JP2003329706A - Contact terminal for measuring electrical characteristics, apparatus for measuring electrical characteristics and apparatus for manufacturing battery - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a contact terminal having excellent durability and advantage to accurately measuring the voltage characteristics of a battery. <P>SOLUTION: In the contactor 7 for measuring the electrical characteristics having a plurality of protrusion-like contacts for electrically energizing in contact with an element B to be measured at a distal end face of a base, as the material of each contact having a protruding curve state formed at the distal end of each contact brought into contact with the element B, the material having excellent wear resistance is desired, and a metal material such as tungsten, its alloy, titanium and its alloy, a platinum-iridium alloy, a palladium alloy, a stainless steel or the like or a conductive compound such as a tungsten carbide can be used, but the stainless steel is preferred from points of cost and workability or the like. Particularly, the stainless steel hardened by quenching is suitable. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2004,JPO

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a contact terminal for measuring electric characteristics of a battery, an electric characteristic measuring apparatus using the contact terminal, and a battery manufacturing apparatus equipped with the measuring apparatus.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art In a battery manufacturing process such as a button type battery or an alkaline dry battery, an inspection device for measuring and inspecting various electrical characteristics such as voltage, impedance and load characteristic of the assembled battery and an inspection result of this inspection device. On the basis of,
It incorporates a sorting device that sorts and rejects batteries that do not satisfy the electrical characteristics as defective products. Such an inspection device is provided with a contact terminal that comes into contact with the positive electrode or the negative electrode of the battery, extracts necessary information from the battery, and further applies a voltage, current, or electric signal to the battery. And
The electrical characteristics are measured by bringing this contact terminal into contact with the positive and negative electrodes of the battery.

FIG. 6 shows a conventional contact terminal 40,
There, a large number of contacts 42 that are in contact with the battery electrodes to establish electrical conduction are provided on the tip surface of the base 41 in a protruding manner.
Each of the contacts 42 was generally in the shape of a quadrangular pyramid with a sharp tip.

[0004]

In the contact terminal 40, since the contact 42 has a pyramidal shape, the tip of the contact 42 contacts the battery electrode in a state of being pierced, and the electrode is easily scratched. On the other hand, after repeated use, the contact 4
The tip of 2 easily wears and becomes flat, and the durability of the contact 42 is poor. Furthermore, dust adhering to the electrode is easily caught between the flattened tip of the contactor 42 and the electrode, which hinders good conductive contact and prevents accurate measurement. It was found that batteries with different characteristics were mistakenly judged to be defective and discarded.

Therefore, the present invention provides a contact terminal for measuring electrical characteristics, which is excellent in durability and capable of accurately measuring electrical characteristics of an object to be measured, and the use of the contact terminal enables accurate measurement of electrical characteristics. Another object of the present invention is to provide an electric characteristic measuring apparatus and a battery manufacturing apparatus which is equipped with the electric characteristic measuring apparatus and which dramatically improves the accuracy of sorting good products and defective products.

[0006]

According to the present invention, as shown in FIGS. 1 to 4, a projection-shaped contactor 11 is provided on the tip surface of a base 10 for contacting an object B to be measured for electrical conduction. In the plurality of contact terminals 7 for measuring electrical characteristics, the object to be measured B is
The tip portion 11a of each contactor 11 that contacts the
It is characterized in that it is formed in a convex curve as shown in.

The contactor 11 is attached to the front end surface of the base 10 by 3
It can be prepared individually. In particular, as shown in FIG. 4, it is desirable to dispose the contactor 11 at trisecting points of a virtual circle centered on the pressing action point P of the base 10 with respect to the measured object B.

Further, according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 5, in a contact terminal 7 for electrical specific measurement, which is provided with a contactor 11 for making electrical contact by contacting an object B to be measured, at least the tip of the contactor 11 is provided. The portion 11a is formed in a hollow cylindrical shape, and the tip end surface of the annular tip portion 11a is convexly curved to have an arc cross section.

