JP2010165496A - Secondary battery pack - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a secondary battery pack in which discharge can be made reliably, and the time of discharge completion can be confirmed reliably. <P>SOLUTION: The pack has: a battery block 1 to which only a unit cell or a plurality of unit cells is connected; a battery pack management substrate 5 which has a circuit to detect a voltage or the like of the battery block 1 and carries out control of charge/discharge; and a limit resistance 3a and an LED 3b connected in parallel to the battery block 1 via a connection mechanism component 4 for use in connecting the circuit, and also has a residual quantity display part 3 which shows a residual energy state. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

  The present invention relates to a secondary battery pack having a remaining amount display section.

  With the recent development and popularization of portable information devices such as mobile phones, notebook personal computers, and video cameras, the demand for secondary battery packs that are small, light, and high in energy density has greatly increased. Yes. In particular, lithium ion secondary battery packs are attracting attention as such secondary battery packs.

  The general structure of a lithium ion secondary battery is that a positive electrode active material layer made of a positive electrode active material powder such as lithium-cobalt composite oxide, a conductive powder, and a binder is formed on the surface of a positive electrode current collector made of aluminum foil. A negative electrode formed by forming a negative electrode active material layer made of a copper foil and a negative electrode active material layer made of a copper foil on a surface of a negative electrode current collector made of a porous film. The power generation element is impregnated with an electrolytic solution.

  A unit cell is produced by housing the power generation element in a battery can and sealing it. A secondary battery pack is manufactured by attaching a case, a protective circuit board, and the like thereto.

  If the disassembly process is performed with the energy remaining when the secondary battery pack thus manufactured is discarded, the unit cell may cause a short circuit, which is dangerous. Therefore, it is possible to dispose of the unit cell safely by disassembling and disposing it after consuming energy by discharging the unit cell.

  In order to discharge the secondary battery pack, it is necessary to use a discharger in which the discharge terminal is connected by a resistor. However, since the discharge terminal is mostly a dedicated product, a discharger is required for each type of secondary battery pack. It was necessary to prepare and the work was complicated.

  Therefore, for example, Patent Document 1 discloses a discharge method in which a positive electrode terminal and a negative electrode terminal of a secondary battery pack are immersed in an aqueous solution in which an alkali metal weak acid salt is dissolved. Further, for example, Patent Document 2 discloses that a waste battery that is a secondary battery pack is embedded in a conductive granular material such as graphite or activated carbon, and discharged while applying pressure to the conductive granular material as it is or with a movable lid. Has been.

JP 2005-347162 A JP 2004-35554 A

  However, the secondary battery pack to be discarded has some trouble, and cannot be discharged from the discharge terminal of the secondary battery pack, and there is a possibility that energy cannot be consumed. In addition, it may be difficult to determine the timing at which the discharge ends, and the work efficiency may be poor.

  That is, the technical problem of the present invention is to provide a secondary battery pack that can be surely discharged by a simple method and can easily check the timing of discharge completion.

  The secondary battery pack of the present invention includes a battery block having only a unit cell or a plurality of unit cells connected thereto, a battery pack management board having a circuit for detecting a voltage of the battery block and controlling charge / discharge, The present invention is characterized in that it has a remaining resistance display unit having a limiting resistor and an LED connected via a connection mechanism component for connecting a circuit in parallel with the battery block and indicating an energy remaining state.

  In the secondary battery pack of the present invention, the connection mechanism component has screw terminals having holes of the same diameter as the through holes on both surfaces of the through holes of the substrate, and each of the screw terminals depends on a pattern on the substrate. The battery block and the remaining amount display unit are connected.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a secondary battery pack that can be surely discharged by a simple method and can easily check the completion timing of discharge.

The block diagram which shows the circuit of the secondary battery pack of this invention. The block diagram which shows the circuit of another secondary battery pack of this invention. FIG. 3A is a schematic view of the connection mechanism parts and screws of the secondary battery pack of the present invention, FIG. 3A is a perspective view of the connection mechanism parts and screws of the secondary battery pack, and FIG. 3B is the view of FIG. AA sectional drawing. The circuit block diagram of the secondary battery pack of this invention.

  An embodiment of the present invention will be described.

  FIG. 1 is a block diagram showing a circuit of a secondary battery pack according to the present invention. The secondary battery pack of the present invention includes a battery block 1 in which only a unit cell or a plurality of unit cells are connected, a battery pack management board 5 having a circuit for controlling the battery block, and a connection mechanism component in parallel with the battery block 1 A circuit is formed by a remaining amount display unit 3 having a discharge resistor 2, a limiting resistor 3a and an LED 3b connected via 4.

