JP2013030339A - Battery wiring module - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a battery wiring module the manufacturing cost of which can be reduced.SOLUTION: In the battery wiring module 20 where metallic connection members 21, for electrically connecting between the positive electrode and the negative electrode 12A, 12B of a plurality of electric cells 11 each having the positive and negative electrodes 12A, 12B by touching the adjoining electrode 12A, 12B, are held by a resin protector 24, the resin protector 24 has a partition 28 for partitioning the connection member 21 from the outside, and a bored portion 23 is formed in a predetermined region of the connection member 21 out of the region on the inside of the partition 28.

Description

  The present invention relates to a battery wiring module.

In battery modules for electric vehicles and hybrid vehicles, a plurality of single cells having positive and negative electrode terminals are arranged side by side, and electrode terminals of adjacent single cells are connected by a bus bar (connection member). Thus, a plurality of single cells are connected in series or in parallel.
Here, as in Patent Document 1 below, it is considered that a plurality of connecting members are integrally mounted by accommodating connecting members in a plurality of connecting units made of synthetic resin, and connecting adjacent connecting units. It was.

  In the battery connection assembly (battery wiring module) of Patent Document 1, a wall portion (partition wall) surrounding the connection member is provided in the connection unit along the peripheral edge of the connection member. It is designed to be insulated from the outside.

JP 2010-170884 A

  By the way, a metal member such as copper or copper alloy is generally used for the connection member of the battery wiring module. However, if the amount of the metal material used can be reduced, the material cost can be suppressed, and the manufacturing cost can be reduced. It becomes possible to reduce.

On the other hand, if the area in which the partition wall surrounds the connection member can be reduced, the connection member also becomes smaller in accordance with the partition wall. Therefore, the use amount of the metal material of the connection member is reduced to reduce the manufacturing cost. Is possible.
Here, the connecting member is generally fastened by a fastening member such as a bolt when the battery wiring module is attached to the unit cell. Therefore, in the area where the partition wall surrounds the connection member, there must be a space where a tool such as a socket for fitting the head of the bolt can be inserted during fastening, and the area surrounded by the partition wall is reduced and connected. There has been a problem that it is not easy to reduce the amount of metal material used for the members.

  This invention is completed based on the above situations, Comprising: It aims at providing the battery wiring module which can reduce manufacturing cost.

In the battery wiring module according to the present invention, a metal connecting member that contacts adjacent electrode portions of a plurality of single cells having positive and negative electrode portions and electrically connects the electrode portions is held by a resin protector. The resin protector includes a partition wall that partitions the connection member from the outside, and the connection member includes a predetermined region of the inner region of the partition wall that is thinned. It is characterized in that the cut-out portion is formed.
According to this configuration, the connecting member is formed with a thinned portion that is thinned with respect to a predetermined region inside the partition wall, so that the predetermined portion that is thinned out of the region inside the partition wall is formed. The material cost of the connection member can be reduced according to the area of the region. Therefore, the manufacturing cost of the battery wiring module can be reduced.

In addition to the above configuration, it is more preferable to have the following configuration.
The resin protector is provided with a positioning portion that is arranged in the predetermined region that is thinned and positions the connection member.
If it does in this way, a connecting member can be positioned by a positioning part using the predetermined field where it was thinned.

The positioning portion is formed at a height that does not exceed the connection member.
If it does in this way, even if the tool for fastening a connection member is inserted inside the partition wall, it can prevent that a tool contacts a positioning part.

-The said lightening part is a notch which notched the edge of the said connection member.
If it does in this way, compared with the case where a lightening part is made into a through-hole, for example, shaping of a lightening part can be made easy. Moreover, it becomes easy to make a part with a relatively small ratio of current flow as a thinned part.

-The said thinning part has thinned the edge part side in the connection direction of the said connection member.
Since the portion with a relatively small ratio of current flow can be used as the lightening portion, the material cost of the connecting member can be reduced without increasing the electrical resistance of the connecting member.

