Battery pack and device including same

Abstract

A battery pack according to an embodiment of the present invention includes: a plurality of battery cell stacks including a plurality of battery cells; a lower plate on which the plurality of battery cell stacks are disposed; and a plurality of heat dissipation pads which are disposed between each of the plurality of battery cell stacks and the lower plate and are in direct contact with the battery cell stacks, wherein the lower plate includes a plurality of vacuum adsorption holes disposed in correspondence with the heat dissipation pads, and includes a vacuum mechanism which is coupled to the plurality of vacuum adsorption holes and adsorbs the heat dissipation pads to the lower plate by removing air from between the lower plate and the heat dissipation pads.

Description

Battery pack and device including same

[0001] Cross-citation with related application(s)

[0002] This application claims the benefit of priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2024-0108200, filed August 13, 2024, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

[0003] The present invention relates to a battery pack and a device including the same, and more particularly, to a battery pack having improved space utilization, a simple structure, and easy separation, and a device including the same.

[0004] Secondary batteries are attracting significant attention as an energy source for a wide range of products, including mobile devices and electric vehicles. These batteries are a promising energy source that can replace the use of existing fossil fuels. They are also gaining recognition as an environmentally friendly energy source, as they produce no byproducts from energy use.

[0005] Recently, as the need for large-capacity secondary battery structures has increased, including the use of secondary batteries as energy storage sources, the demand for battery packs with multi-module structures that assemble battery modules in which a number of secondary batteries are connected in series / parallel is increasing.

[0006] Meanwhile, when configuring a battery pack by connecting multiple battery cells in series / parallel, it is common to configure a battery module composed of at least one battery cell, and then configure a battery pack by adding other components using at least one battery module.

[0007] However, when configuring a battery pack using battery modules, there is a problem in that the overall manufacturing process becomes complicated because a two-step assembly process is required: manufacturing battery cells as battery module units, and then storing the battery modules manufactured as battery module units into a battery pack.

[0008] In other words, a typical battery pack is made up of multiple battery cells to form a battery module, which is then connected to form the battery pack. The battery cells are manufactured, and then the battery modules are manufactured by a separate manufacturer or assembly line, which are then assembled into a battery pack. Battery modules also require individual cases for insulation and safety, which take up space and increase weight.

[0009] For this reason, recently, simplified battery modules with partially exposed battery cells or CTP (cell to pack) in which battery cells are directly assembled into a battery pack are applied to maximize the efficiency and energy consumption of the assembly process. In this CTP structure, the battery cells are directly applied to the lower plate (or heat sink, cooling plate, venting plate, etc.) of the battery pack. Since it is difficult to mechanically fasten the battery cells directly, a thermally conductive resin is used for heat conduction and adhesive purposes to secure the battery cells while simultaneously rapidly transferring heat. For example, a urethane-based thermally conductive resin is used to attach the battery cells to the lower plate. According to this, the surface area in contact with the battery cells increases due to complete adhesion, which increases the heat conduction efficiency and enables the battery cells to be firmly supported. However, since the battery cells are strongly adhered to the lower plate, it is very difficult to separate the battery cells from the lower plate. Since the thermally conductive resin hardens after bonding, it is practically impossible to separate and reuse intact battery cells (especially pouch-type cells). Therefore, a CTP structure that effectively conducts heat and secures the battery cells while allowing them to be separated without damage is required.

[0010] The problem to be solved by the present invention is to provide a battery pack and a device including the same having a structure in which a battery cell is directly applied to a battery pack, the battery pack is firmly fixed while being reusable by being separated when reuse is necessary.

[0011] The tasks of the present invention are not limited to the tasks mentioned above, and other tasks not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description below.

