JP2003346885A - Pressurizing apparatus for charging/discharging secondary battery - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To improve the efficiency of a pressurizing work of a battery, to miniaturize a pressuring apparatus itself, and to reduce its cost. <P>SOLUTION: A plurality of batteries are installed on respective trays 7 mounted on a plurality of rack boards 4 slidably attached to supports 3, and the respective rack boards 4 are pushed up by an actuator 5, so that the respective batteries 9 are simultaneously and equally pressurized. The respective rack boards 4 are stacked with the plurality of trays, and the batteries 9 are installed on a flat plate in an inner box of each tray and pressurized between the flat plate and the bottom of the inner box in the upper rack or a pressurizing plate 6. A pressure is transmitted between the pressurizing plate 6 and the rack board 4 in the upper rack via a spring and the thickness dispersion of the batteries 9 is automatically absorbed by the spring. <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 pressurizing device for charging and discharging a secondary battery, and more particularly to a pressurizing device for a large secondary battery.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A pressurizing device of this kind is intended for a secondary battery, particularly a secondary battery such as a lithium battery or the like whose exterior is a can case or a laminate. It applies pressure. The purpose of the pressurization is to increase the charge capacity of the battery or extend the charge cycle life.

That is, in this type of secondary battery, gas is generated at the time of charging and the internal pressure rises, so that when the inside is deformed, the outer shape is expanded at the same time. In particular, there is a problem that the charge capacity is reduced due to internal deformation, for example, the distance between the electrodes is increased, or the internal element is deteriorated due to repeated deformation due to charge and discharge, and the charge cycle life is shortened. In order to solve this problem, the battery is pressurized by a pressurizing device during charging to suppress the expansion of the outer shape. In addition, the charging by pressurization is performed only once at the time of initial charging, which has the effect of suppressing the above-described expansion and deformation during charge and discharge due to subsequent use. This pressurizing device is used for this purpose. It is.

As a method for pressurizing a battery, for example, Japanese Patent Laid-Open No.
There is a method disclosed in 01-338627.

FIGS. 6 and 7 show this conventional example, and FIG.
Is a front view showing an embodiment of this conventional battery pressurizing method, (b) is a top view of (a), and FIG. 7 is a diagram in which a large number of batteries of FIG. 6 are arranged on the same tray. It is a top view which shows a state typically.

Referring to FIG. 6, the structure and operation will be described. First, the battery 66 is set in the U-shaped frame 65 and the lock plate 63 is pushed through the lock plate operation portion 63c, whereby the spring 62 contracts, and the repulsive force is transmitted from the pressing plate 64 to the battery 66. . When the lock plate 63 is kept pressed and the lock plate 63 reaches the height of the lock hole 65b provided in the U-shaped frame 65, the lock plate 63 is rotated and fitted into the lock hole 65b, so that the spring 62 Is fixed, and a constant pressure can be applied to the battery 66.

[0007] The pressure applied to the battery 66 is a U-shaped body 65.
Is transmitted only to the lock plate 63 and no power is transmitted to the charging / discharging device or the tray.

Accordingly, the pressure applied to each battery is not transmitted to the charging / discharging device or tray, so that the charging / discharging device or tray has almost the same strength as that of a battery that does not require pressurization, and the weight of the device is reduced. Thus, the effect that the device becomes inexpensive can be obtained.

FIG. 7 shows a state in which a plurality of batteries 66 set in the pressurizing device of FIG. 6 are arranged on a tray 67 and pressurized at the same time.

[0010]

As described above, in the prior art, a pressurizing device is used for each battery and a required number of the pressurizing devices are arranged on a tray. There is a problem that the size increases and the price increases. In addition, since it is necessary to pressurize one by one, there is a problem that the work time for this is long and the efficiency is extremely poor. In particular, the initial charging performed in the final step of manufacturing a battery requires a large amount of batteries to be efficiently charged at one time.

[0011]

A pressurizing apparatus for charging and discharging a secondary battery according to the present invention comprises a quadrangular pressure-receiving top plate for receiving pressure from below and a quadrangular pressure-receiving bottom plate for receiving pressure from above. And four pillars connecting the pressure-receiving top plate and the pressure-receiving bottom plate, a plurality of shelves slidably inserted at four corners of the struts, and positioning the shelves at predetermined intervals. A plurality of set collars fixed to the pillars and a battery such that the batteries are pressed by receiving pressure from below when the batteries are mounted and charged and discharged while being stacked on the respective shelf boards. A plurality of trays having a pressure structure, a plurality of batteries mounted on each of the trays, and each of the batteries is pushed up by each of the shelves provided between the shelf plate and the pressure receiving bottom plate located at the lowest level. An actuator for pressurizing is provided.

