CN214254530U - Battery and device comprising same - Google Patents

Abstract

The present application relates to a battery comprising: a plurality of battery cells; a bus member for electrically connecting the plurality of battery cells; and a thermal management assembly for containing a fluid to regulate temperature to the plurality of battery cells and the bus bar member. Furthermore, the present application relates to a device comprising a battery as described above for providing electrical energy. The battery is provided with the thermal management assembly in which the heat exchange fluid can circulate, and the heat from the battery single cells and the confluence part is dissipated to the outside of the battery through the continuously circulating heat exchange fluid, so that the heat dissipation efficiency of the battery is effectively improved.

Description

Battery and device comprising same

Technical Field

The present application relates to a battery and a device including the same.

Background

A battery is generally composed of a plurality of battery cells, which are electrically connected to each other by a bus bar member. When the battery works, the confluence part is used as an overcurrent element between the battery cells, and at present, natural heat exchange is mainly carried out through static air in the battery. However, the efficiency of the heat exchange mode is not high in actual working conditions, and the safe and stable operation of the battery cells is influenced. To this end, there is a need to design a thermal management assembly that addresses the above-mentioned heat exchange problems.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

An object of the present application is to provide a battery equipped with a thermal management assembly aimed at solving the problem of heat exchange of a bus member electrically connecting battery cells.

It is a further object of the present application to provide a device comprising such a battery.

A first aspect of the present application relates to a battery including: a plurality of battery cells; a bus member for electrically connecting the plurality of battery cells; a thermal management assembly for containing a fluid to regulate temperature to the plurality of battery cells and the bus bar member.

In some embodiments of the present application, a plurality of battery cells are arranged side by side in a plurality of sets of battery modules, and the thermal management assembly includes a support portion disposed between the battery modules and a first extension portion extending from the support portion toward the bus member, the support portion being configured to exchange heat with the battery cells, and the first extension portion being configured to exchange heat with the bus member.

In some embodiments of the present application, the fluid comprises a first fluid and a second fluid circulating within the thermal management assembly, a first flow passage is disposed within the support portion for receiving the first fluid, and a second flow passage is disposed within the first extension portion for receiving the second fluid.

In some embodiments of the present application, the first flow channel and the second flow channel are isolated from each other.

In some embodiments of the present application, the first fluid has a thermal conductivity greater than a thermal conductivity of the second fluid.

In some embodiments of the present application, the first extension is bonded to the bus member by a heat-conducting member.

In some embodiments of the present application, the first extension has an integrally formed plate-like structure or a plurality of comb-like structures arranged side by side.

In some embodiments of the present application, a case is further included for housing the plurality of battery cells, and at least a portion of the thermal management assembly is coupled to the case.

In some embodiments of the present application, the thermal management assembly further includes a second extension connected to the case and extending toward the bus member, the second extension for containing a fluid to regulate a temperature of the bus member.

In some embodiments of the present application, the second extension has an integrally formed plate-like structure or a plurality of comb-like structures arranged side by side.

In some embodiments of the present application, the second extension is bonded to the bus member by a heat-conducting member.

A second aspect of the application relates to an apparatus comprising a battery as described in the first aspect for providing electrical energy.

The use of a battery according to the present application has the following advantages:

the battery is provided with the thermal management assembly in which the heat exchange fluid can circulate, and the heat from the battery single cells and the confluence part is dissipated to the outside of the battery through the continuously circulating heat exchange fluid, so that the heat dissipation efficiency of the battery is effectively improved.

Drawings

For further explanation of the battery and the device comprising the battery according to the present application, the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and the detailed description, it is obvious that the drawings described below are only some examples of the present application, and that other drawings can be obtained from the drawings by a person skilled in the art without inventive effort. Wherein:

FIG. 1 is a schematic structural diagram of a vehicle including a battery of the present application;

fig. 2 is a schematic structural view of a battery module according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram of the structure of a battery according to one embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 4 is a schematic view of the battery shown in FIG. 3, with the thermal management system with which the battery is equipped shown in an exploded manner;

fig. 5 is a schematic view of the battery shown in fig. 3, viewed from the opposite direction to fig. 4, with the thermal management system with which the battery is equipped shown in an exploded manner;

fig. 6 is a schematic cross-sectional view of the battery shown in fig. 3.

