KR20160023379A - Cartridge for secondary battery and battery module including the same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention discloses a secondary battery stacking cartridge in which the structure of a bead portion is improved so that a cooling channel is stably secured around a cooling plate to improve the cooling efficiency of the secondary battery. The secondary battery cartridge according to the present invention includes: an upper cooling plate and a lower cooling plate, which are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance so as to form a cooling passage in an interspace; And a main frame configured to surround the outer cooling part of the upper cooling plate and the lower cooling plate and having an opening formed in at least one side surface in a horizontal direction, the cooling passage being exposed through the opening, The upper cooling plate may include at least one upper beading portion protruding downward to contact a flat upper surface of the lower cooling plate, and the lower cooling plate may protrude upward to contact the flat lower surface of the upper cooling plate And at least one lower beading portion.

Description

[0001] The present invention relates to a cartridge for a secondary battery and a battery module including the same,

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a battery, and more particularly, to a cartridge used for storing or stacking a secondary battery including a plurality of secondary batteries, and a battery module including the same.

The secondary rechargeable batteries are nickel-cadmium batteries, nickel-hydrogen batteries, nickel-zinc batteries, and lithium secondary batteries. Among them, lithium secondary batteries have almost no memory effect compared to nickel- It is very popular because of its low self-discharge rate and high energy density.

These lithium secondary batteries mainly use a lithium-based oxide and a carbonaceous material as a cathode active material and an anode active material, respectively. The lithium secondary battery includes an electrode assembly in which a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate each coated with such a positive electrode active material and a negative electrode active material are disposed with a separator interposed therebetween, and an outer casing, that is, a battery case, for sealingly storing the electrode assembly together with the electrolyte solution.

Generally, a lithium secondary battery can be classified into a can type secondary battery in which an electrode assembly is embedded in a metal can, and a pouch type secondary battery in which an electrode assembly is embedded in a pouch of an aluminum laminate sheet, depending on the shape of the casing.

In recent years, secondary batteries are widely used not only in small-sized devices such as portable electronic devices, but also in medium to large-sized devices such as automobiles and electric power storage devices. When used in such a medium to large-sized apparatus, a large number of secondary batteries are electrically connected to increase capacity and output. In particular, pouch-type secondary batteries are widely used because they are easy to laminate in such a middle- or large-sized apparatus.

However, since the pouch-type secondary battery is generally packaged in a battery case of a laminate sheet of aluminum and polymer resin, the mechanical rigidity is not so large. Therefore, when a battery module including a plurality of pouch-shaped secondary batteries is constructed, a cartridge is often used to protect the secondary battery from external impact, prevent the flow thereof, and facilitate stacking. Such cartridges may be replaced with various other terms such as frames. These cartridges are used in a stacked form to constitute a battery module, and the secondary battery can be located in an empty space formed when the cartridges are stacked.

Meanwhile, when a plurality of secondary batteries are assembled using a plurality of cartridges, a plate-shaped cooling fin, that is, a cooling plate may be interposed between the secondary batteries. The secondary battery may be used in a high temperature environment such as in the summer, and the secondary battery itself may also generate heat. In this case, when the plurality of secondary batteries are laminated to each other, the temperature of the secondary battery may be further increased. If the temperature is higher than the proper temperature, the performance of the secondary battery may deteriorate, and there is a risk of explosion or ignition in severe cases. Therefore, when constructing the battery module, it is possible to use a configuration in which a cooling plate is interposed between the secondary batteries to prevent the temperature rise of the secondary battery through the cooling plate.

In the case of the battery module in which the cooling plate is disposed between the secondary batteries, the secondary battery can be cooled in various forms and systems. Among these cooling methods, an air-cooling type in which the temperature of the secondary battery is lowered through heat exchange between the cooling plate and the air by making the outside air flow around the cooling plate is widely used.

However, in the case of a battery module that cools the secondary battery by using the air cooling type, it is important that the flow path is stably secured around the cooling plate so that the external air flows well through the flow path. However, in the case of the conventional battery module, there is a problem that the flow path can not be stably secured around the cooling plate. Particularly, the aluminum plate is widely used as the cooling plate. The cooling plate made of the aluminum plate is deformed such as the process of manufacturing the cartridge, such as the injection process of the frame made of the plastic part in the cartridge or the pressing or twisting thereof easy to do.

However, such a deformation of the cooling plate reduces or prevents the size of the flow passage formed around the cooling plate, thereby preventing the flow of external air through the flow passage smoothly, thereby causing a problem of significantly lowering the cooling efficiency of the secondary battery through the cooling plate .

