JP2006351362A - Battery pack - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To facilitate the positioning of a retaining member against a battery module 10. <P>SOLUTION: The battery pack has a plurality of cylindrical battery modules 10 formed by serially connecting a plurality of single batteries 11 through a connection ring 20, and arranging an insulation ring 30A between the single batteries 11 at one side connected by the connection ring 20 and the connection ring 20. A ring shaped grommets 50 are arranged at the outer periphery of the middle part of respective adjacent battery modules 10 in axial direction, the grommets 50 of mutually adjacent battery modules 10 are arranged in a state of piling up on each other, the axial directions of the respective battery modules 10 are mutually aligned in parallel, and gaps between adjacent battery modules 10, 10 are secured. The insulating rings 30A are provided with a plurality of hemispherical projections 34 on the outer peripheries of the cylindrical parts surrounding the outer peripheries of the single batteries 11, and grooves 56 to be fitted to the projection 34 are installed on the inner peripheral faces of the grommets 50. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2007,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to an assembled battery configured by arranging a plurality of battery modules formed by connecting a plurality of single cells in series.

Some assembled batteries are configured by stacking cylindrical battery modules formed by connecting a plurality of single cells in series (see, for example, Patent Document 1). In this assembled battery, annular holding members having a polygonal cross section are attached to the outer periphery of the battery module at predetermined intervals in the axial direction of the battery modules, and the outer surfaces of the holding members of adjacent battery modules are brought into surface contact with each other and stacked in a staggered manner. ing.
JP 2003-308816 A

In the conventional assembled battery, if the axial positions of the holding members of the adjacent battery modules are shifted, the battery modules cannot be stacked by bringing the outer surfaces of the holding members into contact with each other. The position of the holding member at is very important.
By the way, the positioning operation of the holding member is very troublesome, which has been one factor in reducing productivity.
Therefore, the present invention provides an assembled battery in which the holding member can be easily positioned and has excellent productivity.

  In order to solve the above-mentioned problem, the invention according to claim 1 is configured such that a plurality of unit cells (for example, unit cell 11 in an embodiment to be described later) are connected via a connection ring (for example, connection ring 20 in an embodiment to be described later). A cylindrical battery module (for example, described later) in which an insulating ring (for example, an insulating ring 30A in an embodiment described later) is provided between one cell connected in series and connected by the connection ring and the connection ring. Of the battery modules adjacent to each other by disposing an annular holding member (for example, a grommet 50 in the embodiment described later) on the outer periphery of the axially intermediate portion of each battery module. By arranging the holding members in a stacked state, the axial directions of the battery modules are aligned in parallel with each other and adjacent to each other. An assembled battery (for example, an assembled battery 1 in an embodiment to be described later) that secures a gap between battery modules, and the insulating ring surrounds the outer periphery of the unit cell (for example, a tubular portion in an embodiment to be described later) 32) includes a plurality of hemispherical protrusions (for example, protrusions 34 in the embodiments described later) on the outer periphery, and fitting portions (for example, grooves in the embodiments described later) that fit the protrusions on the inner peripheral surface of the holding member. 56).

With this configuration, in the state of the battery module before assembling the assembled battery, when a plurality of battery modules are placed side by side on a flat plate, the protrusion of the insulating ring of any battery module is attached to the battery module. Abutting on the outer peripheral surface of another adjacent battery module, a gap is secured between the two battery modules. Further, since the protrusion is hemispherical, it is easy to slip and the protrusion does not get caught on the outer peripheral surface of the adjacent battery module or other members.
Even when the insulating ring is handled alone, the protrusions are hemispherical and easy to slide, so that the insulating rings are not caught and easily aligned.
When the holding member is mounted so that the battery module is passed through the holding member, the protrusion of the insulating ring has a hemispherical shape, so that the battery module can be smoothly inserted into the holding member.
The axial positioning of the holding member with respect to the battery module can be accurately performed by fitting the protrusion of the insulating ring into the fitting portion of the holding member.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect of the present invention, the fitting portion includes a groove (for example, a groove 56 in an embodiment described later) or a hole provided at a position facing the protrusion. And
By comprising in this way, the structure of a fitting part becomes easy.
The invention according to claim 3 is the invention according to claim 1 or 2, wherein an outer peripheral surface of the holding member (for example, an outer peripheral surface 52 in an embodiment described later) is orthogonal to the axial direction of the battery module. The cross-sectional shape to be formed is a polygon, the outer peripheral surfaces of the holding members are brought into surface contact with each other, and the battery modules are arranged in a staggered manner as viewed from the axial direction.
By comprising in this way, the assembled battery which arranged the battery module in zigzag can be assembled easily.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, when a plurality of battery modules are arranged side by side on a flat plate, a gap is secured between two adjacent battery modules by the protrusion of the insulating ring, so that a short circuit between the battery modules is achieved. Can be prevented. In addition, since the protrusion is hemispherical, it is slippery and the protrusion does not get caught on the outer peripheral surface of other battery modules or other members that are adjacent to each other. Become.
Even when the insulating ring is handled alone, the protrusions are hemispherical and easy to slide, so that the insulating rings are not caught and easily aligned.
When mounting the holding member so that the battery module penetrates the holding member, the protrusion of the insulating ring has a hemispherical shape, so that the battery module can be smoothly inserted into the holding member, and productivity is improved. improves.
By fitting the protrusion of the insulating ring to the fitting portion of the holding member, the holding member can be accurately positioned in the axial direction with respect to the battery module, so that the battery module holding members can be stacked reliably and easily. This makes it easy to assemble the assembled battery.

