Battery unit

Abstract

The present invention relates to a battery unit, and more particularly to a battery unit capable of measuring the temperature of each of a plurality of regions on the surface of a battery cell. A battery unit according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a battery cell; n wires (where n is a natural number of 2 or more) installed on the surface of the battery cell, with an insulating coating formed between one end and the other end; a fixing member that attaches and fixes one end of each of the n wires to the surface of the battery cell; and n temperature measuring elements, each connected to the other end of the n wires, for measuring the temperature of the other end of each of the n wires.

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] [Cross-reference of related applications] This application claims priority based on Korean Patent Application No. 10-2023-0119111 dated 7 September 2023, and all content disclosed in the said Korean Patent Application is incorporated herein as part of this specification.

[0002] The present invention relates to a battery unit, and more particularly to a battery unit capable of measuring the temperature of each of several regions on the surface of a battery cell. [Background technology]

[0003] Unlike primary batteries, which cannot be recharged, rechargeable batteries can be charged and discharged. Low-capacity rechargeable batteries are used in portable small electronic devices such as mobile phones, notebook computers, and camcorders, while high-capacity batteries are widely used as power sources for motors in hybrid vehicles and other applications.

[0004] Secondary batteries can be used in the form of battery cells, in which a positive electrode, a separator membrane, and a negative electrode are sequentially stacked within an outer casing, and the internal space of the casing is filled with an electrolyte. Multiple battery cells can be electrically connected to form a battery module or battery pack.

[0005] For the safe use of a battery module or battery pack, it is necessary to accurately detect the temperature of the battery cells. Therefore, battery modules and battery packs may include a temperature detection device for detecting the temperature of the internal battery cells.

[0006] Such temperature detection devices may be installed inside the housing of a battery module or battery pack. Conventionally, a resistor was connected to a BMS (Battery Management System) circuit that monitors the temperature and voltage status of battery cells in a battery module or battery pack, and the temperature of the battery cells was measured via the change in the internal resistance of the resistor.

[0007] However, the temperature measured through such resistors is the temperature of the BMS circuit, which differs from the actual temperature of the battery cells. Conventionally, there has been a problem in that it is not possible to precisely measure the temperature of the battery cells. In particular, resistors connected to the BMS circuit have the problem of not being able to measure the temperature of the battery cells in different regions. [Overview of the Initiative] [Problems that the invention aims to solve]

[0008] The present invention was devised in recognition of the above-mentioned problems, and the object of the present invention is to provide a battery unit that can precisely measure the temperature of each of the various regions of the battery cell. [Means for solving the problem]

[0009] A battery unit according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a battery cell; n wires (where n is a natural number of 2 or more) installed on the surface of the battery cell, with a heat insulating coating formed between one end and the other end; a fixing member that attaches and fixes one end of each of the n wires to the surface of the battery cell; and n temperature measuring elements that are each connected to the other end of the n wires and measure the temperature of the other end of each of the n wires.

[0010] The fixing member may be an adhesive pad that presses one end of each of the n wires toward the surface of the battery cell, thereby fixing one end of each of the n wires to the surface of the battery cell.

[0011] One end of each of said n wires may be adhered and fixed to n mutually different regions on a surface of said battery cell.

[0012] A battery unit according to another embodiment of the present invention may further comprise an arithmetic unit that corrects n temperature values measured by said n temperature measuring elements and respectively calculates temperatures of said n mutually different regions on the surface of said battery cell.

[0013] Said arithmetic unit may, for each of the temperature values measured by said n temperature measuring elements, respectively add preset correction values obtained through n experiments to calculate the temperatures of said n mutually different regions.

[0014] Said experiment may be an experiment in which each of n temperature differences between said n mutually different regions and said n temperature measuring elements is set as said n correction values respectively.

[0015] Said arithmetic unit may replace a temperature value measured by a faulty partial temperature measuring element with an arithmetic average of temperature values measured by the remaining temperature measuring elements.