The material of the contactor 11 is preferably a material having excellent wear resistance, such as tungsten and its alloys, molybdenum and its alloys, titanium and its alloys, platinum iridium alloys, palladium alloys, and stainless steel. The metal materials described above and conductive compounds such as tungsten carbide can be used, and among these, stainless steel is preferable from the viewpoints of cost and workability. In particular, stainless steel that is hardened by quenching is suitable for use. The contactor 11 and the base 10 may be made of the same material, or may be made of different materials when separately molded.

Further, according to the present invention, as shown in FIG. 2, in the electrical characteristic measuring device 4 provided with the contact terminal 7 for making electrical contact by contacting the object B to be measured, the contact terminal 7 there is first contacted. It is a terminal.

The battery manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention is shown in FIG.
As shown in FIG. 5, the electrical characteristic measuring device 4 having the contact terminal 7 is provided, and the sorting device 5 for judging whether the assembled battery B is good or bad based on the measurement signal value from now on and sorting the battery B. It is characterized by being

[0012]

In the contact terminal 7 according to the present invention, the tip portion 11a of the contact 11 that contacts the object to be measured B is formed in a convex curve, so that the conventional pyramidal contact ( It is possible to prevent the object to be measured B from being scratched as shown in FIG. 6). Further, wear of the tip portion 11a is suppressed and the contact 1
The durability of No. 1 can be improved. Furthermore, it is possible to prevent well from a decrease in measurement accuracy due to dust being caught between the tip portion 11a of the contactor 11 and the battery B. That is, when the tip portion 11a is formed in a convex curve, when the contactor 11 is brought into contact with the object to be measured B, foreign matter such as dust easily escapes from the contact portion to the outer periphery, so that the object to be measured is A good contact state with B will be ensured for a long period of time.

The number of the contacts 11 to be provided on the base 10 is not particularly limited as long as it is plural, but if it is three, a good contact state with the object to be measured B can be easily realized. That is, when the number of the contactors 11 is 2 or less, when the object B to be measured is pressed and brought into contact with the object B to be measured, the object B tends to wobble and a contact failure is likely to occur.
When there is a manufacturing error in the height dimension of 1, the pressing force may be concentrated only on the contactor 11 that strikes first, causing damage to the object to be measured B and lowering of measurement accuracy. In this respect, if the three contactors 11 are used for three-point support, the object B to be measured can be securely fixed without any wobbling problem at the time of pressing contact. Further, even if there is an error in the height dimension of the contactor 11, since three-point contact is made, the pressing force is not concentrated only on the specific contactor 11, and good contactability can be secured.

Further, in the contactor 11, the tip end portion 11a thereof is formed in a hollow cylindrical shape as shown in FIG. 5, and the tip end surface of the tip end portion 11a is formed in a convex arc shape in a longitudinal sectional view. By doing so, damage to the object B to be measured, which is inevitable with the conventional pyramidal contactor (FIG. 6), is suppressed to a low level, while abrasion of the tip portion 11a is suppressed to improve the durability of the contactor 11. be able to.

According to the electrical characteristic measuring apparatus 4 of the present invention, by using the contact terminal 7, the object B to be measured can be repeatedly measured with high accuracy for a long period of time.

According to the battery manufacturing apparatus of the present invention, since the battery B can be measured with high accuracy by the electric characteristic device 4 having the contact terminal 7, the non-defective product can be selected when the non-defective product / defective product is selected by the selection device 5. It is possible to eliminate the conventional mistake of removing the battery B by discriminating it as a defective product, which contributes to reduction of the manufacturing cost of the battery B and resource saving.

[0017]

BEST MODE FOR CARRYING OUT THE INVENTION (First Embodiment) FIG. 2 shows a battery manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, in which an object to be measured is a button type battery B. This battery manufacturing apparatus 1 is a button type battery B that is placed on a tray 2 and is continuously transferred intermittently.
An electric characteristic measuring device 4 for measuring the voltage of the battery and a sorting device 5 for sorting the battery B into a good product and a defective product based on the measurement result of the device 4.