[0012] According to one embodiment of the present invention for realizing the above task, a battery pack includes a plurality of battery cell stacks including a plurality of battery cells, a lower plate on which the plurality of battery cell stacks are arranged, a plurality of heat dissipation pads arranged between each of the plurality of battery cell stacks and the lower plate and in direct contact with the battery cell stacks, and the lower plate includes a plurality of vacuum adsorption holes arranged corresponding to each of the heat dissipation pads, and a vacuum mechanism coupled to the plurality of vacuum adsorption holes and removing air between the lower plate and the heat dissipation pads to adsorb the heat dissipation pads to the lower plate.

[0013] The above heat dissipation pad may be a thermally conductive pad.

[0014] The above heat dissipation pad, when the battery cell stack is arranged, can be deformed in a portion that comes into contact with the battery cell stack to fit the shape of the battery cell stack.

[0015] The battery cell stack can be fixed to the lower plate by the heat dissipation pad being absorbed to the lower plate by the vacuum mechanism.

[0016] The battery cell stack can be separated from the lower plate by releasing the vacuum suction state of the vacuum mechanism.

[0017] The above vacuum mechanism may include a suction part inserted into the vacuum suction hole to suck air into the vacuum suction hole, and a lever part that controls the opening and closing of the suction part.

[0018] The above lower plate may be a cooling plate having a cooling path formed therein.

[0019] The above lower plate may be a venting plate having a venting path formed therein.

[0020] The above heat dissipation pad may have adhesive properties.

[0021] A device according to another embodiment of the present invention may include the battery pack.

[0022] A battery pack and a device including the same according to one embodiment of the present invention have a structure in which battery cells are directly applied to the battery pack, and the battery pack is fixed strongly while the battery cells can be separated without damage and reused when reuse is necessary.

[0023] The effects of the present invention are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and other effects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description of the claims.

[0024] Figure 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a battery pack according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0025] Figure 2 is a drawing showing an assembled battery pack according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0026] Figure 3 is an enlarged view of part A of Figure 2.

[0027] Fig. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the lower plate portion at BB' section of Fig. 3.

[0028] Figure 5 is a drawing showing a state before the battery cell stack is arranged in Figure 4.

[0029] Figure 6 is a drawing showing a state in which the battery cell stack is arranged in Figure 4 and before vacuum absorption is performed.

[0030] The embodiments described below are provided as examples to aid in understanding the invention, and it should be understood that the present invention can be implemented in various ways other than the embodiments described herein. However, when describing the present invention, if it is determined that a detailed description of a related known function or component may unnecessarily obscure the gist of the present invention, a detailed description and specific illustration thereof will be omitted. In addition, the attached drawings are not drawn to scale to aid in understanding the invention, and the dimensions of some components may be exaggerated.

[0031] The first and second terms used in this application may be used to describe various components, but the components should not be limited by the terms. The terms are used solely to distinguish one component from another.

[0032] In addition, the terminology used in this application is only used to describe specific embodiments and is not intended to limit the scope of the rights. The singular expression includes the plural expression unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should be understood that the terms "comprises," "consists of," or "consists of" in this application are intended to specify the presence of a feature, number, step, operation, component, part, or combination thereof described in the specification, but do not preclude the possibility of the presence or addition of one or more other features, numbers, steps, operations, components, parts, or combinations thereof.

[0033] Hereinafter, the configuration of a battery pack according to one embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1 to 4.

[0034] Fig. 1 is an exploded perspective view showing a battery pack according to one embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 2 is a drawing showing an assembled battery pack according to one embodiment of the present invention. Fig. 3 is an enlarged view of portion A of Fig. 2. Fig. 4 is a partial cross-sectional view showing the lower plate portion at portion BB' of Fig. 3.

[0035] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 4, a battery pack according to one embodiment of the present invention includes a lower plate (100) having a plurality of module areas, a partition wall (110) that divides the plurality of module areas, and a battery cell stack (200) arranged in each of the plurality of module areas.

