Patent Application
20230072369
The present disclosure relates to the field of batteries, and more specifically, to a battery, a battery pack, and a vehicle having the same.
In the related art, to increase the capacity of a battery, multiple electrode cores are connected in series in the housing of the battery. During the use of the battery, the connecting portion between the electrode cores are prone to be twisted or broken. In addition, under vibration or shaking, the multiple electrode cores are likely to move in the housing, leading to a relative displacement between the electrode cores and causing damage to the electrode cores. For example, the current collector is damaged, the separator is wrinkled, or the active material layer on the electrode plate falls off. As a result, the stability of the battery is affected, incurring safety problems.
The present disclosure resolves at least one of the technical problems in the related art.
To resolve the foregoing technical problem, a technical solution in the present disclosure is as follows.
A first aspect of the present disclosure provides a battery, including a housing and multiple electrode core assemblies disposed in the housing. The electrode core assemblies are connected in series. Each of the electrode core assemblies includes a packing film and at least one electrode core, and the at least one electrode core is disposed in an accommodating cavity defined by the packing film. A spacer is arranged between two of the electrode core assemblies connected in series, and the spacer has a through hole. Each of the electrode core assemblies includes a first electrode and a second electrode, the first electrode and the second electrode extend out of the packing film, a first electrode of a first electrode core assembly of the two of the electrode core assemblies connected in series is connected to a second electrode of a second electrode core assembly of the two of the electrode core assemblies, and a connecting portion between the first electrode of the first electrode core assembly and the second electrode of the second electrode core assembly is accommodated in the through hole. The spacer includes an outer circumferential surface facing an inner surface of the housing, at least one first positioning portion is formed on the outer circumferential surface of the spacer, at least one second positioning portion is formed on the inner surface of the housing, and the at least one first positioning portion is coupled with the at least one second positioning portion to fix the spacer with the housing.
In an embodiment, the at least one first positioning portion includes a groove recessed on the outer circumferential surface of the spacer, the at least one second positioning portion includes a protrusion formed on the inner surface of the housing, and the protrusion of the at least one second positioning portion is disposed in the groove of the at least one first positioning portion.
In an embodiment, the at least one first positioning portion includes a protrusion formed on the outer circumferential surface of the spacer, the at least one second positioning portion includes a groove recessed on the inner surface of the housing, and the protrusion of the at least one first positioning portion is disposed in the groove of the at least one second positioning portion.
In an embodiment, the two of the electrode core assemblies connected in series are two adjacent electrode core assemblies, and the spacer is located between the two adjacent electrode core assemblies.
In an embodiment, the spacer includes a first insert and a second insert. The first insert and the second insert are respectively arranged on two sides of the connecting portion to clamp the connecting portion, and the through hole is formed at a gap between the first insert and the second insert.
In an embodiment, the first insert and the second insert are respectively fixed to the two adjacent electrode core assemblies by adhesion.
In an embodiment, a gap between the two adjacent electrode core assemblies is filled with a plastic material to form the spacer between the two adjacent electrode core assemblies.
In an embodiment, an outer surface of the electrode core assembly is fixed to the inner surface of the housing by adhesion.
A second aspect of the present disclosure provides a battery pack, including multiple batteries of the first aspect.
A third aspect of the present disclosure provides a vehicle, including the foregoing battery pack.
In comparison to the related art, the present disclosure provide some beneficial effects.
In the present disclosure, the spacer is arranged between the two of the electrode core assemblies connected in series, and the connecting portion of the two of the electrode core assemblies connected in series is arranged in the spacer. In this way, by using the spacer, each of the electrode core assemblies may be fixed better, the movement between the electrode core assemblies may be avoided, and an effective fixing of the connection between the electrode core assemblies may be kept. In addition, the strength of the connecting portion may be enhanced, so as to prevent the connecting portion between the electrode core assemblies from being twisted or broke during the use of the battery, and improve the reliability of the connection between the electrode core assemblies. In addition, the spacer and the housing are fixed by the engagement of the first positioning portion of the spacer and the second positioning portion on the housing, which may further avoid the movement between the electrode core assemblies to improve an anti-movement effect.
Embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below, and examples of the embodiments are shown in accompanying drawings, where the same or similar elements or the elements having same or similar functions are denoted by the same or similar reference numerals throughout the description. The following embodiments described with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary, to describe the present disclosure and do not construe as a limitation to the present disclosure.
Embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail below, and examples of the embodiments are shown in accompanying drawings, where the same or similar elements or the elements having same or similar functions are denoted by the same or similar reference numerals throughout the description. The following embodiments described with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary, to describe the present disclosure and do not construe as a limitation to the present disclosure.
In descriptions of the present disclosure, it should be understood that direction or position relationships indicated by terms such as “length”, “width”, “above”, “below”, “front”, “back”, “left”, “right”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, “top”, “bottom”, “inside”, and “outside” are direction or position relationships based on the accompanying drawings, and are used only for conveniently describing the present disclosure and simplifying descriptions, instead of indicating or suggesting that a represented apparatus or component needs to have a particular direction or is constructed and operated in a particular direction, and therefore shall not be understood as limiting the present disclosure.
In addition, the terms “first” and “second” are used merely for the purpose of description, and shall not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implying a quantity of indicated technical features. Therefore, features defining “first” and “second” may explicitly or implicitly include one or more such features. In the descriptions of the present disclosure, “a plurality of” means two or more, unless otherwise definitely and specifically limited.
In the present disclosure, unless explicitly specified or limited otherwise, the terms “mounted”, “connected”, “connection”, and “fixed” should be understood broadly, for example, which may be fixed connections, detachable connections or integral connections; or the connection may be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; a direct connection, an indirect connection through an intermediate, or internal communication between two elements or an interaction relationship between two elements. A person of ordinary skill in the art can understand specific meanings of the foregoing terms in the present disclosure according to a specific situation.
The present disclosure provides a battery, including a housing and multiple electrode core assemblies packaged in the housing. The electrode core assemblies are connected in series. Each of the electrode core assemblies includes a packing film and at least one electrode core, and the at least one electrode core is located in an accommodating cavity defined by the packing film. A spacer is arranged between every two of the electrode core assemblies connected in series. The spacer is provided with a through hole. Each of the electrode core assemblies includes a first electrode and a second electrode. The first electrode and the second electrode extend out of the packing film. The first electrode of one electrode core assembly is connected to the second electrode of the other electrode core assembly of the two of the electrode core assemblies connected in series, and a connecting portion between the first electrode and the second electrode correspondingly connected is accommodated in the through hole. The spacer includes an outer circumferential surface facing an inner surface of the housing. At least one first positioning portion is formed on the outer circumferential surface of the spacer. At least one second positioning portion corresponding (e.g., one-to-one) to the at least one first positioning portion is formed on the inner surface of the housing, and the at least one first positioning portion is coupled with the corresponding at least one second positioning portion to fix the spacer to the housing.
In comparison to the related art, the beneficial effects of the present disclosure are as follows.
In the present disclosure, the spacer is arranged between every two of the electrode core assemblies connected in series, and the connecting portion of the two of the electrode core assemblies connected in series is arranged in the spacer. In this way, by using the spacer, the electrode core assemblies may be fixed better, the movement between the electrode core assemblies may be reduced/avoided, and fixing of the connection between the electrode core assemblies can be effective. In addition, the strength of the connecting portion may be enhanced, so as to prevent the connecting portion between the electrode core assemblies from being twisted or broken during the use of the battery, and to improve the reliability of the connection between the electrode core assemblies. In addition, the spacer and the housing are fixed by the engagement of the first positioning portion of the spacer and the second positioning portion on the housing, which may further prevent the movement between the electrode core assemblies to improve an anti-movement effect.
Referring to
The connecting portion between the electrode core assemblies 20 refers to the connecting portion 25 between the first electrode 21 of one electrode core assembly 20 and the second electrode 22 of the other electrode core assembly 20 of the two of the electrode core assemblies 20. In this way, the spacer 30 is arranged between the two of the electrode core assemblies 20 connected in series, and the connecting portion of the two of the electrode core assemblies 20 connected in series is arranged in the spacer 30. By using the spacer 30, the electrode core assemblies 20 may be fixed better, the movement between the electrode core assemblies 20 may be reduced/avoided, and fixing of the connection between the electrode core assemblies 20 can be effective. In addition, the strength of the connecting portion may be enhanced, to prevent the connecting portion between the electrode core assemblies 20 from being twisted or broken during the use of the battery, and to improve the reliability of the connection between the electrode core assemblies 20. In addition, the spacer 30 and the housing 10 are fixed by the engagement of the first positioning portion 303 of the spacer 30 and the second positioning portion 102 on the housing 10, which may further reduce/avoid the movement between the electrode core assemblies 20 to improve the stability of the fixation.
