WO2024251262A1 - Battery case and battery pack - Google Patents

Abstract

A battery case and a battery pack, relating to the technical field of batteries. The battery case comprises a case body (100), cushioning support members (200), and a filler (400). The case body (100) is provided with a gas discharging chamber (101). The cushioning support members (200) are arranged in the gas discharging chamber (101). Each cushioning support member (200) is provided with an accommodating inner cavity (201). The filler (400) is arranged in the accommodating inner cavity (201). Each cushioning support member (200) is configured to release the filler (400) when the cushioning support member (200) is broken, so as to cool the flue gas in the gas discharging chamber (101) or extinguish a fire, so that the gas discharged from a battery pack can be cooled and the effect of suppressing an open flame can be achieved.

Description

Battery box and battery pack

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This disclosure claims the priority of Chinese patent application No. 2023214737959, filed with the Chinese Patent Office on June 9, 2023, and entitled “Battery Case and Battery Pack”, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this disclosure.

Technical Field

The present disclosure relates to the field of battery technology, and in particular to a battery box and a battery pack.

Background Art

As battery products continue to develop in the direction of high nickel and large capacity, thermal safety issues are becoming increasingly prominent. Battery shells usually burn over a large area without constraints, and the direction of uncontrolled high-temperature gas exhaust becomes increasingly uncontrollable, posing a huge threat to the thermal safety of surrounding batteries in the battery pack. At the same time, the risk of high-voltage short circuits or arcing caused by the eruption of high-temperature gases and particles is also greatly increased.

The prior art cannot solve the problem of further cooling of the exhaust gas and the resulting open flame.

Summary of the invention

The present disclosure provides a battery box and a battery pack, which can cool the exhaust gas from the battery pack and can achieve the effect of suppressing open flames.

The embodiments of the present disclosure may be implemented as follows:

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present disclosure provides a battery box, comprising:

A box body, wherein the box body is provided with an exhaust chamber;

A buffer support member, the buffer support member is disposed in the exhaust chamber, the buffer support member has an accommodating inner cavity; and

A filler, the filler being arranged in the accommodating inner cavity;

Wherein, the buffer support is configured to release the filler in case of rupture to cool down the smoke in the exhaust chamber or extinguish the fire.

In an optional embodiment, there are multiple pressure relief grooves.

In an optional embodiment, the box body includes a box guard plate and a box shell, the box shell and the box guard plate are connected, and the box shell and the box guard plate jointly define the exhaust chamber, and the buffer support member abuts between the box shell and the box guard plate.

In an optional embodiment, the box shell is provided with a pressure relief channel and a pressure relief port, and the exhaust chamber, the pressure relief channel and the pressure relief port are connected in sequence.

In an optional embodiment, a portion of the housing shell protrudes toward the exhaust chamber to form a pressure relief groove.

In an optional embodiment, the battery box further includes a filter plate, the filter plate is disposed in the exhaust chamber, and a first filter hole is provided on the filter plate.

In an optional embodiment, a second filter hole is further provided on the filter plate, and an inner diameter of the first filter hole is smaller than an inner diameter of the second filter hole.

In an optional embodiment, there are multiple buffer support members, and the multiple buffer support members are distributed in an array.

In an optional embodiment, the ratio of the volume of the accommodating inner cavity to the volume of the buffer support member is less than three quarters.

In an optional embodiment, the ratio of the volume of the accommodating inner cavity to the volume of the buffer support member is one-half.

In an optional embodiment, there may be multiple pressure relief ports.

In an optional embodiment, the filter plate is provided with a plurality of the first filter holes, and/or the number of the second filter holes is plural.

In an optional embodiment, the number of the filter plates is multiple, some of the filter plates are arranged in a straight line to form a first column of filter plates, and another part of the filter plates are arranged in a straight line to form a second column of filter plates, and the first column of filter plates and the second column of filter plates are distributed at intervals.

In an optional embodiment, a pressure relief hole is provided on the box shell, the pressure relief hole is a through hole, a pressure relief plate is provided on the pressure relief hole, the pressure relief plate covers the pressure relief hole, and the pressure relief plate has a weak area.

In an optional embodiment, the filler is a phase change filler.

In an optional embodiment, the filler is a fire extinguishing filler.

In a second aspect, a battery pack is provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure, comprising a battery module and a battery case as described in any one of the aforementioned embodiments, wherein the battery module is disposed in the battery case.

