Sealing device and battery

Abstract

A swelling seal 101 of a material which swells on contact with pressurised fluid K on a pressure side D, the swelling seal 101 having a pocket 102 opening towards the pressure side, and an insert 103

Description

The present invention relates to a sealing device comprising a swelling seal consisting of a material which swells under the influence of a swelling medium and is configured to be acted upon by a pressurised fluid in the assembled state. The present invention further relates to a battery, in particular, a high-voltage battery for a vehicle, comprising: a housing, a plurality of battery cells, which are arranged in the housing, wherein the battery cells each have a degassing means and the housing has a number of degassing openings corresponding to the number of degassing means, each arranged adjacent to one of the degassing means and a number of sealing devices corresponding to the number of degassing means, each sealing a gap between the respective battery cell and the housing around a degassing means and the degassing opening arranged adjacent thereto. A sealing device of the type mentioned is known from DE 10 2013 211 408 B4, for example. The present invention seeks to enable a particularly reliable seal, in particular a gap between a battery cell and a housing of a battery. According to an aspect of the present invention, this object is achieved by a sealing device having the features of claim 1 and a battery having the features of claim 7. The sealing device according to an aspect of the invention comprises a swelling seal, i.e. a seal, which consists of a material that swells under the influence of a generally liquid or gaseous swelling medium, i.e. a material that expands under the influence of the swelling medium. The swelling seal is configured to be acted upon by a pressurised fluid on a pressurised side in the assembled state. According to an aspect of the present invention, the swelling seal comprises an open pocket in which an insert part is arranged towards the pressure side. The insert part is configured to keep the pocket open in a swollen state of the swelling seal and to allow the pressurised fluid to enter the pocket. The pressurised fluid in the pocket presses an outer side of the swelling seal against the sealing surfaces interacting with the sealing device, resulting in a particularly reliable seal. Preferably, the swelling seal is configured such that the outer side of the swelling seal is already pressed against the sealing surfaces in the swollen state of the swelling seal without the effect of the pressurised fluid in the pocket, i.e. solely due to the swelling of the swelling seal, such that the fluid entering the pocket causes additional pressing of the outer side of the swelling seal against the sealing surfaces. Preferably, the insert part is vulcanised into the swelling seal. This creates a reliable and easy-to-implement fastening of the insert part in the pocket of the swelling seal. Preferably, the insert part is elastically deformable and has a V-shaped cross-section with two V-legs. The insert part is arranged in the pocket such that the insert part is open towards the pressure side and the V-legs each lie with an outer side against an inner surface of the pocket. Preferably, the two V-legs each extend up to an edge bordering the pocket at the open end or even protrude beyond it. The insert with the V-shaped cross-section allows the pocket to be easily kept open while allowing the pressurised fluid to enter the pocket. Furthermore, the V-shaped cross-section allows the generation of particularly high pressure forces perpendicular to an opening direction of the V, as the two V-legs are pressed outwards by the pressure of the fluid between them. Preferably, the insert part has a spacer structure that prevents inner sides of the two V-legs from abutting each other over the entire surface. Preferably, the spacer structure is configured to prevent the V-legs from abutting each other in the area of the opening of the pocket, so that even when the swelling seal is swollen, a relatively unimpeded flow of pressurised fluid into the pocket is possible. In an alternative preferred embodiment, the insert part substantially completely fills the pocket, thereby ensuring that the pocket remains open even in the swollen state of the swelling seal. In this case, the insert part is configured to be permeable to the pressurised fluid so that the fluid pressure can act directly on the inner walls of the pocket and thereby push them outwards. The insert part has such a high strength that the insert part is not significantly compressed upon swelling of the swelling seal. The fluid-permeable insert part, which fills the pocket completely, reliably keeps the pocket open while allowing the pressurised fluid to enter the pocket. Preferably, the insert part is plate-shaped. This allows a relatively simple and inexpensive manufacture of the insert part and an easy insertion of the insert part into the pocket. The battery according to an aspect of the invention comprises a housing and a plurality of battery cells arranged in the housing. The battery cells each have a degassing device, typically on an end face, through which hot fluid can escape from the battery cell in a relatively controlled manner if the battery cell overheats. The housing has a number of degassing openings corresponding to the number of degassing means, each of which is arranged adjacent to one of the degassing means and through which the hot fluid escaping from the respective degassing means can escape from the housing in a relatively controlled manner in the event of overheating of the battery cell. The battery according to an aspect of the invention further comprises a number of sealing devices corresponding to the number of degassing means, each sealing a gap between the respective battery cell and the housing around a degassing means and the degassing opening arranged adjacent thereto. The sealing devices according to the invention enable a particularly reliable sealing of the gap between the battery cell and the housing, as described above. Preferably, the housing is configured to have a cooling liquid flowing through it to cool the battery cells, whereby the cooling liquid preferably flows directly around the battery cells. Here, the swelling seals of the sealing devices according to the invention are advantageously configured to swell under the influence of the cooling liquid so that the cooling liquid introduced into the housing to cool the battery cells can be used to swell the swelling seals. This allows a cost-efficient manufacture of the battery. Exemplary embodiments of the present invention are described hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings. In the drawings: Fig. 1 schematically a cross-section of a battery according to an embodiment of the invention with a sealing device according to an embodiment of the invention, Fig. 2 a schematic cross-section of the sealing device of Fig. 1, and Fig. 3 a schematic cross-section of an alternative sealing device according to another embodiment of the invention. Fig. 1 shows a section of a battery 200 according to an embodiment of the invention. The battery 200 comprises a housing 201 and a plurality of battery cells 202 arranged adjacent to each other in the housing 201, of which only one is shown in Fig. 1 for simplicity. The housing 201 is configured to have a pressurised cooling liquid K flowing through it to cool the battery cells 202. Each battery cell 202 comprises a degassing device 202.1, through which hot fluid can escape from battery cell 202 in a relatively controlled manner in the event of overheating of the battery cell 202. A number of degassing openings 201.1 corresponding to the number of degassing means 202.1 are formed in the housing 202, wherein each degassing opening 201.1 is arranged adjacent to a degassing means 202.1. The battery 200 further comprises a number of sealing devices 100-1 corresponding to the number of degassing means 202.1 that are ring-shaped, and each sealing a gap 203 between the respective battery cell 202 and the housing 201 around a degassing means 202.1 and the degassing opening 201.1 arranged adjacent thereto. Fig. 2 shows an enlarged view of the left portion of the sealing devices 100-1 in Fig. 1. The sealing devices 100-1 each comprise a swelling seal 101 consisting of a material swelling under the influence of a swelling medium, here under the influence of the cooling liquid K. The swelling seals 101 are each in contact with the pressurised cooling liquid K on a pressure side D facing away from the degassing means 202.1. The swelling seals 101 comprise an open pocket 102 in which an insert part 103 is arranged towards the pressure side D. For example, the insert part 103 may be vulcanised into the swelling seal 101. The insert part 103 is elastically deformable and has a V-shaped cross-section with two V-legs 103a, 103b. The insert part 103 is arranged in the pocket 102 such that the insert part 103 is open towards the pressure side D and the V-legs 103.1,103.2 each lie with an outer side against an inner surface of the pocket 102. On inner sides of the V-legs 103.1,103.2, a spacer structure 104 comprising a plurality of spacer structures 104.1 is formed, which prevents the inner sides of the V-legs 103.1,103.2 from abutting each other over the entire surface. The insert part 103 is consequently configured to keep the pocket 102 open in a swollen state of the swelling seal 101 and - as indicated by the arrow designated “K” in Fig. 2 - to allow the pressurised cooling liquid K to enter the pocket 102. The pressurised cooling liquid K in the pocket 102 presses the V-legs 103.1,103.2 outwards - as indicated by the arrows shown in Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 - which in turn presses the swelling seal 101 against the battery cell 202 or the housing 201. Fig. 3 shows a representation corresponding to the illustration in Fig. 2 of an alternative sealing device 100-2 according to another embodiment of the invention. In the description of the sealing device 100-2, the corresponding reference symbols from Fig. 1 and Fig. 2 are used for features already identical or similar to those of sealing device 100-1. In the sealing device 100-2, a plate-shaped insert part 105 is arranged in the pocket 102 of the swelling seal 101, which substantially completely fills the pocket 102. The insert part 105 has a strength that is so large that the insert part 105 is not significantly compressed upon swelling of the swelling seal 101, such that the pocket 102 is also kept open by the insert part 105 when the swelling seal 101 is swollen. The insert part 105 consists of a material that is permeable to the cooling liquid K, so that - as indicated by the arrow designated “K” in Fig. 3 - the pressurised cooling liquid K can enter the pocket 102. The pressurised cooling liquid K in the pocket 102 generates - as indicated by the arrows shown in Fig. 3 - a force acting outwards on the inside of the pocket 102, which presses the swelling seal 101 against the battery cell 202 or the housing 201. List of reference numbers 200 Battery 201 Housing 201.1 Degassing opening 202 Battery cell 202.1 Degassing means 203 Gap 100-1; 100-2 Sealing device 101 Swelling seal 102 Bag 103 Insert part 103.1 V-leg 103.2 V-leg 104 Spacer structure 104.1 Protrusions 105 Insert part D Pressure side K Cooling liquid

Claims

1. A sealing device comprising a swelling seal consisting of a material which swells under the influence of a swelling medium and is configured to be acted upon by pressurised fluid on a pressure side in the assembled state, whereinthe swelling seal comprises a pocket which is open towards the pressure side, and wherein an insert part is arranged in the pocket, which is configured to keep the pocket open in a swollen state of the swelling seal and to allow the pressurised fluid to enter the pocket.

2. The sealing device according to claim 1, wherein the insert part is vulcanised into the swelling seal.

3. The sealing device according to any one of the preceding claims, wherein the insert part is elastically deformable and has a V-shaped cross-section with two V-legs, wherein the insert part is open towards the pressure side and the V-legs each lie with an outer side against an inner surface of the pocket.

4. The sealing device according to claim 3, wherein the insert part has a spacer structure that prevents the inner sides of the two V-legs from abutting against each other over the entire surface.

5. A sealing device according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the insert part fills the pocket substantially completely and is permeable to the pressurised fluid.

6. The sealing device according to claim 5, wherein the insert part is plateshaped.

7. A battery comprising: a housing,a plurality of battery cells arranged in the housing, wherein the battery cells each have a degassing means and the housing has a number of degassing openings corresponding to the number of degassing means, each arranged adjacent to one of the degassing means, anda number of sealing devices corresponding to the number of degassing means according to any one of the preceding claims, each sealing a gapbetween the respective battery cell and the housing around a degassing means and the degassing opening arranged adjacent thereto.

8. A battery according to claim 7, wherein the housing is configured to be flowed through by a cooling liquid for cooling the battery cells, and wherein the swelling seals of the sealing devices are configured to swell under the influence of the cooling liquid.

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