JP5532073B2 - Assembled battery and manufacturing method of assembled battery - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to an assembled battery and a method for manufacturing the assembled battery.

  Generally, a battery pack having a high output and a high capacity is obtained by arranging a plurality of battery modules and electrically connecting each battery module in series and / or in parallel.

  Here, the battery module constitutes a unit unit for assembling the assembled battery, and a plurality of electrically connected single cells are accommodated in the case. The battery module is a kind of assembled battery in that it includes a plurality of electrically connected single cells. In this specification, the battery module is a unit unit for assembling the assembled battery. The housed unit is referred to as a “battery module”.

  As described above, in order to configure an assembled battery, it is necessary to fix and connect a plurality of battery modules, which requires a lot of labor, and as a result, there is a problem that manufacturing of the assembled battery also takes effort.

  Further, the output terminals of the battery module are electrically connected to each other outside the battery module through, for example, a bolted bus bar (see, for example, Patent Document 1). If touched, there is a risk of short-circuiting, causing damage to the battery module or injury to the operator. In order to prevent such a danger, a method of attaching an insulating cap or the like to the output terminal portion can be considered. However, in this case, the insulation cap is attached and detached, which leads to an increase in man-hours.

JP 2001-229896 A

  An object of the present invention is to provide an assembled battery and a method of manufacturing the assembled battery, which can easily and safely perform electrical connection between the battery modules outside the battery module.

The invention according to claim 1 for achieving the above object includes a plurality of battery modules having output terminals, connection means for electrically connecting output terminals in different battery modules to each other outside the battery module, and A fixing portion for connecting the connecting means and the output terminal, which is attached to the output terminal and insulated from the output terminal, covers at least a part of the output terminal, and has an outlet for the output terminal. And a movable cover . Moreover, the fixed part in the assembled battery is characterized by being formed of an insulating material in the present invention.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, the connecting means for electrically connecting the battery modules is fixed to a fixing portion that is attached to the output terminals of the plurality of battery modules constituting the assembled battery and is insulated from the output terminals. comprising the steps, the take-out opening of the output terminal, the cover movable relative to said output terminal, a manufacturing method of an assembled battery for chromatic and step of covering at least a portion of the output terminal. Further, the manufacturing method according to the present invention is characterized in that the fixing portion is formed of an insulating material.

According to the assembled battery of the present invention, since the fixing portion for fixing the connecting means is insulated from the terminal metal portion, it is possible to prevent a short circuit and improve the workability and safety of the operator. In addition, the cover covers at least a part of the terminal, so that a tool or the like comes into contact with the terminal surface during the work, and prevents the battery module from being damaged due to a short circuit. Can be increased.

According to the method for manufacturing an assembled battery of the present invention, since the connecting means can be connected to the output terminal of the battery module by the insulated fixing portion, a short circuit can be prevented and workability and safety can be improved. In addition, the cover covers at least a part of the terminal, so that a tool or the like comes into contact with the terminal surface during the work, and prevents the battery module from being damaged due to a short circuit. Can be increased.

It is a perspective view of the assembled battery which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a perspective view of the battery module which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is a disassembled perspective view of the output terminal which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is sectional drawing of the terminal cover which concerns on 1st Embodiment. It is sectional drawing of the volt | bolt which concerns on 1st Embodiment, and an insulation part.

  Embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings.

<First Embodiment>
1 is a perspective view showing an assembled battery according to a first embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a perspective view showing a battery module shown in FIG. 1, FIG. 3 is an exploded perspective view of an output terminal, and FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional view of the terminal cover taken along line IV-IV in FIG. 3, and FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the bolt and the insulating portion taken along line VV in FIG.

  As shown in FIG. 1, the assembled battery 1 is formed by stacking an arbitrary number of battery modules 3 and connecting the battery modules 3 in series and / or in parallel, so as to correspond to a desired current, voltage, and capacity. It is formed.

  In order to connect the battery modules 3 in series and / or in parallel, connection means 2 including a plurality of rectangular bus bars 5 formed of, for example, a copper plate is used.

  As shown in FIG. 2, the battery module 3 includes a plurality of single cells 8 housed in a case 7 that forms an outer frame. A plurality of unit cells 8 are stacked and connected to each other in series, and are electrically connected to an output terminal 4 for electrical connection with the outside by means of conductive electrodes 9. The

  As shown in FIG. 3, the output terminal 4 includes a terminal metal part 12 that is electrically connected to the unit cell 8 in the battery module 3 by an electrode 9, a casing 11 that covers the terminal metal part 12, and a terminal metal part 12. A terminal cover 10 that covers the terminal surface 14 that is located at one end of the terminal and is electrically connected to the outside, and a bolt 15 that is attached to the back of the terminal surface 14 and fixes the connecting means 2 to the output terminal 4.

