KR20170038498A - Battery Module - Google Patents

Abstract

According to an aspect of the present invention, a battery module comprises: a secondary battery; a cell assembly made of cartridges which accommodate the secondary battery; and a structure coupled to an external circumference of the cell assembly to form an external shape. In the structure, the battery module with a curvature surface can be provided to at least one outermost edge portion.

Description

A battery module {Battery Module}

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a battery module, and more particularly, to a battery module external structure capable of dispersing a load applied to a battery module during vibration and shock.

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.

A battery pack applied to an electric vehicle or the like 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.

The secondary battery constituting the unit cell may be a nickel-cadmium battery, a nickel-hydrogen battery, a lithium secondary battery, or the like. Particularly, the lithium secondary battery has an operating voltage of about 3.6 V and has a larger capacity than a nickel-cadmium battery or a nickel-hydrogen battery, which is widely used as a power source for electronic equipment, and has a high energy density per unit weight. As shown in Fig.

The lithium secondary battery can be classified into a can-type secondary battery in which an electrode assembly is embedded in a metal can, and a pouch-type secondary battery in which an electrode assembly is embedded in a pouch of an aluminum laminate sheet, depending on the shape of the battery case. In recent years, preference for pouch-type secondary batteries is high. The pouch-type secondary battery is advantageous in that it is light in weight, has a low possibility of electrolyte leakage, and has flexibility in shape, thereby realizing a secondary battery of the same capacity with a smaller volume and mass.

On the other hand, since such a secondary cell employs a mechanism based on an electrochemical reaction as an essential driving principle, there is a possibility that a chemical explosion may be caused by various causes such as a short circuit between electrodes, electrolyte leakage, It is known that it can not be ruled out.

Therefore, the battery module or the battery pack must have a high durability so that the secondary battery can be protected even if it is used in an operating environment where external shock and vibration are severe. However, the conventional battery module or battery pack has poor appearance design for impact and vibration.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, it is an object of the present invention to provide a battery module having improved durability against shock and vibration.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a battery module including a cell assembly composed of a secondary battery, cartridges accommodating the secondary battery, and a structure coupled to the outer periphery of the cell assembly to form an outer tube, , At least one outermost corner portion, and a curved surface.

The structure further includes an edge surface formed at an obtuse angle with respect to one surface and the other surface of the at least one outermost corner portion that intersect with each other and formed in a flat shape, And may include a first curvature surface connected to the one surface and a second curvature surface connected to the other surface.

The outermost edge may include four outermost edges that are perpendicular to the ground.

The structure comprising: a voltage sensing assembly coupled to at least one side portion of the cell assembly; And a shield plate mounted on the cell assembly and the voltage sensing assembly, the cell assembly being coupled to the cell assembly and the voltage sensing assembly so that the cell assembly and the voltage sensing assembly are shaped like an outer shape.

The outermost edge portion of the structure may be defined as a corner portion of the shield plate.

The voltage sensing assemblies are two, and may be coupled to both side portions of the cell assembly so as to face each other.

The voltage sensing assembly includes: a sensing board connected to the secondary cells of the cell assembly to sense electrical characteristics; And a sensing board cover mounted on the sensing board such that the corner portion corresponds to the outermost corner portion shape of the structure and the outer periphery of the sensing board is covered.

The shield plate may include a front shield plate and a rear shield plate that surround the sensing board cover of the two voltage sensing assemblies, respectively, and a main shield plate surrounding the cell assembly.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a battery pack including the battery module and a pack case having corners corresponding to the shape of the outermost corner portion of the structure and housing the battery module.

According to another aspect of the present invention, an automobile including the battery pack may be provided.

According to an aspect of the present invention, the outer structure has strong durability against external impact and vibration, thereby protecting the secondary batteries, thereby improving the safety of the battery module.

1 is a schematic perspective view of a battery module according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. 1. Fig.
Fig. 3 is a view showing only one corner area in Fig.
Fig. 4 is a partially exploded perspective view of Fig. 1. Fig.
FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing the front and rear shield plates of FIG. 4;
6 is a schematic perspective view of a battery pack according to an 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 as meaning and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention based on the principle that it can be defined.

In the following description, well-known functions or constructions are not described in detail since they would obscure the invention in unnecessary detail.

