WO2024255631A1 - High-capacity battery and end plate assemblies - Google Patents

Abstract

The present application relates to the field of batteries, and specifically to a high-capacity battery and end plate assemblies. The problem that a shared tubing assembly of an existing high-capacity battery is difficult to assemble is overcome. The high-capacity battery comprises a casing and a plurality of battery cells, wherein the plurality of battery cells are sequentially connected in parallel and are arranged in an inner cavity of the casing; the casing comprises a cylindrical body, which has two open ends, and two end plate assemblies; the bottom of the cylindrical body is provided with an electrolyte sharing cavity, which is in communication with an electrolyte area of an inner cavity of each battery cell; the top of the cylindrical body is provided with a gas cavity, which covers a gas port in the top of each battery cell; the top of the cylindrical body is provided with electrode-column avoidance holes, which enable electrode columns of the battery cells to protrude; and the two end plate assemblies are respectively fixed at the two open ends of the cylindrical body. In the present application, the electrolyte sharing cavity does not need to be connected in an inserted manner, and in a direction in which the battery cells are arranged, the problem of coaxial insertion connection does not need to be considered, such that requirements for machining precision and assembly precision are relatively low; moreover, no special tools are required, such that an assembly process is relatively simple, and thus batch production can be realized.

Description

A large capacity battery and end plate assembly Technical Field

The present application relates to the field of batteries, and specifically to a large-capacity battery and an end plate assembly.

Background Art

Currently, many single cells are connected in parallel or in series on the market to form large-capacity batteries (also called battery modules or battery packs).

Chinese patent CN219144456U discloses a large-capacity battery, the structure of which is shown in FIG1, including a battery pack body formed by a plurality of single cells connected in parallel and a shared pipe assembly located at the bottom of the battery pack body; the shared pipe assembly is used to connect the inner cavities of the plurality of single cells so that all the single cells in the battery pack are in one electrolyte system. The battery pack can enhance the uniformity of the electrolyte of each single cell in the battery pack through the shared pipe assembly, improve the cycle life, and can also replenish the electrolyte for the battery pack through the shared pipe assembly, thereby extending the service life of the battery pack and improving the safety of the battery pack.

However, this type of shared pipeline assembly is formed by directly sealing and plugging multiple sections of sub-pipelines 01 and intermediate connecting pipes 02 that are interference fit with each other; at this time, the multiple sections of sub-pipelines 01 are arranged one by one on the lower cover plate 03 of the single battery, and the sub-pipelines extend along the arrangement direction of the single battery, and are extruded integrally with the lower cover plate 03, and are connected to the opening of the lower cover plate 03.

During assembly, the two ends of the sub-pipeline 01 are used as connecting ends with the middle connecting tube 02 . When two single cells are connected, one end of the sub-pipeline on the two single cells is squeezed into the two ends of the middle connecting tube 02 .

The shared pipeline assembly requires that each sub-pipeline 01 and the intermediate connecting pipe 02 be coaxial during the plugging process to achieve effective connection. However, the coaxiality of each sub-pipeline and the intermediate connecting pipe 02 is difficult to ensure due to the following reasons:

1) The sub-pipeline and the lower cover are an integrated part. If the position of the sub-pipeline on the lower cover is slightly deviated, or the size of each sub-pipeline is slightly deviated, the coaxiality of each sub-pipeline will deviate when plugged in;

2) When the above-mentioned integrated part is welded to the cylinder, due to the difference in the welding process, the position of the sub-pipeline relative to the cylinder may be inconsistent, which may lead to deviation in the coaxiality of each sub-pipeline during plugging;

3) This solution requires the use of special tooling during plugging. Due to improper use of the tooling or problems with the operation of the construction personnel, the coaxiality of each sub-pipeline may deviate if it is not careful.

In addition, when plugging in, the deviation between the sub-pipelines will increase with the increase in the number of plug-ins, resulting in the coaxiality between the sub-pipelines being more difficult to ensure as the number of plug-ins increases; resulting in the assembly process, the yield rate decreases as the number of plug-ins increases.

In summary, since the sub-pipes of two adjacent single cells are difficult to be coaxial, this solution may cause the sub-pipes to be displaced relative to the lower cover plate, or the lower cover plate to be displaced relative to the cylinder during insertion, thereby causing damage to the battery.

Summary of the invention

The purpose of this application is to provide a large-capacity battery to overcome the problem that existing large-capacity batteries share pipeline components that are difficult to assemble.

In order to overcome the above technical problems, this application provides the following three specific solutions:

Option 1:

The scheme provides a large-capacity battery, including a shell and a plurality of single cells, wherein the plurality of single cells are connected in parallel in sequence and arranged in the inner cavity of the shell; the inner cavity of each single cell includes an electrolyte area and a gas area; the shell includes a cylinder with open ends at both ends and two end plate assemblies; an electrolyte sharing chamber is provided at the bottom of the cylinder, and the electrolyte sharing chamber is connected with the electrolyte area in the inner cavity of each single cell; a gas chamber is provided at the top of the cylinder, and the gas chamber covers the gas port at the top of each single cell; a pole avoidance hole is provided at the top of the cylinder to enable the pole of each single cell to extend; each single cell The pole extends out of the pole avoidance hole, and the cylinder area corresponding to the pole avoidance hole is fixedly sealed with the single battery shell; two end plate assemblies are respectively fixed on the two open ends of the cylinder, and are used to seal the open end of the gas chamber of the large-capacity battery, the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber and the open end of the cylinder; at least one end plate assembly includes an end plate body and an explosion relief mechanism; a gas channel is provided on the end plate body, and a first through hole is opened on the end plate body; the air inlet end of the gas channel is connected with the gas chamber of the large-capacity battery, and the air outlet end is connected with the first through hole; the explosion relief mechanism is sealed and fixed at the first through hole.

This solution places multiple single cells inside a shell with a shared electrolyte chamber at the bottom, and uses the shared electrolyte chamber to communicate with the inner cavities of each single cell located in the shell, so that the electrolyte of each single cell is shared to ensure the consistency of each single cell. That is, the electrolyte chambers of each single cell are connected so that the electrolytes of all single cells are in the same system, which reduces the differences between the electrolytes of each single cell, improves the consistency between each single cell to a certain extent, and thus improves the cycle life of large-capacity batteries to a certain extent.

In this solution, the electrolyte shared chamber does not need to be plugged in, and in the arrangement direction of the single battery, there is no need to consider the coaxial plugging problem, which has a great impact on the processing accuracy and installation. The assembly precision requirement is low; at the same time, no special tooling is required, and the assembly process is relatively simple, which greatly reduces the processing difficulty and processing cost of such large-capacity batteries with a shared system, and can achieve mass production;

In this solution, a gas chamber is set on the second cover plate, and the gas area in the inner cavity of each single cell is connected to the gas chamber, so that the gas paths of each single cell are connected, and the gases of all single cells are in the same environment to achieve gas balance, thereby reducing the differences between each single cell and improving the consistency between each single cell, thereby further improving the cycle life of large-capacity batteries.

The gas chamber of the present scheme can also directly cover the explosion venting part on the top of each single battery as an explosion venting tube. When the pressure in the inner cavity of any single battery is too high, the inner cavity gas or thermal runaway smoke breaks through the explosion venting part on each single battery and enters the gas chamber and is discharged from the gas chamber. Because each single battery has an explosion venting part, and the explosion venting part is located in the gas area of each single battery, the thermal runaway smoke breaks through the explosion venting part and enters the explosion venting tube. The pressure holding time is short and the safety is high.

In this solution, each single battery pole extends out of the top of the shell, which has a better heat dissipation effect than the structure where the pole is located inside the shell. In addition, when the pole extends out of the shell, if the battery temperature is too high, it is also convenient to use heat exchange equipment to timely remove the heat of the pole, which can ensure that such large-capacity batteries operate at the optimal temperature.

This solution makes it easy to install and has high sealing reliability by fixing the explosion relief mechanism to the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber with a larger area or the end plate area between the open end of the gas chamber and the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber. When the end plate is sealed and fixed to the open end of the cylinder, the first through hole is sealed by the explosion relief mechanism; the air inlet of the gas channel is connected to the gas chamber, and the air outlet of the gas channel is connected to the explosion relief mechanism through the first through hole.

In this solution, a first channel is provided at the bottom of the cylinder as an electrolyte sharing chamber, and the first channel is used to communicate with the electrolyte area of each single cell cavity in the shell. Compared with the structure using a hollow tube section as the electrolyte sharing chamber, there is no need to open an additional through hole. The first channel is directly connected to the electrolyte area of each single cell cavity through the second through hole, and the structure and processing are relatively simple.

The first channel and the cylinder can be an integral part. For example, the bottom of the cylinder can be raised away from the top of the cylinder by aluminum extrusion technology to form the first channel. The first channel can also be formed by integrally molded support ribs, which facilitates processing and has lower processing costs.

This solution provides heat dissipation fins at the bottom of the cylinder to improve the heat dissipation performance of large-capacity batteries.

In this solution, a fixing mechanism is added to the bottom of the cylinder to increase the size of the support surface of the bottom of the cylinder in the y direction (the width direction of the cylinder), so that the large-capacity battery can be placed stably; at the same time, a first hole for fixing the insulating support rod is opened in the fixing mechanism, and the insulating support rod is fixed to the cylinder by inserting the insulating support rod into the first hole, and the two ends of the insulating support rod extend out of the end surface of the cylinder, and the extended end is used as a support part fixed to the support frame of the energy storage box. When such large-capacity batteries are assembled into energy storage equipment, it is only necessary to fix the extended end to the support frame of the energy storage box, and the operation is simple and convenient.

In this solution, the first hole is set as a through hole, which can greatly increase the contact area between the support rod and the cylinder, thereby improving the support strength, support stability and support durability of the support rod for a large-capacity battery with such a cylinder.

This solution uses an aluminum extrusion process to integrally form a cylinder with a support block. Compared with the separate structure of the cylinder and the support block, the processing process is simple, the connection reliability between the support block and the bottom of the cylinder is high, and the structural sealing and stability are good.

In this solution, the first through hole is connected to the shared chamber of the large-capacity battery electrolyte. In this case, the first through hole also serves as the operating port of the package opening device and can also be used as the liquid injection port. Compared with separately opening the first through hole, the operating port of the package opening device or the liquid injection port on the end plate, the overall structural strength of the end plate is higher, the structure is simple, and it is easy to process.

The gas channel of this scheme can be a groove directly opened on the end plate, and can also be constructed with two fourth sub-end plates. At the same time, by adjusting the size of the fourth sub-end plate along the x-direction, all single cells can be clamped in the x-direction to improve the stability of each single cell in the inner cavity of the shell, and prevent each single cell from swelling, which may lead to the problem of reduced cycle performance of large-capacity batteries.

This solution can also introduce a fifth sub-end plate. By adding the fifth sub-end plate, on the one hand, the dimensional error of the two fourth sub-end plates in the x direction can be compensated, and the flatness of the entire end plate in the yz plane can be improved; on the other hand, by adjusting the size of the fifth sub-end plate along the x direction, all single cells can be clamped in the x direction, thereby improving the stability of each single cell in the inner cavity of the shell, and preventing each single cell from swelling, which may lead to a problem of reduced cycle performance of large-capacity batteries; on the third hand, the fifth end plate can be used to isolate the outermost single cell from direct contact with the thermal runaway flue gas in the gas channel, thereby avoiding the influence of the thermal runaway flue gas on the outermost single cell; on the fourth hand, compared with the structural form of the groove, the gas channel is relatively closed, which can reduce the possibility of thermal runaway flue gas diffusing in the shell, and has a better thermal runaway flue gas emission effect.

In this solution, the gap between the first end plate and the second end plate is directly used as a gas channel, so that the gas channel has a larger flow area, and the large-capacity battery has higher safety performance.

This solution can also introduce a third end plate. By adding the third end plate, on the one hand, by adjusting the size of the third end plate along the x-direction, all the single cells can be clamped in the x-direction, thereby improving the stability of each single cell in the inner cavity of the shell, and preventing each single cell from swelling, which may lead to a decrease in the cycle performance of a large-capacity battery. On the other hand, the third end plate can be used to further reduce the impact of thermal runaway smoke in the gas channel on the outermost single cell.

Option 2:

The first aspect of the scheme provides an end plate assembly, including an end plate body; the end plate body is used to seal the open end of the gas chamber of the large-capacity battery, the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber and the open end of the cylinder; a gas channel is provided on the end plate body, and a first through hole is opened on the end plate body; the air inlet end of the gas channel is connected to the gas chamber of the large-capacity battery, and the air outlet end is connected to the first through hole.

This solution overcomes the problem of difficult installation of the explosion relief mechanism by adjusting the explosion relief mechanism from the end plate assembly area directly opposite the open end of the gas chamber to the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber with a larger area or the end plate assembly area between the open end of the gas chamber and the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber.

When the end plate assembly is sealed and fixed to the open end of the cylinder, the first through hole is sealed by the explosion relief mechanism; the air inlet of the gas channel is connected to the gas chamber, and the air outlet of the gas channel is connected to the explosion relief mechanism through the first through hole.

In this solution, the first through hole is connected to the shared chamber of the large-capacity battery electrolyte. In this case, the first through hole also serves as the operating port of the package opening device and can also be used as the liquid injection port. Compared with separately opening the first through hole, the operating port of the package opening device or the liquid injection port in the end plate assembly, the overall structural strength of the end plate assembly is higher, the structure is simple, and it is easy to process.

