Patent Application
20250158163
The present disclosure relates to the field of batteries, and in particular, to a heat dissipation air deflector, a battery support, a battery assembly, a battery pack, an energy storage battery cabinet, and an energy storage system.
With the development of electrochemical energy storage technology, energy storage is increasingly used in the power industry, and there are strict requirements on an energy storage battery cabinet and stability of operation of an energy storage system. The energy storage battery cabinet is usually large in size. In an existing air cooling solution, heat dissipation is usually not uniform in batteries at various positions due to flow of cooling gas over a large span, differences in flow resistance at various positions, and temperature changes along a flow path.
Therefore, there is room for improvement.
In view of this, the present disclosure aims to provide a heat dissipation air deflector, a battery support using the heat dissipation air deflector, a battery assembly, a battery pack, an energy storage battery cabinet, and an energy storage system, aiming to improve heat dissipation uniformity of batteries at various positions in the battery assembly, the battery pack, the energy storage battery cabinet, and the energy storage system.
In some aspects of the present subject matter, a heat dissipation air deflector is suitable for being in contact with a battery and is configured for heat dissipation of the battery. An air inlet cavity is formed inside the heat dissipation air deflector, and the heat dissipation air deflector is adjacent to air outlet cavities on two sides of the air inlet cavity. An air inlet that is in communication with the air inlet cavity is provided on one side of the heat dissipation air deflector, two air outlets are provided on the other opposite side of the heat dissipation air deflector, and the two air outlets are respectively in communication with the two air outlet cavities. Positions at which the air inlet cavity is adjacent to the air outlet cavities are in communication via air holes.
In some aspects of the present subject matter, a battery support includes: two bottom plates that are spaced apart, configured to support a battery; two end plates, respectively connected to the bottom plates and configured to constrain two sides of the battery; and the heat dissipation air deflector, the heat dissipation air deflector being arranged in an interval between the bottom plates and being configured to be in contact with the battery in a heat conducting manner.
In some aspects of the present subject matter, a battery assembly includes: the battery support, and multiple cells. The battery assembly has a predetermined length direction and a width direction perpendicular to the length direction, the multiple cells are arranged along the width direction of the battery assembly, a thickness direction of the cells is consistent with the width direction of the battery assembly, and a length direction of the cells is consistent with the length direction of the battery assembly and extends from one side of the length direction of the battery assembly to the other opposite side of the length direction of the battery assembly.
At least a part of bottom portions of the multiple cells are supported on bottom plates, and two end plates are sandwiched between two sides of the thickness direction of the multiple cells; and a heat dissipation air deflector is in contact with the cells in a heat conducting manner.
In some aspects of the present subject matter, a battery pack includes multiple battery assemblies; and each of the battery assemblies has a height direction perpendicular to a length direction and a width direction of each of the battery assemblies, and the multiple battery assemblies are stacked along the height direction.
In some aspects of the present subject matter, an energy storage battery cabinet includes: a cabinet body; the battery pack, mounted and accommodated in the cabinet body; an air conditioning assembly, mounted on the cabinet body and configured to adjust a temperature inside the cabinet body; and a battery manager, electrically connected to the battery pack and configured to manage the battery pack.
In some aspects of the present subject matter, an energy storage system includes at least one energy storage battery cabinet.
In a heat dissipation air deflector, a battery support using the heat dissipation air deflector, a battery assembly, a battery pack, an energy storage battery cabinet, and an energy storage system, an air inlet cavity is formed inside the heat dissipation air deflector, and the heat dissipation air deflector is adjacent to air outlet cavities on two sides of the air inlet cavity. An air inlet that is in communication with the air inlet cavity is provided on one side of the heat dissipation air deflector, two air outlets are provided on the other opposite side of the heat dissipation air deflector, and the two air outlets are respectively in communication with the two air outlet cavities. Positions at which the air inlet cavity is adjacent to the air outlet cavities are in communication via air holes. In this way, a cooling airflow entering the middle air inlet cavity can both flow through the air inlet cavity and enter the air outlet cavities on the two sides via the air holes, so that the batteries in contact with positions of various cavities can dissipate heat. In addition, the air inlet is provided on one side of the air inlet cavity, and air does not enter the air inlet cavity from an entire side surface of the heat dissipation air deflector, so that an area of the air inlet can be reduced, to avoid a problem that when an air volume and a wind speed are too low, after cold air blowing by an air conditioner absorbs heat generated by batteries around the air inlet, a cold air volume decreases and a temperature rises, and the further the cold air flows towards the air outlets, the higher the temperature, resulting in heat dissipation of the battery close to the air inlet and batteries close to the air outlets being not uniform and an excessive temperature difference. In summary, uniform heat dissipation of batteries in contact with the positions of various cavities can be implemented.