The embodiments of the present invention are provided to explain the present invention more fully to the ordinary artisan, so that the shape and size of the components in the drawings may be exaggerated, omitted or schematically shown for clarity. Thus, the size or ratio of each component does not entirely reflect the actual size or ratio.

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a battery module according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a plan view of FIG. 1, and FIG. 3 is a view showing only one corner area in FIG.

Referring to these drawings, a battery module 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a cell assembly 100 and structures 200, 300, and 400 coupled to the outer periphery of the cell assembly 100.

First, the cell assembly 100 will be briefly described. The cell assembly 100 includes a plurality of secondary batteries and a cartridge 110 for accommodating the secondary batteries therein.

Here, the secondary battery may preferably be a pouch type secondary battery so as to provide a high deposition rate in a limited space. In addition, the cartridge 110 may be configured to stack the secondary batteries, and may be configured to hold the secondary batteries to prevent their flow, and to stack the secondary batteries.

That is, the cell assembly 100 (see FIG. 4) may be an assembly formed by layering the cartridges 110 containing the secondary cells. In the case of the pouch type secondary battery, it may be in the form of a rectangular pouch, and the external appearance of the cartridge 110 for storing and holding it may also be a rectangular frame shape. Therefore, the outer appearance of the stacked cartridges 110 can be formed in a rectangular shape. Of course, the outer shape of the cell assembly 100 is a rectangular shape, and the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto.

The structure 200, 300, 400 constituting the battery module 10 may be further coupled to the cell assembly 100 so as to surround the outer periphery thereof. These structures 200, 300, and 400 may be components that determine the overall appearance of the battery module 10. Thus, the outermost edge portion of the structure may refer to the outermost edge portions 11, 12, 13, 14 of the battery module 10.

Although the structures 200, 300 and 400 of the present embodiment are composed of the voltage sensing assembly 200, the shield plate 300 and the base plate 400, unlike the present embodiment, the types of the structures may be added or changed . A more detailed description of the structure will be given later.

Meanwhile, the battery module 10 according to an aspect of the present invention may have curvature surfaces R1 and R2 on at least one outermost corner portion 11, 12, 13, and 14. For example, as shown in Figures 1 and 2, the battery module 10 is implemented in a generally rectangular parallelepiped shape, with four outermost edge portions 11, 12, 13, 14 perpendicular to the ground, (R1, R2).

When the outermost edge portions 11, 12, 13, and 14 of the battery module 10 are at right angles, the load applied to the outermost edge portions 11, 12, 13, And may be transferred into the battery module 10. However, when the outermost edge portions 11, 12, 13 and 14 of the battery module 10 have the curvature surfaces R1 and R2 as in the configuration of the present invention, the load is applied to the outermost corner portions 11, 13 and 14, it can be dispersed along the curvature planes R1 and R2. Accordingly, since the load is dispersed / absorbed at the outermost corner portions 11, 12, 13, and 14 of the battery module 10, the amount of the impact received by the secondary batteries located inside the battery module 10 can be relatively small.

2 and 3, the battery module 10 according to the present embodiment has a first curvature surface R1, an edge surface E , And a second curvature surface R2.

The edge surface (E) is a surface which is formed obliquely at a predetermined angle with respect to one side and the other side which intersect with each other. In other words, referring to FIG. 3, the edge surface E is formed with an obtuse angle? And a flat surface with the one surface and the other surface, respectively.

The first curvature surface R1 and the second curvature surface R2 are a curvature surface for forgetting the edge surface E and the one surface and the other surface with respect to the edge surface E, respectively. In other words, the first curvature surface R1 is a curvature surface between the one surface and the edge surface E, and the second curvature surface R2 is a curvature surface between the edge surface E and the other surface.

2 and 3, the outermost edge portions 11, 12, 13, and 14 of the battery module 10 according to the present embodiment further include a flat edge surface E, The one surface and the other surface adjacent to the surface E are smoothly connected by the first curvature surface R1 and the second curvature surface R2.

The battery module 10 of the present embodiment is constructed such that the first and second curvature surfaces R1 and R2 and the edge surface E are applied to the outermost edge portions 11, 12, 13 and 14, And the impact reduction effect can be increased.

