JP2002015717A - Collective battery - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a collective battery which can utilize an effective volume inside an exterior can. SOLUTION: The thickness (strength) of the side corresponding to the first unit cell line is made to be substantially larger than that corresponding to the second unit cell line and at same time, the thickness (strength) of the side corresponding to the second unit cell line with sealing parts of bottom plates set downward is made to be substantially larger than that corresponding to the first unit cell line.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an improvement of an assembled battery in which a plurality of small batteries are arranged in two rows in an outer can.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art One of the problems in an assembled battery in which a plurality of small batteries are connected in series and / or in parallel is how to overcome the drawbacks of individual cells which are difficult to have a reliable explosion-proof mechanism. It is. In an assembled battery, for example, 6LR61, six alkaline dry batteries having a diameter of about 8 mm are connected in series, and three upward unit cells and three downward unit cells are arranged in parallel and housed in a metal outer can. . In an alkaline dry battery, a power generating element is housed in a steel case also serving as a positive electrode terminal, and an opening of the case is sealed with a gasket such as nylon to which a current collector of a negative electrode is fixed and a negative electrode terminal plate. An ordinary alkaline dry battery has an explosion-proof mechanism in which a thin portion is provided in a part of a gasket, and when the internal pressure rises abnormally, the thin portion is broken to allow internal gas to escape to the outside.

However, in the case of an alkaline battery having a small outer diameter as described above, it is difficult to realize a highly reliable explosion-proof mechanism by using a gasket having the above-described thin portion. Therefore, in order to prevent the sealing portion of the unit cell from jumping out of the case due to abnormal internal pressure, the thickness of the terminal plate disposed above and below the unit cell group and the spacer or bottom plate at the bottom is increased, thereby securing safety. I was However, in an assembled battery having a unit cell row with the sealing part facing upward and a unit cell row with the sealing part facing downward, the terminal plate and the spacer or the bottom plate are provided on the portion facing the sealing part of the unit cell and the bottom of the unit case. The opposite part had the same thickness.

[0004]

With the above structure,
A portion of the terminal plate and the spacer or the bottom plate facing the case bottom of the unit cell has a thickness having excessive strength, which results in a reduction in the effective volume in the outer can. Therefore, an object of the present invention is to eliminate such inconveniences and to provide an assembled battery that can utilize the effective volume in the outer can.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention is directed to a first unit cell array comprising a plurality of unit cells having a sealed portion facing upward and a second unit cell array comprising a plurality of unit cells having a sealed portion facing downward. , A terminal plate having positive and negative terminals arranged above the unit cell group, a bottom plate arranged below the unit cell group,
A lead piece for connecting each of the unit cells in series and / or in parallel and connecting to the positive / negative terminal and an outer can, wherein upper and lower ends of the outer can are fastened to peripheral edges of a terminal plate and a bottom plate, respectively; In the assembled battery, the strength of a portion of the terminal plate corresponding to the first unit cell row is substantially larger than the strength of a portion corresponding to the second unit cell row, and the second unit cell of the bottom plate is provided. The strength of the portion corresponding to the row is substantially higher than that of the portion corresponding to the first unit cell row.

[0006]

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION As described above, according to the present invention, the strength of a portion of a terminal plate corresponding to a first unit cell row is substantially greater than that of a portion corresponding to a second unit cell row. At the same time, the strength of the portion of the bottom plate corresponding to the second unit cell row is made substantially larger than that of the portion corresponding to the first unit cell row. That is, the thickness of the portion where the strength of the terminal plate is to be increased is increased, or an auxiliary plate or spacer is added. Also, on the bottom plate side, if it is made of synthetic resin, etc., increase the thickness of the part whose strength is to be increased or add an auxiliary plate or spacer, and if using a metal bottom plate, place a spacer. ,
Increase the thickness of the spacer where the strength is to be increased or add an auxiliary spacer. As a result, the present invention increases the substantial volume of the unit cell as compared with the related art, or increases the strength of a portion corresponding to the sealing portion of the unit cell as compared with the related art to improve safety.

[0007] The battery pack according to the first embodiment of the present invention comprises:
A unit cell group in which a first unit cell row composed of a plurality of unit cells with the sealing part facing upward and a second unit cell row composed of a plurality of unit cells with the sealing part facing downward are arranged in parallel. A terminal plate having a positive / negative terminal disposed at an upper portion, a spacer disposed at a lower portion of a unit cell group, a bottom plate disposed at a lower portion of the spacer, and connecting the respective cells in series and / or parallel to form the positive / negative Equipped with a lead piece connected to the terminal and an outer can,
An assembled battery in which an upper end and a lower end of an outer can are fastened to peripheral portions of a terminal plate and a bottom plate, respectively, wherein a thickness of a portion of the terminal plate corresponding to the first unit cell line corresponds to a second unit cell line. The thickness of the portion corresponding to the second unit cell row of the spacer is substantially larger than the thickness of the portion corresponding to the first unit cell row.