Reference numerals

1 vehicle

2 controller

3 Motor

10 cell

11 Battery monomer

12 cell module

12a first Battery Module

12b second Battery Module

12c third Battery Module

12d fourth Battery Module

13 case body

14 bus bar member

15 support part

16 first extension part

17 first flow channel

18 second flow channel

18a first branched flow passage

18b second branch flow passage

19 second extension part

20 third flow channel

21 fourth flow passage

22 first collecting part

22a first section

22b second section

23 second collecting part

24 spacer part

25 fluid inlet

26 fluid outlet

27 third collecting part

28 fourth collecting part

Detailed Description

The battery and the device including the battery of the present application will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which like parts are designated by like reference numerals.

It should be understood that the embodiments described herein cover only a portion of the embodiments of the present application, and not all embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by a person skilled in the art without any inventive step based on the embodiments described in the specification are within the scope of protection of the present application.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs; the terminology used in the description of the application in the present application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application; the terms "including" and "having," and any variations thereof, in the description and claims of this application and the description of the above figures are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. The terms "first," "second," and the like in the description and claims of this application or in the above-described drawings are used for distinguishing between different elements and not for describing a particular sequential or chronological order.

The terminology used in the embodiments of the present application is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application. As used in the examples of this application and the appended claims, the singular forms "a", "an", and "the" are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise.

In the description of the present application, it is to be noted that, unless otherwise explicitly specified or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," and "connected" are to be construed broadly, e.g., as meaning either a fixed connection, a removable connection, or an integral connection; they may be connected directly or indirectly through intervening media, or they may be interconnected between two elements. The specific meaning of the above terms in the present application can be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art as appropriate.

With the same orientation in mind, in the description of the present application, the terms "center," "length," "width," "thickness," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "top," "bottom," "inner," "outer," and the like are used in the orientation or positional relationship indicated in the drawings for convenience in describing the present application and for simplicity in description, and are not intended to indicate or imply that the referenced device or element must have a particular orientation, be constructed in a particular orientation, and be operated in a particular orientation, and thus should not be construed as limiting the present application.

In the present application, the battery cell may include a lithium ion secondary battery, a lithium ion primary battery, a lithium sulfur battery, a sodium lithium ion battery, a sodium ion battery, a magnesium ion battery, or the like, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. The battery cell may be a cylinder, a flat body, a rectangular parallelepiped, or other shapes, which is not limited in the embodiments of the present application. The battery cells are generally divided into three types in an encapsulation manner: the cylindrical battery monomer, the square battery monomer and the soft package battery monomer are not limited in the embodiment of the application.

Reference to a battery in embodiments of the present application refers to a single physical module that includes one or more battery cells to provide higher voltage and capacity. For example, the battery referred to in the present application may include a battery module or a battery pack, etc. Batteries generally include a case for enclosing one or more battery cells. The box body can prevent liquid or other foreign matters from influencing the charging or discharging of the battery cells.

The battery monomer comprises an electrode assembly and electrolyte, wherein the electrode assembly comprises a positive plate, a negative plate and an isolating membrane. The battery cell mainly depends on metal ions moving between the positive plate and the negative plate to work. The positive plate comprises a positive current collector and a positive active substance layer, wherein the positive active substance layer is coated on the surface of the positive current collector, the current collector which is not coated with the positive active substance layer protrudes out of the current collector which is coated with the positive active substance layer, and the current collector which is not coated with the positive active substance layer is used as a positive electrode lug. Taking a lithium ion battery as an example, the material of the positive electrode current collector may be aluminum, and the positive electrode active material may be lithium cobaltate, lithium iron phosphate, ternary lithium, lithium manganate, or the like. The negative pole piece includes negative current collector and negative pole active substance layer, and the negative pole active substance layer coats in the surface of negative current collector, and the mass flow body protrusion in the mass flow body of coating the negative pole active substance layer of uncoated negative pole active substance layer, the mass flow body of uncoated negative pole active substance layer is as negative pole utmost point ear. The material of the negative electrode current collector may be copper, and the negative electrode active material may be carbon, silicon, or the like. In order to ensure that the fuse is not fused when a large current is passed, the number of the positive electrode tabs is multiple and the positive electrode tabs are stacked together, and the number of the negative electrode tabs is multiple and the negative electrode tabs are stacked together. The material of the isolation film can be PP or PE, etc. In addition, the electrode assembly may have a winding structure or a lamination structure, and the embodiment of the present application is not limited thereto.