In an optional embodiment, part of the box shell protrudes toward the exhaust chamber to form a pressure relief groove, and the battery cells in the battery module of the battery pack are arranged on the box shell, and the area of the side of the battery cells in contact with the box shell is larger than the opening area of the notch of the pressure relief groove.

The battery box and battery pack of the embodiments of the present disclosure have the following beneficial effects, for example:

The present disclosure provides a battery case, including a case body, a buffer support and a filler, wherein the case body is provided with an exhaust chamber, the buffer support is arranged in the exhaust chamber, the buffer support has a containing inner cavity, and the filler is arranged in the containing inner cavity; wherein the buffer support is configured to release the filler in case of rupture, so as to cool down or extinguish the smoke in the exhaust chamber. It can be seen that by releasing the filler in case of rupture of the buffer support, the exhaust gas of the battery pack can be cooled and the effect of suppressing open flames can be achieved.

The present disclosure provides a battery pack, which includes a battery module and the above-mentioned battery case, wherein the battery module is arranged in the battery case, and the battery pack has all the functions of the above-mentioned battery case.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present disclosure, the drawings required for use in the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. It should be understood that the following drawings only show certain embodiments of the present disclosure and therefore should not be regarded as limiting the scope. For ordinary technicians in this field, other related drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work.

FIG1 is a cross-sectional view of a battery box provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG2 is an exploded view of the battery box in FIG1 ;

FIG3 is a schematic diagram of a filter plate provided in an embodiment of the present disclosure;

FIG. 4 is an enlarged view of the battery case A in FIG. 1 .

Icons: 100-box body; 101-exhaust chamber; 110-box guard plate; 120-box shell; 121-pressure relief channel; 122-pressure relief port; 123-pressure relief groove; 200-buffer support; 201-containing inner cavity; 300-filter plate; 301-first filter hole; 302-second filter hole; 400-filler.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to make the purpose, technical solutions and advantages of the embodiments of the present disclosure clearer, the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present disclosure will be clearly and completely described below in conjunction with the drawings in the embodiments of the present disclosure. Obviously, the described embodiments are part of the embodiments of the present disclosure, rather than all the embodiments. The components of the embodiments of the present disclosure described and shown in the drawings here can be arranged and designed in various different configurations.

Therefore, the following detailed description of the embodiments of the present disclosure provided in the accompanying drawings is not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure claimed for protection, but merely represents selected embodiments of the present disclosure. Based on the embodiments in the present disclosure, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary technicians in the field without creative work are within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

It should be noted that similar reference numerals and letters denote similar items in the following drawings, and therefore, once an item is defined in one drawing, further definition and explanation thereof is not required in subsequent drawings.

In the description of the present disclosure, it should be noted that if the terms "upper", "lower", "inside", "outside", etc. appear, the orientation or position relationship indicated is based on the orientation or position relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, or is the orientation or position relationship in which the utility model product is usually placed when used. It is only for the convenience of describing the present disclosure and simplifying the description, and does not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation on the present disclosure.

In addition, the terms “first”, “second”, etc., if used, are merely used to distinguish between the descriptions and should not be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.

It should be noted that, in the absence of conflict, the features in the embodiments of the present disclosure may be combined with each other.

As mentioned in the background technology, as battery products continue to develop in the direction of high nickel and large capacity, thermal safety issues have become increasingly prominent. The extremely large amount of heat and gas generated when high nickel batteries lose control makes it impossible for conventional battery explosion-proof valve designs to play a directional exhaust role. The battery shell usually burns over a large area without constraints. The exhaust direction of uncontrolled high-temperature gas becomes increasingly uncontrollable, posing a huge threat to the thermal safety of surrounding batteries in the battery pack. The risk of high-voltage short circuit or arcing caused by the eruption of high-temperature gas and particles is also greatly increased.

In the prior art, in response to the above problems, the design concept of explosion removal at the bottom of the out-of-control battery and thermal-electric separation has been proposed, that is, by separating the smoke from the electrical connection components and even the battery area, insulation failure and high-voltage arcing problems can be avoided. However, on the basis of thermal-electric separation, the method of discharging the gas from the bottom isolation plate or cold plate of the battery cannot avoid the thermal shock of the high-temperature gas on the adjacent batteries, and cannot solve the problem of further cooling of the exhaust gas and the open flame of the explosion-proof valve caused by the high-temperature gas and particles.

In view of this, please refer to Figures 1 to 4. The battery case and battery pack provided in the embodiments of the present disclosure can solve this problem, which will be described in detail below.

