JPS5812986B2 - Storage battery manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a storage battery in which adjacent cells are connected to each other by penetrating the partition wall of a monoblock battery case. This invention relates to a method of manufacturing a storage battery in which a connecting extension part is passed through an opening in a partition wall, brought into contact with a concave part of a female terminal of the other opposing electrode plate group, and the relevant contact part is connected by resistance welding.

Proposals for this type of storage battery using resistance welding include, for example, Japanese Patent Publication No. 40-20294 and Japanese Patent Publication No. 43-28671.
There is something shown in the publication.

However, in all of these, the welding point is located inside the partition wall opening, so in a storage battery using a thermoplastic synthetic resin, such as a polypropylene battery case, the connecting member melted during welding burns out the partition wall opening. There was a drawback.

In addition, in order to maintain liquid tightness, the connecting member is configured to be in close contact with the periphery including the inner wall of the opening, but due to the above factors, it is not possible to expect a liquid tight effect on the inner wall of the opening. Connection members that melt, scatter, or flow during welding may become trapped between the contact area between the side wall surface around the opening and the connection member, or cause burnout or melting damage to the partition wall surface of the contact area. Therefore, it also had the disadvantage that it was difficult to ensure liquid tightness.

The present invention eliminates all of the above-mentioned conventional drawbacks, and will be described in detail below based on examples.

First, for convenience of explanation, the basic structure of the present invention will be described. In FIG. 1, 1 is a polypropylene battery case, 2 is a partition wall in which openings 3 are punched at predetermined positions, and 4 is a The electrode plate group 5 is a strap connecting the electrode plate group 4, and a male terminal 6 is integrally formed therewith.

A connecting extension part 7 projects horizontally from the male terminal 6, and the extension part 7 passes through the opening 3 and its tip abuts against the bottom surface of the recessed part 9 of the opposing female terminal 8. There is.

Similar to the male terminal 6, the female terminal 8 also connects to the strap 1 of the electrode plate group 10.
It is integrally connected to 1.

As shown in FIG. 2, the above-mentioned combined state is shown in FIG.
Apply welding current while applying constant pressure to the terminal.

As a result, the contact portion between the tip of the connecting extension 7 and the bottom of the concave portion 9 is resistance welded under pressure, and the member that melts and swells at that time (referred to as the molten member) continues until it reaches the partition wall 2. The inside of the concave portion 9, that is, the area around the bottom is filled with it.

13 is the welding fill part.

The connecting extension part 7 is shortened by melting, and finally the surfaces of both the male and female terminals come into close contact with the side wall surfaces 14 and 14' around the opening, and the connection part is completed.

However, with this configuration, the battery case partition wall may be burnt out due to the melted member.
There is a problem in that it is difficult to reliably prevent the molten material from scattering or flowing out.

Next, the third embodiment of the present invention that solves the above problems will be explained.
This will be explained based on the diagram and FIG.

First, in the one shown in FIG. 3, the concave portion 16 of the female terminal 15 is provided with a tapered surface 1γ, and a collar 20 made of, for example, hard rubber or polypropylene is tightly fitted into the connecting extension portion 19 of the male terminal 18. A portion of the tip corner 21 is shaped to abut against the -tapered surface 17.

When resistance welding is performed, the contact portion between the bottom of the concave portion 16 and the tip of the connection extension 19 melts, and both male and female terminals are ultimately brought into close contact with the partition wall surface, but in the process, the collar 20 is tapered. It is pushed by the surface 17 and moves while sliding on the outer circumferential surface of the connecting extension part 20.

Therefore, welding is completed with the corner portion 21 always in contact with the tapered surface 17 and the concave portion 16 sealed.

In the case shown in Fig. 4, the male terminal 2 is inserted into the concave portion 23 of the female terminal 22.
The connecting extension part 25 of No. 4 is inserted, and its tip is in the recessed part 2.
It is in contact with the bottom of 3.

There is a notch 26 on the upper periphery of the concave portion 23, and a material such as soft rubber, polyethylene, soft P. V. A part of the collar 27 having elasticity such as C is accommodated and seals the concave portion 23 similarly to the one in FIG. are in contact with each other.

In this embodiment as well, when welding is finally completed, the surfaces of both male and female terminals come into close contact with the surface of the partition wall 29, but at this point the collar 27 is housed within the notch 26.

In this case, the collar 21 is compressed in the length direction and its outer shape expands, but the volume of the notch 26 is previously formed to a size that can absorb this expansion.

In the present invention, as described above, the concave portion is reliably sealed by the collar fitted into the connecting extension, so that the molten member can be physically contained in the concave portion.

