CN215816165U - Battery module and battery pack with same - Google Patents

Abstract

The utility model belongs to the technical field of new energy battery design and production, and particularly relates to a battery module and a battery pack with the same, wherein the battery module comprises: a housing main body formed with an accommodation space; the cover plate is covered and fixed on the shell main body, so that the accommodating space becomes a closed accommodating cavity; the battery cell is placed in the accommodating cavity, and the bottom of the battery cell, which is far away from the cover plate, is abutted against the bottom wall of the accommodating space; the heat-conducting plate, at least one electric core has been placed to the position department of at least one side orientation of heat-conducting plate to the side of heat-conducting plate pastes with the surface of corresponding electric core and pastes and leans on with the heat transfer, and the heat-conducting plate is equipped with at least one arch towards the top of apron, and at least one in all archs offsets with the inside wall of apron, and the bottom of apron and accommodation space are kept away from to the heat-conducting plate offsets. By applying the technical scheme of the utility model, the problem that the battery cell is damaged due to the fact that the upper cover applies extrusion force to the battery cell in the prior art is solved.

Description

Battery module and battery pack with same

Technical Field

The utility model belongs to the technical field of new energy battery design and production, and particularly relates to a battery module and a battery pack with the same.

Background

Among the prior art's battery module, it is fixed with the bottom of shell that the electricity core bottom used heat-conducting glue, the bubble cotton has been put at the electricity core top, the upper cover is fixed through compressing tightly the cotton supplementary electric core of bubble, the bubble is cotton to have the ability of deformation buffering, can prevent to make the heat-conducting glue between electricity core bottom and the shell bottom tear along the downward extrusion force that strikes the production of Z direction, however, because after the electricity core top has increased the bubble cotton, the in-process upper cover of assembly can last to exert a power (along Z to decurrent extrusion force) at electricity core top, this power can harm electric core, lead to the positive negative pole pin of electric core (be positive negative pole utmost point ear) and electrode assembly's pad (or connect the pin) dislocation or directly break away from, this will accelerate the decay of electric core capacity, serious even cause the battery module to be the waste product.

SUMMERY OF THE UTILITY MODEL

The utility model aims to provide a battery module and a battery pack with the same, and aims to solve the problem that in the prior art, an upper cover applies extrusion force to a battery core to damage the battery core.

In order to achieve the purpose, the utility model adopts the technical scheme that: a battery module, comprising: a housing main body formed with an accommodation space; the cover plate is covered and fixed on the shell main body, so that the accommodating space becomes a closed accommodating cavity; the battery cell is placed in the accommodating cavity, and the bottom of the battery cell, which is far away from the cover plate, is abutted against the bottom wall of the accommodating space; the heat-conducting plate, at least one electric core has been placed to the position department of at least one side orientation of heat-conducting plate to the side of heat-conducting plate pastes with the surface of corresponding electric core and pastes and leans on with the heat transfer, and the heat-conducting plate is equipped with at least one arch towards the top of apron, and at least one in all archs offsets with the inside wall of apron, and the bottom of apron and accommodation space are kept away from to the heat-conducting plate offsets.

By applying the technical scheme, the heat conducting plate is supported by the bulges, so that the extrusion force applied to the battery cell by the cover plate is eliminated, and the battery cell is protected from being damaged.

Optionally, the battery module further includes a reinforcing plate corresponding to the protrusion one to one, the reinforcing plate is located between the protrusion and the inner side wall of the cover plate, and the protrusion abuts against the reinforcing plate.

Optionally, the area of the stiffener is greater than the area of the protrusion, and the stiffener completely covers the protrusion.

By applying the technical scheme, the pressure intensity directly exerted on the cover plate by the protrusions is reduced through the reinforcing plate, and the purpose of protecting the cover plate is achieved.

Optionally, the battery module has a plurality of heat-conducting plates, two sides of every heat-conducting plate are pasted with the surface of two electricity cores respectively, the top of every heat-conducting plate is equipped with a plurality of archs at interval, every arch is the multirow along the direction of perpendicular to heat-conducting plate face and arranges to each arch one-to-one on two adjacent heat-conducting plates.

By applying the technical scheme, the structural shapes of the heat-conducting plates are unified, so that the heat-conducting plates can be produced in batch by using the unified die, and the production efficiency is improved.

