JPH08212989A - Battery pack - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To stabilize performance of a battery pack lengthen the life, and make production easy. CONSTITUTION: A battery pack 66 is formed by arranging unit cells 110 in a line, then stacking in two steps up and down, and the unit cells 110 are arranged zigzag in the upper step 120 and the lower step 122. An insulating member 126 is constituted of an interstep partition part 128 which partitions the upper step 120 from the lower step 122 and an inside-line partition part 30 which projections and mutually branches up and down between the adjacent unit cells 110 from the interstep partition part 128, and partitions the adjacent unit batteries 110 in each line. Thereby, since a relatively small gap space 124 is formed between adjacent three unit cells 110, the battery pack is made compact, temperature is made uniform to stabilize the performance and to lengthen the life. Assembly is made each and working capability is enhanced.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to an assembled battery suitable for use as a drive power source for electric vehicles.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art Japanese Utility Model Laid-Open No. 54-71120 discloses a battery pack in which a large number of cylindrical unit batteries are stacked in a plurality of rows and covered with a case integrally, and each unit battery is wound with an insulating sheet. It is shown.

[0003]

By the way, in the case of the above-mentioned assembled battery, the unit batteries are arranged in a state of overlapping in a straight line in the row direction and in the row direction. Therefore, the space formed between the adjacent unit batteries is substantially cross-shaped and relatively large. For this reason, the size of the entire assembled battery is increased, the temperature inside the assembled battery is difficult to be uniform, the electrochemical reaction is not uniform, and it is difficult to achieve uniform performance and long life.

Further, it has been a cause of difficulty in accurately measuring the temperature of the assembled battery. In addition, when assembling, the insulating sheet is wound around each unit battery, so that it takes a lot of time and labor and it is difficult to improve workability in the assembling work. The present application solves these problems.

[0005]

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the assembled battery according to the present invention has a plurality of unit batteries arranged side by side in a row, and the rows are stacked in multiple stages to cover the entire periphery. In the integrated battery pack, the unit batteries are arranged in a staggered manner between adjacent stages, and an insulating member provided for partitioning between the unit batteries is provided with an inter-stage partition part for partitioning between adjacent stages. It is characterized by comprising an in-row partition portion that integrally extends from the inter-stage partition portion and partitions between adjacent unit batteries in the same row.

At this time, a temperature measuring element for measuring the temperature of the battery can be inserted in the gap space formed by three adjacent unit batteries.

[0007]

1 to 8 show the present embodiment. FIG. 2 is a side view of the bicycle with auxiliary power according to the present embodiment, which includes a front frame 6 having a V-shape in side view between the front wheel 2 and the rear wheel 4. The front frame 6 has a main frame 10 that linearly extends rearward obliquely downward from the head pipe 8, an intermediate portion 12 that curves downward, and a seat frame 14 that extends substantially vertically in the vertical direction.

A front fork 16 for supporting the front wheel 2 at its lower end and a steering post 19 having a handle 18 mounted at its upper end are rotatably supported on the head pipe 8. A battery case 20 for accommodating a battery, which will be described later, has a length substantially the same as that of the main frame 10, and is detachably mounted between the front fixing portion 22 and the motor side connector 26 which is a male connector. There is. Reference numeral 24 is a lock device.

An auxiliary power unit 30 is supported on the intermediate portion 12 via a hanger plate 28. A rear fork 32 having a front end attached to the auxiliary power unit 30 extends rearward substantially horizontally, and a rear end of the pair of left and right rear stays 3 extends obliquely downward from an upper end of the seat frame 14.
The rear frame 37 is joined to the bracket 36 together with the rear end of the rear frame 4. Rear wheel 4 with this bracket 36
The rear wheel axle 5 and the driven sprocket 38 are rotatably supported.

A saddle seat 42 is supported on the upper end of the seat frame 14 via a seat post 40.
The front frame 6 and the periphery of the auxiliary power unit 30 are covered with a vehicle body cover 44. The vehicle body cover 44 is divided into left and right parts, and a front part covers the front side fixing part 22 and the front part of the battery case 20, and also coincides with the slope wall 45.

At the rear end of the battery case 20,
On the rear side surface, a slanted wall 46 is formed which is slanted rearward and is provided at the center of the vehicle body cover 44 that covers the locking device. An opening is formed in the front portion of the seat frame 14 and is closed by the front panel 48. Has been.

The auxiliary power unit 30 comprises a control unit 50, a motor 52 and a mission 54. The crankshaft 56, which is the output shaft of the mission 54, rotates together with the drive sprocket 58, and rotates the driven sprocket 38 of the rear wheel 4 via the chain 59.

A pedal 57 is attached to the crankshaft 56 and is manually driven by stepping on it. At this time, the motor 52 is rotated by electric power supplied from the battery in the battery case 20 to form auxiliary power. The control unit 50 controls the rotation of the motor 52 based on the torque from the pedal 57 and the rotation speed of the drive sprocket 58.

