JP4969691B1 - Storage tool and battery system including the same - Google Patents

Abstract

A storage device and a battery system including the storage device that can make the temperature inside a storage device that stores a heating element uniform.
A plurality of drawers are divided into a drawer in which a ventilation resistance of cooling air is large and a drawer in which a ventilation resistance is small in a state where a stored item is stored. A plurality of drawers with low ventilation resistance are arranged in a form gathered on at least one of the upper end side and the lower end side in the vertical direction, and the number of drawers with low ventilation resistance in each row is horizontal. It arrange | positions in step shape so that it may decrease as it goes outside from the direction center side.
[Selection] Figure 5

Description

  The present invention relates to a storage device and a battery system including the storage device.

  In storage devices (for example, cabinets and racks) for storing a large number of heating elements such as electronic devices that generate heat when used, there has been a device for cooling the stored heating elements (storage items) inside the storage device. Has been made.

  For example, a configuration (see Patent Document 1 or 2) in which electronic devices are arranged on each shelf of a multi-stage shelf and all these electronic devices are cooled by a cooling device attached to one end of the storage tool, or each of the multi-stage shelves. A storage device has been developed that has a configuration in which a heat radiating fan is attached to a unit of a plurality of drawer-shaped electronic devices arranged correspondingly and each electronic device is cooled by a corresponding heat radiating fan (see Patent Document 3).

  Further, in a battery system A in which a battery module (contained item) in which a secondary battery such as a lithium ion battery is accommodated in a case is accommodated in an accommodation tool, for example, as shown in FIG. A housing 102 that forms a large number of small chambers 101 by arranging and arranging, and a drawer 103 that is inserted into each of the small chambers 101 of the housing 102 are provided. Furthermore, in this type of battery system A, power circuit switches such as breakers and relays, control units (ECUs), display devices, and parts (electric parts) such as fire extinguishing equipment, if necessary, are stored together with the battery modules. It is stored in the tool 100. At this time, an area for storing the battery module in each small room 101 (battery storage part M1) and an area for storing a power circuit switch, a control device, a display device, etc. in each small room 101 (component storage part M2). The battery module and the electrical component are respectively stored in the storage tool 100.

  Further, in this type of battery system A, for example, a cooling device (fan) 104 is provided for each column in the vertical direction, and by driving each cooling device 104, the cooling air is blown upward, for example, from below to vertically. There is a configuration in which a plurality of battery modules are cooled by being distributed in a plurality of drawers 103 for each row arranged in a direction (see Patent Document 4).

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2004-23036 JP 2010-114128 A JP 2006-40918 A Japanese Patent No. 4427355

  However, as shown in FIG. 7, when the secondary battery is modularized and mounted on the storage device 100, the temperature distribution in the storage device 100 is affected by the diffusion of heat in the storage device 100 and the heat radiation from the outer surface. There is a problem that it is likely to be generated, and in particular, the heat accumulates so that the central portion of the storage device 100 becomes high temperature, and the secondary battery in this high temperature portion is likely to deteriorate.

  Further, in the conventional battery system A described above, the space (the remaining space in each drawer 103) is larger in the component storage portion M2 storing electrical components than in the battery storage portion M1 storing battery modules. For this reason, the ventilation resistance of the cooling air of the component storage part M2 becomes smaller than that of the battery storage part M1, and the cooling effect by the cooling air increases as the number of the component storage parts M2 is increased (the battery storage part M1 The more rows there are, the lower the cooling effect of the cooling air). As a result, the cooling balance for the battery module is disturbed due to the arrangement of the battery housing part M1 and the parts housing part M2, and there is a problem that it is difficult to maintain the uniformity of the battery temperature.

