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EP-4376173-B1 - BATTERY RACK AND ENERGY STORAGE SYSTEM COMPRISING THE SAME

EP4376173B1EP 4376173 B1EP4376173 B1EP 4376173B1EP-4376173-B1

Inventors

  • LEE, YOUNGSEOK
  • CHO, YOUNG BUM
  • GANG, IN JAE
  • YU, Sanghyun

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20230206

Claims (9)

  1. A battery rack (10) comprising: at least one battery pack (1000) and a rack frame (11) on which the battery pack (1000) is mounted, wherein the battery pack (1000) comprises: a battery cell stack (120) in which a plurality of battery cells (110) are stacked, a pack frame (200) that houses the battery cell stack (120), and a cooling member (500) that is located on the upper side of the battery cell stack (120) and contains a coolant water, wherein the cooling member (500) is connected to a water tank (2000) mounted on the rack frame (11), wherein at least one fragile part (600) that breaks or melts at a predetermined temperature or pressure or higher is formed on a lower plate (520) of the cooling member (500), wherein when the water level of the coolant water is lowered by opening the fragile part (600) of the cooling member (500), the coolant water is supplied from the water tank (2000) to the cooling member (500); wherein: the cooling member (500) comprises a cooling tube (540) that provides a flow path for coolant water and a cooling hose (550) attached to the cooling tube (540), the lower plate (520) is formed with a plurality of openings (521), and the cooling hose (550) is located so as to correspond to the openings (521), and the fragile part (600) is a portion of the cooling hose (550) where the openings (521) closed by the cooling hose (550) are located in the lower plate (520).
  2. The battery rack (10) of claim 1, wherein: the water tank (2000) is located on an upper part of the rack frame (11).
  3. The battery rack (10) of claim 1, wherein: the cooling member (500) comprises an inlet port (532) and an outlet port (534) for injecting coolant water into an internal space, the inlet port (532) and the outlet port (534) are connected to an external cooling system (60), and coolant water of the cooling member (500) is circulated through the inlet port (532) and the outlet port (534).
  4. The battery rack (10) of claim 3, wherein: the inlet port (532) is connected to the cooling system (60) through an inflow manifold (40), the outlet port (534) is connected to the cooling system (60) through a discharge manifold (20), and the water tank (2000) is connected to the discharge manifold (20).
  5. The battery rack (10) of claim 1, wherein: the battery pack (1000) is formed in a plurality of numbers, and the water tank (2000) is connected to each cooling member (500) included in the plurality of battery packs (1000).
  6. The battery rack (10) of claim 1, wherein: the lower plate (520) and the cooling tube (540) are connected by a strap-shaped fixing member (560).
  7. The battery rack (10) of claim 1, wherein: an upper plate (510) coupled to the lower plate (520) of the cooling member (500) comprises a bent part (514), a crest of the bent part (514) corresponds to the first part, and a trough of the bent part (514) corresponds to the second part.
  8. The battery rack (10) of claim 1, wherein: an upper plate (520) of the cooling member (500) is integrated with the pack frame (200).
  9. An energy storage system (1) comprising at least one battery rack (10) as set forth in claim 1.

Description

Cross Citation with Related Application(s) This application claims the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2022-0015920 filed on February 8, 2022 with the Korean Intellectual Property Office. The present disclosure relates to a battery rack and an energy storage system comprising the same, and more particularly, to a battery rack for preventing cascading thermal runaway and an energy storage system comprising the same. [BACKGROUND] In modern society, as portable devices such as a mobile phone, a notebook computer, a camcorder and a digital camera has been daily used, the development of technologies in the fields related to mobile devices as described above has been activated. In addition, chargeable/dischargeable secondary batteries are used as a power source for an electric vehicle (EV), a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (P-HEV) and the like, in an attempt to solve air pollution and the like caused by existing gasoline vehicles using fossil fuel. Therefore, the demand for development of the secondary battery is growing. Currently commercialized secondary batteries include a nickel cadmium battery, a nickel hydrogen battery, a nickel zinc battery, and a lithium secondary battery. Among them, the lithium secondary battery has come into the spotlight because it has advantages, for example, being freely charged and discharged, and having very low self-discharge rate and high energy density. Meanwhile, in the case of a secondary battery used for small-sized devices, two to three battery cells are used, but in the case of a secondary battery used for a medium- and large-sized device such as automobiles, a medium- or large-sized battery module or battery pack in which a large number of battery cells are electrically connected is used. Here, the battery pack is generally configured by first configuring a battery module including at least one battery cell and then adding other components to the at least one battery module, but this is not necessarily the case, and the battery cells can be mounted directly to the battery pack. Further, the battery pack may also constitute an energy storage system provided with battery racks including at least one or more such battery packs depending on various voltage, capacity requirements, and the like. Meanwhile, since the battery module or battery pack is preferably manufactured with as small a size and weight as possible, a prismatic battery, a pouch-type battery, or the like, which can be stacked with high integration and has a small weight relative to capacity, is mainly used. Meanwhile, battery cells mounted in battery packs can generate a large amount of heat in a charge and discharge process. If the temperature becomes higher than the proper temperature due to reasons such as overcharging, performance may deteriorate, and if the temperature rise is excessive, there may be a risk of an explosion or ignition. When ignition occurs in at least one battery pack among a plurality of battery packs included in the battery rack, flames and heat can propagate to adjacent battery packs and lead to additional ignition, which causes serious damages to property and huge damage to human life. In recent years, in order to prevent such a thermal runaway phenomenon, a method has been developed for suppressing a fire by injecting coolant water into the battery pack when a fire occurs. However, a rather large amount of coolant water is required to suppress thermal runaway, and thus, if the injected coolant water is insufficient, there is a problem that the fire suppressing effect is slightly reduced. Therefore, there is a need to find a method for providing a battery rack which can supply a sufficient amount of coolant water when at least one of the battery packs ignites, and thus prevent flames and heat from propagating to adjacent battery packs; and an energy storage system comprising the same. Document CN 212 542 547 U discusses a cooling and fire-fighting mixing system for an energy storage device. Document KR 2022 0001227 A discusses a battery module including a heat dissipation member having a through-hole formed therein so as to prevent the occurrence of a thermal runaway phenomenon by directly injecting water into a battery cell that has caught fire and a method of manufacturing the heat dissipation member. Document KR 2021 0009626 A relates to a battery rack and a power storage device including the same. Document AU 2020 282 883 A1 discusses a battery module having a structure in which a coolant introduced therein may smoothly move between unit modules adjacent to each other when water is injected into a battery module at which a thermal runaway phenomenon occurs. Document KR 2021 0054330 A1 relates to a battery pack that reduces the risk of secondary ignition or explosion. [DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION] [Technical Problem] It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a battery rack which can inject a sufficient amount of cool