CA1119663A - Homogeneous integral connector between battery lug and terminal - Google Patents
Homogeneous integral connector between battery lug and terminalInfo
- Publication number
- CA1119663A CA1119663A CA000375598A CA375598A CA1119663A CA 1119663 A CA1119663 A CA 1119663A CA 000375598 A CA000375598 A CA 000375598A CA 375598 A CA375598 A CA 375598A CA 1119663 A CA1119663 A CA 1119663A
- Authority
- CA
- Canada
- Prior art keywords
- terminal
- lug
- battery
- connector
- aperture
- Prior art date
- Legal status (The legal status is an assumption and is not a legal conclusion. Google has not performed a legal analysis and makes no representation as to the accuracy of the status listed.)
- Expired
Links
Classifications
-
- Y—GENERAL TAGGING OF NEW TECHNOLOGICAL DEVELOPMENTS; GENERAL TAGGING OF CROSS-SECTIONAL TECHNOLOGIES SPANNING OVER SEVERAL SECTIONS OF THE IPC; TECHNICAL SUBJECTS COVERED BY FORMER USPC CROSS-REFERENCE ART COLLECTIONS [XRACs] AND DIGESTS
- Y02—TECHNOLOGIES OR APPLICATIONS FOR MITIGATION OR ADAPTATION AGAINST CLIMATE CHANGE
- Y02E—REDUCTION OF GREENHOUSE GAS [GHG] EMISSIONS, RELATED TO ENERGY GENERATION, TRANSMISSION OR DISTRIBUTION
- Y02E60/00—Enabling technologies; Technologies with a potential or indirect contribution to GHG emissions mitigation
- Y02E60/10—Energy storage using batteries
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- Connection Of Batteries Or Terminals (AREA)
Abstract
BATTERY CONSTRUCTION
Abstract A battery has a case with at least one terminal disposed through a wall of such case, the terminal having a substantially planar interior surface in the battery.
Groups of battery plates and separators are located within at least one cell of the battery, at least one of these groups having a lug with a portion disposed substantially parallel to and spaced apart from a portion of the interior surface of said terminal. The improvement resides in the battery having a homogeneous integral connector between the lug portion and the terminal portion, this connector having a preselected cross-sectional area less than the area of either of such surfaces.
Abstract A battery has a case with at least one terminal disposed through a wall of such case, the terminal having a substantially planar interior surface in the battery.
Groups of battery plates and separators are located within at least one cell of the battery, at least one of these groups having a lug with a portion disposed substantially parallel to and spaced apart from a portion of the interior surface of said terminal. The improvement resides in the battery having a homogeneous integral connector between the lug portion and the terminal portion, this connector having a preselected cross-sectional area less than the area of either of such surfaces.
Description
Back~roulld of the Invention 1. Field of the Inventiorl This inventiGn pertains to bat-teries and is a division of application Serial No. 296,120 filecl January 31, 197S.
II. Description of the Prio_ Art Lead storage batteries are oten made with straps connecting the individual plates in a stac~ together. The strap has a vertical portion called a lug. Terminals are provided in the bat-tery for connection of the ba-ttery to e~ternal electrical cables) the terminals in some batteries being positioned in the bat-tery side walls. A portion of the surface of the lug overlaps a portion of the inside surface of the terminal and the two must be connected together to form a good electrical connection. In one approach, the o~erlapping sur~aces of the lug and -terminal are pressed to-gether by l~elding jaws and electrically-welded connection is formed. One problem Wi~}l this approach is that the over-lapping area of contact creates a low electrical resistance resulting in insurficient heat at the interface causing a cold weld.
Alternatively, it is known t~o provide the lug por-tion ~ith a projection which is inserted through a hole in a ba-ttery wall and into a hole or cavity on the terminal. A complete connection between the terminal and the lug and a good seal bct~een the terminal, battery wall and lug is obtained by e~erting pressure on either side of the connection, that is, by appl~ing pressure against the battery lug iithin the battery and against the terminal outside the battery so as to squeeze ~ `
them -togcther and sea] the connection against the battery wall.