  The storage device of the present invention includes a casing that is arranged vertically and horizontally to form a plurality of small rooms, and a drawer that is provided by being inserted into each of the small chambers of the casing and in which stored items are stored. In addition, the casing is configured to allow cooling air to flow through the plurality of drawers arranged in the vertical direction by driving a cooling device, and to cool the stored items stored in the drawers. The plurality of drawers are divided into a drawer in which the ventilation resistance of the cooling air is large and a drawer in which the ventilation resistance is small in a state where the stored items are stored, and a drawer in which the plurality of ventilation resistances are small. The number of drawers which are arranged in a form gathered on at least one of the upper end side and the lower end side in the vertical direction and in which the ventilation resistance in each row becomes small decreases from the horizontal center side toward the outside. It is arranged in steps like And butterflies.

  Further, in the storage device of the present invention, the plurality of drawers having a small ventilation resistance are disposed on one of the upper end side and the lower end side in the vertical direction, and the drawer has a small ventilation resistance. The cooling air is directly supplied to the inside of the drawer which is arranged on the other side in the vertical direction opposite to the side and which is arranged on the outside from the lateral center side to increase the ventilation resistance. A cooling air bypass path may be provided.

  The battery system of the present invention includes any one of the above-described storage devices, and the storage item stored in the drawer having a large ventilation resistance is a battery module.

  In the storage device (and battery system) of the present embodiment, for example, a power circuit switch such as a breaker and a relay, a control device, and a control device, rather than a drawer in which a ventilation resistance is increased by storing a battery module as a storage item, Drawers whose ventilation resistance is reduced by storing electrical components such as display devices as storage items are arranged in a form gathered on at least one of the upper end side and the lower end side in the vertical direction, and are arranged in the middle row On the other hand, they are arranged in a step shape so that the number of rows outside in the lateral direction is reduced. That is, a region (component storage part) with a small ventilation resistance is formed on the upper and lower ends in the vertical direction of the storage device, in which a plurality of drawers having a small ventilation resistance with the central side as the apex are arranged stepwise. In the remaining portion, a region (battery storage portion) having a large ventilation resistance is formed by collecting a plurality of drawers having a plurality of ventilation resistances.

  And by setting the arrangement | positioning of the area | region (component storage part) with small ventilation resistance and the area | region (battery storage part) with large ventilation resistance in this way, the cooling air was distribute | circulated to each row | line | column by the drive of the cooling device At this time, by storing the battery (battery module), which is a heating element, in the drawer, the cooling air can be suitably circulated through the central row where heat is easily trapped.

  As a result, when a battery system is configured by storing battery modules and electrical components in the storage device, the cooling balance for the battery modules is disturbed due to the arrangement of the battery storage unit and the component storage unit as in the past. This can be eliminated and the uniformity of the battery temperature can be maintained. Therefore, the deterioration of the plurality of batteries stored in the storage tool can be made uniform, and a suitable battery system can be provided.

It is a perspective view which shows the storage tool and battery system which concern on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a perspective view which shows the housing | casing (storage tool of the state which removed the drawer) of the storage tool of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows drawer | drawing-out (drawer from which ventilation resistance becomes large) of the storage tool of FIG. It is a perspective view which shows the fan (cooling device; FIG. 4 (a)) and connector (FIG.4 (b)) which were attached to the storage tool of FIG. It is a front view which shows the battery storage part and components storage part of the storage tool and battery system which concern on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a front view which shows the modification of the storage tool and battery system which concern on one Embodiment of this invention. It is a front view which shows the conventional storage tool and battery system.

  Hereinafter, with reference to FIGS. 1 to 5, a storage device and a battery system including the storage device according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.

As shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, the storage device 1 of the present embodiment includes seven rectangular parallelepiped small chambers opened in the −X direction in the height direction (Z direction, vertical direction, row direction) and the width direction. 7 housings 2 arranged in the (Y direction, lateral direction, row direction), that is, a housing 2 having a plurality of small rooms of substantially the same dimensions arranged in a matrix of 7 rows × 7 columns , It has a rectangular parallelepiped drawer 3 disposed in each of the small rooms and closing the opening inserted in the + X direction from the opening of the small room.

