WO2023030204A1

WO2023030204A1 - Battery box and battery pack

Info

Publication number: WO2023030204A1
Application number: PCT/CN2022/115299
Authority: WO
Inventors: 张波; 陈斌斌; 贺月辉; 蔡华俭; 花黄伟
Original assignee: 欣旺达电动汽车电池有限公司
Priority date: 2021-08-31
Filing date: 2022-08-26
Publication date: 2023-03-09
Also published as: CN216015505U

Abstract

The present application discloses a battery box and a battery pack. The battery box comprises a box body and a plurality of supporting parts, the plurality of supporting parts are connected to the bottom wall of the box body, and adjacent supporting parts and the bottom wall define an accommodating space. A first air duct is formed in at least a portion of the accommodating spaces, and the first air duct is used for enabling air outside the box body to flow to the interior of the box body. According to the present application, an air duct can be constructed on the basis of the existing structure of battery boxes, so that air duct pieces can be reduced or omitted, which helps to simplify the assembly process and reduce costs.

Description

Battery box and battery pack

Cross References to Related Applications

This application is based on a Chinese patent application with application number 202122085884.3 and a filing date of August 31, 2021, and claims the priority of this Chinese patent application. The entire content of this Chinese patent application is hereby incorporated by reference into this application.

technical field

The present application relates to the technical field of power batteries, in particular to a battery box and a battery pack.

Background technique

Air cooling is a common way to dissipate heat inside the battery pack. In related technologies, multiple air duct pieces are usually assembled to the battery box to form an air duct. However, this method involves the assembly of multiple components and the process is complicated. ,higher cost.

Contents of the invention

This application aims to solve at least one of the technical problems existing in the prior art. For this reason, the present application proposes a battery box, which can reduce the number of air duct parts, simplify the assembly process, and reduce the cost.

The present application also discloses a battery pack using the above battery box.

The battery box according to the first embodiment of the present application includes:

box;

a plurality of support parts connected to the bottom wall of the box, and the adjacent support parts and the bottom wall define an accommodation space;

Wherein, at least part of the accommodating space is formed with a first air channel, and the first air channel is used to make the air outside the box flow to the inside of the box.

The battery box according to the embodiment of the present application has at least the following beneficial effects:

The air duct can be constructed based on the existing structure of the battery box, so that the air duct parts can be reduced or omitted, which helps to simplify the assembly process and reduce the cost.

According to some embodiments of the present application, the battery box further includes a first air duct, the first air duct is located in the corresponding accommodating space, and together with the side wall adjacent to the support part defines the Describe the first airway.

According to some embodiments of the present application, along the air flow direction, the cross-sectional area of the first air channel gradually decreases.

According to some embodiments of the present application, the first air duct member has an inclined surface, and the inclined surface is provided on the side of the first air duct member facing away from the bottom wall, along the direction of air flow, the inclined surface The distance from the bottom wall gradually increases.

According to some embodiments of the present application, the battery box further includes a second air duct, the second air duct is located in the corresponding accommodating space, and the inside of the second air duct defines the The first airway.

According to some embodiments of the present application, a plurality of first air ducts are defined in the second air duct member, and the air inlets and the air outlets of each of the first air ducts are independently arranged, along the In the direction of air flow, each of the air outlets is arranged in sequence.

According to some embodiments of the present application, a second air duct is formed in part of the accommodating space, and the second air duct is used to make the air in the box flow to the outside of the box.

According to some embodiments of the present application, along the direction of air flow, the cross-sectional area of the second air channel gradually decreases;

And/or, along the air flow direction, the width of the air inlet of the second air channel gradually decreases.

The battery pack according to the second embodiment of the present application includes:

said battery box;

The battery module is located in the battery box and includes a casing assembly, the casing assembly has a plurality of ventilation passages, and each of the ventilation passages communicates with the first air passage.

Additional aspects and advantages of the application will be set forth in part in the description which follows, and in part will be obvious from the description, or may be learned by practice of the application.

Description of drawings

Below in conjunction with accompanying drawing and embodiment the present application is described further, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic perspective view of a battery box in the first embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 2 is an exploded schematic view of the battery box in Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the main body in Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a side view of the main body in Fig. 3;

Fig. 5 is a sectional view along the length direction of the battery box in Fig. 1;

FIG. 6 is a schematic perspective view of the battery box in the second embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 7 is an exploded schematic diagram of the battery box in Fig. 6;

Fig. 8 is a schematic perspective view of the second air duct member in Fig. 6;

Fig. 9 is a sectional view along the length direction of the battery box in Fig. 6;

Fig. 10 is a cross-sectional view along the width direction of the battery pack in the embodiment of the present application;

Fig. 11 is a sectional view along the length direction of the battery pack in Fig. 10;

Fig. 12 is an enlarged schematic view of area A in Fig. 11;

FIG. 13 is a schematic perspective view of the battery module in FIG. 10 .

