JP2580680B2 - Manufacturing method of storage battery - Google Patents

Description

Description: BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a method of manufacturing a so-called monoblock storage battery in which a plurality of 2V cells are housed in a battery case via partition walls and connected through each partition wall.

Conventional technology and its problems In a monoblock storage battery, connecting adjacent cells with a flat-plate-shaped connection means connecting the adjacent cells with the shortest distance, minimizing the electrical resistance between the cells. Therefore, it is an ideal connection method, and various proposals have been made conventionally.

In the old days, there is JP-A-47-27336, followed by JP-A-50-49635, JP-A-50-47140, and JP-A-50-47140.
-152254 JP, JP-A-56-114279, JP-A-58-114
No. 19858 and the like. However, these methods use an electric resistance welding method in which liquid tightness is not sufficiently ensured in the partition wall penetrating portion, and in practice, the pressure during electric resistance welding does not work well, and there is a problem in the welding itself. Some of them require extra auxiliary parts, others require injection of a sealing material, but some require assembling man-hours, each of which has its own or overlapping drawbacks and is not industrialized.

Recently, as an improvement over the above-mentioned conventional one, JP-A-62-1576 discloses
No. 74 has been proposed. This is, while the residual heat temperature when the connection body is formed by welding is higher than the softening temperature of the battery case partition, the electrode group is pushed into the notch-friendly case partition,
The partition wall is melted and press-fitted by the residual heat of the connection body.

However, there are the following disadvantages in industrializing this.

(1) When the production line is stopped while the product is flowing through the production line, all the products whose residual heat of the connecting body is lower than the softening temperature of the battery case partition wall cannot be assembled.

(2) Since the cooling rate of the residual heat temperature of the connection body depends on the ambient temperature, the production line must be installed in a constant temperature room, or the tact speed of the production line must be controlled according to the ambient temperature.

(3) Production lines are usually designed to produce multiple battery models. Since the cooling rate of the residual heat temperature of the connection body also depends on its volume, the battery model to be produced changes, and when the volume of the connection body changes, the tact speed of the production line must be controlled each time.

(4) In the above (2) and (3), controlling the tact speed of the production line means that all the equipment constituting the entire line must be controlled, which is very difficult. (Because the product stagnates at a certain point in only one section). In this connection, all the equipment that composes the entire line must be designed to be able to control the speed.

(5) Normally, after a connection body is formed on a lead battery production line and the electrode group is housed in a battery case, the polarity of the plate group and the continuity of the separator (short circuit of the plate group) are checked. Defective products found by this are pulled out of the electrode group and reworked, and then flown again to the line, but all of them cannot be reworked.

(6) The volume of “the cross-sectional area of the connection body × the thickness of the partition wall” is sunk into the partition wall, and a large pressing force is applied to the partition wall from above and partially. Usually, the partition is designed to have a thickness of 1.0 to 1.4 mm. Therefore, after inserting the electrode plate group into the battery case, since the partition wall is greatly curved in the vicinity of the partition wall into which the connection body has been embedded, when the battery case and the lid are welded thereafter, the partition wall of the lid and the partition wall of the battery case are It comes off at the large curved portion, and this occurs frequently. (Generally, this is referred to as a roadway of the partition wall, and even in the current production product, it is slightly generated, and is treated as a defective product between the partition walls.)

(7) The residual heat temperature when the connection body is formed by welding is
The electrode group must be quickly pushed into the battery case while the temperature is higher than the softening temperature of the battery case partition wall. In the case of a battery having a small heat capacity, such as a storage battery for a motorcycle, it has been difficult to apply it to a mass production line because the cooling speed of the connector is high.

Object of the Invention The present invention is to provide a method for manufacturing a storage battery in which all the above-mentioned disadvantages are eliminated.