[0036] The lower plate (100) accommodates a plurality of battery cell stacks (200). The plurality of module areas of the lower plate (100) may be formed to have sizes corresponding to the sizes of the battery cell stacks (200), and the plurality of battery cell stacks (200) may be positioned in the plurality of module areas, respectively. According to the present embodiment, the plurality of battery cell stacks (200) may be arranged in two rows along the stacking direction of the battery cells, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and an appropriate number may be arranged as needed. In addition, although the lower plate (100) is exemplified as a simple plate shape in the present embodiment, the lower plate (100) may be a cooling plate having a cooling channel arranged therein, or may be a venting plate having a venting channel arranged therein. In addition, it may have a structure in which the cooling channel and the venting channel are arranged together, and various structures may be applied as a battery pack.

[0037] In the lower plate (100), one or more vacuum suction holes (310) are formed corresponding to each module area. As illustrated in FIG. 1, one vacuum suction hole (310) may be formed in one module area, but is not limited thereto and multiple vacuum suction holes (310) may be formed to improve vacuum suction performance. In addition, if a venting channel or a cooling channel is formed inside the lower plate (100), the vacuum suction hole (310) may be positioned to avoid these. As described below, a vacuum mechanism (320) is mounted in the vacuum suction hole (310) to suck air between the lower plate (100) and the heat dissipation pad (500) and to fix the heat dissipation pad (500) to the lower plate (100). This will be described in detail later.

[0038] A partition wall (110) may be formed between each module area to partition each module area. The partition wall (110) may be formed to face the side surfaces of the battery cell stack (200) positioned in the module area. The lower plate (100) and the partition wall (110) formed thereon may protect the plurality of battery cell stacks (200) from external impact. However, the present invention is not limited thereto, and the lower plate (100) may be in the form of a flat plate without the partition wall (110), and is not particularly limited thereto.

[0039] A heat dissipation pad (500) may be placed on the bottom surface of the lower plate (100). The heat dissipation pad (500) may transfer heat generated from a plurality of battery cell stacks (200) arranged in each of a plurality of module regions to the outside of the battery pack. The heat dissipation pad (500) may be a pad formed of a resin having thermal conductivity. It may be individually and separately arranged in each module region. The heat transferred to the heat dissipation pad (500) may be discharged to the outside through the lower plate (100). The heat dissipation pad (500) may be a silicone pad having adhesive properties. In this case, the heat dissipation pad (500) may be structured to be placed in the module region in the form of a pad itself, and unlike a heat dissipation resin layer formed by applying and then curing a conventional thermally conductive resin, it does not have strong adhesive properties. Therefore, as described below, when reuse of the battery cells is required, easy separation is possible. This will be described in detail later.

[0040] According to the present embodiment, an upper pack housing (400) covering the upper portion of the battery cell stack (200) may be further included. The upper pack housing (400) may be coupled with the lower plate (100) and the partition wall (110) formed on the lower plate (100). Through the upper pack housing (400), a plurality of battery cell stacks (200) may be fixed in the vertical direction and the plurality of battery cell stacks may be protected from external force.

[0041] The battery pack according to the present embodiment, as illustrated in FIG. 1, includes a battery cell stack (200), and is formed with a module-less structure in which the battery cell stack (200) with the module frame removed is directly connected to the lower plate (100) forming the battery pack, thereby forming a simple battery pack structure in which a cell block including the battery cell stack and a battery pack housing structure are directly connected without the need to manufacture a separate battery module as in the related art. This simplifies the overall battery pack manufacturing process, reduces the manufacturing cost of the battery pack, and reduces the weight of the battery pack. In addition, there is an advantage in that reassembly is advantageous during the battery pack assembly process, which can be compared to the disadvantage of a conventional battery module in which the module frame is welded and thus difficult to reassemble in the event of a defect. In addition, in the battery pack according to the present embodiment, the battery cell stack (200) is not fixed in an inseparable manner by a thermally conductive resin layer, but is fixed in a separable manner by the absorption of a heat-dissipating pad (500), so that it has the advantage of being reusable through separation when necessary.

