lead can be electrically connected.

Each battery cell 110 may be a lithium ion battery, a lithium polymer battery, a nickel cadmium battery, a nickel hydride battery, a nickel zinc battery, or the like, which can be charged and discharged. In addition, the number of the battery cells 110 may be variously set according to a required output voltage or a charging capacity.

These battery cells 110 are repeatedly charged and discharged by an electrochemical reaction to generate heat. When heat is accumulated in the battery cell 110, as described above, not only the charging / discharging efficiency is lowered but also the heat accumulation is intensified and may explode. Therefore, in the battery module 100, heat generated in each battery cell 110 must be dissipated. The heat dissipation of the battery cells 110 may be primarily performed by the cooling plate 120.

As shown in FIG. 1, a plurality of cooling plates 120 may be alternately arranged with the battery cells 110. Also, the cooling plate 120 may be formed to be larger than the battery cell 110 so as to be in contact with at least one entire surface of the battery cell 110. The greater the contact area of the cooling plate 120 with the battery cell 110, the better the heat transfer can be.

In particular, the cooling plate 120 according to the present invention may include at least one heat pipe 123 inside. 2 and 3, for reference, the cooling plate 120 includes a heat pipe receiving groove (not shown) formed in the prepared two plates 120a and 120b, as shown in FIG. 3 G, a heat pipe 123 is inserted into the receiving groove G, and then the two plates 120a and 120b are engaged with each other. A method of welding or clamping the edges of the two plates 120a and 120b may be used. TIG welding, plasma welding, seam welding, high frequency welding, etc. may be used as the welding method. Since the heat pipe 123 is embedded in the cooling plate 120, the outer shape of the cooling plate 120 is plate-shaped so that the cooling plate 120 can be easily interposed between the battery cells 110 and a wide contact area with the battery cell 110 can be ensured .

Hereinafter, the cooling structure of the battery cell 110 of the cooling plate 120 according to the present embodiment will be described in more detail with reference to FIGS. 2 to 4. FIG.

The cooling plate 120 according to the present embodiment includes a heat absorbing portion 121 disposed in parallel with the battery cell 110 and extending longer than the length of the battery cell 110 and a heat absorbing portion 121 bending at one end of the heat absorbing portion 121 And a heat dissipating portion 122 extending to be in contact with the heat absorbing member 130.

Inside the cooling plate 120, five heat pipes 123 may be embedded, and each of the heat pipes 123 may be arranged in parallel with the battery cells 110. For reference, in the present embodiment, the number of the heat pipes 123 is five, but the heat pipe 123 may be configured as more than five or less than five as an example.

The cooling plate 120 absorbs the heat of the battery cell 110 at the heat absorbing portion 121 and the absorbed heat can be conducted to the heat absorbing member 130 at the heat dissipating portion 122. The heat absorbing member 130 to be described later is disposed below the heat absorbing portion 121 of the battery cell 110 and the cooling plate 120 which are alternately arranged. The heat absorbing member 122 may have a bent shape to widen the contact surface with the heat absorbing member 130.

4, the heat pipe 123 includes a conduit 123a having a sealed structure and a working fluid S injected into the conduit 123a and causing a phase change by heat.

The conduit 123a may be formed as a cylindrical shape of aluminum, stainless steel, or carbon steel having no leakage and withstand pressure strength. Ammonia, acetone, methanol, ethanol, or the like may be used as the working fluid (S), but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto.

The conduit 123a is further provided with a wick 123b that provides a path for the movement of the working fluid S. The wick 123b can circulate the working fluid S by a capillary force, can be a flexible porous material, and can be made into a plurality of minute unitary fiber texture textures to form a porous capillary.

The wick 123b helps liquefy the vaporized working fluid S and also serves as a flow path. The wick 123b is formed in itself and the micro passages for generating the capillary force are uniformly And the reproducibility in the degree of heat transfer is not deteriorated desirable. If the micro passages are uniform, the flow resistance is not increased and a high capillary force can be obtained. Therefore, even if the evaporation near the heat source becomes active, the flow of the liquid working fluid S is not interrupted.