  The terminal metal portion 12 is formed by bending a long and narrow plate made of a conductive material such as iron or copper, and is electrically connected to the unit cell 8 with the electrode 9 at one end and is connected with the terminal surface 14 at the other end. , Electrically connected to the bus bar 5. The terminal surface 14 has a terminal surface hole 26 for taking out the bolt 15 for fixing the connecting means 2. Further, on the back side of the terminal surface 14, a claw portion 24 for sandwiching an insulating portion 23 that insulates the bolt 15 and the terminal surface 14 is provided.

  The insulating part 23 has an insulating part hole 25 through which the bolt 15 passes. The bolt 15 is attached to the terminal surface 14 by sandwiching the insulating portion 23 with the claw portion 24 on the back side of the terminal surface 14 and passing the bolt 15 through the insulating portion hole 25.

  When the bolt 15 is not projected from the terminal surface 14 as in the present embodiment, a screw hole is provided in the terminal surface 14, and the bolt is fitted into the screw hole to fix the connection means 2. Since 14 is located on the side surface of the battery module 3, when attaching the connection means 2, an operator holds the connection means 2 by hand, or a support portion is provided on the connection means 2 or the battery module 3 to prevent displacement. It is necessary to support the connection means 2 by some method such as providing it. However, according to this embodiment, since the connection means 2 is supported by the plurality of bolts 15, there is no need to manually press down or provide a support part, and the number of members for temporary support can be reduced.

  Further, as described above, a screw hole is provided in the terminal surface 14 and a bolt is fitted into the screw hole so that the connection means 2 is sandwiched to fix the connection means 2 in a state where the connection means 2 is not temporarily fixed. When the screw is tightened, the connecting means 2 rotates with the screw tightening, and the position of the bus bar hole 16 may be shifted from the position of the terminal surface 14 of the battery module 3. For this reason, when a screw hole is provided in the terminal surface 14 and the connection means 2 is sandwiched and fixed by fitting a bolt into the screw hole, it is necessary to firmly fix the screw with a screw after the temporary fixing step of the connection means 2. is there. However, in this embodiment, since the bolts 15 are inserted into the plurality of bus bar holes 16, the connecting means 2 is supported by the plurality of bolts 15 even when the nut 6 is firmly tightened. 2 rotation can be prevented. Therefore, in this embodiment, temporary fixing is unnecessary, and the number of man-hours can be reduced.

  In addition, when the fixing portion is configured by the bolt 15 as in the present embodiment, since it has a shape protruding from the side surface of the battery module 3, there is a possibility of accidental contact during work, and the bolt 15 is temporarily insulated. If not, a short circuit is likely to occur. However, in this embodiment, since the terminal metal part 12 and the bolt 15 are insulated by the insulating part 23 as described above, it is possible to prevent a short circuit due to the tool coming into contact with the bolt 15 during work, and to prevent damage to the instrument. At the same time, the safety of workers can be improved.

  A portion of the terminal metal portion 12 other than the terminal surface 14 connected to the bus bar 5 and the electrode 9 connected to the unit cell 8 is covered with the casing 11. The casing 11 has a rectangular tube-shaped convex portion 17 in which the bolt 15 and the insulating portion 23 are accommodated. The convex portion 17 of the casing 11 is led out from the case 7 through a notch formed in a part of the peripheral wall of the case 7 of the battery module 3. A columnar protrusion 18 for attaching the terminal cover 10 covering the terminal surface 4 is provided on a pair of opposed outer sides of the side surfaces of the convex portion 17.

  The terminal cover 10 that covers the terminal surface 4 and enhances safety has a rectangular tube shape and has an inner periphery that is substantially the same size as the outer periphery of the convex portion 17 of the casing 11. Front and rear circular grooves 19 are provided on a pair of opposing inner surfaces of the side surface of the terminal cover 10. The protrusion 18 is fitted into the groove 19, and the terminal cover 10 slides with respect to the convex portion 17 of the casing 11. When the longitudinal direction of the battery module 3 shown in FIG. 2 is the X-axis direction and the short direction is the Y-axis direction, the sliding direction of the terminal cover 10 is the X-axis direction. With this terminal cover 10 covering the terminal surface 14, a tool or the like comes into contact with the terminal surface 14 during work to prevent the battery module 3 from being damaged due to a short circuit, and to prevent operator's safety such as electric shock prevention. Can be increased.