If desired the step of fusing the COlllleCtiOn together can b~
added by applying heat to the lug and to the teTminal~ See U.S. Patent Nos. 3 ~57 11S and ; 303 056.
A similar ~pproach to maXing electrical connections through storage battery par-titions or walls withill the battery case is disclosed in U.S..Patent Nos. 3 798 071; 3 723 699;
3 687 73~; 3 5S9 94S; 3 3~S 005; and 3 313 65~. In partic-ular~ the Allen Patent No. 3 723 699 discloses a method of making an intercell connection by providing a lug on one side of a partition wi-th a bar thereon which extends into a hole in the partition wall. The lug on the other side of the partition does not have a bar but has a ~lat surface adjacent the partition. A specially shaped elec-trode acts on the smooth lug whicll has no bar~ forcing t~e~soft lead of the lug to press into the hole in the partition wall against the bar on the opposite lug. Then while under pressure a current is passed fusing the two lugs together.
Problems can occur in obtaining precise alignment between the relatively large protrusion and openings on various parts to be connected together or between the pro-trusions and openings in a partition wall or a battery case wall through which the protrusions must pass. In addition the area of contact between the protrusions on one part of the sur-face or opening on the other part is relatively large and requlres a grea-t deal of hea-t in order to melt the lead and fuse the parts together to form the terminal connection.
Summary of the Invention The present invention consists of in a battery .
~ ~.9~63 co~nprising a case havillg a-t least one terminal d;sposed through a wall of said case, said -termillal having a sub-stantially planar interior surFace in said battery, and havillo groups of ba-ttery plates and separators wi~hin at least one cell, at least one of said groups having a lug with a portion disposed substantially parallel to and spaced apart from at least a portion of said interior surface of said terminal, the improvement whcrein said battery comprises a homogeneous integral connector between said lug portion and said terminal portion, said connector having a preselected cross-sectional area.
These and other features of an embodiment oE the in vention will become apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Brief Descri~tion of the Drawin~s~
Fig 1 is a cross-section of a -terminal sealed in a battery l~all acljacent to a batte~y lug;
Fig. la is a view of the lug, terminal and battery wall, ta~en as indicated along the lines and arrows la-la in Fig. l;
Fig. 2 is a cross-section of a lug, terminal and battery wall of Fig. 1 with the preferred embodi-nent of insulation means in place;
Fig. 2a is a view of the lug, insulation, terminal an~ bat~ery wall, -taken as indicated along the lines and arrows 2a-2a in ~ig. 2;
Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the lug, terminal, battery wall and preferred embodiment insulation means of Fig. 2, showing the welding jaws and an extrucled portion of the lug in contact with -the terminal;
Fig. 4 is a cross-section of the preferred embodi-ment of Fig. 3 with an electrical potential shown schema-tically applied across the welding jaws and showing the integral and homogeneous connection between the lug and terminal being fused.
Description of the ~referred Embodiments Although specific forms of the invention have been selected for illustration in the drawings, and the followins description is drawn in specific terms for the purpose of describing this invention, this description is not intended to limit the scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claims. -Referring to Fig. 1, a portion of a battery wall 12 is shown having an aperture 16. The portion of the battery wall designated generally l~ surrounding the aperture 16 comprises a ring 14 and an inwardly depending flange 15. The ring 14 together with the inwardly depend-ing flange lS create a partial chamber in the battery ~ ~
wall 12. ~ ~`
A terminal 10 is contained within the partial chamber engaging the inside surfaces of the inwardly de-pending flange 15 and the ring 14. An extension 11 of the -terminal engages the inside surface of the battery wall .
` ' . , -5- ' I
- . - - - - . :
- . ..
,, ~
- .
--~ for a distance. In the embodiment shown here, the inside surface of the te~minal 9 along its entire length i5 planar. The terminal is metal and may be lead alloy.
Within the terminal a tapped hole 20 can be provided.
The cell con-taining the terminal also con-tains a group of battery plates with separators (not shown). A
vertically extending lug 21, connected to the strap of the group, has a portion adjacent and overlapping a portion of the inside surface 9 of the terminal 10. The adjacen-t and overlapping surfaces of the lug and inside surfaces of the terminal are denoted 22 and 23 respectively in Fig. 1.