Optionally, two battery cores are placed between two adjacent heat-conducting plates, and the surfaces of the two battery cores between the two adjacent heat-conducting plates are attached to each other.

Optionally, the top of the heat conducting plate is coated with heat conducting structural adhesive at the positions other than the protrusions, and the heat conducting structural adhesive is fixedly bonded with the inner side wall of the cover plate.

Optionally, the side surface of the heat conducting plate and the surface of the battery cell attached to the side surface to transfer heat are bonded by a heat conducting structural adhesive.

Optionally, a heat-conducting structural adhesive is coated between the bottom of each battery cell and the bottom wall of the accommodating space, and the bottom of each heat-conducting plate directly abuts against the bottom wall of the accommodating space.

By applying the technical scheme, the heat conducting structure glue enables the top and the bottom of the battery core and the top and the bottom of the heat conducting plate to simultaneously transmit heat to the cover plate and the shell main body, and the efficiency of heat transmission for heat radiation is improved.

Optionally, an adhesive tape is bonded to the whole top of the heat conducting plate, and the top of the adhesive tape is not lower than the top of the battery core.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a battery pack. Specifically, the battery pack comprises a plurality of battery modules.

The utility model has at least the following beneficial effects:

the battery module provided by the embodiment of the utility model, after the cover plate is covered on the shell main body, at least one bulge of the heat conducting plate is used for supporting in a propping manner, so that the extrusion force applied to the battery core in the cover plate pressing process is counteracted by the heat conducting plate, namely, compared with the battery module in the prior art, the cover plate presses down the extrusion force to the battery core in the assembling process, the battery module provided by the embodiment of the utility model is counteracted by the heat conducting plate in a supporting manner, the battery core does not bear the pressing down extrusion force of the cover plate any more, and therefore, the battery core is protected from being damaged, and the battery quality of the battery module in the using process is ensured. And the heat-conducting plate can transmit the heat that produces in the electric core course of operation to apron and shell main part respectively with the scattering from at least one arch and the bottom of heat-conducting plate to cool down the normal operating temperature of electric core carries out the heat dissipation to electric core, guarantee.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present invention, the drawings needed to be used in the embodiments or the prior art descriptions will be briefly described below, and it is obvious that the drawings in the following description are only some embodiments of the present invention, and it is obvious for those skilled in the art to obtain other drawings based on these drawings without inventive exercise.

Fig. 1 is a schematic structural view of a battery module according to an embodiment of the present invention after assembly;

FIG. 2 is an exploded view of FIG. 1;

fig. 3 is a front view of a battery module according to an embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 4 is a left side view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 5 is a top view of FIG. 3;

FIG. 6 is a cross-sectional view taken along line B-B of FIG. 3;

fig. 7 is an enlarged view of a portion a in fig. 6.

Wherein, in the figures, the respective reference numerals:

10. a housing main body; 11. an accommodating space; 20. a cover plate; 30. an electric core; 40. a heat conducting plate; 41. a protrusion; 50. a reinforcing plate; 60. an adhesive tape; 70. heat-conducting structural adhesive; 81. a first electrode assembly; 82. a second electrode assembly.

Detailed Description

Reference will now be made in detail to embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein like or similar reference numerals refer to the same or similar elements or elements having the same or similar function throughout. The embodiments described below with reference to the drawings are illustrative and intended to be illustrative of the utility model and are not to be construed as limiting the utility model.

In the description of the present invention, it is to be understood that the terms "length", "width", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", and the like, indicate orientations or positional relationships based on the orientations or positional relationships illustrated in the drawings, and are used merely for convenience in describing the present invention and for simplicity in description, and do not indicate or imply that the devices or elements referred to must have a particular orientation, be constructed in a particular orientation, and be operated, and thus, are not to be construed as limiting the present invention.

Furthermore, the terms "first", "second", etc. are used for descriptive purposes only and are not to be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated. Thus, a feature defined as "first," "second," etc. may explicitly or implicitly include one or more of that feature. In the description of the present invention, "a plurality" means two or more unless specifically defined otherwise.