FIG. 1 is a side view showing the front frame 6 portion with the vehicle body cover 44 removed, and FIG. 3 is a section 3-3 of FIG.
FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway side view of the battery case 20, FIG. 5 is a view showing a front side mounting structure of the battery case 20, and FIG. 6 is a main part of the front side mounting structure of the battery case 20. FIG. 7 is a view showing the side (Z direction of arrow in FIG. 1), and FIG. 7 is a view showing a rear side attachment structure of the battery case 20.

As is apparent from FIG. 1, the front side fixing portion 22 is provided at the front end portion of the main frame 10, and the motor side connector 26 is provided near the intermediate portion 12. The battery case 20 has a mounting position shown by a solid line A in which the front end is locked by the lock device with the rear end fitted to the motor side connector 26, and an imaginary line B in which the front end is lifted by unlocking the lock device. You can take the pop-up position shown.

The position indicated by the virtual line C is the main frame 10
In the state (or the state before attachment) detached in the direction substantially perpendicular to the length direction (direction indicated by the arrow X). It should be noted that the battery case 20 can slide substantially along the length direction of the main frame 10 (direction indicated by the arrow Y) when the attachment position A and the pop-up position B change.

As is apparent from FIG. 3, the battery case 2
Reference numeral 0 denotes a plastic member composed of an upper case 60 and a lower case 62 which are vertically divided into two parts, and a meeting part 64 of the two forms a step part which overlaps with each other alternately, thereby forming a labyrinth structure and water. Are prevented from entering.

A battery pack 66 as an assembled battery is housed in the battery case 20, and the upper part is the upper case 6.
The lower part of the battery pack 66 is abutted by the groove rubber 70 that is attached to the rib 68 and is formed so as to project downward on the inner surface of the battery pack 66.
Is supported by a plate-shaped cushion rubber 74 interposed between the bottom portion of the bottom case 72 and the bottom portion 72 of the lower case 62.

Reference numeral 76 in FIG. 3 is a limit switch, which is attached to the inner surface of the vehicle body cover 44 and has a leaf spring 78 extending downward from the upper portion when the battery case 20 is attached to the vehicle body cover 44. The projection 73, which is formed so as to project downward from the bottom 72, is turned on by pushing, and turned off at the pop-up position described later.

As is apparent from FIG. 4, the battery case 2
The upper case 60 and the lower case 62 of 0 are engaged with the engaging claws 80 projecting upward from the lower case 62 on the front side of the side portion, and are fastened with the tapping screw 82 on the rear side so that they can be separated from each other. It is integrated. A rubber cushion member 84 is provided on the bottom first half of the lower case 62 when it is attached to the main frame 10.

A handle 86 is rotatably attached to the front end of the battery case 20, and an oblique step 88 is formed on the side surface of the battery case 20 to cover the front fixing portion 22.
4 and the slope wall 45 provided in the center part (FIG. 1). A lower portion of the front surface 90 is a notch-shaped pushing pressure step portion 92 that bites rearward.

At the rear end of the battery case 20,
A rear slope 94 that obliquely rises rearward is formed on the rear side surface so as to coincide with a slope wall 46 provided in the center of the vehicle body cover 44 that covers the lock device (FIG. 2).
Further, the back surface 96 of the upper case 60 is formed as a slope that is opposite to the rear slope 94.

Further, a battery-side connector 100, which is a female connector, is attached to the rear end of the battery case 20 with screws 98 or the like. Battery side connector 10
The rear surface 102 of 0 is an abutting surface of a motor-side connector, which will be described later, and an engaging projection 104 for positioning, which has a substantially triangular shape in a side view, projects from a central portion thereof. Battery side connector 1
The bottom rear end of 00 is a guide slope 1 which is inclined rearward and upward.
It is 06.

The battery pack 66 includes a large number of unit batteries 11
Heat-shrink tube 1 with 0 connected in series and arranged in two stages
11 is a battery pack assembled into one pack. Unit battery 11
Reference numeral 0 is a rechargeable type such as a Ni-Cd type.

Adjacent unit batteries 110 are connected in series by a conductive plate 112, and are connected to a discharge terminal of a battery side connector 100 described later via a fuse 114. Reference numeral 116 in the figure indicates a temperature detecting thermistor 117.
Is a lead wire and 118 is a charging terminal.

The charging terminal 118 has a built-in diode for preventing backflow and is attached to the rear side surface of the lower case 62. Further, since the battery case 20 is provided separately from the discharging terminal, the battery case 20 can be charged in either the mounted state or the detached state.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing the battery pack 66. In the present embodiment, a large number of unit batteries 110 arranged in a row are arranged in two stages, upper and lower. Upper 120 and lower 12
2, the unit batteries 110 are displaced in the column direction by the radius of each unit battery 110, and are arranged in a staggered manner so that the centers of the unit batteries 110 forming one stage overlap with the valleys between the adjacent unit batteries 110 of the other stage. There is.

Therefore, the unit batteries 11 adjacent to each other in each stage are
The gap space 124 formed by 0 has a substantially triangular shape formed by the three unit batteries 110. The temperature detecting thermistor 116 is inserted in one of the gap spaces 124.