-The said lightening part is provided in the part except the area | region which connects a pair of contact part and said pair of contact part which contact each said electrode part among the said connection members.
Since a portion with a smaller current flow rate can be a thinned portion, the material cost of the connecting member can be reduced without increasing the electrical resistance of the connecting member.

  According to the present invention, it is possible to reduce the manufacturing cost of the battery wiring module.

The top view which shows the battery module with which the battery wiring module which concerns on Embodiment 1 was attached. AA sectional view of FIG. A plan view showing a state in which a plurality of cells are arranged Plan view showing battery wiring joules BB sectional view of FIG. The top view which shows the battery wiring module which concerns on Embodiment 2. The top view which shows the battery wiring module which concerns on Embodiment 3.

<Embodiment 1>
Hereinafter, Embodiment 1 of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS.
As shown in FIG. 1, the battery wiring module 20 of the first embodiment is attached to a unit cell group in which a plurality of unit cells 11 are arranged to form a battery module 10. For example, it is used as a drive source for an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle. In the following description, the front-rear direction will be described with the lower side in FIG. 1 as the front and the upper side as the rear, the front side in FIG.

(Battery module 10)
The battery module 10 includes a plurality of unit cells 11 arranged side by side and a battery wiring module 20 attached to the plurality of unit cells 11.
As shown in FIG. 3, the unit cell 11 has electrode portions 12A and 12B (the positive electrode is 12A and the negative electrode is 12B) projecting vertically from the upper end surface of a rectangular parallelepiped main body in which a power generation element (not shown) is accommodated. ).

  The electrode portions 12A and 12B are both nut-shaped, and are configured such that the outer periphery of the metal conductor portion 13 is surrounded by the resin portion 14, and the upper end portion (tip portion) is the upper end of the resin portion 14. The conductor part 13 protruding a predetermined dimension upward is exposed. The exposed conductor portion 13 has a rectangular shape with a flat upper surface (tip surface), and a screw hole 15 is formed in the center portion for screwing with a bolt BT that is a fastening member.

  The direction of the polarity (positive / negative) of each unit cell 11 is arranged so that the unit cells 11 adjacent to each other are opposite to each other, so that the electrode portions 12A and 12B having different polarities are adjacent to each other. ing. The plurality of single cells 11 are fixed by a holding plate (not shown).

(Battery wiring module 20)
As shown in FIG. 4, the battery wiring module 20 includes a plurality of connecting members 21 that connect the electrode portions 12 </ b> A and 12 </ b> B adjacent to the left and right, and a resin protector 24 made of a synthetic resin that holds the connecting members 21. It is configured.
The connection member 21 is made of a metal such as copper, copper alloy, or aluminum, and has a generally rectangular plate shape. The four corners (corner portions) are rounded. The connection member 21 has a pair of circular insertion holes 22 and 22 through which the shaft portion of the bolt BT is inserted.

The edge (end portion) in the left-right direction (connection direction) of the connection member 21 has a shape in which portions corresponding to predetermined regions on both the left and right sides are cut out from the inner region of the partition wall 28 described later. It is set as the meat removal part 23 (notch part).
If the connecting member 21 is formed on the entire inside of the partition wall 28, the thinned portion 23 is thinned (provided with a notch) in the portion of the connecting member 21 where the rate of current flow is small. Part 23 is provided.

  Specifically, the lightening portion 23 is a pair of contact portions 21A and 21A that contact the electrode portions 12A and 12B in the connection member 21 (regions where the electrode portions 12A and 12B of the connection member 21 are in contact with each other. See FIG. 4. ) And the region 21B connecting the pair of contact portions 21A and 21A is a region where a large amount of current flows, and the meat obtained by thinning the connection member 21 in a portion where a relatively small amount of current excluding these regions is assumed. A punching portion 23 is provided.