In addition, in recent years, a battery module is constructed by using a secondary battery having a large size in order to increase output or capacity. In the case of a cartridge for stacking such a large secondary battery, There is no other choice. However, if the size of the cooling plate is increased, the possibility of deformation of the cooling plate is further increased, and it becomes more difficult to stably secure the cooling channel.

Conventionally, a configuration for forming a beading portion on a cooling plate to prevent such deformation of the cooling plate has been proposed. However, there is a limit to prevent deformation of the cooling plate only by the configuration of the conventional beading portion.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention has been made keeping in mind the above problems occurring in the prior art, and an object of the present invention is to provide a secondary battery stacking cartridge in which the cooling channel is stably secured around the cooling plate to improve the cooling efficiency of the secondary battery, And a battery module, a battery pack, and an automobile including the same.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent from the following description, and it will be understood by those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited thereto. It will also be readily apparent that the objects and advantages of the invention may be realized and attained by means of the instrumentalities and combinations particularly pointed out in the appended claims.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a secondary battery cartridge comprising: an upper cooling plate and a lower cooling plate which are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance to form a cooling passage in an interspace; And a main frame configured to surround the outer cooling part of the upper cooling plate and the lower cooling plate and having an opening formed in at least one side surface in a horizontal direction, the cooling passage being exposed through the opening, The upper cooling plate may include at least one upper beading portion protruding downward to contact a flat upper surface of the lower cooling plate, and the lower cooling plate may protrude upward to contact the flat lower surface of the upper cooling plate And at least one lower beading portion.

Preferably, the main frame has two openings on opposite sides thereof, and the upper bead and the lower bead extend in a direction between the two openings.

Also preferably, the longitudinal direction of the at least one upper beading portion is aligned with the longitudinal direction of the at least one lower beading portion.

Also preferably, between the two openings of the main frame, one upper beading portion and one lower beading portion are arranged in a line.

Preferably, the upper bead portion and the lower bead portion are alternately arranged along the horizontal direction.

Preferably, the upper cooling plate and the lower cooling plate are formed in a shape and size corresponding to each other, and the lower bead is formed at a position where the upper bead is present when the upper cooling plate is inverted upside down.

Also preferably, the upper cooling plate, the lower cooling plate and the main frame include two or more of them.

Further, preferably, at least two main frames are constructed such that at least one side surface is coupled to each other in the horizontal direction.

Preferably, the upper cooling plate, the lower cooling plate, and the main frame are disposed more than two with respect to a longer side of the secondary battery.

Preferably, the upper cooling plate and the lower cooling plate provided on the side where the cathode lead and the cathode lead of the secondary battery are located have a smaller area than the other upper cooling plate and lower cooling plate.

Also preferably, the two or more cooling channels formed by the two or more upper cooling plates and the lower cooling plate are configured to be separated from each other.

Preferably, one secondary battery is accommodated in an upper portion of the upper cooling plate, and another secondary battery is accommodated in a lower portion of the lower cooling plate.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a battery module for a secondary battery according to the present invention.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a battery pack for a secondary battery according to the present invention.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided an automobile comprising a cartridge for a secondary battery according to the present invention.

According to one aspect of the present invention, a cooling plate and a cooling channel are provided in the cartridge itself, and only the cartridge is stacked when the battery module is constructed. Alternatively, a separate structure or process for forming a cooling channel, Is not required.

Therefore, according to this aspect of the present invention, the configuration of the battery module using the stacked cartridge for a secondary battery can be performed more easily, and the structure of the battery module can be further simplified.

Further, according to one aspect of the present invention, two secondary batteries are housed in one secondary battery stacking frame, and two cooling plates are positioned between the two secondary batteries. Therefore, since one cooling plate is provided for each secondary battery, the cooling efficiency of the secondary battery can be improved.

In particular, according to one aspect of the present invention, a beading portion is formed on each of two cooling plates, and the beading portion is located at a different portion, so that one beading portion can be deeply formed. Therefore, according to this aspect of the present invention, the deformation of the beading portion is minimized, and the support of the cooling channel by the beading portion can be stably performed.

Furthermore, when the cartridge is manufactured by the insert injection molding method in which the main frame is injection-molded while inserting the cooling plate, the shrinkage of the cooling plate may not be caused by the rigid beading portion in the insert injection molding of the main frame.