The housing 2 has a predetermined thickness and a substantially rectangular back plate 4 when viewed from the YZ plane, and a substantially rectangular shape when viewed from the XY plane, so as to form the plurality of small chambers. top plate 5 which is connected to a side at the position of the out + Z direction side of the two sides have a shape and extending in the Y direction of the back plate 4 (Incidentally, the top plate 5, that Sessu top plate 5 a position corresponding to the upper Symbol small rooms, respectively vent hole 10 is formed in the same shape and structure as the ventilation hole 9 to be described later), a substantially rectangular shape when viewed from and XZ plane having a predetermined thickness One side existing at the position on the −Y direction side of the two sides extending in the Z direction of the back plate 4 and one side existing at the position on the −Y direction side among the two sides extending in the X direction of the top plate 5 And a side plate 6b connected to each other. Further, the space inside the back plate 4, the top plate 5, and the two side plates 6 (side plates 6 a or 6 b) connected to each other (referred to as the outer frame of the housing 2) is partitioned into a 7 × 7 matrix. The first partition plate 7 and the second partition plate 8 described below are provided to form the 49 small chambers.

  The first partition plate 7 is a bottom plate or a top plate of the small room, has a predetermined thickness, and has a substantially rectangular shape when viewed from the XY plane. As shown in FIG. 2, the first partition plate 7 is formed with a vent hole 9 penetrating the first partition plate 7 in order to promote the ventilation of each of the small rooms. Here, the vent hole 9 is illustrated as a hole having a substantially rectangular shape when viewed from the XY plane. The second partition plate 8 serves as a side plate of the small room, has a predetermined thickness, and has a substantially rectangular shape when viewed from the XZ plane.

  The first partition plate 7 or the second partition plate 8 is fixed to each other, or the first partition plate 7 or the second partition plate 8 is fixed to the back plate 4, the top plate 5, or the side plate 6 to form the housing 2. The For the fixing, it is only necessary that the housing 2 can firmly support the drawer 3 when the drawer 3 described later is inserted and arranged in the housing 2, so that these plates are physically fitted to each other like a braided tree, for example. These plates may be fixed together, or these plates may be fixed with screws or the like.

  In addition, in each of the small rooms, the fixing is performed so that there is substantially no gap through which a fluid such as air flows except for the vertical direction (Z direction, vertical direction) by the vent hole 9 and the opening. Is made. Further, the housing 2 is appropriately designed so that a fluid such as air can freely enter the vent hole 9 in the lowermost small chamber in the Z direction from the outside of the housing 2.

In FIG. 2, the first partition plate 7 is shown as a single plate common to the seven small rooms forming one row (therefore, the air holes 9 are respectively corresponding to the small rooms. Formed).
However, according to the design, a configuration may be adopted in which one piece is arranged in the small room and fixed. Similarly, like the side plate 6, the second partition plate 8 may be configured as a single plate common to the seven small rooms forming one row, or each small plate as shown in FIG. The structure divided | segmented into the dimension of the height direction (Z direction) of the room may be sufficient.

  In addition, the magnitude | size of the 1st partition plate 7 and the 2nd partition plate 8 does not necessarily need to match the dimension of one said small room, and can be suitably changed according to design. However, when the first partition plate 7 is formed as a single plate that spans the plurality of small rooms, the vent holes 9 are formed at locations that serve as the floor plates of the plurality of small rooms (that is, A number of vent holes 9 corresponding to the number of small rooms that span one first partition plate 7 are formed).

  Here, the small room is a realistic small room surrounded by the back plate 4, the side plate 6 or the second partition plate 8, and the first partition plate 7 except for the opening. In some cases, the drawer 3 may not be supported. That is, a protrusion, a rail, or the like for supporting the drawer 3 in place of the first partition plate 7 is appropriately disposed on the side plate 6 or the second partition plate 8 at the position where the first partition plate 7 is disposed in the housing 2. That's fine. In this case, a small room is not actually formed when the column direction (Z direction, vertical direction) is viewed. However, since there is clearly a section where the drawer 3 is inserted and arranged, the description will be continued with the section as a virtual small room. That is, since the present invention includes the storage device 1 having this shape, both the realistic small room and the virtual small room are small rooms, and the housing forms a plurality of small rooms. The description will be continued below.

