Secondary battery charging-discharging device and secondary battery activation process device comprising same

Abstract

A charging-discharging device for secondary battery and a secondary battery activation process device are provided. The charging-discharging device of the present invention includes a box-type body including two open parts formed at lateral surfaces thereof; charging-discharging terminals disposed on lateral surfaces of the body; a nonflammable blocking means for opening or closing the open parts at the lateral surfaces; an air conditioning line connected to the inside of the body to individually control the temperature of each charging-discharging device; and/or a CO 2 supply line for spraying carbon dioxide inside the body when a fire occurs. It is possible to uniformly control and manage the internal temperature of the charging-discharging device for performing an activation process of a secondary battery, and when a fire occurs, the fire can be immediately and efficiently extinguished and prevented from spreading to the outside.

Claims

1. A charger/discharger of a secondary battery, the charger/discharger comprising: a body including: a ceiling portion; a bottom portion; a side portion extending between the ceiling portion and the bottom portion, the side portion including two openings; a charge/discharge terminal configured to apply an electric current when contacting an electrode lead of a battery cell when a tray having a plurality of battery cells loaded thereon is provided at the side portion of the body; a non-combustible blocker at each of the openings of the side portion to open and close each of the openings of the side portion; and an air conditioning line connected to an inside of the body to control a temperature of the charger/discharger; and a CO.sub.2 supply line to inject CO.sub.2 into the body when a fire occurs.

2. The charger/discharger of claim 1, wherein the non-combustible blocker is configured to automatically close when a tray is input for charging/discharging of a secondary battery and is configured to automatically open when charging/discharging is completed.

3. The charger/discharger of claim 1, wherein the nonflammable blocker is a non-flammable curtain.

4. The charger/discharger of claim 3, wherein the non-flammable curtain is configured to open and close in a vertical direction.

5. The charger/discharger of claim 4, wherein the non-flammable curtain includes a magnet at a lower end of the non-flammable curtain.

6. The charger/discharger of claim 1, wherein the air conditioning line and the CO.sub.2 supply line are configured to be joined into one line through an open-close valve, the one line being in communication with the inside of the body.

7. The charger/discharger of claim 6, wherein the open-close valve is an automatic open-close valve configured to, when a fire occurs, close the air conditioning line and open the CO.sub.2 supply line by sensing the fire.

8. The charger/discharger of claim 1, further comprising a fan installed in the ceiling portion of the body.

9. The charger/discharger of claim 8, wherein the fan is a blower fan.

10. The charger/discharger of claim 9, wherein the air conditioning line and the CO.sub.2 supply line are connected to an intake port of the blower fan.

11. An activation process apparatus of a secondary battery, comprising: a charger/discharger set in which two or more chargers/dischargers of the secondary battery according to claim 1 are arranged; an air conditioning device connected to the air conditioning line of each of the chargers/dischargers to control a temperature; and a CO.sub.2 supply source connected to the CO.sub.2 supply line of each of the chargers/dischargers to inject CO.sub.2 when a fire occurs.

12. The charger/discharger of claim 1, wherein the openings are on different sides of the side portion than the charge/discharge terminal.

13. The charger/discharger of claim 1, wherein the CO.sub.2 supply line is connected to the inside of the body.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a front view schematically showing a conventional device for performing a large number of activation processes of a secondary battery.

(2) FIG. 2 is a side view of FIG. 1.

(3) FIG. 3 is a perspective view schematically showing a charger/discharger used in a conventional apparatus shown in FIG. 1.

(4) FIG. 4 is a front view schematically showing a processing apparatus for activating a secondary battery according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and

(5) FIG. 5 is a side view thereof.

(6) FIG. 6 is a perspective view schematically showing a charger/discharger of a secondary battery according to an embodiment of the present invention.

(7) FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating the charger/discharger shown in FIG. 6 in a charged/discharged state.

(8) FIG. 8 is a perspective view showing in detail an example of a configuration of an air conditioning line and a CO.sub.2 supply line in a charger/discharger according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention.

(9) FIG. 9 is a perspective view showing in detail another example of a configuration of an air conditioning line and a CO.sub.2 supply line in a charger/discharger according to another preferred embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(10) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described more specifically with reference to the accompanying drawings about exemplary embodiments of the present invention. It is to be understood that the following detailed description and drawings are merely illustrative of the embodiments of the present invention, and therefore the present invention should not be construed as being limited to the description and contents.