Further, an insulating member 126 is interposed between each unit battery 110. The insulating member 126 is the upper stage 120.
And the lower tier 122, and an in-row partition 130 for partitioning between adjacent unit batteries 110 in each row.

The in-row partition parts 130 alternately branch from the inter-partition partition part 128 between the adjacent unit batteries 110 in each tier in a vertically branched manner. However, as shown in a developed shape in FIG. 6, the insulating member 126 is formed by continuously folding a single sheet.

That is, the narrow width portions 132 and the wide width portions 134 are alternately formed, and the folding line 13 is formed near the end of the wide width portion 134.
6 is mountain-folded, and the center portion of the narrow width portion 132 is valley-folded at a fold line 138 to form the three-dimensional insulating member 126 shown in FIG.

At this time, the narrow width portion 132 is folded in two to form the in-row partition portion 130 except both ends, and the two folded portions are covered with the adhesive 140 (see the enlarged portion in FIG. 6) as needed. Both are bonded together.

The shaded area in FIG. 6 shows the area where the adhesive 140 is applied. Further, the wide width portion 134 becomes the inter-stage partition portion 128. However, in the present embodiment, only the both ends of the narrow width portion 132 are the interstage partition portions 128.

The insulating member 126 folded in this way
In the transportation state before use, the is folded into a substantially transcendental shape shown in FIG. 7 and has a compact shape with good handleability.

Next, the operation of this embodiment will be described. In FIG. 5, since the unit cells 110 are arranged in a staggered manner between the upper stage 120 and the lower stage 122, the gap space 124
Is formed by only three adjacent unit batteries 110, has a substantially triangular shape, and has a remarkably smaller volume than the conventional substantially cross shape.

Therefore, the temperature condition of the entire battery pack 66 is made uniform by the reduction of this space, and as a result,
The electrochemical reaction in each unit cell 110 is leveled,
Performance is uniform and life is extended.

Moreover, since the space for inserting the temperature detecting thermistor 116 is also the gap space 124 and is relatively small, the measurement result is closer to the average temperature of the three adjacent unit batteries 110, and the accurate temperature measurement is performed. Will be possible.

Further, the insulating member 126 is attached to the inter-stage partition portion 12
8 and the in-row partition 130, the inter-stage partition 12
A compartment space for accommodating one unit battery 110 is automatically formed between 8 and a pair of adjacent in-row partition parts 130 of each stage.

Therefore, when assembling the battery pack 66, the unit batteries 110 can be assembled by simply accommodating the unit batteries 110 one by one in the partitioned space, so that the workability is remarkably improved.

Moreover, in the present embodiment, the insulating member 1
Since 26 can be formed by folding one continuous sheet, the number of parts can be reduced, mass productivity can be improved, and it can be folded compactly before use such as during transportation.

[0041]

EFFECTS OF THE INVENTION Since the unit cells of the vertically adjacent stages are arranged in a staggered manner, the gap space between the adjacent unit cells has a substantially triangular shape, which is relatively small compared to the conventional one. For this reason,
The temperature condition becomes more uniform, the electrochemical reaction is leveled, and the life of the battery can be extended.

If a measuring element for temperature measurement is inserted into this gap space, more accurate average temperature of the unit cell can be measured.

Furthermore, since the insulating material has an inter-stage partition part for partitioning adjacent inter-stage partitions and an in-row partition part branched from this inter-partition partition part to partition between adjacent unit cells in each row, the inter-stage partition part Since a space for accommodating one unit battery is formed between each pair of in-row partition parts adjacent to each other in the column direction, it is possible to assemble by simply putting the unit battery in this space,
Workability in the assembly process can be improved.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of a main portion of a front frame portion according to an embodiment.

FIG. 2 is a side view of a bicycle with auxiliary power to which the embodiment is applied.

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line 3-3 of FIG.

FIG. 4 is a partially cutaway side view of the battery case according to the embodiment.

FIG. 5 is a diagram showing a battery pack according to the embodiment.

FIG. 6 is a development view of an insulating member

FIG. 7 is a perspective view of an insulating member.

FIG. 8 is a diagram showing a storage state of the insulating member before use.

[Explanation of symbols]

10: Main frame, 20: Battery case, 66:
Battery pack (battery pack), 110: Unit battery, 11
6: Thermistor (temperature measuring element), 120: Upper stage, 12
2: Lower stage, 126: Insulating member, 128: Partition section, 1
30: In-row partition

Claims (2)

[Claims] 1. An assembled battery in which a plurality of unit batteries are arranged side by side in a row, and the rows are stacked in multiple stages to cover the entire circumference, and the unit batteries are arranged in a staggered manner between adjacent stages. In addition, an insulating member provided for partitioning between the unit cells is provided with an inter-partition partitioning part for partitioning between adjacent tiers and a unitary partition extending from the inter-partition partitioning part to partition between adjacent unit cells in the same row. And an in-row partition section for the battery pack. 2. The assembled battery according to claim 1, wherein a temperature measuring element for measuring the temperature of the battery is inserted into a gap space formed by three adjacent unit batteries.