The present invention relates to a battery pack, and more particularly, to a battery pack including a wireless control system including a master module and a plurality of slave modules, which can increase reliability of wireless communication by controlling a transmission path of a wireless signal. It relates to a battery pack and a vehicle including the same.
[2]
This application is an application claiming priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2020-0066573 filed on June 2, 2020, and all contents disclosed in the specification and drawings of the application are incorporated into this application by reference.
background art
[3]
Recently, as the demand for portable electronic products such as laptop computers, video cameras, and mobile phones has rapidly increased, and development of electric vehicles, storage batteries for energy storage, robots, and satellites has been in full swing, high-performance batteries that can be repeatedly charged and discharged have been developed. Research on this is actively progressing.
[4]
Currently, commercially available batteries include nickel cadmium batteries, nickel hydrogen batteries, nickel zinc batteries, and lithium batteries. It is in the limelight due to its low energy density and high energy density.
[5]
A battery pack for a device that requires high capacity and high voltage, such as an electric vehicle, typically includes a plurality of battery modules connected in series with each other. In order to efficiently manage the states of a plurality of battery modules, a wireless control system having a multi-slave system is disclosed. As shown in FIG. 1, the wireless control system having a multi-slave system controls the entire battery pack based on a plurality of slave modules for monitoring the status of each battery module (1_1 to 1_N) and the information of each slave module. It includes a master module that integrates and controls the status.
[6]
However, when a master module and a plurality of slave modules perform wireless communication with each other, a wireless connection between the master module and at least one slave module may be disconnected unintentionally due to the influence of external noise, and a solution is being sought.
DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION
technical challenge
[7]
The present invention has been devised to solve the above problems, and a battery pack capable of controlling the transmission path of a wireless signal between a master module and a plurality of slave modules and blocking external noise by using a structure in the battery pack as a waveguide, and such It is an object to provide a vehicle including a battery pack.
[8]
Other objects and advantages of the present invention can be understood by the following description, and will be more clearly understood by the examples of the present invention. Furthermore, it will be readily apparent that the objects and advantages of the present invention may be realized by means of the instrumentalities and combinations thereof set forth in the claims.
means of solving the problem
[9]
Various embodiments of the present invention for achieving the above object are as follows.
[10]
A battery pack according to an aspect of the present invention includes a pack case; a plurality of battery modules mounted in the pack case; a plurality of slave modules mounted on each of the battery modules, configured to monitor a state of the battery module, and having a slave antenna for wireless communication; a master module configured to integrally manage states of the battery modules based on information from the plurality of slave modules and having a master antenna for wireless communication; and a waveguide installed inside the pack case and forming a wireless communication path between the plurality of slave modules and the master module.
[11]
The waveguide may include a body portion provided in a hollow tube shape; a slave docking unit having one side in communication with the body unit and the other side in face-to-face contact with the slave module; And one side communicates with the body portion and the other side may include a master docking portion provided so as to come into face-to-face contact with the master module.
[12]
The main body portion may be provided to extend across the inner space of the pack case and to support the pack case by having one end and the other end fixedly coupled to one inner wall and the other inner wall of the pack case.
[13]
A plurality of slave docking units may be provided, and a pair may be provided at predetermined intervals along a direction in which the body unit extends, located in opposite directions relative to the main body unit.
[14]
The slave docking unit or the master docking unit may include an outer opening provided to cover a position of the slave antenna in the slave module or a position of the master antenna in the master module; a flange extending along a circumference of the outer opening; and a shield gasket having an external electromagnetic wave shielding function and interposed in the flange.
[15]
The shield gasket may be provided with any one of a wire mesh gasket and an electromagnetic wave absorbing sponge coated with an electromagnetic wave absorbing material on soft foam.
[16]
The slave module and the master module may include a module cover forming an exterior, and the module cover may be made of a radio wave blocking material or coated with a radio wave blocking material, except for a portion where the slave antenna or the master antenna is located. there is.