The electrical characteristic measuring apparatus 4 is provided with contact terminals 7 and 7 which are vertically opposed to each other and are electrically contacted with the negative electrode and the positive electrode formed on the upper and lower surfaces of the battery B by pressing them from above and below. Therefore, the voltage of the battery B is measured by the voltage measuring circuit based on the detection signal values from the contact terminals 7.

The battery B after the voltage measurement is sent to the next sorting device 5, where the measured value is compared with a preset set value, and the battery which does not reach the set value is regarded as a defective product from the manufacturing process. Only the batteries B that have been excluded and satisfy the set value are selected and sent to the next step.

1 and 3, each contact terminal 7 is
It is composed of a cylindrical base 10 whose base end side is screwed and fixed to a base member 9 which is vertically moved, and three contactors 11 which are attached and fixed to the front end surface of the base 10 later. Each of these contacts 11 has a tip portion 1 protruding from the tip surface of the base 10.
1a simultaneously contacts the electrodes of battery B. The base 10 has an operating portion 12 for screwing and a male screw portion 13 on the base end side, and the male screw portion 13 is screwed into the female screw of the base member 9.

Each contact 11 is made of stainless steel (SUS440) that has been hardened by quenching, and the base 1
It is press-fitted and fixed to each of the three receiving holes 15 provided on the front end surface of the No. 0 in a retaining shape.

Each contactor 1 protruding from the tip surface of the base 10.
The tip portion 11a of No. 1 is formed in a convex curved shape. That is, the tip portion 11a has a semicircular spherical shape that is a perfect circle when viewed in plan as shown in FIG. With this, each contact 11
The apex of the tip portion 11a of the abuts softly abuts the electrode of the battery B in a substantially point contact state. Therefore, it is possible to suppress damage to the battery B, which is unavoidable with the conventional pyramidal contactor shown in FIG. Further, it is possible to suppress wear of the tip portion 11a and improve durability of the contactor 11. Further, it is possible to prevent a decrease in measurement accuracy due to dust being sandwiched between the contactor 11 and the battery B.

The tips 11a of the three contacts 11 are set to have the same protruding height. Further, in FIG. 4, the three contactors 11 are arranged at the center points of the circular tip surfaces of the base 10 and the trisection points of a virtual circle centered on the pressing action point P for the battery B. .

As described above, when the three contacts 11 are provided, the battery B is supported at three points, so that the battery B can be securely fixed without wobbling at the time of pressing contact. Even if there is an error in the height of each contact 11,
By the three-point contact, the pressing force does not concentrate only on the specific contactor 11, and good contactability can be secured.

When the performance and quality of the button type alkaline battery B was checked using the contact terminal 7 having the above-mentioned structure, the contact terminal 40 with the conventional contact 42 shown in FIG. 6 was used. A significant improvement in the accuracy of the voltage measurement was recognized as compared with the case where it was not. Specifically, the number of batteries B discharged as defective products could be reduced to 7/100. Although 93% of the battery B conventionally discharged as a defective product could actually be mistakenly determined to be a defective product, the result shows that if the electrical characteristic measuring device 4 of the present invention is used, It was possible to eliminate such mistake detection.

(Second Embodiment) FIG. 5 shows a contact terminal 7 for measuring electrical characteristics according to a second embodiment of the present invention. This second
In the contact terminal 7 according to the embodiment, one contactor 11 is press-fitted and fixed in one receiving hole 15 provided at the center of the tip surface of the base 10 so that the tip 11a of the contactor 11 projects. The shape of the contact 11 is different from that of the first embodiment. That is, in the contactor 11 of the second embodiment, the whole is formed in a vertically long, hollow, and true cylindrical shape, and the tip portion 11a of the annular cylindrical wall 16 that comes into contact with the electrode of the battery B is viewed in a vertical cross section. Is formed into an arcuate convex curved surface.