Although not shown in FIG. 4, the battery wiring module 20 may be provided with a voltage detection terminal (not shown) for detecting the voltage of the unit cell 11 so as to overlap the connection member 21. The voltage detection terminal has an electric wire crimped behind a rectangular flat plate, and the electric wire is led to a battery ECU (not shown). The battery ECU is equipped with a microcomputer, an element, and the like, and has a function for detecting voltage, current, temperature, etc. of the unit cells 11 and controlling charge / discharge of each unit cell 11. Of the configuration.
Further, although not shown, terminals connected to an external inverter or the like are connected to the electrode portions 12A and 12B located at the end of the series connection of the unit cells 11.

(Resin protector 24)
The resin protector 24 includes a plurality of holding portions 25 that hold the connection members 21.
The plurality of holding portions 25 are provided side by side on the front side and the rear side of the resin protector 24, respectively. As shown in FIG. 5, both the bottom plate 26 on which the connection member 21 is placed and the connection member 21 are provided. A partition wall 28 that partitions from the outside, and a positioning portion 32 that protrudes from the partition wall 28 and positions the connecting member 21 from both sides in the left-right direction.

The bottom plate 26 connects the front and rear partition walls 28 at an intermediate portion in the width direction of the partition wall 28. The bottom plate 26 is not formed on both sides of the intermediate bottom plate 26, and openings 27 are formed through which the electrode portions 12 </ b> A and 12 </ b> B can enter.
The partition wall 28 is erected in the shape of a square tube around the connection member 21, and the tool or the like is prevented from being contacted to prevent the tool or the like from contacting the connection member 21 or the bolt BT and short-circuiting. The connection member 21 is surrounded at a height.

More specifically, the partition wall 28 is formed of a pair of opposing walls 28A and 28A extending in the connecting direction of the connecting member 21, and a pair of side walls 28B and 28B connecting the pair of opposing walls 28A and 28A. .
As shown in FIG. 4, the size of the area partitioned by the partition wall 28 is such that the socket ST into which the head of the bolt BT that is a fastening member is fitted when the battery wiring module 20 is attached to the plurality of single cells 11. It is a size that can be inserted.

  The partition wall 28 is provided with a thin portion 31 in which the partition wall 28 is thinned from the inner surface side of the partition wall 28. The thin portion 31 is provided so that the peripheral edge portion of the socket ST does not contact the partition wall 28, and reaches a predetermined height (CC in FIG. 2) from which the socket ST can enter from the upper end of the partition wall 28. It is provided so as to include the part.

  As shown in FIG. 5, a separation regulating piece 29 that regulates the separation of the connection member 21 is provided on each of the opposing walls 28 </ b> A and 28 </ b> A of the partition wall 28. The separation regulating piece 29 is configured to be able to bend and deform in the front-rear direction by providing a U-shaped cutout 30 on the opposing walls 28A, 28A of the partition wall 28, and the thickness dimension is inclined toward the lower end side. It is greatly formed. Then, the connection member 21 is disposed below the claw-shaped portion of the separation regulating piece 29, so that the separation of the connection member 21 is regulated.

The positioning portion 32 projects horizontally inward from the inner surface of the partition wall 28 at a position substantially the same as the height position of the connection member 21.
The projecting dimension of the positioning portion 32 is a dimension that is in close contact with the linear end surface of the side edge of the connecting member 21 with almost no gap. The thickness of the positioning portion 32 is a substantially constant thickness over the entire length of the protruding dimension, and is slightly smaller than the thickness dimension of the connection member 21. As shown in FIG. 4, the positioning portion 32 formed in this way is arranged within a range in which the socket ST can enter in the region inside the partition wall 28. However, even if the positioning portion 32 is formed in this range, the positioning portion 32 contacts the socket ST because it has the upper end 32A at a position lower than the lower end of the socket ST that descends only to the height of CC in FIG. There is nothing.