The additional aspects and advantages of the present disclosure will be set forth in part in the description below, parts of which will become apparent from the description below, or will be understood by the practice of the present disclosure.
The foregoing and/or additional aspects and advantages of the present disclosure become obvious and easily understood in descriptions of the embodiments with reference to the following accompanying drawings.
Detail description of embodiments of the present disclosure will be made in the following, and examples thereof are illustrated in the drawings, throughout which identical or similar elements or elements of identical or similar functions are represented with identical or similar reference numerals. The embodiments that are described with reference to the accompanying drawings are exemplary, and are only used to interpret the present disclosure, instead limiting 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”, “rear”, “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 the description of the present disclosure, “a plurality of” means two or more than two, and “several” means one or more.
Specific implementations of the present disclosure are described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.
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Because an architecture of the energy storage system 1000 and the foregoing structural hierarchy of the energy storage battery cabinet 100 are not the focus of improvement in this specification, and there are many typical implementations of the foregoing structural hierarchy in the related art. Details are not described herein again. In the present disclosure, improvement of the energy storage system 1000 and the energy storage battery cabinet 100 mainly depends on the battery pack 12 and the battery assembly 120. Therefore, specific implementations of the battery pack 12 and the battery assembly 120 are mainly described in detail below.
In the battery pack 12, the battery assembly 120 has a preset length direction, a preset width direction, and a preset height direction, and the length direction, the width direction, and the height direction are perpendicular to each other. Multiple battery assemblies 120 are stacked along the height direction. The height direction herein may be understood as a vertical direction. Usually, during actual application, a height direction of the energy storage system 1000 or the energy storage battery cabinet 100 included in the energy storage system 1000 after placement or mounting is the vertical direction. The battery pack 12 is substantially in a shape of a cuboid. Therefore, for ease of understanding, a direction of the battery assembly 120 that is the same as the vertical direction in normal use is defined as the height direction of the battery assembly 120, and correspondingly, the length direction and the width direction of the battery assembly 120 are defined in a horizontal direction.
The battery pack 10 includes multiple battery assemblies 120, and the multiple battery assemblies 120 are stacked along the height direction. For example, in some implementations, the battery pack 10 includes K battery assemblies 120, and 2≤K≤16. Adjacent battery assemblies 120 may be mounted and fixed by connection between battery supports 122. For example, the battery supports 122 of the adjacent battery assemblies 120 may be fixed by screw connection.
In some implementations, the battery assemblies 120 include even-numbered cells 121; and the cells 121 each include a positive terminal and a negative terminal, and the positive terminal and the negative terminal are respectively located at two opposite ends in a length direction of the cells 121. In this way, the positive terminal and the negative terminal of each of the cells 121 are located on opposite sides, and arrangement of the even-numbered cells 121 facilitates connection between the battery assemblies 120 on an upper layer and a lower layer.
The battery assemblies 120 include the multiple cells 121, and the battery supports 122.
Each of the cells 121 is substantially in a shape of a cuboid. Each of the cells 121 is substantially in a shape of a cuboid, which means that a main body part of each of the cells 121 is in a shape of a cuboid. However, because each of the cells 121 usually further includes structures such as an electrode terminal and an explosion-proof valve that are located at an end portion of the main body part, the cell as a whole is not strictly in a shape of a cuboid, or the cell as a whole is not strictly in a shape of a cuboid due to factors such as a dimensional shape tolerance and local irregularities, but the cell is substantially in a shape of a cuboid. Accordingly, a length of each of the cells 121 may be understood as a length of the main body part of each of the cells 121, that is, the electrode terminal part is not included.