In some embodiments of the present disclosure, a length of the battery 100 extend along a first direction L, a length of each of the electrode core assemblies 20 extends along the first direction L, and the multiple electrode core assemblies 20 are arranged along the first direction L. In addition, the first electrode 21 and the second electrode 22 of each of the electrode core assemblies 20 are arranged on two opposite ends of each of the electrode core assemblies 20 along the first direction L, and the two of the electrode core assemblies 20 connected in series are two adjacent electrode core assemblies 20, that is, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, the two adjacent electrode core assemblies 20 are connected in series. Therefore, the multiple electrode core assemblies 20 adopt a “head-to-head” arrangement manner. This arrangement manner may conveniently implement a two-by-two connection in series between the electrode core assemblies 20 with a simple connection structure. In addition, this arrangement manner may conveniently manufacture the battery 100 with a longer length. In this way, when the battery 100 is mounted in an outer housing of a battery pack, it may not be necessary to arrange a supporting structure such as a crossbeam or a stringer, since the battery 100 is directly mounted on the outer housing of the battery pack by using the housing 10 of the battery 100 as a support. Therefore, an internal space of the battery pack may be saved, a volume utilization rate of the battery pack may be improved, and the weight of the battery pack may be reduced.
When the multiple electrode core assemblies 20 are connected in series, the connecting portion between the electrode core assemblies 20 becomes a weak part of the entire battery and is prone to be twisted or broken during the use of the battery, causing the disconnection. In addition, since the multiple electrode core assemblies 20 are connected in series in the battery, a risk of the movement of the battery in the first direction L is increased. Therefore, in the present disclosure, the spacer 30 is arranged between every two of the electrode core assemblies 20 connected in series, and the connecting portion of the two of the electrode core assemblies 20 is arranged in the through hole 301 of the spacer 30. In this way, the strength of the connecting portion may be enhanced. In addition, the electrode core assemblies 20 are fixed better by the engagement of the first positioning portion 303 of the spacer 30 and the second positioning portion 102 on the housing 10, to avoid the movement between the electrode core assemblies 20 in the first direction L, and maintain an effective connection between the electrode core assemblies 20. Therefore, the mechanical strength of the battery 100 may be enhanced, to avoid the battery 100 from being twisted or broken during the use of the battery 100.
In some embodiments, the housing 10 is a metal housing, for example, an aluminum housing. Apparently, other metals may be selected for forming the housing 10. Therefore, the housing 10 has enough strength to avoid being damaged or deformed and to improve the safety of the battery 100.
In some embodiments, the packing film 201 is an aluminum-plastic composite film or a polymer composite film. The first electrode 21 and the second electrode 22 of each of the electrode core assemblies 20 extend out of the packing film 201. That is, in this embodiment of the present disclosure, the spacer 30 is arranged outside the packing film 201, and the reliability of the connection between the electrode core assemblies 20 is improved through the arrangement of the spacer 30 outside the film.
The electrode core mentioned in the present disclosure may be understood as an electrode core that is commonly used in the field of power batteries. The electrode core and each of the electrode core assemblies 20 are components inside the housing 10 of the battery 100, and cannot be understood as the battery itself. The electrode core may be formed by winding and generally refers to a component that is not fully sealed. Therefore, in the present disclosure, the battery should not be simply understood as a battery module or a battery pack just because the battery includes multiple electrode cores. In the present disclosure, each of the electrode core assemblies 20 may include a single electrode core, or may include multiple electrode cores that are connected in parallel.
In some embodiments, the two of the electrode core assemblies 20 connected in series are two adjacent electrode core assemblies 20, and the spacer 30 is located between the two adjacent electrode core assemblies 20.
Therefore, the spacer 30 is arranged between every two adjacent electrode core assemblies 20 to keep the two adjacent electrode core assemblies 20 in a distance. A mutual positioning between the spacer 30 and the housing 10 is beneficial to further prevent the movement of the electrode core assemblies 20 in the first direction L.
In some embodiments, referring to
Therefore, the groove is directly recessed on the spacer 30 and the protrusion is directly formed on housing 10, so that the fixing and positioning between the spacer 30 and the housing 10 are implemented through a cooperation between the protrusion on the housing 10 and the groove on the spacer 30, which not only further prevents the movement of the electrode core assemblies 20, but also reduces the space occupied by the battery 100.
As shown in
In some embodiments, referring to
Therefore, the protrusion is directly formed on the spacer 30 and the groove is directly recessed on the inner surface 101 of the housing 10, so that the fixing and positioning between the spacer 30 and the housing 10 are implemented through a cooperation between the groove on the housing 10 and the protrusion on the spacer 30, which not only further prevents the movement of the electrode core assemblies 20, but also reduces the space occupied by the battery 100.
In some embodiments, referring to
Therefore, the second positioning portion 102 on the first side surface 11 of the housing 10 of the battery 100 is a protrusion, and the corresponding first positioning portion 303 is a groove. The second positioning portion 102 on the second side surface 12 is a groove, and the corresponding first positioning portion 303 is a protrusion. The protrusion is coupled with the groove to implement the fixing and positioning between the spacer 30 and the housing 10 and to implement the fixing and positioning between the housings 10, which not only further prevents the movement of the electrode core assemblies 20 in the housing, but also prevents a mutual movement between the housings 10 of the adjacent batteries 100.
In some embodiments, referring to
The first insert 31 and the second insert 32 are pre-manufactured with a specific shape and then assembled. For example, during the assembly, the first insert 31 and the second insert 32 may be respectively fixed on two sides of the connecting portion between the electrode core assemblies 20 after the electrode core assemblies 20 are connected to each other, to implement the assembly of the spacer 30 and the electrode core assemblies 20.
In some embodiments, the first insert 31 and the second insert 32 are respectively fixed to each of the electrode core assemblies 20 by adhesion, that is, an adhesive layer may be arranged in a gap between the spacer 30 and the electrode core assemblies 20, to fix the spacer 30 with the electrode core assemblies 20, which is beneficial to fix the electrode core assemblies 20. Therefore, the movement between the electrode core assemblies 20 can be better prevented, the connection between the electrode core assemblies 20 is ensured, and the safety of the battery is improved.
In some embodiments, the first insert 31 and the second insert 32 may be fixed to each other through a buckle, or the first insert 31 and the second insert 32 may be fixed to each other by adhesion, or the first insert 31 and the second insert 32 may be respectively adhered to the connecting portion between the electrode core assemblies 20 by adhesion, for example.
Therefore, the first insert 31 and the second insert 32 may be positioned mutually, and a cooperation between the first insert 31 and the second insert 32 has a better effect, which is beneficial to the assembly of other elements.
In some embodiments, a gap between the two adjacent electrode core assemblies 20 is filled with a plastic material to form the spacer 30 between the two adjacent electrode core assemblies 20. That is, after the two adjacent electrode core assemblies 20 are connected to each other, the plastic material may be directly filled in the two adjacent electrode core assemblies 20 to form the spacer 30 between the two adjacent electrode core assemblies 20, so that the connecting portion of the two adjacent electrode core assemblies 20 is located in the spacer 30.
In some embodiments, an outer surface of each of the electrode core assemblies 20 is fixed to the inner surface 101 of the housing 10 by adhesion. Therefore, the electrode core assemblies 20 may be further fixed to prevent the movement between the electrode core assemblies 20.
In some embodiments, the battery 100 is a rough cuboid. The battery 100 is defined with a length L, a thickness W, and a height H, where the length L is greater than the height H, and the height H is greater than the thickness W. The length of the battery 100 ranges from 400 mm to 2500 mm. A ratio of the length of the battery 100 to the height of the battery 100 ranges from 4 to 21.
It should be noted that, the battery 100 may be a cuboid or a cube. The battery 100 may be a rough cuboid or a rough cube, which may have a special shape locally. The battery 100 may be, as a whole, an approximate cuboid or an approximate cube, but partially have a gap, a bulge, a chamfer, an arc, or a curve.
The present disclosure further provides a battery module, including multiple batteries 100 according to the present disclosure.
The present disclosure further provides a battery pack, including multiple batteries 100 or the battery module according to the present disclosure.
Referring to
As shown in
In conclusion, it can be seen that the present disclosure has the foregoing excellent characteristics, which enables it to improve the performance of the battery or the battery pack that is not available in the related art, and to be practical, thereby becoming a product of great practical value.
The foregoing descriptions are merely some embodiments of the present disclosure, but do not limit the present disclosure. Any modification, equivalent replacement, or improvement made without departing from the spirit and principle of the present disclosure shall fall within the protection scope of the present disclosure. In the description of the present disclosure, it should be understood that, orientations or position relationships indicated by terms such as “center”, “longitudinal”, “transverse”, “length”, “width”, “thickness”, “up”, “down”, “front”, “back”, “left”, “right”, “vertical”, “horizontal”, “top”, “bottom”, “inner”, “outer”, “clockwise”, “counterclockwise”, “axial”, “radial”, and “circumferential” are orientations or position relationship shown based on the accompanying drawings, and are merely used for describing the present disclosure and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the apparatus or element should have a particular orientation or be constructed and operated in a particular orientation, and therefore, should not be construed as a limitation on the present disclosure.
In addition, the terms “first” and “second” are used merely for the purpose of description, and shall not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implying a quantity of indicated technical features. Therefore, features defining “first” and “second” may explicitly or implicitly include one or more such features. In the descriptions of the present disclosure, “a plurality of” means two or more than two, unless otherwise definitely and specifically limited.
In the present disclosure, unless explicitly specified or limited otherwise, the terms “mounted”, “connected”, “connection”, and “fixed” should be understood broadly, for example, which may be fixed connections, detachable connections or integral connections; or the connection may be a mechanical connection or an electrical connection; a direct connection, an indirect connection through an intermediate, or internal communication between two elements or an interaction relationship between two elements. A person of ordinary skill in the art can understand specific meanings of the foregoing terms in the present disclosure according to a specific situation.
In the present disclosure, unless explicitly specified or limited otherwise, a first characteristic “on” or “under” a second characteristic may be the first characteristic in direct contact with the second characteristic, or the first characteristic in indirect contact with the second characteristic by using an intermediate medium. Moreover, the first feature “over”, “above” and “up” the second feature may be that the first feature is directly above or obliquely above the second feature, or simply indicates that a horizontal height of the first feature is higher than that of the second feature. The first feature “under”, “below” and “down” the second feature may be that the first feature is directly below or obliquely below the second feature, or simply indicates that a horizontal height of the first feature is less than that of the second feature.
In the descriptions of this specification, a description of a reference term such as “an embodiment”, “some embodiments”, “an example”, “a specific example”, or “some examples” means that a specific feature, structure, material, or characteristic that is described with reference to the embodiment or the example is included in at least one embodiment or example of the present disclosure. In the present specification, schematic representations of the above terms are not necessarily directed to the same embodiments or examples. Moreover, the specific features, structures, materials, or characteristics described may be combined in any one or more embodiments or examples in a suitable manner. In addition, different embodiments or examples described in this specification, as well as features of different embodiments or examples, may be integrated and combined by a person skilled in the art without contradicting each other.
Although the embodiments of the present disclosure are shown and described above, it may be understood that the foregoing embodiments are examples, and cannot be understood as limitations to the present disclosure. A person of ordinary skill in the art may make changes, modifications, replacements, and variations to the foregoing embodiments without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202010421323.3 | May 2020 | CN | national |
The application is a continuation application of International Patent Application No. PCT/CN2021/087931 filed with the China National Intellectual Property Administration (CNIPA) on Apr. 16, 2021, which is based on and claims priority to and benefits of Chinese Patent Application No. 202010421323.3 filed on May 18, 2020. The entire content of all of the above-referenced applications is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/CN2021/087931 | Apr 2021 | US |
| Child | 17988023 | US |