Fig. la is a view along the lines and arrows la-la of Fig. 1 showing the inside surface of the battery wall 12, the inside surface 9 of tne terminal 10 and a portion of the lug 21 overlapping a por-tion of the inside surface 9 of the terminal 10. The aperture 16 in the battery ~all 12 is shown as a circular dotted line 24 in Fig. la.
In Fig. 2, a preferred embodiment of the insula-tion means 100 is shown between the battery lug 21 and the terminal 10. The preferred embodiment insulation means 100 has an aperture 102 and, except for this, the insula-tion means covers the entire overlapping surfaces 22 and 23 respectively of the ~attery lug 21 and the terminal connector 10. This is seen more clearly in Fig. 2a where the bottom edge of the insulation means is shown as the solid line 11)4 partially dotted where it is overlapped by the lug 21. The aperture 102 in the insulation means 100 is shown as a dotted circle in Fig. 2a.
i , ~ . . ` , :
,.
~``~'' In accordance wi.th this invention, welding jaws ; are positioned on either side of the area to be welded.
In Fig. 3, the e~ternal welding jaw 300 contacts the out-side surface 18 o~ the terminal at 301. The internal welding jaw 302 has a protrusion 30~ which is adjacent to the lug 21. The protrusion 304 engages the lug 21 on a surface 305 opposite the overlappiny surface 22.
A force is applied to the welding jaws movi.ng the welding jaws toward one another. ~hen this happens, the protrusion 30~ contacts the lug 21 along the surface 305, forcin~ -the lug 21 to press against the insulation means 100; the external welding jaw 300, pressed against the outside surface 18 of the terminal 10 at the pOillt 301, causes the inside surface 9 of the termianl to press against the insulation means 100. The lug 21 is made of relatively soft metal such as lead alloy and when the lug 21 is pressed against the insulation means 100, the edge of the insulation means forming the aperture 102 acts as a die so that the soft metal is extruded through the aperture 102 and contacts the inside surface of the terminal along a small contact area 308. The shape of the extension 306 ', can be seen in Fig. 3 along with the area of contact 308.
The preferred embodiment insulation means is a flat, relatively thin, rectangularly shaped piece of material which is capable of electrically insulating the portion 22 of the lug surface ~hich o~Jerlaps a portion 23 of the terminal 10. A-t the same time, it acts to space apart the overlapping surfaces of the lug and terminal and to thermally insulate one surface from the opposing surface. The insulation means,must be capable of ~.
-7- ~ .
i~ .
, i63 withstanding the compression-like ~orce of the welding jaws and the e~-trusion of lead through the aperture 102.
When an electrical poten-tial is applied across -the welding jaws 302 and 300 as signified by the plus and minus signs in Fig. 4, current begins -to flow between the metal lug and the metal terminal through the relatively small contact area 308 of Fig. 3 thereby generating a large amount of heat in that region and causing -the lead of the lug and terminal to melt, forming a fusion zone 400, shown cross-hatched in Fig. ~. However, the welding jaws con-tinue to apply a compressive-type force squeezing the lug and the terminal together and more cold metal or lead is introduced into the fusion zone in the aperture 102. As current continues to flow and more lead continues to melt, the entire a~erture within the insulation means is filled with molten lead to form a homogeneous and integral connection in the fusion zone 400 between the lug 21 and the terminal 10. The current flow is stopped and the welding jaws are retracted leaving the lug connected to the terminal.
It is important to note that no projections were present on either the terminal or the lug which might result in requirements for precise alignment and mating of the projection with either the lug or -tenninal necessitating the implementation o elaborate alignment procedures each time a different size battery was introduced for terminal welding. Instead, in the preferred embodiment a projection ¦ ;
304 is provided on the internal welding jaw 302 which presses against a substantially planar surface of the lug. ¦ ;
The other planar surface of the lug 21 presses against a .
- ' , --~ relatively flat insulation means 100 which can be positioned quite easily to have its aperture 102 align with the projection on the ~elding jaw.
