Battery pack
AssigneeLG Energy Solution, Ltd.
InventorKeun-Wook Lee
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A battery pack for efficiently supplying a power to a vehicle and including a battery assembly, a power supply terminal connectable to a connection terminal of the vehicle that is connected to a vehicle control unit and a vehicle motor, a power supply path located between the power supply terminal and the battery cell and supplying a power from the battery cell to the power supply terminal, a switching unit provided on the power supply path electrically turn on/off the power supply path, a mounting recognition unit recognizing whether the battery pack is mounted to the vehicle, and a processor controlling the switching unit so that a power is supplied from the battery cell to the vehicle control unit, when receiving a signal from the mounting recognition unit that the battery pack is recognized as being mounted to the vehicle.
Claims11
A battery pack, which is configured to be mountable to and detachable from a vehicle driven by a motor and having a vehicle control unit to supply a driving power to the motor, the battery pack comprising:
- a battery assembly having at least one secondary battery;
- a power supply terminal configured to be connectable to a connection terminal of the vehicle that is connected to the vehicle control unit and the motor;
- a power supply path located between the power supply terminal and the battery assembly and configured to supply a power from the battery assembly to the power supply terminal;
- a switching unit provided on the power supply path and configured to electrically turn on/off the power supply path;
- a mounting recognition unit configured to recognize whether the battery pack is mounted to the vehicle;
- a processor configured to control the switching unit so that power is supplied from the battery assembly to the vehicle control unit, when receiving a signal from the mounting recognition unit that the battery pack is recognized as being mounted to the vehicle;
- and
- a pack case forming a part of a surface of the battery pack,
- wherein when the vehicle includes an auxiliary battery for supplying power to the vehicle control unit, and the auxiliary battery of the vehicle is fully discharged, the processor is configured to control the switching unit so that power is supplied from the battery assembly to the auxiliary battery, thereby supplying power to the vehicle control unit,
- wherein the mounting recognition unit is configured to be physically deformed when the battery pack is placed at a designated position of the vehicle to recognize whether the battery pack is mounted,
- wherein the mounting recognition unit includes:
- coupling pieces including an electrically conductive material and spaced apart from each other by a first distance,
- a moving cover,
- a connection piece located on the moving cover and spaced apart from the coupling pieces by a second distance,
- an elastic body connected to the moving cover, and
- a voltage applying unit connected to the coupling pieces and configured to apply a predetermined voltage to the coupling pieces so that a current is able to flow between the coupling pieces when the connection piece contacts the coupling pieces,
- wherein the elastic body is further connected to the pack case and is configured to be stretched in a direction when the battery pack is mounted on a portion of the vehicle, and the portion of the vehicle pushes against the moving cover to close the second distance between the moving cover and the coupling pieces, and
- wherein the pack case has a hole and the moving cover is configured to cover the hole.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.