WO2014189272A1

WO2014189272A1 - Pcb connection unit, method for manufacturing battery module using same, and battery module manufactured by same

Info

Publication number: WO2014189272A1
Application number: PCT/KR2014/004518
Authority: WO
Inventors: 신병헌; 조규진; 이태구; 김영만
Original assignee: 에스케이컨티넨탈이모션코리아 주식회사
Priority date: 2013-05-21
Filing date: 2014-05-21
Publication date: 2014-11-27
Also published as: KR102046122B1; KR20140137044A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a PCB connection unit, a method for manufacturing a battery module using the same, and a battery module manufactured by the method. The battery module includes: a PCB substrate connected to a pouch cell package consisting of a plurality of pouch cells having a cathode and an anode electrode tab and being arranged in parallel with one another for electrically connecting the tabs, the PCB substrate being connected to an external circuit; a substrate reception part for supporting the PCB substrate; a connection part arranged on both sides of the substrate reception part and having a plurality of through-holes for receiving the electrode tabs to interconnect among the plurality of electrode tabs; and a bus bar fixed in the through-holes for connecting the electrode tabs inserted in the through-holes.

Description

PCB connection unit and battery module manufacturing method using the same and battery module manufactured by the above method

The present invention relates to a PCB connection unit, a battery module manufacturing method using the same, and a battery module manufactured by the method.

Unlike the primary battery, the secondary battery has the convenience of being able to be charged and discharged, and has attracted much attention as a power source of various mobile devices, such as electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles.

Applications using such secondary batteries are becoming more diversified due to the advantages of secondary batteries, and the types of batteries are also being developed to output more compact and powerful power to provide appropriate output and capacity. For example, a secondary battery of a type using a high energy density nonaqueous electrolyte has a good output, and is used to drive a motor of an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle by connecting a plurality of them in series.

The battery module applied to an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle has been applied as a so-called medium-large secondary battery pack in which a plurality of battery cells are electrically connected and modularized due to the necessity of high output and large capacity. As the size and weight of the secondary battery pack are very important factors, the size and weight of the secondary battery packs are gradually reduced in size and weight.

The secondary battery pack has a structure in which a plurality of battery cells are stacked and received in a case and electrically connected thereto. In particular, in order to prevent ignition or explosion due to overcharging, overdischarging, overcurrent, heat generation, and chain side reactions of the battery cells during use, the voltage, current, and temperature of the unit cells are continuously detected outside the case, and the battery is operated. It is provided with a control device for controlling the.

As a unit cell of the secondary battery pack, a pouch type secondary battery (hereinafter, a pouch cell) has flexibility and its shape is relatively free, light in weight, and excellent in safety.

Basically, in the pouch cell, a plurality of anode electrodes (aluminum foil) and cathode electrodes (copper foils) are laminated with a separator interposed therebetween, wherein the pitch cells are formed by welding a positive electrode tab to a positive electrode and a negative electrode tab to a negative electrode. After that, it has a structure wrapped with an aluminum pouch and sealed.

However, the pouch cell has a disadvantage in that its mechanical rigidity is weak and it is difficult to expect uniformity of dimensions and the tolerance of the overall size of the cell is large. This causes the assembly yield is low in the module or battery pack to assemble a plurality of cells.

In order to fabricate a battery module using the pouch cell, a plurality of pouch cells are housed in a case, the electrode tabs of the pouch cells are welded to each other using the connection tabs, and then the connection tabs are again welded to the sensing tabs of the PCB. It should be.

1 is a partial perspective view illustrating a problem of a conventional battery module and a method of manufacturing the battery module, that is, the battery module disclosed in Korean Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2013-008136.

Referring to FIG. 1, in a conventional battery module 11, a PCB substrate 19 mounted on an upper portion of a case 13 and electrode tabs (anode tabs and negative electrode tabs) of respective pouch cells (not shown) are provided. The structure is connected to the sensing tab 17 and the connection tab 15.

The connection tabs 15 are also welded to the sensing tabs 17 in a state in which electrode tabs of neighboring pouch cells are bundled and connected to each other, thereby electrically connecting the pouch cells to the PCB substrate 19.

However, the conventional battery module 11 has a problem that the connection method of the PCB substrate 19 to the pouch cell is very inconvenient, and in particular, poor connection occurs frequently.