In an alterna-te embodiment of this invention, a battery case can be injection molded to include plas-tic around the terminal connector leaving an aperture 102 and thereby eliminate the separate insulation means from the battery. However, with the separa-te preferred embodiment insulation means of this invention, there is no need to provide different terminal post si~es for different pla~e heights in different size batteries since the insulation means can be moved easily to accommodate a common terminal post. For example, a series of batteries with identical side wall terminal configurations, but with different size plate heights and lug lengths, migh-t be presented for side terminal welding. A smaller lug, in the area of the terminal overlap, will not e~tend as far -toward the battery top as a lon~er lug. With the preferred embodiment in-sulation means of this invention, the insulation means can be moved to insure that the aperture 102 will be positioned ~ -between the common terminal and ei-ther the longer lug or the shorter lug without the need of varying the common terminal configuration.
In one embodiment of the electxical insulation means, a paper tape or piece of cardboard with an aper-ture is provided with glue or adhesive already applied to one side or surface~ This is pasted to the terminal after the terminal is assembled into the battery wall but before the groups of plates and separators are added to the cells in the battery.
I ,.
_9_ ~, ~.
, 3~j!fj3 ~` In lead storage batteries for automobiles, the groups of plates within eacn cell are connected through partitions contained within eac~ battery by formlng inter-cell connections, the cross-sectional area of which is a typical area of 0.4 to 0.5 square inches. In such a battery, the aperture within the insulation means, which ultimately becomes filled with the homogeneous and integral connector formed between -the lug and terminal, is of the same cross-sectional area of Q.4 to O.S square inches. In applicant's preferred embodimen-t, the aperture in the paper tape or card is circular and has a diameter of 0.375 inches. It will be seen that this aperture can easily be varied to provide a lug terminal connection equal to the ba-ttery intercell connections for a variety of lead storage batteries.
In the preferred embodimen-t, a battery contains apertures 16 through the ~all 12 of the bat-tery case.
ithin the apertures formed in the wall 12 of the battery case, terminals 10 are assembled which sealingly engage the battery walls 12. A piece of paper tape or cardboard 100 haviny a circular aperture 102 therethrough adheres to the inside surface 9 of the terminal 10 in the batter~
aperture 16. A group of plates, inserted into the cell containing the terminal, has a lug 21, which ex-tends upward from the plates adjacent to and overlapping the insulation card 100 pas-led on the inside surface 9 of the terminal 10. Welding jaws 300 and 302 are then brought into contact with the terminal 10 and lug 21, the external welding jaw 300 pressing against the outer surface 1~ of the terminal 10 and the internal welding jaw 302 haviny a !' ~` projection 30~' thereon which presses aclainst a surface of a lug. The lug 21 is so positioned relative to -the insula-tion 100 and terminal 10 that a portion 22 o the lug surface overlaps a corresponding portion 23 of the insi~e surface 9 of the terminal 10. The insulation means 100 covers an area which includes all of -this overlapping surface 22 of the lug except for the aperture 102. As the welding jaws squeeze, the lug contacts the edye of the aperture 102 in the insula-tion material 100 and the soft metal begins to extrude through the aperture 102 to contact the inside surface 9 of the terminal 10. The area of contact 308 is quite small compared to the area of the aperture 102 in the insulation 100. When electrical po-ten-tial is applied to the welding jaws, a curren-t begins to flow through this small contact thereby creating a great amount of heat. The insulation surrounding the aperture not only pro~ides an electrical insulation so that only a small area of contact is provided between the lug and the terminal, but also provides a means of concentrating the heat at the point OL contact by actinct as bo-th an electrical and heat insulator. This concentration of the heat creates molten lead at the point OL contact and with the jaws continually applying pressure to the lug and terminal, squeezing them together, more cold lead is extruded into the aperture 102 where it melts forming an integral and homogeneous connection 400 between the lug and terminal. I
It will be understood that various changes in the details, materials and arrangemen-t of parts which have been herein described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of this invention, may be made by those skilled ~11-- i, `
. ., :
ii63 in thc art within the principal. and scope of tile invention as e~pressed in the followillcJ claims.