Therefore, according to the present invention, the flow of the cooling fluid through the cooling channel can be smoothly performed, so that the cooling performance of the battery module can be stably secured.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS The accompanying drawings, which are incorporated in and constitute a part of the specification, illustrate preferred embodiments of the invention and, together with the description of the invention given below, serve to further the understanding of the technical idea of the invention, And should not be construed as limiting.
1 is a perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a secondary battery cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention.
Fig. 2 is a front view of Fig. 1. Fig.
Fig. 3 is a perspective view showing only the configuration of the cooling plate in Fig. 1. Fig.
Fig. 4 is an exploded perspective view of Fig. 3. Fig.
5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A 'in Fig.
Fig. 6 is a top view of the configuration of Fig. 1. Fig.
Fig. 7 is a perspective view schematically showing the separation structure of the secondary battery cartridge shown in Fig. 1. Fig.
Fig. 8 is a perspective view schematically showing the stacking configuration of the secondary battery cartridge shown in Fig. 1 and the storage configuration of the secondary battery. Fig.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to this, terms and words used in the present specification and claims should not be construed as limited to ordinary or dictionary terms, and the inventor should appropriately interpret the concepts of the terms appropriately It should be construed in accordance with the meaning and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention based on the principle that it can be defined.

Therefore, the embodiments described in the present specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are only the most preferred embodiments of the present invention and do not represent all the technical ideas of the present invention. Therefore, It is to be understood that equivalents and modifications are possible.

The secondary battery cartridge according to the present invention is used when a plurality of secondary batteries are stacked and packaged to constitute a battery module, thereby holding the secondary battery to prevent its flow and guide the assembling of the secondary battery.

FIG. 1 is a perspective view schematically showing a configuration of a secondary battery cartridge 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a front view of FIG. However, in FIG. 1, for the sake of convenience of explanation, some of the configurations are shown in a cut-away form.

Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, a cartridge 1000 for a secondary battery according to the present invention includes an upper cooling plate 100, a lower cooling plate 200, and a main frame 300.

The upper cooling plate 100 is formed in a wide plate shape, and the large cooling plate 100 is laid down so as to face upward and downward.

The lower cooling plate 200 is formed in the shape of a plate like the upper cooling plate 100 and is formed in a lower part of the upper cooling plate 100 in such a manner that a large surface thereof faces the large surface of the upper cooling plate 100 .

At this time, the lower cooling plate 200 may be disposed at a predetermined distance from the upper cooling plate 100. In particular, the lower cooling plate 200 may be arranged to be parallel to the upper cooling plate 100 in a horizontal direction. In this way, when the lower cooling plate 200 and the upper cooling plate 100 are disposed to be spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance, a fluid, particularly, a cooling fluid for cooling can flow into the void space therebetween. That is, the spacing between the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 can form a cooling channel in a space between the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200. [

Both the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 may be formed of a material having thermal conductivity so as to perform heat exchange with the upper and lower secondary cells. Particularly, the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 may be made of an aluminum material which is excellent in thermal conductivity, easy to mold, and light in weight. However, the present invention is not limited to such a cooling plate material, and the cooling plate may be made of various materials such as metal other than aluminum.

The main frame 300 may include four sides to cover the outer circumference of the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200. In particular, as shown in FIG. 1, the main frame 300 may be formed in a rectangular ring shape having a center portion hollowed out from the top to the bottom. The upper cooling plate 100 may be exposed in the upper direction and the lower cooling plate 200 may be exposed in the lower direction in the hollow central portion of the main frame 300. [ In this case, the main frame 300 may have four unit frames connected at both ends thereof, and each unit frame may form one side of the main frame 300.

The main frame 300 may be made of a polymer material such as plastic. In particular, the main frame 300 may be manufactured by injection molding in a state where the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 are interposed. However, the present invention is not necessarily limited to such materials and manufacturing methods.

The main frame 300 may have openings formed horizontally on at least one side surface thereof. For example, as indicated by O in Figs. 1 and 2, the main frame 300 may have openings in some aspects, i. E., In some unit frames. Such an opening may be formed in a horizontal direction. Particularly, it can be said that the opening is formed in a direction passing between the inside of the cartridge in which the internal space for storing the secondary battery is formed and the outside side opposite thereto.

In this case, the cooling channel formed in the space between the cooling plate and the lower cooling plate 200 may be exposed to the outside through the opening formed in the side surface of the main frame 300. [ That is, a cooling fluid, such as air, located outside the cartridge can flow into the cooling passage through the opening through the main frame 300. Further, the cooling fluid located in the cooling passage can be discharged to the outside of the cartridge through such opening.

The upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 may have one or more beading portions. Hereinafter, the upper beading portion 110 is referred to as a beading portion formed on the upper cooling plate 100, and the lower beading portion 210 is referred to as a beading portion formed on the lower cooling plate 200. The structure of the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 having the beading portion will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 4 and 5. FIG.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing only the structure of the cooling plate in FIG. 1, and FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view taken along the line A-A 'in Fig.

3 to 5, the upper cooling plate 100 is formed in the shape of a flat plate, and the upper cooling plate 100 is formed as a part protruding downward and is configured to contact the upper surface of the lower cooling plate 200, (110).

The lower cooling plate 200 is formed in the shape of a flat plate and has a lower beading portion 210 formed to protrude upward in a part and configured to contact the lower surface of the upper cooling plate 100.

Particularly, the upper beading portion 110 is in contact with the flat upper surface of the lower cooling plate 200 in which the lower beading portion 210 is not formed, and the lower beading portion 210 is in contact with the upper surface of the lower cooling plate 200 in which the upper beading portion 110 is not formed And is in contact with the flat bottom surface of the upper cooling plate 100. That is, the upper beading portion 110 and the lower beading portion 210 are formed at different positions so as not to overlap each other when the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 are viewed from the upper side to the lower side, Can be configured not to be contacted. The relative positions of the upper bead 110 and the lower bead 210 will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.

Fig. 6 is a top view of the configuration of Fig. 1. Fig. 6, the position of the lower beading portion 210 provided in the lower cooling plate 200 is indicated by a dotted line for convenience of explanation.

Referring to FIGS. 4 and 6, the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 are provided with at least one upper beading portion 110 and a lower beading portion 210. More specifically, a total of six upper beading portions 110 are provided on the upper cooling plate 100, and a total of six lower beading portions 210 are provided on the lower cooling plate 200. At this time, the position of the upper beading portion 110 is set so as to overlap with the position of the lower beading portion 210 when the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 are vertically stacked, . In other words, in the present invention, the lower surface of the upper beading portion 110 may not be in contact with the lower beading portion 210, and the upper surface of the lower beading portion 210 may not be in contact with the upper beading portion 110 have.

According to this structure of the present invention, it is possible to maximize the protruding height of the upper beading portion 110 and the lower beading portion 210 while allowing the beading portion to be formed on both the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 have. That is, since the upper beading portion 110 and the lower beading portion 210 do not interfere with each other, the height of the upper beading portion 110 and the lower beading portion 210 is set to the upper cooling plate 100, And the lower cooling plate 200. In this case, For example, when the distance between the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 is 2 mm, both of the upper beading portion 110 and the lower beading portion 210 are configured such that their respective projecting heights are close to 2 mm can do. Therefore, according to this aspect of the present invention, deformation of the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 by the beading portion can be minimized. Particularly, when the cartridge according to the present invention is manufactured by insert injection molding, the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 are formed during the molding of the main frame 300 due to the high- It can be prevented from being deformed by being shrunk in the horizontal direction. Therefore, the cooling flow path formed between the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 can be stably maintained.

Preferably, the main frame 300 has two openings, and each of the openings may be positioned on a side opposite to the other. The upper beading portion 110 and the lower beading portion 210 may be formed to extend in the direction between the two openings.

For example, as indicated by O in Fig. 6, the openings may be provided on the front side (located on the lower side of the drawing) and the rear side (on the upper side of the drawing) of the main frame 300, respectively. According to this configuration of the present invention, the flow direction of the cooling fluid flowing through the cooling channel can be made in the front-rear direction of the cartridge as indicated by an arrow. In this case, the opening located at the front side of the main frame 300 functions as an inlet of the cooling channel, and the opening located at the rear side of the main frame 300 functions as an outlet of the cooling channel.

In this configuration, the upper beading portion 110 and the lower beading portion 210 may be formed to extend from the front end side to the rear end side. According to this embodiment of the present invention, since the upper beading portion 110 and the lower beading portion 210 are formed to extend along the flow direction of the cooling fluid, the upper beading portion 110 and the lower beading portion 210 210 can be minimized to prevent the flow of the fluid from being disturbed. Further, the upper beading portion 110 and the lower beading portion 210 can guide the flow direction of the cooling fluid between the two openings. Therefore, the flow of the cooling fluid passing through the cooling flow path can be made more smooth and the cooling performance can be improved.

6, when the opening portion of the main frame 300, that is, the opening portion of the cooling passage is formed to extend in the left-right direction, the direction of the cooling passage is formed in the front- . Therefore, the upper beading portion 110 and the lower beading portion 210 may also be formed to extend in the longitudinal direction perpendicular to the extending direction of the opening portion of the main frame 300.

