Patent Application
20210328304
The disclosure relates to the field of batteries, and in particular, to a battery pack.
In electric vehicles, a battery is a core component, and its safety has been widely concerned. The thermal runaway of a battery is extremely dangerous, threatening lives of passengers. And due to a huge impact of the thermal runaway, it may undermine consumer confidence in the electric vehicles. At present, in order to suppress the thermal runaway of the battery, a complicated fire extinguishing fluid pipeline is arranged in a battery pack, but it is difficult to design and assembly, and with a high cost and a low energy density. In addition, fire extinguishing fluid is kept in a free space inside the battery pack. In the process of running a vehicle, the fire extinguishing fluid can easily flow to all directions, and adhere to other parts, so that the effective fire extinguishing fluid in the battery pack become less and less, and at the moment of the thermal runaway, the fire extinguishing fluid may be located outside an area where a runaway occurs, as a result, a thermal runaway source cannot be effectively and timely extinguished or doused (for example, a high-temperature gas and/or flame generated inside the battery, the high-temperature gas may be doped with substances such as an electrolyte inside the battery). Refractories are arranged at and/or near an explosion-proof valve of the battery to resist the high-temperature and/or flame sprayed from the explosion-proof valve, but it is easy to make the thermal runaway diffuse in the battery pack, resulting in more and more battery thermal runaways, and increasing a risk of the thermal runaway.
In view of the deficiencies of the prior art, an objective of the disclosure is to provide a battery pack, which can ensure that a fire extinguishing agent quickly reaches a runaway area when a battery occurs a thermal runaway, and suppresses the thermal runaway of the battery.
In order to achieve the above objective, the disclosure provides a battery pack, which includes a plurality of batteries and a box, and the plurality of batteries are accommodated in the box; each battery includes an explosion-proof valve; the box includes a lower box for supporting the batteries and an upper box matching the lower box; the upper box includes an upper plate and a lower plate, the upper plate covers the lower plate to form an accommodating space for accommodating a fire extinguishing agent; the explosion-proof valve of the each battery faces the lower plate of the upper box, and the lower plate is set to be able to discharge the fire extinguishing agent from the accommodating space after being melted.
In one embodiment, the lower plate is provided with a weakened area, and the weakened area is opposite to the explosion-proof of the each battery.
In one embodiment, the plurality of batteries are set in rows, the lower plate is provided with the weakened area, and the weakened area covers an area formed by all explosion-proof valves of each battery row in a height direction.
In one embodiment, the weakened area is provided with a groove, so that a thickness of the weakened area is smaller than a thickness of other parts of the lower plate.
In one embodiment, the weakened area is provided with a score along its perimeter.
In one embodiment, the upper box further includes a partition wall, the accommodating space is divided into a plurality of accommodating cavities by the partition wall, and each accommodating cavity is opposite to the explosion-proof valve of the battery of each battery row V.
In one embodiment, the upper box further includes a fireproof plate, disposed between an inner surface of the upper plate and the fire extinguishing agent.
In one embodiment, the fireproof plate is a mica plate.
In one embodiment, thicknesses of the lower plate is smaller than thicknesses of the upper plate.
In one embodiment, the lower plate comprises: a bottom wall; a side wall, extending upward from all sides of the bottom wall; and a flange, extending outward from all sides of the side wall, and the flange is fixedly connected to an inner surface of the upper plate.
The advantageous effects of the disclosure are as follows: in the battery package of the disclosure, when the battery occurs the thermal runaway (a high-temperature gas generated inside the battery breaks through the explosion-proof of the battery and then is discharged from the battery, in which the high-temperature gas rushing out of the explosion-proof valve may be accompanied by a flame or doped with a high temperature electrolyte), the generated high-temperature gas and/or flame could melt through a position of the lower plate of the upper box corresponding to the explosion-proof valve, thereby forming a melted area that is melted through on the lower plate and causing the fire extinguishing agent in the lower plate to flow rapidly from the melted area to the runaway area. On the one hand, the fire extinguishing agent cools the high-temperature gas and/or extinguishes the flame, and on the other hand, the discharged fire extinguishing agent enters the explosion-proof valve to reduce the temperature of the battery, thus inhibiting the thermal runaway of the battery.
Reference signs are explained as follows:
Embodiments of the disclosure are shown in the drawings. Moreover, it will be appreciated that the disclosed embodiments are merely examples of the disclosure. The disclosure may be implemented in various forms. Therefore, specific details disclosed herein are not to be interpreted as limiting, but merely as a basis of claims, and as a representative basis for teaching those skilled in the art to implement the disclosure in various ways.
The battery pack of the disclosure includes a plurality of batteries 1 and a box 2, and the plurality of batteries 1 are accommodated in the box 2; each battery 1 includes an explosion-proof valve 11; the box 2 includes a lower box 21 for supporting batteries 1 and an upper box 22 matching the lower box 21; the upper box 22 includes an upper plate 221 and a lower plate 222, the upper plate 221 covers the lower plate 222 to form an accommodating space S for accommodating a fire extinguishing agent 3; the explosion-proof valve 11 of each battery 1 faces the lower plate 222 of the upper box 22, and the lower plate 222 is set to be able to discharge the fire extinguishing agent 3 from the accommodating space S after being melted. The lower box 21 includes a first edge portion 211, the upper box 22 includes a second edge portion 225, and the first edge portion 211 is connected to the second edge portion 225. The first edge portion 211 and the second edge portion 225 can be connected by such ways as rivet connection, bolt connection, buckle connection, or glue connection.
In the battery pack of the disclosure, with reference to
The battery 1 is a hard shell battery (or referred to a can-type battery), including an electrode assembly (not shown), a housing, a top cover, the explosion-proof valve 11 and a pole 12. An accommodating cavity is formed inside the housing to accommodate the electrode assembly and an electrolyte. The electrode assembly includes a positive electrode plate, a negative electrode plate and a separator separating the positive electrode plate and the negative electrode plate. The electrode assembly can be formed by winding the positive electrode plate, the negative electrode plate and the separator, or stacking the positive electrode plate, the negative electrode plate and the separator. Both the positive electrode plate and the negative electrode plate include a current collector, and an active material layer disposed on the current collector.
With reference to
The material of the lower plate 222 can be a material with a melting point of 200˜500° C., such as aluminum, to ensure that the lower plate 222 can be timely melted through and discharge the fire extinguishing agent 3 when the battery 1 occurs the thermal runaway, so that the fire extinguishing agent 3 can quickly flow to the runaway area to inhibit the thermal runaway.
With reference to the embodiments shown in
With reference to the fifth embodiment shown in
According to the sixth embodiment shown in
The fire extinguishing agent 3 can be a dry powder fire extinguishing agent or can choose a fire extinguishing fluid with high latent heat, high specific heat capacity and good insulation.
The above detailed description describes a number of exemplary embodiments, but is not intended to be limited to an explicitly disclosed combination. Therefore, unless otherwise stated, various features disclosed herein can be grouped together to form multiple additional combinations which for the purpose of brevity are not shown.
The above descriptions are only preferred embodiments of the present application, and are not intended to limit the present application. For those skilled in the art, the present application can have various modifications and changes. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, or the like made within the spirit and principle of this application shall fall within the protection scope of this application.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 201822238925.6 | Dec 2018 | CN | national |
This application is a continuation of International Application No. PCT/CN2019/079500, filed on Mar. 25, 2019, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 201822238925.6, filed on Dec. 28, 2018. The disclosures of the aforementioned applications are hereby incorporated by reference in their entireties.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/CN2019/079500 | Mar 2019 | US |
| Child | 17360307 | US |