It ~ill be further understood tha-t the "Abstract of the Disclosure" set forth aho-~e is intended to provide a non-legal technical statement: of the contents of the disclosure in compliance with t:he Rules of Prac-tice of the ..
United States Patent and Traclemar~ Office, and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention described and claimed herein.
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II. Description of the Prio_ Art Lead storage batteries are oten made with straps connecting the individual plates in a stac~ together. The strap has a vertical portion called a lug. Terminals are provided in the bat-tery for connection of the ba-ttery to e~ternal electrical cables) the terminals in some batteries being positioned in the bat-tery side walls. A portion of the surface of the lug overlaps a portion of the inside surface of the terminal and the two must be connected together to form a good electrical connection. In one approach, the o~erlapping sur~aces of the lug and -terminal are pressed to-gether by l~elding jaws and electrically-welded connection is formed. One problem Wi~}l this approach is that the over-lapping area of contact creates a low electrical resistance resulting in insurficient heat at the interface causing a cold weld.
Alternatively, it is known t~o provide the lug por-tion ~ith a projection which is inserted through a hole in a ba-ttery wall and into a hole or cavity on the terminal. A complete connection between the terminal and the lug and a good seal bct~een the terminal, battery wall and lug is obtained by e~erting pressure on either side of the connection, that is, by appl~ing pressure against the battery lug iithin the battery and against the terminal outside the battery so as to squeeze ~ `
them -togcther and sea] the connection against the battery wall.
If desired the step of fusing the COlllleCtiOn together can b~
added by applying heat to the lug and to the teTminal~ See U.S. Patent Nos. 3 ~57 11S and ; 303 056.
A similar ~pproach to maXing electrical connections through storage battery par-titions or walls withill the battery case is disclosed in U.S..Patent Nos. 3 798 071; 3 723 699;
3 687 73~; 3 5S9 94S; 3 3~S 005; and 3 313 65~. In partic-ular~ the Allen Patent No. 3 723 699 discloses a method of making an intercell connection by providing a lug on one side of a partition wi-th a bar thereon which extends into a hole in the partition wall. The lug on the other side of the partition does not have a bar but has a ~lat surface adjacent the partition. A specially shaped elec-trode acts on the smooth lug whicll has no bar~ forcing t~e~soft lead of the lug to press into the hole in the partition wall against the bar on the opposite lug. Then while under pressure a current is passed fusing the two lugs together.
Problems can occur in obtaining precise alignment between the relatively large protrusion and openings on various parts to be connected together or between the pro-trusions and openings in a partition wall or a battery case wall through which the protrusions must pass. In addition the area of contact between the protrusions on one part of the sur-face or opening on the other part is relatively large and requlres a grea-t deal of hea-t in order to melt the lead and fuse the parts together to form the terminal connection.
Summary of the Invention The present invention consists of in a battery .
~ ~.9~63 co~nprising a case havillg a-t least one terminal d;sposed through a wall of said case, said -termillal having a sub-stantially planar interior surFace in said battery, and havillo groups of ba-ttery plates and separators wi~hin at least one cell, at least one of said groups having a lug with a portion disposed substantially parallel to and spaced apart from at least a portion of said interior surface of said terminal, the improvement whcrein said battery comprises a homogeneous integral connector between said lug portion and said terminal portion, said connector having a preselected cross-sectional area.
These and other features of an embodiment oE the in vention will become apparent from the following description with reference to the accompanying drawings.
Brief Descri~tion of the Drawin~s~
Fig 1 is a cross-section of a -terminal sealed in a battery l~all acljacent to a batte~y lug;
Fig. la is a view of the lug, terminal and battery wall, ta~en as indicated along the lines and arrows la-la in Fig. l;
Fig. 2 is a cross-section of a lug, terminal and battery wall of Fig. 1 with the preferred embodi-nent of insulation means in place;
Fig. 2a is a view of the lug, insulation, terminal an~ bat~ery wall, -taken as indicated along the lines and arrows 2a-2a in ~ig. 2;
Fig. 3 is a cross-section of the lug, terminal, battery wall and preferred embodiment insulation means of Fig. 2, showing the welding jaws and an extrucled portion of the lug in contact with -the terminal;
Fig. 4 is a cross-section of the preferred embodi-ment of Fig. 3 with an electrical potential shown schema-tically applied across the welding jaws and showing the integral and homogeneous connection between the lug and terminal being fused.