The wick 123b may be a woven or nonwoven web of natural fibers such as cotton, chemical fibers such as polyamide-based or inorganic fibers such as carbon fibers or webs or fabrics, fabric. < / RTI >

The heat generated in the battery cell 110 is absorbed through the heat absorbing portion 121 of the cooling plate 120. [ The working fluid S in the heat pipe 123 of the heat absorbing portion 121 is vaporized by heat and moved to the heat dissipating portion 122. The vaporized working fluid S is condensed in the heat radiation portion 122 to discharge the latent heat of condensation to the outside and the condensed working fluid S is absorbed by the capillary phenomenon through the wick 123b. Then, the condensed working fluid S is returned to the heat absorbing portion 121 side along the pipe wall (the wick 123b), thereby completing one cycle of the working fluid S. Thus, the heat pipe 123 performs heat transfer by circulating the working fluid S.

The heat absorbing member 130 serves to cool the heat dissipating unit 122 of the cooling plate 120 and the working fluid S of the heat pipe 123 whose temperature has risen. The heat absorbing member 130 may be disposed adjacent or in contact with the cooling plate 120.

In this embodiment, the heat absorbing member 130 is provided in a plate shape interposed between the bent portion of the cooling plate 120, that is, between the heat dissipating unit 122 and the heat sink 140. However, unlike the present embodiment, the heat sink 140 may be omitted depending on the design. At this time, the heat absorbing member 130 may include a radiating fin (not shown) for increasing the cross- ) May be further formed.

Particularly, the heat absorbing member 130 according to the present invention is made of a material having a relatively higher heat capacity than the cooling plate 120, and can absorb a maximum amount of heat from the cooling plate 120. In this embodiment, the heat sink 140 can take charge of the cooling of the heat absorbing member 130. The heat sink 140 has a passage formed therein, and the refrigerant can be circulated in the passage. Accordingly, the heat of the battery cells 110 can be finally discharged to the outside by the heat sink 140.

However, for example, when an external shock is applied to stop the operation of the cooling system for operating the coolant, the heat conduction is not smooth and heat can be accumulated inside the battery cell 110. However, the battery module 100 according to the present invention can discharge the heat of the battery cell 110 to the outside for a considerable time even if the cooling system is not operated. In addition, since the heat absorbing member 130 according to the present invention is formed of a material having a large specific heat, heat can be absorbed from the cooling plate 120 for a considerable time, thereby delaying heat accumulation of the battery cell 110. Accordingly, the risk of explosion due to heat accumulation of at least the battery cell 110 may be reduced.

Since the battery module 100 according to the present invention has a simple structure and low manufacturing cost, it does not require additional components such as a tank, a valve, a pump, a cooler, The structure of the cooling system 100 and the operation of the cooling system can be greatly simplified.

5 is a schematic view showing a unit cooling plate having a heat pipe according to another embodiment of the present invention.

1 to 4 denote the same members, and a duplicated description of the same members will be omitted. This embodiment to be described below differs from the above-described embodiment in the structure and arrangement of the heat pipe 123 '.

Referring to FIG. 5, the cooling plate 120 'according to the present embodiment includes one heat pipe 123', and the heat pipe 123 'includes a plurality of straight line sections arranged in parallel and a plurality of straight sections And may be composed of a plurality of curved sections to be connected. Here, the heat pipe 123 'of the present embodiment is preferably formed such that a straight path corresponds to the width of the battery cell 110. In the present embodiment, the curved section is selected to reduce the frictional resistance in the section where the flow of the working fluid is changed. However, unlike the present embodiment, the curved section may be replaced with a straight section.

According to the present embodiment, the heat of the battery cell 110 can be absorbed in a wider range than the plurality of linear heat pipes 123 of the above-described embodiment.

6 is a schematic view showing a unit cooling plate having a heat pipe according to another embodiment of the present invention.

6, a cooling plate 120 " according to another embodiment of the present invention includes a plurality of heat pipes 123 ". The heat pipes include at least one straight section and at least one curved section Can be selectively formed in combination.

More specifically, two heat pipes 123 '' are provided in this embodiment, and one heat pipe 123 '' may be positioned on the left and right sides of the imaginary reference line A shown in FIG. Each heat pipe 123 '' may include a plurality of straight line segments arranged in parallel and a plurality of curve segments connecting the straight line segments.