In the present invention, unless otherwise expressly stated or limited, the terms "mounted," "connected," "secured," and the like are to be construed broadly and can, for example, be fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally formed; can be mechanically or electrically connected; either directly or indirectly through intervening media, either internally or in any other relationship. The specific meanings of the above terms in the present invention can be understood by those skilled in the art according to specific situations.

As shown in fig. 1 to 5, an embodiment of the present invention provides a battery module, and particularly, the battery module includes a housing main body 10, a cover plate 20, a battery cell 30, and a heat-conducting plate 40. In the assembling process, the housing body 10 is formed with the accommodating space 11, the cover plate 20 is covered and fixed on the housing body 10, so that the accommodating space 11 becomes a closed accommodating cavity, the accommodating cavity may be a rectangular cavity (or a long-strip-shaped cavity with a cross section of other shapes), the battery cell 30 is placed in the accommodating cavity, and the first electrode assembly 81 and the second electrode assembly 82 are respectively assembled at two ends of the accommodating cavity, the battery cell 30 placed in the accommodating cavity is connected in series through the first electrode assembly 81 and the second electrode assembly 82, and positive and negative connection terminals are led out from the first electrode assembly 81 or the second electrode assembly 82 to output electric energy to the outside. Further, the bottom that the apron 20 was kept away from to electric core 30 offsets with the diapire of accommodation space 11, and accommodation space 11's diapire support post electricity core 30, and at least one electric core 30 has been placed to the position department of at least one side orientation of heat-conducting plate 40 to the side of heat-conducting plate is pasted with the surface of corresponding electric core 30 and is passed on heat transfer, thereby absorbs the heat that produces in the working process of electricity core 30 and passes on heat-conducting plate 40. The heat conducting plate 40 is provided with at least one protrusion 41 towards the top of the cover plate 20, and at least one protrusion 41 in all the protrusions 41 is abutted against the inner side wall of the cover plate 20 (when only one battery cell 30 and one heat conducting plate 40 are arranged in the battery module, one side surface of the heat conducting plate 40 is abutted against one surface of the battery cell 30, and at least one protrusion 41 is arranged on the top of the heat conducting plate 40; when the battery module comprises two or more battery cells 30 and two or more heat conducting plates 40, two adjacent heat conducting plates 40 are arranged at intervals, and at least one battery cell 30 is placed between two adjacent heat conducting plates 40, at this time, the outermost sides of the assembly formed by stacking the plurality of battery cells 30 and the plurality of heat conducting plates 40 can be the battery cells 30, also can be the heat conducting plates 40, and the outermost sides are preferably the battery cells 30). Thus, after the cover plate 20 is fixed to the housing main body 10, the cover plate 20 is supported by the at least one protrusion 41, so that the heat transferred to the heat conducting plate 40 is continuously transferred to the cover plate 20 from the protrusion 41 abutting against the cover plate 20, and thus the cover plate 20 dissipates the heat, while dissipating the heat, the at least one protrusion 41 of the heat conducting plate 40 supports the cover plate 20, so that the cover plate 20 does not extrude the top of the battery cell 30, the battery cell 30 does not receive the downward extrusion force in the Z direction (the Z axis direction is upward as shown in fig. 4, and the reverse direction is downward as Z direction) applied by the cover plate 20, the positive and negative electrode pins of the battery cell 30 can be stably connected to the first electrode assembly 81 and the second electrode assembly 82, thereby ensuring the assembly stability of the battery cell 30 and the product quality of the battery module. Moreover, the bottom of the heat conducting plate 40, which is far away from the cover plate 20, abuts against the bottom wall of the accommodating space 11, a part of the heat transferred to the heat conducting plate 40 is continuously transferred to the cover plate 20 from the protrusion 41 abutting against the cover plate 20 to be dissipated, and a part of the heat transferred to the casing main body 10 from the bottom of the heat conducting plate 40 to be dissipated, so that the heat dissipation efficiency of the heat conducting plate 40 to the battery cell 30 is further improved.