Description of the ~referred Embodiments Although specific forms of the invention have been selected for illustration in the drawings, and the followins description is drawn in specific terms for the purpose of describing this invention, this description is not intended to limit the scope of the invention which is defined in the appended claims. -Referring to Fig. 1, a portion of a battery wall 12 is shown having an aperture 16. The portion of the battery wall designated generally l~ surrounding the aperture 16 comprises a ring 14 and an inwardly depending flange 15. The ring 14 together with the inwardly depend-ing flange lS create a partial chamber in the battery ~ ~
wall 12. ~ ~`
A terminal 10 is contained within the partial chamber engaging the inside surfaces of the inwardly de-pending flange 15 and the ring 14. An extension 11 of the -terminal engages the inside surface of the battery wall .
` ' . , -5- ' I
- . - - - - . :
- . ..
,, ~
- .
--~ for a distance. In the embodiment shown here, the inside surface of the te~minal 9 along its entire length i5 planar. The terminal is metal and may be lead alloy.
Within the terminal a tapped hole 20 can be provided.
The cell con-taining the terminal also con-tains a group of battery plates with separators (not shown). A
vertically extending lug 21, connected to the strap of the group, has a portion adjacent and overlapping a portion of the inside surface 9 of the terminal 10. The adjacen-t and overlapping surfaces of the lug and inside surfaces of the terminal are denoted 22 and 23 respectively in Fig. 1.
Fig. la is a view along the lines and arrows la-la of Fig. 1 showing the inside surface of the battery wall 12, the inside surface 9 of tne terminal 10 and a portion of the lug 21 overlapping a por-tion of the inside surface 9 of the terminal 10. The aperture 16 in the battery ~all 12 is shown as a circular dotted line 24 in Fig. la.
In Fig. 2, a preferred embodiment of the insula-tion means 100 is shown between the battery lug 21 and the terminal 10. The preferred embodiment insulation means 100 has an aperture 102 and, except for this, the insula-tion means covers the entire overlapping surfaces 22 and 23 respectively of the ~attery lug 21 and the terminal connector 10. This is seen more clearly in Fig. 2a where the bottom edge of the insulation means is shown as the solid line 11)4 partially dotted where it is overlapped by the lug 21. The aperture 102 in the insulation means 100 is shown as a dotted circle in Fig. 2a.
i , ~ . . ` , :
,.
~``~'' In accordance wi.th this invention, welding jaws ; are positioned on either side of the area to be welded.
In Fig. 3, the e~ternal welding jaw 300 contacts the out-side surface 18 o~ the terminal at 301. The internal welding jaw 302 has a protrusion 30~ which is adjacent to the lug 21. The protrusion 304 engages the lug 21 on a surface 305 opposite the overlappiny surface 22.
A force is applied to the welding jaws movi.ng the welding jaws toward one another. ~hen this happens, the protrusion 30~ contacts the lug 21 along the surface 305, forcin~ -the lug 21 to press against the insulation means 100; the external welding jaw 300, pressed against the outside surface 18 of the terminal 10 at the pOillt 301, causes the inside surface 9 of the termianl to press against the insulation means 100. The lug 21 is made of relatively soft metal such as lead alloy and when the lug 21 is pressed against the insulation means 100, the edge of the insulation means forming the aperture 102 acts as a die so that the soft metal is extruded through the aperture 102 and contacts the inside surface of the terminal along a small contact area 308. The shape of the extension 306 ', can be seen in Fig. 3 along with the area of contact 308.
The preferred embodiment insulation means is a flat, relatively thin, rectangularly shaped piece of material which is capable of electrically insulating the portion 22 of the lug surface ~hich o~Jerlaps a portion 23 of the terminal 10. A-t the same time, it acts to space apart the overlapping surfaces of the lug and terminal and to thermally insulate one surface from the opposing surface. The insulation means,must be capable of ~.
