Battery pack

Abstract

To provide a battery pack capable of suitably suppressing impact load to be applied to a battery cell when an external impact is applied.SOLUTION: The battery pack according to the present disclosure includes: a plurality of battery cells 10 arranged in an array; a first member 30 disposed between a pair of battery cells 10 adjacent to each other; a case 20 for housing the plurality of battery cells 10 and the first member 30; and a second member 40 protruding inward from an inner wall 21 of the case 20. The second member 40 is disposed at a position facing the first member 30.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present disclosure relates to a battery pack. [Background technology]

[0002] When a battery pack equipped with multiple battery cells receives an external impact, the battery cells 10 inside the battery pack are deformed or displaced, which may cause a short circuit inside the battery pack. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a battery pack in which the battery cells are electrically connected to each other by a bus bar with a convex shape, so that even if the battery pack receives an impact, the elastic deformation of the convex shape reduces the impact load applied to the battery cells 10. [Prior art documents] [Patent documents]

[0003] [Patent Document 1] Patent Publication No. 2021-089900 Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0004] The inventors discovered the following problem with the battery pack disclosed in Patent Document 1. There is a limit to the load that the bus bar itself can withstand. Therefore, if an impact load greater than the load that the bus bar can withstand is applied to the battery pack, the bus bar will be damaged. This will then apply an impact load to the battery cells, which may cause a short circuit inside the battery pack.

[0005] The present disclosure has been made to solve such problems, and provides a battery pack that can suitably suppress the impact load applied to the battery cells when an external impact is received. [Means for solving the problem]

[0006] The battery pack according to the present disclosure comprises an array of battery cells, a first member arranged between a pair of adjacent battery cells, a case that houses the battery cells and the first member, and a second member that protrudes inward from the inner wall of the case, the second member being positioned opposite the first member. [Effects of the Invention]

[0007] The present disclosure provides a battery pack that can suitably suppress the impact load applied to the battery cells when an external impact is received. [Brief explanation of the drawings]

[0008] [Figure 1] FIG. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the internal configuration of a battery pack according to the present disclosure. [Figure 2] FIG. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the inside of a battery pack according to a comparative example when an impact load is applied to the battery pack. [Figure 3] FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the inside of the battery pack when an impact load is applied to the battery pack according to the present disclosure. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0009] The present invention will be described below through embodiments of the invention, but the invention according to the claims is not limited to the following embodiments. Furthermore, not all of the configurations described in the embodiments are necessarily essential means for solving the problems. For clarity of explanation, the following description and drawings have been omitted and simplified as appropriate. In each drawing, the same elements are given the same reference numerals, and repeated explanations are omitted as necessary.

[0010] Embodiment 1 <Battery pack> First, the configuration of a battery pack according to the present disclosure will be described with reference to Fig. 1. Fig. 1 is an explanatory diagram of the internal configuration of a battery pack according to the present disclosure.

[0011] As shown in FIG. 1, the battery pack 1 includes a plurality of battery cells 10, a case 20, a first member 30, and a second member.

[0012] The battery cell 10 is a module formed by connecting multiple secondary batteries, such as lithium-ion batteries or nickel-metal hydride batteries, in series. The battery cell 10 is formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape. The multiple battery cells 10 are substantially the same size. In the following explanation, an xyz three-dimensional Cartesian coordinate system is used as appropriate. The x, y, and z directions are parallel to the sides of the rectangular parallelepiped battery cell 10. In the battery pack 1, the battery cells 10 are arranged with the shorter side of the battery cell 10 as the arrangement direction (x direction). The number of rows in which the battery cells 10 are arranged is not limited to one, and there may be multiple rows.

[0013] The case 20 houses the battery cells 10 and the first member 30. As shown in Fig. 1, the case 20 is formed with its longitudinal direction aligned with the arrangement direction (x direction) of the battery cells 10. There are no particular limitations on the material of the case 20. The case 20 may be made of, for example, metal or resin.

[0014] The first member 30 is a member provided within the arrangement of the battery cells 10. The first member 30 is disposed between a pair of adjacent battery cells 10. In this embodiment, the first member 30 is formed in a substantially rectangular parallelepiped shape, but the shape is not particularly limited. The material of the first member 30 is also not particularly limited. The first member 30 may be made of, for example, metal or resin. Furthermore, in the battery pack 1, the first member 30 may be, for example, a rib provided inside the case 20.