Also, preferably, the longitudinal direction of the at least one upper beading portion 110 may be aligned with the longitudinal direction of at least one lower beading portion 210.

For example, as shown in FIG. 6, when the longitudinal center line for any one of the upper beading portions 110 is M, the longitudinal center line is at least equal to the length of the other lower beading portion 210 May be configured to coincide with the directional center line. That is, at least one upper beading portion 110 and a lower beading portion 210 having M as a center line may exist.

The upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 are both positioned at the beading portion 110 and the lower cooling bead 210 by arranging at least one of the upper beading portion 110 and the lower beading portion 210 between the two openings, So that the deformation preventing effect can be achieved. The upper beading portion 110 and the lower beading portion 210 are arranged in a line in the cooling channel so that the cooling fluid is prevented from hitting the upper beading portion 110 and the lower beading portion 210, The flow of the fluid can be made more smooth.

6, one upper beading portion 110 and one lower beading portion 210 are arranged so as to be aligned with each other between two openings formed in the main frame 300. As shown in FIG. . 6, one lower beading portion 210 and one upper beading portion 110 (refer to FIG. 6) are formed on the center line M from the front end opening of the main frame 300 to the rear end opening portion of the main frame 300 ) May be sequentially positioned.

According to this embodiment of the present invention, only one beading portion may be formed in each of the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 between the two openings. Therefore, it is possible to achieve the deformation preventing effect of the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 by the beading portion while reducing the process of forming the beading portion. Therefore, both the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 are prevented from being deformed by the upper beading portion 110 and the lower beading portion 210, so that the cooling channel can be stably maintained. Further, the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 have a similar deformation preventing force to each other, so that any one of the cooling plates can be prevented from being deformed.

Also, the upper beading portion 110 and the lower beading portion 210 may be arranged alternately along the horizontal direction.

For example, referring to the direction of a line B1-B1 'in the left and right direction of the cartridge in FIG. 6, the lower beading portion 210, the upper beading portion 110, and the lower beading portion 210 in the left- The upper beading portion 110 and the lower beading portion 210 are alternately arranged. 6, the upper beading portion 110, the lower beading portion 210, and the upper beading portion 110 are arranged in the order from the left to the right in the order of B2-B2 ' 110 and the lower beading portion 210 are alternately arranged.

6, the lower beading portion 210 and the upper beading portion 110 are positioned in order from the front end side to the rear end side.

The upper beading portion 110 and the lower beading portion 210 are alternately arranged along the horizontal direction so that the upper beading portion 110 and the lower beading portion 210 are not overlapped with each other, The distance between the beading portions 110 and the distance between the lower beading portions 210 can be minimized. Further, the distance between the upper beading portions 110 and the distance between the lower beading portions 210 may be configured to be similar. Therefore, it is possible to prevent the structural rigidity of the upper cooling plate 100 from being lowered at the portion between the upper beading portions 110 and to prevent the structural rigidity of the lower cooling plate 200 from deteriorating at the portion between the lower beading portions 210 can do.

Also, preferably, the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 may be formed in shapes and sizes corresponding to each other. For example, as shown in FIG. 4, the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 may have the same shape and the same size. In this case, the lower beading portion 210 may be formed at a position where the upper beading portion 110 exists when the upper cooling plate 100 is vertically inverted.

For example, in FIG. 4, when the upper cooling plate 100 is rotated 180 degrees with respect to the C-C 'line that is the center line of the upper cooling plate 100, the upper cooling plate 100 is rotated And may be configured to have the same shape and size as the lower cooling plate 200. Particularly, in this case, the position of the upper beading portion 110 may be configured to coincide with the position of the lower beading portion 210 formed on the lower cooling plate 200.

According to this embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to use both as the upper cooling plate 100 or the lower cooling plate 200 as one cooling plate. Therefore, it is not necessary to separately prepare the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200, and the process can be simplified.

Meanwhile, the secondary battery cartridge 1000 according to the present invention may include at least two upper cooling plates 100, a lower cooling plate 200, and a main frame 300, respectively. This will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.

Fig. 7 is a perspective view schematically showing the separation structure of the secondary battery cartridge 1000 shown in Fig.

Referring to Fig. 7, a secondary battery cartridge 1000 according to the present invention includes a plurality of unit cartridges, that is, a first cartridge 1100 and a second cartridge 1200. Fig. More specifically, when the first cartridge 1100 and the second cartridge 1200 of FIG. 7 are combined, a cartridge 1000 for a secondary battery as shown in FIG. 1 can be constructed.