-7- ~ .
i~ .
, i63 withstanding the compression-like ~orce of the welding jaws and the e~-trusion of lead through the aperture 102.
When an electrical poten-tial is applied across -the welding jaws 302 and 300 as signified by the plus and minus signs in Fig. 4, current begins -to flow between the metal lug and the metal terminal through the relatively small contact area 308 of Fig. 3 thereby generating a large amount of heat in that region and causing -the lead of the lug and terminal to melt, forming a fusion zone 400, shown cross-hatched in Fig. ~. However, the welding jaws con-tinue to apply a compressive-type force squeezing the lug and the terminal together and more cold metal or lead is introduced into the fusion zone in the aperture 102. As current continues to flow and more lead continues to melt, the entire a~erture within the insulation means is filled with molten lead to form a homogeneous and integral connection in the fusion zone 400 between the lug 21 and the terminal 10. The current flow is stopped and the welding jaws are retracted leaving the lug connected to the terminal.
It is important to note that no projections were present on either the terminal or the lug which might result in requirements for precise alignment and mating of the projection with either the lug or -tenninal necessitating the implementation o elaborate alignment procedures each time a different size battery was introduced for terminal welding. Instead, in the preferred embodiment a projection ¦ ;
304 is provided on the internal welding jaw 302 which presses against a substantially planar surface of the lug. ¦ ;
The other planar surface of the lug 21 presses against a .
- ' , --~ relatively flat insulation means 100 which can be positioned quite easily to have its aperture 102 align with the projection on the ~elding jaw.
In an alterna-te embodiment of this invention, a battery case can be injection molded to include plas-tic around the terminal connector leaving an aperture 102 and thereby eliminate the separate insulation means from the battery. However, with the separa-te preferred embodiment insulation means of this invention, there is no need to provide different terminal post si~es for different pla~e heights in different size batteries since the insulation means can be moved easily to accommodate a common terminal post. For example, a series of batteries with identical side wall terminal configurations, but with different size plate heights and lug lengths, migh-t be presented for side terminal welding. A smaller lug, in the area of the terminal overlap, will not e~tend as far -toward the battery top as a lon~er lug. With the preferred embodiment in-sulation means of this invention, the insulation means can be moved to insure that the aperture 102 will be positioned ~ -between the common terminal and ei-ther the longer lug or the shorter lug without the need of varying the common terminal configuration.
In one embodiment of the electxical insulation means, a paper tape or piece of cardboard with an aper-ture is provided with glue or adhesive already applied to one side or surface~ This is pasted to the terminal after the terminal is assembled into the battery wall but before the groups of plates and separators are added to the cells in the battery.
I ,.
_9_ ~, ~.
, 3~j!fj3 ~` In lead storage batteries for automobiles, the groups of plates within eacn cell are connected through partitions contained within eac~ battery by formlng inter-cell connections, the cross-sectional area of which is a typical area of 0.4 to 0.5 square inches. In such a battery, the aperture within the insulation means, which ultimately becomes filled with the homogeneous and integral connector formed between -the lug and terminal, is of the same cross-sectional area of Q.4 to O.S square inches. In applicant's preferred embodimen-t, the aperture in the paper tape or card is circular and has a diameter of 0.375 inches. It will be seen that this aperture can easily be varied to provide a lug terminal connection equal to the ba-ttery intercell connections for a variety of lead storage batteries.
In the preferred embodimen-t, a battery contains apertures 16 through the ~all 12 of the bat-tery case.