[0042] Meanwhile, referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, the battery cell stack (200) may include a plurality of battery cells (210) and pads (211) arranged between the battery cells (210).

[0043] The battery cell (210) is a secondary battery, and may be configured as a pouch-type secondary battery, but is not particularly limited thereto. The battery cell (210) may be configured in multiple pieces, and the multiple battery cells (210) may be electrically connected to each other and stacked to form a battery cell stack (210). Each of the multiple battery cells may include an electrode assembly, a battery case, and an electrode lead protruding from the electrode assembly.

[0044] The pad (211) may be arranged between the battery cells (210) to improve safety and control the expansion of the battery cells (210). For example, it may be a flame-retardant control pad with flame retardancy or an expansion control pad with elasticity, and is not particularly limited thereto. In addition, it may be configured as a cover that divides a certain number of battery cells (210) into units to form cell block units during assembly and manufacturing. In addition, the battery cell stack (200) may further include a holding band or an insulating cover (230) formed to surround the periphery of the battery cell stack (200), and is not particularly limited thereto.

[0045] Hereinafter, with further reference to FIGS. 5 and 6, a battery pack including a heat dissipation pad according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described in more detail.

[0046] Fig. 5 is a drawing showing a state before the battery cell stack is arranged in Fig. 4. Fig. 6 is a drawing showing a state before the battery cell stack is arranged in Fig. 4 and vacuum absorption is performed.

[0047] First, referring to Fig. 5, before the battery cell stack (200) is placed, a flat heat dissipation pad (500) is first placed on the lower plate (100). At this time, even if the heat dissipation pad (500) is placed directly on the lower plate (100), unlike the case where a liquid thermally conductive resin is applied, a slight gap (G) exists between the heat dissipation pad (500) and the lower plate (100).

[0048] Thereafter, as illustrated in FIG. 6, the battery cell stack (200) is placed on the heat dissipation pad (500). The heat dissipation pad (500) may be a silicone pad having adhesive properties, and therefore, when the battery cell stack (200) is placed on the heat dissipation pad (500), the upper surface of the heat dissipation pad (500) may be deformed according to the shape of the battery cell stack (200), as illustrated in FIG. 6. That is, the lower surface of the battery cell stack (200) is placed so as to be slightly submerged while pressing the heat dissipation pad (500). Therefore, even before performing vacuum suction, the battery cell stack (200) is not pushed or moved due to the adhesiveness of the heat dissipation pad (500), so that the assembly process can be easily performed.

[0049] At this time, a vacuum mechanism (320) may be installed in the vacuum suction hole (310) formed in the lower plate (100). The vacuum mechanism (320) may include a suction part (321) inserted into the vacuum suction hole (310) and a lever part (322) that controls the opening and closing of the suction part (321). In FIGS. 5 and 6, it can be seen that the lever part (322) is open before vacuum suction is performed. In this state, the battery cell stack (200) is not completely fixed and can be separated from the heat dissipation pad (500). Meanwhile, in the present embodiment, a vacuum mechanism (320) including a suction part (321) and a lever part (322) is used, but the present invention is not limited thereto, and various structures capable of achieving vacuum suction may be applied, and for example, a vacuum mechanism that directly inserts a nozzle into the vacuum suction hole (310) and performs suction is used, and is not particularly limited thereto.

[0050] Meanwhile, as illustrated in FIG. 4, by locking the lever portion (322) of the vacuum mechanism (320), air can be sucked between the heat dissipation pad (500) and the lower plate (100) to perform vacuum absorption, thereby eliminating the gap (G) between the heat dissipation pad (500) and the lower plate (100) and allowing them to be tightly fixed to each other. In this process, the battery cell stack (200) arranged on the upper side of the heat dissipation pad (500) can also be strongly fixed and protected from external shock and vibration. That is, as the battery cell stack (200) is settled on the upper side of the heat dissipation pad (500), the heat dissipation pad (500) is deformed to fit the shape of the battery cell stack (200), and then, as the heat dissipation pad (500) is tightly fixed to the lower plate (100) by vacuum absorption, the battery cell stack (200) can also be fixed together, thereby providing excellent fixing strength.