According to the invention which concerns on Claim 2, the structure of a fitting part becomes simple.
According to the invention which concerns on Claim 3, the assembled battery which arranged the battery module in zigzag can be assembled easily.

Embodiments of an assembled battery according to the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings of FIGS.
FIG. 1 is a schematic front view of an assembled battery 1 in which a large number (22 in this embodiment) of battery modules 10 are accommodated in a battery box 2 with their axial directions parallel to each other. As shown in FIG. 2, each battery module 10 is provided with an annular grommet (holding member) 50 having a hexagonal cross section on the outer periphery in the middle in the axial direction, and the outer surface of the grommet 50 of the battery modules 10 adjacent to each other. By stacking the battery modules 10 so that they are in surface contact with each other, the battery modules 10 are aligned in parallel so that the axial directions of the battery modules 10 are parallel to each other. They are arranged in a staggered manner.
The battery box 2 includes a bottom plate 3, a side plate 4, and a lid plate 5. The bottom plate 3 is provided with a receiving member 6 that receives a grommet 50 of the lowermost battery module 10. The lid plate 5 has an uppermost battery module. A pressing member 7 for pressing ten grommets 50 is provided, and the upper surface 6 a of the receiving member 6 and the lower surface 7 a of the pressing member 7 are formed in a waveform corresponding to the outer surfaces of the aligned grommets 50.

The battery module 10 before the grommet 50 is mounted will be described with reference to FIGS. 3 and 4.
As shown in FIG. 3, the battery module 10 is configured by connecting a plurality of (six in this embodiment) cylindrical unit cells 11 in a straight line in series. Two adjacent unit cells 11 and 11 are electrically and mechanically connected by a connection ring 20, and an insulating ring is provided between the connection ring 20 and one unit cell 11 connected by the connection ring 20. 30A or 30B is attached. The only difference between the insulating ring 30A and the insulating ring 30B is the presence or absence of the protrusion 34 on the outer peripheral surface, and the insulating rings 30A and 30B are basically arranged alternately. More specifically, the insulating ring disposed at the center in the axial direction of the battery module 10 is an insulating ring 30B having no protrusion 34, and the insulating rings disposed on both sides thereof are formed as an insulating ring 30A having a protrusion 34. Further, the insulating ring disposed next to the insulating ring 30B is an insulating ring 30B having no protrusion 34.

  FIG. 4 is a cross-sectional view of the unit cell connecting portion at a portion where the insulating ring 30A is disposed, and FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the insulating ring 30A. A connecting ring 20 that connects the cathode 12 of one unit cell 11 and the anode 13 of the other unit cell 11 contacts the large-diameter cylindrical portion 21 that fits to the outer peripheral surface of the cathode 12 and the end plate portion 14 of the anode 13. A flange portion 22 that is in contact, a step portion 23 that connects the large-diameter cylindrical portion 21 and the flange portion 22, the large-diameter cylindrical portion 21 is spot-welded to the outer peripheral surface of the cathode 12, and the flange portion 22 is the end plate portion 14. The two unit cells 11 and 11 are electrically connected and mechanically inseparable from each other by spot welding. A hole 24 is formed at the center of the flange portion 22, and the terminal 15 of the anode 13 is inserted into the hole 24. In addition, an insulating ring 30 </ b> B having no protrusion 34 is attached to the outer periphery of the unit cell 11, which is disposed at the end of the battery module 10 and from which the terminal 15 of the anode 13 is exposed, on the anode 13 side.