  The discharge resistor 2, the remaining amount display unit 3, and the connection mechanism component 4 are connected in parallel with the battery block 1. The limiting resistor 3a limits the current flowing through the LED 3b. The battery block 1 is one in which one or more unit cells are connected in series and in parallel.

  In the secondary battery pack, a circuit for consuming the energy of the battery block, a connection mechanism part for connecting the circuit to the battery block in the secondary battery pack, and energy are consumed. There is a remaining amount display section showing.

  The LED of the remaining amount display unit connected in parallel with the discharge resistor is designed to be lit with the voltage of the battery block. This circuit does not normally conduct because the connection mechanism component is not connected. When discharging the secondary battery pack, the connection mechanism component is made conductive to connect the discharge resistor and the battery block, the LED is turned on, energy is consumed, and the voltage is lowered to turn off the light. That is, it can be seen that the discharge is completed by turning off the LED.

  One terminal of the discharge resistor is directly connected to the positive side of the battery block, and the terminal on the opposite side of the discharge resistor is connected to the connection mechanism component. And it connects with the minus side of a battery block by making a connection mechanism component conduct | electrically_connect.

  When the maximum voltage of the battery block is 20V, the discharge resistor may be a 1 kΩ resistor when discharged at 20 mA, and the power consumed by the discharge resistor at that time is 0.4 W. If the electric current to discharge is set large, the time which consumes energy will become short, and it will become possible to discard in a short time.

  However, if the consumption circuit or the battery block generates a large amount of heat and the allowable power value of the discharge resistor increases, the price of the discharge resistor increases. For this reason, the resistance value varies depending on the assumed maximum voltage of the battery block, but it is preferable to set the resistance value so that the power consumed by the discharge resistor is 0.5 W or less.

  FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a circuit of another secondary battery pack according to the present invention. The discharge resistor 2 and the remaining amount display unit 3 shown in FIG. 1 are shared by the LED 3b and the limiting resistor 3a, and the discharge resistor 2 is eliminated. The discharge resistor does not need to be configured by a dedicated resistor, and energy can be consumed only by the limiting resistor of the remaining amount display portion.

  3 is a schematic diagram of the connection mechanism parts and screws of the secondary battery pack of the present invention, FIG. 3 (a) is a perspective view of the connection mechanism parts and screws of the secondary battery pack, and FIG. 3 (b) is FIG. It is AA sectional drawing of (a). The connection mechanism component 4 includes a board 7, a screw terminal 6a mounted on one surface of the board 7, and a screw terminal 6b mounted on the opposite surface of the screw terminal 6a. In the circuit on the substrate 7, the screw terminal 6a is connected to the discharge resistance and remaining amount display portion, and the screw terminal 6b is connected to the battery block.

  The substrate has through holes, and patterns are arranged on both sides of the substrate. The screw terminal has a hole having the same diameter as the through hole of the substrate. One screw terminal is connected to the discharge resistance and remaining amount display portion by a pattern on the substrate, and the other screw terminal is connected to the battery block. The through hole of the substrate and the hole of the screw terminal are arranged on the same straight line.

  Although the through hole of the board is not conductive, the screw terminals are electrically connected to each other by tightening the conductive screw 8 adapted to the hole of the screw terminal and the through hole of the board. The discharge of the block is started.

  For example, by installing a hole to insert a conductive screw in the label attachment position of the case of the secondary battery pack, the label can be removed even when the substrate in the case is not visible, Even without dismantling, it is possible to discharge by tightening the screw.

  Basically, any material can be used for the screw as long as electricity can flow, and it does not have to be a screw. Generally available iron (Uniqlo), stainless steel, brass (nickel plating) and the like are more preferable. The size of the screw is not particularly limited. Depending on the size of the secondary battery pack, in the case of a battery pack composed of one unit cell for mobile phones, digital cameras, etc., M1 to M2 and L2 to 5 for notebooks In the case of a battery pack having a size larger than that, L2 to M4 are more preferably M5 to M4.

  The connection mechanism component is not limited to a substrate having a through hole, and may not have a through hole. In order to make both surfaces of a board | substrate conductive, the connection method by a jumper wire, a clip, etc. may be used, for example.