In the partition wall 28, the lower side of the positioning portion 32 is an electrode protection wall 33 whose inner peripheral surface forms the hole edge of the opening 27, and the tip side of the electrode portions 12 </ b> A and 12 </ b> B is electrode-protected. It is housed inside the wall 33 and protected.
Further, as shown in FIG. 4, the resin protector 24 has a holding portion in which a plurality of connection portions 35 for connecting external terminals to the electrode portions 12 </ b> A and 12 </ b> B located at the end of the series connection of the unit cells 11 are arranged. 25 is provided continuously to the end side.
Further, the resin protector 24 is provided with an electric wire passage groove 34 along the plurality of holding portions 25, and when the voltage detection terminal is attached, the electric wire connected to the voltage detection terminal is passed through the electric wire passage groove 34. The The resin protector 24 is configured by connecting a plurality of connecting units (not shown) to the left and right, and by connecting the plurality of connecting units, the wire passage grooves 34 provided in each connecting unit are connected.

Next, assembly of the battery wiring module 20 will be described.
A plurality of connection units are connected to the left and right to form the resin protector 24.
Next, when the detachment restricting piece 29 is bent and deformed so that the connection member 21 is sandwiched between the pair of positioning portions 32 and the connecting member 21 is placed on the bottom plate 26, the detachment restricting piece 29 is deformed and detached. The claw of the restriction piece 29 is disposed above the edge of the connection member 21. At this time, the lightening portions 23 on the left and right side edges of the connection member 21 are positioned between the pair of positioning portions 32 with almost no gap therebetween. Thereafter, a voltage detection terminal (not shown) connected to the end of the electric wire may be mounted on the connection member 21 in an overlapping manner. Thereby, the battery wiring module 20 is formed (FIGS. 4 and 5).

Next, the battery wiring module 20 is attached to the plurality of unit cells 11 by aligning the screw holes 15 of the electrode portions 12A and 12B of the plurality of unit cells 11 with the positions of the insertion holes 22 and 22 of the connection member 21.
Accordingly, the shaft portion of the bolt BT is passed through the insertion holes 22 and 22 of the connection member 21, the head portion of the bolt BT is fitted into the socket ST, and the socket ST is rotated. Bolted to. Thereby, the battery module 10 is formed (FIG. 1).

According to the structure of the said embodiment, there exist the following effects.
(1) A metal connection member 21 that contacts the adjacent electrode portions 12A and 12B of the plurality of unit cells 11 having the positive and negative electrode portions 12A and 12B and electrically connects the electrode portions 12A and 12B is provided. The battery wiring module 20 is held by the resin protector 24, and the resin protector 24 includes a partition wall 28 that partitions the connection member 21 from the outside. The connection member 21 includes an inner region of the partition wall 28. Of these, a lightened portion 23 is formed in a predetermined region.
According to the present embodiment, the connecting member 21 is formed with the thinned portion 23 that is thinned with respect to a predetermined region inside the partition wall 28, and thus is thinned out of the region inside the partition wall 28. Further, the material cost of the connection member 21 can be reduced according to the area of the predetermined region. Therefore, the manufacturing cost of the battery wiring module 20 can be reduced.

(2) The resin protector 24 is provided with a positioning portion 32 that is disposed in a predetermined region that is thinned and positions the connecting member 21.
If it does in this way, the connecting member 21 can be positioned by the positioning part 32 using the predetermined area | region which was thinned.

(3) The positioning portion 32 is formed with a height that does not exceed the connecting member 21.
In this way, for example, even if a tool for fastening the connection member 21 is inserted inside the partition wall 28, the tool can be prevented from coming into contact with the positioning portion 32.

(4) The thinned portion 23 is a notch obtained by notching the edge of the connection member 21.
If it does in this way, compared with the case where the thickness reduction part 23 is made into a through-hole, for example, shaping | molding of the thickness reduction part 23 can be made easy. In addition, it becomes easy to make the portion with a relatively small ratio of current flow as the thinned portion 23.