In order to manufacture the battery module 11, first, the eight pouch cells should be stored inside the case 13, but the rows of the pouch cells should be aligned. However, as described above, since the pouch cell has a weak mechanical rigidity and a large size tolerance, it is very difficult to accurately match the positive and negative tabs of the pouch cell. The positive electrode tab and the negative electrode tab are easily jagged.

After the alignment of the positive electrode tab and the negative electrode tab is completed, the electrode tabs of neighboring pouch cells are clamped by two and then the connection tab 15 is inserted. In this process a separate clamping device must be used. When the connection tab 15 is fitted to the electrode tab, a high voltage is applied to the connection tab using a high voltage welder to weld the connection tab 15 to the electrode tab. In the battery module 11 having the structure of accommodating eight pouch cells in the case 13, the above-described process is repeated eight times to complete welding of the connection tabs 15.

When the welding of the connection tab 15 is completed, the high voltage welder is removed, the PCB substrate 19 is seated on the case 13, and a low voltage welder is mobilized to connect each sensing tab 17 to the connection tab 15. Weld on). That is, the sensing tab 17 is welded to the connection tab 15 in a state in which the sensing tab 17 provided on the PCB substrate 19 is brought into close contact with each connection tab 15.

The welding of the connecting tab 15 and the sensing tab 17 is a so-called low voltage welding performed at a voltage relatively lower than the high voltage welding performed during the welding of the connecting tab 15 to the electrode tab. High voltage welding machine and low voltage welding machine are basically different from the welding machine itself. In order to manufacture the battery module 11, a high voltage welder and a low voltage welder should be prepared separately. Since the number of the connection tabs 15 is eight, the low voltage welding must also be performed eight times.

As described above, the conventional battery module has a disadvantage in that it is very cumbersome to manufacture the high voltage welding and the low voltage welding separately, and the high voltage welding, the low voltage welding, and the clamping device or the jig are separately required. This increases the manufacturing cost.

In addition, as described above, since high voltage welding and low voltage welding are performed several times, there is a high possibility of product defects, and therefore, special quality control is required. Since there are many welding places, even if only one place is not properly welded, an electrical short circuit occurs and the operation of the entire battery module 11 is impossible, and in some cases, an explosion or fire may occur.

The present invention has been made to solve the above problems, and the PCB to connect the electrodes of the plurality of pouch cells and the PCB board which are packaged in parallel to each other at the same time to perform a very simple and quick welding of the PCB substrate to the pouch cell. In addition to providing a connection unit, the plurality of pouch cells are housed in a housing in which the sub-tabs are fixed, and the positive and negative electrode tabs are welded to the sub-tabs to be unitized, and a plurality of the pouch cells are stacked and packaged. Is slightly different, it is possible to assemble and weld without tolerance to the PCB connection unit, and also the same quality welding is possible by realizing the same material of the bus bar and sub tap provided in the PCB connection unit. To provide a battery module and a manufacturing method of the battery module that is excellent in productivity and can simplify the process There is a purpose.

PCB connection unit of the present invention for achieving the above object is coupled to the pouch cell package consisting of a plurality of pouch cells having a positive electrode and a negative electrode tab and arranged in parallel with each other, to electrically connect the electrode tab as A PCB substrate connected to an external circuit; A board accommodating part supporting the PCB board; A connecting portion disposed on both sides of the substrate accommodating portion and having a plurality of through-holes receiving the electrode tabs to be interconnected among the plurality of electrode tabs; It is fixed in the through hole of the connecting portion, and includes a bus bar for connecting the electrode tab entered into the through hole.

In addition, the connecting portion is a rectangular plate-like member disposed symmetrically with the substrate receiving portion as a center, the through hole is a long hole which is parallel to each other and penetrates in the thickness direction of the connecting portion to receive the two electrode tabs, The bus bar is a rectangular plate-shaped member having a predetermined thickness and has a welding slit for accommodating the upper end portions of two electrode tabs entering the through hole therein.

In addition, the PCB connection unit of the present invention for achieving the above object is a rectangular frame and a housing in which a pair of sub-tabs are spaced apart and fixed to the upper side, the housing is accommodated in the positive electrode tab and the negative electrode A plurality of pouch cell units composed of pouch cells, the tabs of which are connected to and connected to the sub tabs, are overlapped, and a plurality of sub tabs protrude upwards and are disposed in parallel to each other, and concave between the sub tabs. A PCB substrate coupled to the pouch cell package provided with a mounting groove of the shape to electrically connect the sub tabs, the PCB substrate being connected to an external circuit; A board accommodating part inserted into the mounting groove while the PCB board is fixed; Connecting portions disposed on both sides of the substrate receiving portion and having a plurality of through-holes receiving the two sub tabs therein; It is fixed in the through hole of the connecting portion, and has a bus bar for connecting the sub-tabs which enter the inside of the through hole.

