JP3273909B2 - Main electrode mounting plug terminal for sodium-sulfur battery - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a plug terminal attached to a main electrode of a sodium-sulfur battery, and more particularly, to a sodium terminal which is suitably used for safely attaching and detaching a cable in a live state with one touch. about the main pole mounting plug pin for sulfur battery.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art A sodium-sulfur battery is a high-temperature secondary battery used for nighttime power storage and the like. Usually, a large number of cells are connected in series and parallel in an insulated container to increase the voltage and current. The battery has a structure in which electric power is extracted through a main pole provided in the heat insulating container.

[0003] For example, as shown in FIG.
A plurality of unit cells 12 are connected and mounted in series and in parallel to form a collective battery, a so-called module 10.
A current collecting wire 14 for the unit cell 12 is connected to a current collecting plate 13 for each of positive and negative electrodes made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, and a main electrode plate (not shown) is connected to a part of the current collecting plate 13. The main electrode 15 protruding from the main electrode plate extends through the heat insulating container 11 to the outside. The heat-insulating container 11 is covered with a heat-insulating lid 16.

[0004] Thus, during operation of the module 10,
The electric power generated from the cell 12 is collected on the current collector 13,
Power is taken out from the main electrode 15 to the outside of the heat insulating container 11 via the main electrode plate. Here, the internal temperature of the module 10 is 28
Since it is necessary to maintain the temperature between 0 ° C and 320 ° C or more,
It is preferable to reduce the amount of heat radiation from the outside to the outside.

As a means for solving this problem, Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-245124 discloses a structure in which a main pole is supported inside a tubular base made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy by a reinforcing material such as a stainless steel pipe. Proposed. Further, the inventors have disclosed in Japanese Patent Application No.
In Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open No. 7-245124, as a method for further reducing the heat radiation property of the main electrode disclosed in JP-A-7-245124 and improving the durability of the main electrode, a cylindrical base material made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy is used. It has been proposed to adopt a structure in which a sprayed film of nickel or a chromium-based alloy is formed thereon.

In order to actually supply power to the load from the main pole 15 formed in this way, it is necessary to connect a power cable to the main pole 15. It is preferable to mount the module 10 in a direction parallel to the side surface, because it is possible to save space when mounting the module 10. As a method for connecting the power cable, the power cable can be directly attached to the main pole 15, but in this case, the main pole 15 may be damaged by attaching or detaching the power cable due to a change in wiring or the like. . Further, since the temperature of the main electrode 15 is usually about one hundred and several tens of degrees, it is not preferable from the viewpoint of work safety.

[0007] Therefore, as shown in FIG. 4, one end of a terminal board 20 having a twisted portion 21 near the center and having a plane surface intersecting perpendicularly to each other (hereinafter, referred to as a "panel terminal 20"). The through hole 22 formed in the plane and the main pole 15 are fitted and fixed by welding, and the through hole 2 formed in the other plane is fixed.
3 and a through-hole formed in a crimp terminal crimped to the end of the power cable, and the bolt is fixed by bolting. The blade terminal 20 is welded to the main pole 15 before placing the unit cell 12 in the heat insulating container 11. Further, a male or female one-touch connector is attached to the other end of the power cable so as to be easily connected to, for example, the front and rear modules.

[0008]

Here, in the module 10 connected in series as a system, an electromotive force of about 1000 V or more is always generated even during the suspension of charging and discharging. , That is, the work of attaching and detaching bolts between the blade terminal 20 and the power cable terminal is a very dangerous operation always performed in a live state where a high voltage is applied. Therefore, it is necessary to take extra safety measures, such as using insulated gloves and insulated boots, and insulated curing of the surrounding area, to ensure safety, and to carry out the work more carefully. Costs.

Further, when the modules 10 are connected in series and parallel, the one-touch connectors of the power cables are connected to each other by a relay bracket, and when the power cable is extended, an extension provided with a symmetric one-touch connector is also provided. Although connection can be made using a cable or the like, the cable resistance increases due to an increase in the length of the power cable for connection between the modules 10 and the contact resistance increases due to an increase in the number of connection portions. Therefore, in order to avoid such an increase in the resistance, the connection between the crimp terminal of the power cable and the blade terminal 20, that is, the connection by a new power cable having a predetermined terminal without the connection by a bolt is required. Is preferred.