Reference signs:

Battery box 100 , box body 110 , main body 111 , end cover 112 , first air inlet 113 , second air outlet 114 , baffle 115 , third air inlet 116 , support 120 , accommodation space 130 , first air duct 140 , the first air duct member 150, the slope 151, the second air duct member 160, the second air inlet 161, the first air outlet 162, and the second air duct 170;

The battery module 200 , the casing assembly 210 , the ventilation channel 211 , the separator 212 , and the battery cell 220 .

Detailed ways

Embodiments of the present application are described in detail below, examples of which are shown in the drawings, wherein the same or similar reference numerals denote the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar functions throughout. The embodiments described below by referring to the figures are exemplary, and are only for explaining the present application, and should not be construed as limiting the present application.

In the description of the present application, it should be understood that the orientation descriptions, such as up, down, front, back, left, right, etc. indicated orientations or positional relationships are based on the orientations or positional relationships shown in the drawings, and are only In order to facilitate the description of the present application and simplify the description, it does not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and thus should not be construed as limiting the present application.

In the description of the present application, several means more than one, and multiple means more than two. Greater than, less than, exceeding, etc. are understood as not including the original number, and above, below, within, etc. are understood as including the original number. If the description of the first and second is only for the purpose of distinguishing the technical features, it cannot be understood as indicating or implying the relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of the indicated technical features or implicitly indicating the order of the indicated technical features relation.

In the description of this application, unless otherwise clearly defined, words such as setting, installation, and connection should be understood in a broad sense, and those skilled in the art can reasonably determine the specific meanings of the above words in this application in combination with the specific content of the technical solution.

In the description of this application, reference to the terms "one embodiment," "some embodiments," "exemplary embodiments," "example," "specific examples," or "some examples" is intended to mean that the embodiments Specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described in or examples are included in at least one embodiment or example of the present application. In this specification, schematic representations of the above terms do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment or example. Furthermore, the specific features, structures, materials or characteristics described may be combined in any suitable manner in any one or more embodiments or examples.

In the related art, the air duct inside the battery pack is formed by assembling a plurality of air duct parts, the process is complex, and the production cost and assembly cost are high. Based on this, the present application discloses a battery box, which can construct an air duct based on the existing structure of the battery box, thereby reducing or omitting air duct parts, helping to simplify the assembly process and reduce the cost.

The battery box 100 includes a box body 110. The box body 110 is a roughly rectangular box body structure. A specific structure thereof is shown in FIGS. , the main body 111 includes a bottom plate and side plates integrally connected, and the side plates are connected to the front and rear sides of the bottom plate. The left and right sides of the main body 111 are connected with end caps 112 through structures such as threaded fasteners, thereby jointly defining the inner cavity of the box body 110 . The top cover is connected to the top of the main body 111 and can cover the opening of the case 110 to protect the internal components of the battery pack.

3 and 4, in general, the battery box 100 also includes a support portion 120, the support portion 120 is arranged on the bottom wall of the box body 110 (specifically, in the figure, it may be the bottom wall of the main body 111), and upward stick out. The support part 120 is used to support the components in the battery box 100 (such as a battery module), and at the same time, it serves as a fixing basis for the components in the box and provides an assembly position for fasteners such as screws, that is, the support part 120 belongs to both There is structure.

In this embodiment, the battery box 100 includes a plurality of supporting parts 120 , each supporting part 120 has the same height, and can respectively support different positions of the internal components of the box to provide more supporting points. Each support portion 120 is connected to the main body 111 in a manner of being distributed at intervals, thereby defining an accommodation space 130 between adjacent support portions 120 and the bottom wall. On the one hand, the weight of the entire battery box 100 can be reduced, and at the same time, the accommodation space The first air duct 140 is formed in the 130. When in use, the ventilation channel 211 of the battery module is connected with the first air duct 140, and cold air can be introduced from the outside to cool and dissipate the internal components of the box. It should be noted that the “formation of the first air duct 140 in the accommodation space” in this application should be broadly understood, including the following situations: ① The accommodation space 130 itself is used as the first air duct 140, that is, only relying on the box body 110 Build the air duct by itself; ②A part of the accommodation space 130 is used as the first air duct 140, that is, the box body 110 and the air duct parts jointly construct the air duct; Since the air duct member is located in the accommodation space 130 , it can also be considered that the first air duct 140 is formed in the accommodation space 130 . Based on the above, the battery box 100 of this embodiment utilizes the support portion 120 to construct an air duct, which can achieve the purpose of reducing components, simplifying assembly, and reducing the volume of the battery box.

