JP2017142923A - Bus bar and method of manufacturing bus bar - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To suppress an increase in size of a bus bar even when plate thickness of the bus bar is made thin.SOLUTION: Disclosed is a bus bar 20 having a fixed thickness dimension, which is connected to electrode terminals 13A, 13B of a plurality of power storage elements 11 having the electrode terminals 13A, 13B of a positive electrode and a negative electrode and constitutes a conductive path. This bus bar 20 includes: a flat plate part 21 having a flat plate surface; and a bent part 26 which has a shape bent to the plate surface of the flat plate part 21 in the direction intersecting with the conductive path and extends along the conductive path.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  In this specification, the technique regarding a bus-bar is disclosed.

  In a power storage module such as an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle, a plurality of power storage elements are connected in series or in parallel by connecting adjacent electrode terminals of a plurality of power storage elements having positive and negative electrode terminals with a bus bar. .

  In the following Patent Document 1, a plurality of bus bars are embedded in a battery connection plate mounted on a battery assembly composed of a plurality of square batteries, and each bus bar is screwed and fixed to an electrode with a bolt or the like. The adjacent electrodes of the square battery are connected by a bus bar.

JP 2000-149909 A

  By the way, if the cross-sectional area of the shape of the bus bar is constant, the surface area of the bus bar increases if the plate thickness is reduced and the dimension in the width direction, which is the direction orthogonal to the connection direction between the electrodes, is increased. It is preferable from the viewpoint of heat dissipation. However, when the dimension of the bus bar in the width direction is increased, there is a problem that a space for arranging the bus bar is increased, which is contrary to a request for downsizing a member such as a power storage module to which the bus bar is mounted.

  The technology described in the present specification has been completed based on the above circumstances, and provides a bus bar capable of suppressing an increase in size even when the plate thickness is reduced. With the goal.

  The bus bar described in the present specification is a bus bar having a constant thickness dimension that is connected to the electrode terminals of a plurality of power storage elements having positive and negative electrode terminals to form a conductive path, and has a flat plate surface. And a bent portion extending in a direction along the path of the conductive path in a shape bent with respect to the plate surface of the flat plate section in a direction intersecting with the path of the conductive path.

  The bus bar manufacturing method described in this specification is a method for manufacturing a bus bar having a certain thickness dimension that is connected to the electrode terminals of a plurality of power storage elements having positive and negative electrode terminals to form a conductive path. A bent portion extending in a direction along the path of the conductive path in a shape bent with respect to the plate surface in a direction intersecting the path of the conductive path with respect to a flat metal plate material having a flat plate surface Form.

According to this configuration, the curved surface of the bending portion in the direction intersecting the path of the conductive path can increase the surface area of the bus bar while suppressing an increase in the dimension in the width direction with respect to the path direction of the conductive path. As a result, the size in the width direction can be suppressed even if the plate thickness of the bus bar is reduced and the surface area is increased, so that the increase in size can be suppressed.
The “constant thickness dimension” includes a configuration in which the thickness dimension slightly changes. For example, the deviation of the thickness dimension between the bent portion and the flat plate portion that occurs when a bent portion is formed by bending a metal plate material of a constant thickness with a die of a press machine is included in the range of the constant thickness dimension. Can be.

The following embodiments are preferable as the embodiments of the technology described in this specification.
The bent portion is bent into a waveform composed of a peak portion and a valley portion.
In this way, the surface area of the bus bar can be increased.

The flat plate portion includes a pair of connection portions connected to the pair of electrode terminals, and a connection portion that connects the pair of connection portions so that the conductive path bypasses in a direction connecting the pair of connection portions. And the bent portion is formed in the connecting portion.
If it does in this way, the surface area of a bus-bar can be increased according to the length which a conductive path detours by a connection part.

  According to the technique described in this specification, it is possible to suppress an increase in size even when the thickness of the bus bar is reduced.

The top view which shows the electrical storage module of Embodiment 1. Top view showing the bus bar Right side view showing the busbar The top view which shows the electrical storage module of Embodiment 2. Top view showing the bus bar Right side view showing the busbar The top view which shows the bus-bar of other embodiment The top view which shows the bus-bar of other embodiment

<Embodiment 1>
The first embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS.
The bus bar 20 of this embodiment is attached to the power storage module 10. The power storage module 10 is mounted on a vehicle such as an electric vehicle or a hybrid vehicle, and is used as a power source for driving the vehicle. In the following description, the X direction is the front, the Y direction is the left, and the Z direction is the upper.