The gas channel of this scheme can be a groove directly opened on the end plate assembly, and can also be constructed with two fourth sub-end plates. At the same time, by adjusting the size of the fourth sub-end plate along the x-direction, all single cells can be clamped in the x-direction to improve the stability of each single cell in the inner cavity of the shell, and prevent each single cell from swelling, which may lead to the problem of reduced cycle performance of large-capacity batteries.

This scheme can also introduce a fifth sub-end plate. By adding the fifth sub-end plate, on the one hand, the dimensional error of the two fourth sub-end plates in the x direction can be compensated, and the flatness of the entire end plate assembly in the yz plane can be improved; on the other hand, by adjusting the size of the fifth sub-end plate along the x direction, all single cells can be clamped in the x direction, thereby improving the stability of each single cell in the inner cavity of the outer shell, and preventing each single cell from swelling, which may lead to the problem of reduced cycle performance of large-capacity batteries; on the third hand, the fifth end plate assembly can be used to isolate the outermost single cell from direct contact with the thermal runaway flue gas in the gas channel, thereby avoiding the influence of the thermal runaway flue gas on the outermost single cell; on the fourth hand, compared with the structural form of the groove, the gas channel is relatively closed, which can reduce the possibility of thermal runaway flue gas diffusing in the outer shell, and has a better thermal runaway flue gas emission effect.

The second aspect of the present scheme also provides a large-capacity battery, including an outer shell and a plurality of single cells arranged in parallel in the outer shell, wherein the outer shell includes a cylinder and a first end plate and a second end plate respectively sealed and fixed at two opposite open ends of the cylinder, and at least one of the first end plate and the second end plate is the above-mentioned end plate assembly.

Option 3:

A first aspect of the present invention provides an end plate assembly. Based on the end plate assembly of the second aspect, the end plate body comprises a first end plate and a second end plate;

The first through hole is opened on the first end plate, and the first end plate is used to cooperate with the explosion relief mechanism fixed at the first through hole to seal the open end of the gas chamber, the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber and the open end of the cylinder of the large-capacity battery; the second end plate is parallel to the first end plate and there is a gap between the two, and the gap serves as a gas channel.

This solution overcomes the problem of difficult installation of the explosion relief mechanism by adjusting the fixing area of the explosion relief mechanism from the area of the end plate facing the open end of the gas chamber to the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber with a larger area or the end plate area between the open end of the gas chamber and the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber.

When the end plate assembly is sealed and fixed to the open end of the cylinder, the first through hole is sealed by the explosion relief mechanism; the air inlet of the gas channel is connected to the gas chamber, and the air outlet of the gas channel is connected to the explosion relief mechanism through the first through hole; and this scheme directly uses the gap between the first end plate and the second end plate as the gas channel, so that the gas channel has a larger flow area, and the large-capacity battery has higher safety performance.

In this solution, the first through hole is connected to the shared chamber of the large-capacity battery electrolyte. In this case, the first through hole also serves as the operating port of the package opening device and can also be used as the liquid injection port. Compared with separately opening the first through hole, the operating port of the package opening device or the liquid injection port on the end plate, the overall structural strength of the end plate is higher, the structure is simple, and it is easy to process.

This solution can also introduce a third end plate. By adding the third end plate, on the one hand, by adjusting the size of the third end plate along the x-direction, all the single cells can be clamped in the x-direction, thereby improving the stability of each single cell in the inner cavity of the shell, and preventing each single cell from swelling, which may lead to a problem of reduced cycle performance of large-capacity batteries; on the other hand, the third end plate can be used to further reduce the impact of thermal runaway smoke in the gas channel on the outermost single cell.

The second aspect of the present scheme also provides a large-capacity battery, including an outer shell and a plurality of single cells arranged in parallel in the outer shell, wherein the outer shell includes a cylinder and end plate assemblies respectively sealed and fixed at two opposite open ends of the cylinder, wherein at least one end plate assembly is the above-mentioned end plate assembly; an explosion relief mechanism is fixed on the first end plate area around the first through hole to seal the first through hole; a sealing sheet is fixed on the first end plate area around the second through hole to seal the second through hole.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG1 is a schematic diagram of a large-capacity battery structure in the background art;

FIG2 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a large-capacity battery after the outer shell is removed in Example 1;

FIG3 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a large-capacity battery in Example 1 and Example 6;

FIG4 is a schematic structural diagram of a cylinder in Embodiment 1, Embodiment 6 and Embodiment 11;

FIG5 is a schematic diagram of the structure of another cylinder in Example 1;

FIG6 is a schematic diagram of the cylinder structure with additional support rods in Example 1;

FIG7 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the end plate body in Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 6;

FIG8 is a schematic structural diagram of the end plate body in Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 6 from another perspective;

FIG9 is a schematic structural diagram of an end plate body having a stepped structure in Embodiment 1 and Embodiment 6;

FIG10 is a schematic diagram of the exploded structure of the end plate body with the fourth sub-end plate in Embodiment 2 and Embodiment 7;

FIG11 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the end plate body with the fourth sub-end plate in Embodiment 2 and Embodiment 7;

FIG12 is a schematic diagram of the exploded structure of the rear end plate body after the fifth sub-end plate is added in Embodiment 2 and Embodiment 7;

13 is a schematic structural diagram of a rear end plate body after a fifth sub-end plate is added in Embodiment 2 and Embodiment 7;

FIG14 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the end plate body in Embodiment 3 and Embodiment 11;

FIG15 is a schematic structural diagram of the end plate body from another perspective in Embodiment 3 and Embodiment 11;

FIG16 is a schematic structural diagram of a rear end plate body after adding a gasket in Embodiment 3 and Embodiment 11;

FIG17 is a schematic diagram of the exploded structure of the rear end plate body after adding a gasket in Example 3 and Example 11;

FIG18 is a schematic structural diagram of a rear end plate body after a third end plate is added in Embodiment 3 and Embodiment 12;

FIG19 is a schematic structural diagram of the rear end plate body from another perspective in Embodiment 3 and Embodiment 12 after a third end plate is added;

FIG20 is a schematic diagram of the exploded structure of the rear end plate body after the third end plate is added in Example 3 and Example 12;

Figure 21 is a schematic diagram of the cylinder structure in Example 4, Example 8 and Example 13;

FIG22 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the end plate body in Embodiment 4 and Embodiment 8;

FIG23 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the end plate body in Embodiment 5 and Embodiment 13;

FIG24 is a schematic diagram of an electrolyte sharing chamber structure of a large-capacity battery in Example 6 and Example 11;

FIG25 is a schematic diagram of a gas chamber structure of a large-capacity battery in Example 6 and Example 11;

FIG26 is a schematic diagram of the structure of the heat transfer connector in Example 6 and Example 11;

FIG27 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a large-capacity battery in Example 8 and Example 13;

FIG28 is a schematic diagram of a housing structure in Example 9;

FIG29 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a large-capacity battery in Example 11;

FIG30 is a schematic diagram of a partial explosion structure of a large-capacity battery in Example 11;

FIG31 is a schematic diagram of a large-capacity battery structure;

The reference numerals in the figure are: 01, sub-pipeline; 02, middle connecting pipe; 03, lower cover plate;

1. Single cell; 2. Cylinder; 21. Cylinder bottom; 22. Second cover plate; 3. End plate assembly; 31. First sub-end plate; 32. Second sub-end plate; 33. Third sub-end plate; 331. Inner surface of third sub-end plate; 34. Fourth sub-end plate; 35. Fifth sub-end plate; 36. First through hole; 5. Electrolyte sharing chamber; 6. Gas chamber; 7. Pole avoidance hole; 8. Heat dissipation fin; 9. Support block; 10. First hole; 11. Insulating sleeve; 12. Support rod; 13. Explosion relief mechanism; 14. First end plate; 15. Second end plate; 16. Gas channel; 17. Gasket; 18. Third end plate; 19. Third through hole; 20. First support rib; 23. Sixth sub-end plate; 24. Step structure; 61. U-shaped shell bottom; 68. Heat transfer connector; 05. U-shaped shell; 63. Sealing sheet.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In order to make the above-mentioned purposes, features and advantages of the present application more obvious and easy to understand, the specific implementation methods of the present application are described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. The embodiments described in this application are only part of the embodiments of the present application, not all of them. Based on the embodiments in this application, all other embodiments obtained by ordinary persons in the art without creative work should fall within the scope of protection of this application.

In the following description, many specific details are set forth to facilitate a full understanding of the present application, but the present application may also be implemented in other ways different from those described herein, and those skilled in the art may make similar generalizations without violating the connotation of the present application. Therefore, the present application is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.

In the description of this application, it should be noted that the orientation or positional relationship indicated by the terms "top, bottom" etc. is based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and is only for the convenience of describing this application and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying 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 of this application. In addition, the terms "first, second, third, fourth, etc." are only used for descriptive purposes and cannot be understood as indicating or implying relative importance.

The present application provides a large-capacity battery and an end plate assembly therefor, wherein the large-capacity battery comprises a housing and a plurality of single cells 1 arranged in parallel in the housing; the single cells 1 described herein may be square-shell batteries or may be a plurality of commercially available soft-pack batteries connected in parallel. The inner cavity of each single cell 1 comprises an electrolyte region and a gas region.

An electrolyte sharing chamber 5 is provided at the bottom of the housing, and the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 is communicated with the electrolyte area in the inner cavity of each single battery 1 .

A gas chamber 6 is provided on the top of the housing, and the gas chamber 6 covers the gas port on the top of each single cell 1 in the large-capacity battery. It should be noted that the gas port here includes the following two meanings:

1) The gas port is a through hole directly opened on the upper cover plate of the single cell 1 and penetrating the inner cavity of the single cell 1;

At this time, the inner cavity of the gas chamber 6 is connected with the inner gas area of each single cell 1 through the gas port. The gas chamber 6 serves as a gas sharing chamber for each single cell 1. Based on the gas chamber 6, the gas areas of each single cell 1 can be connected to achieve gas balance, so that the gas of each single cell 1 is shared to ensure the consistency of each single cell 1, which improves the cycle life of the large-capacity battery to a certain extent; when any single cell 1 has thermal runaway, the smoke in the inner cavity of the single cell 1 enters the gas chamber 6 and is discharged through the gas chamber 6, thereby improving the safety of the large-capacity battery.

2) The gas port is an explosion vent or explosion-proof port provided on the upper cover of the single cell 1, and an explosion vent membrane is provided at the explosion vent or explosion-proof port;

At this time, the gas chamber 6 is used as an explosion relief channel. When the explosion relief membrane at the gas outlet of any single battery 1 is broken by the internal smoke, the internal smoke of the single battery 1 is discharged through the gas chamber 6, thereby improving the safety of the large-capacity battery.

The structure of the above shell is as follows, taking a rectangular shell as an example:

The housing comprises a U-shaped shell 05 , a second cover plate 22 and two end plate assemblies 3 ; the U-shaped shell refers to a shell having a U-shaped cross section, that is, a shell having three continuous open ends.

The electrolyte sharing chamber 5 is arranged at the bottom of the U-shaped housing, and the gas chamber 6 is arranged on the second cover plate 22 .

It should be noted here that the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 is an electrolyte containing chamber, which is connected to the electrolyte area of the inner cavity of each single battery 1, and it is necessary to ensure that the electrolyte in the entire large-capacity battery does not contact the external environment. By sealing and covering the end plate assembly 3 on the two opposite open ends of the U-shaped shell (the open ends of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 and the gas chamber 6 must be sealed at the same time), and covering the second cover plate 22 on the top open end of the U-shaped shell, the electrolyte in the large-capacity battery can be prevented from contacting the external environment.

The second cover plate 22 and the U-shaped shell 05 can be separated or integrated. The component after the second cover plate 22 and the U-shaped shell 05 are connected is called the cylinder 2. The top of the cylinder is the second cover plate 22, and the bottom 21 of the cylinder is the bottom 61 of the U-shaped shell.

In order to improve the heat dissipation performance of such large-capacity batteries, a pole avoidance hole 7 is opened on the second cover plate 22 to enable the pole of each single battery 1 to extend out; the second cover plate 22 covers the open end at the top of the U-shaped shell and is sealed with the open end; the pole of each single battery 1 extends out of the pole avoidance hole 7 and the outer shell area corresponding to the pole avoidance hole 7 is fixedly sealed with the shell of the single battery 1.

The two end plate assemblies 3 are used to seal the open end of the gas chamber 6, the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5 and the open end of the cylinder 2 of the large-capacity battery;

At least one end plate assembly 3 includes an end plate body, a gas channel 16 is provided on the end plate body, and a first through hole 36 is opened on the end plate body; the gas channel 16 has an air inlet end connected to the gas chamber 6 of the large-capacity battery, and an air outlet end connected to the first through hole 36.

The other end plate assembly can be a flat plate, which can be divided into three areas. The shape of the first area is adapted to the shape of the open end of the gas chamber 6, and is used to seal the open end of the gas chamber 6 of the large-capacity battery; the shape of the second area is adapted to the shape of the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5, and is used to seal the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5; the shape of the third area is adapted to the shape of the open end of the cylinder 2, and is used to seal the open end of the cylinder 2.

For the convenience of description, in the following embodiments, the length direction of the shell is defined as the x direction, the width direction of the shell is defined as the y direction, and the height direction of the shell is defined as the z direction.

Example 1

As shown in Figures 2 and 3, the large-capacity battery of this embodiment includes multiple single cells 1 connected in parallel. The number in other embodiments can be adjusted according to actual needs. The single cell 1 is a square shell battery, which includes an upper cover plate, a lower cover plate, a cylinder and a battery cell assembly; the battery cell assembly described here can also be called an electrode assembly, which is arranged in sequence by a positive electrode, a diaphragm and a negative electrode, and is assembled by a lamination or winding process. The upper cover plate, the cylinder and the lower cover plate constitute the shell of the single cell, and the battery cell assembly is arranged in the shell of the single cell.

