CROSS-REFERENCES TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a U.S. national phase application, pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 371, of PCT/KR2018/010286, filed Sep. 4, 2018, designating the United States, which claims priority to Korean Application No. 10-2017-0143721, filed Oct. 31, 2017. The entire contents of the aforementioned patent applications are incorporated herein by this reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present invention relates to a battery pack used in electric vehicles or the like, and more particularly to a battery pack including a plurality of battery modules loaded in a tray and a method of manufacturing the same.

BACKGROUND ART

In general, secondary batteries, which can be charged and discharged to be repeatedly used, constitute a single battery module, which is used in small-sized portable electronic devices, such as cellular phones, laptop computers, personal computers, cameras, camcorders, and the like, or constitute a battery pack including a plurality of battery modules, which is used as a power source for a motor in high-power hybrid electric vehicles (HEV), high-power electric vehicles (EV), and the like.

In particular, electric vehicles use high-power electrical energy. For this reason, a considerably large number of battery modules are required for each vehicle. Consequently, battery modules are provided in a battery case in the state of being loaded on a support plate, such as a tray, in order to constitute a battery pack.

The battery modules loaded in the tray are electrically connected to each other via a connection wire, such as a wire harness. In addition, the battery modules are also connected to an external control circuit and to an external power supply circuit.

However, in most cases, the battery modules are manually loaded in the tray and the battery modules are also manually connected to each other using a wire. Therefore, there is a necessity for providing an assembly structure and process that are capable of more easily, conveniently, and efficiently connecting the battery modules loaded in the tray to each other using a wire harness and connection terminals.

DISCLOSURE

Technical Problem

The present invention has been made in view of the above problems and other technical problems to be resolved, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a battery pack having a bottom connection type tray and a method of manufacturing the same to achieve terminal connection while battery modules are loaded in a tray, whereby an assembly procedure is more easily performed, the reliability of a connection structure is improved, and automated assembly and production are possible.

Technical Solution

In accordance with an aspect of the present invention, the above and other objects may be accomplished by the provision of a battery pack having a bottom connection type tray, the battery pack including a tray configured to load a plurality of battery modules therein, a plurality of tray terminals provided on a bottom plate of the tray, a connection wire for interconnecting the tray terminals or connecting the tray terminals to an external circuit, and a battery terminal provided in each of the battery modules to be connected to a corresponding one of the tray terminals.

The tray terminals may be provided on the bottom plate of the tray to protrude upwards.

The tray terminals may be provided on the bottom plate of the tray to correspond to the respective battery modules.

Each of the tray terminals and a corresponding one of the battery terminals may be connected to each other using a connection structure having male and female connectors.

The tray terminals and the connection wire may be provided on a circuit plate having a planar structure, and the circuit plate may be coupled to the bottom plate of the tray.

The connection wire may be configured to be embedded in the tray.

The battery terminal may be provided in the lower surface of each of the battery modules.

In accordance with another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a battery pack, the method including a first step of providing a plurality of tray terminals on a bottom plate of a tray and installing, in the bottom plate of the tray, a connection wire for interconnecting the tray terminals or connecting the tray terminals to an external circuit, and a second step of loading a plurality of battery modules on the bottom plate of the tray to allow a battery terminal provided in each of the battery modules to be connected to a corresponding one of the tray terminals after the first step.

In the first step, the tray terminals may be provided on the bottom plate of the tray to protrude upwards.

In the first step, the connection wire may be provided in the tray using an insert injection method during injection molding of the tray.

In the first step, the tray terminals and the connection wire may be integrally provided on a circuit plate, and the circuit plate may be installed on a top of the tray.

In the second step, each of the tray terminals may be coupled to a corresponding one of the battery terminals by insertion when each of the battery modules is loaded.

The second step may include coupling each of the battery terminals and a corresponding one of the tray terminals to each other while disposing the battery modules in the tray using a robot, and therefore, the battery modules may be automatically assembled with the tray.

The principal technical solutions described above will be more concretely and definitely disclosed with reference to the following description of “mode for carrying out the invention” and the accompanying drawings. In addition to the principal technical solutions, various other technical solutions according to the present invention will be further provided and described.

Advantageous Effects

In a battery pack having a bottom connection type tray and a method of manufacturing the same according to the present invention, a battery module terminal connection structure is provided at the bottom plate of a tray to achieve terminal connection while battery modules are assembled with the tray, and therefore, an assembly procedure is more easily performed, and the reliability of a terminal connection structure is improved.

In addition, the terminal connection is achieved while the battery modules are loaded in the tray, and therefore, automated assembly and production using a robot are possible, and the productivity and yield of batteries are improved as the result of the automatic assembly and production.