[0051] In addition, when the battery cell stack (200) needs to be separated from the lower plate (100) for reuse, etc., the vacuum state can be released by opening the lever part (322) of the vacuum mechanism (320), and thereby the fixing force that strongly fixes the battery cell stack (200) is also released, and only the adhesive force with the heat dissipation pad (500) remains, so that the battery cell stack (200) can be easily separated from the heat dissipation pad (500).

[0052] Therefore, according to an embodiment of the present invention, even in a cell-to-pack (CTP) structure in which a battery cell is directly applied to the lower plate (100) of a battery pack, the battery cell can be excellently fixed, and when necessary, the battery cell can be separated from the battery pack and reused with a simple operation. As a result, the problem of the conventional CTP structure in which the battery cell is fixed with a urethane resin or the like and is damaged upon separation, making separation and reuse impossible can be overcome.

[0053] Meanwhile, the battery pack according to the present embodiment may have a structure in which a battery management system (BMS) that manages the temperature and voltage of the battery pack and a cooling device are added.

[0054] The above battery pack can be applied to various devices. These devices include electric bicycles, electric vehicles, hybrid vehicles, and other transportation vehicles. However, the present invention is not limited thereto and can be applied to various devices that utilize battery modules, which also fall within the scope of the present invention.

[0055] Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been illustrated and described above, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described above, and various modifications may be made by those skilled in the art without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention as claimed in the claims. Furthermore, such modifications should not be understood individually from the technical idea or prospect of the present invention.

[0056] [Explanation of symbols]

[0057] 100: Lower plate

[0058] 110: Bulkhead

[0059] 200: Battery cell stack

[0060] 210: Battery cell

[0061] 211: Pad

[0062] 310: Vacuum suction hole

[0063] 320: Vacuum mechanism

[0064] 321: Adsorption section

[0065] 322: Lever section

[0066] 400: Upper pack housing

[0067] 500: Heat dissipation pad

Claims

1. A plurality of battery cell stacks including a plurality of battery cells, A lower plate on which the plurality of battery cell stacks are arranged, A plurality of heat dissipation pads are disposed between each of the plurality of battery cell stacks and the lower plate, and are in direct contact with the battery cell stacks. The lower plate includes a plurality of vacuum suction holes arranged corresponding to each of the heat dissipation pads, A battery pack comprising a vacuum mechanism coupled to the plurality of vacuum adsorption holes and removing air between the lower plate and the heat dissipation pad to adsorb the heat dissipation pad to the lower plate.

2. In paragraph 1, The above heat dissipation pad is a battery pack that is a thermally conductive pad.

3. In paragraph 1, A battery pack in which the heat dissipation pad, when the battery cell stack is arranged, is deformed in a portion that comes into contact with the battery cell stack to fit the shape of the battery cell stack.

4. In paragraph 1, A battery pack in which the battery cell stack is fixed to the lower plate by the heat dissipation pad being absorbed to the lower plate by the vacuum mechanism.

5. In paragraph 1, A battery pack in which the battery cell stack is separated from the lower plate by releasing the vacuum suction state of the vacuum mechanism.

6. In paragraph 1, The above vacuum mechanism is a battery pack including an adsorption part inserted into the vacuum adsorption hole to suck air into the vacuum adsorption hole, and a lever part controlling the opening and closing of the adsorption part.

7. In paragraph 1, The above lower plate is a battery pack that is a cooling plate with a cooling path formed inside.

8. In paragraph 1, The battery pack in which the lower plate is a venting plate having a venting path formed therein.

9. In paragraph 1, The above heat dissipation pad is a battery pack having adhesive properties.

10. A device including a battery pack according to paragraph 1.

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