The bottom of the shell of each single battery 1 is provided with a second through hole penetrating the inner cavity thereof;

3 and 4 , the housing of this embodiment includes a U-shaped shell 05 , two end plate assemblies 3 and a second cover plate 22 ; wherein the U-shaped shell and the second cover plate 22 are integrally arranged to form a cylinder 2 .

An electrolyte sharing chamber 5 extending along the x direction is provided at the bottom 21 of the cylinder;

In this embodiment, the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 adopts the following structure:

As shown in FIG4 , a first channel extending along the x direction is provided at the bottom 21 of the cylinder, and the first channel is directly connected to the second through hole of each single battery 1 ; the first channel can be formed by bulging the inner surface of the bottom 21 of the cylinder away from the top of the U-shaped shell by aluminum extrusion process.

In order to achieve effective heat dissipation, heat dissipation fins 8 (see Figure 4) extending along the x direction can be set on the outer surface of the bottom 21 of the cylinder and located on both sides of the first channel. The heat generated during the operation of the large-capacity battery can be dissipated in time through the fins.

In order to enable such large-capacity batteries to be placed stably, as shown in FIG5 , support blocks 9 can be provided at the outer areas of the bottom 21 of the cylinder on both sides of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 of the large-capacity battery shown in FIG3 , respectively, and the support blocks 9 extend along the x direction. As can be seen from the figure, a first hole 10 is provided on the support block 9 along the x direction. Compared with FIG3 and FIG4 , the size of the bottom 21 of the cylinder shown in FIG5 in the y direction is larger, so it has better stability when placed.

In this embodiment, the first hole 10 is a through hole that passes through the support block 9 in the x direction; an insulating support rod 12 whose length is greater than the cylinder 2 and whose cross-section matches the cross-section of the first hole 10 can be inserted into the through hole of the support block 9, and ensure that both ends of the insulating support rod 12 extend out of the end surface of the cylinder 2, as shown in Figure 6. When a large-capacity battery with such a cylinder 2 is assembled into an energy storage device, the two ends of the insulating support rod 12 can be used as support parts and fixed to the support frame of the energy storage box. The operation is simple and convenient, and the stability of such a large-capacity battery in the energy storage box can be improved.

In this embodiment, the cylinder 2 can be integrally formed by an aluminum extrusion process. For the cylinder 2 formed by the aluminum extrusion process, in the x direction, the size of the support block 9 is equal to the size of the cylinder 2, and the end face of the support block 9 is located in the same plane as the end face of the cylinder 2. In order to make the cylinder 2 have a more regular structure, in the y direction, the size of the support block 9 is equal to the size of the cylinder bottom 21 area on both sides of the electrolyte shared chamber 5, and the outer bottom surface of the support block 9 is located in the same plane as the outer bottom surface of the electrolyte shared chamber 5. In the z direction, the size of the support block 9 is equal to the size of the outer side wall of the electrolyte shared chamber 5, and the outer side wall of the support block 9 is located in the same plane as the outer side wall of the cylinder 2. It should be noted that the cylinder bottom 21 area on both sides of the electrolyte shared chamber 5 is the area a in Figure 5.

In some other embodiments, the first hole 10 can be a blind hole, preferably, blind holes extending along the x direction are respectively opened at both ends of the support block 9; multiple insulating support rods 12 with a length less than the cylinder 2 and a cross-section that matches the cross-section of the first hole 10 can be inserted into the blind holes respectively, and the two ends of each insulating support rod 12 extend out of the end surface of the cylinder 2; similarly, the two ends of the insulating support rod 12 can be used as support parts and fixed to the support frame of the energy storage box. However, compared with the through-hole structure, the contact area between the insulating support rod 12 and the large-capacity battery is smaller, which makes the support strength weaker. This type of cylinder 2 can be formed by combining aluminum extrusion technology and drilling technology. For example, a semi-finished cylinder 2 without blind holes on the support block 9 can be formed by aluminum extrusion technology, and then a blind hole is opened on the support block 9 by drilling technology. However, the process is more complicated than that of this embodiment.

In some other embodiments, the support block 9 and the cylinder 2 may also be separate parts, and the support block 9 may be fixed to the outer surface of the cylinder bottom 21 and both sides of the electrolyte shared chamber 5 by welding or screw connection. However, compared with the present embodiment, the processing process is more complicated. In addition, the sealing of the connection part cannot be guaranteed. When such a cylinder 2 is used for a large-capacity battery, it may cause the electrolyte inside the cylinder 2 to leak, or the outside air may enter the cylinder 2, causing the large-capacity battery to fail.

The structure of the second cover plate 22 of this embodiment can be seen in FIGS. 3 to 6 . A gas chamber 6 is additionally provided on the second cover plate 22 as a gas sharing chamber or an explosion relief channel.

The gas chamber 6 can adopt the following structural forms:

1. A pipe section with a square or circular cross section is fixed on the outer surface of the top of the cylinder; through holes are opened on the pipe wall and the top of the cylinder;

2. The gas chamber 6 can be formed by aluminum extrusion process, and the second channel is directly formed on the second cover plate 22, wherein the second channel is away from the bottom of the cylinder. The direction of the part 21 is raised.

When the second channel is used as a gas sharing chamber, a fifth through hole penetrating the inner cavity of each single cell 1 needs to be opened on the top of the shell of each single cell 1, and the second channel is connected to the fifth through hole. The second channel is connected to the gas area in the inner cavity of each single cell 1 through the fifth through hole.

On both sides of the second channel, pole avoidance holes 7 are provided on the second cover plate 22 to allow poles of each single battery 1 to extend out; after poles of each single battery 1 extend out of the pole avoidance holes 7, the outer shell area corresponding to the pole avoidance holes 7 is fixedly sealed with the shell of the single battery 1. The edge of the pole avoidance hole 7 and the shell of the single battery 1 in the area surrounding the pole can be welded to achieve sealing.

If the sizes of the single cells 1 along the z direction are not completely equal, the shells of some single cells 1 with smaller sizes in the z direction may have problems with poor welding or even be unable to be welded to the large-capacity battery shell, making it difficult to ensure the sealing of the pole avoidance hole 7 and the shell of the single cell 1.

In order to overcome such problems, a weak portion may be provided in the peripheral area of the pole avoidance hole 7. During the welding process, the size difference of each single battery 1 in the z direction is compensated by the deformation of the weak portion. The weak portion in this embodiment may be an annular groove with the center of the pole avoidance hole 7 as the center point and opened along the peripheral area of the pole avoidance hole 7. In other embodiments, the weak portion may also be a long strip groove opened in the peripheral area of the pole avoidance hole 7. In other embodiments, if there is a similar problem, that is, all the poles of the single battery 1 cannot be fully extended out of the pole avoidance hole 7 at the same time, making it difficult to weld and seal the outer shell area corresponding to the pole avoidance hole 7 with the shell of the single battery 1, the solution can be adopted to add a weak portion in the peripheral area of the pole avoidance hole 7.

A sealing connector may also be provided between the pole avoidance hole 7 and the pole, the sealing connector comprising a hollow member; the bottom of the hollow member is used to be sealed and connected to the first area of the single cell 1, and the top of the hollow member is sealed and connected to the second area of the shell; the first area is the area around any pole in the upper cover of any single cell 1; the second area is the area corresponding to any pole avoidance hole 7 on the shell. The area corresponding to the pole avoidance hole 7 is the surrounding area on the outer surface of the shell corresponding to any pole avoidance hole 7; or the area corresponding to the pole avoidance hole 7 is the hole wall of the pole avoidance hole 7. Among them, the area around the pole is the area around the insulating seal on the pole. The insulating seal is a part on the single cell 1 used to insulate the pole from the upper cover.

It should be noted that the two ends of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 located on the yz plane are open ends, and the two ends of the gas chamber 6 located on the yz plane are open ends. During operation, the end plate assembly 3 needs to be used to block the two open ends (the open ends parallel to the yz plane) to prevent the external environment from affecting the electrolyte in the inner cavity of each single battery 1.

As shown in FIG. 3 , the end plate assembly 3 of this embodiment is fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 formed by the U-shaped shell and the second cover plate 22 , sealing the open end of the cylinder 2 while sealing the open ends of the gas chamber 6 and the electrolyte shared chamber 5 .

The structure of at least one end plate assembly 3 includes an end plate body. As shown in FIG7 , for ease of description, the end plate body is divided into three areas according to different sealing objects. The three areas are respectively defined as a first sub-end plate 31 , a second sub-end plate 32 and a third sub-end plate 33 .

The first sub-end plate 31 is used to seal the open end of the gas chamber 6 of the large-capacity battery. The shape of the first sub-end plate 31 is adapted to the shape of the open end of the gas chamber 6. The area of the first sub-end plate 31 can be slightly larger than the area of the open end of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by fusion welding; the area of the first sub-end plate 31 can also be slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by embedding welding.

The second sub-end plate 32 is used to seal the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 of the large-capacity battery. The shape of the second sub-end plate 32 is adapted to the shape of the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5. The area of the second sub-end plate 32 can be slightly larger than the area of the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5, and it is fixed to the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 by fusion welding; the area of the second sub-end plate 32 can also be slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5, and it is fixed to the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 by embedding welding.

The third sub-end plate 33 is used to seal the open end of the cylinder 2 of the large-capacity battery. The shape of the third sub-end plate 33 is adapted to the shape of the open end of the cylinder 2. The area of the third sub-end plate 33 can be slightly larger than the area of the open end of the cylinder 2, and it is fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 by fusion welding; the area of the third sub-end plate 33 can also be slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the cylinder 2, and it is fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 by embedding welding.

It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, the first sub-end plate 31, the second sub-end plate 32 and the third sub-end plate 33 are an integral part. In some other embodiments, a split structure may be adopted. However, compared with the integral structure, firstly, its processing procedure is more complicated. Secondly, since the sub-end plates need to be connected to each other, each connection part is a weak part or a leak-prone point, which leads to weak sealing of the entire outer shell.

If the explosion relief mechanism 13 is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 (as shown in FIG. 31 ), it is necessary to open a through hole penetrating the inner cavity of the gas chamber 6 in the first sub-end plate 31, and weld the explosion relief mechanism 13 to the area of the first sub-end plate 31 around the through hole. Since the first sub-end plate 31 is not sufficiently sized in the y direction, the explosion relief mechanism 13 is difficult to install.

In order to overcome the above problems, in this embodiment, a first through hole 36 is provided in the end plate assembly area corresponding to the third sub-end plate 33 or the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5. As can be seen from FIG. 7 , part of the first through hole 36 is located on the second sub-end plate 32, and the other part is located on the third sub-end plate 33. The explosion relief mechanism 13 is welded to the second sub-end plate 32 and the third sub-end plate 33 around the first through hole 36 (see FIG. 3 ); at the same time, a gas channel 16 is added to the end plate assembly to connect the gas chamber 6 and the electrolyte shared chamber 5. When any single cell 1 has thermal runaway, the smoke in its inner cavity rushes out from the gas port and passes through the gas chamber 6 and the gas channel 16 in sequence, breaking open the explosion relief mechanism 13 and being discharged from the explosion relief mechanism 13. A hollow component with an explosion relief membrane at one end can be used as the explosion relief mechanism 13.

In this embodiment, since part of the explosion relief mechanism 13 is fixed on the second sub-end plate 32 and the other part is fixed on the third sub-end plate 33, in the y direction, the sizes of the second sub-end plate 32 and the third sub-end plate 33 are much larger than the first sub-end plate 31, and there is enough installation position for the explosion relief mechanism 13.

When the first through hole 36 is located in the end plate assembly area corresponding to the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5, the first through hole 36 also serves as an operating port of the unpacking device. The unpacking device extends into the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 through the first through hole 36 to unpack each single battery 1, so that the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 and the electrolyte area of the inner cavity of each single battery 1 are connected (specifically, when unpacking, the unpacking device extends into the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 through the first through hole 36 to open the sealing film sealed at the opening of the lower cover plate of each single battery. The specific sealing film can be the sealing film disclosed in Chinese patents CN218525645U and CN218525614U). In addition, the first through hole 36 can also be used as a liquid injection port. After the electrolyte area of the inner cavity of each single battery 1 is connected with the electrolyte sharing chamber 5, the electrolyte can be injected into the inner cavity of each single battery 1 and the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 again through the first through hole 36 to ensure the continuity of the electrolyte. After the injection is completed, the explosion relief mechanism 13 is sealed and welded to the second sub-end plate 32 and the third sub-end plate 33 around the first through hole 36. Compared with the first through hole 36, the operation port or the injection port of the package opening device respectively provided in the end plate assembly, the overall structural strength of the end plate assembly is higher, the structure is simple, and it is easy to process.

As shown in Figure 8, this embodiment uses milling or turning methods to directly open a groove on the inner surface 331 of the third sub-end plate as a gas channel 16. It can be seen from the figure that the gas channel 16 of this embodiment extends from the top of the third sub-end plate 33 along the z direction to the first through hole 36, and is connected to the first through hole 36. The upper port of the gas channel 16 serves as an air inlet and is connected to the gas chamber 6. The lower port of the gas channel 16 serves as an air outlet and is connected to the first through hole 36.

In this embodiment, in the x direction, the size of the third sub-end plate 33 is larger than that of the first sub-end plate 31 , so that the gas channel 16 is directly connected to the gas chamber 6 .

In the structure shown in Figure 8, the area of the first sub-end plate 31 is slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by means of embedding welding. The area of the third sub-end plate 33 is slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the cylinder 2, and it is fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 by means of embedding welding. The area of the second sub-end plate 32 is slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5, and it is fixed to the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5 by means of embedding welding.