The present disclosure provides a battery pack, which includes a battery module and a battery case, wherein the battery module is arranged in the battery case.

Specifically, the battery case includes a case body 100 , a buffer support 200 and a filler. The case body 100 is provided with an exhaust chamber 101 , the buffer support 200 is arranged in the exhaust chamber 101 , the buffer support 200 has an accommodating inner cavity 201 , and the filler 400 is arranged in the accommodating inner cavity 201 .

The buffer support 200 is configured to release the filler 400 when it is broken, so as to cool down or extinguish the smoke in the exhaust chamber 101. It can be seen that in a high temperature environment, the buffer support 200 is broken. Releasing the filler 400 can cool the exhaust gas from the battery pack and suppress open flames.

In order to achieve the effect of cooling the exhaust gas or extinguishing the fire, in this embodiment, the filler 400 can be a phase change filler, such as an organic, inorganic, solid or liquid phase change material, or it can be a fire extinguishing filler, such as a filler made of a fire extinguishing material, such as perfluorohexanone, a fluorinating agent, etc.

In this embodiment, the box body 100 includes a box guard plate 110 and a box shell 120. The box shell 120 can be understood as a lower box. Here, the lower box shown in Figure 2 is a partial structure of the lower box, that is, the box bottom plate of the lower box and the side beam with a cavity, and the inner wall of the cavity defines a pressure relief channel 121 (described in detail below).

The bottom plate of the box body is a bottom cold plate, which can dissipate heat for the battery module. The box body guard plate 110 can be understood as a bottom guard plate. The box body shell 120 serves to separate the battery module and the exhaust chamber 101. At the same time, the box body bottom plate of the box body shell 120 can carry the battery module. The box body shell 120 and the box body guard plate 110 are connected, and the box body shell 120 and the box body guard plate 110 jointly define the exhaust chamber 101.

The buffer support member 200 abuts between the box shell 120 and the box guard plate 110 . There are multiple buffer support members 200 , and the multiple buffer support members 200 are distributed in an array.

Of course, the box shell 120 may also be a box cover, or the box shell 120 includes both the box cover and the lower box. Here, the type of the box shell 120 is not limited.

In order to ensure the supporting and buffering function of the buffer support 200, the ratio of the volume of the accommodating inner cavity 201 to the volume of the buffer support 200 is less than three quarters, so that the buffer support 200 has a certain wall thickness. For example, the ratio of the volume of the accommodating inner cavity to the volume of the buffer support 200 can be one half.

It should be noted that the buffer support member 200 is generally supported by a foamed polymer or a silicone-type support, and is waterproof and resistant to low temperatures. In the present embodiment, the buffer support member 200 is a rectangular parallelepiped structure, and the accommodating inner cavity 201 may also be a rectangular inner cavity.

In order to facilitate the gas in the exhaust chamber 101 to achieve pressure relief of the battery pack, the box shell 120 is provided with a pressure relief channel 121 and a pressure relief port 122, and the exhaust chamber 101, the pressure relief channel 121 and the pressure relief port 122 are connected in sequence.

In order to ensure the pressure relief rate, there may be a plurality of pressure relief ports 122 , and the shape of the pressure relief ports 122 is a circular pressure relief port 122 .

In order to filter the high-temperature shell and prevent the high-temperature particles from directly being discharged and encountering air to cause open flames, the battery box also includes a filter plate 300, which is arranged in the exhaust chamber 101. The filter plate 300 is provided with a first filter hole 301, and the first filter hole 301 is configured to filter the high-temperature particles in the exhaust chamber 101.

In order to improve the filtering effect, a plurality of first filtering holes 301 are provided on the filter plate 300. Large high-temperature particles will completely block the first filter hole 301 on the filter plate 300. On the one hand, it also has a certain high-temperature small particle filtering effect. A second filter hole 302 is also provided on the filter plate 300. The inner diameter of the first filter hole 301 is smaller than the inner diameter of the second filter hole 302. In this way, the second filter hole 302 can avoid the situation where the first filter hole 301 is blocked and the high-temperature particles cannot be filtered. Among them, the number of the second filter holes 302 is also multiple.

The filter plate 300 also uses filter holes of different sizes, which, on the one hand, prevent larger high-temperature particles from completely blocking the first filter hole 301, and on the other hand, have a certain high-temperature small particle filtering effect to prevent high-temperature particles from directly discharging and encountering air to cause open flames.

It should be noted that the high-temperature flue gas in the exhaust chamber 101 can pass through the filter plate 300 and then enter the pressure relief channel 121 and the pressure relief port 122 .