The applicant found that: the confluence part is used as an overcurrent element between the single batteries and is mainly used for naturally exchanging heat with static air in the batteries at present. However, the efficiency of the heat exchange mode is not high in actual working conditions, so that the heat emitted by the confluence component cannot be discharged in time, and the safe and stable operation of the battery is threatened. Therefore, the heat management assembly is used for dissipating heat of the confluence part so as to solve the technical problems, and beneficial technical effects are achieved.

The technical scheme described in the embodiment of the application is applicable to various devices using batteries, such as mobile phones, portable devices, notebook computers, battery cars, electric toys, electric tools, electric vehicles, ships, spacecrafts and the like, and the spacecrafts comprise airplanes, rockets, space shuttles, spacecrafts and the like. It should be understood that the technical solutions described in the embodiments of the present application are not limited to be applied to the above-described devices, and may be applied to all devices using batteries.

Fig. 1 shows a schematic structural view of a vehicle 1 including a battery 10 of the present application. The vehicle 1 can be a fuel automobile, a gas automobile or a new energy automobile, and the new energy automobile can be a pure electric automobile, a hybrid electric automobile or a range-extended automobile and the like. As shown in fig. 1, a battery 10 may be provided inside the vehicle 1, for example, the battery 10 may be provided at the bottom or the head or tail of the vehicle 1. The battery 10 may be used for power supply of the vehicle 1, and for example, the battery 10 may serve as an operation power source of the vehicle 1. And the vehicle 1 may further include a controller 2 and a motor 3. The controller 2 is used to control the battery 10 to supply power to the motor 3, for example, for operational power demands at the start, navigation, and travel of the vehicle 1. In another embodiment of the present application, the battery 10 may be used not only as an operation power source of the vehicle 1 but also as a driving power source of the vehicle 1 instead of or in part of fuel or natural gas to provide driving power to the vehicle 1.

Fig. 2 shows a schematic structural diagram of a battery module 12 according to an embodiment of the present application, and the battery module 12 is composed of a plurality of battery cells 11 arranged in a row. The battery cells 11 are surrounded and fixed by an outer frame (which may include structural members such as end plates, side plates, and fixing bands), and the plurality of battery modules 12 may be formed as the battery 10 that powers the above-described device, in which case the battery 10 may also be referred to as a battery pack.

In the battery module 12 shown in fig. 2, it is composed of eight battery cells 11 arranged in a row. However, this example is merely illustrative, and a person skilled in the art may change the number of the battery cells 11 constituting the battery module 12 and the arrangement of the battery cells 11 according to actual circumstances. For example, the plurality of battery cells 11 may be connected in series or in parallel or in series-parallel, and the series-parallel refers to a mixture of series connection and parallel connection. Alternatively, a plurality of battery cells 11 may be connected in series or in parallel or in series-parallel to form a battery module 12, and a plurality of battery modules 12 may be connected in series or in parallel or in series-parallel to form a battery 10.

As shown in fig. 2, the adjacent battery cells 11 are electrically connected by the bus bar member 14. The bus bar 14 is made of conductive metal, and in the present embodiment, the material of the bus bar 14 is aluminum. Of course, one of ordinary skill in the art may use other conductive sheets to form the bus member 14, such as copper. The bus bar member 14 serves as an overcurrent element between the battery cells 11, mainly by naturally exchanging heat with static air in the battery 10. However, this heat exchange method has low efficiency in actual working conditions, and affects the safe and stable operation of the battery cells 11.