The temperature of the blade terminal 20 rises due to heat conduction from the main electrode 15, but the shape and size of the blade terminal 20 increase to a temperature equivalent to that of the main electrode 15. Need security measures. Therefore, the blade terminal 20 is required to have an appropriate heat radiation property, so that there is a limit in reducing the shape thereof. As a result, the mounting space required for the series-parallel connection of the modules 10 is reduced. Also have limitations.

[0011]

Means for Solving the Problems The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problem of the connection method between the main electrodes of the sodium-sulfur battery, that is, according to the present invention, the sodium-sulfur battery Nato attached to the main pole
A main electrode mounting plug terminal for a lithium-sulfur battery, comprising: a body having a through hole fitted to the main electrode; and a body protruding from the body integrally with the body and in a radial direction of the through hole. a columnar plug portion formed so as to, Ri Tona,
A slit is formed in the body, and the plug is
Is the normal operating temperature range of the sodium-sulfur battery.
Radiator so that it is always maintained at 150 ° C or less.
A main electrode mounting plug terminal for a sodium-sulfur battery is provided.

Further, the main electrode mounting plug terminal for a sodium-sulfur battery of the present invention is preferably made of aluminum or an aluminum alloy, and the outer surface of the plug portion is preferably coated with gold or silver. . Furthermore, the plug portion, the connecting terminal, it is not preferable in particular detachable with commercially available one-touch.

[0013] Oite the present invention, the Help lug cover having a heat resistance and electrical insulation of low Kutomo 170 ° C.
The plug terminal cover is preferably attached to the plug terminal cover . The plug terminal cover is complementary to the concave and convex portions provided on the connection terminal cover of the connection terminal that is attached to and detached from the sodium-sulfur battery main electrode mounting plug terminal. Is preferably provided.

[0014]

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS As described above, by attaching a main electrode mounting plug terminal for a sodium-sulfur battery of the present invention to a main electrode, connection between the main electrode and a power cable can be performed safely and easily. In addition, the conventionally required vane plate terminals and crimp terminals become unnecessary, and the cost can be reduced. Further, since the structure of the main pole portion is simplified, space can be saved. Furthermore, by using a plug terminal cover having heat resistance and insulation properties, work safety is more reliably ensured. Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings, but the present invention is not limited to these embodiments.

FIG. 1 is a plug terminal 30 (hereinafter, referred to as “plug terminal 30”) of a main electrode attachment for a sodium-sulfur battery of the present invention.
FIG. 3 is a three-view drawing showing one embodiment. As shown in FIG. 1, the plug terminal 30 is integrally formed of a body portion 31 and a columnar plug portion 32, and the body portion 31 is provided with a through hole 33 that fits into the main pole 15. Part 32
Are formed so as to protrude from the body 31 in the radial direction of the through hole 33.

As shown in FIG. 1, the shape of the body 31 is not limited to a rectangular cross section of the through hole 33 in the radial direction, but may be set to any shape such as a circle or an oval. However, after the plug terminal 30 is mounted on the main pole 15, as described later, it is preferable to provide the plug terminal 30 with a heat-resistant insulating resin or rubber cover. Is not preferred.

The shape of the through hole 33 is set and processed so as to be complementary to the shape of the main pole 15, and the plug portion 3 is formed.
2 is preferably formed integrally with the body 31 in order to secure a desired mechanical strength. Therefore, the material for the plug terminal 30 is required to be easily processed. Furthermore, since the plug terminal 30 is an electrical connection member, it is naturally required to be excellent in conductivity. For this reason, specifically, aluminum or an aluminum alloy is suitably used as a material for the plug terminal 30, and a block (lump) of these materials is used.
It is preferable that the plug terminal 30 is manufactured by cutting out from the substrate by machining or the like and performing grinding.

A gold or silver coating is formed on the outer surface of the plug portion 32 of the plug terminal 30 thus manufactured. This is to reduce the contact resistance when forming the current path to the power cable by connecting the plug portion 32 and the connection terminal, as described later. Here, the method for forming such a gold or silver coating is not particularly limited, and various methods such as sputtering and paste baking can be used.

A slit 34 is formed in the body 31 of the plug terminal 30 shown in FIG. This is because the plug terminals 30 are warmed by heat conduction from the main electrode 15 and damage to the connection terminals and the like connected to the plug portions 32 due to an increase in the temperature of the plug portions 32 is prevented.
And in order to maintain the temperature of the plug terminal 30 at a predetermined temperature or less,
It is provided to ensure heat dissipation. By forming such a slit 34, the plug terminal 3
The surface area of the plug terminal 30, that is, the heat radiation area can be increased without increasing the size of the plug terminal 30.

However, the heat dissipation of the plug terminal 30 is as follows.
It is preferable that the temperature of the plug portion 32 is minimized within a range where the temperature is maintained at a predetermined temperature or less, so that the amount of heat diffused from the inside of the battery module 10 to the outside through the main electrode 15 can be minimized. become. Specifically, the temperature of the plug portion 32 is set to 150 ° C. or lower in a normal operating temperature range of the battery, that is, in a temperature range of about 360 ° C. or lower which is the maximum operating temperature of the sodium-sulfur battery module 10. It is preferable that a heat radiation design is made. Since the body 31 is closer to the main pole 15 than the plug 32, the temperature is higher than that of the plug 32. However, since the plug terminal 30 itself is not large, a large temperature No distribution occurs.

The slits 34 do not necessarily have to be formed in the plug terminals 30, but take into account the size of the module 10, the mounting space of the module 10, and the required heat dissipation. May be formed when it is deemed necessary.

The plug terminal 30 has a through hole 33 and a main pole 1.
5 is fixed to the main pole 15 by fitting and welding.
A state in which the plug terminal 30 is attached to the main pole 15 is shown in a perspective view of FIG. Here, the work of welding the plug terminal 30 to the main electrode 15 may be performed before the cell 12 is housed in the heat insulating container 11 or
Alternatively, even after the unit cells 12 are accommodated in the heat insulating container 11, the connection is preferably performed before the connection to the current collector 13. This is to avoid a dangerous work of performing welding in such a state since an electromotive force is applied to the main electrode 15 when the unit cell 12 is connected to the current collector plate 13.

When the body portion 31 and the main pole 15 are joined, the columnar plug portion 32 is arranged such that the side surface of the heat insulating container 11 on which the main pole 15 is provided and the length direction of the plug portion 32 are parallel. If the orientation is such that the orientation is horizontal as shown in FIG. 2, the degree of freedom in arranging the power cable is high, and even when a plurality of battery modules 10 are connected and arranged in series and parallel, the power cable can be saved. Because space can be planned,
preferable. Further, if the shape of the plug portion 32 is complementary to a commercially available connection terminal, it is not necessary to manufacture a special connection terminal by itself, which is effective in reducing costs.

The plug terminal 30 has a main pole 15
In order to further enhance the operational safety after mounting on a plug, a plug terminal cover made of resin or rubber is attached. As described above, since the maximum temperature of the plug portion 32 is set to 150 ° C. or lower and the temperature of the body portion 31 is slightly higher than this, the plug terminal cover is required to have a heat resistance of at least 170 ° C. In addition, it is naturally insulating.

Next, as an example of use of the plug terminal 30 and the plug terminal cover described above, FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing a connection state between the plug terminal 30 and the power cable 50.
The power cable 50 has an electric wire 51 crimped and fixed to a crimping portion 52 of a crimping terminal 54 including a caulking portion 52 and a socket portion 53, and the socket portion 53 of the crimping terminal 54 is connected to the connection terminal 5.
5 is connected. Here, the connection terminal 55
The cylindrical body 59 is pressed by the spring 56 in the direction of the central axis of the cylindrical body 59, and the socket portion 53 is sandwiched and fixed inside the cylindrical body 59. It has a structure that can do it.

At the end of the power cable 50, a caulking portion cover 60 for the caulking portion 52 and a connection terminal cover 57 for both the connection terminal 55 and the socket portion 53 are provided. Plug terminal cover 5
8 are provided. When the plug terminal 30 and the connection terminal 55 are connected to each other, the connection terminal cover 57 and the plug terminal cover 58 are overlapped with each other so that the exposed portion is eliminated, which is preferable from the viewpoint of safety for preventing accidents such as electric shock. It is more preferable that these covers 57 and 58 are formed with complementary concave and convex portions so as to have a function of preventing detachment.

Thus, the work of attaching and detaching the power cable 50 to and from the plug terminal 30 can be performed easily and safely. If both ends of the power cable 50 have the same structure, the connection between the main poles 15 of the plurality of modules 10 can be easily performed with one power cable 50.

[0028]

As described above, by directly attaching the main electrode direct mounting plug terminal for the sodium-sulfur battery of the present invention to the main electrode, the connection of the power cable to the main electrode is all arranged at both ends of the power cable. With the provided connection terminals, the operation in a live state can be performed safely with one touch simply and safely. Further, by using the plug terminal cover of the present invention together, the work safety can be further improved. Furthermore, since the structure of the main pole take-out portion is simplified, space can be saved.In addition, the necessity of using a conventionally used feather board terminal and a symmetrical one-touch connector is eliminated, and the power cable connection state can be appropriately changed. There is an advantage that it can be easily performed. As a result, the number of components to be used is reduced, and wasteful power cables are reduced, so that an excellent effect that cost reduction can be achieved is also achieved.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a three-view drawing showing an embodiment of a main electrode mounting plug terminal for a sodium-sulfur battery of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a state in which a main electrode mounting plug terminal for a sodium-sulfur battery of the present invention is mounted on a main electrode.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view showing an example of a connection state between a main electrode mounting plug terminal for a sodium-sulfur battery of the present invention and a power cable.

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a blade-shaped terminal plate used for mounting a conventional main pole.

FIG. 5 is a sectional view showing a structure of a sodium-sulfur battery module.

[Explanation of symbols]

10 ... module, 11 ... insulated container, 12 ... unit cell, 1
3 ... current collector plate, 14 ... collector wire, 15 ... main pole, 16 ... lid, 2
0: blade terminal, 21: twisted part, 22: through hole, 23
... through-hole, 30 ... plug terminal, 31 ... body part, 32 ... plug part, 33 ... through-hole, 50 ... power cable, 51 ... electric wire, 52 ... caulking part, 53 ... socket part, 54 ... crimp terminal, 55 ... Connection terminal, 56: Spring, 57: Cover for connection terminal, 58: Plug terminal cover, 59: Cylindrical body, 60:
Staking section cover.

──────────────────────────────────────────────────続 き Continued on the front page (58) Field surveyed (Int.Cl. ⁷ , DB name) H01M 2/30 H01M 2/34 H01M 10/39

Claims (6)

(57) [Claims] 1. A main electrode mounting plug terminal for a sodium-sulfur battery attached to a main electrode of a sodium-sulfur battery, comprising: a body having a through hole fitted to the main pole; in, and the said through-hole columnar plug portion formed so as to protrude radially from the body portion of, Tona is, are formed slit in the body portion, the plug portion, sodium relevant -Normal operation of sulfur batteries.
It is always maintained at 150 ° C or less in the temperature range
Sodium characterized by heat dissipation design
Main electrode mounting plug terminal for sulfur batteries. 2. The sodium according to claim 1, comprising aluminum or an aluminum alloy.
Main electrode mounting plug terminal for sulfur batteries. 3. The main electrode mounting plug terminal for a sodium-sulfur battery according to claim 1, wherein an outer surface of the plug portion is coated with gold or silver. 4. The main-pole mounting plug terminal for a sodium-sulfur battery according to claim 1, wherein the plug portion is detachable from the connecting terminal with one touch. 5. Help lug cover having a heat resistance and electrical insulation of low Kutomo 170 ° C. is attached
The method according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein
Main electrode plug terminal for sodium-sulfur battery . 6. The plug terminal cover is provided with a concave / convex portion for preventing detachment, which is complementary to the concave / convex portion provided on the connection terminal cover of the connection terminal detachable from the sodium-sulfur battery main electrode mounting plug terminal. Claims characterized in that
6. A main electrode mounting plug terminal for a sodium-sulfur battery according to 5 .