Configuration of the Invention The present invention provides a monoblock-type container made of a thermoplastic synthetic resin, a plurality of electrode plates, and a pushing bar having a heating function, and the monoblock-type container is provided with a plurality of partition walls. , The partition is provided with a lower notch,
The electrode plate group includes a plurality of positive / negative electrode plates and a separator, and the positive / negative electrode plate groups of adjacent cells are integrally connected to each other by a connector, and the width of the connector is the width of the lower notch. When the electrode group, which is formed slightly larger than the width and is integrally connected to each cell chamber of the monoblock type container, is pressed into contact with the connecting body with the pushing bar, the connecting body is pressed. After the heating, the connection body is pushed in by using the pushing bar, whereby the electrode plate group is inserted into each cell chamber, and the connection body is pushed into the lower notch, and the heated connection body is used. A method of manufacturing a storage battery, comprising: melting a peripheral partition at a lower notch; and bringing the connection body into close contact with the peripheral partition.

Embodiment FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional front view of a main part of a storage battery during production of a storage battery according to the present invention, and FIG.

First, a monoblock type battery case 1 made of thermoplastic synthetic resin
And a plurality of electrode groups 2 and a pushing bar 3 having a heating function. The monoblock type container 1 is partitioned into a plurality of cell chambers 5 by partition walls 4, and the partition walls 4 are provided with cutouts 6 at staggered positions. The notch 6 has a bottom surface 7 which is horizontal and lower side walls 8a, 8b which rise substantially vertically from the bottom surface 7.
, And an upper notch 9 including upper side walls 9a and 9b inclined upward in the direction of the inverted figure 8 above the lower notch 8. However, the shape is not limited to the above, and may be constituted only by the lower notch 8. The electrode group 2 includes a plurality of positive / negative electrodes 10 and separators 11.
The positive / negative electrode plate groups 2 of adjacent cells are integrally connected to each other by a connector 12, and the connector 12 is formed in a substantially flat plate shape. The width A of the connecting body 12 is designed to be slightly larger (A> B) than the width B of the lower notch 8. Next, the integrally connected electrode plate group 2 is partially inserted into each cell chamber 5 of the monoblock-type container 1. At this time, the polarity of the electrode group 2 and the continuity of the separator 11 are checked. If there is any abnormality, the electrode group 2 is pulled out and repaired. Thereafter, the pushing bar 3 is pressed against the connecting body 12 and heated (FIGS. 1 and 2). It is desirable to set the temperature of the pushing bar 3 to 500 to 600 ° C. Thereafter, by pushing the connecting body 12 using the pushing bar 3, the electrode plate group 2 is inserted into each cell chamber 5 and the connecting body 12 is pushed into the lower notch 8, and the heated notch 12 is pressed by the heated connecting body 12. The peripheral partition 13 of the part 8 is melted,
The connecting body 12 is brought into close contact with the peripheral partition 13 (FIG. 3).

The heating time is determined as appropriate depending on the volume of the connector 12.
In the case of a storage battery for a motorcycle having a volume of the connection body 12 = 2250 (length 45 × width 10 × thickness 5) mm ³ , the temperature of the pushing bar 3 is 52
When the electrode group 2 is inserted at a temperature of 0 ± 10 ° C. and a heating time of 12 seconds, the partition wall portion of the lower notch 8 is formed in the partition wall penetrating portion of the connector 12.
A satisfactory connection was obtained where 13 was properly melted.

After the above steps are completed, finally, the lid 14 made of the same material as that of the monoblock type container 1 and having the shape of the partition wall corresponding to the upper cutout 9 of the partition 4 of the battery case 1 by a usual method. Are heat-welded (heat-sealed) (FIG. 4).

In the above embodiment, a flat plate is used as the shape of the connection body 12, but the present invention is not limited to this, and various modifications can be considered.

Effects of the Invention Since the present invention is a method for manufacturing a storage battery as described in the claims, it has the following effects.