The contactor 11 of the second embodiment is also made of stainless steel (SUS440) which has been hardened by quenching, and has the receiving hole 15 provided in the tip surface of the base 10 in the same manner as in the first embodiment. It was press-fitted in a retaining shape.

Also with the contact terminal 7 of the second embodiment, since the annular tip portion 11a has a convex curved surface shape, the battery surface is not scratched when the battery B is pressed. Further, it is possible to suppress wear of the tip portion 11a and improve durability of the contactor 11. Furthermore, it is possible to suppress a decrease in measurement accuracy due to dust being sandwiched between the contactor 11 and the battery B.

The tip 11a of each contact 11 in the first embodiment need not be a complete semi-circular convex curved surface,
It may be a convex curved surface having an elliptical shape, a parabolic shape, or a hyperboloidal shape in a longitudinal sectional view. The point is that the tip portion 11a of this should have a curved shape with no corners in a longitudinal sectional view. Further, each contactor 11 of the first embodiment may have the same shape as that of the second embodiment.

Similarly, the tip portion 11a of the contactor 11 in the second embodiment may be an elliptic arc-shaped, parabolic-shaped, or hyperbolic-shaped convex curved surface in a longitudinal sectional view. The contactor 11 of the second embodiment is sufficient if at least only the tip 11a is formed in a hollow cylindrical shape.

In the first and second embodiments, the contact 1
1 may be cut out from the base 10. Contact 1
1 can be integrally embedded in the base 10 by shrink fitting. Further, the base 10 and the contactor 11 may be integrally connected by screwing.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a contact terminal according to a first embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a schematic front view showing a battery manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention using the contact terminal of the first embodiment.

FIG. 3 is a vertical sectional front view of the contact terminal according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the contact terminal according to the first embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a vertical cross-sectional front view of essential parts showing a contact terminal according to a second embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of a main part showing a conventional contact terminal.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Battery manufacturing equipment 4 Electrical characteristics measuring device 5 sorter 7 Contact terminal 10 bases 11 contacts 11a Contact tip B DUT (button type battery)

   ─────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continued front page    (72) Inventor Tadataka Matsumoto             Hitachi Ma, 1-88, Torora, Ibaraki City, Osaka Prefecture             Within Kucsel Co., Ltd. F-term (reference) 2G011 AA03 AA07 AC14 AE22 AF07                 2G016 CB01 CC01 CC04                 5H030 AA00 AA09 AS20 FF41

Claims (6)

[Claims] 1. A contact terminal for measuring electrical characteristics, comprising a plurality of protrusion-shaped contacts on an end surface of a base for contacting an object to be measured for electrical conduction. A contact terminal for measuring electrical characteristics, characterized in that the part is formed in a convex curve. 2. The contact terminal for measuring electrical characteristics according to claim 1, comprising three contactors. 3. A contact terminal for measuring electrical characteristics, which comprises a contactor that makes electrical contact by contacting an object to be measured, wherein at least the tip of the contactor is formed in a hollow cylindrical shape. A contact terminal for measuring electrical characteristics, characterized in that a tip end surface of the tip end portion having an annular shape is convexly curved in a circular arc cross section. 4. The contact terminal for measuring electrical characteristics according to claim 1, wherein the contact is made of stainless steel which has been hardened by quenching. 5. An electrical characteristic measuring device comprising a contact terminal for contacting an object to be measured and electrically conducting the contact, wherein the contact terminal is the contact terminal according to any one of claims 1 to 4. An electrical characteristic measuring device characterized in that 6. An electric characteristic measuring device according to claim 5, and a selecting device for judging whether the battery, which is an object to be measured, is good or defective based on a measurement signal value from the electric characteristic measuring device and selecting the battery. A battery manufacturing apparatus comprising: