【TECHNICAL FIELD】
5 The present disclosure relates to a battery module and a battery pack including the same,
and more particularly, to a battery module with improved safety and a battery pack including the
same.
【BACKGROUND】
In modern society, as portable devices such as a mobile phone, a notebook computer, a
10 camcorder and a digital camera has been daily used, the development of technologies in the fields
related to mobile devices as described above has been activated. In addition,
chargeable/dischargeable secondary batteries are used as a power source for an electric vehicle
(EV), a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (P-HEV) and the like, in
an attempt to solve air pollution and the like caused by existing gasoline vehicles using fossil fuel.
15 Therefore, there is a growing need for development of the secondary battery.
Currently commercialized secondary batteries include a nickel cadmium battery, a nickel
hydrogen battery, a nickel zinc battery, a lithium secondary battery, and the like. Among them,
the lithium secondary battery has come into the spotlight because they have advantages, for
example, hardly exhibiting memory effects compared to nickel-based secondary batteries and thus
20 being freely charged and discharged, and having very low self-discharge rate and high energy
density.
Such lithium secondary battery mainly uses a lithium-based oxide and a carbonaceous
material as a positive electrode active material and a negative electrode active material,
respectively. The lithium secondary battery includes an electrode assembly in which a positive
25 electrode plate and a negative electrode plate each coated with the positive electrode active
material and the negative electrode active material are disposed with a separator being interposed
between them, and a battery case that seals and houses the electrode assembly together with an
electrolyte solution.
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Generally, the lithium secondary battery may be classified based on the shape of the
exterior material into a can type secondary battery in which the electrode assembly is mounted in
a metal can, and a pouch-type secondary battery in which the electrode assembly is mounted in a
pouch made of an aluminum laminate sheet.