Patent Application
20220231376
This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2019-0158412 filed on Dec. 2, 2019 with the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
The present disclosure relates to a battery pack and a device including the same, and more particularly, to a battery pack containing a gasket and a device including the same.
Recently, along with the increase of the technological development and demand for a mobile device, demand for a secondary battery capable of charging and discharging as an energy source rapidly increases, and accordingly, many researches of the battery capable of meeting a variety of needs are performed.
Further, the secondary battery has attracted considerable attention as a power source for electric vehicles (EV), hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), and plug-in hybrid electric vehicles (Plug-in HEV), which have been developed to solve problems, such as air pollution, caused by existing gasoline and diesel vehicles using fossil fuels.
Therefore, an electric vehicle (EV), which can be driven only by a secondary battery, and a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), which combines a conventional engine with a secondary battery, have been developed and some thereof have been commercialized. A nickel-metal hydride (Ni-MH) secondary battery has been mainly used as the power source of EV, HEV and the like. Recently, however, studies using lithium secondary batteries having high energy density, high discharge voltage and output stability have been actively conducted.
When such a secondary battery is used as an automobile power source, the secondary battery is used in the form of a battery pack containing a plurality of battery modules or a battery module assembly. Vehicle battery packs are configured such that rubber gaskets are located in upper and lower cases in order to seal the battery pack.
Referring to
This is because, when a pressure exceeding the sealing force is applied to the gasket 20, discharge can occur in all circumferential directions through the gasket 20 surface uniformly formed in the circumferential direction. However, since the vehicle battery pack is installed inside the vehicle, there is a problem that the vehicle and passengers may be in danger if the hot gas is discharged in the direction of the vehicle parts including the fuel tank.
It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a battery pack that can set the direction of gas discharge at the time of ignition, and a device including the same.
However, the problem to be solved by embodiments of the present disclosure is not limited to the above-described problems, and can be variously expanded within the scope of the technical idea included in the present disclosure.
A battery pack according to one embodiment of the present disclosure includes: a lower case and an upper case; and an annular gasket formed between the lower case and the upper case to seal between the cases, wherein the gasket includes first and second sealing parts connected to each other, and wherein a melting point of the second sealing part is lower than the melting point of the first sealing part.
Projection parts may be formed at both ends of the second sealing part, and groove parts may be formed at both ends of the first sealing part, and the projection parts are fitted into the groove parts.
The width of the projection part of the second sealing part may be wider than the width of the groove part of the first sealing part.
A bush may be formed in the center of the second sealing part, and a fastening member may be inserted into the bush to fix the position of the second sealing part.
Gas discharge channels may be formed on both sides of the bush through the melting of the second sealing part, and gas inside the cases may be discharged to the outside through the gas discharge channels.
The fastening member may be formed of a bolt and a nut.
A fastening part may be formed in the upper case and the lower case, and the fastening member may connect the bush and the fastening part.
The first sealing part may be formed of EPDM-based rubber, and the second sealing part may be formed of NR-based rubber.
The second sealing part may be formed in plural numbers.
The gasket may be formed a square shape, and the plurality of second sealing parts may be arranged at one corner part of the gasket.
The gasket may be formed in a square shape, and the plurality of the second sealing parts may be arranged at one edge part of the gasket and other edge parts connected to the one edge port.
A device including the battery pack is provided, wherein the second sealing part may be formed in a portion facing the outside among the gasket parts.
According to the embodiments of the present disclosure, it is possible to discharge the gas inside the battery pack through the gas discharge channel formed by melting the second sealing part formed in the direction in which vehicle parts are not installed, thereby improving the stability of the battery pack installed in the device.
Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily implement them. The present disclosure may be modified in various different ways, and is not limited to the embodiments set forth herein.
Portions that are irrelevant to the description will be omitted to clearly describe the present disclosure, and like reference numerals designate like elements throughout the specification.
Further, in the figures, the size and thickness of each element are arbitrarily illustrated for convenience of description, and the present disclosure is not necessarily limited to those illustrated in the figures. In the figures, the thickness of layers, regions, etc. are exaggerated for clarity. In the figures, for convenience of description, the thicknesses of some layers and regions are shown to be exaggerated.
Further, throughout the specification, when a portion is referred to as “including” a certain component, it means that it can further include other components, without excluding the other components, unless otherwise stated.
Hereinafter, a battery pack according to one embodiment of the present disclosure will be described.