[0008] The assembled battery according to the second embodiment of the present invention comprises:
A unit cell group in which a first unit cell row composed of a plurality of unit cells with the sealing part facing upward and a second unit cell row composed of a plurality of unit cells with the sealing part facing downward are arranged in parallel. A terminal plate having positive and negative terminals arranged on the upper part, a bottom plate arranged below the unit cell group, a lead piece for connecting the unit cells in series and / or in parallel and connecting to the positive and negative terminals, and an outer package A battery pack comprising a can, wherein the upper end and the lower end of the outer can are fastened to the peripheral edges of the terminal plate and the bottom plate, respectively, wherein the thickness of a portion of the terminal plate corresponding to the first unit cell row is the second. Make it thicker than the part corresponding to the unit cell row,
Further, the thickness of a portion of the bottom plate corresponding to the second unit cell row is larger than the thickness of a portion corresponding to the first unit cell row.

A battery assembly according to a third embodiment of the present invention comprises:
A unit cell group in which a first unit cell row composed of a plurality of unit cells with the sealing part facing upward and a second unit cell row composed of a plurality of unit cells with the sealing part facing downward are arranged in parallel. A terminal plate having a positive / negative terminal disposed at an upper portion, a spacer disposed at a lower portion of a unit cell group, a bottom plate disposed at a lower portion of the spacer, and connecting the respective cells in series and / or parallel to form the positive / negative Equipped with a lead piece connected to the terminal and an outer can,
An assembled battery in which an upper end and a lower end of an outer can are fastened to peripheral portions of a terminal plate and a bottom plate, respectively, wherein an auxiliary plate is inserted between the terminal plate and the first unit cell row, and The thickness of a portion corresponding to the second unit cell line is substantially larger than the thickness of a portion corresponding to the first unit cell line.

A battery pack according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention comprises:
A unit cell group in which a first unit cell row composed of a plurality of unit cells with the sealing part facing upward and a second unit cell row composed of a plurality of unit cells with the sealing part facing downward are arranged in parallel. A terminal plate having positive and negative terminals arranged on the upper part, a bottom plate arranged below the unit cell group, a lead piece for connecting the unit cells in series and / or in parallel and connecting to the positive and negative terminals, and an outer package A battery pack comprising a can, wherein the upper and lower ends of the outer can are fastened to the peripheral edges of the terminal plate and the bottom plate, respectively, wherein an auxiliary plate is inserted between the terminal plate and the first unit cell row, Further, the thickness of a portion of the bottom plate corresponding to the second unit cell row is larger than the thickness of a portion corresponding to the first unit cell row. In the first or third embodiment, the spacer is a main spacer having the same thickness at portions corresponding to the first unit cell row and the second unit cell row, and the main spacer and the second unit cell It can also consist of an auxiliary spacer inserted between the rows. Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail using specific examples with reference to the drawings.

Embodiment 1 FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of an assembled battery 6LR61 according to the present embodiment, and FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a main part thereof. The assembled battery 10 includes a first unit cell row 11a including three unit cells with the sealing part facing upward and a second unit cell string 1 including three unit cells with the sealing part pointing downward.
1b are connected in series and housed in a metal outer can 26. The unit cell is an alkaline dry battery, in which a power generating element is accommodated in a bottomed cylindrical steel battery case, and an opening of the battery case is sealed with a nylon gasket having a negative electrode current collector and a negative electrode terminal plate. The unit cell is covered with a heat-shrinkable resin tube except for upper and lower terminals. The first unit cell array 11a is combined with a step so that the top is lower than the second unit cell array 11b. In the upper part of the combined unit cell group, there is a through hole in a portion corresponding to the terminal portion on the top of each unit cell, and the lower part of the through hole has a first unit cell line 11a. An upper contact plate made of insulating paper 18 to which two lead pieces 20 are attached for connecting the unit cells and the cells of the second unit cell row 11b in series is arranged, and the two lead pieces are insulated. The through-hole piece of the paper 18 is spot-welded to the terminal of the unit cell.

In the lower part of the unit cell group, through holes are provided at portions corresponding to the terminal portions at the bottom of each unit cell, and the unit cells of the first unit cell row 11a are provided above the through holes. And a lower connecting plate made of insulating paper 19 to which three lead pieces 21 are attached for connecting the unit cells of the second unit cell row 11b in series, and the three lead pieces 21 are made of insulating paper. The 19 through holes are spot-welded to the terminals of the unit cells. The synthetic resin terminal plate 12 provided with the positive terminal 13 and the negative terminal 14 has an insulating paper 22, a positive lead 23 and a negative lead (not shown) attached to the lower surface thereof by rivets. The terminal and the lead piece are respectively connected by rivets. FIG. 1 shows the rivet 24 on the positive electrode terminal side.

Insulating paper 22 attached to terminal plate 12
Is bent as shown in FIG. 2, and the auxiliary plate 16 is inserted inside the bent portion. The notches 16a and 16b provided on the auxiliary plate 16 are portions where the rivets of the terminals 14 and 13 respectively fit. The end of the lead piece 23 connected to the positive terminal 13 of the terminal plate 12 is located at the top of the unit cell (positive electrode) at the right end of the second unit cell row 11b in FIG. Terminals) by spot welding. Similarly, the lead piece connected to the negative electrode terminal 14 is connected to the top (negative electrode terminal) of the unit cell at the left end of FIG. You. Thus 6
The unit cells are connected in series, and an output can be taken out from terminals 13 and 14.

Below the unit cells, a paper spacer 15,
A paper auxiliary spacer 17 and a metal bottom plate 25 arranged at a portion corresponding to the second unit cell row 11b are incorporated. The auxiliary plate 16 and the auxiliary spacer 17 have the same thickness, and the first unit cell line 11a is lower than the second unit cell line 11b by the thickness. Therefore, the insulating paper 18 or 1
In FIG. 9, as shown in FIG. 2, a step is formed between a portion corresponding to the first unit cell array and a portion corresponding to the second unit cell array. As described above, in the present embodiment, the first unit cell row 11
An auxiliary plate 16 is arranged in the rear half of FIG. 2 corresponding to the sealing portion of FIG. In addition, an auxiliary spacer 17 is disposed below the unit cell group in the front half of FIG. 2 corresponding to the sealing portion of the second unit cell group 11b. Therefore, in order to prevent the sealed portion of the unit cell from jumping out due to an abnormal increase in internal pressure in the battery, the terminal plate 12 and the auxiliary plate 16 are provided above the unit cell group, and the spacer 15 is provided with an auxiliary plate 15 below the unit cell group. The spacer 17 contributes. Therefore, the thicknesses of the terminal plate 12 and the spacer 15 can be made smaller than before.

<< Embodiment 2 >> FIGS. 3 and 4 show an assembled battery according to the present embodiment. In these figures, the lead pieces for connecting the unit cells and the insulating paper supporting them are omitted. The terminal plate 32 to which the positive and negative terminals are attached reduces the thickness of the portion corresponding to the second cell row 11b, while the first cell row 11
The thickness of the portion corresponding to a is increased.

In the first and second embodiments, a metal bottom plate is used as the bottom plate 25. When a resin bottom plate is used instead of the metal bottom plate, like the terminal plate 12 or 32,
The thickness of the bottom plate itself may be changed between the portion corresponding to the first unit cell line and the portion corresponding to the second unit cell line, or an auxiliary plate or spacer may be added to the portion where the strength is to be increased. it can.

[0017]

<Example 1> In the first embodiment, the terminal plate 12 is made of a polypropylene plate having a thickness of 0.7 mm,
6 is made of a 0.6 mm thick polypropylene plate.
The spacer 15 and the auxiliary spacer 17 are made of insulating paper having a thickness of 0.4 mm and 0.6 mm, respectively. << Embodiment 2 >> In Embodiment 2, the terminal plate 32 is made of a polypropylene plate, and the thicker portion is 1.3.
mm and the thinner part is 0.7 mm. Spacer 35
Indicates that the spacer of Example 1 is bonded to an auxiliary spacer.

Comparative Example As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the terminal plate 2 is formed of a polyvinyl chloride plate having an overall thickness of 1.0 mm. The spacer 5 has an overall thickness of 0.1 mm.
It is made of insulating paper of 7 mm.

As is apparent from the above comparison, according to the present invention, while the height of the unit cells is the same, the portion of the terminal plate facing the first unit cell row 11a and the second unit cell of the spacer are used. The thickness of the portion facing the row 11b can be made larger than before, and the increased thickness of the terminal plate and the spacer exhibits a buffering action, thereby preventing the sealing portion of the unit cell from jumping out due to an abnormal increase in internal pressure. It is possible to obtain a highly safe battery pack.

[0020]

As described above, according to the present invention, the substantial thickness of the terminal plate and the bottom plate or the spacer arranged above and below the unit cell group on the side corresponding to the sealing unit of the unit cell corresponds to the sealing unit. By making it larger than that of the part not to be used, it is possible to make use of the effective volume in the outer can and to provide a battery pack with a larger capacity or more excellent safety.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional view of a battery pack according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is an exploded perspective view of a main part of the battery.

FIG. 3 is a schematic vertical sectional view of a battery pack according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view of a main part of the battery.

FIG. 5 is a schematic vertical cross-sectional view of a conventional assembled battery.

FIG. 6 is an exploded perspective view of a main part of the battery.

[Explanation of symbols]

 DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 Assembly battery 11a 1st unit cell line 11b 2nd unit cell line 12 Terminal plate 13 Positive terminal 14 Negative terminal 15 Spacer 16 Auxiliary plate 17 Auxiliary spacer 18, 19, 22 Insulating paper 20, 21, 23 Lead piece 24 Rivet 25 Metal bottom plate 26 Outer can 32 Terminal plate 35 Spacer

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuing from the front page (72) Inventor Ichiro Matsuhisa 1006 Kazuma Kadoma, Kadoma City, Osaka Prefecture F-term within Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd. 5H022 AA19 CC02 CC09 CC12 KK04 5H040 AA02 AT01 AY04 AY05 DD03 DD07 DD13 DD21

Claims (5)

[Claims] 1. A unit cell group in which a first unit cell array including a plurality of unit cells having a sealed portion facing upward and a second unit cell array including a plurality of unit cells having a sealed unit pointing downward are arranged in parallel. A terminal plate having positive and negative terminals arranged above the unit cell group, a spacer arranged below the unit cell group, a bottom plate arranged below the spacer, and connecting the unit cells in series and / or parallel. A lead piece connected to the positive / negative terminal and an outer can, wherein the upper end and the lower end of the outer can are fastened to the peripheral edges of a terminal plate and a bottom plate, respectively. The thickness of the portion corresponding to the unit cell row of the larger than the thickness of the portion corresponding to the second unit cell row,
And a thickness of a portion of the spacer corresponding to the second unit cell row is substantially larger than a thickness of a part corresponding to the first unit cell row. 2. A unit cell group in which a first unit cell line composed of a plurality of unit cells having a sealing portion facing upward and a second unit cell line composed of a plurality of unit cells having a sealing member facing downward are arranged in parallel. A terminal plate having positive and negative terminals arranged above the unit cell group, a bottom plate arranged below the unit cell group, and connecting each of the unit cells in series and / or parallel to the positive and negative terminals. An assembled battery comprising a lead piece and an outer can, wherein the upper end and the lower end of the outer can are fastened to the peripheral edges of a terminal plate and a bottom plate, respectively, wherein a portion of the terminal plate corresponding to the first unit cell row is formed. The thickness was greater than the thickness of the portion corresponding to the second unit cell row, and the thickness of the bottom plate corresponding to the second unit cell row was greater than the thickness of the portion corresponding to the first unit cell row. An assembled battery comprising: 3. A unit cell group in which a first unit cell array including a plurality of unit cells having a sealed portion facing upward and a second unit cell array including a plurality of unit cells having a sealed unit pointing downward are arranged in parallel. A terminal plate having positive and negative terminals arranged above the unit cell group, a spacer arranged below the unit cell group, a bottom plate arranged below the spacer, and connecting the unit cells in series and / or parallel. A lead piece connected to the positive / negative terminal and an outer can, and an upper end and a lower end of the outer can are fastened to peripheral edges of a terminal plate and a bottom plate, respectively. The auxiliary plate is inserted between the first unit cell row and the auxiliary unit plate, and the thickness of a portion of the spacer corresponding to the second unit cell row is substantially larger than the thickness of the portion corresponding to the first unit cell row. A battery pack comprising: 4. A unit cell group in which a first unit cell array including a plurality of unit cells having a sealing portion facing upward and a second unit cell array including a plurality of unit cells having a sealing unit pointing downward are arranged in parallel. A terminal plate having positive and negative terminals arranged above the unit cell group, a bottom plate arranged below the unit cell group, and connecting each of the unit cells in series and / or parallel to the positive and negative terminals. An assembled battery comprising a lead piece and an outer can, wherein an upper end and a lower end of the outer can are fastened to peripheral portions of a terminal plate and a bottom plate, respectively, wherein an auxiliary battery is provided between the terminal plate and the first unit cell row. An assembled battery, wherein a plate is inserted, and a thickness of a portion of the bottom plate corresponding to the second unit cell row is larger than a thickness of a portion corresponding to the first unit cell row. 5. The spacer is inserted between a main spacer having the same thickness as a portion corresponding to the first unit cell line and the second unit cell line, and between the main spacer and the second unit cell line. 4. The battery pack according to claim 1, further comprising an auxiliary spacer.