(11) Meanwhile, in the present invention, terms such as ‘front’, ‘rear’, ‘left’, ‘right’, ‘upper’ and ‘lower’ are used, but these terms are used on the basis of the drawings shown for ease of explanation and easy understanding. It is to be understood that they are used in the sense of relative relationship and not in the sense of absolute relationship, and these terms should not be unduly construed to limit the scope of the present invention.

(12) The present invention provides a charger/discharger of a secondary battery and an activation process apparatus of a secondary battery including the same, but for convenience of description, first, an activation process apparatus of a secondary battery according to the present invention will be described in detail.

(13) FIG. 4 is a front view schematically showing a processing apparatus for activating a secondary battery according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 5 is a side view thereof. Referring to these drawings, as in the conventional apparatus, in the activation process chamber 10, the plurality of chargers/dischargers 20 are arranged side by side in the horizontal and vertical directions, and a predetermined space is provided in the front part (the left part in the side view of FIG. 5) of the row in which the plurality of chargers/dischargers 20 are arranged and becomes the maintenance passage of the worker, and a space provided in the rear part (right side in the side view of FIG. 5) becomes the moving passage 40 of the stacker crane 30. In the side view of FIG. 5, the chargers/dischargers 20 are arranged in one row in the horizontal direction, but may be arranged in a plurality of rows.

(14) In addition, in the activation process apparatus of the present invention, an air conditioning duct 50 connected to an air conditioning device (not shown) is installed on the ceiling of the process chamber similarly to the conventional art, and the air conditioning duct 50 is connected to each charger/discharger 20 through a separate air conditioning line 21.

(15) In addition, the process apparatus of the present invention has a structure in which a CO.sub.2 supply source 60 is installed and connected to each charger/discharger 20 through a CO.sub.2 supply line 22. Although it is illustrated that two CO.sub.2 supply sources 60 are installed in the process chamber 10, they may be installed outside the process chamber or may be connected to both sides by installing one CO.sub.2 supply source 60.

(16) As described above, in the activation process apparatus according to the present invention, an air conditioning line is connected for each charger/discharger to thereby uniform and smooth internal temperature control. In addition, an additional CO.sub.2 supply line is installed in the apparatus so that in the event of a fire inside the charger/discharger, the CO.sub.2 supply line can be opened instead of the air conditioning line to thereby efficiently perform extinguishing work immediately. This will be described in detail later with reference to the charger/discharger described later.

(17) FIG. 6 is a perspective view schematically showing a charger/discharger 20 of a secondary battery according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 7 is a perspective view illustrating the charger/discharger shown in FIG. 6 in a charged/discharged state. Referring to these drawings, the charger/discharger 20 of the present invention includes a conventional box-shaped body 23, charge/discharge terminals 24a and 24b provided on the side portion of the box-shaped body 23, and a fan 25 provided in a ceiling portion 23a of the box-shaped body 23 similarly to a conventional art. The box-shaped body 23 includes a ceiling portion 23a, a bottom portion 23b, and a side portion, and since two front and rear sides of the side portion are open, the rear open portion becomes a passage for injecting or discharging a tray (not shown) to the inside by the stacker crane 30, and the front open portion becomes a worker's work passage when checking the charger/discharger or when a manual work is necessary. The bottom portion 23b of the body is open, and the tray is seated and fixed to this open portion. The charge/discharge terminals 24a and 24b apply current by contacting electrode leads of battery cells mounted in a tray (not shown), and the fan 25 cools heat generated during an activation process.

(18) The charger/discharger of the present invention is further provided with a non-combustible blocking means capable of opening and closing the two side openings in the box-shaped body 23 as described above. Here, the non-combustible blocking means can be opened when the tray is put or discharged inside the charger/discharger and can be blocked when charging/discharging while the tray is inserted. In particular, it is preferable that the non-combustible blocking means is automatically closed when the tray is put in for charging/discharging and is automatically opened when charging/discharging is completed.