In order to adapt to the support of the internal components of the box, the supporting part 120 extends along the length direction of the main body 111 (for example, the left and right directions in the figure), and the length is equal to the length of the main body 111. When the end cover 112 is connected to the main body 111, the end cover 112 The inner sidewall can be attached to the end of the support part 120 . Correspondingly, the box body 110 is provided with an air inlet, specifically, the above-mentioned air inlet (for convenience of description, referred to as the first air inlet 113), the first air inlet 113 communicates with the accommodating space 130 formed with the first air duct 140, so that the outside air can enter the accommodating space 130 through the first air inlet 113, and the airflow can be prevented from passing through the end cover The connection between the main body 112 and the main body 111 leaks, thereby affecting the air volume entering the accommodating space 130 .

In the above solution, the supporting part 120 and the box body 110 (specifically, in the figure, it may be the main body 111 ) may be an integrally connected structure, such as an aluminum alloy frame formed by extrusion. The interior of the support part 120 is hollow, which helps to reduce the weight of the battery box.

Referring to Fig. 2 and Fig. 5, as a specific implementation scheme for constructing the first air duct 140 in the above-mentioned embodiment, the battery box 100 further includes a first air duct member 150, and the first air duct member 150 is located in the corresponding accommodation space 130 , together with the side walls of the adjacent supporting parts 120 define the first air duct 140, that is, in this solution, the first air duct 140 is jointly constructed with the box body 110 through the first air duct piece 150, and the outside air flows from the box body 110 The left side of the air enters the first air channel 140, and then enters the battery module to dissipate heat. The air flow direction is shown by the dotted arrow in the figure.

When the air flows in the air duct, there is a problem of uneven air volume. Generally speaking, the air volume far away from the air inlet will be smaller than the air volume near the air outlet, resulting in uneven heat dissipation. Based on this, an improved solution is also disclosed, which achieves uniform ventilation by changing the cross-sectional area of the first air duct 140, specifically, along the direction of air flow in the first air duct 140 (for example, from left to right in FIG. 5 direction), the cross-sectional area of the first air duct 140 is gradually reduced, so that the flow velocity of the gas can be gradually increased, so that along the length direction, the air volume flowing into the battery module is roughly consistent.

Referring to FIG. 5 , the first air duct member 150 has an inclined surface 151, which is arranged on the side of the first air duct member 150 facing away from the bottom wall of the main body 111 (such as the upper side shown in the figure), and the inclined direction of the inclined surface 151 satisfies The following requirements are as follows: along the direction of air flow, the distance between the slope 151 and the bottom wall 111 gradually increases, so as to achieve the purpose of gradually reducing the cross-sectional area. In this embodiment, the first air duct 140 is constructed by using the first air duct member 150 with a simple structure, and the uniform delivery of the air volume is ensured through the inclined surface 151, so that the cross section of the support part 120 can be kept constant, and it is convenient to be formed by integral molding; in addition, The first air duct 150 can be assembled into the accommodation space 130 by being embedded, and the assembly method is simple.

Referring to Fig. 6 and Fig. 7, as another specific implementation scheme for constructing the first air duct 140 in the above embodiment, the battery box 100 further includes a second air duct member 160, and the second air duct member 160 is located in the corresponding accommodating space 130 Inside, the interior of the second air duct 160 defines the first air duct 140, that is, in this solution, the first air duct 140 is completely constructed by the second air duct 160, and the accommodating space 130 is mainly used to realize the second air duct Part 160 is installed.

Referring to FIG. 8 and FIG. 9 , the second air duct member 160 is a cubic structure, and its shape is similar to that of the accommodating space 130 , which is convenient for embedded installation. The first air duct 140 is formed with an air inlet (referred to as the second air inlet 161 for ease of description) at the end of the second air duct 160 (for example, the left end in the figure), and is formed on the top of the second air duct 160. There is an air outlet (referred to as the first air outlet 162 for ease of description), the outside air enters the first air duct 140 from the left side of the box body 110 through the first air inlet 113 and the second air inlet 161, and then passes upward through the first air inlet 140. The air outlet 162 and the ventilation channel of the battery module enter the battery module for heat dissipation, and the flow direction of the air is shown by the dotted arrow in the figure.

