US-12620669-B2 - Battery module and battery pack including the same

US12620669B2US 12620669 B2US12620669 B2US 12620669B2US-12620669-B2

Abstract

A battery module according to embodiments of the present disclosure includes: a battery cell stack in which a plurality of battery cells are stacked, a module frame that is formed into a bowl type of a bottom surface and front, rear, left and right surfaces and houses the battery cell stack; and an upper plate that covers the upper side of the battery cell stack and is coupled to the module frame, wherein the module frame comprises a bottom part, front and rear plates, and left and right plates, wherein the bottom part, the front and rear plates, and the left and right plates are integrally formed, and wherein a recessed part is formed at a portion where a bottom edge connected to the front and rear plates meet with a bottom edge connected to the left and right plates.

Inventors

Young In Kim
Gi Hwan KWON
Jaehyun Bae

Assignees

LG ENERGY SOLUTION, LTD.

Dates

Publication Date: 20260505
Application Date: 20210511
Priority Date: 20200520

Claims (9)

1 . A battery module comprising: a battery cell stack in which a plurality of battery cells are stacked; a module frame that is formed into a bowl shape having a bottom part and front, rear, left, and right plates, the module frame housing the battery cell stack therein, the bottom part and the front, rear, left, and right plates being portions of a single unitary plate that are integrally formed; and an upper plate that covers the upper side of the battery cell stack and is coupled to the module frame, wherein recessed parts are formed by the module frame at portions where side edges of the front and rear plates confront corresponding side edges of the left and right plates, and wherein a module mounting part is disposed in each of the recessed parts, sidewalls of each module mounting part forming part of an outside surface of the module frame, the module mounting parts being configured to secure the battery module to a battery pack, the module mounting parts each having an opening extending therein that is not covered by the upper plate.
2 . The battery module of claim 1 , wherein the module mounting parts and respective adjacent ones of the front, rear, left, and right plates of the module frame are coupled to one another by welding.
3 . The battery module of claim 1 , wherein the side edges of the front and rear plates and the corresponding side edges of the left and right plates are spaced apart from each other.
4 . The battery module of claim 1 , wherein side surfaces of the module mounting parts, the front and rear plates, and the left and right plates of the module frame together form one continuous surface.
5 . A battery pack comprising the battery module of claim 1 .
6 . A method for manufacturing a battery module, the method comprising: manufacturing a module frame integrally formed of a bottom part and front, rear, left, and right plates that are portions of a single unitary plate, side edges of the front and rear plates and corresponding side edges of the left and right plates being spaced apart from each other, the module frame being bent into a bowl shape; weld-coupling module mounting parts between the side edges of the front and rear plates and the corresponding side edges of the left and right plates of the module frame, such that sidewalls of each module mounting part forms part of an outside surface of the module frame, the module mounting parts being configured to secure the battery module to a battery pack; inserting a battery cell stack into the module frame; and coupling an upper plate to an upper opening of the module frame, wherein the module mounting parts each have an opening extending therein that is not covered by the upper plate.
7 . The method of claim 6 , further comprising coupling a busbar frame to front and rear surfaces of the battery cell stack, before the inserting of the battery cell stack into the module frame.
8 . The method of claim 7 , further comprising coupling an insulating cover to an outside of the busbar frame, after the coupling of the busbar frame to the front and rear surfaces of the battery cell stack.
9 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the coupling of the upper plate to the upper opening of the module frame, is performed after inserting the battery cell stack into the module frame.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS The present application is a national stage entry under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/KR2021/005905, filed on May 11, 2021, published in Korean, which claims priority from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2020-0060514, filed on May 20, 2020, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties. TECHNICAL FIELD Background Art A secondary battery has attracted much attention as an energy source in various products such as a mobile device and an electric vehicle. The secondary battery is a potent energy resource that can replace the use of existing products using fossil fuels, and is in the spotlight as an environment-friendly energy source because it does not generate by-products due to energy use. Recently, along with a continuous rise of the necessity for a large-capacity secondary battery structure, including the utilization of the secondary battery as an energy storage source, there is a growing demand for a battery pack of a multi-module structure which is an assembly of battery modules in which a plurality of secondary batteries are connected in series/parallel. Meanwhile, when a plurality of battery cells are connected in series/parallel to configure a battery pack, a method of configuring a battery module composed of at least one battery cell and then adding other components to at least one battery module to configure a battery pack is common. The battery module may include a battery cell stack in which a plurality of battery cells are stacked, and a module frame for housing the battery cell stack. FIG. 1 is an exploded perspective view of a conventional battery module. Referring to FIG. 1, the conventional battery module includes a battery cell stack 10 in which a plurality of battery cells are stacked, a module frame 20 for housing the battery cell stack 10, and an upper plate 30 for covering the upper surface of the battery cell stack 10, and end plates 40 for covering the front and rear surfaces of the battery cell stack 10. The module frame 20 for housing the battery cell stack 10 was formed in the form of a U-shaped frame 20 on the bottom surface and both side surfaces to cover the bottom surface and both side surfaces of the battery cell stack, and the end plates 40 was formed so as to cover the front and rear surfaces of the battery cell stack by welding the end plate 40 to the front and rear edges of the U-shaped frame 20, as shown in FIG. 1. At this time, the module mounting parts 41 formed on both sides of the end plate 40 are required to secure the battery module to the battery pack, and in order to easily express the shape of the module mounting part 41 on the end plate 40, the end plate 40 must be separately manufactured by a casting method, but the material of the end plate 40, which is a casting, is different from the U-shaped frame 20, which is a plate material, so that defects between dissimilar metals may occur during welding between the end plate 40 and the U-shaped frame 20. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Technical Problem It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a battery module having improved weldability, and a battery pack including the same. The objects of the present disclosure are not limited to the aforementioned objects, and other objects which are not described herein should be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the following detailed description. Technical Solution In order to achieve the above object, one embodiment of the present disclosure provides a battery module comprising: a battery cell stack in which a plurality of battery cells are stacked, a module frame that is formed into a bowl type of a bottom surface and front, rear, left and right surfaces and houses the battery cell stack; and an upper plate that covers the upper side of the battery cell stack and is coupled to the module frame, wherein the module frame comprises a bottom part, front and rear plates, and left and right plates, wherein the bottom part, the front and rear plates, and the left and right plates are integrally formed, and wherein a recessed part is formed at a portion where a bottom edge connected to the front and rear plates meet with a bottom edge connected to the left and right plates. A module mounting part may be formed in the recessed part. The module mounting part and the front, rear, left and right plates of the module frame may be coupled by welding. The side edges of the front and rear plates and the side edges of the left and right plates may be formed so as to be separated from each other. The side surface of the module mounting part, the front and rear plates and the left and right plates of the module frame may be formed so as to be connected to one surface. Another embodiment of the present disclosure provides a method for manufacturing a battery module, the method comprising: a step of manufacturing a module frame formed of a bottom surface and fron