[0016] Said arithmetic unit may calculate an average temperature value of said battery cell based on an average of the temperature values measured by said n temperature measuring elements.

[0017] Lengths of each of said n wires may be mutually different.

[0018] A magnitude of each of said n correction values may increase in proportion to a length of each of said n wires connected to said n temperature measuring elements.

[0019] Said temperature measuring element may be a thermistor that measures temperature through a magnitude of a varying internal resistance. Effects of the Invention

[0020] A battery unit according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a battery cell, n wires (n is a natural number of 2 or more) installed on the surface of the battery cell and having an insulating coating formed between one end and the other end, a fixing member that attaches and fixes one end of each of the n wires to the surface of the battery cell, and n temperature measuring elements that are connected to the other ends of the n wires and measure the temperature of the other ends of the n wires, thereby having the advantageous effect of being able to precisely measure the temperature of each of the n regions of the battery cell. [Brief explanation of the drawing]

[0021] [Figure 1] This is a perspective view showing a battery unit according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. [Figure 2] This is a right side view of a battery unit according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. [Figure 3] This is an enlarged view of section A in Figure 2. [Figure 4] This is a perspective view showing a battery unit according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention. [Modes for carrying out the invention]

[0022] Preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings, so that they can be easily implemented by a person with ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains. However, the present invention may be embodied in a variety of different forms and is not limited to or restricted by the following embodiments.

[0023] In order to clearly explain the present invention, detailed descriptions of related prior art that are irrelevant to the description or that would unnecessarily obscure the essence of the invention have been omitted. In this specification, when assigning reference numerals to the components of each drawing, the same or similar reference numerals are used for components that are the same or similar throughout the specification.

[0024] Furthermore, the terms and words used in this specification and the claims shall not be interpreted in a manner limited to their ordinary or dictionary meanings, but rather shall be interpreted as meanings and concepts consistent with the technical idea of ​​the present invention, in accordance with the principle that inventors may define the concepts of terms as appropriate to best describe their invention.

[0025] The battery unit according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

[0026] Example 1 Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a battery unit according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Figure 2 is a right side view of the battery unit according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and Figure 3 is an enlarged view of portion A in Figure 2.

[0027] Referring to Figures 1 to 3, the battery unit 100 according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention includes a battery cell 110, n wires 120 (where n is a natural number of 2 or more) installed on the surface of the battery cell 110 and having a heat insulating coating 121 formed between one end 120a and the other end 120b, a fixing member 130 that attaches and fixes one end 120a of each of the n wires 120 to the surface of the battery cell 110, and n temperature measuring elements 140 that are respectively connected to the other end 120b of the n wires 120 and measure the temperature of the other end 120b of the n wires 120.

[0028] In this configuration, one end 120a of n wires 120 is attached to the surface of the battery cell 110, and a heat insulating coating 121 is formed between the one end 120a and the other end 120b of each of the n wires 120. The temperature of the other end 120b of each of the n wires 120 can be similar to the temperature of the surface of the battery cell 110 to which the one end 120a of each of the n wires 120 is attached. Therefore, in this case, there is the advantageous effect that the temperature of various regions on the surface of the battery cell 110 can be precisely measured via the temperature values ​​measured by each of the n temperature measuring elements 140.

[0029] The battery cell 110 is a rechargeable secondary battery and can have a variety of structures. For example, the battery cell 110 can have a stack-cell structure in which a laminate of multiple separator membranes and electrodes stacked on top of each other is enclosed by an outer material. The electrodes may be rectangular plate-shaped positive or negative electrodes.

[0030] The positive electrode plate is a lithium source where lithium Li is stored, and can have a structure in which a positive electrode active material is coated on a thin metal substrate such as aluminum. The negative electrode plate stores and releases lithium ions that have come out of the positive electrode, allowing current to flow to a connected external circuit, and can have a structure in which a negative electrode active material is coated on a thin metal substrate such as copper.