ithin the apertures formed in the wall 12 of the battery case, terminals 10 are assembled which sealingly engage the battery walls 12. A piece of paper tape or cardboard 100 haviny a circular aperture 102 therethrough adheres to the inside surface 9 of the terminal 10 in the batter~
aperture 16. A group of plates, inserted into the cell containing the terminal, has a lug 21, which ex-tends upward from the plates adjacent to and overlapping the insulation card 100 pas-led on the inside surface 9 of the terminal 10. Welding jaws 300 and 302 are then brought into contact with the terminal 10 and lug 21, the external welding jaw 300 pressing against the outer surface 1~ of the terminal 10 and the internal welding jaw 302 haviny a !' ~` projection 30~' thereon which presses aclainst a surface of a lug. The lug 21 is so positioned relative to -the insula-tion 100 and terminal 10 that a portion 22 o the lug surface overlaps a corresponding portion 23 of the insi~e surface 9 of the terminal 10. The insulation means 100 covers an area which includes all of -this overlapping surface 22 of the lug except for the aperture 102. As the welding jaws squeeze, the lug contacts the edye of the aperture 102 in the insula-tion material 100 and the soft metal begins to extrude through the aperture 102 to contact the inside surface 9 of the terminal 10. The area of contact 308 is quite small compared to the area of the aperture 102 in the insulation 100. When electrical po-ten-tial is applied to the welding jaws, a curren-t begins to flow through this small contact thereby creating a great amount of heat. The insulation surrounding the aperture not only pro~ides an electrical insulation so that only a small area of contact is provided between the lug and the terminal, but also provides a means of concentrating the heat at the point OL contact by actinct as bo-th an electrical and heat insulator. This concentration of the heat creates molten lead at the point OL contact and with the jaws continually applying pressure to the lug and terminal, squeezing them together, more cold lead is extruded into the aperture 102 where it melts forming an integral and homogeneous connection 400 between the lug and terminal. I
It will be understood that various changes in the details, materials and arrangemen-t of parts which have been herein described and illustrated in order to explain the nature of this invention, may be made by those skilled ~11-- i, `
. ., :
ii63 in thc art within the principal. and scope of tile invention as e~pressed in the followillcJ claims.
It ~ill be further understood tha-t the "Abstract of the Disclosure" set forth aho-~e is intended to provide a non-legal technical statement: of the contents of the disclosure in compliance with t:he Rules of Prac-tice of the ..
United States Patent and Traclemar~ Office, and is not intended to limit the scope of the invention described and claimed herein.
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G
Claims (3)
1. In a battery comprising a case having at least one terminal disposed through a wall of said case, said terminal having a substantially planar interior surface in said battery, and having groups of battery plates and separators within at least one cell, at least one of said groups having a lug with a portion disposed substantially parallel to and spaced apart from at least a portion of said interior surface of said terminal, the improvement wherein said battery comprises a homogeneous integral connector between said lug portion and said terminal portion, said connector having a preselected cross-sectional area.
2. The invention of Claim 1 wherein said battery further comprises a plurality of cells having at least one inter-cell connector between adjacent cells, each of said inter-cell connectors having a cross-sectional area substant-ially equal to said preselected cross-sectional area of said homogeneous integral connector.
3. The invention of claim 1 wherein said preselected cross-sectional area is less than the area of either of said surfaces.
Priority Applications (1)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000375598A CA1119663A (en) | 1977-02-02 | 1981-04-15 | Homogeneous integral connector between battery lug and terminal |
Applications Claiming Priority (4)
| Application Number | Priority Date | Filing Date | Title |
|---|---|---|---|
| US05/764,833 US4100674A (en) | 1977-02-02 | 1977-02-02 | Method for making a side terminal weld |
| US764,833 | 1977-02-02 | ||
| CA296,120A CA1104644A (en) | 1977-02-02 | 1978-01-31 | Method for making a side terminal weld and product produced by that method |
| CA000375598A CA1119663A (en) | 1977-02-02 | 1981-04-15 | Homogeneous integral connector between battery lug and terminal |
Publications (1)
| Publication Number | Publication Date |
|---|---|
| CA1119663A true CA1119663A (en) | 1982-03-09 |
Family
ID=27165486
Family Applications (1)
| Application Number | Title | Priority Date | Filing Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| CA000375598A Expired CA1119663A (en) | 1977-02-02 | 1981-04-15 | Homogeneous integral connector between battery lug and terminal |
Country Status (1)
| Country | Link |
|---|---|
| CA (1) | CA1119663A (en) |
-
1981
- 1981-04-15 CA CA000375598A patent/CA1119663A/en not_active Expired
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| MKEX | Expiry |