Of course, it should be understood by those skilled in the art that the bus bar member 14 does not electrically connect only the adjacent battery cells 11. As an alternative embodiment, the bus members 14 may also be designed to electrically connect non-adjacent cells 11 in the battery module 12, such variations being readily understood by those of ordinary skill in the art.

Fig. 3 is a schematic perspective view of a battery 10 according to an embodiment of the present application, fig. 4 and 5 are exploded schematic views of the battery 10 viewed from two opposite directions, and fig. 6 is a schematic sectional view of the battery 10.

As shown in fig. 3, in this battery 10, a plurality of battery cells 11 are arranged side by side in a plurality of sets of battery modules 12. In this example, each group of battery modules 12 is formed by twenty or more battery cells 11 arranged side by side, and the battery 10 includes four or more groups of battery modules 12.

In addition to the battery cells 11, the battery 10 includes a bus member 14 for electrically connecting the plurality of battery cells 11 and a thermal management assembly containing a fluid to regulate the temperature of the plurality of battery cells 11 and the bus member 14. The thermal management assembly is a member for containing a fluid, which may be a liquid or a gas, to simultaneously regulate the temperature of the battery cells 11 and the bus bar member 14, which may mean heating or cooling. Typically, a thermal management assembly for cooling down may also be referred to as a cooling member, a cooling system or a cooling plate, etc., which contains a cooling medium, such as a cooling liquid or a cooling gas, wherein the cooling medium may be designed to be circulated for better temperature regulation. The cooling medium may specifically be water, a mixture of water and glycol, air, or the like.

As shown in fig. 4, the thermal management assembly includes a support part 15 disposed between the adjacent battery modules 12 and first extension parts 16 extending from the support part 15 toward the bus members 14 on both sides, respectively. Specifically, one end of the support portion 15 is inserted between the battery modules 12, and the first extension portions 16 extend substantially perpendicularly from the other end of the support portion 15 toward the bus bar members 14 located on both sides of the support portion 15, respectively, and are in heat-conductive contact with the bus bar members 14, whereby the support portion 15 and the first extension portions 16 together constitute a substantially T-shaped integral structure.

Alternatively, the first extension 16 has an integrally formed plate-like structure, or a plurality of comb-like structures arranged side by side. Of course, in the case where the first extension portion 16 has a plurality of comb-tooth-shaped structures arranged side by side, each comb-tooth-shaped structure may correspond one-to-one to each of the bus members 14, and each of the bus members 14 is in heat-conductive contact with at least a part of each comb-tooth-shaped structure.

The interior of the support 15 is optionally designed as a hollow structure which forms a first flow channel 17 for accommodating a first fluid. In order to reinforce the strength of the support portion 15, a partition structure (see fig. 5) that partitions the first flow channel 17 into more than one, optionally three or more spaces in the height direction of the battery cell 11 may also be provided in the hollow structure, at least one of which may serve as the first flow channel 17 as described above.

The first fluid may be any common heat exchange medium. When the first fluid flows in the first flow channel 17, the support portion 15 can exchange heat with the battery cell 11 in heat conductive contact therewith to transfer heat from the battery cell 11 to the outside of the battery 10 via the first fluid flowing in the first flow channel 17.

The interior of the first extension 16 is likewise optionally designed as a hollow structure which forms a second flow channel 18 for accommodating a second fluid, wherein the second flow channel 18 is isolated from the first flow channel 17. Alternatively, the second flow channel 18 is partitioned into two branch flow channels, i.e., a first branch flow channel 18a and a second branch flow channel 18b of the second flow channel 18, in the arrangement direction of the battery cells 11. The second flow passage 18 is optionally partitioned into a first branch flow passage 18a and a second branch flow passage 18b at a position connected to the support portion 15, and the second fluid may flow in the first extension portion 16 in the same direction or in different directions in the first branch flow passage 18a and the second branch flow passage 18b, respectively.

The second fluid may be any conventional heat exchange medium, wherein the second fluid may be the same as or different from the first fluid. When the second fluid flows in the first branch flow channel 18a and the second branch flow channel 18b of the second flow channel 18, the first extension portion 16 can perform heat exchange with the bus member 14 in heat conductive contact therewith to transfer heat from the bus member 14 to the outside of the battery 10 via the second fluid flowing in the first branch flow channel 18a and the second branch flow channel 18b of the second flow channel 18.

In an alternative embodiment, the first fluid may be selected to have a thermal conductivity greater than the second fluid, since the heat from the cells 11 is greater than the heat from the bus members 14.

In yet another alternative, the first extension 16 may be bonded to the bus member 14 by a thermally conductive member, such as a thermally conductive glue or a thermally conductive pad. Those skilled in the art will also recognize that other thermally conductive members may be used to facilitate more efficient transfer of heat generated by the bus member 14 during charging and discharging of the battery 10 to the second fluid within the first extension 16 of the thermal management assembly and ultimately out of the battery 10.

Referring to fig. 4 to 6, the battery 10 further includes a case 13 for accommodating the plurality of battery cells 11, and the thermal management assembly includes a second extension 19 connected to the case 13. That is, the case 13 functions similarly to the support portion 15.

The interior of the housing 13 is optionally designed as a hollow structure which forms a third flow channel 20 for receiving the first fluid. In order to reinforce the strength of the case 13, a partition structure that partitions the third flow channel 20 into more than one, optionally three or more spaces in the height direction of the battery cells 11, at least one of which may be used as the third flow channel 20 as described above, may also be provided in the hollow structure. When the first fluid flows in the third flow channel 20, the case 13 can exchange heat with the battery cell 11 in heat conductive contact therewith to transfer heat from the battery cell 11 to the outside of the battery 10 via the first fluid flowing in the third flow channel 20.

The second extending portion 19 extends from the box body 13 to the bus bar member 14, and since the bus bar member 14 is located only on one side of the second extending portion 19, the second extending portion 19 does not need to extend from the support portion 15 toward the bus bar members 14 on both sides as with the first extending portion 16, but only needs to extend from the box body 13 to the bus bar member 14 on one side. Thus, the second extension 19 constitutes a substantially L-shaped integral structure together with the case 13.

As shown in fig. 6, the interior of the second extension 19 is optionally designed as a hollow structure forming a fourth flow channel 21 for accommodating a second fluid to regulate the temperature of the bus member 14, wherein the fourth flow channel 21 and the third flow channel 20 are isolated from each other.

Like the first extension portion 16, the second extension portion 19 has an integrally formed plate-like structure, or a plurality of comb-tooth-like structures arranged side by side. In the latter case, each comb-like structure may be in one-to-one correspondence with each bus member 14, with each bus member 14 being in thermally conductive contact with at least a portion of each comb-like structure.

In addition, the second extension 19 may be coupled to the bus member 14 through various thermally conductive members to facilitate more efficient transfer of heat generated by the bus member 14 during charging and discharging of the battery 10 to the second fluid within the second extension 19 of the thermal management assembly and ultimately out of the battery 10.

In addition to the thermal management assembly constituted by the support portion 15, the first extension portion 16 and the second extension portion 19, the battery 10 may further include a plurality of current collecting portions that cooperate with the above-described thermal management assembly to constitute, together with the tank 13, a thermal management system for the circulation of the first fluid and/or the second fluid. The battery 10 shown in fig. 3 is equipped with a complete thermal management system that includes a thermal management assembly, a first current collector 22, a second current collector 23, a spacer 24, a fluid inlet 25, and a fluid outlet 26.

The first current collecting part 22 is located at the front side of the battery 10, and referring to fig. 4, the first current collecting part 22 communicates with the front ends of the first flow channel 17 inserted into the support part 15 between the adjacent battery modules 12, the first and second branch flow channels 18a and 18b of the second flow channel 18 in the first extension part 16 extending substantially perpendicularly from the support part 15, the third flow channel 20 in the case 13, and the fourth flow channel 21 in the second extension part 19 connected to the case 13.

The second current collecting part 23 is located at the rear side of the battery 10, and referring to fig. 5, the second current collecting part 23 communicates with the first flow channel 17 inserted into the support part 15 between the adjacent battery modules 12, the first and second branch flow channels 18a and 18b of the second flow channel 18 in the first extension part 16 extending substantially perpendicularly from the support part 15, the third flow channel 20 in the case 13, and the rear end of the fourth flow channel 21 in the second extension part 19 connected to the case 13.