The multiple cells 121 are arranged along the width direction of the battery assembly 120, a thickness direction of the cells 121 is consistent with the width direction of the battery assembly 120, and a length direction of the cells 121 is consistent with the length direction of the battery assembly 120. In addition, each of the cells 121 extends from one side of the length direction of the battery assembly 120 to the other opposite side of the length direction of the battery assembly 120. In other words, only one cell 121 is arranged in the length direction of each battery assembly 120, and the cells 121 as a whole span from one side to the other side. An auxiliary reinforcing member does not need to be arranged along the length direction of the battery assembly 120, thereby ensuring higher volume utilization and energy density. In addition, the multiple cells 121 are arranged along the width direction of the battery assembly 120, so that mutual limitation and reinforcement can be formed. The cells can also play an auxiliary reinforcement role on the formed battery assembly 120 in the length direction, thereby ensuring overall structural strength of the battery assembly 120.
The battery supports 122 include a bottom plate 1210 extending along the width direction of the battery assembly 120, end plates 1220 connected to two opposite ends of the bottom plate 1210, and a heat dissipation air deflector 1230. At least a part of bottom portions of the multiple cells 121 are supported on bottom plates 1210, and two end plates 1220 are sandwiched between two sides of the thickness direction of the multiple cells 121.
The battery supports 122 are arranged, so that the multiple cells 121 can be fixed by the battery supports 122, structural strength of the battery supports 122 can be used to assist in improving structural strength of the cells 121, and a quantity of battery assemblies 120 that can be arranged in the battery supports 122, the energy storage battery cabinet 100, and the energy storage system 1000 may be greater. For example, in the battery supports 122, the quantity of battery assemblies 120 may be 6-20 and the battery assemblies are sequentially stacked in the height direction. In this way, volume utilization of the energy storage battery cabinet 100 and the energy storage system 1000 is greater and the energy density is higher.
Specifically, the battery support 122 includes two bottom plates 1210, the two bottom plates 1210 are spaced apart and respectively supported at two ends of the cell 121 in the length direction, and two ends of the two end plates 1220 are respectively fixed on the two bottom plates 1210. In this way, an interval between the two bottom plates 1210 forms an air duct gap, and the heat dissipation air deflector 1230 is arranged in the interval between the two bottom plates 1210, that is, in the air duct gap, and is configured to be in contact with the cell 121 in a heat conducting manner, to dissipate heat from the cell 121, making the cell 121 less susceptible to heat damage, thereby extending a service life of the energy storage battery cabinet 100, or meeting a requirement of high-power charging.
The heat dissipation air deflector 1230 may be in a shape of a cuboid-shaped flat plate. An air inlet cavity 1231 is formed inside the heat dissipation air deflector 1230, and the heat dissipation air deflector 1230 is adjacent to air outlet cavities 1232 on two sides of the air inlet cavity 1231. An air inlet 1233 that is in communication with the air inlet cavity 1231 is provided on one side of the heat dissipation air deflector 1230, two air outlets 1235 are provided on the other opposite side of the heat dissipation air deflector 1230, and the two air outlets 1235 are respectively in communication with the two air outlet cavities 1232. Positions at which the air inlet cavity 1231 is adjacent to the air outlet cavities 1232 are in communication via air holes 1234.
In this way, a cooling airflow entering a middle air inlet cavity 1231 can both flow through the air inlet cavity 1231 and enter the air outlet cavities 1232 on the two sides via the air holes 1234, so that the batteries in contact with positions of various cavities can dissipate heat. In addition, the air inlet 1233 is provided on one side of the air inlet cavity 1231, and air does not enter the air inlet cavity from an entire side surface of the heat dissipation air deflector 1230, so that an area of the air inlet 1233 can be reduced, to avoid a problem that when an air volume and a wind speed are too low, after cold air blowing by an air conditioning assembly 13 absorbs heat generated by batteries around the air inlet 1233, a cold air volume decreases and a temperature rises, and the further the cold air flows towards the air outlets 1235, the higher the temperature, resulting in heat dissipation of the battery close to the air inlet 1233 and batteries close to the air outlets 1235 being not uniform and an excessive temperature difference. In summary, the batteries in contact with positions of various cavities can dissipate heat in a uniform manner.
