Battery pack of excellent cooling efficiency

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9312579-B2
Application number	US-201313863134-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Apr 15, 2013
Priority date	Nov 18, 2010
Publication date	Apr 12, 2016
Grant date	Apr 12, 2016

Abstract

Disclosed is a battery pack including a plurality of battery cells or unit modules, wherein the battery pack is provided at an upper and lower part thereof with a coolant inlet port and a coolant outlet port, through which a coolant to cool the battery cells or the unit modules, i.e. unit cells, flows from one side to the other side of the battery module in a direction perpendicular to the stacked direction of the unit cells, the battery pack case is further provided with a flow space (‘coolant introduction part’) extending from the coolant inlet port to the battery module and another flow space (‘coolant discharge part’) extending from the battery module to the coolant outlet port, and the coolant outlet port is bent in a lateral direction at an angle of at least 30 degrees to a flow direction of the coolant introduced through the coolant inlet port.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A battery pack comprising a plurality of battery cells or unit modules, each of which has two or more battery cells mounted therein, mounted in a battery pack case such that the battery cells or the unit modules are stacked in an upright or upside-down fashion, wherein
the battery pack case is provided at an upper part and a lower part thereof with a coolant inlet port and a coolant outlet port, through which a coolant to cool the battery cells or the unit modules flows from one side to the other side of the battery module in a direction perpendicular to the stacked direction of the battery cells or the unit modules,
the battery pack case is further provided with a coolant introduction part extending from the coolant inlet port to the battery module and a coolant discharge part extending from the battery module to the coolant outlet port, and
the coolant outlet port is bent in a lateral direction at an angle of 70 to 110 degrees to a flow direction of the coolant introduced through the coolant inlet port.

2. The battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein the coolant outlet port is formed in a lateral direction at an angle of 90 degrees to a flow direction of the coolant introduced through the coolant inlet port.

3. The battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein an upper end inside of the coolant introduction part has an inclined plane inclined with respect to a top of the stacked battery cells or unit modules such that the coolant introduction part is widened from an end of the battery pack case opposite to the coolant inlet port to the coolant inlet port.

4. The battery pack according to claim 3 , wherein the inclined plane has an inclination angle of 3 to 8 degrees.

5. The battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein the coolant inlet port has a width equivalent to 5 to 25% a length of the battery pack case corresponding to a length of the stacked battery cells or unit modules.

6. The battery pack according to claim 3 , wherein the end of the battery pack case opposite to the coolant inlet port is spaced apart from the top of the stacked battery cells or unit modules by a height equivalent to 10% or less a height of the stacked battery cells or unit modules.

7. The battery pack according to claim 6 , wherein the end of the battery pack case opposite to the coolant inlet port is spaced apart from the top of the stacked battery cells or unit modules by a height of 1 to 10 mm.

8. The battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein the battery pack case is configured such that a length of the battery pack case in the stacked direction of the battery cells or unit modules is relatively greater than that of the battery pack case in a lateral direction of each of the battery cells or unit modules perpendicular to the stacked direction of the battery cells or unit modules.

9. The battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein the coolant discharge part has a uniform height with respect to a bottom of the stacked battery cells or unit modules.

10. The battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein the coolant inlet port or the coolant outlet port has a fan mounted therein to drive the coolant, introduced through the coolant inlet port, to the coolant outlet port after the coolant passes through the battery module.

11. The battery pack according to claim 1 , wherein each of the unit modules is configured to have a structure comprising two or more battery cells, electrode terminals of which are connected in series to each other, and a pair of sheathing members coupled to cover outsides of the battery cells excluding the electrode terminals of the battery cells.

12. The battery pack according to claim 10 , wherein each of the unit modules is configured to have a structure in which two battery cells are mounted in a sheathing member made of a metallic material.

13. A vehicle comprising a battery pack according to claim 1 as a power source.

14. The vehicle according to claim 13 , wherein the vehicle is an electric vehicle, a hybrid electric vehicle, or a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle.

Assignees

• Lg Chemical Ltd

Inventors

• Jeong Sangyoon
• Chung Chae Ho
• Yoon Jong Moon

Classifications

• H01M2220/20

  Batteries in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane · CPC title

• B60L58/26

  by cooling · CPC title

• B60L53/00

  Methods of charging batteries, specially adapted for electric vehicles; Charging stations or on-board charging equipment therefor; Exchange of energy storage elements in electric vehicles · CPC title

• H01M10/625

  Vehicles · CPC title

• H01M10/613 Primary

  Cooling or keeping cold · CPC title