The spacer 24 is located at an intermediate position of the first current collecting portion 22, and referring to fig. 5, the spacer 24 is aligned with the center of the first extending portion 16 located at the midpoint of the battery 10 and divides the first current collecting portion 22 into the first segment 22a and the second segment 22b, thereby isolating the fluids in the first segment 22a and the second segment 22b from each other and being in fluid communication with only the first branch flow channel 18a and the second branch flow channel 18b, respectively, of the second flow channel 18 in the first extending portion 16 located at the midpoint of the battery 10.

The first fluid and/or the second fluid enters the thermal management assembly from the fluid inlet 25 and exits the thermal management assembly from the fluid outlet 26.

The fluid inlet 25 and the fluid outlet 26 may be opened in the first and second segments 22a and 22b of the first collecting portion 22 divided by the partition portion 24, respectively, or a third collecting portion 27 and a fourth collecting portion 28 communicating with the first and second segments 22a and 22b of the first collecting portion 22, respectively, may be further provided, and the fluid inlet 25 and the fluid outlet 26 are opened in the third and fourth collecting portions 27 and 28.

The fluid inlet 25 and fluid outlet 26 may be holes provided on the manifold or may be tubes welded to the manifold. The fluid inlet 25 and the fluid outlet 26 may be fluidly isolated from each other by a similar spacer.

Alternatively, the third collecting part 27 is disposed at a prescribed angle from the first segment 22a of the first collecting part 22 and communicates with each other, and the fourth collecting part 28 is disposed at a prescribed angle from the second segment 22b of the first collecting part 22 and communicates with each other.

For the above thermal management system, the insulation requirement between each current collecting portion and the bus bar member 14 is very high for safety reasons, and therefore, it is necessary to coat, for example, an electrophoretic paint on each current collecting portion and the portion of the flow channel in contact with the bus bar member 14 to ensure that the thermal management system does not have any adverse effect on the use of the battery 10 while dissipating heat from the battery cells 11 and the bus bar member 14.

Alternatively, the current collecting portions are connected to each other by welding or an adhesive.

The path of the fluid circulating in the thermal management system will be described below in connection with the thermal management system shown in fig. 3-6:

first, a heat exchange fluid having a lower temperature enters the thermal management system from the fluid inlet 25, and in the case where the third collecting part 27 and the fourth collecting part 28 are additionally provided, the fluid entering from the fluid inlet 25 reaches the first segment 22a of the first collecting part 22 via the third collecting part 27.

Due to the blocking of the partition part 24, the fluid entering from the fluid inlet 25 does not flow to the second section 22b of the first current collecting part 22 after filling the first section 22a of the first current collecting part 22, but flows to the first flow channel 17 inserted into the supporting part 15 between the adjacent battery modules 12, the first and second branch flow channels 18a and 18b of the second flow channel 18 in the first extension part 16 extending substantially perpendicularly from the supporting part 15, the third flow channel 20 in the case 13, and the fourth flow channel 21 in the second extension part 19 connected to the case 13.

Note that the flow channels through which the fluid enters at this time all belong to the flow channels in the battery 10 that communicate with the first segment 22a of the first current collecting portion 22. Specifically, in the example of the battery 10 composed of four battery modules 12, if the battery modules 12 are labeled as a first battery module 12a, a second battery module 12b, a third battery module 12c, and a fourth battery module 12d in this order from left to right, the fluid will pass through a third flow channel 20 in the case 13 on the left side of the battery 10, a fourth flow channel 21 in the second extension 19 connected to the case 13, a first flow channel 17 inserted in the support portion 15 between the first battery module 12a and the second battery module 12b, a first branch flow channel 18a of the second flow channel 18 in the first extension 16 extending from the support portion 15 to the first battery module 12a, a second branch flow channel 18b of the second flow channel 18 in the first extension 16 extending from the support portion 15 to the second battery module 12b, and a first extension 16 extending from the support portion 15 inserted between the second battery module 12b and the third battery module 12c to the second battery module 12b The first branch flow channels 18a of the second flow channels 18 flow from the first current collecting portion 22 located at the front side of the battery 10 to the second current collecting portion 23 located at the rear side of the battery 10.