(5) The thinned portion 23 is thinned on the end side in the connecting direction of the connecting member 21.
Since the portion with a relatively small current flow rate can be used as the thinned portion 23, the material cost of the connecting member 21 can be reduced without increasing the electrical resistance of the connecting member 21.

(6) The lightening portion 23 is provided in a portion of the connecting member 21 excluding the pair of contact portions 21A and 21A that are in contact with the electrode portions 12A and 12B and the region 21B that connects the pair of contact portions 21A and 21A. Yes.
Since the portion with a relatively small current flow rate can be used as the thinned portion 23, the material cost of the connecting member 21 can be reduced without increasing the electrical resistance of the connecting member 21.

<Embodiment 2>
The second embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 6, the battery wiring module 40 according to the second embodiment is different from the first embodiment in that a lightening portion 42 in which notches at the edges are increased with respect to the lightening portion 23 is formed. Other configurations are the same as those of the first embodiment. In the following, the same components as those of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.

  The connecting member 41 that connects the electrode portions 12A and 12B is a meat whose diameter in the front-rear direction (width dimension of the connecting member) is reduced in a stepped shape by cutting out the front and rear edges (side edges of the connecting member). A punching portion 42 is formed. The lightening portion 42 includes a step portion 43 that reduces the diameter of the connection member 41 in a step shape, and a narrow end portion 44 that narrows the diameter in the front-rear direction of the connection member 41 (width dimension of the connection member). The position of the portion 43 in the left-right direction is substantially equal to the inner end of the insertion holes 22 and 22. The narrow end portion 44 is provided on the outer side of the pair of rectangular contact portions 21A and 21A that are in contact with the electrode portions 12A and 12B in the connection member 41 (region that does not erode the regions of the contact portions 21A and 21A).

<Embodiment 3>
The third embodiment will be described with reference to FIG. In the following, the same components as those of the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals and description thereof is omitted.
As shown in FIG. 7, the battery wiring module 50 according to the third embodiment is provided with the thinned portions 52 at the front and rear edges of the connection member 51 (side edges in the connection direction of the connection member 51). The positioning part 53 is protruded at a corresponding position of the lightening part 52.

The lightening portion 52 is formed by cutting the front and rear ends of the connection member 51 into a rectangular shape (step shape) that is long in the left-right direction (the width dimension of the connection member 21 is narrowed to a step shape). ) There are a total of four lightening portions 52 on both sides of the through holes 22 and 22.
The cutout depth (diameter in the front-rear direction) of the thinned portion 52 is a depth that does not reach the region of the pair of rectangular contact portions 21A and 21A in contact with the electrode portions 12A and 12B in the connection member 51. Notched.

  The positioning portion 53 protrudes in a rectangular shape at a position corresponding to the lightening portion 52 of the connection member 51, specifically, inward of each of the opposing walls 28A, 28A. The projecting dimension of the positioning part 53 is slightly smaller than the notch depth dimension from the side surface of the connection member 51 of the lightening part 52. The vertical position of the positioning portion 53 is the same as the vertical position of the thinned portion 52. Note that the corners of the positioning portion 53 are tapered.

  The length of the positioning portion 53 in the left-right direction (connection direction of the connecting member 51) is smaller than the length in the left-right direction of the thinning portion 52, and between the positioning portion 53 and the thinning portion 52, Clearance is formed in the direction. Due to this clearance, a dimensional error in the connecting direction of the connecting member 51 is absorbed during assembly.

<Other embodiments>
The present invention is not limited to the embodiments described with reference to the above description and drawings. For example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the present invention.
(1) In the above embodiment, the lightening portions 23, 42, 52 are provided at the edges of the connection members 21, 41, 51. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, a through hole (not shown) that penetrates the connection member may be used as the lightening portion. In this case, the shape of the through hole can be various shapes such as a circular shape and a rectangular shape. Moreover, when forming a through-hole, you may make it position a connection member, for example by providing the pin-shaped positioning part (not shown) which passes a through-hole as a positioning part which positions a connection member.