(Power storage module 10)
As shown in FIG. 1, the power storage module 10 includes a plurality (two in the present embodiment) of power storage elements 11 arranged on the left and right, and a bus bar 20 attached to the plurality of power storage elements 11. Each power storage element 11 includes a box-shaped main body 12 in which a power storage element (not shown) is accommodated in a flat rectangular parallelepiped case, and bolt-shaped electrode terminals 13A that protrude vertically from the upper surface of the main body 12. 13B (illustrated as positive electrode 13A and negative electrode 13B). The electrode terminals 13 </ b> A and 13 </ b> B have a flat rectangular base portion on which the plate surface of the bus bar 20 is placed. The electrode terminals 13A and 13B may be fastened with bolts, for example, as nuts.

  The polarity (positive / negative) direction of the plurality of power storage elements 11 is arranged so that the power storage elements 11 adjacent to each other are opposite to each other, and thereby the electrode terminals 13A and 13B having different polarities are adjacent to each other. Has been. The front electrode terminals 13A and 13B located at the end of the series connection are connected to an external device such as an inverter via an electric wire (not shown).

(Bus bar 20)
The bus bar 20 is made of a metal plate material having a certain thickness such as copper, copper alloy, aluminum, aluminum alloy, stainless steel (SUS), etc., and has a substantially U-shaped conductive path as shown in FIGS. The pair of connection portions 22 connected to the pair of electrode terminals 13A and 13B and the pair of connection portions 22 (and the pair of electrode terminals 13A and 13B) are linearly connected to the direction (left and right direction). The connecting portion 25 is connected so as to bypass the conductive path.

  A circular through hole 23 through which the bolt-shaped electrode terminals 13 </ b> A and 13 </ b> B can be inserted is formed through the connection portion 22. The electrode terminals 13A and 13B and the connecting portion 22 are connected by passing the electrode terminals 13A and 13 through the through hole 23 and fastening them with nuts.

  The above-described bus bar 20 has a flat plate surface, and is formed in the flat plate portion 21 including the entire connection portion 22 and a part of the connection portion 25, and the connection portion 25, and the path of the conductive path (the connection portion 25). And a bent portion 26 having a shape bent with respect to the surface of the flat plate portion 21 in a direction (front-rear direction; an example of “a direction intersecting the path of the conductive path”) orthogonal to the path extending in the left-right direction in FIG.

  The bent portion 26 extends in the left-right direction (the direction along the path of the conductive path) over the entire length of the connecting portion 25 in the left-right direction, on one side of the peak portion 27A protruding upward and on both sides of the peak portion 27A. It has a plurality of valleys 27B recessed downward, and the peaks 27A and valleys 27B are alternately connected to form a waveform.

  The bus bar 20 can be manufactured by placing a metal plate material on a die of a press machine and punching and bending the metal plate material with the die.

According to the structure of the said embodiment, there exist the following effects.
The bus bar 20 is a bus bar 20 of a certain thickness dimension that is connected to the electrode terminals 13A and 13B of the plurality of power storage elements 11 having the positive and negative electrode terminals 13A and 13B to form a conductive path, and is a flat plate surface And a bent portion 26 that extends in the left-right direction (direction along the path of the conductive path) in a shape bent with respect to the plate surface of the flat plate section 21 in the front-rear direction (direction intersecting the path of the conductive path). And comprising.

According to the present embodiment, due to the bent shape of the bent portion 26 in the front-rear direction, the surface area of the bus bar 20 can be increased while suppressing an increase in the dimension in the width direction (front-rear direction) with respect to the path direction of the conductive path. Thereby, since the dimension of the width direction with respect to the path | route direction of an electroconductive path can be suppressed even if the board | plate thickness of the bus-bar 20 is made thin and a surface area is enlarged, it becomes possible to suppress an enlargement.
The “constant thickness dimension” includes a configuration in which the thickness dimension slightly changes. For example, the deviation of the thickness dimension between the bent portion 26 and the connecting portion 22 (and the flat plate portion 21) generated when the bent portion 26 is formed by bending a metal plate material having a constant thickness with a die of a press machine. , And can be included in a range of a certain thickness dimension.

Moreover, the bending part 26 is made into the shape bent in the waveform which consists of the peak part 27A and the trough part 27B.
In this way, for example, the surface area of the bus bar 20 can be increased as compared with the configuration in which the bent portion is formed only from one of the peak portion 27A and the valley portion 27B.

  The flat plate portion 21 includes a pair of connection portions 22 connected to the pair of electrode terminals 13A and 13B, and the conductive path bypasses the direction in which the through holes 23 of the pair of connection portions 22 are connected by a short path. The connecting portion 25 is connected to a pair of connecting portions 22, and a bent portion 26 is formed in the connecting portion 25.

  If it does in this way, the surface area of the bus-bar 20 can be increased according to the length which a conductive path detours by the connection part 25. FIG.

