Patent Application
20210218004
The present disclosure relates generally to battery packs and, for example, to a battery pack having a battery fire suppression system.
A machine may include one or more battery packs to provide power to components of the machine, such as lights, computer systems, an engine, and/or the like. For example, a machine may include a battery pack having multiple battery cells, and the battery cells may include flammable chemicals. The battery pack may include a housing of metal shielding to protect the battery cells. The battery pack may include a cooling mechanism (e.g., one or more airducts, one or more coolant ducts, and/or the like) to prevent the battery cells from overheating. However, the cooling mechanism may not provide enough cooling to one of the battery cells, and the battery cell may overheat and ignite. When one battery cell ignites and begins burning, the heat from the burning battery cell may ignite other adjacent battery cells, such that the fire cascades through the battery pack.
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One attempt to suppress fires within a battery pack is disclosed in International Publication No. WO 2014/077536 by the Korean Automotive Technology Institute (the '536 publication). In particular, the '536 publication discloses a system including a temperature sensing unit, a control portion, pumps, valves, and a supply pipe having nozzles to inject a neutralizing agent, from a neutralizing agent tank, into battery cells. The control portion may cause the valve to open and cause the pump to drive the neutralizing agent to the supply pipe, which injects the neutralizing agent into the battery cells.
While the system of the '536 publication may be able to suppress a fire within a battery pack, the system requires many elements, such as the temperature sensing unit, the control portion, the pumps, the valves, the supply pipe, and the neutralizing agent tank, which may increase the cost of the battery pack and/or the machine in which the battery pack is installed. Additionally, installing the system on a machine may be difficult due to identifying a location on the machine for the neutralizing agent tank, supplying power to the control portion, routing the supply pipe from the neutralizing agent tank to the battery pack and to the battery cells, and/or the like. Furthermore, depending on a work environment of the machine, these elements may require additional protection, such as steel plating and/or the like, to prevent them from being damaged. The system of the '536 publication may also require additional maintenance, testing, and/or the like to confirm that the neutralizing agent has not expired or otherwise become ineffective, that the supply pipe is still properly connected, that the temperature sensing unit, the control portion, the pumps, the valves function properly. Moreover, the neutralizing agent tank may only contain a fixed amount of neutralizing agent, and, in some circumstances, that fixed amount of neutralizing agent may be insufficient to extinguish a fire within the battery pack.
The battery pack of the present disclosure solves one or more of the problems set forth above and/or other problems in the art.
According to some implementations, a battery pack may include a battery pack housing having an exterior surface; one or more battery cells positioned within the battery pack housing; one or more pipes having openings, wherein the one or more pipes are positioned within the battery pack housing to provide, through the openings, a fluid onto the one or more battery cells; and a port positioned in the exterior surface of the battery pack housing, wherein the port is in fluid connection with the one or more pipes.
According to some implementations, a method may include receiving, by a battery pack, via a port positioned in an exterior surface of a battery pack housing, a fluid; providing, by the battery pack, via the port, the fluid to one or more pipes positioned within the battery pack housing; and providing, by the battery pack, via openings in the one or more pipes, the fluid onto one or more battery cells positioned within the battery pack housing.
According to some implementations, a machine may include one or more components, and a battery pack to provide power to the one or more components, wherein the battery pack includes: a battery pack housing having an exterior surface, one or more battery modules positioned within the battery pack housing, wherein each of the one or more battery modules includes a module housing and one or more battery cells positioned within the module housing, one or more pipes having openings, wherein the one or more pipes are positioned within the battery pack housing to provide, through the openings, a fluid onto the one or more battery modules, and a port positioned in the exterior surface of the battery pack housing, wherein the port is in fluid connection with the one or more pipes.
This disclosure relates to a battery pack. The battery pack has universal applicability to any machine utilizing such a battery pack. The term “machine” may refer to any machine that performs an operation associated with an industry such as, for example, mining, construction, farming, transportation, or any other industry. As some examples, the machine may be an underground machine, a surface machine, an off-road machine, an on-road machine, a vehicle, a backhoe loader, a cold planer, a wheel loader, a compactor, a feller buncher, a forest machine, a forwarder, a harvester, an excavator, an industrial loader, a knuckleboom loader, a material handler, a motor grader, a pipelayer, a road reclaimer, a skid steer loader, a skidder, a telehandler, a tractor, a dozer, a tractor scraper, or other above ground equipment, underground equipment, or marine equipment. Moreover, one or more implements may be connected to the machine and driven from the battery pack.
The battery fire suppression system of example battery pack 200 may include pipes 205, port 206, and vent 207. As shown in
Pipes 205 may be positioned within battery pack housing 201 to provide, through the openings, fluid to voids (e.g., spaces between strings 202, battery modules 203, battery cells 204, and/or the like) within battery pack housing 201. By providing fluid to voids within battery pack housing 201, pipes 205 may remove oxygen, which the fire may require to burn, from within battery pack housing 201, thereby extinguishing the fire, preventing strings 202, battery modules 203, and/or battery cells 204 that are not on fire from igniting, and/or the like.
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Port 206 may be positioned in an exterior surface of battery pack housing 201. As shown in
Vent 207 may be an opening, an opening with a friction-fit cap, a pressure-based vent, and/or the like. For example, vent 207 may open, based on pressure within battery pack housing 201 satisfying a threshold, to reduce the pressure within battery pack housing 201 (e.g., by permitting gasses and/or liquids to exit battery pack housing 201 and/or the like). For example, as fluid is supplied to the interior of battery pack housing 201 (e.g., by port 206 and pipes 205), pressure within battery pack housing 201 may increase (e.g., due to fluid heating and turning into steam, due to an increase in contents of battery pack housing 201, and/or the like). If pressure within battery pack housing 201 exceeds a threshold, the battery pack housing 201 may fail resulting in an explosion that may damage battery pack 200, damage a machine in which battery pack 200 is installed, damage a structure, machine, equipment, and/or the like near battery pack 200, injure an operator, firefighter, and/or the like near battery pack 200, and/or the like.
