Battery Pack Sensing Bar and Insulator Design
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing high-power battery packs face challenges in safely and efficiently sensing the state of unit batteries, particularly in complex configurations, which can lead to issues like short circuits and inadequate safety controls.
Innovation Solution
A battery pack design featuring stacked battery arrays with insulators and sensing bars that expose terminals through openings, allowing for electrical connection and state sensing, combined with a protective circuit module for voltage regulation and safety management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If battery arrays are stacked in complex configurations to increase capacity, then energy density is improved, but sensing reliability deteriorates due to difficulty in accessing terminals
Solution Approach 1:
The battery pack is divided into multiple battery arrays, each with its own insulator and sensing bar configuration. This segmentation allows independent sensing of each array while maintaining overall high capacity through the stacked arrangement of multiple arrays.
Solution Approach 2:
An insulator with openings is introduced as an intermediary component between the battery terminals and the sensing bar. This insulator enables electrical connection for sensing while preventing short circuits, solving the reliability issue in complex stacked configurations.
2Reliability
If insulators are used to prevent short circuits, then safety is improved, but manufacturing complexity increases due to additional components
Solution Approach 1:
The insulator serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides electrical insulation to prevent short circuits, it structures the battery array configuration, and it incorporates openings that enable sensing bar connection. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate components.
Solution Approach 2:
The sensing bar connection structure is merged with the insulator by incorporating openings directly into the insulator body. This integration eliminates the need for separate connection components, simplifying manufacturing while maintaining safety and sensing capabilities.
3Ease of operation
If terminals are exposed through insulator openings for sensing, then sensing ease is improved, but short circuit risk increases
Solution Approach 1:
The insulator material acts as an intermediary between the exposed terminal and the external environment. It allows electrical contact for sensing through controlled openings while maintaining insulation properties that prevent unwanted short circuits.
Solution Approach 2:
The insulator has different properties in different locations: it is insulating in the bulk material to prevent short circuits, but it has localized openings that provide controlled electrical access for sensing. This local differentiation resolves the contradiction between sensing ease and short circuit prevention.
Data Source
AI summary
A battery pack including a plurality of battery arrays, each battery array including unit batteries that each have a terminal, the plurality of battery arrays being stacked in a first direction; an insulator on at least one side of the battery arrays, terminals of the unit batteries being on the one side; and a sensing bar on the insulator, wherein the insulator includes at least one opening therein, at least one terminal being exposed through the at least one opening, and the sensing bar is electrically connected to the at least one terminal exposed through the at least one opening to sense a state of the battery array.