KR20070006000A - Battery module fire extinguishing system - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention is connected to each unit battery in the battery module to detect the temperature of the unit battery in the battery module to detect the fire of the battery module and quickly extinguish it through a battery management system that collectively manages the overall state of the battery And a battery management system connected to the battery management system and a fire extinguisher for ejecting extinguishing material into the battery module according to a control signal of the battery management system.

Description

Battery Module Fire Extinguishing System {SYSTEM FOR EXTINGUISHING FIRE OF SECONDARY BATTERY MODULE}

1 is a schematic side cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a battery module fire extinguishing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

The present invention relates to a secondary battery, and more particularly, to a fire extinguishing system of a secondary battery module that can be quickly extinguished when a fire occurs in a battery module configured by connecting unit cells.

Recently, a high output secondary battery using a high energy density nonaqueous electrolyte has been developed, and a plurality of high output secondary batteries can be connected in series to be used for driving a motor such as an electric vehicle, which requires a large power. The secondary battery of a large capacity is constituted.

As described above, one large capacity secondary battery (hereinafter, referred to as a battery module for convenience of description throughout) is made of a plurality of secondary batteries (hereinafter, referred to as unit cells for convenience of explanation throughout the specification), which are each connected in series. The unit cell of the positive electrode plate and the negative electrode plate is disposed between the separator, the case having a space in which the electrode assembly is built, the cap assembly coupled to the case and the cap assembly, protrudes into the cap assembly And a positive electrode and a negative electrode terminal electrically connected to the current collector of the positive electrode and the negative electrode plate provided in the electrode assembly.

In the case of the rectangular battery, each of the unit cells cross-aligns each of the unit cells such that the positive electrode terminal and the negative electrode terminal protruding from the top of the cap assembly alternate with the positive electrode terminal and the negative electrode terminal of the neighboring unit cell, and the threaded negative electrode terminal The battery module is constructed by connecting and installing a conductor between the anode terminals via a nut.

In this case, the battery module is configured to connect one to many dozens of unit cells to form one battery module, so that the heat generated from each unit battery can be easily discharged, and moreover, it can be applied to a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV). In the case of secondary batteries, the temperature management is most important.

When heat is not released properly, for example, the heat generated from each unit cell causes an increase in the temperature of the battery module, resulting in a malfunction of the device to which the battery module is applied.

In particular, in the case of HEV battery modules used for vehicles, since they are charged and discharged with a large current, heat is generated by internal reactions of the secondary batteries according to the use conditions, and thus they rise to a considerable temperature. Will degrade the performance.

Therefore, in the case of the HEV battery module applied to a vehicle, a battery management system is applied to maintain the temperature of the battery module in a proper state and to prevent damage to the battery and safety accidents.

The conventional battery module prevents the battery from being overcharged under normal operation of the battery management system, so that the battery operates properly. However, if the battery management system malfunctions, the battery module may be damaged due to overcharging. There is a great risk of occurrence, and there is a conventional problem that it is difficult to properly cope with this if a fire occurs in the battery module.

That is, in the conventional battery module, the temperature of the battery is managed by the provided battery management system, but when a safety accident such as a fire occurs, there is a problem in that the fire extinguishing means is insufficient and the fire can not be suppressed quickly.

Accordingly, the present invention has been made in view of the above-mentioned problems, and an object of the present invention is to detect a fire of a battery module through a battery management system that manages the overall state of the battery in a battery module and quickly extinguish it. To provide a battery module fire extinguishing system.

In order to achieve the above object, the present invention provides a battery management system connected to each unit battery in the battery module to detect the temperature of the unit battery, and connected to the battery management system in accordance with a control signal of the battery management system. It includes a fire extinguisher to eject the extinguishing material.

The battery module may include a plurality of unit cells arranged at intervals, and a housing in which the unit cells are built and a cooling medium for temperature control is distributed.

Herein, the unit cell may be formed in a cylindrical shape or a square shape, and the structure of the battery module in which the unit cell is built is not particularly limited.

In addition, the fire extinguisher may be provided integrally with the battery module or may be separately provided outside the battery module.