Vent 207 may close, based on the pressure within battery pack housing 201 not satisfying the threshold, to seal battery pack housing 201 (e.g., to prevent chemicals, gases, and/or the like within battery pack housing 201 from leaking). Vent 207 may be manually opened and/or manually closed (e.g., in case of malfunction). Vent 207 may be positioned in any exterior surface of battery pack housing 201, such as a sidewall (as shown in
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Additionally, or alternatively, exterior ports 302 may be in fluid connection with one or more ports of the one or more battery packs (e.g., via an internal pipe, via a hose, and/or the like). For example, machine 300 may include a first battery pack having a first port, a second battery pack having a second port, a first exterior port (e.g., of exterior ports 302), and a second exterior port (e.g., of exterior ports 302). The first exterior port may be in fluid connection with the first port such that fluid supplied to the first exterior port is provided to the first port, which provides the fluid to an interior of the first battery pack. Similarly, the second exterior port may be in fluid connection with the second port such that fluid supplied to the second exterior port is provided to the second port, which provides the fluid to an interior of the second battery pack. Thus, fluid may be supplied to the first battery pack, the second battery pack, or both the first battery pack and the second battery pack, by supplying fluid to the first exterior port, the second exterior port, or both the first exterior port and the second exterior port, respectively. In this way, an operator, firefighter, and/or the like may select which battery pack to provide with fluid (e.g., based on knowledge of a location of the fire (e.g., within the first battery pack, within the second battery pack, and/or the like) and/or the like) and not provide fluid to a battery pack in which there is not a fire, thereby conserving resources that would otherwise be consumed by repairing, refurbishing, and/or the like damage caused by fluid in the battery pack in which there is not a fire.
In another example, machine 300 may include a first battery pack having a first port, a second battery pack having a second port, a first exterior port (e.g., of exterior ports 302), and a second exterior port (e.g., of exterior ports 302). The first exterior port and the second exterior port may be located on opposite sides of machine 300, such that an operator, firefighter, and/or the like may access at least one of the first exterior port or the second exterior port if a side of machine 300 is blocked (e.g., due to machine 300 being positioned adjacent a wall, another machine, a structure, and/or the like, due to machine 300 having tipped over, and/or the like). The first exterior port may be in fluid connection with the first port and the second port such that fluid supplied to the first exterior port is provided to the first port and the second port, which provide the fluid to interiors of the first battery pack and the second battery pack. Similarly, the second exterior port may be in fluid connection with the first port and the second port such that fluid supplied to the second exterior port is provided to the first port and the second port, which provide the fluid to interiors of the first battery pack and the second battery pack. In this way, an operator, firefighter, and/or the like may supply fluid to the first battery pack and the second battery pack even if access to a side of machine 300 is blocked.
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Each of the exit ports 411, 421, 431, and 441 may be in fluid communication with a port of another battery pack via a pipe, a hose, a mechanical connection, and/or the like. For example, battery pack 401 and battery pack 402 may have exterior surfaces configured such that, when battery pack 401 and battery pack 402 are positioned adjacent to each other, exit port 411 mechanically connects to port 420 (e.g., exit port 411 includes an opening into which port 420 inserts, exit port 411 includes a male mechanical connector and port 420 includes a corresponding female mechanical connector, and/or the like).
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A machine may include one or more battery packs (e.g., one or more battery packs similar to battery pack 200) in which one or more fires are burning. For example, as shown in
Upon detecting the fire (e.g., by a sensor, by observing smoke, and/or the like), fluid may be supplied to the port. For example, a firefighter and/or emergency response person may connect a hose to the port and supply water as the fluid (e.g., using a pump and/or the like). Additionally, or alternatively, the fluid may be supplied to the port via a gravity feed (e.g., the port may be positioned in a top wall of the battery pack housing and fluid may be supplied by a bucket to the port, a hose may be connected to the port and fluid may be gravity fed via the hose to the port, and/or the like). In this way, an operator, firefighter, and/or the like may supply fluid to the interior of the one or more battery packs (e.g., without opening a battery pack housing, without removing parts of the machine, and/or the like). This allows the fluid to extinguish the fire, to prevent a fire within one of the one or more battery packs from spreading to another battery pack, to prevent one or more battery cells within the one or more battery packs from overheating, and/or the like.
As used herein, the articles “a” and “an” are intended to include one or more items, and may be used interchangeably with “one or more.” Also, as used herein, the terms “has,” “have,” “having,” or the like are intended to be open-ended terms. Further, the phrase “based on” is intended to mean “based, at least in part, on.”
The foregoing disclosure provides illustration and description, but is not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the implementations to the precise form disclosed. Modifications and variations may be made in light of the above disclosure or may be acquired from practice of the implementations. It is intended that the specification be considered as an example only, with a true scope of the disclosure being indicated by the following claims and their equivalents. Even though particular combinations of features are recited in the claims and/or disclosed in the specification, these combinations are not intended to limit the disclosure of various implementations. Although each dependent claim listed below may directly depend on only one claim, the disclosure of various implementations includes each dependent claim in combination with every other claim in the claim set.