[0015] The second member 40 is a member that protrudes inward from the inner wall 21 of the case 20. More specifically, the second member 40 is provided on the inner wall 21 of the case 20 in the longitudinal direction and protrudes inward (in the +y direction or the -y direction) from the inner wall 21. The second member 40 is disposed on the inner wall 21 at a position facing the first member 30. In this embodiment, the second member 40 is formed in a substantially semi-cylindrical shape, but the shape is not particularly limited. The second member 40 may be, for example, a hemisphere or a rectangular parallelepiped. Furthermore, the material of the second member 40 is not particularly limited. The second member 40 may be, for example, a metal or a resin.

[0016] 2 and 3, the inside of the battery pack 1 when an impact load is applied to the battery pack 1 will be described. Fig. 2 is an explanatory diagram of the inside of the battery pack when an impact load is applied to the battery pack according to the comparative example.

[0017] For example, when a battery pack 1 loaded on a vehicle receives an impact due to a vehicle collision or the like, the wall of the case 20 is deformed by the impact load applied to the battery pack 1. Then, as shown in FIG. 2 , when the inner wall 21 of the deformed case 20 comes into contact with the battery cell 10, the impact load applied to the battery pack 1 is transmitted to the battery cell 10. When an impact load is applied to the battery cell 10, the battery cell 10 may be deformed or displaced. This may cause a short circuit inside the battery pack 1.

[0018] On the other hand, the battery pack 1 according to the present disclosure can suppress the impact load applied to the battery cells 10 by using the first member 30 and the second member 40. The effects of the first member 30 and the second member 40 will be described below. FIG. 3 is an explanatory diagram of the inside of the battery pack according to the present disclosure when an impact load is applied to the battery pack. As shown in FIG. 3, when the wall of the case 20 is deformed by the impact load applied to the battery pack 1, the second member 40 comes into contact with the first member 30. Therefore, due to the contact between the first member 30 and the second member 40, the battery pack 1 can prevent the inner wall 21 of the deformed case 20 from coming into contact with the battery cells 10.

[0019] Furthermore, after the second member 40 comes into contact with the first member 30, for example, the first member 30 or the second member 40 may be crushed, causing the inner wall 21 of the deformed case 20 to come into contact with the battery cell 10. In this case, the second member 40 comes into contact with the first member 30 before the inner wall 21 of the deformed case 20 comes into contact with the battery cell 10, and the first member 30 and the second member 40 can absorb the impact load applied to the battery pack 1 and suppress the impact load applied to the battery cell 10.

[0020] As described above, according to the battery pack of the present disclosure, when the wall of the case 20 is deformed due to an impact load applied to the battery pack 1, the second member 40 comes into contact with the first member 30, thereby suitably suppressing the impact load applied to the battery cell 10.

[0021] The present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and can be modified as appropriate within the scope of the invention.

[0022] For example, the second member 40 may be mounted on a separate plate rather than on the inner wall 21 of the case 20. In this case, the separate plate is mounted inside the inner wall 21 within the case 20. The separate plate is mounted parallel to the inner wall 21 of the case 20 at a position opposite the first member 30.

[0023] The second member 40 may also be provided on the first member 30. In this case, the second member 40 is installed on the surface of the first member 30 that faces the inner wall 21 of the case 20. When the wall of the case 20 is deformed by an impact load, the second member 40 comes into contact with the deformed inner wall 21 and absorbs the impact load.

[0024] The number of first members 30 and second members 40 provided is not limited to one pair, and there may be a plurality of pairs. Furthermore, there may be a plurality of second members 40 for one first member 30. [Explanation of symbols]

[0025] 1 battery pack 10 battery cells 20 cases 21 Inner wall 30 First member 40 Second member

Claims

[Claim 1] A plurality of arranged battery cells; a first member disposed between a pair of adjacent battery cells; a case that houses a plurality of the battery cells and the first member; a second member that protrudes toward the inside of the case from an inner wall of the case, The second member is disposed at a position opposite to the first member. Battery pack.

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