Battery pack and arrangement structure of battery pack

Abstract

To provide a battery pack capable of reducing a plane size and a dimension in a vertical direction.SOLUTION: A battery pack 10 includes a cell module 12, a battery controller 18 arranged above the cell module 12, and a connector 20 mounted on one end in a first direction of the battery controller 18, wherein the first direction is a transverse direction of the cell module 12, and the battery controller 18 is inclined so that the one end in the first direction becomes higher than the other end in the first direction.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] This specification discloses a battery pack to be mounted on a vehicle and an arrangement structure of the battery pack. [Background technology]

[0002] In recent years, electric vehicles using a motor as one of their power sources have become widespread. Such electric vehicles are equipped with a battery pack that supplies power to the motor. The battery pack typically includes multiple cell modules and a battery controller that controls the operation of the cell modules. Such battery packs are sometimes placed under the vehicle seats.

[0003] For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a battery pack that is placed under a vehicle seat. In the battery pack of Patent Document 1, the battery controller is placed horizontally next to the cell module. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0004] [Patent Document 1] Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 2008-234870 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0005] When the cell modules and the battery controller are arranged adjacent to each other in the horizontal direction as in Patent Document 1, the planar size of the battery pack increases. Therefore, in order to reduce the planar size of the battery pack, it is conceivable to arrange the battery controller above the cell modules.

[0006] However, if the battery controller is placed above the cell module, the vertical dimension of the battery pack may become significantly larger depending on the position or orientation of the battery controller, which may make it impossible to place the battery pack below the seat.

[0007] Therefore, this specification discloses a battery pack and a battery pack arrangement structure that can reduce the planar size and vertical dimensions. [Means for solving the problem]

[0008] The battery pack disclosed in this specification comprises a cell module, a battery controller arranged above the cell module, and a connector attached to one end of the battery controller in a first direction, wherein the first direction is the short direction of the cell module, and the battery controller is arranged at an incline so that the one end in the first direction is higher than the other end in the first direction.

[0009] By arranging the battery controller above the cell modules, the planar size of the battery pack can be reduced. Also, by arranging the battery controller at an angle as described above, the vertical dimension of the battery pack can be reduced and work on the connectors can be made easier.

[0010] In this case, the connector may be attached to the battery controller with a socket for a wire harness facing downward.

[0011] This arrangement effectively prevents foreign matter from adhering to the socket.

[0012] The battery pack may also have two cell modules arranged in a second direction with an intermediate space between them, the second direction being the longitudinal direction of each of the two cell modules, and the battery controller may have a portion overlapping the intermediate space when viewed in a plan view.

[0013] By adopting such an arrangement, when working on the connector, the worker can use the intermediate space as a working space, which makes it easier to work on the connector.

[0014] The battery pack arrangement structure disclosed in this specification comprises the above-mentioned battery pack and a seat mounted on a vehicle, the seat having a seat cushion tilted so that its front end is higher than its rear end, and a seat frame supporting the seat cushion from below, the battery pack being arranged below the seat with the first direction parallel to the fore-and-aft direction of the seat cushion, and the battery controller being arranged along the seat frame and in a position slightly closer to vertical than the seat frame.

[0015] With this arrangement, even if the seat frame is displaced downward in the event of a vehicle collision, the seat frame is less likely to collide with the battery controller.

[0016] The battery pack disclosed in this specification also comprises two cell modules arranged in a second direction with an intermediate space between them, a battery controller, and a connector attached to an end of the battery controller, and is characterized in that a portion of the battery controller is located within the intermediate space and is positioned in an upright position with the end to which the connector is attached facing upward.

[0017] By adopting such an arrangement, the vertical dimension of the battery pack can be reduced. [Effects of the Invention]

[0018] According to the technology disclosed in this specification, the planar size and vertical dimensions of the battery pack can be reduced. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0019] [Figure 1]FIG. 2 is a schematic perspective view of a battery pack. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing the arrangement of a battery pack. [Figure 3] FIG. 2 is a schematic diagram showing a battery controller and the arrangement of the battery controller. [Figure 4] FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing the arrangement of the battery pack and the seat. [Figure 5] FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing the arrangement of a battery pack and a seat in a comparative example. [Figure 6] FIG. 10 is a cross-sectional view showing another example of the arrangement of the battery pack and the seat. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0020] The configuration of the battery pack 10 will be described below with reference to the drawings. Fig. 1 is a schematic perspective view of the battery pack 10. In the following description, Fr, Up, and Rh respectively indicate the front, top, and right sides as seen from the user sitting in the seat 100. In addition, in the following description, the terms front, back, left, and right generally refer to the front, back, left, and right sides as seen from the user sitting in the seat 100.

