Battery unit

Abstract

The present invention relates to a battery unit and, more specifically, to a battery unit in which the temperature of each of a plurality of regions on the surface of a battery cell can be measured. A battery unit according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises: a battery cell; n (n is a natural number equal to or greater than 2) wires installed on the surface of the battery cell and having 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 n temperature measurement elements respectively connected to the other end of the n wires to measure the temperature at the other end of the n wires.

Description

battery unit

[0001] Cross-citation with related applications

[0002] This application claims the benefit of priority from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2023-0119111, filed September 7, 2023, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0003] Technology field

[0004] The present invention relates to a battery unit, and more particularly, to a battery unit capable of measuring temperature for each of a plurality of areas on the surface of a battery cell.

[0005] Secondary batteries (rechargeable batteries) are rechargeable and dischargeable, unlike primary batteries, which are non-rechargeable. Low-capacity secondary batteries are used in small, portable electronic devices such as cell phones, laptops, and camcorders, while high-capacity batteries are widely used as power sources for motors in hybrid vehicles and other vehicles.

[0006] Secondary batteries can be utilized in the form of battery cells. A battery cell may have a positive electrode, a separator, and a negative electrode sequentially stacked within an outer shell, with the internal space of the outer shell filled with an electrolyte. Multiple battery cells can be electrically connected to form a battery module or battery pack.

[0007] To ensure the safe use of a battery module or battery pack, it is necessary to accurately detect the temperature of the battery cells. To this end, the battery module or battery pack may include a temperature detection device to detect the temperature of the battery cells within it.

[0008] Such temperature detection devices can be installed within the housing of a battery module or battery pack. Conventionally, a resistor is connected to a BMS (Battery Management System) circuit that monitors the temperature and voltage status of battery cells within a battery module or battery pack, and the temperature of the battery cells is measured through the change in internal resistance of the resistor.

[0009] However, the temperature measured through these resistors is the temperature of the BMS circuit, which differs from the actual temperature of the battery cells. This has historically led to a problem in accurately measuring the temperature of battery cells. In particular, the resistors connected to the BMS circuit have been unable to measure the temperature of battery cells by region.

[0010] The present invention has been conceived in recognition of the above problems, and an object of the present invention is to provide a battery unit capable of precisely measuring the temperature of each of various regions of a battery cell.

[0011] A battery unit according to one embodiment of the present invention comprises: a battery cell; n wires (n is a natural number greater than or equal to 2) installed on a 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 each connected to the other end of the n wires to measure the temperature of the other end of the n wires.

[0012] The above fixing member may be an adhesive pad that presses one end of each of the n wires toward the surface of the battery cell to attach and fix one end of each of the n wires to the surface of the battery cell.

[0013] One end of each of the n wires can be attached and fixed to n different areas of the surface of the battery cell.

[0014] A battery unit according to another embodiment of the present invention may further include a calculation unit that corrects n temperature values ​​measured by the n temperature measuring elements to calculate temperatures of n different regions of the surface of the battery cell, respectively.

[0015] The above calculation unit can calculate the temperature of the n different areas by adding a preset correction value through n experiments to each of the temperature values ​​measured by the n temperature measuring elements.

[0016] The above experiment may be an experiment in which each of the n temperature differences between the n different regions and the n temperature measuring elements is set to the n correction values.

[0017] The above operation unit can replace the temperature value measured from the faulty temperature measuring elements with the arithmetic mean of the temperature values ​​measured from the remaining temperature measuring elements.

[0018] The above calculation unit can calculate an average temperature value of the battery cell by averaging the temperature values ​​measured from the n temperature measurement elements.

[0019] The length of each of the above n wires may be different.

[0020] The size of each of the n correction values ​​may increase in proportion to the length of each of the n wires connected to the n temperature measuring elements.

[0021] The above temperature measuring element may be a thermistor that measures temperature through the size of its changing internal resistance.

[0022] A battery unit according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a battery cell, n wires (n is a natural number greater than or equal to 2) 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 respectively 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 n areas of the battery cell.

[0023] Figure 1 is a perspective view showing a battery unit according to Example 1 of the present invention.