The battery module provided by the embodiment of the utility model, after the cover plate 20 is covered on the housing main body 10, at least one protrusion 41 of the heat conducting plate 40 supports and supports, so that the pressing force applied to the battery cell 30 in the pressing process of the cover plate 20 is supported and offset by the heat conducting plate 40, that is, compared with the battery module in the prior art, the pressing force applied to the battery cell 30 in the assembling process of the cover plate 20 is offset by the support of the heat conducting plate 40 in the battery module provided by the embodiment of the utility model, the pressing force applied to the cover plate 20 is no longer borne by the battery cell 30, thereby protecting the battery cell from being damaged, the battery cell 30 can be connected with the first electrode assembly 81 and the second electrode assembly 82 more stably, and further ensuring the battery quality of the battery module in the using process. And the heat conducting plate 40 can transfer the heat generated in the working process of the battery cell 30 from at least one protrusion 41 of the heat conducting plate 40 and the bottom of the heat conducting plate 40 to the cover plate 20 and the shell main body 10 respectively to be dissipated, so that the battery cell 30 is cooled and the normal working temperature of the battery cell 30 is ensured.

As shown in fig. 2 and 6, the battery module according to the embodiment of the present invention further includes reinforcing plates 50 corresponding to the protrusions 41, the reinforcing plates 50 are metal plates corresponding to the protrusions 41, each reinforcing plate 50 is located between the protrusion 41 and the inner sidewall of the cover plate 20 corresponding to each protrusion 41, the area of the reinforcing plate 50 is larger than that of the protrusion 41, the reinforcing plate 50 completely covers the protrusion 41, and the protrusion 41 abuts against the reinforcing plate 50. Each protrusion 41 can transmit heat to the cover plate 20 through the reinforcing plate 50, the reinforcing plate 50 can reduce the pressure of the protrusion 41 abutting against the cover plate 20 to the cover plate 20, damage to the cover plate 20 caused by deformation of the cover plate 20 due to overlarge pressure of the protrusion 41 to the inner wall of the cover plate 20 in the process of covering the cover plate 20 is avoided, the reinforcing plate 50 completely covers the protrusion 41 by increasing the area of the reinforcing plate 50, the pressure applied to the cover plate 20 by abutting against the protrusion 41 is dispersed and reduced, and the cover plate is well protected. Moreover, the reinforcing plate 50 is a metal plate, and the reinforcing plate 50 made of metal has good heat conductivity, so that heat absorbed by the heat conducting plate 40 can be well transferred to the cover plate 20 to be dissipated, and the purpose of dissipating heat and cooling the battery core 30 is achieved.

In this embodiment, the battery module has a plurality of battery cells 30 and a plurality of heat-conducting plates 40, two sides of each heat-conducting plate 40 respectively lean against the surfaces of two battery cells 30, and a plurality of protrusions 41 are arranged on the top of each heat-conducting plate 40 at intervals. After the plurality of battery cells 30 and the plurality of heat conducting plates 40 are assembled in an overlapping manner, each protrusion 41 is arranged in a plurality of rows along a direction perpendicular to the plate surfaces of the heat conducting plates 40, and the protrusions 41 on two adjacent heat conducting plates 40 are in one-to-one correspondence. That is, the shape and size of each heat conducting plate 40 are consistent, so that the structure of the heat conducting plate 40 is unified, the heat conducting plates 40 can be produced and prepared by a unified die, and the batch production efficiency is high. Further, after the respective heat conductive plates 40 are assembled between the battery cells 30, adjacent two heat conductive plates 40 are spaced apart by the battery cells 30, and the protrusions 41 are arranged in a straight line.

Preferably, two battery cells 30 are placed between two adjacent heat conducting plates 40, as shown in fig. 6, and the surfaces of two battery cells 30 between two adjacent heat conducting plates 40 are attached to each other. On the basis of satisfying the heat dissipation demand of electricity core 30, the quantity of assembly of heat-conducting plate 40 is makeed to reduce the weight of whole battery module.