In other words, three cavities are provided in the heat dissipation air deflector 1230, a middle cavity is the air inlet cavity 1231, and the other two cavities are located on two sides of the air inlet cavity 1231, which are the air outlet cavities 1232. The three cavities are configured with one side open and the other side closed. An opening side of the middle air inlet cavity 1231 is the air inlet 1233, and the other opposite side of the air inlet cavity 1231 is closed. The closed side is on the same side as an air returning outlet of the air conditioning assembly 13. The cavities on the two sides are the air outlet cavities 1232. Opening sides of the air outlet cavities 1232 are air outlets 1235, which are on the same side as the air returning outlet of the air conditioning assembly 13, and the other opposite sides of the two air outlet cavities 1232 are closed. A reason for closing the air outlet of the middle air inlet cavity 1231 is to prevent cold air blown into the air inlet air duct by the air conditioning assembly 13 from being directly discharged through the air returning outlet of the air conditioning assembly 13 without dissipating heat of batteries on two sides, resulting in the heat of the batteries on the two sides being unable to be fully dissipated. A reason for closing the air inlets of the air outlet cavities 1232 on the two sides is to reduce an area of the air inlet 1233, to avoid a problem that when an air volume and a wind speed are too low, after cold air blowing by the air conditioning assembly 13 absorbs heat generated by batteries around the air inlet 1233, a cold air volume decreases and a temperature rises, and the further the cold air flows towards a direction of the air outlets 1235, the higher the temperature, resulting in heat dissipation of the battery close to the air inlet 1233 and batteries close to the air outlets 1235 being not uniform and an excessive temperature difference.
In implementation, the heat dissipation air deflector includes a housing and two separating plates. A cavity is formed inside the housing. The two separating plates are spaced apart in the cavity, and separate the cavity into the air inlet cavity 1231 located between the two separating plates and the two air outlet cavities 1232 located between the separating plates and the housing.
Multiple air holes 1234 are distributed on the separating plates along an air outlet direction.
In some implementations, pore sizes of the multiple air holes 1234 gradually increase or show an increasing trend along a direction from the air inlet 1233 to the air outlets 1235. In some other implementations, spacings between the multiple air holes 1234 decrease or show a decreasing trend along the direction from the air inlet 1233 to the air outlets 1235. The increasing trend herein may be understood as that among the multiple air holes, pore sizes of some air holes may be the same, but the air holes show the increasing trend as a whole. The decreasing trend of the spacings may be understood in a same manner. Certainly, in specific implementation, increasing of the pore sizes and decreasing of the spacings may be simultaneously implemented.
The air holes 1234 are provided on the two sides of the middle air inlet cavity 1231. The cold air is blown in the air inlet cavity 1231 by the air conditioning assembly 13 to dissipate heat of the battery in the middle part, and simultaneously flows to the air outlet cavities 1232 on the two sides through these air holes 1234, to dissipate heat of the batteries on the two sides. In specific implementation, the air holes 1234 can be distributed on the two sides of the air inlet cavity 1231. In a distance from the air inlet 1233 of the air inlet cavity 1231 to the air outlets 1235 of the air outlet cavities 1232 on the two sides, areas of the air holes increase from small to large, and spacings between the air holes gradually decreases. This is arranged in such a manner because an air volume is the largest at the air inlet 1233 of the air inlet cavity 1231. Therefore, at a position close to the air inlet 1233, the air holes on the two sides of the air inlet cavity 1231 are provided in a small size, to prevent a large amount of cold air from directly flowing into the air outlet cavities 1232 on the two sides, reducing a temperature of a battery surface close to the air inlet 1233 to an extremely low level. This causes the cold air to flow toward the air outlets 1235. When the temperature of the airflow is high, heat of the batteries close to the air outlets 1235 cannot be fully dissipated. There is a large temperature difference between the temperature of the battery surface at the air inlet 1233 and battery surfaces at the air outlets 1235. Based on this, uniformity of heat dissipation of the cells 121 in the entire battery assembly 120 can be improved. The spacings between the air holes 1234 are set based on the same reason.