(2) In the above embodiment, the positioning portions 32 and 53 for positioning the connection members 21, 41 and 51 are provided, but the positioning portions 32 and 53 may not be provided. For example, the connection members 21, 41, 51 may be held at predetermined positions by sandwiching the connection members 21, 41, 51 between the opposing walls 28A, 28A or the side walls 28B, 28B of the partition wall 28. Good.

(3) In the above embodiment, the height of the positioning portions 32 and 53 is substantially the same as that of the connection members 21, 41 and 51, but is not limited to this height and is provided in a range where the socket ST is inserted. The upper ends of the positioning portions 32, 53 to be formed may be higher than the upper surfaces of the connection members 21, 41, 51 and do not contact the lower surface of the socket ST.

(4) In the first and second embodiments, the positioning portions 32 and 53 are projected from the intermediate portions in the front-rear direction of the side walls 28B and 28B. However, the present invention is not limited to this. You may make it make a positioning part protrude from other parts other than the intermediate part of 28B and 28B. In addition, not only one positioning portion 32, 53 is provided for one lightening portion 23, 42, 52, but also a plurality of positioning portions may be provided for one lightening portion 23, 42, 52. Good.

(5) In the above embodiment, the connection members 21, 41 and 51 connect the electrode parts 12A and 12B having different polarities (in series connection), but the present invention is not limited to this, and the electrode parts 12A (12B having the same polarity). ) May be connected (parallel connection). For example, another unit cell 11 is connected in parallel to the battery module 10 of the above embodiment, and the electrode parts 12A and 12B having the same polarity in the parallel connection are connected by a plurality of connection members 21 (41 and 51). It may be a thing.

(6) The number of the single cells 11 constituting the battery module 10 is not limited to the number (seven) in the above embodiment, but may be other numbers. Further, the shape of the battery wiring module 20 can be appropriately changed according to the number of the single cells 11.
(7) In the above-described embodiment, the resin protector is configured by connecting a plurality of separate connecting units. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the resin protector is configured by a single (integrated) connection plate. It may be a thing.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 10 ... Battery module 11 ... Cell 12A, 12B ... Electrode part 13 ... Conductor part 14 ... Resin part 20, 40, 50 ... Battery wiring module 21, 41, 51 ... Connection member 21A ... Contact part 22 ... Insertion hole 23, 42 52 ... Resin protector 25 ... Holding part 27 ... Opening part 28 ... Partition wall 28A ... Counter wall 28B ... Side wall 29 ... Separation restricting pieces 32, 53 ... Positioning part 43 ... Step part BT ... Bolt ST ... Socket

Claims (6)

A battery wiring module in which a metal connecting member that is in contact with adjacent electrode portions of a plurality of single cells having positive and negative electrode portions and electrically connects the electrode portions is held by a resin protector. ,
The resin protector includes a partition wall that partitions the connection member from the outside.
The battery wiring module, wherein the connection member is formed with a lightening portion in which a predetermined region is thinned out of a region inside the partition wall. 2. The battery wiring module according to claim 1, wherein the resin protector is provided with a positioning portion that is disposed in the predetermined region that is thinned to position the connection member. The battery wiring module according to claim 1, wherein the positioning portion is formed at a height that does not exceed the connection member. 4. The battery wiring module according to claim 1, wherein the lightening portion is a notch formed by notching an edge portion of the connection member. 5. 5. The battery wiring module according to claim 1, wherein the thinned portion is thinned on an end portion side in a connecting direction of the connecting member. The said lightening part is provided in the part except the area | region which connects a pair of contact part and the said pair of contact part which contact each said electrode part among the said connection members. Item 6. The battery wiring module according to any one of Items 5.

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