The end plate assembly can also be fixed by fusion welding by providing a step structure 24 around the third sub-end plate 33. The step structure 24 can also be used as a positioning surface. The end plate assembly can be first positioned at the open end of the cylinder 2 by using the positioning surface, and then fixed by fusion welding, as shown in FIG9 . In FIG9 , the area of the first sub-end plate 31 is slightly larger than the open end area of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by fusion welding. The area of the outer surface of the third sub-end plate 33 is slightly larger than the open end area of the cylinder 2, and the area of the inner surface 331 of the third sub-end plate is slightly smaller than the open end area of the cylinder 2, and it is fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 by fusion welding. The area of the second sub-end plate 32 is slightly larger than the open end area of the electrolyte shared chamber 5, and it is fixed to the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5 by fusion welding.

In some other embodiments, the first sub-end plate 31 , the second sub-end plate 32 and the third sub-end plate 33 have equal sizes in the x direction. In this case, a blind hole can be opened in the first sub-end plate 31 to serve as an air inlet for the gas channel 16 .

Example 2

Different from Example 1, this embodiment adopts a gas channel 16 with a different structural form. In order to construct the gas channel 16, the end plate body also includes two fourth sub-end plates 34 on the basis of Example 1, as shown in Figures 10 and 11; the two fourth sub-end plates 34 are fixed on the inner surface 331 of the third sub-end plate (the surface close to the single cell is defined as the inner surface), and there is a gap extending along the z direction between the two fourth sub-end plates 34, and the gap is used as the gas channel 16.

When the fourth sub-end plate 34 is larger in size along the z direction, fixing it on the third sub-end plate 33 may block the first through hole 36, resulting in the gas channel 16 or the electrolyte shared chamber 5 being unable to communicate with the first through hole 36. In order to solve this problem, in this embodiment, through holes or gaps that penetrate the first through hole 36 are opened on the two fourth sub-end plates 34 to ensure that the first through hole 36 is connected to the electrolyte shared chamber 5 or the gas channel 16.

Similar to Example 1, the first sub-end plate 31 can be fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6, the second sub-end plate 32 can be fixed to the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5, and the third sub-end plate 33 can be fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 by means of inlay welding and fusion welding. FIG11 shows the structure corresponding to the fusion welding method, that is, after the fourth sub-end plate 34 is fixed to the third sub-end plate 33, a step structure is formed around the third sub-end plate 33. twenty four.

The fourth sub-end plate 34 may be fixed to the third sub-end plate 33 by means of screws, or the two may be fixed by means of bonding or welding.

As shown in Figures 12 and 13, the fifth sub-end plate 35 can be added to compensate for the dimensional error of the two fourth sub-end plates 34 in the x direction, and the flatness of the entire end plate assembly in the yz plane can be improved. At the same time, the size of the fifth sub-end plate 35 along the x direction can be adjusted to clamp all the single cells 1 in the x direction, improve the stability of each single cell 1 in the inner cavity of the shell, and prevent each single cell 1 from swelling, which may lead to the problem of reduced cycle performance of large-capacity batteries. In addition, the fifth end plate assembly can be used to isolate the outermost single cell 1 from direct contact with the thermal runaway flue gas in the gas channel 16, avoiding the influence of the thermal runaway flue gas on the outermost single cell 1. Moreover, compared with the structural form of the groove, after the fifth sub-end plate 35 is added, the gas channel 16 is relatively closed, which can reduce the possibility of the thermal runaway flue gas diffusing in the shell, and has a better thermal runaway flue gas emission effect.

It should be noted that after adding the fifth sub-end plate 35, it is still necessary to ensure the connectivity of the gas chamber 6, the gas channel 16, the electrolyte shared chamber 5 and the first through hole 36. This can be achieved by reducing the dimension of the fifth sub-end plate 35 in the z direction so that it does not block the first through hole 36, or by opening a through hole in the corresponding part of the fifth sub-end plate 35 and the first through hole 36.

Example 3

As shown in FIG. 14 , different from the above-mentioned embodiment, the end plate body of this embodiment includes a first end plate 14 and a second end plate 15. For the convenience of description, the first end plate 14 is divided into three areas according to different sealing objects. The three areas are respectively defined as a first sub-end plate 31, a second sub-end plate 32 and a third sub-end plate 33, as shown in FIG. 15 .

The first sub-end plate 31 is used to seal the open end of the gas chamber 6 of the large-capacity battery. The shape of the first sub-end plate 31 is adapted to the shape of the open end of the gas chamber 6. The area of the first sub-end plate 31 can be slightly larger than the area of the open end of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by fusion welding; the area of the first sub-end plate 31 can also be slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by embedding welding.

The second sub-end plate 32 is used to seal the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 of the large-capacity battery. The shape of the second sub-end plate 32 is adapted to the shape of the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5. The area of the second sub-end plate 32 can be slightly larger than the area of the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5, and it is fixed to the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 by fusion welding; the area of the second sub-end plate 32 can also be slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5, and it is fixed to the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 by embedding welding.

The third sub-end plate 33 is used to seal the open end of the cylinder 2 of the large-capacity battery. The shape of the third sub-end plate 33 is adapted to the shape of the open end of the cylinder 2. The area of the third sub-end plate 33 can be slightly larger than the area of the open end of the cylinder 2, and it is fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 by fusion welding; the area of the third sub-end plate 33 can also be slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the cylinder 2, and it is fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 by embedding welding.

It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, the first sub-end plate 31, the second sub-end plate 32 and the third sub-end plate 33 are an integral part. In some other embodiments, a split structure may be adopted. However, compared with the integral structure, firstly, its processing procedure is more complicated. Secondly, since the sub-end plates need to be connected to each other, each connection part is a weak part or a leak-prone point, which leads to weak sealing of the entire outer shell.

As described above, if the explosion relief mechanism 13 is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6, it is necessary to open a through hole that passes through the inner cavity of the gas chamber 6 in the first sub-end plate 31, and weld the explosion relief mechanism 13 to the area of the first sub-end plate 31 around the through hole. Since the first sub-end plate 31 is insufficiently sized in the y direction, the explosion relief mechanism 13 is difficult to install.

In order to overcome the above problems, a first through hole 36 can be opened in the area of the first end plate 14 corresponding to the open end of the third sub-end plate 33 or the electrolyte shared chamber 5. As can be seen from FIG. 15, part of the first through hole 36 in this embodiment is located on the second sub-end plate 32, and the other part is located on the third sub-end plate 33. The explosion relief mechanism 13 is welded at the first through hole 36; at the same time, a gas channel 16 is added to the end plate body to connect the gas chamber 6 and the electrolyte shared chamber 5. When any single cell 1 has thermal runaway, the smoke in its inner cavity rushes out from the gas port, and will pass through the gas chamber 6 and the gas channel 16 in turn, and rush open the explosion relief mechanism 13 and be discharged from the explosion relief mechanism 13. A hollow component with an explosion relief membrane at one end can be used as the explosion relief mechanism 13.

In this embodiment, since part of the explosion relief mechanism 13 is fixed on the second sub-end plate 32 and the other part is fixed on the third sub-end plate 33, in the y and z directions, the sizes of the second sub-end plate 32 and the third sub-end plate 33 are much larger than the first sub-end plate 31, and there is enough installation position for the explosion relief mechanism 13.

When the gas chamber 6 is used as an explosion relief channel, the first through hole 36 is located in the first end plate 14 area corresponding to the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5. The first through hole 36 also serves as an operation port of the unpacking device. The unpacking device extends into the electrolyte shared chamber 5 through the first through hole 36 to unpack each single battery 1, so that the electrolyte shared chamber 5 is connected to the electrolyte area of the inner cavity of each single battery 1 (specifically, when unpacking, the unpacking device is opened through the first through hole 36). Through the first through hole 36, extend into the electrolyte sharing chamber 5, and open the sealing film sealed at the opening of the lower cover plate of each single battery 1. The specific sealing film can adopt the sealing film disclosed in Chinese patents CN218525645U and CN218525614U). In addition, the first through hole 36 can also be used as a liquid injection port. When the electrolyte area of the inner cavity of each single battery 1 and the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 are connected, the electrolyte can be injected into the inner cavity of each single battery 1 and the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 again through the first through hole 36 to ensure the continuity of the electrolyte. After the injection is completed, the explosion relief mechanism 13 is sealed and welded to the second sub-end plate 32 and the third sub-end plate 33 around the first through hole 36. Compared with the first through hole 36, the operating port or the injection port of the unpacking device respectively opened in the end plate assembly, the overall structural strength of the end plate assembly is higher, and the structure is simple and easy to process.

When the gas chamber 6 is used as a gas sharing chamber, the present embodiment may further open a third through hole 19 in the first end plate 14 region corresponding to the open end of the gas chamber 6. As can be seen from FIG. 15 , in the present embodiment, part of the third through hole 19 is located on the first sub-end plate 31, and the other part is located on the third sub-end plate 33, and the third through hole 19 is used as a liquid injection port. Electrolyte can be injected into the gas chamber 6 through the third through hole 19 to dissolve the sealing film sealed at the top opening of each single battery 1 (the sealing film disclosed in Chinese patents CN218525645U and CN218525614U can be used. When injecting liquid, the entire large-capacity battery can be inverted to allow the sealing film to fully dissolve), so that the gas chamber 6 and the inner cavity of each single battery 1 are connected; at the same time, after the large-capacity battery is placed upright and the liquid is injected through the third through hole 19, the continuity of the electrolyte in the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 and the inner cavity of each single battery 1 can be ensured. After the injection is completed, the sealing sheet is sealed in the first sub-end plate 31 and the partial area of the third sub-end plate 33 around the third through hole 19.

In order to construct the gas channel 16, the second end plate 15 is introduced in this embodiment. As shown in FIG14 , the second end plate 15 is parallel to the first end plate 14, and there is a gap between the two (the second end plate 15 is in close contact with the outermost single battery in the cylinder), and this embodiment uses the gap as the gas channel 16. Compared with the end plate body structure of embodiment 1 or embodiment 2, the gas channel 16 of this embodiment has a larger flow area and can accommodate more thermal runaway smoke, so that such large-capacity batteries have higher safety.

In this embodiment, the second end plate 15 is fixed to the first end plate 14 by screw fixing. It should be noted that, in order to ensure that the gas channel 16 is formed between the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14, the length of the screw in the x direction should be greater than the gap between the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14, and less than the distance between the inner surface of the second end plate 15 and the outer surface of the first end plate 14 (the surface close to each single cell 1 is defined as the inner surface). The head of the screw passes through the second end plate 15 and is connected to the first end plate 14. In order for the end plate assembly 3 to be able to function as a whole and better squeeze each single cell 1, as shown in Figures 16 and 17, a gasket 17 is provided between the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14 in this embodiment, and the head of the screw passes through the second end plate 15, the gasket 17 and is connected to the first end plate 14 in turn to avoid the gap between the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14 from becoming smaller or even disappearing when squeezing the single cell 1.

In some other embodiments, the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14 may also be connected by rivets. It should also be noted that in the x direction, the length of the rivet needs to be greater than the gap between the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14, and less than the distance between the inner surface of the second end plate 15 and the outer surface of the first end plate 14 (the surface close to each single cell 1 is defined as the inner surface). In some other embodiments, the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14 may also be connected by bonding. It should also be noted that in the x direction, the thickness of the glue layer is equal to the gap between the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14. In order to ensure that the gas channel 16 has a larger flow area, the glue layer can be applied in a dotted distribution on the second end plate 15 or the first end plate 14. However, compared with this embodiment, the connection strength between the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14 is weaker.

In some other embodiments, the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14 can be two independent plates. The second end plate 15 can be welded to the inner wall of the cylinder 2 near the open end of the cylinder 2 first, and then the first end plate 14 can be welded to the open end of the gas chamber 6, the open end of the cylinder 2 and the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5; however, relative to this embodiment, the size of the gap between the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14 is difficult to adjust.

As can be seen from the figure, the shape of the second end plate 15 of this embodiment is adapted to the shape of the third sub-end plate 33. When the second end plate 15 is larger in size along the z direction, fixing it to the third sub-end plate 33 may block the first through hole 36, resulting in the gas channel 16 or the electrolyte shared chamber 5 being unable to communicate with the explosion relief mechanism 13. In order to solve this problem, a through hole or a notch that penetrates the first through hole 36 may be opened in the second end plate 15 to ensure that the first through hole 36 is connected to the electrolyte shared chamber 5 or the gas channel 16.

As shown in FIGS. 18 to 20, the third end plate 18 can be further provided in this embodiment. By adjusting the size of the third end plate 18 along the x direction, all the single cells 1 can be clamped in the x direction to improve the stability of each single cell 1 in the inner cavity of the shell, and to prevent each single cell 1 from swelling, which may lead to a problem of reduced cycle performance of a large-capacity battery. In addition, the third end plate 18 can further prevent the influence of thermal runaway smoke on the outermost single cell 1.

It should be noted that after the third end plate 18 is added, it is still necessary to ensure that the gas chamber 6, the gas channel 16, the electrolyte shared chamber 5 and the The connectivity of the explosion relief mechanism 13 can be improved by reducing the size of the third end plate 18 in the z direction so that it does not block the first through hole 36 , or by opening a through hole in the portion corresponding to the third end plate 18 and the first through hole 36 .

Example 4

Different from the above-mentioned embodiment, the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 of this embodiment adopts the following structure:

As shown in FIG. 21 , at least two first support ribs 20 extending along the x-direction are provided on the inner surface of the cylinder bottom 21 , and the two first support ribs 20 and the area of the cylinder bottom 21 between the two first support ribs 20 form a first channel.