In addition, the fire extinguisher is a storage container capable of ejecting the extinguishing liquid or the extinguishing powder, a spout tube for discharging the extinguishing liquid or the extinguishing powder by connecting the storage container and the battery module, which is installed on the spout tube and the battery management system; It is electrically connected to include a valve for opening and closing the discharge pipe.

Therefore, when the valve is opened by the battery management system, the extinguishing liquid or the extinguishing powder in the reservoir is ejected to the battery module through the ejection pipe to quickly extinguish the fire in the battery module.

In addition, the battery management system further includes a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the unit battery inside the housing, it is possible to determine whether a fire occurs by detecting the temperature of the unit battery from the temperature sensor.

Here, the battery management system includes a calculation unit for calculating an output signal detected from a temperature sensor installed in a unit battery, a comparison unit for detecting whether a unit battery is fired by comparing the calculated value with the calculation unit and a stored reference value, the comparison And an output for controlling the fire extinguisher according to the negative signal.

The secondary battery may be used as an energy source for driving a motor of the device in a device operated by using a motor such as a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), an electric vehicle (EV), a wireless cleaner, an electric bicycle, an electric scooter, and the like. Can

Hereinafter, exemplary embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

In the following description, a case where the temperature control system is an air cooling method using air outside the battery module as air for battery module temperature control as an example will be described. Of course, the present invention is not limited to the above structure, it will be applicable to the case of using the air conditioning system of the vehicle in addition to the air-cooled system.

1 is a schematic side cross-sectional view showing the configuration of a battery module fire extinguishing system according to an embodiment of the present invention.

First, the battery module 10 having a large capacity includes a unit cell 11 for producing unit power by having an electrode assembly in which a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate are disposed between the separator plates, and the unit cells 11 at regular intervals. It includes a housing 12 which is arranged and mounted.

The housing 12 has an inlet 13 through which temperature control air for controlling the temperature of the unit cell 11 is introduced on one side thereof, and an outlet 14 through which the air passing through the unit cell 11 is discharged on the opposite side thereof. ) Is formed.

The structure of the housing 12, the positions of the inlet 13 and the outlet 14 and the arrangement of the unit cells 11 in the housing 12 are not particularly limited as long as the structure is satisfied.

In the battery module 10 having the above-described structure, the fire extinguishing system according to the present embodiment includes a fire extinguisher 20 disposed outside the housing 12 and a unit cell 11 inside the housing 12. And a temperature sensor 34 for detecting the temperature of the unit cell 11, and connected to the temperature sensor 34 to apply an output signal to the fire extinguisher 20 according to the detected temperature of the unit cell 11. A battery management system (BMS) 30.

The fire extinguisher 20 has a fire extinguishing powder container 21 in which extinguishing powder is ejected therein, and is connected to the storage container 21 and extends into the housing 12 so as to extinguish the fire powder into the housing 12. The injection pipe 32 for blowing, and the solenoid valve 33 is installed on one side of the blowing pipe 32 to open and close the blowing pipe (32).

Here, the temperature sensor 34 is installed one by one for each unit cell is individually connected to the BMS (30) or installed on one side inside the housing 12 can detect the temperature at the time of fire and the module in the installation position It can be variously applied according to the design and is not particularly limited as long as it can accurately detect the temperature according to the fire occurrence.

In addition, the BMS 30 calculates an output signal detected by the temperature sensor 22 installed in the unit cell to check the current temperature of the unit cell 11, and the unit identified by the operation unit 31. The comparison unit 32 detects whether a fire has occurred in the unit cell by comparing the actual temperature value of the battery with the reference value of the unit cell stored in the data, and according to the signal of the comparison unit 32, It includes an output unit 33 for applying a current value to the solenoid valve 33 installed in the blower pipe 32 to open the blower pipe 32.

In addition, the comparison unit 32 has a built-in data on the temperature of the fire of the unit battery 11 in its own memory, and compares this with the temperature value of the actual unit battery applied from the operation unit 31 to generate a fire. It will detect whether or not.

In addition, the output unit 33 applies a current value to the solenoid valve 33 according to the signal output from the comparator 32.

On the other hand, the fire extinguishing powder reservoir 21 is a fire extinguishing powder or a pressure in the storage container 21 for extinguishing a fire into a container in which the extinguishing powder is stored at a predetermined pressure, so many descriptions of the prior art will be omitted.