  As shown in FIG. 3, the drawer 3 has a substantially rectangular shape having a predetermined thickness and substantially the same as the dimension of the small room on the XY plane when viewed from the XY plane. A bottom plate 11 provided with a vent hole 12, which is a through-hole having substantially the same dimensions as the vent hole 9 provided at a position corresponding to the vent hole 9 when inserted into the room, and has a predetermined thickness; Before connecting to one side existing at a position on the −X direction side of two sides extending in the Y direction of the bottom plate 11 and having a substantially rectangular shape substantially the same as the size of the opening as viewed from the YZ plane And a plate 13. A handle 14 is attached to the front plate 13, and the user can slide the drawer 3 in the X direction by holding the handle 14 after being inserted and arranged in one of the small rooms of the housing 2. Further, when the drawer 3 is inserted and arranged in the small room, the front plate 13 blocks the opening, and there is substantially no gap through which fluid such as air flows between the inside of the small room and the opening. Designed to be

  Further, in the drawer 3 shown in FIG. 3, in order to increase its strength, the drawer 3 has a predetermined thickness and is substantially rectangular in shape when viewed from the YZ plane and substantially the same as the size of the opening, and the Y of the bottom plate 11 A rear plate 15 connected to one side located at a position on the + X direction side of two sides extending in the direction, a predetermined thickness and a substantially rectangular shape when viewed from the XZ plane, and the Z of the front plate 13 A side plate 16a connected to one side existing at a position on the + Y direction side of two sides extending in the direction and one side existing at a position on the + Y direction side among two sides extending in the Z direction of the rear plate 15; Is provided. These drawer side plates 16 (16a or 16b) also have a function of preventing the stored items (battery module 17 in FIG. 3) from dropping when the drawer 3 is pulled out from the small room where the drawer 3 is arranged. Each of the plates need not be a plate, and may be a rod-like connecting member that connects the front plate 13 and the rear plate 15.

  In the above storage device 1, the material of the housing 2 may be any material as long as it has strength to support the drawer 3, and may be wood or resin as well as metal. Further, the material of the drawer 3 may be any material as long as it has a strength to firmly support the stored items 17 arranged inside the drawer 3, and may be not only metal but also wood or resin. Further, in order to facilitate the sliding of the drawer 3, a guide rail, a roller, or the like may be appropriately provided on the housing 2 or the drawer 3.

  It should be noted that when the stored item 17 is stored and arranged inside the drawer 3, it is necessary to consider that the stored item 17 does not block the ventilation hole 12 formed through the bottom plate 11. When the stored item 17 is stored in the drawer 3 as it is due to the structure of the stored item 17, the vent hole 12 is blocked, and the flow of fluid such as air from the outside of the drawer 3 is substantially eliminated inside the drawer 3. In order to secure a clearance through which the fluid enters the drawer 3 from the vent hole 12, the base 18 is appropriately arranged to support the stored item 17 by floating a certain distance from the bottom plate 11, or the base 18 is integrated with the bottom plate 11. Form. In FIG. 3, four bases 18 are provided in the vicinity of the four corners of the vent hole 12 of the bottom plate 11, and the stored items 17 are placed and stored on the four bases 18, so that the fluid entering from the vent hole 12 is It can flow at least between the four bases 18 from the periphery of the storage 17 to the upper side or from the periphery to the outside of the vent hole 12.

  On the other hand, in the present embodiment, as described above, the casing 2 that is arranged vertically and horizontally to form a plurality of small rooms, and is provided by being inserted into each small room of the casing 2, and the stored items are stored therein. The storage device 1 including the drawer 3 is used as a component of the battery system B.

