Patent Description:
The present invention relates to a battery package, a device including the same, and a manufacturing method of a battery package, and in detail, to a battery package battery including a fixing member to increase a fixing force when fixing a battery module in a package, a device including the same, and a manufacturing method of a battery package.

In modern society, in accordance with the daily use of portable devices such as a mobile phone, a laptop computer, a camcorder, a digital camera, and the like, technologies of a field related to the portable devices have been actively developed. In addition, as a secondary battery capable of being charged and discharged is used as a power source of an electric vehicle (EV), a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), and a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (P-HEV) as a method for solving air pollution of conventional gasoline vehicles using a fossil fuel, a necessity for the development of the secondary battery is increasing.

In the case of a secondary battery used in small devices, two or three battery cells are arranged, and in the case of a secondary battery used in a medium and large device such as automobiles, a battery module in which a plurality of battery cells are electrically connected is used.

In order to increase efficiency of a device using the secondary battery, it is preferable to use a secondary battery having a large capacity while having a small size and a low weight, and accordingly, rectangular batteries, pouch-type batteries, and the like, which are integrated with high integration and have a small weight to capacity, are mainly used.

In particular, in the case of a battery module used in a medium-large device, in order to provide capacity above a specific value required by the device, a plurality of battery cells are electrically connected in series, and in this case, stability of the secondary battery itself varies depending on a method of connecting and fixing a plurality of battery cells.

In general, as a method of fixing the battery module inside the battery pack, a method of directly fixing the battery module by using a bolt after stacking a plurality of battery cells is mainly used.

<FIG> is a diagram illustrating a battery module fixing structure using bolts as a conventionally used method.

As shown in <FIG>, there is a method of using a bolt as the conventional fixing method of the battery module, and in this case, the bolt is fastened to the side surface of the lower part of the battery module to fix the battery module to a tray or a lower case of the battery pack. However, since the thickness of the part to which the bolt is fastened, which plays a role of fixing, is small, and the fixing force is low, there is a problem that it is difficult to match the dimensional safety in the fastening structure, and thus there is a problem that the stability of the battery module may not be maintained.

When it is difficult to directly fix the battery module as shown in <FIG>, there is a method fixing the battery module to the battery package by using a bracket. This is to arrange the battery module and the bracket to be overlapped, and to fix using the generated reaction force.

However, in the case of fixing using the conventional bracket, there is a problem that it is difficult to increase the fixing force of the battery module against vibration and impact applied to the battery module, the stability of the battery module is deteriorated when a load above a certain value is received.

In the present invention, to improve the above problems, in the fixing of the battery module, it is necessary to develop the battery pack including a fixing member to increase stability, compared to the conventional battery module fixing method.

<CIT> discloses traction battery assemblies for use in an electric or hybrid vehicle. <CIT>, <CIT> and <CIT> also desclose a battery assembly.

Embodiments of the present invention have been proposed to solve the above problems of the conventionally proposed methods by providing a battery pack including a fixing member, a device including the same, and a manufacturing method of the battery pack for stably fixing the battery module against the vibration, impact, etc. applied to the battery module by processing the surface of the member for fixing the battery module to increase the fixing force.

However, the problems to be solved by exemplary embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the problems described above, and may be variously expanded within the technical spirit of the present invention.

A battery package is provided according claim <NUM>, preferred embodiments are defined in dependent claims <NUM>-<NUM>.

A battery package manufacturing method is defined in claim <NUM>, and preferred embodiments are defined in dependent claims <NUM>-<NUM>.

Also, a device according to claim <NUM> is provided.

According to exemplary embodiments of the present invention, by processing the surface of the fixing member used when fixing the battery module to increase a surface friction force between contact surfaces, a fixing force of the battery module may be increased, and the battery module may be stably fixed against vibrations and impacts.

The present invention will be described more fully hereinafter with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which exemplary embodiments of the invention are shown.

In the present invention, in order to solve the problem in the conventional battery module fixing method, the area of the portion that serves to fix the battery module is increased to enhance the fixing force, and the surface of the widened area is processed in order to prevent the battery module from shaking and falling off against the vibration and impact in all directions toward the battery module to increase the frictional force. This is described in more detail through <FIG> below.

<FIG> is a view showing a battery package including a fixing member according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

<FIG> shows a shape in which a tray <NUM> and a bracket <NUM> as a part of a configuration of a battery package <NUM> are coupled to a battery module <NUM>, and as shown in <FIG>, the battery package <NUM> including the fixing member according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention may include the battery module <NUM> including a plurality of battery cells <NUM>, the tray <NUM> disposed at the lower end of the battery module <NUM> and receiving the battery module <NUM>, and the bracket <NUM> adjacent to one side of the tray <NUM> and mounted and coupled to the one side surface of the lower end of the battery module <NUM>.

In a state in which the battery module <NUM> is mounted on the tray <NUM>, the battery module <NUM> may further include an upper case <NUM> disposed at the upper end of the battery module <NUM> and surrounding the battery module <NUM>, the bracket <NUM> may be a hold-down bracket, and the battery cells <NUM> as plate-shaped battery cells may be connected in a series manner.

Particularly, in the present invention, at least one of the surface of the bracket <NUM> in contact with the battery module <NUM> and the surface of the tray <NUM> in contact with one side surface of the lower end of the battery module <NUM> and disposed adjacent to the bracket <NUM> is processed, and when the bracket <NUM> and the tray <NUM> are coupled to the battery module <NUM> to fix the battery module <NUM>, a friction force is generated in the processed portion by pressure, thereby it is a feature of the present invention to be able to enhance the mutual fixing force.