[0024] Figure 2 is a right side view of a battery unit according to Example 1 of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 3 is an enlarged view of part A of Figure 2.

[0026] Figure 4 is a perspective view showing a battery unit according to Example 2 of the present invention.

[0027] Hereinafter, with reference to the attached drawings, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail so that those skilled in the art can easily implement the invention. However, the present invention may be implemented in various different forms and is not limited or restricted by the following examples.

[0028] In order to clearly explain the present invention, a detailed description of a part that is irrelevant to the description or a related known technology that may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention has been omitted, and when adding reference signs to components of each drawing in this specification, the same or similar reference signs are attached to the same or similar components throughout the specification.

[0029] In addition, terms and words used in this specification and claims should not be interpreted as limited to their usual or dictionary meanings, but should be interpreted as meanings and concepts that conform to the technical idea of ​​the present invention based on the principle that the inventor can appropriately define the concept of the term to explain his or her own invention in the best way.

[0030] Hereinafter, a battery unit according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

[0031]

[0032] Example 1

[0033] Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing a battery unit according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a right side view of the battery unit according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention, and Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of part A of Fig. 2.

[0034] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, a battery unit (100) according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention includes a battery cell (110), n (n is a natural number greater than or equal to 2) wires (120) installed on the surface of the battery cell (110) and having an 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 ends (120b) of the n wires (120) and measure the temperature of the other ends (120b) of the n wires (120).

[0035] At this time, one end (120a) of n wires (120) is attached to the surface of the battery cell (110), and an insulating coating (121) is formed between one end (120a) and the other end (120b) of each of the n wires (120), so that the temperature of the other end (120b) of each of the n wires (120) can have a value similar to the temperature of the surface of the battery cell (110) to which one end (120a) of each of the n wires (120) is attached. Therefore, in this case, there is an advantageous effect of being able to precisely measure the temperature of various areas of the surface of the battery cell (110) through the temperature values ​​respectively measured by the n temperature measuring elements (140).

[0036] The battery cell (110) is a rechargeable secondary battery and may have various structures. For example, the battery cell (110) may have a stack-cell structure in which a plurality of separators and electrodes are alternately laminated and surrounded by an outer material. The electrodes may be positive or negative plates in the shape of square plates.

[0037] The positive electrode plate is a lithium source where lithium (Li) is stored, and may have a structure in which a positive electrode active material, etc. is coated on a thin metal substrate such as aluminum. The negative electrode plate stores and releases lithium ions from the positive electrode and allows current to flow to a connected external circuit, and may have a structure in which a negative electrode active material, etc. is coated on a thin metal substrate such as copper.

[0038] A separator is a thin plate interposed between the positive and negative plates, physically insulating them. It can be composed of various materials. For example, the separator can be composed of an insulator such as polyethylene (PE) or polypropylene (PP).

[0039] Electrode tabs may be connected to each of the electrodes included in the battery cell (110). The electrode tabs transmit electrical signals of the electrodes to the outside, and may be a positive tab connected to the positive electrode or a negative tab connected to the negative electrode. The electrode tabs may have various materials and shapes compared to 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.

[0040] 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). In addition, various materials may be used for the wire (120). For example, a material with high thermal conductivity, such as copper, aluminum, a copper alloy, or an aluminum alloy, may be used for the wire (120).

[0041] In addition, the wire (120) may be composed of one end (120a), the other end (120b), and a body portion (120c). In addition, an insulating coating (121) may be formed on the wire (120) that covers only the body portion (120c) excluding the one end (120a) and the other end (120b), so that the body portion (120c) can transfer heat from the one end (120a) to the other end (120b) without heat loss to the outside, or transfer heat from the other end (120b) to the one end (120a).

[0042] 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), so that each of the one end (120a) of the n wires (120) can maintain a state of contacting each surface of the battery cell (110). That is, since one end (120a) of each wire (120) contacts the surface of the battery cell (110), the temperature of the one end (120a) can have a value similar to the temperature of the portion of the surface of the battery cell (110) that the one end (120a) contacts.