The electrolyte sharing chamber 5 structure shown in Figure 21 can ensure the structural regularity of the entire large-capacity battery. As above, on the one hand, it is easy to ensure the density of the energy storage device when integrating the energy storage device based on such large-capacity batteries; on the other hand, it can be treated as a whole and coated with an insulating film (also called a blue film or protective film) on the outside to improve the overall safety performance of such large-capacity batteries.

The first channel in FIG. 21 has open ends at both ends located in the yz plane, and the end plate assemblies 3 are subsequently used to seal the openings at both ends.

Any end plate assembly 3 in this embodiment includes an end plate body, which is fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 formed by a U-shaped shell and a second cover plate 22, and seals the open end of the cylinder 2 while sealing the open ends of the gas chamber 6 and the electrolyte shared chamber 5.

For the convenience of description, the end plate body is divided into two areas according to different sealing objects, and the two areas are defined as the first sub-end plate 31 and the sixth sub-end plate 23, as shown in FIG. 22 .

The first sub-end plate 31 is used to seal the open end of the gas chamber 6 of the large-capacity battery. The shape of the first sub-end plate 31 is adapted to the shape of the open end of the gas chamber 6. The area of the first sub-end plate 31 can be slightly larger than the area of the open end of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by fusion welding; the area of the first sub-end plate 31 can also be slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by embedding welding.

The sixth sub-end plate 23 is used to simultaneously seal the open end of the large-capacity battery cylinder 2 and the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5; because the electrolyte shared chamber 5 in this embodiment is located in the cylinder 2, when the sixth sub-end plate 23 is sealed and fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 of the large-capacity battery, the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5 can be sealed at the same time. The shape of the sixth sub-end plate 23 is adapted to the shape of the open end of the cylinder 2, and the area can be slightly larger than the area of the open end of the cylinder 2, and it is fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 by fusion welding; the area can also be slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the cylinder 2, and it is fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 by embedding welding.

It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, the first sub-end plate 31 and the sixth sub-end plate 23 are an integral part. In some other embodiments, a split structure may be adopted. However, compared with the integral structure, firstly, its processing procedure is more complicated. Secondly, since the sub-end plates need to be connected to each other, each connection part is a weak part or a leak-prone point, which leads to weak sealing of the entire outer shell.

In this embodiment, a first through hole 36 is opened on the sixth sub-end plate 23, and the first through hole 36 is preferably located in the area of the sixth sub-end plate 23 corresponding to the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5, and the explosion relief mechanism 13 is welded to a partial area of the sixth sub-end plate 23 around the first through hole 36; at the same time, a gas channel 16 is set on the first sub-end plate 31 and the sixth sub-end plate 23 to connect the gas chamber 6 and the electrolyte sharing chamber 5. When any single cell 1 has thermal runaway, the smoke in its inner cavity rushes out from the gas port, and will pass through the gas chamber 6 and the gas channel 16 in sequence, and rush open the explosion relief mechanism 13 to be discharged from the explosion relief mechanism 13. The structure of the gas channel 16 is the same as that of Example 1 and Example 2, and can be directly opened on the sixth sub-end plate 23, or constructed by adding two fourth sub-end plates 34, and fixing the two fourth sub-end plates 34 on the inner surface of the sixth sub-end plate 23. A fifth sub-end plate 35 can also be added to compensate for the dimensional error of the two fourth sub-end plates 34 in the x direction, and at the same time, it can also play a role in clamping the single cell 1 and reducing the influence of thermal runaway smoke on the outermost single cell 1.

In this embodiment, since the explosion relief mechanism 13 is fixed on the sixth sub-end plate 23 , the size of the sixth sub-end plate 23 in the y direction is much larger than the first sub-end plate 31 , so there is enough installation position for the explosion relief mechanism 13 .

Example 5

This embodiment and the fourth embodiment have an end plate assembly 3 with a different structure.

As shown in Figure 23, the end plate body of this embodiment includes a first end plate 14 and a second end plate 15, which are fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 formed by a U-shaped shell and a second cover plate 22, sealing the open end of the cylinder 2 while sealing the open ends of the gas chamber 6 and the electrolyte shared chamber 5.

For the convenience of description, the first end plate 14 is divided into two areas according to different sealing objects, and the two areas are defined as the first sub-end plate 31 and the sixth sub-end plate 23 respectively.

The first sub-end plate 31 is used to seal the open end of the gas chamber 6 of the large-capacity battery. The shape of the first sub-end plate 31 is adapted to the shape of the open end of the gas chamber 6. The area of the first sub-end plate 31 can be slightly larger than the area of the open end of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by fusion welding; the area of the first sub-end plate 31 can also be slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by embedding welding.

The sixth sub-end plate 23 is used to seal the open end of the large-capacity battery cylinder 2 and the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 at the same time; The electrolyte shared chamber 5 is located in the cylinder 2, so when the sixth sub-end plate 23 is sealed and fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 of the large-capacity battery, the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5 can be sealed at the same time. The shape of the sixth sub-end plate 23 is adapted to the shape of the open end of the cylinder 2, and the area can be slightly larger than the area of the open end of the cylinder 2, and it is fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 by fusion welding; the area can also be slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the cylinder 2, and it is fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 by embedding welding.

It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, the first sub-end plate 31 and the sixth sub-end plate 23 are an integral part. In some other embodiments, a split structure may be adopted. However, compared with the integral structure, firstly, its processing procedure is more complicated. Secondly, since the sub-end plates need to be connected to each other, each connection part is a weak part or a leak-prone point, which leads to weak sealing of the entire outer shell.

In this embodiment, a first through hole 36 is provided in the sixth sub-end plate 23, and the first through hole 36 is preferably located in the area of the sixth sub-end plate 23 corresponding to the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5, and the explosion relief mechanism 13 is welded to a partial area of the sixth sub-end plate 23 around the first through hole 36; at the same time, a gas channel 16 is formed between the first end plate and the second sub-end plate, connecting the gas chamber 6 and the electrolyte shared chamber 5. When any single cell 1 has thermal runaway, the smoke in its inner cavity rushes out from the gas port, and will pass through the gas chamber 6 and the gas channel 16 in turn, and rush open the explosion relief mechanism 13 and be discharged from the explosion relief mechanism 13. The structure of the gas channel 16 is similar to that of embodiment 3, except that in the z direction, the size of the second end plate 15 needs to be smaller than the sixth sub-end plate 23 to prevent the second end plate 15 from blocking the first through hole 36.

Embodiments 6 to 8 provide an end plate assembly suitable for large-capacity batteries. The structures of the corresponding end plate assemblies are slightly different for electrolyte sharing chambers of different structures, which are described in detail below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

For the convenience of description, in the following embodiments, the length direction of the shell is defined as the x direction, the width direction of the shell is defined as the y direction, and the height direction of the shell is defined as the z direction.

Example 6

The end plate assembly of this embodiment is suitable for a large-capacity battery having the following electrolyte sharing chamber 5 structure:

In the first structure, as shown in FIG. 4 , a first channel is formed at the bottom 61 of the U-shaped shell as the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 , and the bottom 61 of the U-shaped shell is convexed in a direction away from the top of the U-shaped shell.

The second structure, as shown in FIG24 , is a square or circular tube section fixed on the outer surface of the U-shaped shell bottom 61; a through hole is opened in the tube wall and the U-shaped shell bottom 61; the electrolyte shared chamber 5 is connected with the electrolyte area of each single cell cavity through the through hole.

The two ends of the electrolyte shared chamber 5 in the above two structures located in the yz plane are open ends.

The gas chamber 6 of the large-capacity battery can adopt the following structural forms:

In the first structure, as shown in FIG. 4 , a second channel extending along the x direction is provided on the second cover plate 22 ; the second channel can be directly formed on the second cover plate 22 by a bending or aluminum extrusion process, wherein the second channel protrudes in a direction away from the bottom 61 of the U-shaped shell.

In the second structure, as shown in FIG. 25 , a pipe section with a square or circular cross-section is fixed on the outer surface of the top of the second cover plate 22 ; through holes are opened in the pipe wall and the second cover plate 22 .

The two ends of the gas chamber 6 in the above two structures located on the yz plane are open ends.

As shown in FIG. 3 , the end plate assembly of this embodiment includes an end plate body fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 formed by a U-shaped shell and a second cover plate, sealing the open end of the cylinder 2 while sealing the open ends of the gas chamber 6 and the electrolyte shared chamber 5 .

For the convenience of description, the end plate body is divided into three areas according to different sealing objects, and the three areas are defined as a first sub-end plate 31, a second sub-end plate 32 and a third sub-end plate 33, as shown in FIG. 7 .

The first sub-end plate is used to seal the open end of the gas chamber 6 of the large-capacity battery. The shape of the first sub-end plate is adapted to the shape of the open end of the gas chamber 6. The area of the first sub-end plate can be slightly larger than the area of the open end of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by fusion welding; the area of the first sub-end plate can also be slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by embedding welding.

The second sub-end plate is used to seal the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 of the large-capacity battery. The shape of the second sub-end plate is adapted to the shape of the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5. The area of the second sub-end plate can be slightly larger than the area of the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5, and it is fixed to the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 by fusion welding; the area of the second sub-end plate can also be slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5, and it is fixed to the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 by embedding welding.

The third sub-end plate is used to seal the open end of the cylinder 2 of the large-capacity battery. The shape of the third sub-end plate is adapted to the shape of the open end of the cylinder 2. The area of the third sub-end plate can be slightly larger than the area of the open end of the cylinder 2, and it is fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 by fusion welding; the area of the third sub-end plate can also be slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the cylinder 2, and it is fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 by embedding welding.

It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, the first sub-end plate 31, the second sub-end plate 32 and the third sub-end plate 33 are an integral part. In some other embodiments, a split structure may be adopted. However, compared with the integral structure, firstly, its processing procedure is more complicated. Secondly, since the sub-end plates need to be connected to each other, each connection part is a weak part or a leak-prone point, which leads to weak sealing of the entire outer shell.

If the explosion relief mechanism 13 is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 (see Figure 31), it is necessary to open a through hole that passes through the inner cavity of the gas chamber 6 in the first sub-end plate 31, and weld the explosion relief mechanism 13 to the area of the first sub-end plate 31 around the through hole. Since the first sub-end plate 31 is insufficiently sized in the y direction, the explosion relief mechanism is difficult to install.

In order to overcome the above problems, the present embodiment opens a first through hole 36 in the end plate assembly area corresponding to the second sub-end plate 32 or the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5. As can be seen from FIG. 7, part of the first through hole 36 is located on the second sub-end plate 32, and the other part is located on the third sub-end plate 33. The explosion relief mechanism 13 is welded to the second sub-end plate 32 and the third sub-end plate 33 around the first through hole 36 (see FIG. 3); at the same time, a gas channel 16 is added to the end plate assembly to connect the gas chamber 6 and the electrolyte shared chamber 5. When any single cell has thermal runaway, the smoke in its inner cavity rushes out from the gas port, and will pass through the gas chamber 6 and the gas channel 16 in turn, and rush open the explosion relief mechanism 13 and be discharged from the explosion relief mechanism 13. A hollow component with an explosion relief membrane at one end can be used as the explosion relief mechanism 13.

In this embodiment, since the explosion relief mechanism 13 is fixed on a partial area of the second sub-end plate 32 and the third sub-end plate 33, in the y direction, the sizes of the second sub-end plate 32 and the third sub-end plate 33 are much larger than the first sub-end plate 31, and there is enough installation position for the explosion relief mechanism 13.

When the first through hole is located in the end plate assembly area corresponding to the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5, the first through hole 36 also serves as the operating port of the unpacking device. The unpacking device extends into the electrolyte shared chamber 5 through the first through hole 36 to unpack each single battery, so that the electrolyte shared chamber 5 and the electrolyte area of each single battery cavity are connected. In addition, the first through hole 36 can also be used as a liquid injection port. After the electrolyte area of each single battery cavity is connected to the electrolyte shared chamber 5, the electrolyte can be injected into the inner cavity of each single battery and the electrolyte shared chamber 5 again through the first through hole 36 to ensure the continuity of the electrolyte. After the injection is completed, the explosion relief mechanism 13 is sealed and welded to the second sub-end plate 32 and the third sub-end plate 33 part area around the first through hole 36. Compared with the first through hole, the operating port or the liquid injection port of the unpacking device respectively opened in the end plate assembly, the overall structural strength of the end plate assembly is higher, and the structure is simple and easy to process.

As shown in Figure 8, this embodiment uses milling or turning methods to directly open a groove on the inner surface 331 of the third sub-end plate as a gas channel 16. It can be seen from the figure that the gas channel 16 of this embodiment extends from the top of the third sub-end plate 33 along the z direction to the first through hole 36, and is connected to the first through hole 36. The upper port of the gas channel 16 serves as an air inlet and is connected to the gas chamber 6. The lower port of the gas channel 16 serves as an air outlet and is connected to the first through hole 36.

In this embodiment, in the x direction, the size of the third sub-end plate 33 is larger than that of the first sub-end plate 31 , so that the gas channel 16 is directly connected to the gas chamber 6 .

In the structure shown in Figure 8, the area of the first sub-end plate 31 is slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by means of embedding welding. The area of the third sub-end plate 33 is slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the cylinder 2, and it is fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 by means of embedding welding. The area of the second sub-end plate 32 is slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5, and it is fixed to the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5 by means of embedding welding.

