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US 6,278,259 B1Granted
Gas discharging device for battery pack
AssigneesMatsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd., Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha
InventorsShinya Kimoto, Ko Watanabe, Toyohiko Eto
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
In a battery pack, a plurality of batter modules provided with safety vents for discharging gas are arranged in parallel. A gas discharging device is provided in which discharge outlets of the safety vents of the respective battery modules are connected to at least one discharge gas tube installed in the alignment direction of the battery modules and connected to an external discharging section. The battery modules are connected in a manner that changes in the intervals between the discharge outlets of respective safety vents, due to expansion of the battery modules, are absorbed by expansion or displacement of theat least one discharge gas tube.
Claims17
A battery pack comprising:
- a plurality of battery modules arranged in parallel and coupled together in such a manner as to provide a necessary power output, each of said plurality of battery modules being provided with safety vents having discharge outlets for releasing gas therethrough from the battery modules when internal pressure of a battery module has reached a predetermnined value;
- and
- at least one discharge gas tube connected to said discharge outlets of the safety vents and arranged along a direction in which the battery modules are aligned, wherein said at least on discharge gas tube is capable of accomodating variations in intervals between said discharge outlets of the safety vents caused by expansion of at least one of the plurality of battery modules.
A battery pack comprising:
- a plurality of battery modules arranged in parallel and coupled together in such a manner as to provide a necessary power output, each of said plurality of battery modules being provided with safety vents having discharge outlets for releasing gas from the battery modules when internal pressure of a battery module has reached a predetermined value;
- at least one discharge gas tube connected to said discharge outlets of the safety vents and arranged along a direction in which the battery modules are aligned;
- an external discharging tube, to which one end of said at least one discharge gas tube is connected;
- and
- a supporting piece for attaching said external discharging tube to a fixed member of the battery pack such as to be displaceable in the direction in which the plurality of battery modules are aligned.
2 more elements
A battery pack comprising:
- a plurality of battery modules arranged in parallel and coupled together in such a manner as to provide a necessary power output, each of said plurality of battery modules being provided with safety vents having cylindrical discharge outlets protruded on upper faces of respective ones of the plurality of battery modules;
- and
- at least one discharge gas tube arranged running continously along a direction in which the battery modules are aligned for approximately a whole length of the plurality of battery modules and having a plurality of outlet connectors having cylindrical connecting holes with which said cylindrical discharge outlets of the safety vents of respective ones of the battery modules engage in a sealed condition, wherein said cylindrical connecting holes are formed in a perpendicular direction to the longitudinal axis of the at least one discharge gas tube.
A battery pack comprising:
- a plurality of battery modules arranged in parallel and coupled together in such a manner as to provide a necessary power output, each of said plurality of battery modules being provided with safety vents having discharge outlets, a plurality of cooling medium passages being formed between adjacent ones of the plurality of battery modules;
- and
- at least one discharge gas tube connected to said discharge outlets of the safety vents and arranged above the plurality of battery modules along a direction in which the battery modules are aligned, wherein a distance exists between upper faces of the battery modules and lower faces of the at least one discharge gas tube, said distance being set to a dimension whereby an increase in the flow resistance of a cooling medium flowing through the cooling medium passages due to presence of the at least one discharge gas tube is less than 10%.
A batter pack comprising:
- a plurality of battery modules arranged in parallel and coupled together in such a manner as to provide a necessary power output, each of said plurality of battery modules being provided with safety vents having discharge outlets, a plurality of cooling medium passages being formed between adjacent ones of the plurality of battery modules;
- and
- at least one discharge gas tube connected to said discharge outlets of the safety vents and arranged above the plurality of battery modules along a direction in which the battery modules are aligned, wherein each of said at least one discharge gas tube has a smaller horizontal diameter dimension other than other portions thereof at locations facing said cooling medium passages.
A battery pack comprising:
- a plurality of battery modules arranged in parallel and coupled together in such a manner as to provide a necessary power output, each of said plurality of battery modules being provided with safety vents having discharge outlets;
- and
- at least one discharge gas tube connected to said discharge outlets of the safety vents and arranged above the plurality of battery modules along a direction in which the battery modules are aligned, wherein the at least one discharge gas tube has a varying horizontal diameter dimension that varies, in accordance with the temperature gradient of the battery modules along the direction in which the battery modules are aligned, such as to decrease progressively from lower temperature regions to higher temperature regions.
A battery pack comprising:
- a plurality of batter modules arranged in parallel and coupled together in such a manner as to provide a necessary power output, each of said plurality of battery modules being provided with safety vents having discharge outlets;
- and
- at least one discharge gas tube connected to said discharge outlets of the safety vents and arranged above the plurality of battery modules along a direction in which the battery modules are aligned, wherein a diameter, a thickness, and a material of the at least one discharge gas tube is elected in such a matter that there is no possibility that the density of hydrogen gas inside a sealed space contained by the battery pack will reach 2% or above within a period of 0.25 years, due to hydrogen gas permeating the at least one discharge gas tube.
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.