The first cartridge 1100 and the second cartridge 1200 each include a separate main frame 300, a separate upper cooling plate 100, and a separate lower cooling plate 200, respectively. Therefore, one secondary battery cartridge 1000 composed of the first cartridge 1100 and the second cartridge 1200 includes two main frames 300, two upper cooling plates 100, and two lower cooling plates (200). In particular, the first cartridge 1100 and the second cartridge 1200 are mounted on the outer peripheral surface of the plate-shaped upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200, respectively, as shown in Figs. 1 and 7, (300) may be present.

The first cartridge 1100 and the second cartridge 1200 are physically separated from each other and configured to be mutually engageable. In particular, the main frame 300 of the first cartridge 1100 and the main frame 300 of the second cartridge 1200 may be configured such that at least one side thereof is coupled to each other in the horizontal direction.

Here, the first cartridge 1100 and the main frame 300 of the second cartridge 1200 may each have four sides. That is, the main frame 300 of the first cartridge 1100 is composed of four sides, and the main frame 300 of the second cartridge 1200 is also composed of four sides. At this time, a unit frame constituting one side of the main frame 300 of the first cartridge 1100 and a unit frame constituting one side of the main frame 300 of the second cartridge 1200 are coupled to each other in the horizontal direction Lt; / RTI > For example, in FIG. 7, the right unit frame of the main frame 300 of the first cartridge 1100 and the left unit frame of the main frame 300 of the second cartridge 1200 may be configured to be coupled to each other have.

By coupling the main frames 300, one secondary battery cartridge 1000 can be completed. That is, the first cartridge 1100 and the second cartridge 1200 can be coupled with each other in such a manner that the side surfaces thereof are in contact with each other while the both sides of the cooling plate are laid down so as to face upward and downward.

As described above, the secondary battery cartridge 1000 according to the present invention may be configured in such a manner that the first cartridge 1100 and the second cartridge 1200 are coupled to each other. The first cartridge 1100 and the second cartridge 1200 The secondary battery can be entirely accommodated and protected. This will be described in more detail with reference to FIG.

8 is a perspective view schematically showing the stacking configuration of the secondary battery cartridge 1000 shown in FIG. 1 and the storage configuration of the secondary battery.

Referring to FIG. 8, the secondary battery cartridge 1000 according to the present invention is configured to be stacked in the vertical direction. When the cartridge is stacked in the vertical direction, an empty space is formed therein, and the pouch-shaped secondary battery 10 can be accommodated in the empty space.

Particularly, each secondary battery cartridge 1000 is configured such that the first cartridge 1100 and the second cartridge 1200 are coupled to each other, and the pouch type secondary battery 10 is connected to the first cartridge 1100 by the first cartridge 1100 A part of which is located in the space to be formed, and another part is located in the space formed by the second cartridge 1200. [ 8, the right portion of the pouch type secondary battery 10 where the electrode lead is located is housed in an internal space formed by the second cartridge 1200, and the pouch- The left portion of the battery 10 is housed in an internal space formed by the first cartridge 1100. [

Meanwhile, as shown in FIG. 8, the secondary battery 10 may be a pouch-shaped secondary battery having a rectangular shape viewed from the upper side to the lower side. In this case, the pouch type secondary battery 10 can be configured in a form having approximately four sides. In particular, the pouch-type secondary battery 10 may have a rectangular shape. In this case, the pouch-type secondary battery 10 may have two long sides and two short sides.

In this embodiment, the first cartridge 1100 and the second cartridge 1200 may be configured to be located at different portions with respect to the long side of the pouch type secondary battery 10. That is, the first cartridge 1100 and the second cartridge 1200 can be configured to divide the long side of the pouch-type secondary battery 10 into two parts and cover the different parts, respectively. For example, when the sides located on the front end side and the rear end side of the pouch type secondary battery 10 are configured to be longer than the sides located on the left and right sides with reference to Fig. 8, the first cartridge 1100 and the second cartridge 1100, The first cartridge 1100 covers the left side portion of the pouch type secondary battery 10 and the second cartridge 1100 covers the left side portion of the pouch type secondary battery 10, The cartridge 1200 may be configured to cover the right portion of the pouch type secondary battery 10. [

Even though the overall size of the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 is not large, there is a high possibility that the shape of the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 becomes long if the length is increased in one direction. It is possible to reduce the elongation in one direction. Therefore, according to this configuration of the present invention, deformation of the cooling plate can be prevented, and the cooling efficiency by the cooling plate can be more stably secured.