Referring to
The gasket 200 is formed in an annular shape along the outer peripheries of the cases between the lower case 120 and the upper case 110 to seal between the cases. The gasket 200 may be formed of a rubber material.
The gasket 200 may be connected to the cases through a fastening part 111 formed on the upper case 110 and a fastening portion 121 formed on the lower case 120. The fastening part 111 formed in the upper case 110 may be formed in plural numbers along the circumference where the upper case 110 meets the lower case 120. Similarly, a plurality of fastening parts 121 formed on the lower case 120 may also be formed along the circumference where the lower case 120 meets the upper case 110. The gasket 200 may also be formed with a plurality of fastening parts along the annular circumference. The fastening part of each upper case 110, the fastening part of the lower case 120, and the fastening part of the gasket 200 are all formed at positions corresponding to the vertical direction, and the respective fastening parts may be vertically connected to each other via a fastening member. The fastening member may be formed of a bolt and a nut.
Conventionally, all portions of the gasket were formed of the same material, and the gasket was sealed around the upper and lower cases with the same sealing force. However, if pressure exceeding the sealing force of the gasket is generated due to internal ignition, gas may be discharged through all gasket surfaces in the 360-degree direction. When the battery pack is mounted on the vehicle, there was a risk of hot gases being discharged in the direction of the fuel tank and vehicle parts.
However, according to one embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in
The first sealing part 210 according to the present disclosure may be formed of EPDM-based rubber, and the second sealing part 220 may be formed of NR-based rubber. The maximum application temperature of EPDM-based rubber is 150 degrees, and the maximum application temperature of NR-based rubber is 90 degrees. NR-based rubber has a lower melting point than EPDM-based rubber, so it may melt first when the temperature rises. Therefore, the second sealing part 220 is melted before the first sealing part 210, and gas inside the battery pack may be discharged to the outside through the melted second sealing part.
Therefore, the second sealing part 220 according to the embodiment of the present disclosure can be provided at a location desired by the user, and gas inside the battery pack may be discharged in the direction in which the provided second sealing part 220 is located, whereby the position of the second sealing part 220 can be set in the direction in which vehicle parts and fuel tanks are not located, to thereby prevent in advance a risk that may occur through the discharged gas.
Hereinafter, a second sealing part according to one embodiment of the present disclosure will be described in more detail.
Referring to
The protrusion parts 221 and 222 may be formed so as to project toward different directions from the center of both ends of the second sealing part 220. The protrusion parts 221 and 222 can be respectively fitted with groove parts 211 and 212 formed at both ends of the first sealing part 210.
According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, as shown in
The bush 223 is formed in the center of the third sealing part 220, and is formed to correspond in a vertical direction to any one of the fastening parts 111 of the upper case 110 and any one of the fastening parts 121 of the lower case 120, so that the second sealing part 220 may be connected to the upper case 110 and the lower case 120 via the fastening member 300 to fix the position of the second sealing part 220. More specifically, the second sealing part 220 is disposed at a location desired by the user among the circumferential portions to which the upper and lower cases 110 and 120 are connected, and the second sealing part 220 disposed at a desired position via the bush 223 may be fixed between the upper and lower cases 110 and 120.
The fastening member 300 may be connected via the fastening parts 111 and 121 of the bush 223 and the upper and lower cases 110 and 120 formed at positions corresponding thereto. According to one embodiment of the present disclosure, the fastening member 300 may be formed of a bolt and a nut, but is not limited thereto, and a fastening member may be mounted through various embodiments.
Hereinafter, the gas discharge direction according to an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described.
Referring to
Hereinafter, a plurality of second sealing parts formed according to other embodiments of the present disclosure will be described.
Referring to
Hereinafter, a state in which the battery pack according to one embodiment of the present invention is mounted on the device D will be described.
Referring to
In addition, the device according to another embodiment of the present invention includes the above-mentioned battery pack as a power source. These devices may be applied to transportation means such as an electric bicycle, an electric vehicle, a hybrid vehicle, but the present disclosure is not limited thereto and can be applied to various devices that can use the secondary battery.
Although the preferred embodiments of the present disclosure have been described in detail above, the scope of the present disclosure is not limited thereto, and various modifications and improvements of those skilled in the art using the basic concepts of the present disclosure defined in the following claims also belong to the scope of rights.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2019-0158412 | Dec 2019 | KR | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/KR2020/015106 | 11/2/2020 | WO | 00 |
