US-12620662-B2 - Battery pack, vehicle, and energy storage system

US12620662B2US 12620662 B2US12620662 B2US 12620662B2US-12620662-B2

Abstract

The battery pack includes at least one battery module having a plurality of battery cells; a pack tray having a module mounting portion configured to mount one or more of the battery modules and extending in a horizontal direction, and a side cover portion extending upwardly from an outer periphery of the module mounting portion to cover a side of the battery module; and at least one side plate coupled to any one or more of the module mounting portion and the side cover portion, provided on one or both sides of the battery module, having a plurality of through-holes, and configured to block at least one surface of the battery module when the battery module is expanded.

Inventors

Chang-Hyeon YANG
Hae-Jin Kim
Byung-Do JANG

Assignees

LG ENERGY SOLUTION, LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20220127
Priority Date: 20210205

Claims (11)

1 . A battery pack comprising: at least one battery module having a plurality of battery cells; a pack tray having a module mounting portion configured to mount the at least one battery module and extending in a horizontal direction, and a side cover portion extending upwardly from an outer periphery of the module mounting portion to cover a side of the at least one battery module; and at least one side plate coupled to at least one of the module mounting portion and the side cover portion, provided on at least one side of the at least one battery module, having a plurality of through-holes, and configured to block at least one surface of the at least one battery module when the at least one battery module is expanded.
2 . The battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein the at least one battery module further comprises an upper cover extending in the horizontal direction to cover an upper portion of the at least one battery module and configured to be partially coupled to an upper end of the at least one side plate, and wherein a lower portion of the at least one side plate is coupled to the module mounting portion.
3 . The battery pack according to claim 2 , wherein a plurality of first fastening grooves and a plurality of first bolt holes formed at positions facing each other are formed in the at least one side plate and the upper cover, respectively.
4 . The battery pack according to claim 2 , wherein a lower end of the at least one side plate has a plurality of second fastening grooves inserted into a predetermined depth, and the module mounting portion has a plurality of second bolt holes formed at positions facing the plurality of second fastening grooves.
5 . The battery pack according to claim 2 , wherein a lower end of the at least one side plate has a plurality of fixing grooves extending upwardly a predetermined depth, and the module mounting portion has a plurality of fixing protrusions that extend into a respective one of the plurality of fixing grooves and are configured to prevent the at least one side plate from moving toward the at least one battery module.
6 . The battery pack according to claim 5 , wherein the plurality of fixing protrusions are configured such that the thickness thereof gradually increases in a direction extending away from the at least one battery module.
7 . The battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein the pack tray comprises a plurality of support protrusions respectively inserted into the plurality of through-holes formed in the at least one side plate and configured to support the at least one side plate toward the at least one battery module.
8 . The battery pack according to claim 7 , wherein each of the plurality of support protrusions gradually increases in thickness in a direction extending away from the at least one battery module.
9 . The battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein a cross section of each of the plurality of through holes has a honeycomb shape.
10 . A vehicle comprising at least one battery pack according to claim 1 .
11 . An energy storage system comprising at least one battery pack according to claim 1 .

Description

TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to a battery pack, a vehicle and an energy storage system, and more specifically, to a battery pack capable of suppressing swelling of a battery cell and effectively increasing durability. The present application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0017092 filed on Feb. 5, 2021 in the Republic of Korea, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference. BACKGROUND ART As the demand for portable electronic products such as laptops, video cameras, and mobile phones has rapidly increased in recent years and the development of electric vehicles, energy storage batteries, robots, and satellites has begun in earnest, research on high-performance secondary batteries capable of repeated charge/discharge has been actively conducted. Currently commercialized secondary batteries include nickel cadmium batteries, nickel hydride batteries, nickel zinc batteries, and lithium secondary batteries. Among them, lithium secondary batteries are in the spotlight because they have almost no memory effect compared to nickel-based secondary batteries, and thus have advantages of free charge/discharge, very low self-discharge rate, and high energy density. Such a lithium secondary battery mainly uses a lithium-based oxide and a carbon material as a positive electrode active material and a negative electrode active material, respectively. In addition, the lithium secondary battery includes an electrode assembly in which a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate coated with the positive electrode active material and the negative electrode active material, respectively are disposed with a separator interposed therebetween, and a casing, that is, a battery case, for sealing and accommodating the electrode assembly along with an electrolyte. Additionally, depending on the shape of a casing, lithium secondary batteries may be classified into a can-type secondary battery in which an electrode assembly is embedded in a metal can, and a pouch-type secondary battery in which an electrode assembly is embedded in a pouch of an aluminum laminate sheet. In particular, recently, moving means or moving devices that move by the rotational force of an electric motor operated by receiving power from a battery pack have been increasing. The demand for battery packs applied to such moving means and moving devices is also increasing. Since it is desirable to manufacture battery modules of medium and large sizes as small as possible in size and weight, a prismatic battery and a pouch-type secondary battery that may be charged with high integration and have a small weight to capacity are mainly used as battery cells for battery modules of medium and large sizes. FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing a state of a cell assembly having a plurality of pouch-type secondary batteries of the related art. Referring to FIG. 1, the pouch-type secondary battery 11 is easily applied to various types of storage spaces by virtue of its advantages such as small weight and low manufacturing cost by applying an aluminum laminate sheet or the like as an external case, and easy deformation of shape in that the external case is composed of a flexible material. In addition, the pouch-type secondary battery 11 may be provided with electrode leads 11a at both ends in the front-rear direction, respectively. Also, when forming the cell assembly 12 by stacking a plurality of pouch-type secondary batteries 11 in close contact with each other to manufacture a battery module, space utilization is high, and thus the battery module may have a high energy density (directivity) per volume. However, since such a battery module has pouch-type secondary batteries 11 capable of charge/discharge therein, a lot of heat is inevitably generated during the charge/discharge process of the battery module, and in the pouch-type secondary batteries 11 exposed to such high temperature, the electrolyte is partially vaporized or a side reaction occurs, so that a large amount of gas is generated therein. Thus, a swelling phenomenon that the volume of the pouch-type secondary batteries 11 expands occurs. FIGS. 2 and 3 are front views schematically showing the swelling (volume expansion) of a battery module accommodating a cell assembly of the related art therein. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 along with FIG. 1, when the above-described swelling occurs in the battery module 10 of the related art, the overall size of the cell assembly 12 configured by stacking the pouch-type secondary batteries 11 is expanded to press the inner surface of the module case 20 outward. Due to this pressing force, deformation such as a portion of the module case 20 protruding to the outside occurred. Moreover, as described above, when the module case 20 does not effectively block the volume expansion of the cell assembly 12, the swelling is not suppressed, and thus more gas is generated in the pouch-type secondary batteries