BATTERY SYSTEM

Abstract

A battery system including a battery cell is provided. The battery cell includes a housing having a first end, a second end opposite the first end, and a sidewall extending from the first end to the second end; a first terminal at a first end of the housing and a second terminal at a second end of the housing; an arrangement of an anode electrode and a cathode electrode within the housing, the cathode electrode connected to the first terminal and the anode electrode connected to the second terminal; and a vent in the sidewall of the housing, the vent configured to open to release gas and / or ejecta from within the housing to the exterior when a pressure within the housing exceeds a threshold.

Description

INTRODUCTION

[0001] The present invention relates to a battery system.

[0002] For example, the document US 11 909 068 B2 discloses a battery system according to the preamble of claim 1. The documents DE 10 2022 127 458 A1, CN 1 16 845 473 A and US 2020 / 0 251 703 A1 disclose related systems.

[0003] The present disclosure relates to a cylindrical battery cell including a side vent.

[0004] Electric vehicles (EVs), such as battery electric vehicles (BEVs), hybrid vehicles, and / or fuel cell vehicles, contain one or more electric machines and a battery system containing one or more battery cells, modules, and / or packs. Each battery contains electrodes with current collectors coated with an active material. A power control system is used to control the charging and / or discharging of the battery system during charging and / or driving. SUMMARY

[0005] The present disclosure, according to various features, includes a battery system including a battery cell. The battery cell includes a housing having a first end, a second end opposite the first end, and a sidewall extending from the first end to the second end; a first terminal at a first end of the housing and a second terminal at a second end of the housing; an arrangement of an anode electrode and a cathode electrode within the housing, the cathode electrode connected to the first terminal and the anode electrode connected to the second terminal; and a vent in the sidewall of the housing, the vent configured to open to release gas and / or ejecta from within the housing to the exterior when a pressure within the housing exceeds a threshold.

[0006] The vent is a first vent in the sidewall near the first end and the battery cell further includes a second vent in the sidewall near the second end.

[0007] According to further features, the anode electrode is directly connected to an inner surface of the housing at the second end of the housing.

[0008] According to further features, a current collector disc made of a metallic material is mounted on a metallic inner surface of the housing at the second end of the housing, wherein the anode electrode is connected to the current collector disc.

[0009] The battery cell is a cylindrical battery cell and the side wall is round.

[0010] According to further features, the first end of the housing does not contain a vent and the second end of the housing does not contain a vent.

[0011] According to further features, a vent conduit defines an opening aligned with the vent, wherein the vent conduit vents to the external environment of a battery pack containing the battery cell.

[0012] According to further features, the vent line contains an internal thermal barrier.

[0013] According to further features, the battery cell is one of a plurality of battery cells all configured the same, and the vent conduit defines a plurality of openings spaced apart from each other and aligned with the vent opening of each of the plurality of battery cells.

[0014] According to further features, a base cooling conduit extends along the second end of each of the plurality of battery cells, the base cooling conduit being configured to conduct coolant along the second end of each of the plurality of battery cells to cool the plurality of battery cells.

[0015] According to further features, a lateral cooling conduit extends along the sides of the plurality of battery cells, the lateral cooling conduit being configured to direct coolant along the sides of the plurality of battery cells to cool the plurality of battery cells.

[0016] The present disclosure further includes, according to various features, a battery system including a cylindrical battery cell. The cylindrical battery cell includes a housing including a top cover, a bottom plate, and a sidewall extending from the top cover to the bottom plate, the bottom plate being directly welded to the sidewall; a first terminal at a first end of the housing and a second terminal at a second end of the housing; an arrangement of an anode electrode and a cathode electrode within the housing, the cathode electrode connected to the first terminal and the anode electrode connected to the second terminal; and a vent in the sidewall of the housing, the vent configured to open to release gas and / or ejecta from within the housing to the outside when a pressure within the housing exceeds a threshold.A vent line defines an opening aligned with the vent and contains a thin layer of thermal barrier. The vent line vents to the external environment of a battery pack containing the cylindrical battery cell. A cooling line is disposed adjacent to the cylindrical battery cell and is configured to conduct coolant to cool the cylindrical battery cell.