As shown in fig. 6 and 7, a plurality of protrusions 41 are preferably disposed on the top of the heat conducting plate 40 of this embodiment, at this time, a heat conducting structure adhesive 70 is coated on the position surrounded by two adjacent protrusions 41 and at least one battery cell 30 contacting with the heat conducting plate 40 (when only one protrusion 41 is disposed on the top of the heat conducting plate 40, the heat conducting structure adhesive 70 is coated on the top of the heat conducting plate 40 except the protrusion 41), that is, the heat conducting plate 40 not only can transmit the absorbed heat to the cover plate 20 for dissipation, but also can transmit the absorbed heat to the cover plate 20 through the heat conducting structure adhesive 70 for dissipation on the rest of each heat conducting plate 40 except the protrusion 41, so that the transmission efficiency of the heat generated during the operation of the battery cell 30 is greatly improved, and the heat dissipation and temperature reduction of the battery cell 30 can be better achieved. Moreover, also coat between the inner wall of the top of every electric core 30 and apron 20 and have heat conduction structure to glue 70, heat conduction structure glues 70 and the inside wall bonding of apron 20 is fixed, like this, not only whole top of heat-conducting plate 40 is to apron 20 heat transfer, and simultaneously the top of every electric core 30 also is to apron 20 heat transfer, further improves heat transfer efficiency for dispel the heat that electric core 30 produced in the course of the work.

In this embodiment, the side of the heat conducting plate 40 and the surface of the battery cell 30 attached to the side for transferring heat are bonded by the heat conducting structure adhesive 70, that is, the side of the heat conducting plate 40 and the side of the battery cell 30 are attached together by coating the heat conducting structure adhesive 70, so that the heat conduction between the side of the heat conducting plate 40 and the battery cell 30 is more uniform, and the heat generated by the battery cell 30 is uniformly absorbed everywhere on the side of the heat conducting plate 40. And, the bottom of all electric cores 30 and the bottom wall of the accommodating space 11 are coated with the heat conducting structure glue 70, so that the electric cores 30 can not only transfer heat to the cover plate 20 through the heat conducting structure glue 70 between the top of the electric cores 30 and the cover plate 20 to dissipate heat outwards, but also the electric cores 30 can transfer heat to the housing main body 10 through the heat conducting structure glue 70 between the bottom of the electric cores 30 and the bottom wall of the housing main body 10 to dissipate heat, and the heat dissipation efficiency is further improved. Moreover, the bottom of each heat-conducting plate 40 directly abuts against the bottom wall of the accommodating space 11, so that the heat-conducting plates 40 can not only transfer heat upwards to the cover plate 20 for dissipation, but also transfer heat downwards to the housing main body 10 for dissipation, thereby further improving the heat-dissipating efficiency.

As shown in fig. 2, an adhesive tape 60 is adhered to the entire top of the heat conducting plate 40, the adhesive tape 60 is supported by a plurality of protrusions 41 spaced apart from one another on the same heat conducting plate 40, so that the entire top of the heat conducting plate 40 is flattened by the adhesive tape 60, but the adhesive tape 60 between two adjacent protrusions 41 is stretched and suspended, only the adhesive tape 60 at the protrusion 41 is supported by the protrusion 41 to form a fulcrum position, and the top of the adhesive tape 60 is not lower than the top of the battery cell 30, that is, the fulcrum position is not lower than the top of the battery cell 30.

The assembly process of the battery module provided by the embodiment of the utility model is as follows:

the prepared first electrode assembly 81 and second electrode assembly 82 are respectively assembled to both ends of the case main body 10, and the case main body 10 is waited for standby. Then, a plurality of battery cells 30 are attached in groups of two by two, that is, the side surfaces of two battery cells 30 are attached (the surfaces of two battery cells 30 may be bonded and fixed by coating a heat-conducting structural adhesive 70). Next, the top of each heat conducting plate 40 is bonded and leveled by using an adhesive tape 60 for standby (in this embodiment, it is preferable that a plurality of protrusions 41 are disposed on the top of each heat conducting plate 40 at intervals), then, one heat conducting plate 40 is disposed between two adjacent sets of battery cells 30, and both side surfaces of each heat conducting plate 40 are coated with a heat conducting structural adhesive 70, at this time, both outermost side surfaces of the assembly in which the plurality of battery cells 30 and the plurality of heat conducting plates 40 are stacked are battery cells 30 (the cover plate 20 cannot be connected with the housing main body 10 to achieve covering due to the protrusions 41 abutting against the edge of the cover plate 20 when the heat conducting plates 40 are disposed on the outermost sides). Then, heat conducting structure glue 70 is coated on the bottom wall of the casing main body 10, and heat conducting structure glue 70 is coated on the surfaces of the battery cells 30 on the outermost two side surfaces of the assembly composed of the plurality of battery cells 30 and the plurality of heat conducting plates 40, and the assembly is placed in the accommodating space 11 of the casing main body 10, then the bottom of the battery cells 30 is bonded with the bottom wall of the casing main body 10 through the heat conducting structure glue 70, and the bottom of the heat conducting plate 40 passes through the heat conducting structure glue 70 and is directly abutted against the bottom wall of the casing main body 10 (or, the bonding between the bottom of the heat conducting plate 40 and the bottom wall of the casing main body 10 is also realized through the heat conducting structure glue 70). Then, the positive and negative electrode pins of each cell 30 (i.e., the positive and negative electrode tabs on the cell 30) are welded to the corresponding pads of the first electrode assembly 81 or the second electrode assembly 82. Finally, the adhesive tape 60 on the top of the battery core 30 and the top of the heat conducting plate 40 is coated with the heat conducting structure adhesive 70, and the cover plate 20 is covered with the housing main body 10, then the protrusions 41 on the heat conducting plate 40 can be abutted against the cover plate 20, and each protrusion 41 can transfer heat to the cover plate 20, and the cover plate 20 is bonded with the top of the battery core 30 through the heat conducting structure adhesive 70, so that the assembly is completed.

