TECHNICAL FIELD
The present disclosure relates to a battery pack, an electronic device, and a vehicle,
and more particularly, to a battery pack for securing easy installation of a temperature
sensor and enhancing reliability of temperature measurement for a plurality of battery cells.
The present application claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2020-
10 0137092 filed on October 21, 2020, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by
reference.
BACKGROUND ART
Recently, with the rapid increase in demand for portable electronic products such
15 as laptop computers, video cameras, and mobile phones and the extensive development of
electric vehicles, accumulators for energy storage, robots and satellites, many studies are
being made on high performance secondary batteries that can be repeatedly recharged.
Currently, commercially available secondary batteries include nickel-cadmium
batteries, nickel-hydrogen batteries, nickel-zinc batteries, lithium secondary batteries and
20 the like, and among them, lithium secondary batteries have little or no memory effect, and
thus they are gaining more attention than nickel-based secondary batteries for their
advantages that recharging can be done whenever it is convenient, the self-discharge rate is
very low and the energy density is high.
3
These lithium secondary battery mainly uses lithium-based oxide and carbon
material as a positive electrode active material and a negative electrode active material,
respectively. In addition, this lithium secondary battery includes an electrode assembly in
which a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate respectively coated with the
5 positive electrode active material and the negative electrode active material are disposed
with a separator interposed therebetween, and an exterior, namely a battery case, for
hermetically accommodating the electrode assembly together with an electrolyte.
In addition, depending on the shape of the exterior, lithium secondary batteries
may be classified into a can-type battery cell in which the electrode assembly is included in
10 a metal can and a pouch-type battery cell in which the electrode assembly is included in a
pouch made of an aluminum laminate sheet.
Here, in case of the can-type battery cell, the metal can in which the electrode
assembly is included may be made in a cylindrical shape. The can-type battery cell may
be used to construct a battery pack that includes a module case for accommodating a
15 plurality of secondary batteries and a bus bar configured to electrically connect the
plurality of battery cells.
Meanwhile, the battery pack of the prior art basically measures the temperature
change according to the charging and discharging of a plurality of battery cells in order to
determine the battery operating state or battery life. The battery pack of the prior art uses
20 a temperature sensor to measure the temperature of the plurality of battery cells. At this
time, an adhesive tape is generally used to fix the temperature sensor at a place where
temperature measurement is required.

WHAT IS CLAIMED IS:
1. A battery pack, comprising:
a plurality of battery cells;
5 a temperature measuring unit configured to measure a temperature of at least one
of the plurality of battery cells;
a temperature sensor connected to the temperature measuring unit and configured
to detect the temperature of at least one of the plurality of battery cells and transmit an
electric signal to the temperature measuring unit; and
10 a module case including a sidewall portion configured to form an inner space for
accommodating the plurality of battery cells, an opening formed in the sidewall portion to
expose at least one of the plurality of battery cells to the outside partially, an
accommodation portion having an entrance communicating with the opening and
configured to accommodate an end of the temperature sensor, and a fixing rib configured
15 to extend from the sidewall portion to cover the entrance partially.
2. The battery pack according to claim 1,
wherein the fixing rib has a step formed in a portion thereof to have a different
protruding length toward the battery cell.
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3. The battery pack according to claim 1,
wherein the temperature sensor includes:
a wire portion having a wire to transmit an electric signal; and
20
a thermistor portion configured to change an electric resistance according to a
temperature change of the battery cell and located at an end of the wire portion to have a
greater sectional area than the wire portion.