The pressure-receiving top plate or each of the shelf plates has a plurality of pressing plates fixed via a spring on the lower surface side thereof to receive pressure when the battery is pressurized and to absorb a variation in the thickness of the received pressure. May be provided.

Further, the pressure-receiving top plate or each of the shelf plates may be provided with a plurality of pin probes on a lower surface thereof for automatically accessing the electrodes of each of the batteries when the batteries are pressurized.

[0014] The pin probe may have a structure in which the battery is pushed up when the battery is pressurized so that the electrode of the battery moves and the pin probe pin comes into contact.

Further, the tray has an outer frame having a predetermined thickness in which a plurality of holes having a size corresponding to the size of the battery to be mounted are formed in parallel, and the tray is made to be able to move up and down slightly in each hole of the outer frame. A configuration may also be provided that includes a middle box to be fitted, and a flat plate on which the battery is dropped and fixed to a predetermined depth position.

[0016] The strut may be formed by connecting short struts divided by a predetermined unit length.

Further, the set collar may have a semi-fixed structure which allows the set collar to slide easily with respect to the support.

[0018]

Embodiments of the present invention will now be described with reference to the drawings. FIG. 1 is a front view showing the entire configuration of an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a front view showing a state of the apparatus in FIG. 1 when pressurized, and FIG. 3 is a view of a press plate, a tray and a shelf plate in FIG. FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the structure of the tray in FIG. 1 or 3, FIG. 5 is a partial sectional view taken along the line AA in FIG. 3, (a) sectional view, and (b) A) Explanation of the operation of the disc spring
It is sectional drawing which shows the cross section of the -A line typically.

First, referring to FIG. 1, the overall structure of the pressurizing device of the present invention will be described. (A portion of the tray is schematically shown in cross-section.) A quadrangular pressure-receiving top plate 1 that receives pressure from below, a quadrilateral pressure-receiving bottom plate 2 that receives pressure from above, and a pressure-receiving top plate 1. Four pillars 3 connecting the pressure receiving bottom plate 2, four shelf boards 4 slidably inserted in four corners of the pillar 3, and fixed to the pillars 3 to position the shelf boards 4 at predetermined intervals. And sixteen set collars 10 to be placed and four sheets having a pressurizing structure which is placed in a state of being stacked on each shelf plate 4 and which can pressurize a battery from below when a chargeable / dischargeable battery is mounted. A tray 7, a plurality of batteries 9 mounted on each tray 7, a shelf plate 4 and a pressure-receiving bottom plate 2 located at the lowest stage.
And an actuator 5 for pushing up each shelf plate 4 to pressurize each battery and a pressure receiving top plate 1 or a lower surface of each shelf plate 4 for receiving pressure when the battery is pressurized, Pressure plates 6 (four are arranged in the depth direction) which are fixed via springs to absorb variations in the thickness of the It comprises a plurality of pin probes 8 for automatically accessing the electrodes of each battery when the battery is pressurized. In addition, a reinforcing frame is provided on the pressure receiving top plate 1 and the pressure receiving bottom plate 2 so as to withstand high pressure.

This embodiment shows an example in which four shelves 4 are provided as shown in the figure, and four trays 7 are stacked on each of the shelves 4, but the number of these trays depends on the manufacturing conditions at that time. Of course, it is changed. The total quantity of battery 9 is
4 on each tray 7 (4 mounted in parallel in the depth direction)
4 × 4 × 4 = 64.

Next, the operation will be described. FIG. 1 shows a state before pressurization. At the time of pressurization, first, an electromagnetic valve is opened to the actuator 5 to supply air. The actuator is of an air spring type using air pressure. The supply amount of air is controlled by a control mechanism (not shown), and the supply amount required to apply a predetermined pressure to each battery is programmed in advance, so that when the supply amount is reached, the operation is automatically stopped. I do.

Since each of the shelves 4 is slidably mounted on the column 3, first, when the actuator 5 pushes up the gap between the lowermost shelves 4 and the upper shelves, the upper shelves 4 The pressure is transmitted to 4, and this is pushed up and each shelf board is pushed up sequentially. Then, each battery 9 is pressurized at a predetermined pressure. That is, each battery 9 is pressurized by receiving the pressure from the actuator 5 via the member of the tray.

FIG. 2 shows the state of the pressurizing apparatus when pressurized.
As shown in FIG. That is, as shown in the figure, each shelf is pushed upward and is in a pressurized state.
When the shelf plate 4 is pushed up, it moves upward and comes into contact with the pin on the pin probe 8 side to be in a conductive state. Then, charging / discharging is performed from a charging / discharging device (not shown) via the pin probe 8.

When the charging is completed, the actuator 5 returns to the original state, and the state of each shelf 4 returns to the state shown in FIG. Then, the trays 7 on the respective shelves are pulled out in the front direction in the figure. At this time, the four trays 7 are pulled out together and are lowered one by one externally, and each battery 9 mounted on each tray is removed.
Is removed and charging is completed.

Next, charging of a new battery is the reverse of the above-described process. First, the battery 9 is mounted on each tray 7 externally, and four trays are stacked on the shelf plate 4 in a state of being stacked. Place it so that it can be inserted from the front. In order to facilitate this operation, a slight gap is provided between the respective shelves as shown in the figure.

Next, referring to FIG. 3, the pressure plate 6, the tray 7,
Each relationship and the detailed structure of the shelf 4 will be described. This part
A shelf plate 4 receiving pressure from below, four trays 7 stacked and placed on the shelf plate 4, a battery 9 having four electrodes mounted and charged on each tray, And four pressure plates 6 provided on the battery 9 described above. Note that the shelf plate 4 is provided with a slide bush 41 for smooth sliding with the column. Pressing plate 6
A plurality of disc springs 61 for absorbing variations in the thickness of the battery 9 are provided on the back side of the battery 9. The pressure plate 6 sandwiches the disc springs on the upper pressure receiving top plate 1 or the upper shelf plate 4. The screw hole 62 is slidably fixed with a screw that comes out.

Next, the detailed structure of the tray 7 will be described with reference to FIG. 4 of the size corresponding to the size of the battery to be mounted
Outer frame 71 having a predetermined thickness with holes formed in parallel
And an inner box 72 which is slightly vertically movable and fitted into each hole of the outer frame 71, and a flat plate 73 which is dropped to a predetermined depth position of the inner box 72 and on which a battery is placed. In particular, the outer frame 71 is provided with a projection 74 and a hole 75 that engages with the projection 74 for positioning when stacking trays.
The reason why the middle box 72 is made slightly movable up and down is to absorb variations in the thickness of the battery described later.

The reason why the flat plate 73 is dropped to a predetermined position of the inner box 72 is to cope with a change in the thickness depending on the type of the battery. To correspond to the type of battery.

Next, the operation when the battery is pressurized will be described with reference to FIG. FIG. 5A shows a partial cross section of the tray of FIG. 3 taken along the line AA.
The battery 9 of the uppermost tray is mounted on the flat plate 73 in the inside, and the pressure plate 6 is provided on the upper surface, and the battery 9 of the lower tray is
Has its upper surface in contact with the bottom plate of the middle box 72 at the upper level. Each battery 9 receives a pressure from below and presses the pressure plate 64 or the flat plate 7.
3 and the bottom of the inner box 72.

By changing the position of the flat plate 73 as described above, it is possible to cope with a change in thickness depending on the type of the battery 9.

The disc spring 61 absorbs a variation in the thickness of the battery 9 (for example, in the case of a variation of 0.1 mm, the thickness of the battery 9 is about 0.4 mm when four batteries are overlapped). In the drawing, the case where the right battery 7 is thicker is illustrated in an enlarged manner. In particular, the disc spring 61 is used here because it has a thin and highly elastic characteristic. In this way, variations in thickness are absorbed, and each battery obtains a uniform pressing force.

Next, with reference to FIG. 5 (b), a description will be given of the state of absorption of the above-mentioned variation in the thickness of the battery. The figure shows a case where the thickness of the second and fourth batteries from the left is large, and shows a state in which the disc spring 61 is contracted by the thickness. The pressure from the actuator 5 is received by the shelf 4, transmitted to the middle box 72 of each tray 7 placed on the shelf 4, and evenly pressurizes each battery 9 via the pressure plate 6 and the disc spring 61. It is transmitted to the upper shelf 4.