In addition, the bus bar takes the form of a rectangular plate having a predetermined thickness, and has two sub-tab welding slits for accommodating an upper end of the sub-tab therein.

In addition, the bus bar is made of a metal of the same material as the sub-tab.

The sub-tab welding slit has a width equal to the thickness of the sub-tab, and both sides of the sub-tab are interviewed with the inner side of the sub-tab welding slit while the sub-tab is inserted into the sub-tab welding slit.

In addition, the battery module of the present invention for achieving the above object has a shape of a rectangular frame, and a pair of sub-tabs are fixed to the upper side and the housing is housed inside the housing, the positive electrode tab and the negative electrode tab A plurality of pouch cell units composed of pouch cells connected to the sub tabs are stacked in a plurality of sub-tabs, and a plurality of sub tabs protrude upwardly and are disposed in parallel to each other, and are concave between the sub tabs. Pouch cell package provided with a mounting groove of the; A PCB substrate coupled to an upper portion of the pouch cell package to electrically connect the sub tabs, the PCB substrate being connected to an external circuit; A board accommodating part inserted into the mounting groove while the PCB board is fixed; Connecting portions disposed on both sides of the substrate receiving portion and having a plurality of through-holes receiving the two sub tabs therein; It is fixed in the through hole of the connecting portion, and includes a PCB connection unit having a bus bar for connecting the sub-tap entered into the through hole.

In addition, the pouch cell; A battery body comprising an electrode assembly and a pouch for sealing the electrode assembly; a positive electrode tab and a negative electrode tab connected to the electrode assembly and extending out of the pouch; The pouch cell is connected to an external circuit through the sub-tabs while the pouch cell is accommodated therein, and has a main body accommodating space and a tab accommodating space accommodating the battery body, the positive electrode tab, and the negative electrode tab of the pouch cell, respectively. A housing main body, wherein the sub-tab; It is fixed to the housing body, and is fixed to a position facing the positive electrode tab and the negative electrode tab in a state in which the pouch cell is accommodated in the housing body.

In addition, the housing body; A bottom portion supporting one side of the pouch cell and a wall portion integrally formed with an edge of the bottom portion and accommodating the pouch cell in an inner region thereof and having the subtab fixed thereto.

In addition, the sub-tap; It is a plate-shaped metal piece having a relatively thick thickness and a larger area than the positive electrode tab and the negative electrode tab, and extends to the outside of the housing body so as to be connected to the bus bar.

In addition, the bus bar is made of the same material as the sub-tab.

In addition, the sub-tab is made of copper or aluminum.

In addition, the battery module manufacturing method of the present invention for achieving the above object, by arranging a plurality of pouch cells having the electrode tab of the positive electrode and the negative electrode side by side, the pouch cell package of the electrode tab is arranged in parallel Pouch cell package manufacturing step of constructing; A bus bar seating step of arranging a plurality of bus bars on an upper portion of the pouch cell package, each bus bar being connected to two adjacent electrode tabs; And welding the electrode tab in contact with the busbar with the busbar.

In addition, the pouch cell package manufacturing step; A pouch consisting of a housing having a rectangular frame and having a pair of sub tabs spaced apart from each other at an upper side thereof, and a pouch cell stored in the housing and having positive and negative tabs connected to the sub tabs. A plurality of cell units are disposed so that the sub-tabs are side by side, and the bus bar seating step includes: A connection part having a bus bar in the through hole having a PCB board to be connected to an external circuit, a board receiving part to fix the PCB board, and through holes disposed on both sides of the board receiving part and receiving the sub-tabs therein; The PCB connection unit is coupled to the pouch cell package to connect the sub tabs to the bus bars.

In addition, the bus bar has a shape of a rectangular plate and has two sub-tap welding slits for accommodating the upper end of the sub-tap entering the through hole therein.

In addition, the welding step; A laser welding process is performed in which the upper end of the sub tap is fitted inside the sub tap welding slit.

The features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description based on the accompanying drawings.

Prior to this, the terms or words used in this specification and claims are not to be interpreted in a conventional and dictionary sense, and the inventors may appropriately define the concept of terms in order to best describe their own invention. Based on the principle that the present invention should be interpreted as meaning and concept corresponding to the technical idea of the present invention.