After flowing through the flow channels, the fluid is collected in the second current collecting portion 23 located at the rear side of the battery 10. Since the second collecting portion 23 is not provided with the partition portion 24 like the first collecting portion 22, the fluid flows from the left side to the right side of the second collecting portion 23 and enters the flow channel communicating with the second segment 22b of the first collecting portion 22.

At this time, the fluid will flow through the third flow channel 20 in the case 13 on the right side of the battery 10, the fourth flow channel 21 in the second extension 19 connected to the case 13, the first flow channel 17 inserted in the support portion 15 between the third battery module 13c and the fourth battery module 12d, the first branch flow channel 18a of the second flow channel 18 in the first extension portion 16 extending from the support portion 15 to the third battery module 12c, the second branch flow channel 18b of the second flow channel 18 in the first extension portion 16 extending from the support portion 15 to the fourth battery module 12d, and the second branch flow channel 18b of the second flow channel 18 in the first extension portion 16 extending from the support portion 15 interposed between the second battery module 12b and the third battery module 12c to the third battery module 12c flow from the second current collecting portion 23 located on the rear side of the battery 10 to the first current collecting portion 22 located on the front side of the battery 10.

Eventually, the fluid will flow through the second segment 22b of the first header 22 to the fourth header 28 and eventually exit the thermal management system described above from the fluid outlet 26. The heat exchange fluid dissipates heat from the battery cells 11 and the bus members 14 to the outside of the battery 10 after sufficiently exchanging heat with the battery cells 11 and the bus members 14.

While the battery and devices including the battery of the present application have been described above in connection with several embodiments, those of ordinary skill in the art will recognize that the above examples are illustrative only and are not intended to be limiting of the present application. Therefore, modifications and variations may be made to the present application within the true spirit and scope of the claims, and these modifications and variations are intended to fall within the scope of the claims of the present application. In particular, the technical features mentioned in the embodiments can be combined in any way as long as there is no structural conflict. The present application is not intended to be limited to the particular embodiments disclosed herein but is to cover all embodiments that may fall within the scope of the appended claims.

Claims (12)

1. A battery, comprising:

a plurality of battery cells;

a bus member for electrically connecting the plurality of battery cells;

a thermal management assembly for containing a fluid to regulate a temperature of the plurality of battery cells and the bus bar member.

2. The battery of claim 1, wherein the plurality of battery cells are arranged side-by-side in a plurality of groups of battery modules, the thermal management assembly comprising a support disposed between the battery modules and a first extension extending from the support toward the bus member, the support configured to exchange heat with the battery cells, the first extension configured to exchange heat with the bus member.

3. The battery of claim 2, wherein the fluid comprises a first fluid and a second fluid circulating within the thermal management assembly, a first flow passage is disposed within the support portion for receiving the first fluid, and a second flow passage is disposed within the first extension portion for receiving the second fluid.

4. The battery of claim 3, wherein the first flow channel and the second flow channel are isolated from each other.

5. The battery of claim 3, wherein the first fluid has a thermal conductivity greater than a thermal conductivity of the second fluid.

6. The battery of claim 2, wherein the first extension is bonded to the bus member by a thermally conductive member.

7. The battery of claim 2, wherein the first extension has an integrally formed plate-like structure or a plurality of comb-like structures arranged side by side.

8. The battery of any of claims 1-7, further comprising a case to house the plurality of battery cells, at least a portion of the thermal management assembly being coupled to the case.

9. The battery of claim 8, wherein the thermal management assembly further comprises a second extension coupled to the case and extending toward the bus member, the second extension for containing the fluid to regulate the temperature of the bus member.

10. The battery of claim 9, wherein the second extension has an integrally formed plate-like structure or a plurality of comb-like structures arranged side by side.

11. The battery of claim 9, wherein the second extension is bonded to the bus member by a thermally conductive member.

12. A device comprising a battery as claimed in any one of claims 1 to 11 for providing electrical energy.

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