[0021] The battery pack 10 shown in FIG. 1 is mounted on an electric vehicle and supplies power to a traction motor. An electric vehicle is a vehicle that has a motor as one of its power sources, and examples of such vehicles include hybrid electric vehicles, battery electric vehicles, and fuel cell electric vehicles. In this example, the battery pack 10 is disposed under a seat 100 (a rear seat in the illustrated example) as shown in FIG. 2. As shown in FIG. 1, in this example, the short side direction of the cell module 12 is the fore-and-aft direction of the seat 100, which is the "first direction" in the claims. Furthermore, the long side direction of the cell module 12 is the left-and-right direction of the seat 100, which is the "second direction" in the claims.

[0022] The battery pack 10 is configured by housing multiple cell modules 12 and one or more battery-related devices in a single case (not shown). The cell module 12 is configured by alternately stacking multiple battery cells 14 and multiple separators 15 in the thickness direction. The battery cells 14 are secondary batteries capable of charging and discharging. For example, the battery cells 14 are lithium-ion secondary batteries or sodium-ion secondary batteries. The battery cells 14 may also be all-solid-state batteries. The battery cells 14 are prismatic batteries with a flat, rectangular parallelepiped shape. The multiple battery cells 14 are electrically connected in series or in parallel by conductors called bus bars. The separators 15 are plates made of an insulating material. Grooves that function as flow paths for the flow of a cooling fluid are formed on the surface of the separators 15.

[0023] The cell module 12, which is made up of a plurality of battery cells 14 and a plurality of separators 15 stacked together, has a generally rectangular parallelepiped shape that is long in the stacking direction. The battery pack 10 has two cell modules 12. In this example, the two cell modules 12 are arranged side by side in the longitudinal direction of the cell modules 12. This arrangement is intended to improve space efficiency, as will be described later.

[0024] An intermediate space 16 is provided between two adjacent cell modules 12. The battery pack 10 further includes one or more battery-related devices. The battery-related devices are devices necessary for safely operating the battery pack 10. For example, the battery controller 18, connectors 20, fuses 24, ducts 25, junction boxes 30, and service plugs 32 correspond to the battery-related devices. The battery controller 18 is a computer that controls the charging and discharging of the cell modules 12, and is an electronic device generally called an ECU (Electronic Control Unit). The battery controller 18 has a flat, rectangular shape and is disposed above the intermediate space 16. Here, as shown in FIG. 1, the battery controller 18 is disposed in a position inclined in the front-to-rear direction. The reason for this arrangement will be described later.

[0025] A connector 20 is attached to the front end of the battery controller 18. The connector 20 electrically connects the battery controller 18 to a wire harness 22 drawn from the cell module 12. For example, the connector 20 is a female connector into which a male connector attached to the end of the wire harness 22 is inserted. As shown in FIG. 1 , the connector 20 is attached to the front end and below the battery controller 18 with the insertion port of the wire harness 22 facing downward.

[0026] The fuse 24 is an electronic component that protects the cell module 12 from overcurrent. The fuse 24 is disposed inside the intermediate space 16, as shown in Fig. 1. The duct 25 is a flow path that connects the cooling flow path of the cell module 12 with a blower (not shown). As shown in Fig. 1, at least a portion of the duct 25 is disposed inside the intermediate space 16.

[0027] The junction box 30 is an electronic component that unitizes relays that allow or block the flow of power. The junction box 30 is located above the cell module 12. The service plug 32 is a component that is installed at the midpoint of the power supply circuit and blocks high voltage when removed. When inspecting and servicing the battery pack 10, the worker removes the service plug 32 in advance. Then, after the inspection and servicing is completed, the worker reinserts the service plug 32. In this example, the service plug 32 is located above the cell module 12 and next to the junction box 30.

[0028] As is clear from the above description, in this example, the battery controller 18 is disposed above the cell module 12. This is to reduce the planar size of the battery pack 10. This will be explained with reference to FIG. 3. FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the battery pack 10 as seen from the front. In FIG. 3, state S1 in the upper row shows the arrangement of this example, and state S2 in the middle row shows the arrangement of a comparative example.