[0043] In addition, since an insulating coating (121) is formed between one end (120a) and the other end (120b), the temperature of the other end (120b) can have a value similar to the temperature of the one end (120a). Accordingly, the temperature of the other end (120b) can have a value similar to the temperature of the part of the surface of the battery cell (110) that the one end (120a) comes into contact with.

[0044] The battery unit (100) may include n temperature measuring elements (140) each connected to the other end (120b) of n different wires (120). At this time, the temperature measuring elements (140) may measure the temperature of the other end (120b) of the connected wires (120). As described above, the temperature of the other end (120b) of the wire (120) may have a value similar to the temperature of the portion of the surface of the battery cell (110) that the one end (120a) contacts, so that the user may precisely measure the temperature of various regions of the battery cell (110) through the temperature values ​​measured by the temperature measuring elements (140).

[0045] Meanwhile, 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) to attach and fix one end (120a) of each of the n wires (120) to the surface of the battery cell (110). In this case, one end (120a) of each of the n wires (120) is attached to the surface of the battery cell (110) by one adhesive pad, which has the advantageous effect of easily attaching the wires (120) to the surface of the battery cell (110).

[0046] Here, the adhesive pad is a pad having an adhesive surface formed on one surface, and the adhesive pad can be attached to the battery cell (110) so that the adhesive surface presses the surface of the n wires (120) and the battery cell (110). The adhesive pad can have various shapes and structures. For example, the adhesive pad can have a square pad shape that presses the surface of the battery cell (110) together with one end (120a) of the n wires (120) and a part of the body portion (120c), and the adhesive pad can have a structure in which an adhesive material is applied to one surface of a membrane substrate in which acetylated cellulose is acetylated.

[0047] Meanwhile, each end (120a) of n wires (120) is connected to n different regions (S1, S2, …, S) on the surface of the battery cell (110). n ) can be attached and fixed. In this case, there is an advantageous effect of being able to measure the temperature of various areas of the battery cell (110) as many times as the number of installed temperature measuring elements (140).

[0048] Here, there are n different regions (S1, S2, …, S n ) can be located in various areas of the surface of the battery cell (110). For example, n different areas (S1, S2, …, S n ) can be located on one side of the outer surface of the battery cell (110). In addition, if the outer surface of the battery cell (110) is a polyhedron, n different regions (S1, S2, …, S n ) may be located distributed on multiple surfaces.

[0049]

[0050] Example 2

[0051] Figure 4 is a perspective view showing a battery unit according to Example 2 of the present invention.

[0052] The battery unit (100) according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention corrects n temperature values ​​measured by n temperature measuring elements (140) to measure n different areas (S1, S2, …, S) on the surface of the battery cell (110). n ) is different from Embodiment 1 in that it further includes an operation unit (150) that calculates the temperature of each. The common contents with Embodiment 1 will be omitted as much as possible and Embodiment 2 will be described focusing on the differences. In other words, it is obvious that if contents not described in Embodiment 2 are needed, they can be considered as contents of Embodiment 1.

[0053] Referring to FIG. 4, a battery unit (100) according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention comprises: a battery cell (110); n (n is a natural number greater than or equal to 2) wires (120) installed on the surface of the battery cell (110) and having an 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) that are respectively connected to the other ends (120b) of the n wires (120) and measure the temperature of the other ends (120b) of the n wires (120); and n temperature values ​​measured by the n temperature measuring elements (140) are corrected to measure different n areas (S1, S2, ..., S) on the surface of the battery cell (110). n ) includes an operation unit (150) that calculates the temperature of each.

[0054] 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 n corrected temperature values ​​is applied to n different areas (S1, S2, …, S) of the surface of the battery cell (110) to which each end (120a) of the n wires (120) is attached. n) have substantially the same temperature as that of the battery cell (110), and different n areas (S1, S2, …, S) on the surface of the battery cell (110) n ) has the advantageous effect of allowing more precise measurement of each temperature.