According to the present embodiment, since the energy density of the cooling plate 120 '' can be increased by a small number of heat pipes 123 '', heat can be uniformly conducted from the front surface of the battery cell 110. In addition, even if one of the heat pipes 123 " is damaged due to an external impact, the heat can be discharged to the remaining heat pipes 123 ".

Meanwhile, although two heat pipes 123 '' are used in the present embodiment, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and thus three or more heat pipes may be used.

7 is a perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a battery module according to another embodiment of the present invention.

The description will be omitted with respect to the differences from the above-described embodiments.

The battery module 200 according to the present embodiment is configured such that the two heat absorbing members 230 can be positioned one at each end of the laminate of the battery cell 110 and the cooling plate 220, have. The cooling plate 220 includes a heat absorbing portion 221 extending longer than the length of the battery cell 110 and two heat dissipating portions 222 bent at both ends of the heat absorbing portion 221. At this time, the heat sink 240 may be installed on either one of the two heat absorbing members 230 or on both sides of the heat absorbing member 230, unlike the present embodiment.

With this structure, the battery module 200 according to the present embodiment guides the heat conduction direction in the cooling plate 220 in the up and down direction, and the heat is absorbed by the two heat absorbing members 230. Accordingly, even if the cooling system is not operated by the two heat absorbing members 230 having a large specific heat, the battery module 200 according to the present embodiment is capable of storing heat in the battery cells 110 for a longer time than the case of the above- And the like.

The battery pack according to the present invention may include at least one battery module according to the present invention. In addition to the battery module, the battery pack may further include a case for covering the battery module, and various devices for controlling charge and discharge of the battery module, such as a BMS, a current sensor, a fuse, and the like.

Further, the automobile according to the present invention may include the battery pack according to the present invention. And automobiles and IT products such as electric cars and hybrid cars.

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 limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but many variations and modifications may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the invention as defined in the appended claims. It will be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes in form and detail may be made therein without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

On the other hand, in the present specification. It is to be understood that the terminology such as up, down, left, right, etc., is used for convenience of explanation, but can be expressed differently depending on the viewing position of the observer or the position of the object. To be clear to.

100: Battery module
110: Battery cell
120: cooling plate
121:
122:
123: Heat pipe
130: Heat absorbing member
140: Heat sink

Claims (13)

A plurality of battery cells arranged to be spaced apart from each other;
At least one cooling plate inserted in a space provided between the battery cells to cool the battery cells; And
And a heat absorbing member disposed in contact with an end region of each of the cooling plates to absorb heat of the cooling plate,
Wherein the cooling plate comprises:
Wherein at least one heat pipe is provided in a plate-like shape having a predetermined thickness. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the at least one heat pipe comprises a plurality of heat pipes,
And the plurality of heat pipes are arranged in parallel with the battery cells, respectively. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the at least one heat pipe comprises a plurality of heat pipes,
Wherein each of the plurality of heat pipes is formed by combining at least any one of a straight section and a curved section. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the at least one heat pipe is one,
Wherein the one heat pipe is formed by combining at least any one of a straight section and a curved section. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the cooling plate comprises:
A heat absorbing portion disposed in parallel to the battery cell and extending longer than a length of the battery cell;
And a heat dissipation unit that is bent at one end of the heat absorbing unit,
Wherein the heat dissipating unit is disposed in contact with the heat absorbing member. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the battery cells and the cooling plates are alternately arranged one by one. The method according to claim 1,
The heat absorbing member
Wherein the cooling plate is made of a material having a relatively higher specific heat than the cooling plate. The method according to claim 1,
And a heat sink disposed in contact with the heat absorbing member to absorb heat of the heat absorbing member. 9. The method of claim 8,
Wherein the heat sink includes a cooling channel through which the coolant flows. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein two heat absorbing members are provided,
Wherein the cooling plate comprises:
A heat absorbing portion disposed in parallel to the battery cell and extending longer than a length of the battery cell;
And two heat dissipating portions that are respectively bent and extended at both ends of the heat absorbing portion,
Wherein the two heat dissipating units are disposed in contact with the two heat absorbing members, respectively. 11. The method of claim 10,
And a heat sink which is disposed in contact with any one of the two heat absorbing members to absorb heat. A battery pack comprising the battery module according to any one of claims 1 to 11. An automobile comprising the battery pack according to claim 12.

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