[0029] Consider a case where two cell modules 12 are arranged side by side with no gap between them, and the battery controller 18 and connector 20 are arranged on the outside in the longitudinal direction, as in state S2. In this case, the longitudinal dimension of the battery pack 10 increases by the width of the battery controller 18. Also, in state S2, the distance from the cell module 12 on the right side of the page to the connector 20 increases, so the wire harness 22 becomes longer. Furthermore, in state S2, the battery controller 18 and connector 20 are arranged low. Therefore, in state S2, it is difficult to secure sufficient working space below the connector 20. As a result, there is a problem with poor workability when connecting the wire harness 22.

[0030] On the other hand, in this example, as shown in state S1, the battery controller 18 and connector 20 are arranged above the cell module 12. This allows the longitudinal dimension of the battery pack 10 to be smaller than in state S2. In addition, the length of the wire harness 22 can also be significantly shortened.

[0031] Furthermore, in this example, an intermediate space 16 is provided between the two cell modules 12. In addition, in a plan view, a portion of the battery controller 18 overlaps with the intermediate space 16. In this case, the user can use the intermediate space 16 as a working space when connecting the wire harness 22. As a result, according to this example, the workability of connecting the wire harness 22 is improved.

[0032] As described above, the battery controller 18 is disposed at an angle such that its front end is higher than its rear end. The reason for this arrangement will be explained with reference to Figures 4 and 5. Figures 4 and 5 are schematic cross-sectional views of the battery pack 10 and the seat 100. Figure 4 shows the arrangement of this example, and Figure 5 shows the arrangement of a comparative example.

[0033] Instead of being disposed at an angle, the battery controller 18 may be disposed in an upright position, as shown in state S3 in Figure 5. However, if the battery controller 18 is disposed upright on the cell module 12, the vertical dimension of the battery pack 10 becomes large, and there is a risk that it may not be possible to place it under the seat 100.

[0034] Therefore, it is conceivable to place the battery controller 18 in a completely tilted state, as shown in state S4 in Fig. 5. However, in this case, the insertion port of the wire harness 22 faces directly downward, which makes it difficult to connect the wire harness 22.

[0035] Therefore, it is also possible to perform the wiring work with the battery controller 18 in an upright position, as in state S5 in Figure 5, and then completely lay the battery controller 18 down. However, this would increase the number of steps required to manufacture the battery pack 10. In addition, in this case, the wire harness 22 needs to be long enough to be connected to the battery controller 18 in an upright position, which increases the required amount of wire harness 22.

[0036] Furthermore, as shown in state S6 in Figure 5, it is also possible to position the battery controller 18 completely tilted with the receptacle of the connector 20 facing upward. This positioning can both reduce the vertical dimension and improve the workability of connecting the wire harness 22. However, if the receptacle is facing upward, there is an increased risk of foreign matter becoming attached to the receptacle.

[0037] On the other hand, in this example, as described above and shown in Fig. 4, the battery controller 18 is disposed at an angle so that its front end is higher than its rear end. This arrangement allows the vertical dimension of the battery pack 10 to be kept small. Furthermore, because the insertion port of the connector 20 faces diagonally downward, the ease of inserting the wire harness 22 is significantly improved compared to when the insertion port faces directly downward.

[0038] As mentioned above, the battery pack 10 is disposed under the seat 100. The seat 100 has a seat cushion 102 on which the user's buttocks rest, and a seat frame 106 that supports the seat cushion 102 from below. As shown in FIG. 4, the seat cushion 102 and the seat frame 106 are inclined so that their front ends are higher than their rear ends.

[0039] The battery controller 18 is disposed in a position along the seat frame 106, i.e., in a position that is approximately parallel to the seat frame 106. However, strictly speaking, the inclination angle of the battery controller 18 is slightly closer to vertical than the inclination angle of the seat frame 106. The reason for this arrangement is to prevent the seat frame 106 from colliding with the battery controller 18 in the event of a vehicle collision.

[0040] That is, when a frontal collision occurs in which the vehicle collides with an obstacle ahead, the user seated in seat 100 moves forward relative to seat 100. As the user moves, a load F1 acts diagonally downward on seat frame 106. In response to this load F1, seat frame 106 is displaced downward. The two-dot chain line in Figure 4 indicates seat frame 106 after the frontal collision.