(1) Since the entire peripheral portion of the connection body is in close contact with the molten thermoplastic synthetic resin, the liquid-tightness of the inter-cell connection portion can be completely ensured.

(2) Since the electric resistance welding method or the like is not used, there is no danger that the connection body itself may come off at the connection between cells.

(3) Not only no auxiliary parts are required to form the inter-cell connection part, but also a supplementary material is added by an injection molding method or a thermosetting filler is filled later. The cost of auxiliary parts, the equipment cost of injection molding, the number of assembling steps, etc. can be greatly reduced.

(4) Since the connection body is heated by the pushing bar having a heating function, the temperature of the pushing bar can be designed so that it can be freely set by using a heat sensor.

Therefore, it is only necessary to determine the set temperature of the push-in bar to the temperature according to the ambient temperature or the volume (specific heat) of the connecting body, and incorporate it into the work standard in advance, to install a production line in a constant temperature room, and to reduce the tact speed every time. No more control.

(5) The polarity of the plate group and the continuity of the separator can be checked only after the connection body is formed. As described in the text, in the present invention, this can be performed at the time when the electrode plate group is inserted halfway into the battery case after forming the connection body, and the connection is performed by a push bar having a heating function. Since the step of heating the body comes next, the rework can be regenerated. By the way, in the conventional proposal, it is an essential condition that the temperature at the time of forming the connection body is equal to or higher than the melting temperature of the partition walls. If you insert it into your own, it will be decided by yourself. (If a check step is inserted during that time, the temperature of the connector will be too low.) Therefore, the checking process is necessarily after inserting the electrode group into the battery case,
At this point, it is impossible to reproduce because the connected body has already cooled down even if the connected body is already in close contact with the molten partition wall and the electrode plate group is forcibly taken out of the battery case and reworked. .

(6) Even if the production line is temporarily stopped because the process procedure of the present invention described in the above (5) can be performed, it does not affect the product. That is, there are no products that cannot be assembled.

(7) Since the connecting body is heated by the push-in bar, even a battery having a small heat capacity, such as a storage battery for a motorcycle, can be applied to a mass production line regardless of the magnitude of the heat capacity. .

(8) Since the connector slightly larger than the lower notch of the partition is accommodated in the notch, the melting allowance of the partition is small,
That is, a strong pressing force is not applied to the partition from above by the connecting body. Therefore, almost no curvature of the partition wall occurs.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a longitudinal sectional front view of a main part of a storage battery being manufactured according to the present invention, FIG. 2 is a vertical sectional side view of the same principal part, and FIG. 3 is a longitudinal sectional front view of a main part in a state where an electrode plate group is completely inserted into a cell chamber. FIG. 4 is a longitudinal sectional side view of a main part in a state where the battery case and the lid are thermally welded. 1: Monoblock type battery case, 2: Electrode group 3: Push bar, 4: Partition wall 5: Multiple cell chambers, 8: Lower notch 10: Positive, negative electrode plate, 11: Separator 12: Connection body, 13 : Perimeter partition

Claims (1)

(57) [Claims] 1. A monoblock type container made of a thermoplastic synthetic resin, a plurality of electrode plates, and a pushing bar having a heating function are prepared, and the monoblock type container is provided with a plurality of cells by partition walls. The electrode group is composed of a plurality of positive / negative plates and separators, and the positive / negative plate groups of adjacent cells are integrally connected to each other by a connection body, The width of the connecting body is formed to be slightly larger than the width of the lower notch, and when inserting the electrode plate group integrally connected to each cell chamber of the monoblock type battery case, the pushing bar is pushed. After being pressed against the connection body and heating the connection body, the connection body is pushed in using the pushing bar, whereby the electrode plate group is inserted into each cell chamber, and the connection body is cut in the lower notch. The connection heated by pressing It said lower melting the peripheral partition wall portion of the notch, a manufacturing method of a storage battery, which comprises intimately the connection thereof to the peripheral partition wall by.