[0055] The operation unit (150) is a device that corrects n temperature values ​​measured from each of n temperature measuring elements (140), and can be electrically connected to each of n temperature measuring elements (140). Each of n temperature measuring elements (140) is connected to the other end (120b) of each of n wires (120), so that n temperature values ​​measured from each of n temperature measuring elements (140) can be temperature values ​​of the other end (120b) of each of n wires (120).

[0056] At this time, an insulating coating (121) is formed between one end (120a) and the other end (120b) of each of the n wires (120), so that the temperature of the other end (120b) of each of the n wires (120) is different from n areas (S1, S2, …, S) on the surface of the battery cell (110) to which one end (120a) of each of the n wires (120) is attached. n ) can have a value similar to the temperature.

[0057] Moreover, the operation unit (150) is connected to each of n temperature measuring elements (140) and compares the temperature values ​​measured by the n temperature measuring elements (140) with n different areas (S1, S2, …, S) on the surface of the battery cell (110). n ) can compensate for the difference in the actual temperature values. At this time, the n temperature values ​​compensated by the operation unit (150) are different from each other in n areas (S1, S2, …, S) on the surface of the battery cell (110). n ) has a value substantially identical to the actual temperature value of the battery cell (110), the user can set different n areas (S1, S2, …, S) on the surface of the battery cell (110). n ) Each temperature can be measured more precisely.

[0058] Meanwhile, the operation unit (150) adds n preset correction values ​​to each of the temperature values ​​measured by n temperature measuring elements (140) and generates n different areas (S1, S2, …, S n ) can be calculated. That is, the calculation unit (150) adds n preset correction values ​​to each of n temperature measuring elements (140) to calculate the temperature of n different areas (S1, S2, …, S) on the surface of the battery cell (110). n ) can be used to calculate the temperature.

[0059] In this case, n different areas (S1, S2, …, S) on the surface of the battery cell (110) n ) is derived by a simple operation of adding the preset n correction values ​​to each of the temperature values ​​measured by the n temperature measuring elements (140), and the temperature of the battery cell (110) is derived by adding the preset n correction values ​​to each of the temperature values ​​measured by the n temperature measuring elements (140). n ) has the advantageous effect of being able to immediately derive the temperature.

[0060] Meanwhile, n correction values ​​can be preset through experiments. The experiments are performed on n different areas (S1, S2, …, S) on the surface of the battery cell (110). n ) and n temperature measurement elements (140) may be set to the n correction values, respectively.

[0061] In this experiment, the user is presented with n different regions (S1, S2, …, S) on the surface of the battery cell (110). n) can be measured, and then the temperature of the first region (S1) and the temperature of the other end (120b) of the wire (120) connected to the first region (S1) can be calculated. Then, the user can set the difference value (ΔT1) as the first correction value. Using this method, the user can set n different regions (S1, S2, …, S) on the surface of the battery cell (110) n ) can be set for the first to nth correction values, respectively.

[0062] The k correction value derived here (k is a natural number greater than or equal to 1 and less than or equal to n) is applied to n different areas (S1, S2, …, S) on the surface of the battery cell (110). n ) is the kth region (S) k ) can be used to calculate the temperature of the k region (S k ) is added to the temperature value measured by the temperature measuring element (140) connected to the wire (120) attached to the k-th area (S k ) can be used to calculate the temperature.

[0063] Meanwhile, the user can select n different areas (S1, S2, …, S) on the surface of the battery cell (110). n ) can be calculated multiple times to determine the temperature difference between the first region (S1) and the other end (120b) of the wire (120) connected to the first region (S1), and then set the average value thereof as the first correction value. Using this method, the user can set n different regions (S1, S2, …, S) on the surface of the battery cell (110) n ) can be set for the first to nth correction values, respectively.

[0064] Meanwhile, the operation unit (150) can replace the temperature value measured from some of the faulty temperature measuring elements (140) with the arithmetic mean of the temperature values ​​measured from the remaining temperature measuring elements (140). Therefore, even if a fault occurs in some of the temperature measuring elements (140), n different areas (S1, S2, …, S) on the surface of the battery cell (110) can be replaced. n ) has the advantageous effect of being able to measure each temperature.