According to another aspect of the present invention, there is provided a battery pack. Specifically, the battery pack comprises the battery module.

The above description is only for the purpose of illustrating the preferred embodiments of the present invention and is not to be construed as limiting the utility model, and any modifications, equivalents and improvements made within the spirit and principle of the present invention are intended to be included within the scope of the present invention.

Claims (10)

1. A battery module, comprising:

a housing main body formed with an accommodation space;

the cover plate is covered and fixed on the shell main body, so that the accommodating space becomes a closed accommodating cavity;

the battery cell is placed in the accommodating cavity, and the bottom of the battery cell, which is far away from the cover plate, abuts against the bottom wall of the accommodating space;

the heat-conducting plate, at least one has been placed to the position department that at least one side of heat-conducting plate was faced electric core, and the side of heat-conducting plate and corresponding the surface of electric core is pasted and is leaned on in order to transfer the heat, the heat-conducting plate orientation the top of apron is equipped with at least one arch, and is whole at least one in the arch with the inside wall of apron offsets, the heat-conducting plate is kept away from the bottom of apron with accommodation space's diapire offsets.

2. The battery module according to claim 1,

the battery module further comprises reinforcing plates in one-to-one correspondence with the protrusions, the reinforcing plates are located between the protrusions and the inner side walls of the cover plates, and the protrusions abut against the reinforcing plates.

3. The battery module according to claim 2,

the reinforcing plate has an area larger than that of the protrusion, and the reinforcing plate completely covers the protrusion.

4. The battery module according to claim 3,

the battery module has a plurality of the heat-conducting plate, every two sides of heat-conducting plate respectively with two the surface of electricity core pastes and leans on, every the top of heat-conducting plate is equipped with a plurality of archs at interval, every the arch is followed the perpendicular to the direction of heat-conducting plate face is the multirow and arranges to adjacent two each on the heat-conducting plate the arch one-to-one.

5. The battery module according to claim 4,

two have been placed between two adjacent heat-conducting plates electricity core, adjacent two between the heat-conducting plate the surface of electricity core pastes each other and pastes.

6. The battery module according to claim 1,

the top of the heat conducting plate is coated with heat conducting structure glue except the other positions of the bulges, and the heat conducting structure glue is fixedly bonded with the inner side wall of the cover plate.

7. The battery module according to claim 6,

the side of the heat conducting plate is attached to the surface of the battery core through heat conducting structural adhesive, wherein the surface of the battery core is used for transferring heat.

8. The battery module according to claim 7,

and heat-conducting structural adhesive is coated between the bottom of each battery cell and the bottom wall of the accommodating space, and the bottom of each heat-conducting plate is directly abutted against the bottom wall of the accommodating space.

9. The battery module according to claim 1,

an adhesive tape is bonded on the whole top of the heat conducting plate, and the top of the adhesive tape is not lower than the top of the battery core.

10. A battery pack is characterized in that a battery pack,

the battery pack includes a plurality of battery modules according to any one of claims 1 to 9.

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