Meanwhile, the secondary battery 10 may include a cathode lead 11 and a cathode lead 12 protruding from the case. When the secondary battery 10 is mounted on the cartridge, the positive electrode lead 11 and the negative electrode lead 12 are connected to an external device As shown in Fig.

At this time, the positive electrode lead and the negative electrode lead may be configured to be located only in one of the first cartridge 1100 and the second cartridge 1200. [ In particular, the pouch type secondary battery 10 may be configured as a unidirectional secondary battery in which the positive electrode lead and the negative electrode lead are located on the same side of the pouch. At this time, the positive electrode lead and the negative electrode lead of the secondary battery may be located in only one of the first cartridge 1100 and the second cartridge 1200.

In this case, the first cartridge 1100 or the second cartridge 1200, in which both the positive electrode lead 11 and the negative electrode lead 12 are located, can be made smaller in size than the other cartridges. Particularly, the first cartridge 1100 or the second cartridge 1200 in which both the positive electrode lead and the negative electrode lead are located is configured such that the sizes of the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 are smaller than those of the other unit cartridges .

8, the positive electrode lead 11 and the negative electrode lead 12 of the pouch type secondary battery are located only in the second cartridge 1200, As shown in Fig. In this case, the area of the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 is smaller than the area of the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 of the first cartridge 1100 Lt; / RTI >

In the case of a secondary battery, particularly a pouch type secondary battery, the portion where the electrode lead is located may generate more heat than the other portions. For example, when the secondary battery is divided into a portion to be mounted to the first cartridge 1100 and a portion to be mounted to the second cartridge 1200, the second cartridge (second cartridge) 1200 may generate relatively more heat than the portion of the first cartridge 1100 that is not provided with such an electrode lead. At this time, if a cooling fluid of a similar flow rate flows in the cooling flow path of the first cartridge 1100 and the cooling flow path of the second cartridge 1200, the cooling plate area of the second cartridge 1200 becomes equal to that of the first cartridge 1100 It can be said that the cooling flow path of the second cartridge 1200 flows more per unit area than the cooling flow path of the first cartridge 1100 because the area is smaller than the cooling plate area. Therefore, the cooling performance per unit area of the second cartridge 1200 is improved by allowing the cooling fluid to flow at a higher flow rate to the cooling flow path of the second cartridge 1200 where more heat is generated, ) Can be made higher than the cooling performance per unit area. Therefore, according to this embodiment of the present invention, the partial thermal imbalance for one secondary battery can be solved.

Also, preferably, two or more cooling channels formed by two or more upper cooling plates 100 and lower cooling plates 200 may be configured to be separated from each other. That is, the secondary battery cartridge 1000 according to an embodiment of the present invention may include the first cartridge 1100 and the second cartridge 1200, and the first cartridge 1100 and the second cartridge 1200 All of the cooling channels may be separately formed between the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200. The cooling channel formed in the first cartridge 1100 and the cooling channel formed in the second cartridge 1200 are not connected to each other even when the first cartridge 1100 and the second cartridge 1200 are coupled to each other, Lt; / RTI > In this case, separate cooling fluids can flow in and out of the flow path formed in the first cartridge 1100 and the flow path formed in the second cartridge 1200, respectively, 1100 and the second cartridge 1200 can be enabled independently.

Particularly, in the case where the cooling flow paths of the first cartridge 1100 and the second cartridge 1200 are formed independently of each other as described above, the temperature of the secondary battery can be changed adaptively according to the partial temperature deviation of the secondary battery. It may be easy to cope with. For example, when the temperature of the portion of the secondary battery mounted in the first cartridge 1100 is higher than the temperature of the portion of the secondary battery 1200 mounted in the second cartridge 1200, It is possible to allow a relatively large flow rate of the cooling fluid to flow through the cooling flow path of the first and second heat exchangers 1100 and 1100. [

8, the upper cooling plate 100 and the lower cooling plate 200 are located at the center in the vertical direction when one cartridge is viewed from the front or side of the object, One secondary battery is accommodated in an upper portion of the plate 100 and another secondary battery can be accommodated in a lower portion of the lower cooling plate 200. That is, in the case of the cartridge for a secondary battery 1000 according to the present invention, two pouch-shaped secondary batteries may be stored per one secondary battery cartridge 1000. According to this configuration of the present invention, since a separate cooling plate is disposed adjacent to one secondary battery, and the cooling flow path is located near such cooling plate, the cooling efficiency for the secondary battery when the cartridges are stacked and the battery module is constructed It can be stably secured.