[17]
It is provided inside the main body and may further include a reflector provided to open and close an inner opening of the slave docking unit corresponding to a portion communicating with the main body.
[18]
The reflector may be provided with a rotational shaft on an inner surface of the main body and rotated about the rotational shaft so as to be able to adjust a rotational angle.
[19]
The pack case may include a pack tray on which the plurality of battery modules are seated, and a pack cover coupled to the pack tray and covering upper portions of the plurality of battery modules.
[20]
A radio wave absorber provided on an inner surface of the pack cover may be further included.
[21]
The waveguide may be installed on a bottom surface of the pack tray along a center line of the pack tray, and the plurality of battery modules may face each other with respect to the waveguide.
[22]
The waveguide further includes a base frame portion formed at a lower portion of the body portion to have a larger width than the body portion and fixedly coupled to a bottom surface of the pack tray, and the battery modules are bolted to and fixed to an upper surface of the base frame portion. It can be.
[23]
According to another aspect of the present invention, a vehicle including the battery pack described above may be provided.
Effects of the Invention
[24]
The battery pack according to the present invention has the following effects.
[25]
High reliability of communication between a master module and a plurality of slave modules may be secured by controlling a transmission path of a wireless signal through a waveguide provided in a battery pack.
[26]
In addition, the waveguide may be used as a structure for reinforcing the strength of a pack case or a structure for mounting a battery module. The waveguide according to the present invention has the same function as the cross beam of the prior art battery pack, and the addition of the waveguide does not lower the volume ratio of the battery pack.
[27]
The effects of the present invention are not limited to the above-mentioned effects, and effects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from this specification and the accompanying drawings.
Brief description of the drawing
[28]
The following drawings attached to this specification illustrate preferred embodiments of the present invention, and together with the detailed description of the present invention serve to further understand the technical idea of the present invention, the present invention is the details described in such drawings should not be construed as limited to
[29]
1 is a diagram showing the configuration of a battery pack including a wireless control system according to the prior art by way of example.
[30]
2 is a diagram schematically illustrating an internal configuration of a battery pack according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[31]
3 is a diagram schematically illustrating a cross section of a battery pack according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[32]
4 is a perspective view schematically illustrating a waveguide according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[33]
FIG. 5 is a perspective view schematically illustrating an example in which a battery module is installed in the waveguide of FIG. 4 .
[34]
6 is an enlarged view of the slave docking unit of FIG. 4 .
[35]
FIG. 7 is a view corresponding to FIG. 6 and showing a modified example of the shield gasket.
[36]
8 and 9 are schematic cross-sectional views showing states before and after connection of a waveguide and a slave module according to an embodiment of the present invention, respectively.
[37]
10 is a diagram schematically showing the internal configuration of a waveguide according to another embodiment of the present invention.
[38]
11 is a diagram schematically showing a vehicle of the present invention.
Mode for Carrying Out the Invention
[39]
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to this, the terms or words used in this specification and claims should not be construed as being limited to the usual or dictionary meaning, and the inventor appropriately uses the concept of the term in order to explain his/her invention in the best way. It should be interpreted as a meaning and concept consistent with the technical idea of the present invention based on the principle that it can be defined. Therefore, the embodiments described in this specification and the configurations shown in the drawings are only one of the most preferred embodiments of the present invention and do not represent all of the technical ideas of the present invention, so various alternatives can be made at the time of this application. It should be understood that there may be equivalents and variations.
[40]
Embodiments of the present invention are provided to more completely explain the present invention to those skilled in the art, so the shapes and sizes of components in the drawings may be exaggerated, omitted, or schematically illustrated for clearer description. Therefore, the size or proportion of each component does not fully reflect the actual size or proportion.
[41]
2 is a diagram schematically illustrating an internal configuration of a battery pack according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a diagram schematically illustrating a cross-section of a battery pack according to an embodiment of the present invention.