The struts 3 may be formed by connecting short struts divided by a predetermined unit length. For example, if the short struts are equal to the interval between the shelves, the number of shelves may be increased or decreased. There is an effect that can easily cope with this.

The set collar 10 may be provided with a semi-fixed structure that allows the slide to be easily slid with respect to the column. For example, if a set screw is provided and slidable by loosening this screw, the set There is an effect that it is possible to easily change.

[0035]

As described above, the pressurizing apparatus for charging and discharging a secondary battery according to the present invention can press a plurality of batteries mounted on a plurality of trays simultaneously and evenly with a single actuator. There is no need to pressurize each time, and there is an effect that the working efficiency of the pressurizing work is extremely good. In addition, there is an effect that the pressure device itself can be reduced in size and the price can be reduced.

In particular, in the present apparatus, the change in thickness due to the type of battery can be dealt with only by changing the dimensions of the inner box in which the battery is mounted. This also has the effect that this can be automatically absorbed to evenly pressurize each battery.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a front view showing the overall configuration of an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a front view showing a state at the time of pressurization of the apparatus in FIG. 1;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing the relationship and structure of a shelf, a tray, and a pressure plate in FIG. 1;

FIG. 4 is an exploded perspective view showing the structure of the tray in FIG. 1 or FIG.

5A is a partial cross-sectional view taken along a line AA in FIG. 3; FIG.
It is sectional drawing. FIG. 4B is a cross-sectional view schematically showing a cross section taken along line AA for explaining the operation of the disc spring.

6A and 6B are a front view and a top view showing a conventional example.

FIG. 7 is a top view schematically showing a state in which the pressurizing device of FIG. 6 is arranged on a plurality of trays.

[Explanation of symbols]

1 Pressure receiving plate 2 Pressure receiving bottom plate 3 props 4 shelves 5 Actuator 10 set colors 8-pin probe 7 trays 9 batteries 6 Pressure plate 41 slide bush 71 Outer frame 72 middle box 73 flat plate 74 protrusion 75 holes 91 electrodes 61 Disc spring 62 screw hole

Claims (7)

[Claims] 1. A quadrangular pressure receiving plate for receiving pressure from below, a quadrangular pressure receiving bottom plate for receiving pressure from above, and four columns connecting the pressure receiving plate and the pressure receiving bottom plate. A plurality of shelves slidably inserted through four corners of the support, a plurality of set collars fixed to the support to position the shelves at predetermined intervals, and stacked on each of the shelves A plurality of trays having a pressurized structure such that each battery is pressurized by receiving pressure from below when a battery that is placed and charged / discharged is mounted in a state where a plurality of trays are mounted on each tray. A secondary battery charging / discharging comprising: a battery; and an actuator provided between the shelf located at the lowermost stage and the pressure receiving bottom plate to push up each shelf and pressurize each battery. Pressurizing device. 2. The pressure-receiving top plate or each of the shelf plates has a plurality of pressure plates fixed via a spring on its lower surface side to receive pressure when a battery is pressed and to absorb variations in the thickness of pressure-receiving. The charging / discharging pressurizing device for a secondary battery according to claim 1, further comprising: 3. The pressure receiving top plate or each of the shelf plates includes a plurality of pin probes on a lower surface side thereof for automatically accessing electrodes of each of the batteries when the batteries are pressurized. 3. The pressurizing device for charging and discharging a secondary battery according to 2. 4. The pin probe according to claim 3, wherein the battery is pushed up when the battery is pressurized, so that the electrode of the battery is moved to make contact with the pin probe pin. Pressurizing device for charging and discharging secondary batteries. 5. An outer frame having a predetermined thickness in which a plurality of holes each having a size corresponding to the size of a battery to be mounted are formed in parallel, and the tray is vertically movable by a small amount in each hole of the outer frame. 4. A middle box to be fitted, and a flat plate on which the battery is placed and fixed to the middle box to a predetermined depth position. Pressurizing device for charging and discharging secondary batteries. 6. The support according to claim 1, wherein the support is formed by connecting short supports divided by a predetermined unit length.
6. The pressurizing device for charging / discharging a secondary battery according to 2, 3 or 5. 7. The charging / discharging battery according to claim 1, wherein the set collar has a semi-fixed structure which allows the set collar to be easily slid with respect to the support. Pressure device.