  Here, the battery system B of the present embodiment includes the storage device 1, the battery module 17 that is stored and disposed in the drawer 3 of the storage device 1, and the breaker that is also stored and disposed in the drawer 3. A power circuit switch such as a relay, a control device, a display device, electrical parts such as a fire extinguishing facility as necessary, and a cooling device 19 for circulating cooling air inside each drawer 3 of the storage tool 1. It is configured.

  Moreover, in this embodiment, the cooling device 19 is a blower (fan), and as shown to Fig.4 (a), it is each arrange | positioned under the vent hole 9 of the lowest room of each row | line | column. Then, by driving this blower 19, a flow of fluid (air) is forcibly generated and cooling air is blown to each row arranged in the Z direction, and is cooled inside the plurality of drawers 3 for each row. Wind circulates. As a result, the battery modules (battery cells) 17 and electrical components housed in the plurality of drawers 3 in each row are cooled by heat exchange with the cooling air.

  The blower 19 may be connected to the intake duct and the vent hole 10 of the top plate 5 may be connected to the exhaust duct so that a cooling effect gas other than air flows as the fluid (cooling air). Moreover, the air blower 19 may be arrange | positioned in the uppermost stage of each row | line | column, and may be arrange | positioned in both the lowermost stage and the uppermost stage. Depending on the design, the blower 19 may be connected to the exhaust duct, and the vent hole 10 of the top plate 5 may be connected to the intake duct.

  Further, in the storage tool 1 of the present embodiment, the plurality of drawers 3 are divided into a drawer in which the ventilation resistance of the cooling air is large and the drawer in which the ventilation resistance is small in a state where the storage items 17 are stored. . In the battery system B of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the drawer in which the battery module 17 is stored as a storage object occupies most of the internal space of the drawer 3 by the battery module 17. Since the remaining space of the gap between 17 is small, the ventilation resistance becomes a large drawer. In addition, because drawers that house electrical circuit switches such as circuit breakers and relays, and electrical devices such as control devices and display devices as stored items have a large amount of remaining space in the state in which electrical components are stored, the ventilation resistance is large. Drawer with lower ventilation resistance than drawer.

  At this time, as shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4B, the drawer that stores the battery module 17 as a stored item, that is, the drawer that increases the airflow resistance, stores the power supply line or signal line of the battery module 17 from the drawer. It is formed with connectors 20 and 21 for easily connecting to an external power supply line or external signal line (not shown) existing outside the casing 2 of the tool 1. More specifically, in the drawer where the ventilation resistance is increased, the first connector 20 is installed on the rear plate 15 (the first connector 20 and the battery module 17 of the stored item are appropriately connected by wiring inside the drawer 3. In addition, the second connector 21 is installed at a position corresponding to each of the small rooms on the back plate 4 of the housing 2 (not shown, but the second connector 21 and the external power supply line or external signal line are The first connector 20 and the second connector 21 are automatically fitted and connected to each other when the drawer 3 is inserted and pressed into the corresponding small room.

  Furthermore, in the storage device 1 and the battery system B of the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 5, the drawer in which the ventilation resistance is reduced by storing the electrical components as storage items is gathered on the lower end side in the vertical direction. And arranged stepwise so that the number of rows on the outer side in the lateral direction is smaller than the rows on the center side. That is, a region (component storage portion M2) having a small ventilation resistance is formed on the lower end side in the vertical direction of the storage device 1 by arranging a plurality of drawers having a small ventilation resistance with the center side as a vertex, In the remaining portion, a region (battery storage portion M1) having a large ventilation resistance is formed by collecting a plurality of drawers having a plurality of ventilation resistances.

  In the storage device 1 of the present embodiment having the above-described configuration and the battery system B including the same, the component storage portion M2 having a small ventilation resistance and the battery having a large ventilation resistance as described above. By setting the arrangement of the storage portion M1, when the cooling air is circulated through each row by driving the cooling device 19, the battery (battery module 17), which is a heating element, is stored in the drawer 3 so that heat is easily trapped. Cooling air can be suitably circulated through the central row.

