Patent ID: 12199421

BEST MODE

In the present application, it should be understood that the terms “comprises,” “has,” “includes,” etc. specify the presence of stated features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, numbers, steps, operations, elements, components, or combinations thereof.

In addition, the same reference numbers will be used throughout the drawings to refer to parts that perform similar functions or operations. In the case in which one part is said to be connected to another part in the specification, not only may the one part be directly connected to the other part, but also, the one part may be indirectly connected to the other part via a further part. In addition, that a certain element is included does not mean that other elements are excluded, but means that such elements may be further included unless mentioned otherwise.

Hereinafter, a battery disconnect unit according to the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIG.2is a plan view of a housing having only a moving plate according to an embodiment of the present invention fastened thereto, andFIG.3is a perspective view of the moving plate according to the embodiment of the present invention.

When describing the housing100and the moving plate200according to the present invention with reference toFIGS.2and3, the housing100includes an insertion portion110configured to allow the moving plate200to be inserted thereinto, a first fastening portion120configured to fasten the moving plate200to the housing100, and a fixing portion130configured to fix the housing100having electric parts mounted therein to a device equipped with the battery disconnect unit.

Here, the first fastening portion120is provided with a plurality of pairs of fastening holes spaced apart from each other by a predetermined distance such that each pair of fastening holes faces each other in the state in which the insertion portion110is interposed therebetween, whereby the moving plate200may be moved and fastened to the housing depending on the sizes of the electric parts mounted on the housing100.

Meanwhile, the electric parts used in the battery disconnect unit are a relay, a sensor, a fuse, etc. One or more of the electric parts may be mounted on the housing100depending on the construction of the battery disconnect unit.

In addition, the moving plate200includes an insert bolt210coupled to the electric parts so as to fix the electric parts to the housing100and a second fastening portion220fastened to the first fastening portion via a bolt while overlapping the first fastening portion120of the housing100so as to mechanically fasten the moving plate200to the housing100.

One or more moving plates200may be provided in one housing100.

That is, the number of moving plates200may be flexibly set based on the number of electric parts mounted in the housing100.

The first fastening portion120and the second fastening portion220are fastened to each other using a mechanical fastening means, such as a bolt, as described above, whereby coupling and separation therebetween are easily performed, and the plurality of pairs of first fastening portions is formed so as to be spaced apart from each other by the predetermined distance, whereby the moving plate200is fixed at an appropriate position based on the sizes of the electric parts to be mounted. Consequently, it is possible to manufacture various battery disconnect units using the same housing100without provision of a separate new housing depending on the construction of a battery pack.

FIG.4is a plan view showing a portion of the housing in the state in which a relay according to an embodiment of the present invention is mounted in the housing, andFIG.5is a plan view showing a portion of the housing in the state in which a relay according to another embodiment of the present invention is mounted in the housing.

That is,FIGS.4and5are figures showing the cases in which relays300having different sizes are mounted in the part indicated by a dotted line inFIG.2, respectively.

A method of mounting the electric parts using the housing100having the moving plate200applied thereto without change of the housing100even in the case in which the sizes of the electric parts are different will be described with reference toFIGS.4and5.

AlthoughFIGS.4and5show the cases in which the sizes of the relays300, among the electric parts, are different, the same may be equally applied to the cases in which the sizes of the electric parts other than the relays300are different.

First, in order to mount the relay300, the moving plate200is located at the insertion portion110of the housing100based on the size of the relay300, and the first fastening portion120and the second fastening portion220are fastened to each other via a bolt, whereby the moving plate200is fixed to the housing100.

That is, in the case in which a relay300having a relatively small size is mounted, as shown inFIG.4, two moving plates200located at opposite sides of the relay300are fixed to ones of the first fastening portions120of the housing100that have the shortest straight distance therebetween. In the case in which a relay300having a larger size than the relay300ofFIG.4is mounted, as shown inFIG.5, two moving plates200located at opposite sides of the relay300are fixed to ones of the first fastening portions of the housing that have a longer straight distance therebetween than inFIG.4. Consequently, it is possible to flexibly cope with the size of the relay300that is mounted.

Next, the relay300is coupled to the insert bolts210of the fixed moving plates200, whereby the relay300may be fixed to the housing100.

Although not shown in the figures, various electric parts, such as sensors having different sizes, may be mounted in the same housing100using the same process through application of only the moving plates200.

Since the moving plates200are applied, as described above, it is possible to use the same housing100even in the case in which electric parts having different sizes are mounted depending on the construction and capacity of a battery pack, whereby it is possible to reduce burden in developing new housings depending on the battery pack.

The battery disconnect unit according to the present invention described above may be applied to a battery management system (BMS), whereby it is possible to mount batteries having various constructions in various kinds of devices.

Here, the BMS estimates states of a battery, such as state of charge (SOC), state of health (SOH), the maximum input and output power allowance amount, and output voltage, and manages the battery using the estimated state information.

In addition, it is possible to control charging and discharging of the battery and to estimate replacement time of the battery using the state information.

In particular, the BMS is applied to a device, such as an electric vehicle (EV), a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), or a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (P-HEV), to stably drive the battery.

Although the specific details of the present invention have been described in detail, those skilled in the art will appreciate that the detailed description thereof discloses only preferred embodiments of the present invention and thus does not limit the scope of the present invention. Accordingly, those skilled in the art will appreciate that various changes and modifications are possible, without departing from the category and technical idea of the present invention, and it will be obvious that such changes and modifications fall within the scope of the appended claims.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

2,100: Housings3,210: Insert bolts110: Insertion portion120: First fastening portion130: Fixing portion200: Moving plate220: Second fastening portion300: Relay