In addition, the flat edge surface (E) has a larger impact absorbing area than that having a curvature, and thus has a larger stress to an external impact applied relatively vertically. The first curvature surface R1 and the second curvature surface R2 are advantageous in dispersing the external impact as compared to the edge surface E. Therefore, by providing the first curvature surface R1 and the second curvature surface R2 with respect to the edge surface E, it is possible to prevent the external impact from being applied to the outermost corner portions 11, 12, 13, 14 of the battery module 10 ), The absorption and dispersion of the impact can be made appropriate.

In addition, the battery module 10 can have increased space utilization because the outermost corner portions 11, 12, 13, and 14 are formed of the first and second curvature surfaces R1 and R2 and the edge surface E . For example, since the battery module 10 to be installed in an automobile or the like can be installed in a very limited space, a very space-efficient appearance structure is required. The battery module 10 of the present invention, when installed in a limited space, Utilization can be increased.

The structure according to an embodiment of the present invention will now be described in more detail.

FIG. 4 is a partially exploded perspective view of FIG. 1, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the front and rear shield plates of FIG.

The structure according to the present embodiment may include a voltage sensing assembly 200, a shield plate 300, and a base plate 400, as shown in FIG.

The voltage sensing assembly 200 transmits sensing information on an electrical characteristic such as a voltage of the secondary battery to another device (not shown) outside the battery module 10. For example, a device such as a battery management system (BMS) may be connected to the battery module 10 to control operation of the battery module 10 such as charging or discharging. At this time, the voltage sensing assembly 200 may be connected to the BMS to provide the BMS with sensed voltage information or the like of the secondary battery, and the BMS can control the battery module 10 based on the information.

The voltage sensing assembly 200 may be mounted on at least one side of the cell assembly 100 to be electrically connected to the secondary cell of the cell assembly 100. Preferably, the voltage sensing assembly 200 may be mounted on the exposed portion of the electrode leads of the secondary battery. In this embodiment, since the electrode leads are exposed in both directions with respect to the cell assembly 100, A pair of voltage sensing assemblies 200 are provided. Accordingly, the two voltage sensing assemblies 200 may be mounted on both side portions of the cell assembly 100 so as to face each other.

The voltage sensing assembly 200 may include a sensing board 210 and a sensing board cover 22. The sensing board 210 may include a plurality of sensing members, such as a plurality of bus bars that electrically connect to the electrode leads of the secondary battery, a circuit board, and a connector terminal.

The sensing board cover 220 may be a plate-like structure for protecting the sensing board 210 from an external impact and covering the outer periphery of the sensing board 210. 4, the corner portion 221 is formed to correspond to the shape of the outermost corner portion 11, 12, 13, 14 of the battery module 10 . That is, the corner portion 221 of the sensing board cover 220 may be provided in a shape corresponding to the first curvature surface R1, the edge surface E, and the second curvature surface R2. The sensing board cover 220 may be covered with the front and rear shield plates 330 to be described later.

The shield plate 300 may include a main shield plate 310 and front and rear shield plates 320 and 330. The main shield plate 310 may be formed in a substantially "C" -shaped lid shape to cover the periphery of the rectangular parallelepiped cell assembly 100. The front and rear shield plates 320 and 330 may cover the outer surfaces of the voltage sensing assemblies 200, that is, the sensing board cover 220, respectively. The shield plate 300 may be made of a metal such as steel to ensure rigidity.

In the battery module 10 of this embodiment, the outer frame may be formed by the shield plate 300. That is, the shield plate 300 of the present embodiment may be a structure for forming the appearance of the battery module 10. [ Therefore, the corner portion of the shield plate 300 can be defined as the outermost edge portions 11, 12, 13, and 14 of the battery module 10.

Particularly, as shown in FIG. 5, the corner portions 321 and 331 of the front shield plate 320 and the rear shield plate 330 have the first curvature surface R1, the second curvature surface R2, (E), and can conform to the shape of the corner portion 221 of the sensing board cover 22.

The connection part between the cell assembly 100 and the sensing board 210 can be stably secured in a structurally and electrically connected state for safe operation of the battery module 10. According to the configuration of the present invention, The plate-shaped front and rear shield plates 320 and 330 and the sensing board cover 220 located inside thereof serve as a protection layer to protect the cell assembly 100 and the sensing board 210 from external impacts.

