CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

The present application claims the benefit of priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2019-0165931, filed on Dec. 12, 2019 with the Korean Intellectual Property Office, the entire disclosure of which is incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates to a secondary battery.

BACKGROUND

A secondary battery includes an electrode assembly including a cathode and an anode, an exterior material for receiving the electrode assembly, and a cathode tab and an anode tab for electrically connecting the cathode and the anode to the outside of the exterior material. The tabs are easily deformed when loads are applied thereto. Furthermore, the loads applied to the tabs may be transmitted to the electrode assembly to deform the electrode assembly. These problems noticeably arise in a pouch type secondary battery. In addition, a seal has to be formed between the exterior material and the tabs, and due to this, a selection of the exterior material or a sealing method for the exterior material may be limited. Further, the secondary battery may be difficult to normally operate at high temperature. To prevent this problem, a structure for cooling the secondary battery may be additionally required for a device having the secondary battery installed therein. However, the structure may cause the corresponding device to be complex.

The information disclosed in the Background section above is to aid in the understanding of the background of the present disclosure, and should not be taken as acknowledgement that this information forms any part of prior art.

SUMMARY

The present disclosure has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems occurring in the prior art while advantages achieved by the prior art are maintained intact.

An aspect of the present disclosure provides a secondary battery for preventing deformation of tabs or deformation of electrode assemblies even though loads are applied to the tabs.

Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a secondary battery for enabling a free selection of an exterior material or a sealing method thereof by excluding a seal between the exterior material and tabs.

Another aspect of the present disclosure provides a secondary battery having its own structure capable of cooling the secondary battery.

The technical problems to be solved by the present disclosure are not limited to the aforementioned problems, and any other technical problems not mentioned herein will be clearly understood from the following description by those skilled in the art to which the present disclosure pertains.

According to an aspect of the present disclosure, a secondary battery includes a first electrode assembly including a first cathode and a first anode, a second electrode assembly that is disposed to be opposite the first electrode assembly and that includes a second cathode and a second anode, a cooling plate disposed between the first and second electrode assemblies for cooling of the first and second electrode assemblies, an exterior material in which the first and second electrode assemblies are disposed, a cathode tab electrically connected to the first and second cathodes and exposed outside the exterior material, and an anode tab electrically connected to the first and second anodes and exposed outside the exterior material, in which at least one of the cathode tab and the anode tab is coupled to the cooling plate.

In an embodiment, the cooling plate may include a first cooling plate in contact with a surface of the first electrode assembly that faces the second electrode assembly, and a second cooling plate that is disposed to be opposite the first cooling plate and in contact with a surface of the second electrode assembly that faces the first electrode assembly.

In an embodiment, the cooling plate may further include an adhesive layer that is arranged between the first and second cooling plates and that bonds the first and second cooling plates to each other.

In an embodiment, the cathode tab and the anode tab may be arranged between the first and second cooling plates.

In an embodiment, the secondary battery may include a first insulating material that surrounds an area of the cathode tab to insulate the cathode tab from the first and second cooling plates, in which the area of the cathode tab overlaps the first and second cooling plates in a stacking direction of the first and second electrode assemblies, and a second insulating material that surrounds an area of the anode tab to insulate the anode tab from the first and second cooling plates, in which the area of the anode tab overlaps the first and second cooling plates in the stacking direction.

In an embodiment, the first and second insulating materials may extend outside the first and second cooling plates to be exposed.

In an embodiment, the cooling plate may further include a first cathode hole that is formed through a first area of the first cooling plate and that exposes the cathode tab outside the first cooling plate, in which the first area of the first cooling plate overlaps the cathode tab in the stacking direction, a first anode hole that is formed through a second area of the first cooling plate and that exposes the anode tab outside the first cooling plate, in which the second area of the first cooling plate overlaps the anode tab in the stacking direction, a second cathode hole that is formed through a first area of the second cooling plate and that exposes the cathode tab outside the second cooling plate, in which the first area of the second cooling plate overlaps the cathode tab in the stacking direction, and a second anode hole that is formed through a second area of the second cooling plate and that exposes the anode tab outside the second cooling plate, in which the second area of the second cooling plate overlaps the anode tab in the stacking direction.

In an embodiment, the first electrode assembly may further include a first cathode lead extending from the first cathode and connected to the cathode tab through the first cathode hole, and a first anode lead extending from the first anode and connected to the anode tab through the first anode hole, and the second electrode assembly may further include a second cathode lead extending from the second cathode and connected to the cathode tab through the second cathode hole, and a second anode lead extending from the second anode and connected to the anode tab through the second anode hole.

In an embodiment, the secondary battery may further include third insulating materials disposed along inside surfaces of the first cooling plate that define the first cathode hole and the first anode hole, and fourth insulating materials disposed along inside surfaces of the second cooling plate that define the second cathode hole and the second anode hole.

In an embodiment, the exterior material may include an upper exterior material and a lower exterior material, wherein a receiving space, in which the first and second electrode assemblies are disposed, is defined between the upper and lower exterior materials, and the cooling plate may be formed such that a periphery of the cooling plate is exposed outside the upper and lower exterior materials.

In an embodiment, the secondary battery may further include an upper sealing layer that hermetically joins the upper exterior material to an upper surface of the cooling plate and a lower sealing layer that hermetically joins the lower exterior material to a lower surface of the cooling plate.

In an embodiment, the cooling plate may include a first cooling plate disposed on a side of the first electrode assembly that faces the second electrode assembly, a second cooling plate disposed on a side of the second electrode assembly so as to be opposite the first cooling plate, in which the side of the second electrode assembly faces the first electrode assembly, an adhesive layer that is arranged between the first and second cooling plates and that bonds the first and second cooling plates, and a sensor insertion opening that is formed in the adhesive layer to allow for insertion of a temperature sensor and that extends from one portion of the adhesive layer exposed outside the upper and lower exterior materials to another portion of the adhesive layer where the first and second electrode assemblies are located.

In an embodiment, the cooling plate and the exterior material may have through-holes formed through the cooling plate and the exterior material in corresponding positions.