In this embodiment, there are multiple filter plates 300, some of the filter plates 300 are arranged in a straight line to form a first column of filter plates 300, and another part of the filter plates 300 are arranged in a straight line to form a second column of filter plates 300, and the first column of filter plates 300 and the second column of filter plates 300 are distributed at intervals.

In addition, in order to achieve directional exhaust of the battery pack, part of the shell of the box shell 120 protrudes toward the exhaust chamber 101 to form a pressure relief groove 123. The pressure relief groove 123 is a rectangular groove. The number of the pressure relief grooves 123 is multiple and distributed in an array. Of course, in other embodiments, the pressure relief groove 123 can also be a circular groove. Here, the shape of the pressure relief groove 123 is not limited.

Specifically, the battery cells in the battery module of the battery pack are arranged on the box shell 120, and the area of the side of the battery cell in contact with the box shell 120 is larger than the opening area of the notch of the pressure relief groove 123. That is to say, the side of the battery cell in contact with the box shell 120 can cover the notch of the pressure relief groove 123. Since the notch has a certain accommodating space, when other surfaces of the battery cell are constrained, part of the non-constrained surface can be reserved through the pressure relief groove 123, so that when the battery pack loses control and causes internal pressure to increase, high-temperature substances are discharged from the non-constrained surface of the battery cell, and the high-temperature substances break through the box shell 120, that is, the box shell 120 ruptures and the pressure relief groove 123 ruptures, and enters the exhaust chamber 101.

At the same time, it should be noted that a pressure relief hole can also be provided on the box shell 120, and the pressure relief hole is a through hole. A pressure relief plate (not shown) is provided on the pressure relief hole, and the pressure relief plate covers the pressure relief hole. The pressure relief plate has a weak area. The weak area here can be understood as an area where an annular groove is provided on the pressure relief plate. The annular groove can reduce the thickness of a part of the pressure relief plate, so that when the high-temperature material is discharged from the non-constrained surface of the battery cell, the weak area can be broken, so that the high-temperature material can enter the exhaust chamber 101 through the pressure relief hole. The pressure relief plate can be made of PET film (polyester substrate) or other plastic polymers, or it can be a hard plate body with a weak area, such as a mica board.

When the battery pack loses control and causes internal pressure to rise, high-temperature substances can still be discharged from the non-constrained surface of the battery cell. The substance breaks through the box shell 120 and the pressure relief plate, that is, the box shell 120 ruptures, and enters the exhaust chamber 101 .

In summary, the present disclosure provides a battery case, which includes a case body 100, a buffer support member 200 and a filler 400. The case body 100 is provided with an exhaust chamber 101, the buffer support member 200 is arranged in the exhaust chamber 101, the buffer support member 200 has an accommodating inner cavity 201, and the filler 400 is arranged in the accommodating inner cavity 201; wherein the buffer support member 200 is configured to release the filler 400 in the event of rupture, so as to cool down or extinguish the smoke in the exhaust chamber 101.

It can be seen that by releasing the filler 400 when the buffer support 200 is ruptured, the exhaust gas from the battery pack can be cooled and the open flame can be suppressed.

The battery case provided in this embodiment proposes an improvement plan for exhaust cooling at the bottom of the battery pack and reducing the risk of open flames. By making use of the waterproofness and low temperature resistance of the buffer support 200 in the bottom air duct, the buffer support 200 is changed to a hollow structure with a built-in phase change filler or a filler made of a fire extinguishing material. When the buffer support 200 is ruptured at high temperatures, the internal phase change filler or fire extinguishing material is exposed to enhance the cooling of the smoke in the exhaust chamber 101 and achieve the effect of suppressing open flames.

The filter plate 300 also uses filter holes of different sizes, which can prevent larger high-temperature particles from completely blocking the first filter hole 301, and also have a certain high-temperature small particle filtering effect to prevent high-temperature particles from igniting open flames when they encounter air after being directly discharged.

The present disclosure provides a battery pack, which includes a battery module and the above-mentioned battery case, the battery module is arranged in the battery case, and the battery pack has all the functions of the above-mentioned battery case.

The above is only a specific embodiment of the present disclosure, but the protection scope of the present disclosure is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions that can be easily thought of by a person skilled in the art within the technical scope disclosed in the present disclosure should be included in the protection scope of the present disclosure. Therefore, the protection scope of the present disclosure should be based on the protection scope of the claims.