The insulating ring 30 </ b> A has a cylindrical shape, and an annular end plate portion 31 inserted between the step portion 23 of the connection ring 20 and the other unit cell 11, and an end on the anode 13 side of the other unit cell 11. A cylindrical portion 32 that surrounds the outer periphery, a folded portion 33 that is folded back from the inner peripheral edge of the end plate portion 31 and extends in the same direction as the cylindrical portion 32, and a number of hemispheres that are provided on the outer periphery of the cylindrical portion 32 at predetermined circumferential intervals. The cylindrical portion 32 of the insulating ring 30 </ b> A is thicker than the large-diameter cylindrical portion 21 of the connecting ring 20.
In the insulating ring 30A configured as described above, since the protrusions 34 are hemispherical, the insulating rings 30A may be caught when the insulating ring 30A is aligned by the aligner 100 as shown in FIG. It can be aligned while flowing smoothly.
The insulating ring 30 </ b> A covers the anode 13 of the other unit cell 11 before spot-welding the connection ring 20 to the unit cells 11, 11, and the tip of the folded portion 33 is connected to the end plate portion 14 of the anode 13. It has been hit. With this insulating ring 30A, a short circuit between the two single cells 11, 11 can be reliably prevented.
Since the insulating ring 30B has the same configuration as the insulating ring 30A except that the protrusion 34 is not provided on the outer periphery of the cylindrical portion 32, the description thereof is omitted. An insulating ring 30 </ b> B that does not have the protrusion 34 is attached to the outer periphery of the unit cell 11 that is disposed at the end of the battery module 10 and from which the terminal 15 of the anode 13 is exposed.

  In the battery module 10 configured as described above, when the plurality of battery modules 10 are arranged side by side on a flat plate, the protrusion 34 of the insulating ring 30A of the arbitrary battery module 10 is adjacent to the other battery module 10 than the other. Since the predetermined gap is secured between the two battery modules 10 and 10 by contacting the outer peripheral surface of the battery module 10, a short circuit between the battery modules 10 and 10 can be reliably prevented. Further, since the protrusion 34 is hemispherical, it is easy to slip, and the protrusion 34 does not get caught on the outer peripheral surface of the adjacent battery module 10 or other members. It becomes difficult to follow.

  Although it is possible to directly attach the grommet 50 to the battery module 10, in this embodiment, in order to increase the insulation against the battery module 10, as shown in FIG. An insulating film 40 made of a heat-shrinkable resin film is covered. Even when the insulating film 40 is covered in this way, the protrusion 34 of the insulating ring 30A has a hemispherical shape, so that the insulating film 40 is not damaged by the protrusion 34 from the inside or the outside.

  The grommet 50 is made of rubber and has elasticity, and has a hexagonal column shape having a circular through hole 51 in the center. That is, the outer peripheral surface 52 of the grommet 50 has a regular hexagonal cross-sectional shape orthogonal to the axial direction of the through-hole 51, and is composed of six outer peripheral planes 52a, 52a. The through hole 51 has a stepped portion 53 near one end in the axial direction, the one end side of the stepped portion 53 is a small diameter portion 54, and the other end side is a large diameter portion 55. A groove (fitting portion) 56 having a substantially semicircular cross section is provided in an annular shape over the entire circumference at the substantially center in the axial direction of the inner peripheral surface of the large diameter portion 55. The groove 56 is formed in such a size that the protrusion 34 of the insulating ring 30 </ b> A covered with the insulating film 40 can be fitted, and faces the protrusion 34 of the insulating ring 30 </ b> A when the battery module 10 is inserted into the through hole 51. It is formed to do.