PCB connection unit of the present invention made as described above, and a battery module manufacturing method using the same and the battery module produced by the method, the electrode and the PCB substrate of a plurality of pouch cells which are packaged in parallel to each other at the same time to the pouch cell It is possible to carry out welding work of PCB board very easily and quickly. Also, many pouch cells are housed in the housing where the sub tabs are fixed, but the positive electrode tab and the negative electrode tab are welded to the sub tab and unitized. By stacking and packaging a large number, even if the size of individual pouch cells is slightly different, it is possible to assemble and weld without tolerance with the PCT connection unit, and the material of the busbar and sub-tab provided in the PCB connection unit is the same. It is possible to produce the same type of welding, so the welding quality is excellent and the productivity is good.

1 is a partial perspective view illustrating a problem of a conventional battery module and a method of manufacturing the same.

2 is an exploded perspective view of a battery module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

3 is a partially cutaway exploded perspective view of the PCB connection unit shown in FIG. 2.

4 is a view for explaining the welding method for the pouch cell package of the PCB connection unit shown in FIG.

5 to 7 are views for explaining the internal configuration of the pouch cell unit constituting the pouch cell package shown in FIG.

8 is a block diagram showing the battery module manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present invention collectively.

The objects, specific advantages and novel features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description and the preferred embodiments associated with the accompanying drawings.

In the present specification, in adding reference numerals to the elements of each drawing, it should be noted that the same elements as possible, even if displayed on different drawings have the same number as possible.

In addition, terms such as “first”, “second”, “one side”, and “other side” are used to distinguish one component from another component, and the component is defined by the terms. It is not limited.

In describing the embodiments of the present invention, detailed descriptions of related well-known technologies that may unnecessarily obscure the subject matter of the present invention will be omitted.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

2 is an exploded perspective view of the battery module 31 according to an embodiment of the present invention.

In the battery module 31 according to the present exemplary embodiment, the plurality of pouch cell units 51 including the pouch cell (73 in FIG. 5) are stacked in a plurality of layers to form a pouch cell package 49, and a PCB connection is formed thereon. It has a structure which seat-welded the unit 33.

That is, the pouch cell package 49 has a plurality of sub tabs 71 and mounting grooves 65 thereon, and the PCB connection unit 33 is fixed to the top of the pouch cell package 49 and the sub It has a bus bar 33d for electrically connecting the tab 71.

The pouch cell package 49 is an assembly in which a plurality of pouch cell units 51 are stacked and packaged. The pouch cell unit 51 has the form of FIG. 6, and is manufactured in advance through a separate prior process. The application of the pouch cell unit 51 is to eliminate various problems of the individual pouch cells (for example, their mechanical stiffness is weak, so that it is difficult to expect the uniformity of dimensions and the tolerance of the overall cell size is large), and also the pouch This is for connecting the positive and negative tabs of the cell to the sub tab 71. The application of the above sub taps is for the purpose of homogeneous welding of bus bars.

The pouch cell unit 51 will be described first with reference to FIGS. 5 to 7.

5 to 7 are diagrams for explaining the internal configuration of the pouch cell unit 51 constituting the pouch cell package 49 shown in FIG.

As shown in the drawing, the pouch cell unit 51 accommodates the pouch cell 73 and the pouch cell 73 in the form of a square plate capable of charging and discharging therein, but the positive electrode tab ( 73c) and a housing 53 having a sub tab 71 welded to the negative electrode tab 73d.

The pouch cell 73 is a general pouch type secondary battery, including an electrode assembly 73a including a plurality of positive electrode electrodes, a negative electrode electrode, and a separator, and a pouch 73b sealing and accommodating the electrode assembly 73a therein; A positive electrode tab 73c welded to the positive electrode of the electrode assembly 73a and extended to the outside of the pouch 73b, and a negative electrode tab welded to the negative electrode of the electrode assembly 73a and extended to the outside of the pouch 73b ( 73d).

The pouch cell 73 may be divided into a cell body 73e, a positive electrode tab 73c, and a negative electrode tab 73d based on the front view. The cell body 73e is a portion wrapped with the pouch 73b itself and the pouch 73b.

The housing 53 is manufactured through an injection process, and includes a housing main body 55 and two sub tabs 71 fixed to the housing main body 55.

Each of the sub tabs 71 is part of which is fixed to the housing body 55 through insert injection, and the two sub tabs 71 have the same material and the same size. In particular, the sub tab 71 is made of a metal such as a metal of either the positive electrode tab 73c or the negative electrode tab 73d of the pouch cell 73.

Usually, since the positive electrode tab 73c is made of aluminum and the negative electrode tab 73d is made of copper, the sub tab 71 is made of aluminum or copper. Preferably, the electrical properties and the stiffness is relatively good to be made of copper.

In addition, the sub tab 71 is equal to or greater than the thickness of the positive electrode tab 73c or the negative electrode tab 73d, and the width W of the sub tab 27 is the positive electrode tab 73c or the negative electrode tab 73d. The sub tab 71 may be manufactured to be 1 to 5 times thicker than the thickness of the positive electrode tab 73c or the negative electrode tab 73d. The width W is preferably about 1 to 1.5 times the width of the positive electrode tab 73c or the negative electrode tab 73d.

The housing main body 55 is integrally provided with a bottom portion 56 supporting one side of the pouch cell 73 and an edge portion of the bottom portion 56 to provide a rectangular frame and a pouch cell in an inner region thereof. Wall portion 57 for receiving 73. In addition, the bottom part 56 is also provided with a through hole 61 for dissipating heat generated from the pouch cell 73. The space formed by the bottom 56 and the wall 57 is an accommodation space 59 that accommodates the cell body 73.

The wall portion 57 provides two tab receiving spaces 58 on its upper side. The tab receiving space 58 is a space in which the positive electrode tab 73c and the negative electrode tab 73d are accommodated. When the cell body 73e is accommodated in the accommodation space 59, the positive electrode tab 73c and the negative electrode tab 73d are automatically inserted into the tab accommodation space 58.

In addition, a sub tab fitting portion 67 is provided on the side of the tab receiving space 58. The sub tab fitting portion 67 is a portion to which the sub tab 71 is embedded. When the housing body 55 is manufactured by insert injection, the sub tab fitting portion 67 does not need to be processed separately. The sub tab fitting portions 67 have the same shape and are spaced apart by a predetermined interval.

In some cases, when the housing main body 55 is not manufactured by insert injection, that is, when the housing main body 55 is separately molded and the sub-tab 71 must be fitted into the molded housing main body 55, Sub-tab fitting 67 should be further molded. The sub tab fitting portion 67 includes a supporting jaw 67b and a holding slit 67a.

The supporting jaw 67b is a portion that supports and supports the sub tab 71 and is in contact with the bottom thickness surface of the sub tab 71. The holding slit 67a is a portion into which the slit inserting portions 71a on both sides of the sub tab 71 are inserted.

A mounting groove 65 is formed between the sub tab fitting portions 67. The mounting groove 65 has a concave shape as part of the outer surface of the wall portion 57 to accommodate and support the substrate accommodation portion 33m to be described later.

In addition, a plurality of protrusions 69 are formed on the front surface (one side) of the wall portion 57, and a groove portion (not shown) into which the protrusion portion 69 is fitted is formed on the rear surface (the other side surface) of the wall portion 57. Formed. The groove is a groove into which the protrusion 69 formed in the housing disposed behind is fitted. That is, the protruding portion 69 is a portion inserted into the groove portion of the housing body 55 located at the front thereof, and the groove portion is a portion into which the protruding portion 69 of the housing body located at the rear portion thereof is fitted. In this way, by applying the protrusions 69 and the grooves on the front and rear of the housing body 55, even when the pouch cell package 49 is manufactured, the housing 53 can be easily aligned no matter how many pouch cell units 51 are stacked.

Naturally, the protrusions 69 and the grooves corresponding thereto may be modified in various ways.

The sub tab 71 is automatically fitted to the positive electrode tab 73c and the negative electrode tab 73d when the pouch cell 73 is accommodated in the housing body 55. That is, the cell body 73e of the pouch cell 73 faces the positive electrode tab 73c and the negative electrode tab 73d while being inserted into the accommodation space 59.

That is, as shown in FIG. 6, in the state where the pouch cell 73 is accommodated in the accommodating space 59 of the housing 53, the positive electrode tab 73c and the negative electrode tab ( 73d).

The positive electrode tab 73c and the negative electrode tab 73d are respectively welded to the sub tab 71. When the sub tap 71 is copper, the positive electrode tab 73c and the sub tap 71 are heterogeneous welds, and the negative electrode tab 73d and the sub tap 71 are homogeneous welding. Since the pouch cell unit 51 is homogeneous welding or heterogeneous welding, one welding defect is not generated. In addition, since the welding inspection will be performed after the welding work of the pouch cell unit 51 is completed one by one, there is no fear of defects in the pouch cell unit 51 itself. Welding of the positive electrode tab 73c and the negative electrode tab 73d to the sub tab 71 may be performed by laser welding, resistance welding, or the like.

When the pouch cell units 51 fabricated through the above-described process are stacked and stacked, the pouch cell units 51 are brought into close contact with each other back and forth to obtain the pouch cell package 49 of FIG. 2.

As shown in FIG. 2, a plurality of sub tabs 71 protrude upward from the pouch cell package 49, and mounting grooves 65 are provided between the sub tabs 71.

The sub-tabs 71 wait in parallel with each other in a state in which each of the pouch cell units 51 is welded to the positive electrode tab 73c and the negative electrode tab 73d of the pouch cell 73. As described above, the sub tab 71 is made of the same material as that of the positive electrode tab 73c or the negative electrode tab 73d, and preferably made of the same copper as the negative electrode tab 73d.

In addition, the mounting grooves 65 formed in the upper center of each pouch cell unit 51 are gathered together with the other mounting grooves 65 to extend their width.

On the other hand, in the battery module of the present embodiment, the PCB connection unit 33 is used to connect each sub-tab 71 protruding to the upper portion of the pouch cell package 49 at once.

The PCB connection unit 33 is welded to each of the sub-tabs 71 in a state where the PCB connection unit 33 is itself mounted on the upper portion of the pouch cell package 49, thereby electrically connecting each pouch cell. do.

3 is a partially cutaway exploded perspective view of the PCB connection unit 33 shown in FIG. 2.

As shown in the drawing, the PCB connection unit 33 has a hexahedron block shape for accommodating and fixing the PCB substrate 33b connected to an external circuit and the PCB substrate 33b therein. 33 m of board | substrate accommodation parts accommodated and fixed to 65, the connection part 33n which is arrange | positioned symmetrically in the both sides of the said board | substrate accommodation part 33m, and has many bus bar mounting grooves 33c, and the said connection part ( And a plurality of bus bars 33d fixed to each bus bar mounting groove 33c of 33n).

The substrate receiving portion 33m and the connecting portion 33n are injection molded to form an integral part. The connecting portion 33n takes the form of a rectangular plate having a predetermined thickness and covers the upper portion of the pouch cell package 49 together with the substrate receiving portion 33m.

The PCB board 33b mounted on the board receiving unit 33m is connected to each bus bar 33d through a connection wiring (33h in FIG. 4), and transmits power of the pouch cell to the outside or is circumferentially Power to the pouch cell. The PCB board 33b itself performs the same function as the PCB board 19 in a general battery module.

The substrate receiving portion 33m is fitted into the mounting groove 65 to support the PCB connection unit 33 so as not to shake. If necessary, a separate coupling means may be added between the substrate accommodating part 33m and the mounting groove part 65.

On the other hand, the bus bar mounting groove 33c is a rectangular groove and has a sub-tap through hole 33f on its bottom surface. The sub tab through hole 33f is a slit-shaped hole having a predetermined width, and when the PCB connection unit 33 is mounted on the pouch cell package 49, each sub tap 71 is connected to the sub tap through hole ( 33f).

The bus bar 33d is a rectangular metal plate member fixed to the inside of each bus bar mounting groove 33c and has a sub-tap welding slit 33e corresponding to the sub-tap through hole 33f. .

In the present embodiment, the sub tap welding slit 33e has a slit shape, and the sub tap welding slit 33e passes through the sub tap through hole 33f and protrudes above the sub tap through hole. ) Top part is fitted. In other words, the sub-tab welding slit 33e is a through slit into which the upper end of each sub-tab 71 which has entered upwardly into the sub-tap through hole 33f is fitted. In particular, the width Z of the sub-tab welding slit 33e corresponds to the thickness of the upper end of the sub-tab 71, so that both sides of the sub-tab 71 fitted inside the sub-tab welding slit 33e have the sub-tab welding slit. It comes in close contact with the inner side surface of 33e. In addition, the upper end of the sub-tab 71 does not protrude to the upper portion of the bus bar 33d.

4 is a view illustrating a welding method for the pouch cell package 49 of the PCB connection unit 33 shown in FIG. 3, and the PCB connection unit 33 is seated on the pouch cell package 49. Referring to FIG. This is a plan view showing the appearance.

As shown in the figure, the sub tap 71 is inserted into the sub tap welding slit 33e of each bus bar 33d. In particular, both surfaces of each sub tab 71 are in a state of being in close contact with the inner surface of the sub tab welding slit 33e, that is, a state of being folded. The sub tab 71 and the bus bar 33d are made of copper as the same metal. In addition, the bus bars 33d are respectively connected to the PCB substrate 33b through the connection wiring 33h.

In the above assembled state, the sub tab 71 and the bus bar 33d are welded by the laser welding device. That is, a laser beam is applied to the sub-tab 71 and its surrounding area by drawing a spiral welding line A with a laser welding device, thereby welding the sub-tab 71 to the bus bar 33d. At this time, since the bus bar 33d and the sub tap 71 are the same metal, welding is made easier.

As the welding of the bus bar 33d and the sub tab 71 is completed through the laser welding process, each pouch cell is electrically connected to the PCB substrate 33b.

8 is a flowchart schematically illustrating a method of manufacturing a battery module according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Referring to FIG. 8, the battery module manufacturing method according to the present embodiment includes a pouch cell package manufacturing step 101, a bus bar seating step 103, and a welding step 105.

The pouch cell package manufacturing step 101 is a process of manufacturing the pouch cell package 49 described above, which takes the form of a rectangular frame and has a housing in which a pair of sub-tabs 71 are spaced apart from each other. 53, the pouch cell 73 is accommodated, and a large number of pouch cell units 51 having a structure in which the positive electrode tab 73c and the negative electrode tab 73d of the pouch cell 73 are welded to the sub tab 71 are manufactured. This is a process of stacking.

Through the pouch cell package manufacturing step 101, a pouch cell package 49 having a plurality of sub tabs 71 arranged thereon and a mounting groove 65 disposed between the sub tabs 71 is manufactured. .

In addition, the bus bar seating step 103 is a step of mounting the PCB connection unit 33 on an upper portion of the pouch cell package 49 to set the sub-tab 71 and the bus bar 33d to contact each other. . At this time, the upper end of the sub-tab 71 is inserted into the sub-tab welding slit 33e of the bus bar 33d as described above.

Welding step 105 is performed after the bus bar seating step 103 is completed, the upper end and the peripheral portion of the sub-tab 71 inserted in the sub-tab welding slit 33e by laser welding the bus bar ( The sub tab 71 is coupled to 33d). Finishing the manufacturing process of the battery module through the welding step 105.

As mentioned above, the present invention has been described in detail through specific embodiments, which are intended to specifically describe the present invention, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and one having ordinary skill in the art within the technical idea of the present invention. It is apparent that the deformation and improvement can be made by.

All modifications and variations of the present invention fall within the scope of the present invention, and the specific scope of protection of the present invention will be apparent from the appended claims.

The present invention relates to a PCB connection unit, a battery module using the same, and a method of manufacturing the same, having industrial applicability in a battery module manufacturing field and a battery module application field, and a plurality of pouch cell electrodes and a PCB that are packaged in parallel to each other. By simultaneously connecting the substrates, welding of the PCB substrate to the pouch cell can be performed very simply and quickly.

Claims

A PCB connection unit having a positive electrode and a negative electrode tab and coupled to a pouch cell package composed of a plurality of pouch cells arranged in parallel with each other and electrically connecting the electrode tabs,

A PCB substrate connected to an external circuit;

A board accommodating part supporting the PCB board;

A connecting portion disposed on both sides of the substrate accommodating portion and having a plurality of through-holes receiving the electrode tabs to be interconnected among the plurality of electrode tabs;

And a bus bar which is fixed in the through hole of the connection part and connects the electrode tab which has entered the through hole.
The method of claim 1,

The connecting portion is a rectangular plate-like member disposed symmetrically with the substrate receiving portion as the center,

The through hole is a long hole which is penetrated in the thickness direction of the connection part and parallel to each other, and accommodates the two electrode tabs,

And the bus bar is a rectangular plate-shaped member having a predetermined thickness and has a welding slit for accommodating an upper end of two electrode tabs entering the through hole therein.
A pouch cell having a rectangular frame and having a housing in which a pair of sub tabs are spaced apart from each other, and a pouch cell accommodated in the housing and having a positive electrode tab and a negative electrode tab connected to the sub tab. Units are stacked in multiple layers and a plurality of sub-tabs are projected upward in parallel to each other, and are coupled to a pouch cell package having a recessed mounting groove between the sub-tabs to electrically connect the sub-tabs. As a PCB connection unit,

A PCB substrate connected to an external circuit;

A board accommodating part inserted into the mounting groove while the PCB board is fixed;

Connecting portions disposed on both sides of the substrate receiving portion and having a plurality of through-holes receiving the two sub tabs therein;

And a bus bar which is fixed in the through hole of the connection part and connects the sub tab which has entered the through hole.
The method of claim 3,

The bus bar is in the form of a rectangular plate having a predetermined thickness, and a PCB connection unit having two sub-tab welding slits for accommodating an upper end of the sub-tab therein.
The method according to claim 3 or 4,

The bus bar is a PCB connection unit made of a metal of the same material as the sub-tab.
The method of claim 4, wherein

And the sub-tab welding slit has a width equal to the thickness of the sub-tab, wherein both sides of the sub-tab are in contact with the inner surface of the sub-tab welding slit with the sub-tab inserted in the sub-tab welding slit.
A pouch consisting of a housing having a rectangular frame and having a pair of sub tabs spaced apart from each other at an upper side thereof, and a pouch cell stored in the housing and having positive and negative tabs connected to the sub tabs. A pouch cell package including a plurality of cell units, the plurality of sub tabs protruding upward and parallel to both upper sides thereof, and having a concave mounting groove between the sub tabs;

A PCB substrate coupled to an upper portion of the pouch cell package to electrically connect the sub tabs, the PCB substrate being connected to an external circuit; A board accommodating part inserted into the mounting groove while the PCB board is fixed; Connecting portions disposed on both sides of the substrate receiving portion and having a plurality of through-holes receiving the two sub tabs therein; And a PCB connection unit fixed in the through hole of the connection part, the PCB connecting unit having a bus bar connecting the sub tabs that enter the inside of the through hole.
The method of claim 7, wherein

The pouch cell is;

A battery body comprising an electrode assembly and a pouch for sealing the electrode assembly, a positive electrode tab and a negative electrode tab connected to the electrode assembly and extending out of the pouch;

The housing;

The pouch cell is connected to an external circuit through the sub-tabs while the pouch cell is accommodated therein, and has a main body accommodating space and a tab accommodating space accommodating the battery body, the positive electrode tab, and the negative electrode tab of the pouch cell, respectively. It includes a housing body,

The sub-tap;

The battery module is fixed to the housing body, and fixed to a position facing the positive electrode tab and the negative electrode tab in a state in which the pouch cell is accommodated in the housing body.
The method of claim 8,

The housing body;

A bottom portion supporting one side of the pouch cell;

A battery module integrally formed on the edge of the bottom part and accommodating the pouch cell in an inner region thereof, the wall module having the sub-tab fixed thereto.
The method of claim 9,

The sub-tap;

A battery module having a relatively thicker thickness and a larger area than the positive electrode tab and the negative electrode tab, the battery module extending out of the housing body to be connected to the bus bar.
The method of claim 10,

The bus bar is a battery module made of the same material as the sub-tab.
The method of claim 11,

The sub tab is a battery module made of copper or aluminum.
A pouch cell package manufacturing step of arranging a plurality of pouch cells including electrode tabs of a positive electrode and a negative electrode in parallel, constituting a pouch cell package having the electrode tabs arranged in parallel;

A bus bar seating step of arranging a plurality of bus bars on an upper portion of the pouch cell package, each bus bar being connected to two adjacent electrode tabs;

And a welding step of welding the electrode tab in contact with the bus bar with the bus bar.
The method of claim 13,

The pouch cell package manufacturing step;

A pouch consisting of a housing having a rectangular frame and having a pair of sub tabs spaced apart from each other at an upper side thereof, and a pouch cell stored in the housing and having positive and negative tabs connected to the sub tabs. A process of arranging the sub-tabs side by side by overlapping a plurality of cell units,

The bus bar seating step;

A connection part having a bus bar in the through hole having a PCB board to be connected to an external circuit, a board receiving part to fix the PCB board, and through holes disposed on both sides of the board receiving part and receiving the sub-tabs therein; A PCB module manufacturing method comprising a process of connecting the sub-tab to the bus bar by combining the PCB connection unit, the pouch cell package.
The method of claim 14,

The bus bar has a shape of a rectangular plate and has a battery module manufacturing method having two sub-tab welding slits for accommodating the upper end portion of the sub-tab entering the through-hole therein.
The method of claim 15,

The welding step;

And a laser welding step performed in a state where an upper end of the sub-tab is fitted inside the sub-tab welding slit.