Similarly, in order to solve the problem of uneven air volume, in a further improvement, the cross-sectional area of the first air duct 140 is along the direction of air flow in the first air duct 140 (for example, from left to right in FIG. 8 ) Gradually shrinking, specifically, the bottom air channel wall of the first air channel 140 is arranged obliquely, and along the flow direction of the airflow, the distance between the bottom air channel wall and the bottom wall of the main body 111 gradually increases. In this manner, the overall shape of the second air duct 160 can be kept as a cube structure, which is convenient for installation into the accommodation space 130 .

There are multiple battery cells in the battery module, and the distance between adjacent battery cells is equal. Therefore, the above-mentioned method of gradually reducing the cross-sectional area can ensure that the air volume obtained by each battery cell is approximately equal. However, when the battery box 100 is installed with When there are multiple battery modules (the shell assembly 210 of the battery module 200 is indicated by the dashed box in Figure 9), the gap between adjacent battery modules is greater than the gap between adjacent batteries 220 in the same module 200 , resulting in an unbalanced distance between adjacent cells along the length direction, that is, the distance t1 is smaller than t2, if only a single first air duct is set, it will be difficult to adapt to the problem of insufficient air volume caused by sudden changes in the distance . Based on this, in a further improved solution, a plurality of first air ducts 140 are defined in the second air duct member 160, and the spaces between the second air inlets 161 and the first air outlets 162 are independently arranged, and Along the flow direction of the airflow in the first air duct 140, the first air outlets 162 are sequentially arranged, that is, the first air ducts 140 in the second air duct member 160 are independent of each other, and each first air duct 140 corresponds to For the heat dissipation of a battery module, in this way, in the length direction, the air volumes sent to different areas in the same battery module are roughly equal.

As an improved embodiment of the above-mentioned first embodiment, referring to FIG. 2 , FIG. 4 and FIG. 7 , a first air duct 140 is formed in a part of the accommodation space 130 , and a second air duct 170 is formed in another part of the accommodation space 130 . The second air channel 170 is used as an air outlet channel to discharge the air in the box body 110 to the outside of the box body 110, that is, the cold air is transported into the battery module through the first air channel 140, and the air after heat exchange The hot air then enters the second air channel 170 from the battery module, and finally is sent out of the box body 110 from the second air channel 170. Through the above configuration, the structure of the battery box can be further simplified. At the same time, condensed water is easily generated when the hot and cold air interacts. In this embodiment, the bottom wall of the box body 110, that is, the bottom of the battery module, is arranged for both the air inlet and outlet ducts, so that the condensed water collects in the air duct, and prevents the condensed water from flowing into the battery module and causing insulation hazards.

In order to facilitate the discharge of hot air, the box body 110 is also provided with an air outlet on the opposite side of the air inlet. The air outlet (referred to as the second air outlet 114 for ease of description), the second air outlet 114 communicates with the accommodation space 130 formed with the second air duct 170 .

The plurality of supporting parts 120 in this embodiment extend along the length direction and are parallel to each other. In two adjacent accommodating spaces 130 , a first air channel 140 is formed in one, and a second air channel 170 is formed in the other. Taking the figure shown as an example, specifically, five supporting parts 120 are provided, thereby defining four accommodation spaces 130 arranged in sequence along the front and back directions, and a first air duct is formed in the two outer accommodation spaces 130 140, the second air duct 170 is formed in the two accommodation spaces 130 located inside, that is, this embodiment can provide two heat dissipation channels, which is suitable for the situation where two rows of batteries are arranged in the battery module along the front and rear directions.

Similarly, in order to solve the problem of uneven air volume, in a further improvement of the above embodiment, the cross-sectional area of the second air duct 170 can also be gradually reduced along the airflow direction, and its implementation method is the same as the above solution, which will not be described in detail here. stated. In addition, this embodiment also provides another way to achieve uniform air volume. Referring to FIG. 3 , a baffle 115 is provided above the accommodation space 130 where the second air duct 170 is formed, and a third air inlet is provided on the baffle 115 116, serving as an air inlet of the second air duct 170, along the direction of airflow, the width of the third air inlet 116 gradually decreases, which also increases the flow velocity of the airflow.

It should be noted that the above solution for adjusting the width of the air inlet is also applicable to the first air duct 140 , in this case, the first air duct 140 can be completely formed by the support part 120 , so that the air duct parts can be omitted.

In addition, in an alternative embodiment of the present application, the second air duct 170 may not be provided, and the hot air passes through the battery module and is directly discharged from the box body 110 .

