Electrochemical battery and method of operating the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10008753-B2
Application number	US-201615201732-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Jul 5, 2016
Priority date	Jul 8, 2015
Publication date	Jun 26, 2018
Grant date	Jun 26, 2018

Abstract

A electrochemical battery including: a battery module including one or more metal air cells which use oxygen gas as a positive electrode active material; an air supply configured to supply air to the battery module and to adjust an oxygen concentration in air supplied to the battery module; and a control unit configured to control an oxygen concentration adjusting operation of the air supply unit. Also a method of operating the electrochemical battery including: supplying air to a battery module using an air supply unit, the battery module including one or more metal air cells which use oxygen in air as a positive electrode active material; and controlling the air supply unit to adjust an oxygen concentration in the air supplied to the battery module.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An electrochemical battery comprising:
a battery module comprising one or more electrochemical cells;
an air supply unit configured to supply air to the battery module and to adjust an oxygen concentration in the air supplied to the battery module; and
a control unit configured to control an oxygen concentration adjusting operation of the air supply unit,
wherein the control unit is configured to control the air supply unit to variably adjust the oxygen concentration in the air supplied to the battery module, or
wherein the control unit is configured to maintain the oxygen concentration in air supplied to the battery module at a selected concentration, according to a state of the battery module, and
wherein the control unit is configured to control the air supply unit to constantly maintain the oxygen concentration in the air supplied to the battery module in a range of about 30 volume percent to less than about 100 volume percent, based on a total content of the air supplied to the battery module.

2. The electrochemical battery of claim 1 , wherein the air supply unit is configured to adjust the oxygen concentration in the air supplied to the battery module by adjusting an amount of nitrogen absorbed from the air, and
wherein the air supply unit is controlled by the control unit.

3. The electrochemical battery of claim 1 , wherein,
when the oxygen concentration is less than the selected concentration, the control unit is configured to control the air supply unit to increase the oxygen concentration in the air supplied to the battery module, and
when the oxygen concentration is greater than the selected concentration, the control unit is configured to control the air supply unit to decrease the oxygen concentration in the air supplied to the battery module.

4. The electrochemical battery of claim 1 , wherein the control unit is configured to control the air supply unit to constantly maintain the oxygen concentration in the air supplied to the battery module in a range of about 50 volume percent to about 70 volume percent, based on a total content of the air supplied to the battery module.

5. The electrochemical battery of claim 1 , further comprising a sensing unit configured to measure at least one parameter selected from an oxygen concentration in the battery module, a temperature in the battery module, a voltage of the battery module, a current output of the battery module, and a load resistance of a load to be connected to the battery module.

6. The electrochemical battery of claim 5 , wherein the control unit is configured to control the air supply unit to adjust the oxygen concentration in the air supplied to the battery module based on the at least one parameter measured by the sensing unit.

7. The electrochemical battery of claim 6 , wherein the control unit is configured to control the air supply unit to increase the oxygen concentration in the air supplied to the battery module when the voltage of the battery module is less than a selected voltage during a discharging operation of the battery module.

8. The electrochemical battery of claim 1 , wherein the air supply unit comprises:
an air suction unit configured to suction air from outside of the air supply unit;
a moisture removal unit configured to remove moisture from the suctioned air and provide moisture-removed air; and
an oxygen storage unit configured to store oxygen,
wherein the air supply unit is further configured to adjust the oxygen concentration in the air supplied to the battery module by mixing the oxygen from the oxygen storage unit with the moisture-removed air, and
wherein the air supply unit is controlled by the control unit.

9. The electrochemical battery of claim 1 , wherein the battery module comprises one or more metal air cells that use oxygen in air as a positive electrode active material, or one or more fuel cells that convert chemical energy of a fuel into electrical energy by an electrochemical reaction.

10. An electrochemical battery comprising,
a battery module comprising one or more electrochemical cells;
an air supply unit configured to supply air to the battery module and to adjust an oxygen concentration in the air supplied to the battery module; and
a control unit configured to control an oxygen concentration adjusting operation of the air supply unit,
wherein the air supply unit comprises:
an air suction unit configured to suction air from outside of the air supply unit; and
an oxygen generation unit configured to generate oxygen by separating oxygen from the suctioned air.

11. The electrochemical battery of claim 10 , wherein the oxygen generation unit is configured to filter oxygen via an adsorption/desorption method or via a membrane method.

12. The electrochemical battery of claim 11 , wherein the adsorption/desorption method is at least one selected from a pressure swing adsorption method, a thermal swing adsorption method, a pressure thermal swing adsorption method, and a vacuum swing adsorption method.

13. The electrochemical battery of claim 10 , wherein the oxygen generation unit comprises:
a first outlet port connected to the battery module and configured to supply the separated oxygen to the battery module; and
a second outlet port configured to exhaust a gas remaining after the oxygen is separated.

14. The electrochemical battery of claim 13 , wherein the air supply unit is configured to adjust the oxygen concentration in the air supplied to the battery module by refluxing a portion of the gas exhausted through the first outlet port or the second outlet port to the oxygen generation unit, and
wherein the air supply unit is controlled by the control unit.

15. The electrochemical battery of claim 13 , wherein the air supply unit further comprises an oxygen storage unit configured to store oxygen.

16. The electrochemical battery of claim 15 , wherein the air supply unit is configured to adjust the oxygen concentration in the air supplied to the battery module by supplying the oxygen from the oxygen storage unit to the first outlet port, and
wherein the air supply unit is controlled by the control unit.

17. The electrochemical battery of claim 10 , wherein the air supply unit further comprises a moisture removal unit configured to remove moisture from the suctioned air.

18. The electrochemical battery of claim 17 , wherein the control unit is configured to control the air supply unit to supply only moisture-removed air to the battery module by stopping an operation of the oxygen generation unit during charging of the battery module.

19. A method of operating an electrochemical battery, the method comprising:
supplying air to a battery module using an air supply unit, the battery module comprising one or more electrochemical cells; and
controlling the air supply unit to adjust an oxygen concentration in the air supplied to the battery module to operate the electrochemical battery,
wherein the air supply unit comprises an air suction unit configured to suction air from outside of the air supply unit and an oxygen generation unit configured to generate oxygen by separating oxygen from the suctioned air.

20. The method of claim 19 , wherein the air supply unit adjusts the oxygen concentration in the air supplied to the battery module by adjusting an amount of nitrogen absorbed from the air.

21. The method of claim 19 , wherein the air supply unit variably adjusts the oxygen concentration in air supplied to the battery module according to a

Assignees

• Samsung Electronics Co Ltd

Inventors

• Kwon Hyukjae
• Ko Jeongsik
• Lee Heungchan
• Im Dongmin

Classifications

• H01M8/04089

  of gaseous reactants · CPC title

• H01M12/06

  with one metallic and one gaseous electrode · CPC title

• H01M12/08 Primary

  composed of a half-cell of a fuel-cell type and a half-cell of the secondary-cell type · CPC title

• H01M8/04544

  Voltage · CPC title

• H01M8/0432

  Temperature; Ambient temperature · CPC title