The grommet 50 is attached only to the portion where the insulating ring 30A is disposed, and is not attached to the portion where the insulating ring 30B is disposed. The grommet 50 can be expanded in diameter through the through hole 51 by elastic deformation, and is attached to the battery module 10 by inserting the battery module 10 from the large diameter portion 55 side. Then, by fitting the protrusion 34 of the insulating ring 30 </ b> A into the groove 56 of the through hole 51, the grommet 50 is positioned with respect to the axial direction of the battery module 10, and at the same time, the axial movement of the grommet 50 is prevented. In the state in which the protrusion 34 is fitted in the groove 56 in this way, the tip end portion of the large-diameter cylindrical portion 21 of the connection ring 20 is positioned at the stepped portion 53, and the grommet 50 surrounds the connection ring 20 and the insulating ring 30A. ing.
Even when the grommet 50 is attached to the battery module 10, the protrusion 34 has a hemispherical shape, and therefore the protrusion 34 has a through hole 51 in the grommet 50 when the grommet 50 and the battery module 10 are relatively moved in the axial direction. Thus, the relative movement can be smoothly performed without being caught on the substrate, so that the productivity can be improved and the insulating film 40 can be prevented from being damaged at that time.

Since the grommet 50 can be positioned with high accuracy with respect to the axial direction of the battery module 10, a large number of battery modules 10 to which the grommet 50 is attached are arranged on the outer peripheral plane 52 a of the grommet 50 as shown in FIG. 1. When assembling the assembled battery 1 while being stacked while being in surface contact with each other, the grommets 50 can be reliably and easily stacked, and the assembled battery 1 in which the battery modules 10 are arranged in a staggered manner is easily assembled. Will be able to.
In particular, the battery modules 10 and 10 are configured so as not to move relative to each other by providing an engaging convex portion on one of the outer peripheral planes 52a and 52a that are in surface contact with each other and an engaging concave portion on the other to engage them. In this case, the engaging convex portion and the engaging concave portion can be reliably engaged.

[Other Examples]
The present invention is not limited to the embodiment described above.
For example, the grommet 50 is not limited to a hexagonal cross-sectional shape perpendicular to the axial direction, and may be a polygon such as a dodecagon.
Alternatively, the grommet 50 may be divided into two so that the battery module 10 is sandwiched from both sides in the radial direction. In this way, the grommet 50 can be easily attached.
In the above-described embodiment, the fitting portion of the insulating ring 30A with respect to the protrusion 34 is configured by the annular groove 56, but instead of the annular groove 56, a hole provided at a predetermined interval in the circumferential direction at a position corresponding to the protrusion 34 or It is also possible to comprise a recess.
In the above-described embodiment, the insulating ring 30A having the protrusions 34 and the insulating ring 30B having no protrusions 34 are properly used. However, all the insulating rings may be the insulating rings 30A having the protrusions 34. In that case, the grommets 50 may be attached to the outer periphery of all the insulating rings 30A, or the grommets 50 may be attached only to the outer periphery of some of the insulating rings 30A.
The insulating film 40 is not essential and may not be attached.

It is a schematic front view in one Example of the assembled battery which concerns on this invention. It is an external appearance perspective view of the battery module after the grommet attachment in the said Example. It is an external appearance perspective view of the battery module before the grommet attachment in the said Example. It is sectional drawing of the cell connection part in the battery module of the said Example. It is an external appearance perspective view of the insulating ring in the said Example. It is a figure which shows a mode that the said insulating ring is aligned by the aligner. It is sectional drawing of the grommet mounting part in the battery module of the said Example.

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 assembled battery 10 battery module 11 cell 20 connection ring 30A insulating ring 32 cylinder part 34 protrusion 50 grommet (holding member)
52 outer peripheral surface 56 groove (fitting part)

Claims (3)

A plurality of unit cell batteries are connected in series via a connection ring, and one unit cell connected by the connection ring and a plurality of cylindrical battery modules provided with an insulating ring between the connection rings, An annular holding member is arranged on the outer periphery of the axially intermediate portion of the battery module, and the holding members of the battery modules adjacent to each other are arranged in a stacked state so that the axial directions of the battery modules are parallel to each other. An assembled battery that aligns and secures a gap between adjacent battery modules,
The insulating ring is provided with a plurality of hemispherical protrusions on the outer periphery of a cylindrical part surrounding the outer periphery of the unit cell, and a fitting part that fits the protrusion is provided on an inner peripheral surface of the holding member. Assembled battery.   The assembled battery according to claim 1, wherein the fitting portion includes a groove or a hole provided at a position facing the protrusion.   The outer peripheral surface of the holding member has a polygonal cross-sectional shape perpendicular to the axial direction of the battery module, the outer peripheral surfaces of the holding member are brought into surface contact with each other, and the battery module is viewed from the axial direction. The assembled battery according to claim 1 or 2, wherein the battery pack is arranged in a staggered manner.

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