The end plate assembly can also be fixed by fusion welding by setting a step structure 24 around the third end plate. The step surface of the step structure 24 can also be used as a positioning surface. The end plate assembly can be first positioned at the open end of the cylinder 2 by using the positioning surface, and then fixed by fusion welding, as shown in Figure 9. In Figure 9, the area of the first sub-end plate 31 is slightly larger than the open end area of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by fusion welding. The area of the outer surface of the third sub-end plate 33 is slightly larger than the open end area of the cylinder 2, and the area of the inner surface 331 of the third sub-end plate is slightly smaller than the open end area of the cylinder 2. It is fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 by fusion welding. The area of the second sub-end plate 32 is slightly larger than the open end area of the electrolyte shared chamber 5, and it is fixed to the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5 by fusion welding.

In some other embodiments, the first sub-end plate 31, the second sub-end plate 32 and the third sub-end plate 33 have equal sizes in the x direction. In this case, a blind hole can be opened in the first sub-end plate to serve as an air inlet for the gas channel 16.

In addition, compared with the structure of the gas chamber 6 shown in FIG. 31, in the y direction, the size of the gas chamber 6 of the present embodiment is smaller than that of the gas chamber 6 shown in FIG. 31. By reducing the size of the gas chamber 6 in the y direction, the area of the second cover plate 22 located on both sides of the gas chamber 6 can be increased. In this area, the temperature of the entire large-capacity battery can be adjusted by adding heat transfer connectors 68 or pole adapters connected to each single cell pole. The larger the area of the second cover plate 22 located on both sides of the gas chamber 6, the larger the heat transfer connector 68 or pole adapter can be set. The larger the heat transfer connector 68 or pole adapter has, the larger the heat exchange area, and thus the better the heat exchange effect can be obtained.

It should be noted that the heat transfer connector 68 can adopt the structure shown in FIG. 26, which is a slender member used to connect to the positive or negative electrode of each single battery; and a clamping portion for installing a heat transfer tube is provided on the slender member along the axial direction. By connecting the positive or negative electrodes of multiple single batteries through the heat transfer connector 68 and clamping the heat transfer tube on the heat transfer connector 68, the local temperature of the pole on each single battery can be controlled, greatly reducing the occurrence of thermal runaway caused by excessive pole temperature.

The pole adapter may be an electrical busbar disclosed in Chinese patent CN116130892A.

Example 7

Different from Example 6, this embodiment adopts a gas channel 16 of a different structural form. In order to construct the gas channel 16 of this embodiment, two fourth sub-end plates 34 are further included on the basis of Example 6, as shown in Figures 10 and 11; the two fourth sub-end plates 34 are fixed to the inner surface 331 of the third sub-end plate, and there is a gap extending along the z direction between the two fourth sub-end plates 34, and the gap is used as the gas channel 16.

When the fourth sub-end plate 34 is larger in size along the z direction, fixing it on the third sub-end plate 33 may block the first through hole 36, resulting in the gas channel 16 or the electrolyte shared chamber 5 being unable to communicate with the explosion relief mechanism 13. In order to solve this problem, in this embodiment, through holes or gaps that penetrate the first through hole 36 are opened on the two fourth sub-end plates 34 to ensure that the explosion relief mechanism 13 is connected with the electrolyte shared chamber 5 or the gas channel 16.

Similar to Example 6, the first sub-end plate can be fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by means of inlay welding and fusion welding, the second sub-end plate can be fixed to the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5, and the third sub-end plate can be fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2. FIG11 shows a structure corresponding to the fusion welding method, that is, after the fourth sub-end plate 34 is fixed to the third sub-end plate 33, a step structure 24 is formed around the third sub-end plate 33.

The fourth sub-end plate 34 may be fixed to the third sub-end plate 33 by means of screws, or the two may be fixed by means of bonding or welding.

As shown in Figures 12 and 13, this embodiment can also compensate for the dimensional error of the two fourth sub-end plates 34 in the x direction by adding a fifth sub-end plate 35, thereby improving the flatness of the entire end plate assembly in the yz plane. At the same time, by adjusting the size of the fifth sub-end plate 35 along the x direction, all single cells can be clamped in the x direction to improve the stability of each single cell in the inner cavity of the shell, and the problem of reducing the cycle performance of large-capacity batteries due to swelling of each single cell can be prevented. In addition, the fifth end plate assembly can be used to isolate the outermost single cell from direct contact with the thermal runaway flue gas in the gas channel 16, thereby avoiding the influence of the thermal runaway flue gas on the outermost single cell. Compared with the structure of the groove, after adding the fifth sub-end plate 35, the gas channel is relatively closed, which can reduce the possibility of the thermal runaway flue gas diffusing in the shell, and has a better thermal runaway flue gas emission effect.

It should be noted that after adding the fifth sub-end plate 35, it is still necessary to ensure the connectivity of the gas chamber 6, the gas channel 16, the electrolyte shared chamber 5 and the explosion relief mechanism 13. This can be achieved by reducing the dimension of the fifth sub-end plate 35 in the z direction so that it does not block the first through hole 36, or by opening a through hole in the corresponding part of the fifth sub-end plate 35 and the first through hole 36.

Example 8

Different from Example 6, the end plate assembly of this embodiment is suitable for a large-capacity battery having the following electrolyte sharing chamber 5 structure:

As shown in FIG21 , at least two first support ribs 20 extending along the x direction are provided on the inner surface of the U-shaped housing bottom 61, and the two first support ribs 20 and the area of the U-shaped housing bottom 61 located between the two first support ribs 20 constitute an electrolyte shared chamber 5. The two ends of the electrolyte shared chamber 5 located in the yz plane are open ends.

As shown in Figure 27, the end plate assembly structure of this embodiment includes an end plate body, which is fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 composed of a U-shaped shell and a second cover plate, sealing the open end of the cylinder 2 while sealing the open ends of the gas chamber 6 and the electrolyte shared chamber 5.

For the convenience of description, the end plate body is divided into two areas according to different sealing objects, and the two areas are defined as the first sub-end plate 31 and the sixth sub-end plate 23, as shown in FIG. 22 .

The first sub-end plate is used to seal the open end of the gas chamber 6 of the large-capacity battery. The shape of the first sub-end plate is adapted to the shape of the open end of the gas chamber 6. The area of the first sub-end plate can be slightly larger than the area of the open end of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by fusion welding; the area of the first sub-end plate can also be slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by embedding welding.

The sixth sub-end plate 23 is used to simultaneously seal the open end of the large-capacity battery cylinder 2 and the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5; because the electrolyte shared chamber 5 in this embodiment is located in the cylinder 2, when the sixth sub-end plate 23 is sealed and fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 of the large-capacity battery, the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5 can be sealed at the same time. The shape of the sixth sub-end plate 23 is adapted to the shape of the open end of the cylinder 2, and the area can be slightly larger than the area of the open end of the cylinder 2, and it is fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 by fusion welding; the area can also be slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the cylinder 2, and it is fixed to the open end of the cylinder 2 by embedding welding.

It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, the first sub-end plate 31 and the sixth sub-end plate 23 are an integral part. In some other embodiments, a split structure may be adopted. However, compared with the integral structure, firstly, its processing procedure is more complicated. Secondly, since the sub-end plates need to be connected to each other, each connection part is a weak part or a leak-prone point, which leads to weak sealing of the entire outer shell.

In this embodiment, a first through hole 36 is opened on the sixth sub-end plate 23, and preferably, the first through hole 36 is opened in the area of the sixth sub-end plate 23 corresponding to the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5, and the explosion relief mechanism 13 is welded to a partial area of the sixth sub-end plate 23 around the first through hole 36; at the same time, a gas channel 16 is set on the first sub-end plate 31 and the sixth sub-end plate 23 to connect the gas chamber 6 and the electrolyte shared chamber 5. When any single cell has thermal runaway, the smoke in its inner cavity rushes out from the gas port, and will pass through the gas chamber 6 and the gas channel 16 in sequence, and rush open the explosion relief mechanism 13 and be discharged from the explosion relief mechanism 13. The structure of the gas channel 16 is the same as that of Example 6 and Example 7, and can be directly opened on the sixth sub-end plate 23, or constructed by adding two fourth sub-end plates 34, and fixing the two fourth sub-end plates 34 on the inner surface of the sixth sub-end plate 23. A fifth sub-end plate 35 can also be added to compensate for the dimensional error of the two fourth sub-end plates 34 in the x direction, and at the same time, it can also play a role in clamping the single cell and reducing the impact of thermal runaway smoke on the outermost single cell.

In this embodiment, since the explosion relief mechanism 13 is fixed on the sixth sub-end plate 23 , the size of the sixth sub-end plate 23 in the y direction is much larger than the first sub-end plate 31 , so there is enough installation position for the explosion relief mechanism 13 .

Similar to the sixth embodiment, the heat exchange effect can also be improved by reducing the size of the gas chamber 6y direction; the first through hole 36 can also be used as an operating port of the package opening device and a liquid injection port. The specific content has been described in detail in the sixth embodiment and will not be repeated here.

Example 9

This embodiment is a housing, one of which is shown in FIG28, comprising the barrel 2 described in the above embodiment and the first end plate and the second end plate respectively sealed and fixed to the two opposite open ends of the barrel 2, wherein at least one of the first end plate and the second end plate is the end plate assembly described in the above embodiment. The other end plate assembly can adopt a flat plate structure, which seals the open end of the barrel 2 while sealing the open gas chamber 6 and the electrolyte shared chamber 5. The specific structural form of the barrel 2 and the end plate assembly and the fixing method of the barrel 2 and the end plate assembly have been specifically described in the above embodiment and will not be repeated here.

Example 10

This embodiment is a large-capacity battery. A plurality of single cells connected in parallel are arranged in the housing of Embodiment 9. The above embodiments have been described in detail and will not be repeated here.

Embodiments 11 to 14 provide an end plate assembly 3 different from Embodiments 8 and 9. The structures of the corresponding end plate assemblies 3 are slightly different for electrolyte shared chambers 5 of different structures, which are described in detail below in conjunction with specific embodiments.

For the convenience of description, in the following embodiments, the length direction of the shell is defined as the x direction, the width direction of the shell is defined as the y direction, and the height direction of the shell is defined as the z direction.

Embodiment 11

The end plate assembly 3 of this embodiment is suitable for a large-capacity battery having the following electrolyte shared chamber 5 structure:

In the first structure, as shown in FIG. 4 , a first channel is formed at the bottom 61 of the U-shaped shell as the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 , and the bottom 61 of the U-shaped shell is raised in a direction away from the top (the second cover plate 22 ) of the U-shaped shell 05 .

The second structure, as shown in FIG24 , is a square or circular tube section fixed on the outer surface of the U-shaped shell bottom 61; a through hole is opened in the tube wall and the U-shaped shell bottom 61; the electrolyte shared chamber 5 is connected with the electrolyte area of each single cell cavity through the through hole.

The two ends of the electrolyte shared chamber 5 in the above two structures located in the yz plane are open ends.

The gas chamber 6 of the large-capacity battery can adopt the following structural forms:

In the first structure, as shown in FIG. 4 , a second channel extending along the x direction is provided on the second cover plate 22 ; the second channel can be directly formed on the second cover plate 22 by a bending or aluminum extrusion process, wherein the second channel protrudes in a direction away from the bottom 61 of the U-shaped shell.

In the second structure, as shown in FIG. 25 , a pipe section with a square or circular cross-section is fixed on the outer surface of the top of the second cover plate 22 ; through holes are opened in the pipe wall and the second cover plate 22 .

The two ends of the gas chamber 6 in the above two structures located on the yz plane are open ends.

As shown in Figures 29 to 30, the end plate assembly 3 of this embodiment includes a first end plate 14 and a second end plate 15, which are fixed to one of the open ends of the cylinder formed by the U-shaped shell 05 and the second cover plate 22, and cooperate with the explosion relief mechanism 13 and the sealing plate 63 to seal the open end of the cylinder while sealing the open ends of the gas chamber 6 and the electrolyte shared chamber 5.

For the convenience of description, the first end plate 14 is divided into three areas according to different sealing objects, and the three areas are respectively defined as a first sub-end plate 31, a second sub-end plate 32 and a third sub-end plate 33, as shown in FIG. 15 .

The first sub-end plate 31 is used to seal the open end of the gas chamber 6 of the large-capacity battery. The shape of the first sub-end plate 31 is adapted to the shape of the open end of the gas chamber 6. The area of the first sub-end plate 31 can be slightly larger than the area of the open end of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by fusion welding; the area of the first sub-end plate 31 can also be slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by embedding welding.

The second sub-end plate 32 is used to seal the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 of the large-capacity battery. The shape of the second sub-end plate 32 is adapted to the shape of the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5. The area of the second sub-end plate 32 can be slightly larger than the area of the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5, and it is fixed to the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 by fusion welding; the area of the second sub-end plate 32 can also be slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5, and it is fixed to the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber 5 by embedding welding.

The third sub-end plate 33 is used to seal the open end of the cylinder of the large-capacity battery. The shape of the third sub-end plate 33 is adapted to the shape of the open end of the cylinder. The area of the third sub-end plate 33 can be slightly larger than the area of the open end of the cylinder, and it is fixed to the open end of the cylinder by fusion welding; the area of the third sub-end plate 33 can also be slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the cylinder, and it is fixed to the open end of the cylinder by embedding welding.

It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, the first sub-end plate 31, the second sub-end plate 32 and the third sub-end plate 33 are an integral part. In some other embodiments, a split structure may be adopted. However, compared with the integral structure, firstly, its processing procedure is more complicated. Secondly, since the sub-end plates need to be connected to each other, each connection part is a weak part or a leak-prone point, which leads to weak sealing of the entire outer shell.