[42]
2 and 3, a battery pack according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a pack case 10, a plurality of battery modules 20, and a plurality of slave modules.
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5,000 character limit. Use the arrows to translate more.module 30, a master module 40 and a waveguide 50.
[43]
The pack case 10 includes a pack tray 12 providing a space in which the battery modules 20 can be seated, and a pack cover covering the top of the pack tray 12 and coupled to the top of the pack tray 12 ( 11).
[44]
The pack tray 12 is a bottom plate formed in a wide plate shape to mount battery modules 20, a master module 40, a battery disconnection unit (BDU), and the like along an edge of the bottom plate. An upper portion made of side plates forming a wall may be provided in an open form.
[45]
Here, the master module 40 is a component that diagnoses, estimates, and manages the state of each battery module 20 by monitoring the battery modules 20 in real time. The master module 40 may be referred to as a master BMS (Battery Management System) in the art. The battery cut-off unit is one of the power control components and is composed of a relay, a current sensor, a resistor, etc., and collectively refers to a component that connects or cuts off power between a battery and a load.
[46]
The pack cover 11 may be coupled to the top of the pack tray 12 along the top line of the side plate by means of adhesion, hooking, bolting, etc. and cover the top of the battery modules 20 . The pack cover 11 may be preferably made of a rigid metal material such as steel to protect internal components from the outside. A gasket (not shown) may be further added to the contact area between the pack tray 12 and the pack cover 11 for airtightness.
[47]
In particular, the pack cover 11 of this embodiment includes a wave absorber 60 on its inner surface, as shown in FIG. 2 . Here, the radio wave absorber 60 refers to a material that does not generate reflected waves by absorbing incident radio waves and converting them into heat. For example, the radio wave absorber 60 may be manufactured in the form of a sheet in which magnetic powder is mixed with resin and attached to the inner surface of the pack cover 11 .
[48]
In this way, when the radio wave absorber 60 is attached to the inner surface of the pack cover 11, radio waves that transmit radio signals are not reflected by the pack cover 11, so that the effect of multipath fading and the outside Reflection can minimize the effect on other devices.
[49]
As an alternative to the sheet, radio wave absorbing paint may be used. That is, it is possible to produce the same effect as attaching the sheet by thickly painting radio wave absorbing paint on the inner surface of the pack cover 11 .
[50]
A plurality of battery modules 20 are connected in series or in series and parallel to each other, and each battery module 20 includes at least one battery cell (not shown). For the purpose of distinguishing the plurality of battery modules 20, codes 20_1 to 20_N (N is a natural number of 2 or more) are assigned to the plurality of battery modules 20 in FIG. 2 .
[51]
Any of a pouch type secondary battery, a prismatic secondary battery, or a cylindrical secondary battery may be employed as the battery cell.
[52]
Each slave module 30 may be mounted on the front of the battery module 20, one per battery module 20, and is a component that serves to monitor and manage the state of the corresponding battery module 20. The slave module 30 may be referred to as a slave battery module system (BMS) in the art. Typically, the slave module 30 is mechanically and electrically connected to the battery module 20 and provided in an integrated form on one side of the battery module 20 . Therefore, the number of slave modules 30 is equal to the number of battery modules 20 .
[53]
Each slave module 30 may include a sensing unit (not shown), a wireless communication circuit (not shown), a slave antenna (SA), and a slave controller (not shown).
[54]
The sensing unit may include a voltage measurement circuit, a temperature sensor, and a current sensor.
[55]
The voltage measuring circuit measures the module voltage of the battery module 20 . The module voltage is the voltage across the battery module 20 . The voltage measurement circuit may further measure the cell voltage of each battery cell included in the battery module 20 . The cell voltage is the voltage across the battery cell. The voltage measurement circuit transmits a voltage signal representing the module voltage and the cell voltage to the control unit.
[56]
The temperature sensor is disposed within a predetermined distance from the battery module 20 and transmits a temperature signal representing the temperature of the battery module 20 to the slave controller.