[0065] Specifically, when the connection between the temperature measuring element (140) and the other end (120b) of the wire (120) is broken or an external impact is applied to the temperature measuring element (140) and a crack is generated, an abnormal temperature value may be detected in the temperature measuring element (140). In this case, the calculation unit (150) may replace the abnormal temperature value by calculating the arithmetic mean of the normal temperature values ​​measured in the remaining temperature measuring elements (140) for some of the temperature measuring elements (140) for which an abnormal temperature value is detected.

[0066] In addition, the calculation unit (150) can calculate the average temperature value of the battery cell (110) by averaging the temperature values ​​measured from n temperature measurement elements (140). At this time, as the number of temperature measurement elements (140) installed in the battery cell (110) increases, the difference between the calculated average temperature value of the battery cell (110) and the actual average temperature value of the battery cell (110) can decrease.

[0067] Meanwhile, the length of each of the n wires (120) may be different. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the length of each of the n wires (120) may become shorter from the left side to the right side of the battery cell (110), and all of the n wires (120) may have a straight structure.

[0068] At this time, the size of each of the n correction values ​​can increase in proportion to the length of each of the n wires (120) connected to the n temperature measuring elements (140). In this case, the user can select n different areas (S1, S2, …, S) on the surface of the battery cell (110). n ) can be used to derive all n correction values ​​through correction values ​​for any two areas among n different areas (S1, S2, …, S) on the surface of the battery cell (110). n ) has an advantageous effect of easily compensating for the difference between the temperature value measured by the n temperature measuring elements (140).

[0069] Specifically, the user uses the experimental method described above to create n different regions (S1, S2, …, S) on the surface of the battery cell (110). n ) can derive correction values ​​for any two areas. Thereafter, the user can derive n correction values ​​proportional to the length of each of the n wires (120) by utilizing 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 areas derived through the experiment.

[0070] Meanwhile, the temperature measuring element (140) may be a thermistor that measures temperature through the size of its internal resistance that changes. The thermistor includes a resistor whose internal resistance changes when heat is transferred to a contact portion, and can be easily welded to the other end (120b) of the wire (120) and the circuit portion of the calculation unit (150).

[0071]

[0072] Although the present invention has been described above with reference to limited embodiments and drawings, the present invention is not limited thereto, and various embodiments are possible within the scope equivalent to the technical idea of ​​the present invention and the patent claims to be described below by a person having ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains.

[0073]

[0074] [Explanation of symbols]

[0075] 100: Battery unit 110: Battery cell

[0076] 120: wire 120a: one end

[0077] 120b: Other end 120c: Body

[0078] 121: Insulating coating 130: Fixing member

[0079] 140: Temperature measuring element 150: Operation unit

Claims

1. Battery cell; n wires (n is a natural number greater than or equal to 2) 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 A battery unit including n temperature measuring elements each connected to the other end of the n wires and each measuring the temperature of the other end of the n wires.

2. In claim 1, A battery unit characterized in that 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 attach and fix one end of each of the n wires to the surface of the battery cell.

3. In claim 1, A battery unit characterized in that one end of each of the n wires is attached and fixed to n different areas of the surface of the battery cell.

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

5. In claim 4, A battery unit characterized in that the above calculation unit calculates the temperature of the n different areas by adding a preset correction value through n experiments to each of the temperature values ​​measured by the n temperature measuring elements.

6. In claim 5, A battery unit characterized in that the above experiment is an experiment in which each of the n temperature differences between the n different areas and the n temperature measuring elements is set to the n correction values.

7. In claim 5, A battery unit characterized in that the above operation unit replaces the temperature value measured from a faulty temperature measuring element with the arithmetic mean of the temperature values ​​measured from the remaining temperature measuring elements.

8. In claim 5, A battery unit characterized in that the above calculation unit calculates an average temperature value of the battery cell through an average of temperature values ​​measured from the n temperature measuring elements.

9. In claim 5, A battery unit characterized in that each of the n wires has a different length.

10. In claim 9, A battery unit characterized in that the size 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. In claim 1, A battery unit characterized in that the above temperature measuring element is a thermistor that measures temperature through the size of the changing internal resistance.

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