In some implementations, a volume of the air inlet cavity 1231 accounts for one third to one half of a volume of the cavity inside the housing. A reason of the arrangement is to control an area of the air inlet 1233, increase a flow rate of the air blown in, reduce heat conduction between the battery and the cold air at the air inlet 1233, reduce a temperature of the cold air close to the air outlets 1235 as much as possible, and increase uniformity of heat dissipation of the battery.
In some implementations, a heat dissipation air duct 1211 extending in a run-through manner is provided in at least one bottom plate 1210, and the heat dissipation air duct 1211 extends in a direction from the air inlet 1233 to the air outlets 1235. In this way, when an end portion of the cell 121 is supported on the bottom plate 1210, an end portion of the battery can also dissipate heat through the heat dissipation air duct in the bottom plate 1210, thereby further improving the uniformity of the heat dissipation of the battery.
In some implementations, the battery support further includes two baffles 1240, and the two baffles 1240 are respectively arranged on the two bottom plates 1210 and are configured to stop two ends of the cell 121 in a length direction. Specifically, a width of the baffle 1240 may be less than a width of the corresponding bottom plate 1210, and the baffle 1240 may be stacked and fixed on an upper side of the corresponding bottom plate 1210. An outer side of a width direction of the baffle 1240 may be substantially flush with an outer side of the bottom plate 1210, and an inner side of the width direction of the baffle 1240 and the bottom plate 1210 jointly form a stop step. When the end portion of the cell 121 is supported on the corresponding bottom plate 1210, the end portion is stopped and positioned by the stop step.
In some implementations, among the multiple cells 121, gaps are preset between at least some of the adjacent cells 121, and the gaps are filled with isolation medium layers. In specific implementation, the isolation medium layers can be made of insulating and heat-insulating materials, which can reduce impact of transportation vibration and battery expansion on the battery assembly 1, and can also prevent heat propagation between the cells, thereby reducing a risk of structural damage to the battery assembly and thermal runaway, and can further play a role of insulation. The isolation medium layers 123 may partially fill corresponding gaps. For example, the isolation medium layers may include a limiting part and an isolation part. A thickness of the limiting part may be substantially the same as a distance of the gap, and is used to limit a position between adjacent cells 121. A thickness of the isolation part is less than the distance of the gap, thereby retaining some gaps between the adjacent cells 121, and reducing the impact of the transportation vibration and the battery expansion on the battery assembly 1.
In some implementations, a buffer layer is arranged between at least one end plate 1220 and the adjacent cells 121. The buffer layer can be made of foam. The foam is arranged on the end plate 1220, which may be used to buffer an expansion force generated by the cell 121 during use. In addition, because the buffer layer 124 can be elastically expanded and contracted, the buffer layer 124 can be used to offset accumulation of dimensional tolerances in assembly.
In the description of this specification, description of reference terms such as “a specific embodiment” or “a specific example”, means including specific features, structures, materials, or features described in the embodiment or example in at least one embodiment or example of the present disclosure. In this specification, schematic descriptions of the foregoing terms do not necessarily point at a same embodiment or example.
Although the embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described, a person skilled in the art can understand that the above implementations cannot be construed to limit the present invention, and changes, alternatives, and modifications can be made in the embodiments without departing from the principle and the purpose of the present invention, and the scope of the present invention is as defined by the appended claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 202210837783.3 | Jul 2022 | CN | national |
This application is a bypass continuation of PCT International Application No. PCT/CN2023/106492, filed on Jul. 10, 2023, which claims priority to Chinese Patent Application No. 202210837783.3, filed on Jul. 15, 2022 and entitled “HEAT DISSIPATION AIR DEFLECTOR, BATTERY SUPPORT, BATTERY ASSEMBLY, BATTERY PACK, ENERGY STORAGE BATTERY CABINET, AND ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM”, which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | PCT/CN2023/106492 | Jul 2023 | WO |
| Child | 19020141 | US |