The battery module according to the present invention includes at least one secondary battery cartridge 1000 and a secondary battery according to the present invention. In particular, as shown in FIG. 8, the battery module according to the present invention includes two or more secondary battery cartridges 1000 stacked in the vertical direction, and one or more secondary batteries housed in the internal space of the stacked- The battery module can be configured.

In addition, the battery module according to the present invention may further include an inlet duct and an outlet duct, in addition to the cartridge for a secondary battery and the secondary battery 1000. Here, the inflow duct may be provided in an opening portion of the cooling passage formed in the cartridge, and can function as a space and a passage for allowing the fluid to flow into the cooling passage. The outlet duct may be provided in another opening portion of the cooling passage formed in the cartridge, and may function as a space and a passage for allowing the fluid flowing in the cooling passage to flow out of the battery module. In particular, the cartridge according to an embodiment of the present invention may have openings formed on two sides of the main frame 300, and the inlet duct and the outlet duct may be provided on the side where the openings are formed, respectively. On the other hand, the inlet duct and the outlet duct may be provided with a fan to facilitate the flow of the cooling fluid.

The battery pack according to the present invention may include at least one battery module according to the present invention. The battery module may include a plurality of the secondary battery cartridges 1000 according to the present invention. Therefore, it can be said that the battery pack according to the present invention includes the cartridge 1000 for a secondary battery according to the present invention. In addition, the battery pack according to the present invention may include a case for accommodating such a battery module, various devices for controlling charge and discharge of the battery module, such as a battery management system (BMS), a current sensor, a fuse, . ≪ / RTI >

The secondary battery cartridge 1000 according to the present invention can be applied to an automobile such as an electric car or a hybrid car. That is, the automobile according to the present invention may include the battery pack according to the present invention, and the battery pack 1000 according to the present invention may be included in the battery pack.

While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments. It will be understood that various modifications and changes may be made without departing from the scope of the appended claims.

In the present specification, terms indicating upward, downward, leftward, rightward, forward, and backward directions are used, but these terms are for convenience of explanation only and may vary depending on the position of an object or the position of an observer It will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention is not limited thereto.

10: Secondary battery
100: upper cooling plate
110: upper beading portion
200: Lower cooling plate
210: lower beading portion
300: main frame
1000: Cartridge for secondary battery

Claims (15)

An upper cooling plate and a lower cooling plate which are spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance so as to form a cooling passage in the space; And
A main cooling fan arranged to surround the outer periphery of the upper cooling plate and the lower cooling plate and having an opening formed in at least one side surface in a horizontal direction,
/ RTI >
The upper cooling plate may include at least one upper beading portion protruding downward to contact a flat upper surface of the lower cooling plate, and the lower cooling plate may protrude upward to contact the flat lower surface of the upper cooling plate Wherein the upper and lower beading portions are provided with at least one lower beading portion. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the main frame has two openings on opposite sides thereof,
Wherein the upper bead portion and the lower bead portion are elongated in a direction between the two openings. 3. The method of claim 2,
Wherein the at least one upper beading portion is arranged so as to be in line with the longitudinal direction of at least one lower beading portion. The method of claim 3,
Wherein one upper beading portion and one lower beading portion are arranged in a line between two openings of the main frame. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the upper bead portion and the lower bead portion are alternately arranged in the horizontal direction. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the upper cooling plate and the lower cooling plate are formed in shapes and sizes corresponding to each other,
Wherein the lower bead is formed at a position where the upper bead is present when the upper cooling plate is vertically inverted. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the upper cooling plate, the lower cooling plate, and the main frame include at least two of the upper cooling plate, the lower cooling plate, and the main frame. 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein at least one of the two or more main frames is configured to be coupled to each other in the horizontal direction. 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein at least two of the upper cooling plate, the lower cooling plate, and the main frame are disposed with respect to a longer side of the rechargeable battery. 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the upper cooling plate and the lower cooling plate provided on a side where the positive electrode lead and the negative electrode lead of the secondary battery are located have a smaller area than the other upper cooling plate and the lower cooling plate. 8. The method of claim 7,
Wherein at least two cooling channels formed by at least two of the upper cooling plate and the lower cooling plate are separated from each other. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein one secondary battery is housed in an upper portion of the upper cooling plate and another secondary battery is housed in a lower portion of the lower cooling plate. A battery module comprising the secondary battery cartridge according to any one of claims 1 to 12. A battery pack comprising the secondary battery cartridge according to any one of claims 1 to 12. 13. A vehicle comprising the cartridge for a secondary battery according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

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