<Embodiment 2>
A second embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. The power storage module 30 of the second embodiment uses a bus bar 31 that constitutes a crank-shaped conductive path. In the following, the same components as those in the first embodiment are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

  As shown in FIG. 4, the direction of the adjacent power storage elements 11 in the power storage module 30 is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the adjacent electrode terminals 13A and 13A (13B and 13B) are the same. It is polar.

  As shown in FIGS. 5 and 6, the bus bar 31 includes a flat plate portion 37 having a flat plate surface and a bending portion 26. In addition, the bus bar 31 has a pair of connection portions 32 connected to the pair of electrode terminals 13A and 13B and a pair of connection portions so that the conductive path bypasses the direction connecting the pair of connection portions 32 (an oblique direction). It has the connection part 35 which connects the part 32 in a crank shape.

The connecting portion 35 is formed with a bent portion 26 extending in the left-right direction (the direction along the direction in which the connecting portion is connected). The connecting portion 32 is formed in the flat plate portion 37, and a circular through hole 33 through which the bolt-shaped electrode terminals 13A and 13B can be inserted is formed.
According to the second embodiment, the bending portion 26 expands and contracts in the direction of assembly tolerance (front-rear direction) according to the assembly accuracy error (front-rear direction error) between the adjacent power storage elements 11 to absorb the error. Therefore, it is possible to suppress a problem in assembling the bus bar 31 to the electrode terminals 13A and 13B due to an error in assembling accuracy between the adjacent power storage elements 11.

<Other embodiments>
The technology described in the present specification 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 technology described in this specification.
(1) The shape of the bending part 26 is not restricted to the shape of the said embodiment. For example, you may have several peak part 27A. Moreover, the trough part 27B may be one. Moreover, the bending part may have only one of the peak part 27A and the trough part 27B.

(2) In the above embodiment, the bus bars 20 and 31 are bolted to the electrode terminals 13A and 13B. However, the present invention is not limited to this. For example, the bus bars 40 and 50 may be connected to the electrode terminals 13A and 13B by laser welding. For example, the through-hole 23 of the bus bar 20 of the first embodiment is eliminated as in the bus bar 40 of FIG. 7, and the connection portion 42 is formed by laser welding, or the bus bar 31 of the second embodiment is passed through like the bus bar 50 of FIG. It is good also as the connection part 22 which loses the hole 33 and is laser-welded. In the case of connecting by laser welding, it is preferable that the plate thickness is thinner as compared with the configuration in which the bus bars 20 and 31 are bolted to the electrode terminals 13A and 13B because the weldability is improved. Moreover, it is not restricted to laser welding, For example, you may use other connection means, such as ultrasonic welding and resistance welding.

(3) In the above embodiment, the bus bars 20, 31, 40, and 50 connecting the electrode terminals 13 </ b> A and 13 </ b> B of the electricity storage device 11 are used, but the present invention is not limited to this. For example, it is good also as a bus bar which connects between electrode terminal 13A, 13B of the end part of the serial connection in the some electrical storage element 11 formed in series, and an external apparatus, another electrical storage module, etc.

(4) About the number of the electrical storage elements 11 which comprise the electrical storage module 10, it is not restricted to the number of the said embodiment. Moreover, although the electrical storage element 11 was a battery, it is not restricted to this, For example, it is good also as a capacitor.

(5) You may make it hold | maintain the bus-bar 20, 31, 40, 50 to the insulation protector which consists of an insulating synthetic resin.

10, 30: Power storage module 11: Power storage element 12: Body portion 13A, 13B: Electrode terminals 20, 31, 40, 50: Busbar 21, 37: Flat plate portions 22, 32, 42: Connection portions 25, 35: Connection portion 26 : Bending part

Claims (4)

A bus bar having a constant thickness dimension, which is connected to the electrode terminals of a plurality of power storage elements having positive and negative electrode terminals to form a conductive path,
A flat plate portion having a flat plate surface;
A bus bar comprising: a bent portion extending in a direction along the path of the conductive path in a shape bent with respect to the plate surface of the flat plate portion in a direction intersecting the path of the conductive path. The bus bar according to claim 1, wherein the bent portion is bent into a waveform including a peak portion and a valley portion. The flat plate portion includes a pair of connection portions connected to the pair of electrode terminals,
The connection part which connects the pair of connection parts so that the conductive path is detoured in the direction connecting the pair of connection parts, and the bending part is formed in the connection part. Item 3. A bus bar according to item 2. A method of manufacturing a bus bar having a constant thickness dimension that is connected to the electrode terminals of a plurality of power storage elements having positive and negative electrode terminals to form a conductive path,
A bent portion extending in a direction along the path of the conductive path is formed in a shape bent with respect to the plate surface in a direction intersecting the path of the conductive path with respect to a flat metal plate material having a flat plate surface. A method of manufacturing a bus bar.

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