And the discharge pipe 32 connected to the reservoir 21 is installed in communication with the housing 12, the installation position is preferably installed on the inlet side of the housing 12 to which the cooling air flows.

Accordingly, the extinguishing powder sprayed from the ejection pipe 32 may be able to extinguish the fire more quickly while proceeding from the inlet 13 of the housing 12 to the outlet 14.

Looking at the action of the digestive system as follows.

The air forcedly supplied through the blower is introduced into the housing 12 through the inlet 13 of the housing 12, and passes out between the unit cells and exits through the outlet 14 formed in the housing 12. .

In this process, the heat generated from the unit cell 11 is cooled by the cooling air. In this process, the temperature sensor 34 installed in the unit cell 11 continuously detects the temperature of the unit cell 11. The detected signal is applied to the calculating part 31 of the BMS 30.

In this case, a fire occurs in the housing due to a circuit abnormality of the unit cell 11, and the calculating unit 31 calculates an actual temperature value of the unit cell by calculating a signal of the temperature sensor 34. This calculated value is sent to the comparator 32 of the BMS 30.

The comparing unit 32 compares the actual temperature of each unit cell 11 applied from the calculating unit 31 with the temperature value at the time of fire of the unit cell 11 pre-stored in the comparing unit. An output signal is sent to the output unit 33 as to whether the actual temperature is higher or lower than the temperature value in the fire.

Accordingly, the output unit 33 applies the output signal to the solenoid valve 33 to supply the fire extinguisher 20 when the actual temperature of the unit cell is equal to or higher than the temperature at the time of occurrence of fire according to the signal of the comparing unit 32. It works.

That is, the solenoid valve 33 receiving the signal from the output unit 33 is opened to open the ejection pipe 32, and thus the extinguishing powder in the extinguishing powder reservoir 21 passes through the ejection pipe 32. Sprayed to (12) to be able to put out the fire quickly.

The temperature control system of the battery module of the present invention described above can be effectively used as a battery for HEV requiring high output / large capacity, but its use is not necessarily limited to HEV.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described above, the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and changes can be made within the scope of the claims and the detailed description of the invention and the accompanying drawings. Naturally, it belongs to

As described above, according to the present embodiment, when a fire occurs in the module, it may be quickly extinguished to protect the battery module and the device in which the battery module is installed.

In addition, it is possible to reduce the risk of safety accidents due to the spread of fire through early suppression of fire.

Claims (9)

A battery management system connected to each unit battery in the battery module and detecting a temperature of the unit battery; Fire extinguisher connected to the battery management system for ejecting the extinguishing material into the battery module according to the control signal of the battery management system Fire extinguishing system of a battery module comprising a. According to claim 1, The battery module includes a plurality of unit cells arranged at intervals, and a fire extinguishing system of a battery module including a housing in which the unit cells are built and the cooling medium for temperature control is distributed. According to claim 1, The fire extinguisher is a fire extinguishing system of the battery module is provided inside or outside the battery module. According to claim 1, The fire extinguisher includes a storage container capable of ejecting the extinguishing liquid or the extinguishing powder, a spout tube for connecting the reservoir and the battery module to eject the extinguishing liquid or the extinguishing powder, and installed on the spout tube and electrically connected to the battery management system. A fire extinguishing system of a battery module, the valve including a valve connected to open and close the discharge pipe. According to claim 1, The battery management system is installed inside the housing, the fire extinguishing system of the battery module including a temperature sensor for detecting the temperature of the unit cell. The method of claim 5, The temperature sensor is a fire extinguishing system of the battery module is installed in each unit cell in the battery module, respectively. According to claim 1, The battery management system includes a calculation unit for calculating an output signal detected from a temperature sensor installed in a unit battery, a comparison unit for detecting whether a unit battery is fired by comparing the calculated value with the calculation unit and a stored reference value, the comparison unit Fire extinguishing system of a battery module including an output unit for controlling the fire extinguisher in accordance with the signal. According to claim 1, The fire extinguisher is connected to the cooling air inlet of the battery module to extinguish the extinguishing material to the inlet of the battery module. According to claim 1, The battery module is a fire extinguishing system of the battery module for driving the motor.

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