[57]
The current sensor is installed in the charging/discharging current path of the battery pack, measures current flowing during charging/discharging of the battery pack, and transmits a current signal representing the measured current to the slave controller.
[58]
The wireless communication circuit may be implemented in terms of hardware using an RF System on Chip (SoC), and is connected to a slave control unit and a slave antenna (SA). For the purpose of distinguishing the slave antennas SA provided in each slave module 30, in FIG. 2, codes SA_1 to SA_N (where N is a natural number of 2 or more) are given where the slave antennas SA are located. The wireless communication circuit may wirelessly transmit data to the master module 40 or wirelessly receive data from the master module 40 through the slave antenna SA. Also, when a signal is received through the slave antenna SA, the wireless communication circuit may measure the signal strength of the received signal.
[59]
The slave control unit may be operably coupled to the sensing unit and the wireless communication circuitry, and may be configured to individually control their respective operations.
[60]
The master module 40 is a component for integrally controlling the battery pack and is configured to communicate with an external main controller (eg, an ECU of an electric vehicle) through a wired network such as a control area network (CAN).
[61]
In addition, the master module 40 includes a wireless communication circuit (not shown), a master controller (not shown), and a master antenna (MA), and can perform wireless communication with each slave module 30 through the master antenna (MA). is composed of
[62]
The wireless communication circuit is configured to wirelessly transmit a command packet to the slave module 30 through a master antenna (MA). Also, the wireless communication circuit is configured to receive a response packet from the slave module 30 through the master antenna (MA).
[63]
Each of the plurality of slave modules 30 performs wireless communication with the master module 40 using its pre-allocated ID, and the master module 40 stores the ID previously assigned to the plurality of slaves. . The ID is identification information for distinguishing a plurality of slaves.
[64]
The master module 40 calculates state of charge (SOC), state of health (SOH), etc. of each battery module 20 based on battery information from the slave module 30, or of overvoltage, undervoltage, overcharge or overdischarge can be determined.
[65]
A master controller is operatively connected to the radio communication circuitry. The master control unit determines a request for at least one of a plurality of slaves based on a signal received through the master antenna (MA), and transmits a command packet including data representing the request to a plurality of slave modules (30). It can be transmitted wirelessly to at least one of them.
[66]
Meanwhile, the battery pack according to the embodiment of the present invention includes a waveguide 50 forming a wireless communication path so that a wireless communication path between the plurality of slave modules 30 and the master module 40 can be controlled. .
[67]
Hereinafter, the configuration and operation of the waveguide 50 will be described in detail with reference to FIGS. 2 and 3 and FIGS. 4 to 9 .
[68]
The waveguide 50 serves to transmit radio waves while minimizing energy loss of radio waves and external noise interference between an antenna and a receiver. The size may be variously determined according to a radio communication frequency.
[69]
Such a waveguide 50 allows electromagnetic waves to move along the limited internal space of the waveguide 50 and reduces energy loss of the electromagnetic waves because current does not flow through the inner surface of the waveguide 50 . In addition, since the inside of the waveguide 50 is filled with air, dielectric loss is small.
[70]
In the present invention, the waveguide 50 is used as a wireless transmission path between each slave module 30 and the master module 40 . To this end, a cross beam in the pack case 10, which is normally applied to prevent distortion of the pack case 10 upon external impact, was configured as a waveguide 50. Therefore, the waveguide 50 of this embodiment plays two roles as a radio signal transmission path and a strength reinforcing structure of the pack case 10.
[71]
As shown in FIG. 2, the waveguide 50 of this embodiment is extended to cross the central region of the pack case 10 and is placed on the bottom surface of the pack tray 12 to bisect the inner space of the pack case 10. can be installed In addition, one end and the other end of the waveguide 50 may be fixedly coupled to one inner wall and the other inner wall of the pack tray 12 , respectively. Since both walls of the pack case 10 can be supported by the waveguide 50 , the pack case 10 may not be easily twisted or deformed even when an external impact occurs.
[72]
As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5 , the waveguide 50 includes a body part 51 , a slave docking part 52 , a master docking part 53 and a base frame part 54 .
[73]
The body portion 51 is provided in the shape of a hollow rectangular metal tube. The body part 51 may be provided to open and close the upper part. For example, the body portion 51 may be composed of a body with an open top and a top plate 51a covering the body. The main body portion 51 having this configuration has an advantage in that the top plate 51a can be separated and the inside can be easily cleaned when dust or foreign substances are introduced therein.
[74]
The slave docking unit 52 is the slave module 3 of each battery module 20.

we claim

[Claim 1]
pack case; Top on the pack caseA plurality of battery modules to be tested; a plurality of slave modules mounted on each of the battery modules, configured to monitor a state of the battery module, and having a slave antenna for wireless communication; a master module configured to integrally manage states of the battery modules based on information from the plurality of slave modules and having a master antenna for wireless communication; and a waveguide installed inside the pack case and forming a wireless communication path between the plurality of slave modules and the master module.
[Claim 2]
According to claim 1, wherein the waveguide, the body portion provided in the shape of a hollow tube; a slave docking unit having one side in communication with the body unit and the other side in face-to-face contact with the slave module; and a master docking unit having one side in communication with the body unit and the other side in face-to-face contact with the master module.
[Claim 3]
The method of claim 2, wherein the main body extends across the inner space of the pack case, and one end and the other end thereof are fixedly coupled to one inner wall and the other inner wall of the pack case to support the pack case. A battery pack characterized in that.
[Claim 4]
The battery pack according to claim 2 , wherein a plurality of slave docking units are provided, and a pair of slave docking units are located in opposite directions with reference to the body unit and provided at predetermined intervals along an extension direction of the body unit.
[Claim 5]
The method of claim 2, wherein the slave docking unit or the master docking unit comprises: an outer opening provided to cover a position of the slave antenna in the slave module or a position of the master antenna in the master module; a flange extending along a circumference of the outer opening; and a shield gasket having a function of shielding external electromagnetic waves and interposed in the flange.
[Claim 6]
The battery pack according to claim 5, wherein the shield gasket is provided with any one of a wire mesh gasket and an electromagnetic wave absorbing sponge coated with an electromagnetic wave absorbing material on soft foam.
[Claim 7]
The method of claim 5, wherein the slave module and the master module include a module cover forming an exterior, and the module cover is made of a radio wave blocking material, except for a portion where the slave antenna or the master antenna is located, or A battery rack characterized in that the blocking material is coated.
[Claim 8]
3 . The battery pack of claim 2 , further comprising a reflector provided inside the body and opening and closing an inner opening of the slave docking unit corresponding to a portion communicating with the body.
[Claim 9]
The battery pack of claim 8 , wherein the reflector has a rotating shaft provided on an inner surface of the main body and rotates around the rotating shaft, and has an adjustable rotational angle.
[Claim 10]
The battery of claim 2, wherein the pack case includes a pack tray on which the plurality of battery modules are seated, and a pack cover coupled to the pack tray and covering upper portions of the plurality of battery modules. pack.
[Claim 11]
11. The battery pack of claim 10, further comprising a radio wave absorber provided on an inner surface of the pack cover.
[Claim 12]
11. The battery pack of claim 10, wherein the waveguide is installed on a bottom surface of the pack tray along a center line of the pack tray, and the plurality of battery modules are disposed to face each other with respect to the waveguide.
[Claim 13]
11. The method of claim 10, wherein the waveguide further comprises a base frame portion formed at a lower portion of the body portion to have a larger width than the body portion and fixedly coupled to a bottom surface of the pack tray, and wherein the battery modules are disposed at an upper end of the base frame portion. A battery pack characterized in that it is bolted to the surface and fixed.
[Claim 14]
A vehicle comprising the battery pack according to any one of claims 1 to 13.