[0031] The separation membrane is a thin plate interposed between the positive and negative electrode plates to physically separate them, and can be made of a variety of materials. For example, the separation membrane can be made of an insulator such as polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene (PP).

[0032] Electrode tabs may be attached to each electrode in the battery cell 110. The electrode tabs transmit the electrical signals of the electrodes to the outside, and may be positive electrode tabs attached to the positive electrode or negative electrode tabs attached to the negative electrode. The electrode tabs can be made of various materials and have different shapes from the electrodes. For example, the electrode tabs may be made of a metal such as aluminum or copper and may have a thin, square terminal shape.

[0033] The wire 120 is a thin metal wire installed on the surface of the battery cell 110, and n different wires 120 may be installed on the surface of the battery cell 110. Furthermore, a variety of materials may be used for the wire 120. For example, materials with high thermal conductivity such as copper, aluminum, copper alloys, and aluminum alloys may be used for the wire 120.

[0034] Furthermore, the wire 120 may consist of one end 120a, the other end 120b, and a body portion 120c. Also, the wire 120 may have an insulating coating 121 that covers only the body portion 120c, excluding the one end 120a and the other end 120b. As a result, the body portion 120c can transfer heat from the one end 120a to the other end 120b, and transfer heat from the other end 120b to the one end 120a, without heat loss to the outside.

[0035] The fixing member 130 attaches and fixes one end 120a of each of the n wires 120 to the surface of the battery cell 110, thereby allowing each end 120a of the n wires 120 to maintain contact with each surface of the battery cell 110. That is, since one end 120a of each wire 120 is in contact with the surface of the battery cell 110, the temperature of the end 120a can be similar to the temperature of the portion of the surface of the battery cell 110 that the end 120a is in contact with.

[0036] Furthermore, since a heat insulating coating 121 is formed between one end 120a and the other end 120b, the temperature of the other end 120b can be similar to the temperature of the one end 120a. Therefore, the temperature of the other end 120b can be similar to the temperature of the portion of the surface of the battery cell 110 that is in contact with the one end 120a.

[0037] The battery unit 100 may include n temperature measuring elements 140, each connected to the other end 120b of n different wires 120. In this case, the temperature measuring elements 140 can measure the temperature of the other end 120b of the connected wires 120. As mentioned above, the temperature of the other end 120b of the wires 120 can have a value similar to the temperature of the portion of the surface of the battery cell 110 that is in contact with one end 120a, so the user can precisely measure the temperature of various areas of the battery cell 110 via the temperature values ​​measured by the temperature measuring elements 140.

[0038] On the other hand, the fixing member 130 may be an adhesive pad that presses one end 120a of each of the n wires 120 toward the surface of the battery cell 110, thereby fixing and adhering one end 120a of each of the n wires 120 to the surface of the battery cell 110. In this case, since one end 120a of each of the n wires 120 is attached to the surface of the battery cell 110 by a single adhesive pad, there is the advantageous effect that the wires 120 can be easily attached to the surface of the battery cell 110.

[0039] Here, the adhesive pad is a pad with an adhesive surface formed on one side, and the adhesive pad may be attached to the battery cell 110 such that the adhesive surface presses against the surface of the n wires 120 and the battery cell 110. The adhesive pad can have a variety of shapes and structures. For example, the adhesive pad may have a square pad shape that presses against the surface of the battery cell 110 together with one end 120a of the n wires 120 and part of the body portion 120c, or the adhesive pad may have a structure in which an adhesive substance is applied to one side of a membrane substrate made of acetylated cellulose.

[0040] On the other hand, one end 120a of each of the n wires 120 is on each of the n different regions (S1, S2, ..., S) on the surface of the battery cell 110. n ) may be attached and fixed to the battery cell 110. In this case, there is the advantageous effect that the temperature of various regions of the battery cell 110 can be measured for each installed temperature measuring element 140.

[0041] Here, we have n distinct regions (S1, S2, ..., S n These regions can be located in various areas on the surface of the battery cell 110. For example, n distinct regions (S1, S2, ..., S n ) can all be located on one surface of the outer material of the battery cell 110. Also, if the outer material of the battery cell 110 is a polyhedron, there are n distinct regions (S1, S2, ..., S n ) can also be located distributed across many surfaces.

[0042] Example 2 Figure 4 is a perspective view showing a battery unit according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

[0043] The battery unit 100 according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention corrects n temperature values ​​measured by n temperature measuring elements 140 to determine n different regions (S1, S2, ..., S) on the surface of the battery cell 110. n This differs from Example 1 in that it further includes a calculation unit 150 that calculates the temperatures of each of the following. We will omit as much of the content common to Example 1 as possible and focus on explaining the differences in Example 2. In other words, it is self-evident that any content not explained in Example 2 is necessary and should be considered as being in Example 1.

[0044] Referring to Figure 4, the battery unit 100 according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention comprises a battery cell 110, n wires 120 (where n is a natural number of 2 or more) installed on the surface of the battery cell 110 and having a heat insulating coating 121 formed between one end 120a and the other end 120b, a fixing member 130 that attaches and fixes one end 120a of each of the n wires 120 to the surface of the battery cell 110, n temperature measuring elements 140 each connected to the other end 120b of the n wires 120 to measure the temperature of the other end 120b of the n wires 120, and correcting the n temperature values ​​measured by the n temperature measuring elements 140 to measure the temperature of n different regions (S1, S2, ..., S) on the surface of the battery cell 110. n It includes a calculation unit 150 that calculates the temperature of each of the following:

[0045] In this case, the temperature of the other end 120b of each of the n wires 120 measured by each of the n temperature measuring elements 140 is corrected by the calculation unit 150, and each of the corrected n temperature values ​​is used to determine the temperature of n different regions (S1, S2, ..., S) on the surface of the battery cell 110 to which each of the n wires 120 has one end 120a attached. n) has substantially the same value as the temperature of, the n mutually different regions (S1, S2, ..., S n ) This has the advantageous effect that the respective temperatures can be measured more precisely.

[0046] The arithmetic unit 150 is a device that corrects n temperature values measured respectively by the n temperature measuring elements 140, and may be electrically connected to each of the n temperature measuring elements 140. Since each of the n temperature measuring elements 140 is connected to the other end 120b of each of the n wires 120, the n temperature values measured respectively by the n temperature measuring elements 140 may be the temperature values of the other end 120b of each of the n wires 120.

[0047] At this time, since the heat-insulating coating 121 is formed between the one end 120a and the other end 120b of each of the n wires 120, the temperature of the other end 120b of each of the n wires 120 equals the temperature of the n mutually different regions (S1, S2, ..., S on the surface of the battery cell 110 to which the one end 120a of each of the n wires 120 is attached n ) can have a value similar to the temperature of.

[0048] Furthermore, the arithmetic unit 150 is connected respectively to the n temperature measuring elements 140, and measures the temperature values measured by the n temperature measuring elements 140 and the n mutually different regions (S1, S2, ..., S on the surface of the battery cell 110 n ) the difference between the actual temperature values can be corrected. At this time, the n temperature values corrected by the arithmetic unit 150 correspond to the n mutually different regions (S1, S2, ..., S on the surface of the battery cell 110 n ) have substantially the same value as the actual temperature value of, so a user can obtain the n mutually different regions (S1, S2, ..., S on the surface of the battery cell 110 n ) the respective temperatures can be measured more precisely.

[0049] On the other hand, the calculation unit 150 adds n preset correction values ​​to each of the temperature values ​​measured by the n temperature measuring elements 140 to create n distinct regions (S1, S2, ..., S n The calculation unit 150 can calculate the temperature of n different regions (S1, S2, ..., S) on the surface of the battery cell 110 by adding a set of n correction values ​​to each of the n temperature measuring elements 140. n The temperature of ) can be calculated.

[0050] In this case, the surface of the battery cell 110 has n distinct regions (S1, S2, ..., S n The temperature of the battery cell 110 is derived simply by adding a predetermined set of n correction values ​​to each of the temperature values ​​measured by the n temperature measuring elements 140, so the temperature of the battery cell 110 is derived by a simple calculation of n different regions (S1, S2, ..., S n This has the advantageous effect of allowing the temperature to be immediately determined.

[0051] On the other hand, the n correction values ​​may be predetermined through experimentation. This experiment involves n different regions (S1, S2, ..., S) on the surface of the battery cell 110. n The experiment may involve setting each of the n temperature differences between the ) and the n temperature measuring elements 140 as the n correction values.

[0052] In this experiment, the user touches n different regions (S1, S2, ..., S) on the surface of the battery cell 110. n The temperature of the first region (S1), which is the first region of the battery cell 110, and the temperature of the other end 120b of the wire 120 connected to the first region (S1) can be measured, and the difference between these values ​​(ΔT1) can then be calculated. The user can then set this difference value (ΔT1) as the first correction value. The user can use this method to measure the temperature of n different regions (S1, S2, ..., S) on the surface of the battery cell 110. n The first to nth correction values ​​can be set for each of the following:

[0053] The k-th correction value derived here (where k is a natural number between 1 and n) is used for n distinct regions (S1, S2, ..., S) on the surface of the battery cell 110. n The kth region of ) is the kth region (S k It may be used to calculate the temperature of the k-th region (S). Specifically, the user can use it to calculate the temperature of the k-th region (S k The temperature value measured by the temperature measuring element 140 connected to the wire 120 attached to ) is added to the k-th correction value to obtain the k-th region (S k The temperature of ) can be calculated.

[0054] On the other hand, the user has n different regions (S1, S2, ..., S) on the surface of the battery cell 110. n The user can calculate the temperature difference between the first region (S1), which is the first region of the battery cell 110, and the temperature of the other end 120b of the wire 120 connected to the first region (S1) multiple times, and then set the average of these values ​​as the first correction value. The user can use this method to analyze the temperature difference between n different regions (S1, S2, ..., S) on the surface of the battery cell 110. n The first to nth correction values ​​can be set for each of the following:

[0055] On the other hand, the calculation unit 150 can replace the temperature values ​​measured by some of the failed temperature measuring elements 140 with the arithmetic mean of the temperature values ​​measured by the remaining temperature measuring elements 140. Therefore, even if some of the temperature measuring elements 140 fail, the calculation unit can replace the temperature values ​​measured by some of the n different regions (S1, S2, ..., S) on the surface of the battery cell 110 with the arithmetic mean. n This has the advantage of being able to measure each temperature individually.

[0056] Specifically, if the connection between the temperature measuring element 140 and the other end 120b of the wire 120 is broken, or if the temperature measuring element 140 is subjected to an external impact and a crack occurs, an abnormal temperature value may be detected by the temperature measuring element 140. In this case, the calculation unit 150 can substitute the abnormal temperature value for some of the temperature measuring elements 140 where an abnormal temperature value is detected by calculating the arithmetic mean of the normal temperature values ​​measured by the remaining temperature measuring elements 140.

[0057] Furthermore, the calculation unit 150 can calculate the average temperature value of the battery cell 110 by averaging the temperature values ​​measured by n temperature measuring elements 140. In this case, the more temperature measuring elements 140 provided on the battery cell 110 are increased, the smaller the difference between the calculated average temperature value of the battery cell 110 and the actual average temperature value of the battery cell 110 becomes.

[0058] On the other hand, the lengths of each of the n wires 120 may be different from one another. As shown in Figure 4, the length of each of the n wires 120 decreases from the left side to the right side of the battery cell 110, and each of the n wires 120 can have a straight structure.

[0059] In this case, the magnitude of each of the n correction values ​​may be proportional to the length of each of the n wires 120 connected to the n temperature measuring elements 140. In this case, the user can measure n different regions (S1, S2, ..., S) on the surface of the battery cell 110. n Since all n correction values ​​can be derived through correction values ​​for any two of the n regions (S1, S2, ..., S) on the surface of the battery cell 110, all n different regions can be derived. n This has the advantageous effect of easily correcting the difference between the temperature value of ( ) and the temperature values ​​measured by n temperature measuring elements 140.

[0060] Specifically, the user uses the experimental method described above to analyze n different regions (S1, S2, ..., S) on the surface of the battery cell 110. nCorrection values ​​can be derived for any two of the regions. Subsequently, the user can use the length information of each of the n wires 120 attached to the surface of the battery cell 110, and the correction values ​​for the two regions derived through experimentation, to derive n correction values ​​that are proportional to the length of each of the n wires 120.

[0061] On the other hand, the temperature measuring element 140 may be a thermistor that measures temperature through the magnitude of its changing internal resistance. Since a thermistor includes a resistor whose internal resistance changes when heat is transferred with the contact portion, it can be easily welded to the other end 120b of the wire 120 and the circuit portion of the calculation unit 150.

[0062] Although the present invention has been described above, even if limited embodiments and drawings have been provided, the present invention is not limited thereto, and various implementations are possible by persons with ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains, within the equivalent scope of the technical concept of the present invention and the claims described below. [Explanation of symbols]

[0063] 100: Battery Unit 110: Battery cell 120: Wire 120a: One end 120b: Other end 120c: Body section 121: Heat-insulating coating 130: Fixing member 140: Temperature measuring element 150: Processing Unit

Claims

1. Battery cell; n wires (where n is a natural number of 2 or more) are placed on the surface of the battery cell, with an insulating coating formed between one end and the other end; A fixing member for attaching and fixing one end of each of the n wires to the surface of the battery cell; and A battery unit including n temperature measuring elements, each connected to the other end of the n wires, for measuring the temperature of each of the other ends of the n wires.

2. The battery unit according to claim 1, wherein the fixing member is an adhesive pad that presses one end of each of the n wires toward the surface of the battery cell to fix and adhere one end of each of the n wires to the surface of the battery cell.

3. The battery unit according to claim 1, wherein one end of each of the n wires is attached and fixed to n different regions on the surface of the battery cell.

4. The battery unit according to claim 3, further comprising a calculation unit that corrects the n temperature values ​​measured by the n temperature measuring elements to calculate the temperatures of the n distinct regions on the surface of the battery cell.

5. The battery unit according to claim 4, wherein the calculation unit calculates the temperatures of the n distinct regions by adding a preset correction value to each of the temperature values ​​measured by the n temperature measuring elements, based on n experiments.

6. The battery unit according to claim 5, wherein the experiment is an experiment in which each of the n temperature differences between the n distinct regions and the n temperature measuring elements is set to the n correction values.

7. The battery unit according to claim 5, wherein the calculation unit replaces the temperature values ​​measured by some of the failed temperature measuring elements with the arithmetic mean of the temperature values ​​measured by the remaining temperature measuring elements.

8. The battery unit according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the calculation unit calculates the average temperature value of the battery cell by taking the average of the temperature values ​​measured by the n temperature measuring elements.

9. The battery unit according to any one of claims 5 to 7, wherein the lengths of each of the n wires are different from each other.

10. The battery unit according to claim 9, wherein the magnitude of each of the n correction values ​​increases in proportion to the length of each of the n wires connected to the n temperature measuring elements.

11. The battery unit according to claim 1, wherein the temperature measuring element is a thermistor that measures temperature via the magnitude of its changing internal resistance.

Images