Referring to FIG. 10 to FIG. 12 , the embodiment of the present application also discloses a battery pack. The battery pack includes the battery box 100 and the battery module 200 of the above-mentioned embodiment. The battery module 200 is installed in the box body 110 and fastened The parts are fixed on the support 120. The ventilation channel 211 of the battery module 200 communicates with the first air channel 140 to dissipate heat through external cold air. Specifically, the battery module 200 includes a housing assembly 210 and a plurality of battery cells 220, and the multiple battery cells 220 are arranged at intervals along the length direction of the housing assembly 210 (that is, the left-right direction), and there are gaps between adjacent battery cells. Cool air enters the gap between adjacent battery cells through the first air channel 140 to dissipate heat.

When the battery pack adopts the battery box 100 shown in Fig. 6 and Fig. 7, two rows of battery cells are arranged in the battery module 200, and the two rows of battery cells are distributed along the width direction of the housing assembly 210 (that is, the front-to-back direction). The battery cells in the row are arranged at intervals along the length direction of the body assembly 210 (ie, the left-right direction). Based on this, referring to FIG. 13 , the housing assembly 210 is correspondingly provided with a plurality of ventilation passages 211 (one ventilation passage 211 is indicated by a dashed box in the figure), and the plurality of ventilation passages 211 are distributed along the length direction, thereby corresponding to the spacing between cores. Each ventilation passage 211 includes four ventilation holes, and the four ventilation holes communicate with the two first air passages 140 and the two second air passages 170 in turn. Specifically, referring to FIG. 10 , along the direction from front to back, the first Each ventilation hole communicates with the first air passage 140 on the front side, the second ventilation hole communicates with the second air passage 170 on the front side, the third ventilation hole communicates with the second air passage 170 on the rear side, and the fourth ventilation hole communicates with the second air passage 170 on the rear side. The hole communicates with the first air passage 140 on the rear side, and the air flow direction is shown by the dotted arrow in the figure, thus, the first air passage 140 on the left side, the second air passage 170 and the two ventilation holes on the left side are used together for The heat dissipation of two adjacent battery cells in the first row, the first air channel 140 on the right, the second air channel 170 and the two ventilation holes on the right are used for the heat dissipation of two adjacent battery cells in the second row , which is suitable for large battery modules with more batteries placed.

The casing assembly 210 includes a plurality of separators 212 , and adjacent battery cells are separated by the separators to form a gap between the battery cells. The above-mentioned ventilation channel 211 is provided at the bottom of the separators 212 .

The embodiments of the present application have been described in detail above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, but the present application is not limited to the above-mentioned embodiments, and within the scope of knowledge of those of ordinary skill in the art, various modifications can be made without departing from the purpose of the present application. Variety. In addition, the embodiments of the present application and the features in the embodiments can be combined with each other under the condition of no conflict.

Claims

The battery box is characterized in that it comprises:

box;

a plurality of support parts connected to the bottom wall of the box, and the adjacent support parts and the bottom wall define an accommodation space;

Wherein, at least part of the accommodating space is formed with a first air channel, and the first air channel is used to make the air outside the box flow to the inside of the box.
The battery box according to claim 1, wherein the battery box further comprises a first air duct member, the first air duct member is located in the corresponding accommodating space, and is connected to the adjacent support portion. The side walls jointly define the first air channel.
The battery box according to claim 2, characterized in that, along the air flow direction, the cross-sectional area of the first air duct gradually decreases.
The battery box according to claim 3, wherein the first air duct member has an inclined surface, the inclined surface is arranged on the side of the first air duct member facing away from the bottom wall, and flows along the airflow direction, the distance between the slope and the bottom wall gradually increases.
The battery box according to claim 1, wherein the battery box further comprises a second air duct part, the second air duct part is located in the corresponding accommodating space, and the second air duct part The inside defines the first air duct.
The battery box according to claim 5, characterized in that, along the air flow direction, the cross-sectional area of the first air duct gradually decreases.
The battery box according to claim 5, wherein a plurality of first air ducts are defined in the second air duct member, between the air inlets of each of the first air ducts, and between the air outlets The air outlets are arranged independently, and the air outlets are arranged in sequence along the direction of the air flow.
The battery box according to claim 1, wherein a second air duct is formed in part of the accommodating space, and the second air duct is used to make the air in the box flow to the outside of the box.
The battery box according to claim 8, characterized in that, along the direction of air flow, the cross-sectional area of the second air duct gradually decreases;

And/or, along the air flow direction, the width of the air inlet of the second air channel gradually decreases.
The battery pack is characterized in that it comprises:

The battery box according to any one of claims 1 to 9;

The battery module is located in the battery box and includes a casing assembly, the casing assembly has a plurality of ventilation passages, and each of the ventilation passages communicates with the first air passage.