  Thereby, it is possible to eliminate the disturbance of the cooling balance with respect to the battery module 17 due to the arrangement of the battery storage part M1 and the component storage part M2 as in the prior art, and it is possible to maintain the uniformity of the battery temperature. Therefore, the deterioration of the plurality of batteries 17 stored in the storage tool 1 can be made uniform, and a suitable battery system B can be provided.

  As mentioned above, although one Embodiment of the storage tool and battery system which concern on this invention was described, this invention is not limited to said one Embodiment, In the range which does not deviate from the meaning, it can change suitably.

  For example, in the present embodiment, drawers (component storage portions M2) that reduce the airflow resistance by storing electrical components as storage items are arranged in the form of gathering at the lower end side in the vertical direction, and at the center side It is assumed that the number of rows outside in the horizontal direction with respect to the rows is arranged in a step-like manner, but the drawer (component storage portion M2) having a low ventilation resistance is provided on the upper end side in the vertical direction or You may arrange | position with the form gathered on both sides of the upper end side and the lower end side.

  In addition, as shown in FIG. 6, when a plurality of drawers having a small ventilation resistance are disposed on one of the upper end side and the lower end side in the vertical direction, the drawer is opposite to the drawer having a low ventilation resistance. Cooling air bypass for directly supplying cooling air to the inside of the drawer having a large airflow resistance disposed on the other side in the vertical direction on the side of the side and disposed on the outer side from the lateral center. The container 1 and the battery system B may be configured with the path 22. In this case, the number of the drawers that increase the airflow resistance is small, and the cooling air is directly passed through the cooling air bypass path 22 to the portion that is likely to be high temperature (the portion S that is likely to be high temperature of the battery housing portion M1; Can be distributed. As a result, it is possible to more reliably eliminate the disorder of the cooling balance with respect to the battery module 17 due to the arrangement of the battery storage portion M1 and the component storage portion M2, and to maintain the uniformity of the battery temperature.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Storage tool 2 Housing | casing 3 Drawer 4 Back plate 5 Top plate 6 Side plate 7 First partition plate 8 Second partition plate 9 Vent hole 10 Vent hole 11 Bottom plate 12 Vent hole 13 Front plate 14 Handle 15 Rear plate 16 Side plate 17 (Battery module)
18 units 19 Blower (cooling device)
20 First Connector 21 Second Connector 22 Cooling Air Bypass Path B Battery System M1 Battery Storage M2 Component Storage

Claims (3)

The housing includes a casing that is arranged vertically and horizontally to form a plurality of small chambers, and a drawer that is inserted into each of the small chambers of the casing and stores stored items therein. By driving the apparatus, cooling air is circulated inside the plurality of drawers for each of the columns arranged in the vertical direction, and the stored items stored in the drawers can be cooled,
The plurality of drawers are divided into a drawer in which the ventilation resistance of the cooling air is large and a drawer in which the ventilation resistance is small in a state in which the stored items are stored,
A plurality of drawers with low ventilation resistance are arranged in a form gathered on at least one of the upper end side and the lower end side in the vertical direction, and the number of drawers with low ventilation resistance in each row is horizontal. A storage tool that is arranged in a step shape so as to decrease from the center in the direction toward the outside. The storage device according to claim 1,
A plurality of drawers where the ventilation resistance is reduced are disposed on one side of the upper end side and the lower end side in the vertical direction,
Inside the drawer where the ventilation resistance is increased, which is disposed on the other side in the longitudinal direction opposite to the drawer where the ventilation resistance becomes small, and disposed on the outer side from the lateral center. A storage device comprising a cooling air bypass for directly supplying the cooling air. The storage device according to claim 1 or 2,
The battery system, wherein the stored item stored in the drawer having a large ventilation resistance is a battery module.

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