As such, the main shield plate 310, including the front and rear shield plates 320 and 330, provides mechanical support for the internal components of the battery module 10 and provides a mechanical support for the cell assembly 100 and the voltage sensing board 210 It can protect from external impact.

The base plate 400 may be a plate structure disposed at a lower portion of the cell assembly 100 and the voltage sensing assembly 200 and supporting the cell assembly 100 and the voltage sensing assembly 200 at a lower portion thereof. The base plate 400 may have a plate shape having an approximately large area and may be made of a metal material such that the rigidity thereof can be secured as in the case of the shield plate 300.

Meanwhile, the battery pack according to the present invention may include at least one battery module 10 according to the present invention. In addition to the battery module 10, the battery pack according to the present invention includes a pack case 20 for storing the battery module 10, various devices 30 for controlling the charging and discharging of the battery module 10, ), Such as a BMS (Battery Management System), a current sensor, a fuse, and the like.

6, the pack case 20 may include an upper pack case 20a and a lower pack case 20b, which are assembled together. The battery module 10 is accommodated in the lower pack case 20b and can be sealed by the upper pack case 20a. In the pack case 20, various devices 30 may be additionally housed.

Particularly, the pack case may have a corner structure corresponding to the outermost edge structure of the battery module 10. [ That is, not only is it possible to reinforce the mechanical rigidity by applying the curved surfaces R1, R2 and / or the flat edge surface E to the corner portions 21, 22, 23, 24 of the pack case 20, The module 10 can be seated in a space-intensive manner.

The battery module according to the present invention can be applied to an automobile such as an electric car or a hybrid car. That is, the automobile according to the present invention may include a battery module according to the present invention.

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. It will be understood that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

In the present specification, when terms such as upward, downward, leftward, rightward, forward, and backward are used, these terms are for convenience of explanation only and are not limited to the position of the object to be viewed or the position of the observer It is apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited thereto.

10: battery module 11, 12, 13, 14: outermost corner portion
100: cell assembly 200: voltage sensing assembly
210: sensing board 220: sensing board cover
300: Shield plate 310: Main shield plate
320: Front shield plate 330: Rear shield plate
R1: first curvature surface R2: second curvature surface
E: Edge face

Claims (10)

A battery module comprising: a cell assembly including a secondary battery, cartridges for accommodating the secondary battery, and a structure coupled to the outer periphery of the cell assembly to form an outer tube,
Wherein the structure has a curvature surface at least at an outermost corner portion thereof. The method according to claim 1,
The structure further includes an edge surface formed at an obtuse angle with respect to the one surface and the other surface that intersect with each other at the at least one outermost corner portion and formed in a flat shape, and the curvature surface has a curved surface with respect to the edge surface And a second curvature surface connected to the first surface and the second curvature surface. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the outermost edge comprises four outermost edges perpendicular to the ground. The method according to claim 1,
The structure comprises:
A voltage sensing assembly coupled to at least one side of the cell assembly; And
And a shield plate mounted on the voltage sensing assembly, the cell assembly being coupled to the cell assembly and the voltage sensing assembly so that the cell assembly and the voltage sensing assembly are shaped like an outer shape. 5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein an outermost edge portion of the structure is defined as a corner portion of the shield plate. 5. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the voltage sensing assembly includes two voltage sensing assemblies, and the voltage sensing assemblies are coupled to both side portions of the cell assembly so as to face each other. The method according to claim 6,
The voltage sensing assembly includes: a sensing board connected to the secondary cells of the cell assembly to sense electrical characteristics; And
And a sensing board cover mounted on the sensing board such that an edge portion thereof corresponds to an outermost corner portion shape of the structure and an outer periphery of the sensing board is covered. 8. The method of claim 7,
The shield plate may include:
A front shield plate and a rear shield plate surrounding the sensing board covers of the two voltage sensing assemblies, and a main shield plate surrounding the cell assemblies. 9. A battery module comprising: a battery module according to any one of claims 1 to 8; And
And a pack case having an edge corresponding to an outermost corner portion shape of the structure and housing the battery module. An automobile comprising the battery pack according to claim 9.

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