<FIG> is a view showing a cross-section of a battery package including a fixing member according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

From the cross-sectional surface of the battery pack <NUM> including the fixing member according to the present exemplary embodiment shown in <FIG>, it may be confirmed that the part of the tray <NUM> in contact with the battery module <NUM> and the surface of the bracket <NUM> are processed and the processed part has a wedge shape.

Specifically, <FIG> is the view illustrating a state in which the bracket <NUM> and the tray <NUM> are pressed and fixed to the battery module <NUM>, when the bracket <NUM> and the tray <NUM> are pressed, it may be confirmed that the concave shape is formed according to the processed shape of the bracket <NUM> and the tray <NUM>, that is, the wedge shape on the surface of the battery module <NUM> in contact with the wedge-shaped surface portion of the bracket <NUM> and the tray <NUM>.

<FIG> is a view to explain a shape of a processed surface in a battery package including a fixing member according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

That is, <FIG> shows the wedge shape formed on the surface of the bracket <NUM> or the tray <NUM>, and a plurality of wedge shapes as shown in <FIG> are formed on the processed surface of the bracket <NUM> and the tray <NUM> in the present invention. That is, the surface of the bracket <NUM> and the tray <NUM> includes the shape such as a wedge grip.

<FIG> is a view to explain a pressure applied to a bracket in a battery package including a fixing member according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

According to the present exemplary embodiment, the bracket <NUM> and the tray <NUM> are respectively mounted to the side surface and the lower surface at one side surface of the lower end of the battery module <NUM>, as shown in <FIG>, and as the surface where the battery module <NUM> and the bracket <NUM> are in contact and the surface where the tray <NUM> of the position adjacent to the bracket <NUM> is in contact with the lower part of the battery module <NUM>, a protrusion is formed at each surface of the bracket <NUM> and the tray <NUM>, and the pressure may be applied from the outside for each surface. In the present invention, by applying the pressure to the battery module <NUM> in a direction perpendicular to the surface of the bracket <NUM> and the tray <NUM> of which the surface is processed in this way, it is possible to increase the fixing force to the battery module <NUM>.

Specifically, the bracket <NUM> and the tray <NUM> are made of a type of steel, and the outer surface of the battery module <NUM> including the battery cells may be formed of a plastic, and in this case, the rigidity of the bracket <NUM> and the tray <NUM> becomes higher than the rigidity on the surface of the battery module <NUM>. Thus, by the pressure as shown in <FIG>, while the processed wedge shape of the surface of the bracket <NUM> and the surface of the tray <NUM> having high rigidity presses the surface of the battery module <NUM> having relatively low rigidity, the surface as shown in <FIG> is engraved in the surface of the battery module <NUM>.

As such, while the protruding and recessed shapes are inscribed between the pressing and pressed components, slippage may be prevented between the components, and the frictional force is generated to enhance the fixing force. In particular, it is possible to maintain the high fixing force against the vibration and the impact applied in all directions, not just the vibration and the impact applied to the battery module <NUM> in a specific direction.

The manufacturing method of the battery package according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention, in the battery package including the battery module, the tray disposed at the lower end of the battery module and receiving the battery module and the bracket adjacent to one side of the tray and mounted and coupled to one side surface of the lower end of the battery module, includes a step S100 of processing at least one of the surface of the bracket and the surface of the tray to form the wedge shape and a step S200 of disposing the processed part of the bracket and the tray to be adjacent to one side surface of the lower end of the battery module and pressing it toward the battery module.

According to an exemplary embodiment, a step S300 of forming a concave shape according to the processed shape of the bracket and the tray in the surface of the battery module in contact with the processed surface portion of the bracket and the tray is further included.

When mutually fixing the bracket <NUM> and the tray <NUM> by pressing the bracket <NUM> and the tray <NUM> to the battery module <NUM> to form the shape in the battery module <NUM>, the fixing force is strengthened by the mutual frictional force. In this case, the rigidity of the bracket <NUM> and the tray <NUM> may include a fixing member that is higher in rigidity than the rigidity of the battery module <NUM>, and according to an exemplary embodiment, the bracket <NUM> and the tray <NUM> may be formed of a type of steel, while the surface of the battery module <NUM> may be formed of a plastic material.

Also, a device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention includes a battery package <NUM>, as a power source, including the battery module <NUM> including a plurality of battery cells <NUM>, the tray <NUM> disposed at the lower end of the battery module <NUM> and receiving the battery module <NUM>, and the bracket <NUM> adjacent to one side of the tray <NUM> and mounted and coupled to one side surface of the lower end of the battery module <NUM>, wherein at least one of the surface of the bracket <NUM> in contact with the battery module <NUM> and the surface of the tray <NUM> in contact with one side surface of the lower end of the battery module <NUM> and disposed adjacent to the bracket <NUM> has the wedge shape.

The device may be an electric vehicle, a hybrid electric vehicle, or a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle, but is not limited thereto.

Claim 1:
A battery package (<NUM>) including a fixing member comprising:
a battery module (<NUM>) including a plurality of battery cells (<NUM>);
a tray (<NUM>) disposed at the lower end of the battery module (<NUM>) and receiving the battery module (<NUM>); and
a bracket (<NUM>) adjacent to one side of the tray (<NUM>) and mounted and coupled to one side surface of the lower end of the battery module (<NUM>),
wherein the surface of the bracket (<NUM>) in contact with the battery module (<NUM>) has a wedge shape and includes a plurality of wedge shapes formed thereon and the surface of the tray (<NUM>) in contact with one side surface of the lower end of the battery module (<NUM>) and disposed adjacent to the bracket (<NUM>) has a wedge shape and includes a plurality of wedge shapes formed thereon, and
a concave shape is formed along the processed shape of the bracket (<NUM>) and the tray (<NUM>) at the surface of the battery module (<NUM>) in contact with the surface part of the wedge shape of the bracket (<NUM>) and the tray (<NUM>).