[0017] According to further features, the anode electrode is directly connected to an inner surface of the base plate.

[0018] According to further features, a current collector disc is made of a metallic material and is arranged on the base plate, wherein the anode electrodes are connected to the current collector disc.

[0019] According to further features, the vent is one of several vents in the side wall of the case.

[0020] According to further features, the cooling line is arranged adjacent to the base plate.

[0021] According to further features, the cooling line is arranged adjacent to the side wall.

[0022] The present disclosure also includes, according to various features, a battery pack including a plurality of cylindrical battery cells. Each of the plurality of cylindrical battery cells includes a housing including a top cover, a bottom plate, and a sidewall extending from the top cover to the bottom plate, wherein the bottom plate is directly welded to the sidewall; a first terminal at a first end of the housing and a second terminal at a second end of the housing; an arrangement of an anode electrode and a cathode electrode within the housing, wherein the anode electrode is directly connected to the bottom plate; and a vent in the sidewall of the housing, wherein the vent is configured to open to release gas and / or ejecta from within the housing to the outside when a pressure within the housing exceeds a threshold.A vent line extends along the plurality of cylindrical battery cells and defines a plurality of openings. Each of the plurality of openings is aligned with one of the vents of the plurality of cylindrical battery cells. The vent line vents to the external environment of the battery pack. A base cooling line is disposed adjacent to the bottom plate of each of the plurality of cylindrical battery cells and is configured to conduct coolant to cool the plurality of cylindrical battery cells.

[0023] According to further features, a base cooling conduit is disposed adjacent the sidewall of each of the plurality of cylindrical battery cells and is configured to conduct coolant to cool the plurality of cylindrical battery cells.

[0024] Further areas of applicability of the present disclosure will become apparent from the detailed description, claims, and drawings. The detailed description and specific examples are provided for purposes of illustration only. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0025] The present disclosure will be more fully understood from the detailed description and the accompanying drawings, in which: Fig. 1 shows a cylindrical battery cell, a venting system, and a cooling system according to the present disclosure; Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an exemplary battery cell including one or more side vents in accordance with the present disclosure; Fig. 3 a cross-sectional view of the cylindrical battery cell of Fig. 1, showing a side vent and an upper area near the side vent; Fig. 4A is a cross-sectional view of a lower portion of the cylindrical battery cell of Fig. 1; Fig. 4B is a cross-sectional view of a lower portion of an additional configuration for the cylindrical battery cell of Fig. 1; Fig. 5 is a plan view of a venting and cooling system according to the present disclosure for the cylindrical battery cell of Fig. 1; and Fig. 6 is a plan view of an additional venting and cooling system according to the present disclosure for the cylindrical battery cell of Fig. 1.

[0026] In the drawings, reference symbols may be used multiple times to identify similar and / or identical elements. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0027] A battery cell, such as a cylindrical lithium-ion battery cell, may contain a vent to release gas and any other effluent from within a battery cell casing to the outside when the pressure within the casing reaches a threshold, such as during a thermal event. Placing the vent at a bottom plate of the battery cell eliminates the availability of base cooling, as clearance is required below the battery cell for venting. A battery cell with a bottom plate vent is typically cooled with a cooling belt on one side of the battery cell, which is not efficient or uniform due to the low thermal conductivity of the jelly roll through a plane.

[0028] The present disclosure provides one or more vents on a sidewall of the battery case, such as where a gap exists between the jelly roll and the cell tray. Such sidewall vents facilitate venting and enable highly efficient base cooling. Welding a battery cell case bottom plate to a flattened, continuous or multiple electrode tabs with a large metal-to-metal connection creates a continuous heat transfer path to the cell bottom plate to take advantage of the high through-plane thermal conductivity of the jelly roll. The large metal-to-metal connection between the battery cell bottom plate and the jelly roll current collector foil provides high thermal conductivity, either directly or indirectly, via an anode current collector disk, to improve cooling efficiency.

[0029] Relocating the vent from the bottom to the side of the tray allows for direct or indirect welding of flattened tabs of negative electrodes to the bottom of the tray without space for decoupling, providing several advantages, including a space savings of approximately 2 mm along the cell height and an increase in cell capacity of approximately 3% for cylindrical 4680 cells; reduced cell resistance; and simplified manufacturing. The configuration of the present disclosure reduces a rise in cell temperature during rapid charging and discharging, reduces the length of the cell tray, improves cell performance, particularly for high-performance cells, and increases battery cell lifetime due to homogeneous cell operating temperatures.

[0030] Fig. 1 shows a battery cell 10 according to the present disclosure. The battery cell 10 may be configured for use in any suitable application, such as any suitable automotive or non-automotive application. The battery cell 10 is a cylindrical battery cell. As shown in the Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, the battery cell 10 is typically contained in a battery pack 310 of multiple battery cells, each of which is the same as or similar to the battery cell 10. Adjacent to the battery cell 10 are a vent line 110 and a cooling line, which includes a base cooling line 210 ( Fig. 1 and Fig. 6) and / or a lateral cooling line 250 ( Fig. 1 and Fig. 5), which are described in detail here.

[0031] As in Fig. 2, the battery cell 10 includes a C-cathode electrode 20, an A-anode electrode 40, and two S-separators 32 arranged in a predetermined sequence and wound together into a spiral or cylindrical shape often referred to as a jelly roll 12. The jelly roll 12 is mounted in a housing 50. The C-cathode electrodes include cathode active layers 24 disposed on one or both sides of cathode current collectors 26. The A-anode electrodes include anode active layers 42 disposed on one or both sides of anode current collectors 46. The C-cathode electrode is wound into multiple turns 20-1, 20-2, ..., and 20-C. The A anode electrode is wound into several turns 40-1, 40-2, ... and 40-A.The anode has more windings than the cathode to ensure that the entire area of ​​the cathode is paired with the anode for full utilization. The two separators remain between the cathode and anode layers, separating them.

[0032] With continued reference to the Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 and with additional reference to the Fig. 3, Fig. 4A and Fig. 4B, the housing 50 includes a top cover 52, a bottom plate 54, and a sidewall 56 extending from the top cover 52 to the bottom plate 54. The bottom plate 54 is directly welded to the sidewall 56. Instead of swaging the bottom plate into a grooved cylindrical cell, welding the bottom plate 54 offers several advantages. For example, welding rather than swaging eliminates any space restriction in the area of ​​the grooves to fully utilize the space of a lower portion of the tub to increase the cell's energy density, and eliminates additional tub wall material in the area of ​​the bottom plate grooves and gasket to reduce the weight of the battery cell. The bottom plate 54 may, for example, be a Ni-plated steel plate. A first terminal 58 is disposed adjacent the top cover 52. A second terminal is located on an outer surface 60 of the bottom plate 54.The first terminal 58 is a cathode terminal, and the second terminal on the outer surface 60 is an anode terminal. A seal 70 is located between the first terminal 58 and the top cover 52.

[0033] The cathode current collectors 26 contain cathode tabs 72. The anode current collectors 46 contain anode tabs 74. The cathode tabs 72 are connected to a plate 80 of the positive current collector ( Fig. 3) which is connected to the first terminal 58 (the positive terminal). The anode tabs 74 are connected directly or indirectly to an inner surface 62 of the base plate 54. As shown in Fig. 4A, the anode tabs 74 are indirectly connected to the base plate 54 via an anode current collector disk 82 mounted on the inner surface 62 of the base plate 54. In Fig. 4B, the anode tabs 74 are directly connected to the base plate 54. The present disclosure contemplates a tabless connection, a single-tab connection, or a multi-tab connection between the jelly roll and the housing 50.

[0034] On the side wall 56 of the housing 50 are a plurality of vents configured to open to relieve pressure within the housing 50, such as during a thermal runaway event. Any suitable number of vents may be included. Fig. 1 and Fig. 3 show a first vent 90 in an upper region of the side wall 56 near the top cover 52. Fig. 2 shows a second vent 92 in a lower region of the sidewall 56 near the bottom plate 54 and a third vent 94 between the first vent 90 and the second vent 92. The housing 50 may include any one or more of the first vent 90 and / or the second vent 92 and / or the third vent 94. One or more of the vents 90, 92, 94 may be disposed at any suitable location around a perimeter of the sidewall 56. The vents 90, 92, 94 are radially spaced around the sidewall 56. However, the vents 90, 92, 94 may also be vertically aligned with the sidewall 56. The present disclosure also provides multiple vents around the perimeter of the sidewall 56 at the same height.

[0035] The vents 90, 92, 94 are each configured in any suitable manner to open to release gas from the interior of the housing 50 to the exterior when the pressure of the gas within the housing 50 exceeds a predetermined threshold, such as during a thermal runaway event. Both the top cover 52 and the bottom plate 54 may be configured without vents. In some applications, the top cover 52 includes a vent on the sidewall 56 along with any one of the vents 90, 92, 94. The lack of a vent on the bottom plate 54, as described herein, advantageously allows cooling with the cooling conduit 210 ( Fig. 1 and Fig. 6).

[0036] The vent line 110, which is in the Fig. 1, Fig. 5 and Fig. 6, is generally configured as a band extending along the sidewalls 56 of a plurality of battery cells 10 of the battery pack 310. The vent line 110 is disposed within the battery pack 310 between adjacent rows of battery cells 10. The vent line 110 includes a plurality of openings 112 aligned with vents of the battery cells 10 to receive gas and ejecta released through the vents. The openings 112 of the vent line 110 may be aligned with one or more of the first vents 90, the second vents 92, and the third vents 94. As shown in Fig. For example, as shown in Figure 1, the opening 112 is aligned with the first vent 90. The vent line 110 has openings 112 on opposite sides of the vent line 110 to receive gas and ejecta from the battery cells 10 on opposite sides of the vent line 110. A double-sided vent line 110 provides a lower pressure rise in the vent line at the pack level and a higher absorption of energy from gas and ejecta on the way out of the pack.

[0037] The vent line 110 includes an internal thermal barrier 120, which may be any suitable coating, layer, etc., made of any suitable material configured to protect the vent line 110 from direct exposure to vent gas and ejecta and to contain the propagation of thermal runaway. The internal thermal barrier 120 may be made of mica, for example. As shown in the Fig. 5 and Fig. As shown in Figure 6, the battery pack 310 may include a plurality of vent lines 110, each disposed between an adjacent row of battery cells 10. The vent lines 110 include outlets for venting to an area outside the battery pack 310.

[0038] The battery pack 310 contains the base cooling line 210 and / or the side cooling line 250. Fig. 1 shows the battery cell 10, which sits on the basic cooling line 210. Fig. 6 shows the battery pack 310 containing a plurality of battery cells 10 resting on the base cooling lines 210, which can be either single cooling lines with a plurality of inlets 212 and a plurality of outlets 214 or a plurality of base cooling lines 210, each having an inlet 212 and an outlet 214. The base cooling lines 210 are configured to circulate any suitable coolant to cool the battery cells 10. The bottom plate 54 of each battery cell 10 is in direct or indirect contact with a surface of the base cooling lines 210. Coolant enters the base cooling lines 210 through the inlets 212 and exits them through the outlets 214. The coolant is cooled to any suitable temperature by any suitable heat exchanger or other cooling device. Heat from the battery cells 10 is transferred to the coolant, which dissipates the heat from the battery pack 310.

[0039] Fig.5 shows the battery pack 310 including a plurality of side cooling conduits 250 extending along the sidewalls 56 of a plurality of battery cells 10. The side cooling conduits 250 may be disposed between two rows of battery cells 10 such that each cooling conduit 250 cools a plurality of battery cells 10 on opposite sides of the cooling conduits 250. Each side cooling conduit 250 includes an inlet 252 and an outlet 254. The side cooling conduits 250 are generally configured as ribbons interwoven along the sidewalls 56 of the battery cells 10 between adjacent rows of battery cells 10. Coolant enters the side cooling conduits 250 through the inlets 252 and exits them through the outlets 254. The coolant is cooled to any suitable temperature by any suitable cooling device.Heat from the battery cells 10 is transferred to the coolant, which dissipates the heat from the battery pack 310.

[0040] The battery pack 310 may be cooled solely by the base cooling lines 210, solely by the side cooling lines 250, or by both the base cooling lines 210 and the side cooling lines 250. In some applications, the vent lines 110 may be configured as cooling lines in addition to functioning as vent lines. For example, during typical operation with the vents 90, 92, 94 closed, air may be recirculated through the vent lines 110 for air cooling.

[0041] Spatial and functional relationships between elements (e.g., between modules, circuit elements, semiconductor layers, etc.) are described using various terms, such as "connected," "engaged," "coupled," "adjacent," "adjacent," "on top of," "over," "below," and "disposed." Unless explicitly described as "direct," when the above-described disclosure describes a relationship between a first and a second element, that relationship may be a direct relationship, with no other intervening elements between the first and second elements, but it may also be an indirect relationship, with one or more intervening elements (either spatial or functional) between the first and second elements.As used herein, the phrase at least one of A, B, and C shall be construed to mean a logical (A OR B OR C) using a non-exclusive logical OR, and shall not be construed to mean "at least one of A, at least one of B, and at least one of C."

[0042] In the figures, the direction of an arrow, indicated by the arrowhead, generally demonstrates the flow of information (such as data or commands) of interest for the illustration. For example, if element A and element B exchange different information, but the information transmitted from element A to element B is relevant for the illustration, the arrow may point from element A to element B. This unidirectional arrow does not imply that no further information is sent from element B to element A. Furthermore, element B may send requests or acknowledgments of receipt of the information to element A for the information sent from element A to element B.

Claims

[1] Battery system comprising: a battery cell (10) comprising: a housing (50) including a first end, a second end opposite the first end, and a side wall (56) extending from the first end to the second end; a first terminal (58) at the first end of the housing (50) and a second terminal at the second end of the housing (50); an arrangement of an anode electrode (40) and a cathode electrode (20) within the housing (50), wherein the cathode electrode (20) is connected to the first terminal (58) and the anode electrode (40) is connected to the second terminal; and a vent (90, 92, 94) in the side wall (56) of the housing (50), the vent (90, 92, 94) being configured to open to release gas and / or ejecta from the interior of the housing (50) to the outside when the pressure within the housing (50) exceeds a threshold value, wherein the battery cell (10) is a cylindrical battery cell (10) and the side wall (56) is round, wherein the vent (90, 92, 94) is a first vent (90) in the side wall (56) near the first end, characterized by , that the battery cell (10) further comprises a second vent (92) in the side wall (56) near the second end, wherein the vents (90, 92, 94) are arranged radially spaced around the side wall (56). [2] The battery system of claim 1, wherein the anode electrode (40) is directly connected to an inner surface (62) of the housing (50) at the second end of the housing (50). [3] The battery system of claim 1, further comprising a current collector disc (82) made of a metallic material mounted on a metallic inner surface (62) of the housing (50) at the second end of the housing (50), the anode electrode (40) being connected to the current collector disc (82). [4] The battery system of claim 1, wherein the first end of the housing (50) does not contain a vent and the second end of the housing (50) does not contain a vent. [5] The battery system of claim 1, further comprising a vent conduit (110) defining an opening (112) aligned with the vent (90, 92, 94), the vent conduit (110) venting to the external environment of a battery pack containing the battery cell (10). [6] The battery system of claim 5, wherein the vent line (110) includes an internal thermal barrier (120). [7] The battery system of claim 5, wherein the battery cell (10) is one of a plurality of battery cells (10) all configured the same; and wherein the vent conduit (110) defines a plurality of openings (112) spaced apart from one another and aligned with the vent opening of each of the plurality of battery cells (10). [8] The battery system of claim 7, further comprising a base cooling line (210) extending along the second end of each of the plurality of battery cells (10), the base cooling line (210) configured to conduct coolant along the second end of each of the plurality of battery cells (10) to cool the plurality of battery cells (10).

Images