As shown in Figure 31, if the explosion relief mechanism 13 is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6, it is necessary to open a through hole that passes through the inner cavity of the gas chamber 6 in the first sub-end plate 31, and weld the explosion relief mechanism 13 to the area of the first sub-end plate 31 around the through hole. Since the first sub-end plate 31 is insufficiently sized in the y direction, the explosion relief mechanism 13 is difficult to install.

In order to overcome the above problems, a first through hole 36 can be opened in the area of the first end plate 14 corresponding to the open end of the second sub-end plate 32 or the electrolyte shared chamber 5. As can be seen from FIG15, part of the first through hole 36 in this embodiment is located on the second sub-end plate 32, and the other part is located on the third sub-end plate 33. The explosion relief mechanism 13 is welded at the first through hole 36 (see FIG29); at the same time, a gas channel 16 is added to the end plate assembly 3 to connect the gas chamber 6 and the electrolyte shared chamber 5. When any single cell has thermal runaway, the smoke in its inner cavity rushes out from the gas port, and will pass through the gas chamber 6 and the gas channel 16 in turn, and rush open the explosion relief mechanism 13 and be discharged from the explosion relief mechanism 13. A hollow component with an explosion relief membrane at one end can be used as the explosion relief mechanism 13.

In this embodiment, since the explosion relief mechanism 13 is fixed on partial areas of the second sub-end plate 32 and the third sub-end plate 33, in the y and z directions, the sizes of the second sub-end plate 32 and the third sub-end plate 33 are much larger than the first sub-end plate 31, and there is enough installation position for the explosion relief mechanism 13.

When the gas chamber 6 is used as an explosion relief channel, the first through hole 36 is located in the first end plate 14 area corresponding to the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5. The first through hole 36 also serves as an operating port of the unpacking device. The unpacking device extends into the electrolyte shared chamber 5 through the first through hole 36 to unpack each single battery, so that the electrolyte shared chamber 5 and the electrolyte area of each single battery cavity are connected (specifically, when unpacking, the unpacking device extends into the electrolyte shared chamber 5 through the first through hole 36 to open the sealing film sealed at the opening of the lower cover plate of each single battery. The specific sealing film can be the sealing film disclosed in Chinese patents CN218525645U and CN218525614U). In addition, the first through hole 36 can also be used as a liquid injection port. After the electrolyte area of each single battery cavity is connected to the electrolyte shared chamber 5, the electrolyte can be injected into the inner cavity of each single battery and the electrolyte shared chamber 5 again through the first through hole 36 to ensure the continuity of the electrolyte. After the injection is completed, the explosion relief mechanism 13 is sealed and welded to the second sub-end plate 32 and the third sub-end plate 33 around the first through hole 36. Compared with the first through hole 36, the operation port or the injection port of the package opening device respectively provided in the end plate assembly, the overall structural strength of the end plate assembly is higher, the structure is simple, and it is easy to process.

When the gas chamber 6 is used as a gas sharing chamber, the present embodiment may further open a third through hole 19 in the area of the first end plate 14 corresponding to the open end of the gas chamber 6. As can be seen from FIG. 15 , the third through hole 19 in the present embodiment is located on a partial area of the first sub-end plate 31 and the third sub-end plate 33, and the third through hole 19 is used as a liquid injection port. Electrolyte can be injected into the gas chamber 6 through the third through hole 19 to dissolve the sealing film sealed at the top opening of each single battery (the sealing film disclosed in Chinese patents CN218525645U and CN218525614U can be used. When injecting liquid, the entire large-capacity battery can be inverted to allow the sealing film to fully dissolve), so that the gas chamber 6 and the inner cavity of each single battery are connected; at the same time, after the large-capacity battery is placed upright and the liquid is injected through the second through hole, the continuity of the electrolyte in the electrolyte sharing chamber and the inner cavity of each single battery can be ensured. After the injection is completed, the sealing sheet 63 is sealed in the first sub-end plate 31 and the partial area of the third sub-end plate 33 around the third through hole 19.

It should be noted that although the structure of the U-shaped shell 05 shown in Figures 29 and 30 is slightly different from that shown in Figures 4 and 31, the structures of the open end of the gas chamber, the open end of the cylinder and the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5 are exactly the same. Therefore, the end plate assembly 3 of this embodiment can be applied to the structures in the above figures.

In order to construct the gas channel 16, the second end plate 15 is introduced in this embodiment. As shown in Figures 14 to 17, the second end plate 15 is parallel to the first end plate 14, and there is a gap between the two. In this embodiment, the gap is used as the gas channel 16. Compared with the solution of directly making grooves or holes on the first end plate 14 as the gas channel, the gas channel in this embodiment has a larger flow area and can accommodate more thermal runaway smoke, so that this type of large-capacity battery has higher safety.

In this embodiment, the second end plate 15 is fixed to the first end plate 14 by screws. It should be noted that in order to ensure that a gas channel 16 is formed between the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14, the length of the screw in the x direction should be greater than the gap between the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14, and less than the distance between the inner surface of the second end plate 15 and the outer surface of the first end plate 14 (the surface close to each single cell is defined as the inner surface). The head of the screw passes through the second end plate 15 and is connected to the first end plate 14. In order for the end plate assembly to function as a whole and better squeeze each single cell, a gasket 17 is provided between the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14 in this embodiment, and the head of the screw passes through the second end plate 15, the gasket 17 and is connected to the first end plate 14 in turn to avoid the gap between the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14 from becoming smaller or even disappearing when squeezing the single cell.

In some other embodiments, the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14 may also be connected by rivets. It should also be noted that in the x direction, the length of the rivet needs to be greater than the gap between the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14, and less than the distance between the inner surface of the second end plate 15 and the outer surface of the first end plate 14 (the surface close to each single cell is defined as the inner surface). In some other embodiments, the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14 may also be connected by bonding. It should also be noted that in the x direction, the thickness of the glue layer is equal to the gap between the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14. In order to ensure that the gas channel 16 has a larger flow area, the glue layer can be applied in a dotted distribution on the second end plate 15 or the first end plate 14. However, compared with this embodiment, the connection strength between the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14 is weaker.

In some other embodiments, the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14 can be two independent plates. The second end plate 15 can be welded to the inner wall of the cylinder near the open end of the cylinder first, and then the first end plate 14 can be welded to the open end of the gas chamber, the open end of the cylinder and the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber; however, relative to this embodiment, the size of the gap between the second end plate 15 and the first end plate 14 is difficult to adjust.

As can be seen from the figure, the shape of the second end plate 15 of this embodiment is adapted to the shape of the third sub-end plate 33. When the second end plate 15 is larger in size along the z direction, fixing it to the third sub-end plate 33 may block the first through hole 36, resulting in the gas channel 16 or the electrolyte shared chamber 5 being unable to communicate with the explosion relief mechanism 13. In order to solve this problem, a through hole or a notch that penetrates the first through hole 36 may be opened in the second end plate 15 to ensure that the first through hole 36 is connected to the electrolyte shared chamber 5 or the gas channel 16.

In the structure shown in Figure 29, the area of the first sub-end plate 31 is slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by means of embedding welding. The area of the third sub-end plate 33 is slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the cylinder, and it is fixed to the open end of the cylinder by means of embedding welding. The area of the second sub-end plate 32 is slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5, and it is fixed to the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5 by means of embedding welding.

A step structure 24 can be provided around the inner walls of the open end of the gas chamber 6, the open end of the cylinder and the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5. The step surface of the step structure 24 can be used as a positioning surface. The first end plate 14 can be positioned at the open end of the gas chamber 6, the open end of the cylinder and the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5 using the positioning surface, and then fixed by welding, as shown in FIG. 30 .

In addition, compared with the structure of the gas chamber 6 shown in FIG31, in the y direction, the size of the gas chamber 6 of this embodiment is smaller than that of the gas chamber 6 shown in FIG31. By reducing the size of the gas chamber 6 in the y direction, the area of the second cover plate 22 located on both sides of the gas chamber 6 can be increased, and in this area, the temperature of the entire large-capacity battery can be adjusted by adding heat transfer connectors 68 or pole adapters connected to each single cell pole. The larger the area of the second cover plate 22 located on both sides of the gas chamber 6, the larger the heat transfer connector 68 or pole adapter can be set. The larger the heat transfer connector 68 or pole adapter has a larger heat exchange area, and thus a better heat exchange effect can be obtained.

It should be noted that the heat transfer connector 68 can adopt the structure shown in FIG. 26, which is a slender member used to connect to the positive or negative electrode of each single battery; and a clamping portion for installing a heat transfer tube is provided on the slender member along the axial direction. By connecting the positive or negative electrodes of multiple single batteries through the heat transfer connector 68 and clamping the heat transfer tube on the heat transfer connector 68, the local temperature of the pole on each single battery can be controlled, greatly reducing the occurrence of thermal runaway caused by excessive pole temperature.

The pole adapter may be an electrical busbar disclosed in Chinese patent CN116130892A. Each pole corresponds to an electrical busbar, and each electrical busbar is provided with a slot.

Example 12

As shown in FIGS. 18 to 20 , the third end plate 18 can be further provided in this embodiment. By adjusting the size of the third end plate 18 in the x direction, all the single cells are clamped in the x direction, the stability of each single cell in the inner cavity of the shell is improved, and the swelling of each single cell can be prevented, which may lead to the problem of reduced cycle performance of large-capacity batteries. In addition, the third end plate 18 can further prevent the influence of thermal runaway smoke on the outermost single cell.

It should be noted that after adding the third end plate 18, it is still necessary to ensure the connectivity of the gas chamber 6, the gas channel 16, the electrolyte shared chamber 5 and the explosion relief mechanism 13. This can be achieved by reducing the size of the third end plate 18 in the z direction so that it does not block the first through hole 36, or by opening a through hole in the corresponding part of the third end plate 18 and the first through hole 36.

Embodiment 13

Different from Example 11, the end plate assembly of this embodiment is suitable for a large-capacity battery having the following electrolyte sharing chamber 5 structure:

As shown in FIG21 , at least two first support ribs 20 extending along the x direction are provided on the inner surface of the U-shaped housing bottom 61, and the two first support ribs 20 and the area of the U-shaped housing bottom 61 located between the two first support ribs 20 constitute an electrolyte shared chamber 5. The two ends of the electrolyte shared chamber 5 located in the yz plane are open ends.

As shown in Figures 23 and 27, the end plate assembly 3 of this embodiment includes a first end plate 14 and a second end plate 15, which are fixed to the open end of the cylinder formed by the U-shaped shell 05 and the second cover plate 22, sealing the open end of the cylinder while sealing the open ends of the gas chamber 6 and the electrolyte shared chamber 5.

For the convenience of description, the first end plate 14 is divided into two areas according to different sealing objects, and the two areas are respectively defined as a first sub-end plate 31 and a sixth sub-end plate 23, as shown in FIG. 23 .

The first sub-end plate 31 is used to seal the open end of the gas chamber 6 of the large-capacity battery. The shape of the first sub-end plate 31 is adapted to the shape of the open end of the gas chamber 6. The area of the first sub-end plate 31 can be slightly larger than the area of the open end of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by fusion welding; the area of the first sub-end plate 31 can also be slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the gas chamber 6, and it is fixed to the open end of the gas chamber 6 by embedding welding.

The sixth sub-end plate 23 is used to simultaneously seal the open end of the large-capacity battery cylinder and the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5; because the electrolyte shared chamber 5 of this embodiment is located in the cylinder, when the sixth sub-end plate 23 is sealed and fixed to the open end of the cylinder of the large-capacity battery, the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5 can be sealed at the same time. The shape of the sixth sub-end plate 23 is adapted to the shape of the open end of the cylinder, and the area can be slightly larger than the area of the open end of the cylinder, and it is fixed to the open end of the cylinder by fusion welding; the area can also be slightly smaller than the area of the open end of the cylinder, and it is fixed to the open end of the cylinder by embedding welding.

It should be noted that, in the present embodiment, the first sub-end plate 31 and the sixth sub-end plate 23 are an integral part. In some other embodiments, a split structure may be adopted. However, compared with the integral structure, firstly, its processing procedure is more complicated. Secondly, since the sub-end plates need to be connected to each other, each connection part is a weak part or a leak-prone point, which leads to weak sealing of the entire outer shell.

In this embodiment, a first through hole 36 is provided on the sixth sub-end plate 23, and preferably, the first through hole 36 is located in the area of the sixth sub-end plate 23 corresponding to the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5, and the explosion relief mechanism 13 is welded to a partial area of the sixth sub-end plate 23 around the first through hole 36; at the same time, a gas channel 16 is provided on the first sub-end plate 31 and the sixth sub-end plate 23 to connect the gas chamber 6 and the electrolyte shared chamber 5. When any single cell has thermal runaway, the smoke in its inner cavity rushes out from the gas port, and will pass through the gas chamber 6 and the gas channel 16 in sequence, and rush open the explosion relief mechanism 13 and be discharged from the explosion relief mechanism 13. The structure of the gas channel 16 is similar to that of Embodiments 11 and 12, except that, in the z direction, the size of the second end plate 15 needs to be smaller than the sixth sub-end plate 23 to prevent the second end plate 15 from blocking the first through hole 36.

In this embodiment, since the explosion relief mechanism 13 is fixed on the sixth sub-end plate 23 , the size of the sixth sub-end plate 23 in the y direction is much larger than the first sub-end plate 31 , so there is enough installation position for the explosion relief mechanism 13 .

Similar to Example 11, this embodiment can also improve the heat exchange effect by reducing the size of the gas chamber 6 in the y direction; when the gas chamber 6 is used as an explosion relief channel, the first through hole 36 can also be used as an operating port of the package opening device and a liquid injection port. When the gas chamber 6 is used as a gas sharing chamber, a third through hole 19 can also be opened in the first end plate 14 area corresponding to the open end of the gas chamber 6. The specific content has been detailed in Example 11 and will not be repeated here.