Therefore, the present invention has the unique effect that welding conditions can be set relatively roughly.

This will be explained in more detail as follows.

In other words, when the melted member sealed in the recessed part becomes large under rough welding conditions, the fitting gap formed by the recessed part and the connection extension part is filled,
Even if you try to bulge out further, this part is blocked by the collar, so it will not bulge any further.

Therefore, welding conditions can be set relatively roughly.

By the way, if the gap is filled with the molten material as described above, the connecting extension part will no longer be shortened in the length direction, so the male and female terminals may not be in perfect contact with the partition wall surface. obtain.

Therefore, if we add a step after welding is complete, pressurize the backs of both male and female terminals to swage the connection extensions, thereby making the terminals stick tightly to the bulkhead, the shortening of the connection extensions is irrelevant. It is possible to ensure liquid tightness.

Furthermore, the above-mentioned method has the advantage that a more reliable electrical connection can be obtained because the electrically conductive area around the welded part as a connection part increases due to the close contact of the molten material filling the fitting gap.

As described above in detail based on the embodiments, when resistance welding is performed, the welded part is placed at a position away from the partition wall opening, and the molten material is contained before it reaches the partition wall. , it is possible to provide a storage battery that eliminates all the conventional drawbacks.

In addition, some products that do not use resistance welding to connect terminals include
For example, as shown in Japanese Patent Publication No. 50-30819,
Some have the position of the welded part removed from the opening.

In this case, the connecting extension part of the male terminal also passes through the through hole of the female terminal, and is welded to the back surface of the female terminal.

However, since the connecting extension part of the male terminal must be made long enough to pass the female terminal through, the part of the bulkhead where the connecting extension part is located above the opening when inserting the electrode plate group into the battery case is It has the disadvantage that it sticks, making assembly work extremely difficult.

Also, for the type that welds on the back of the female terminal,
It is suitable for welding to be carried out by gas burning, plasma arc, pouring of a molten member, etc., and these welding methods involve welding by melting the molten connecting member so as to accumulate it in the welding area.

Therefore, when performing welding, the work must be carried out with the welded part facing upward, and the work is extremely troublesome as it is necessary to turn the product over each time.

Furthermore, a major drawback of these welding methods is that a large amount of heat is dispersed during welding.

For this reason, the entire female terminal tends to melt and fall off at the same time, making welding work extremely difficult, and this becomes more noticeable as the connection becomes smaller as the battery becomes smaller.

Furthermore, as the storage battery becomes smaller, the distance between the partition walls becomes narrower, and the space surrounding the welding part becomes smaller, so that the dispersed heat may burn out the partition walls around these parts.

Compared to these devices, in the resistance welding structure of the present invention, the connecting extension portion of the male terminal does not have to pass through the female terminal, so it can be shortened, and therefore easier to assemble.

Furthermore, since the welding time is short and the melting margin is small, welding work can be carried out with the battery kept upright.

Furthermore, since thermal energy is concentrated only on the abutted welded parts, heat dispersion is extremely small, so it has the advantage that it can generally be applied to small-sized storage batteries.

As mentioned above, the present invention exhibits extremely remarkable effects that eliminate all the drawbacks of the conventional technology, and its industrial value is great.

[Brief explanation of drawings]

Figures 1 and 2 show the basic configuration of the present invention. Figure 1 is a vertical cross-sectional side view of the main part of the connection part that has been assembled just before resistance welding, and Figure 2 is the main part of the connection part that has been assembled just before resistance welding. A vertical cross-sectional side view of the main part of the connection part showing the state immediately after resistance welding of the item in the figure,
FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 are longitudinal sectional side views of the main parts of the connection portions in the assembled state immediately before resistance welding in each embodiment of the present invention. 1...Battery case, 2...Bulkhead, 3...
...Opening hole, 6,18,24...Male terminal, γ,1
9, 25... Connection extension part, 8, 15, 22...
...Female terminal, 9, 1 6, 23...
Concave portion, 4, 10... Plate group, 20, 27...
····Color.

Claims (1)

[Claims] 1. In a method of manufacturing a storage battery in which two adjacent terminals of extremely high quality are connected through the partition wall opening through the wall between the battery cases, the tip of the connecting extension part of the male terminal is brought into contact with the concave part of the female terminal, and the The recessed part is sealed with a collar fitted into the connecting extension part of the male terminal, and both the male and female terminals are resistance welded under pressure at a position away from the opening, so that the thermal spacing member is sealed with the collar. A method for manufacturing a storage battery, characterized in that it is sealed within the recess.