(19) In addition, although the blocking means may be in the form of a door, it is preferable to be configured as non-flammable curtains (26a, 26b) as shown in FIGS. 6 and 7. The non-flammable curtains 26a and 26b may be designed to be opened and closed vertically or horizontally, but being vertically opened and closed is preferable. In this case, if a magnet (not shown) is provided at the lower end of the curtain, a stable sealed state may be formed, which is preferable. On the other hand, the non-flammable fabric can be used arbitrarily selected from those known in the art, such as flame-retardant woven fabric or non-woven fabric without particular limitation, and thus detailed description thereof will be omitted here.

(20) The non-flammable curtain as the blocking means as described above can be installed inexpensively and simply, can efficiently block the inside of the charger/discharger from the outside as shown in FIG. 7, to thereby maintain the inside at a uniform temperature without being influenced by the outside temperature deviation during the activation process. Further, when a fire occurs, the non-flammable curtain shows an excellent effect of preventing the fire from spreading to the outside.

(21) In addition, the present invention is further characterized in that the air-conditioning line 21 and the CO.sub.2 supply line 22 connected to the inside of the box-shaped body 23 as described above are further provided. Herein, the air conditioning line 21 supplies a temperature controlled air to the inside of the body 23 and functions to independently adjust the temperature inside the charger/discharger, and when a fire occurs, the CO2 supply line 22 functions to extinguish the fire by injecting carbon dioxide into the body.

(22) FIGS. 8 and 9 are perspective views showing in detail an exemplary configuration of an air conditioning line and a CO.sub.2 supply line in a charger/discharger according to a preferred embodiment of the present invention, respectively, and schematically show part of the configuration in a state that two chargers/dischargers 20 are arranged up and down. Referring to these drawings, the ceiling 23a of the box-shaped body 23 is provided with a flat fan 25 or blow fan 27 similarly to the prior art, while an air conditioning line 21 and a CO2 supply line 22 connected to the inside through the ceiling 23a are additionally provided, and the air conditioning line 21 and the CO.sub.2 supply line 22 are configured to join one line through an automatic open-close valve 28 before being introduced into the body 23. The automatic open-close valve 28 is normally in an open state of the air conditioning line 21, but when a fire occurs, the air conditioning line 21 is closed and is operated to open the CO.sub.2 supply line 22.

(23) The flat fan 25 or the blow fan 27 allows the air supplied through the air conditioning line to be smoothly supplied to the inside of the charge/discharge device. When the blow fan 27 is used, it is preferable to connect the air conditioning line 21 and the CO.sub.2 supply line 22 to the intake port of the blow fan, so that the temperature control and the fire extinguishing can be performed more smoothly. The blow fan 27 may be installed in various numbers according to the size of the apparatus, but it is generally preferable to install about 2 to 4 blow fans.

(24) As described above, the charger/discharger of the present invention includes an air conditioning line 21 and a CO.sub.2 supply line 22, and these lines are controlled by an automatic open-close valve 28, so that the temperature inside the charger/discharger can be controlled uniformly and smoothly, and when a fire occurs, the CO.sub.2 supply line can be opened to perform extinguishing work immediately and efficiently.

(25) As described above in detail, a charger/discharger of a secondary battery and an activation process apparatus including the same according to the present invention may reduce the measurement deviation of a process due to the temperature deviation by uniformly controlling the internal temperature to a predetermined temperature, and in the event of a fire, it has the effect of extinguishing the fire efficiently and preventing it from spreading to the outside, which is very useful industrially.

(26) While the present invention has been particularly shown and described with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof, it is to be understood that the invention is not to be limited to the details thereof, and it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various modifications such as the above description, substitutions of components and the like, addition of additional components, and the like may be made without departing from the scope of the present invention based on the above description.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS

(27) 10: activation process chamber 20: charger/discharger 21: air conditioning line 22: CO.sub.2 supply line 23: box-shaped body 23a: ceiling portion 23b: bottom portion 24a, 24b: charge/discharge terminal 25: flat fan 26a, 26b: non-flammable curtain 27: blow fan 28: automatic open-close valve 30: stacker crane 40: stacker crane moving passage 50: air conditioning duct 60: CO.sub.2 source 10: activation process chamber 110: conventional charger/discharger 111: box-shaped body 112: charge/discharge terminal 113: fan 120: air conditioning duct 130: stacker crane