Embodiment 14

This embodiment is a large-capacity battery, including a housing, in which a plurality of single cells are arranged in parallel, wherein the housing includes a cylinder and two end plate assemblies respectively sealed and fixed at two opposite open ends of the cylinder, wherein at least one end plate assembly is the end plate assembly described in the above embodiment. Plate assembly 3. The first end plate 14 area around the first through hole 36 is fixed with the explosion relief mechanism 13 to seal the first through hole 36; the first end plate 14 area around the third through hole 19 is fixed with the sealing sheet 63 to seal the third through hole 19. The other end plate assembly can adopt a flat plate structure to seal the open end of the cylinder while sealing the open end of the gas chamber 6 and the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber 5. The specific structural form of the cylinder and the end plate assembly and the fixing method of the cylinder and the end plate assembly have been specifically described in the above embodiments and will not be repeated here.

Claims (52)

A large-capacity battery, characterized in that: it comprises a shell and a plurality of single cells, the plurality of single cells are sequentially connected in parallel and arranged in the inner cavity of the shell; the inner cavity of each single cell comprises an electrolyte region and a gas region; the shell comprises a cylinder with open ends at both ends and two end plate assemblies; An electrolyte sharing chamber is provided at the bottom of the cylinder, which is connected to the electrolyte area of the inner cavity of each single cell; a gas chamber is provided at the top of the cylinder, which covers the gas port on the top of each single cell; a pole avoidance hole is provided at the top of the cylinder to enable the pole of each single cell to extend; the pole of each single cell extends out of the pole avoidance hole and the cylinder area corresponding to the pole avoidance hole is fixedly sealed with the single cell shell; two end plate assemblies are respectively fixed to the two open ends of the cylinder, which are used to seal the open end of the gas chamber of the large-capacity battery, the open end of the electrolyte sharing chamber and the open end of the cylinder; at least one end plate assembly includes an end plate body and an explosion relief mechanism; a gas channel is provided on the end plate body, and a first through hole is opened on the end plate body; the air inlet end of the gas channel is connected to the gas chamber of the large-capacity battery, and the air outlet end is connected to the first through hole; the explosion relief mechanism is sealed and fixed at the first through hole. The large-capacity battery according to claim 1 is characterized in that the bottom of the cylinder protrudes away from the top of the cylinder to form a first channel, which serves as an electrolyte sharing chamber. The large-capacity battery according to claim 2 is characterized in that heat dissipation fins are provided on the outer surface area of the bottom of the cylinder located on both sides of the first channel. The large-capacity battery according to claim 2 is characterized in that: the outer shell also includes a fixing mechanism; the fixing mechanism includes two support blocks extending along the length direction of the cylinder and fixedly arranged outside the bottom of the cylinder and on both sides of the electrolyte shared chamber; a first hole for fixing the insulating support rod is opened in the support block along the length direction of the support block. The large-capacity battery according to claim 4 is characterized in that the first hole is a through hole penetrating the support block. The large-capacity battery according to claim 5 is characterized in that the barrel and the support block are an integral part. The large-capacity battery according to claim 6 is characterized by further comprising an insulating sleeve sleeved in the first hole and a support rod sleeved in the insulating sleeve. The large-capacity battery according to any one of claims 2 to 7 is characterized in that the top of the cylinder bulges away from the bottom of the cylinder to form a second channel as a gas chamber. The large-capacity battery according to claim 8 is characterized in that the first through hole is connected to the large-capacity battery electrolyte sharing chamber. The large-capacity battery according to claim 9 is characterized in that: the end plate body includes a first sub-end plate, a second sub-end plate and a third sub-end plate; the first sub-end plate is used to seal the open end of the gas chamber of the large-capacity battery; the second sub-end plate is used to seal the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber of the large-capacity battery; the third sub-end plate is located between the first sub-end plate and the second sub-end plate and is connected to the first sub-end plate and the second sub-end plate, and the third sub-end plate is used to seal the open end of the large-capacity battery cylinder. The large-capacity battery according to claim 10 is characterized in that: the gas channel is a groove opened on the inner surface of the third sub-end plate. The large-capacity battery according to claim 10 is characterized in that: the end plate body also includes two fourth sub-end plates, the two fourth sub-end plates are fixed to the inner surface of the third sub-end plate, and there is a gap between the two fourth sub-end plates, and the gap serves as a gas channel. The large-capacity battery according to claim 12 is characterized in that: the end plate body also includes a fifth sub-end plate, and the fifth sub-end plate is fixed to the inner surfaces of the two fourth sub-end plates. The large-capacity battery according to claim 9 is characterized in that: the end plate body includes a first end plate and a second end plate; the second end plate is in close contact with the outermost single cell in the cylinder; the first through hole is opened on the first end plate, and the first end plate cooperates with the explosion relief mechanism fixed at the first through hole to seal the open end of the gas chamber, the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber and the open end of the cylinder of the large-capacity battery; the second end plate is parallel to the first end plate and there is a gap between the two, and the gap serves as a gas channel. The large-capacity battery according to claim 14, characterized in that the second end plate is fixedly connected to the first end plate. The large-capacity battery according to claim 15 is characterized in that the second end plate is fixedly connected to the first end plate by screws. The large-capacity battery according to claim 16 is characterized in that: the end plate body also includes a gasket located between the second end plate and the first end plate, and the screw head passes through the second end plate and the gasket in sequence to connect with the first end plate. The large-capacity battery according to claim 17 is characterized in that the end plate body also includes a third end plate tightly attached to the inner surface of the second end plate. The large-capacity battery according to claim 14, characterized in that: the first end plate corresponds to the gas chamber of the large-capacity battery A third through hole is also opened in the region, and a sealing sheet is arranged at the third through hole. The large-capacity battery according to claim 1 is characterized in that at least two first support ribs extending along the arrangement direction of the single battery cells are provided on the inner surface of the bottom of the cylinder, and the two first support ribs and the bottom area of the cylinder located between the two first support ribs form a first channel. The large-capacity battery according to claim 20 is characterized in that the top of the cylinder protrudes away from the bottom of the cylinder to form a second channel as a gas chamber. The large-capacity battery according to claim 21 is characterized in that the first through hole is connected to the large-capacity battery electrolyte sharing chamber. The large-capacity battery according to claim 22 is characterized in that: the end plate body includes a first sub-end plate and a sixth sub-end plate; the first sub-end plate is used to seal the open end of the gas chamber of the large-capacity battery; the sixth sub-end plate is used to simultaneously seal the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber of the large-capacity battery and the open end of the large-capacity battery cylinder. The large-capacity battery according to claim 23 is characterized in that the gas channel is a groove opened on the inner surface of the sixth sub-end plate. According to the large-capacity battery of claim 24, it is characterized in that: the end plate body also includes two fourth sub-end plates; the two fourth sub-end plates are fixed on the inner surface of the sixth sub-end plate, and there is a gap between the two fourth sub-end plates, and the gap serves as a gas channel. The large-capacity battery according to claim 25 is characterized in that: the end plate body also includes a fifth sub-end plate, and the fifth sub-end plate is fixed to the inner surfaces of the two fourth sub-end plates. The large-capacity battery according to claim 22 is characterized in that: the end plate body includes a first end plate and a second end plate; the first through hole is opened on the first end plate, and the first end plate is used to cooperate with the explosion-proof mechanism fixed at the first through hole to seal the open end of the gas chamber, the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber and the open end of the cylinder of the large-capacity battery; the second end plate is parallel to the first end plate and there is a gap between the two, and the gap serves as a gas channel. The large-capacity battery according to claim 27 is characterized in that the second end plate is fixedly connected to the first end plate. The large-capacity battery according to claim 28 is characterized in that the second end plate is fixedly connected to the first end plate by screws. The large-capacity battery according to claim 29 is characterized in that: the end plate body also includes a gasket located between the second end plate and the first end plate, and the screw head passes through the second end plate and the gasket in sequence to connect with the first end plate. The large-capacity battery according to claim 30 is characterized in that it also includes a third end plate closely attached to the inner surface of the second end plate. The large-capacity battery according to claim 27 is characterized in that: a third through hole is also opened on the first end plate, and the third through hole is used to communicate with the gas chamber of the large-capacity battery, and a sealing sheet is sealed at the third through hole. An end plate assembly, characterized in that: it includes an end plate body; the end plate body is used to seal the open end of the gas chamber, the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber and the open end of the cylinder of a large-capacity battery; a gas channel is provided on the end plate body, and a first through hole is opened on the end plate body; the gas channel air inlet end is connected to the gas chamber of the large-capacity battery, and the air outlet end is connected to the first through hole. The end plate assembly according to claim 33 is characterized in that: it also includes an explosion-proofing mechanism arranged on the end plate body; the first through hole is used to communicate with the shared chamber of the large-capacity battery electrolyte; the explosion-proofing mechanism is connected to the first through hole and is sealed and connected to the end plate body area around the first through hole. The end plate assembly according to claim 33 or 34 is characterized in that: the end plate body includes a first sub-end plate, a second sub-end plate and a third sub-end plate; the first sub-end plate is used to seal the open end of the gas chamber of the large-capacity battery; the second sub-end plate is used to seal the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber of the large-capacity battery; the third sub-end plate is located between the first sub-end plate and the second sub-end plate and is connected to the first sub-end plate and the second sub-end plate, and the third sub-end plate is used to seal the open end of the large-capacity battery cylinder. The end plate assembly according to claim 35 is characterized in that the gas channel is a groove opened on the inner surface of the third sub-end plate. The end plate assembly according to claim 35 is characterized in that it also includes two fourth sub-end plates, the two fourth sub-end plates are fixed on the inner surface of the third sub-end plate, and there is a gap between the two fourth sub-end plates, and the gap serves as a gas channel. The end plate assembly according to claim 37 is characterized in that it also includes a fifth sub-end plate, and the fifth sub-end plate is fixed to the inner surfaces of the two fourth sub-end plates. According to the end plate assembly according to claim 33 or 34, it is characterized in that: the end plate body includes a first sub-end plate and a sixth sub-end plate; the first sub-end plate is used to seal the open end of the gas chamber of the large-capacity battery; the sixth sub-end plate is used to simultaneously seal the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber of the large-capacity battery and the open end of the large-capacity battery cylinder. The end plate assembly according to claim 39 is characterized in that the gas channel is a groove opened on the inner surface of the sixth sub-end plate. The end plate assembly according to claim 39 is characterized in that it also includes two fourth sub-end plates; the two fourth sub-end plates are fixed to the inner surface of the sixth sub-end plate, and there is a gap between the two fourth sub-end plates, and the gap serves as a gas channel. The end plate assembly according to claim 41 is characterized in that it also includes a fifth sub-end plate, and the fifth sub-end plate is fixed to the inner surfaces of the two fourth sub-end plates. A large-capacity battery, characterized in that it includes an outer shell and a plurality of single cells arranged in parallel in the outer shell, wherein the outer shell includes a cylinder and a first end plate and a second end plate respectively sealed and fixed at two opposite open ends of the cylinder, and at least one of the first end plate and the second end plate is the end plate assembly described in any one of claims 33-42. The end plate assembly according to claim 33 is characterized in that: the end plate body includes a first end plate and a second end plate; the first through hole is opened on the first end plate, and the first end plate is used to cooperate with the explosion-proof mechanism fixed at the first through hole to seal the open end of the gas chamber, the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber and the open end of the cylinder of the large-capacity battery; the second end plate and the first end plate are parallel to each other and there is a gap between the two, and the gap serves as a gas channel. The end plate assembly according to claim 44 is characterized in that the second end plate is fixedly connected to the first end plate. The end plate assembly according to claim 45 is characterized in that the second end plate is fixedly connected to the first end plate by screws. The end plate assembly according to claim 46 is characterized in that it also includes a gasket located between the second end plate and the first end plate, and the screw head passes through the second end plate and the gasket and is connected to the first end plate in sequence. The end plate assembly according to claim 44 is characterized in that it also includes a third end plate that is closely attached to the inner surface of the second end plate. The end plate assembly according to claim 44 is characterized in that a second through hole is also opened on the first end plate, and the second through hole is used to communicate with the gas chamber of the large-capacity battery. The end plate assembly according to claim 44 is characterized in that: the first end plate includes a first sub-end plate, a second sub-end plate and a third sub-end plate; the first sub-end plate is used to seal the open end of the gas chamber of the large-capacity battery; the second sub-end plate is used to seal the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber of the large-capacity battery; the third sub-end plate is located between the first sub-end plate and the second sub-end plate and is connected to the first sub-end plate and the second sub-end plate, and the third sub-end plate is used to seal the open end of the large-capacity battery cylinder. The end plate assembly according to claim 44 is characterized in that: the first end plate includes a first sub-end plate and a sixth sub-end plate; the first sub-end plate is used to seal the open end of the gas chamber of the large-capacity battery; the sixth sub-end plate is used to simultaneously seal the open end of the electrolyte shared chamber of the large-capacity battery and the open end of the large-capacity battery cylinder. A large-capacity battery, characterized in that it includes an outer shell and a plurality of single cells arranged in parallel in the outer shell, wherein the outer shell includes a cylinder and end plate assemblies respectively sealed and fixed at two opposite open ends of the cylinder, wherein at least one end plate assembly is an end plate assembly as described in any one of claims 44-51; an explosion relief mechanism is fixed on the first end plate area around the first through hole to seal the first through hole; a sealing sheet is fixed on the first end plate area around the second through hole to seal the second through hole.