Patent ID: 7507498

Claim:
A secondary battery module comprising a plurality of unit cells stacked one on another, wherein the unit cells are rectangular cells or pouch-shaped cells; the unit cells are spaced apart from each other such that a channel for heat dissipation is defined between major surface planes defining the unit cells, and the battery module further comprises at least one piezoelectric sensor connected to a control unit; the piezoelectric sensor detects an increase of internal pressure of the unit cells and is mounted in the channel between the unit cells in such a manner that the at least one piezoelectric sensor is one of in intimate contact with both the unit cells located at opposite sides of the piezoelectric sensor, attached to a single one of the unit cells, or spaced a predetermined distance from both the unit cells; the control unit which is included in a battery management system (BMS) for managing the overall operations of the battery module, performs a predetermined control process when the sensor voltage transmitted from the at least one piezoelectric sensor is higher than a predetermined critical value; and the control process includes a first-step control process of transmitting a warning signal and a second-step control process of interrupting power.