Industrial Applicability

In summary, the present disclosure provides a battery case and a battery pack, which can cool the exhaust gas from the battery pack and suppress open flames by releasing the filler when the buffer support member is ruptured. The battery case proposes an improvement plan for cooling the exhaust gas at the bottom of the battery pack and reducing the risk of open flames. By making use of the waterproofness and low temperature resistance of the buffer support member in the bottom air duct, the buffer support member is changed into a hollow structure with a built-in phase change filler or a filler made of a fire extinguishing material. When the buffer support member is ruptured at high temperature, the internal phase change filler or fire extinguishing material is exposed. Dew is used to enhance the cooling of smoke in the exhaust chamber and achieve the effect of suppressing open flames.

Claims (19)

A battery box, characterized by comprising: A box body (100), wherein the box body (100) is provided with an exhaust chamber (101); A buffer support member (200), the buffer support member (200) being disposed in the exhaust chamber (101), the buffer support member (200) having an accommodating inner cavity (201); and A filler (400), the filler (400) being arranged in the accommodating inner cavity (201); Wherein, the buffer support (200) is configured to release the filler (400) in the event of rupture, so as to cool down the smoke in the exhaust chamber (101) or extinguish the fire. The battery box according to claim 1, characterized in that the ratio of the volume of the accommodating inner cavity (201) to the volume of the buffer support (200) is less than three quarters. The battery case according to claim 2, characterized in that the ratio of the volume of the accommodating inner cavity (201) to the volume of the buffer support (200) is one half. The battery case according to any one of claims 1 to 3 is characterized in that the case body (100) includes a case guard plate (110) and a case shell (120), the case shell (120) and the case guard plate (110) are connected, and the case shell (120) and the case guard plate (110) jointly define the exhaust chamber (101), and the buffer support (200) abuts between the case shell (120) and the case guard plate (110). The battery case according to claim 4, characterized in that the case shell (120) is provided with a pressure relief channel (121) and a pressure relief port (122), and the exhaust chamber (101), the pressure relief channel (121) and the pressure relief port (122) are sequentially connected. The battery case according to claim 5, characterized in that the number of the pressure relief ports (122) can be multiple. The battery case according to any one of claims 4 to 6, characterized in that a portion of the case shell (120) protrudes toward the exhaust chamber (101) to form a pressure relief groove (123). The battery case according to claim 7, characterized in that the number of the pressure relief grooves (123) is multiple. The battery case according to claim 8, characterized in that the plurality of pressure relief grooves (123) are distributed in an array. The battery case according to any one of claims 1 to 9 is characterized in that the battery case further comprises a filter plate (300), the filter plate (300) is arranged in the exhaust chamber (101), and a first filter hole (301) is provided on the filter plate (300). The battery case according to claim 10, characterized in that a second filter hole (302) is further provided on the filter plate (300), and the inner diameter of the first filter hole (301) is smaller than the inner diameter of the second filter hole (302). The battery case according to claim 11, characterized in that the filter plate (300) is provided with a plurality of the first filter holes (301), and/or the number of the second filter holes (302) is multiple. The battery case according to any one of claims 10-12 is characterized in that the number of the filter plates (300) is multiple, some of the filter plates (300) are arranged in sequence along a straight line to form a first column of filter plates, and another part of the filter plates (300) are arranged in sequence along a straight line to form a second column of filter plates, and the first column of filter plates and the second column of filter plates are distributed at intervals. The battery box according to any one of claims 1 to 13, characterized in that there are multiple buffer support members (200), and the multiple buffer support members (200) are distributed in an array. The battery case according to any one of claims 1-6 is characterized in that a pressure relief hole is arranged on the case shell (120), the pressure relief hole is a through hole, a pressure relief plate is arranged on the pressure relief hole, the pressure relief plate covers the pressure relief hole, and the pressure relief plate has a weak area. The battery case according to any one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that the filler (400) is a phase change filler. The battery case according to any one of claims 1 to 15, characterized in that the filler (400) is a fire extinguishing filler. A battery pack, characterized in that it comprises a battery module and a battery case according to any one of claims 1 to 17, wherein the battery module is arranged in the battery case. The battery pack according to claim 18 is characterized in that a portion of the case shell (120) protrudes toward the exhaust chamber (101) to form a pressure relief groove (123), and a battery cell in a battery module of the battery pack is arranged on the case shell (120), and an area of a side of the battery cell in contact with the case shell (120) is larger than an opening area of the notch of the pressure relief groove (123).