  Next, a method for manufacturing the assembled battery 1 will be described.

  First, a plurality of battery modules 3 are stacked and arranged and fixed on a lower case (not shown) to which the assembled battery 1 is assembled.

  Thereafter, the position of the connection means 2 is set so that each bus bar hole 16 of the connection means 2 for electrically connecting each battery module 3 corresponds to each output terminal 4 located on the side surface of the battery module 3 on a one-to-one basis. Adjust. After the alignment, the bolts 15 protruding from the respective output terminals 4 and insulated from the terminal metal part 12 of the output terminal 4 are inserted into the bus bar hole parts 16, and sequentially tightened with the nuts 6 fitted to the bolts 15. By tightening the nut 6, the terminal cover 10 covering the terminal surface 14 of the output terminal 4 with the fastening force is slid in the X-axis direction which is the longitudinal direction of the battery module 3, and the bus bar 5 provided in the connection means 2. Are brought into contact with the terminal surface 14 to connect the battery modules 3 in series or in parallel.

  When the output terminal 4 is provided with a screw hole instead of the bolt 15, the output terminal 4 is located on the side surface of the battery module 3. It is necessary to prevent the position from shifting from the output terminal 4. Further, in this case, there is a possibility that the connecting means 2 rotates with tightening of the screw. In order to prevent this, when the output terminal 4 is provided with a screw hole, the screw needs to be tightened after the connection means 2 is temporarily fixed. However, in the present embodiment, the connection means 2 is supported by a plurality of bolts 15 protruding from the output terminal 4, and it is not necessary to hold the connection means 2 by hand or separately provide a support member in order to prevent displacement, and Since it is not necessary to temporarily fix the connecting means before tightening the nut 6, man-hours can be reduced.

  Further, unlike the embodiment of the present invention, the terminal metal portion 12 electrically connected to the unit cell 8 inside the module battery 3 and the bolt 15 attached to the terminal metal portion 12 are not insulated. Since the bolt 15 protrudes from the terminal surface 14, a tool or the like is likely to come in contact with it, and there is a risk of causing a short circuit. For this reason, it can be assumed that the insulating cap is attached in consideration of safety, but in such a case, it is necessary to remove the insulating cap in the previous step of tightening the nut 6. However, in this embodiment, since the bolt 15 and the terminal metal part 12 are insulated, an insulating cap is unnecessary, there is no step of removing the insulating cap, and the number of steps can be reduced.

  Although one embodiment of the present invention has been described above, the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment, and various modifications can be made within the scope of the claims. For example, the bolt 15 attached to the output terminal 4 may be made of an insulating material. In this case, the insulating part 23 is unnecessary.

  In addition, in the above-described embodiment, the terminal cover 10 can be omitted. By doing so, the number of parts can be reduced and the man-hours for attaching the terminal cover 10 can be reduced while the safety and workability of the bolt 15 insulated from the terminal metal part 12 can be achieved.

1 battery pack,
2 connection means,
3 Battery module,
4 output terminals,
5 Bus bar,
6 nuts,
8 cells,
9 electrodes,
10 Terminal cover,
14 Terminal surface,
15 volts,
23 Insulation part.

Claims (4)

A plurality of battery modules having output terminals;
Connecting means for electrically connecting the output terminals of different battery modules to each other outside the battery module;
A fixing portion that is attached to the output terminal and insulated from the output terminal, and that connects the connecting means and the output terminal;
Covers at least a portion of said output terminals, possess a cover, a to movable relative to said output terminal includes a take-out port of the output terminal,
The assembled battery is characterized in that the fixing portion is formed of an insulating material .   The assembled battery according to claim 1, wherein the fixing portion is a bolt.   Fixing a connection means for electrically connecting the battery modules to a fixing portion that is attached to and insulated from the output terminals of a plurality of battery modules constituting the assembled battery; and
  And a step of covering at least a part of the output terminal with a cover that is provided for the output terminal and is movable with respect to the output terminal.
  The method of manufacturing an assembled battery, wherein the fixing portion is formed of an insulating material.   The method for manufacturing an assembled battery according to claim 3, wherein the fixing portion is a bolt.

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