  FIG. 4 is a circuit configuration diagram of the secondary battery pack of the present invention. The anode side of the first LED 3b and the second LED 3d used for displaying the remaining amount of the secondary battery pack is connected to the positive side of the battery block 1 via the first limiting resistor 3a and the second limiting resistor 3c. The cathode side is connected to the negative side of the battery block 1 through the terminal of the microcomputer 9.

  The LED of the display unit used for displaying the remaining amount of the battery pack or the like is usually connected to the power source of the substrate on the anode side and the terminal of the microcomputer on the cathode side. The LED is turned off at the Hi output and turned on at the Low output from the terminal of the microcomputer, and is turned on / off by the microcomputer program. Since the current flows through the discharge resistor 2 when the microcomputer 9 outputs Low during normal use, the diode 10 is inserted.

  In the present invention, the positive side of the battery block 1 is connected to the anode of the first LED 3b through the first limiting resistor 3a, and the connection mechanism component 4 and the discharge resistor 2 are connected to the cathode of the first LED 3b.

  Normally, when the secondary battery pack is used, the remaining amount is displayed by three of the first LED 3b and the second LED 3d. When discarding the secondary battery pack, when the connection mechanism component 4 is turned on, the second LED 3d is controlled by the microcomputer 9 so that the remaining amount is not displayed, and the remaining amount is displayed only by one of the first LEDs 3b. Is called.

  The limiting resistance is calculated from the maximum voltage of the battery block, the forward voltage drop of the LED, and the current consumption. For example, if the maximum voltage of the battery block is 20 V, the forward voltage drop is 2 V, and the current consumption is 10 mA, the limiting resistance is 1.8 kΩ.

  When the screw terminals are electrically connected and conduction is obtained, discharging of the battery block is started, and one LED is lit while the voltage of the battery block is above a certain level, but energy is consumed. When the voltage drops, the LED is turned off and can be safely discarded.

  Examples of the present invention are described in detail below.

  A secondary battery pack having a circuit for discharging the battery block when the connection mechanism component was made conductive was produced. One unit cell was used as a secondary battery, and three discharge resistors and three LEDs were used.

  The maximum voltage of the unit cell was 4.2 V, and the battery was discharged at 60 mA, and a resistance of 70Ω was prepared as a discharge resistance. The power consumed by the discharge resistance at that time was set to 0.25 W.

  A through hole having a diameter of 1 mm was provided in the substrate of the connection mechanism component, and screw terminals having holes having a diameter of 1 mm were mounted on both sides of the substrate. The board | substrate was installed so that the through-hole of a board | substrate might be just under the label attachment position of the case of a secondary battery pack.

  The label of the secondary battery pack was removed to expose the through hole of the substrate. At M1, the L3 screw was inserted into the through hole of the substrate and tightened to electrically connect the screw terminals.

  One LED was turned on, and the LED was turned off later. The voltage of the unit cell at this time was 0.3 V, and it was confirmed that the discharge was performed.

  As described above, by appropriately setting the resistance value of the discharge resistor and its wattage, it is possible to safely dissipate energy without placing a technical burden on the dismantling operator, and the secondary battery. When the pack is in a normal state, it is possible to supply a secondary battery pack that uses an LED used for displaying the remaining amount and knows that the energy has been lost.

  Further, by using a screw of an easily available size, a special jig is not required, and the additional parts are only one screw and two screw terminals, and can be easily discharged.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to provide a secondary battery pack that can be surely discharged by a simple method and can easily check the completion timing of discharge.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Battery block 2 Discharge resistance 3 Remaining amount display part 3a (1st) limiting resistance 3b (1st) LED
3c (second) limiting resistor 3d (second) LED
4 Connection mechanism component 5 Battery pack management board 6a, 6b Screw terminal 7 Board 8 Screw 9 Microcomputer 10 Diode

Claims (2)

  A battery block having only a unit cell or a plurality of unit cells connected thereto, a battery pack management board having a circuit for detecting a voltage of the battery block and controlling charge / discharge, and a circuit connected in parallel with the battery block A secondary battery pack comprising a remaining resistance display unit having a limiting resistor and an LED connected via a connection mechanism component for indicating an energy remaining state.   The connection mechanism component has screw terminals having holes having the same diameter as the through-holes on both surfaces of the through-hole of the substrate, and each of the screw terminals has a pattern on the substrate and the battery block and the remaining amount display unit. The secondary battery pack according to claim 1, wherein the secondary battery pack is connected to the secondary battery pack.

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