[0041] Here, the load F1 is input near the rear end of the seat frame 106 (i.e., near the contact point between the user's buttocks and the seat cushion 102). Therefore, the inclination angle of the seat frame 106 after the frontal collision is closer to vertical than the inclination angle of the seat frame 106 before the frontal collision. In order to prevent the seat frame 106 from colliding with the battery controller 18, it is necessary to keep the inclination angle of the battery controller 18 equal to or less than the inclination angle of the seat frame 106 after the frontal collision. On the other hand, the workability of connecting the wire harness 22 improves as the inclination of the battery controller 18 becomes closer to vertical. Therefore, in this example, the inclination angle of the battery controller 18 is set to be approximately parallel to the inclination angle of the seat frame 106 after the frontal collision (i.e., an angle slightly closer to vertical than the inclination of the seat frame 106 before the frontal collision). This allows the wire harness 22 to be easily connected to the connector 20 while preventing the seat frame 106 from colliding with the battery controller 18.

[0042] The configuration described above is merely an example, and other configurations may be modified as appropriate as long as the configuration described in claim 1 is included. For example, in the description above, the battery pack 10 is provided with two cell modules 12, but the number of cell modules 12 may be one, or three or more. Furthermore, the battery controller 18 does not need to overlap the intermediate space 16 as long as it is positioned above the cell module 12.

[0043] Next, another example of the battery pack 10 will be described with reference to Fig. 6. Similar to the battery pack 10 shown in Fig. 1, the battery pack 10 in Fig. 6 has two cell modules 12 adjacent to each other in the longitudinal direction with an intermediate space 16 interposed therebetween. However, the battery pack 10 in Fig. 6 differs from the battery pack 10 shown in Fig. 1 in that the battery controller 18 is arranged in an upright position in the intermediate space 16.

[0044] That is, in the case of the battery pack 10 shown in FIG. 6, the left-right dimension of the intermediate space 16 is greater than the left-right dimension of the battery controller 18. A portion of the battery controller 18 is located within the intermediate space 16. The battery controller 18 is also positioned in an upright position with the connector 20 facing upward. In this state, the connector 20 is located above the upper surface of the cell module 12. This configuration effectively prevents the seat frame 106 from colliding with the battery controller 18, while significantly improving the ease of connecting the wire harness 22.

[0045] 6 is an example, and other configurations may be changed as long as the battery controller 18 is disposed in an upright position in the intermediate space 16. For example, in FIG. 6, the battery controller 18 is disposed in a position where the socket of the connector 20 faces forward. However, the battery controller 18 may be disposed in a position where the socket of the connector 20 faces backward, as indicated by the two-dot chain line in FIG. 6.

[0046] The position of the seat 100 described above may also be changed as appropriate. For example, in FIG. 2, the seat 100 is positioned facing the front of the vehicle. However, the seat 100 may face in other directions, not just the front of the vehicle. For example, the seat 100 may be positioned facing the rear or side of the vehicle. [Explanation of symbols]

[0047] 10 Battery pack, 12 Cell module, 14 Battery cell, 15 Separator, 16 Intermediate space, 18 Battery controller, 20 Connector, 22 Wire harness, 24 Fuse, 25 Duct, 30 Junction box, 32 Service plug, 100 Seat, 102 Seat cushion, 106 Seat frame.

Claims

1. A cell module; a battery controller arranged above the cell module; a connector attached to one end of the battery controller in a first direction; Equipped with the first direction is a widthwise direction of the cell module, The battery controller is disposed at an incline such that the one end in the first direction is higher than the other end in the first direction. A battery pack characterized by:

2. 2. The battery pack according to claim 1, The battery pack is characterized in that the connector is attached to the battery controller with a socket for a wire harness facing downward.

3. 3. The battery pack according to claim 2, the battery pack includes two of the cell modules arranged side by side in a second direction with an intermediate space therebetween, the second direction is a longitudinal direction of each of the two cell modules, a part of the battery controller overlaps with the intermediate space in a plan view; A battery pack characterized by:

4. The battery pack according to any one of claims 1 to 3; A seat installed in a vehicle; The sheet comprises: A seat cushion tilted so that the front end is higher than the rear end; a seat frame that supports the seat cushion from below; and the battery pack is disposed under the seat with the first direction parallel to a front-rear direction of the seat cushion; The battery controller is disposed along the seat frame and in a position slightly closer to a vertical position than the seat frame. A battery pack arrangement structure characterized by the above.

5. Two cell modules arranged in a second direction with an intermediate space therebetween; A battery controller; a connector attached to an end of the battery controller; Equipped with a part of the battery controller is located within the intermediate space, and the battery controller is disposed in an upright position with the end to which the connector is attached facing upward; A battery pack characterized by:

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