TW202412371A - Conductive frame of batteries - Google Patents

Abstract

The invention provides a conductive frame of batteries, which includes a conductive sheet, a plurality of first protruding welding portions and a fixing unit. The first protruding welding portions are arranged on a first surface of the conductive sheet, and the conductive sheet is connected to at least one battery cell through the first protruding welding portion. The fixing unit includes a fixing potion and a pressing potion, wherein the fixing potion is connected to the battery cell, and the pressing potion is configured to press a second surface of the conductive sheet to improve the connection strength between the conductive sheet and the battery cell, and avoid separation of the conductive sheet and the battery cell.

Description

Battery Conductive Frame

The present invention provides a battery conductive frame for connecting a battery core, which can improve the connection strength between the battery conductive frame and the battery core and prevent the battery conductive frame from being separated from the battery core.

Secondary batteries mainly include nickel-metal hydride batteries, nickel-cadmium batteries, lithium-ion batteries, and lithium polymer batteries. Lithium batteries have the advantages of high energy density, high operating voltage, wide operating temperature range, no memory effect, long life, and can withstand multiple charge and discharge cycles. They are widely used in portable electronic products such as mobile phones, laptops, digital cameras, etc., and have expanded to the automotive field in recent years.

The structure of a battery cell mainly includes positive electrode material, electrolyte, negative electrode material, separator layer and shell. The separator separates the positive electrode material and the negative electrode material to avoid short circuit, and the electrolyte is placed in the porous separator and acts as a conductor of ion charge. The shell is used to cover the positive electrode material, separator, electrolyte and negative electrode material mentioned above. Generally speaking, the shell is usually made of metal material.

When in use, multiple battery cells are connected in series and/or in parallel through a battery conductive frame to form a battery pack, so that the battery pack can output the voltage required by the product. Generally speaking, the battery conductive frame and the battery cell are connected by electric welding. During the welding process, it is necessary to increase the temperature of the battery conductive frame and the battery cell, and apply pressure to the positive and/or negative housing of the battery cell to complete the connection between the battery conductive frame and the battery cell. However, during the welding or use of the battery pack, the battery conductive frame and the battery cell may become loose due to external force, which may cause the battery pack to fail to work properly.

One purpose of the present invention is to provide a battery conductive frame, which mainly includes a conductive sheet and a fixing unit, wherein the conductive sheet is welded to the battery core via at least one first protruding welding portion, and is used to connect a plurality of battery cores in series or in parallel. The fixing unit can also be connected to the battery core by welding, and contact and press part or all of the conductive sheet to strengthen the connection strength between the conductive sheet and the battery core. Through the provision of the battery conductive frame described in the present invention, it is possible to effectively prevent the battery conductive frame and the battery core from loosening due to external force during the process of manufacturing or using the battery pack, and can effectively improve the reliability of the product.

To achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present invention provides a battery conductive frame, comprising: a conductive sheet, comprising a first surface and a second surface, wherein the first surface and the second surface are two surfaces facing each other; a plurality of first protruding welding portions, arranged on the first surface of the conductive sheet and used to connect a plurality of battery cells; and a fixing unit, comprising a fixing portion and at least one pressing portion, wherein the fixing portion is used to connect the battery cell, and the pressing portion is used to press the conductive sheet.

In at least one embodiment of the present invention, the pressing portion of the fixing unit overlaps with the first protruding welding portion of the conductive sheet.

In at least one embodiment of the present invention, at least one second protruding welding portion is located on the compression bonding portion of the fixing unit, and the compression bonding portion of the fixing unit is connected to the second surface of the conductive sheet via the second protruding welding portion.

In at least one embodiment of the present invention, at least one third protruding welding portion is located on the fixing portion of the fixing unit, and the fixing portion of the fixing unit is connected to the battery cell via the third protruding welding portion.

In at least one embodiment of the present invention, the fixing unit includes two fixing parts, which are respectively connected to different battery cells.

In at least one embodiment of the present invention, there are a plurality of fixing units, which are respectively connected to a plurality of battery cells.

In at least one embodiment of the present invention, the fixing unit includes two press-fit parts and is connected to the same battery cell via the two press-fit parts.

In at least one embodiment of the present invention, the conductive sheet includes a plurality of branches, and the first protruding soldering portion is disposed on the branches.

In at least one embodiment of the present invention, the conductivity of the fixing unit is smaller than that of the conductive sheet.

In at least one embodiment of the present invention, the thickness of the fixing unit is smaller than that of the conductive sheet.

Please refer to Figures 1 and 2, which are respectively a cross-sectional schematic diagram and a top perspective diagram of an embodiment of the battery conductive frame and battery core of the present invention. The battery conductive frame 10 is mainly used to connect a plurality of battery cores 12, and includes a conductive sheet 11 and at least one fixing unit 13, wherein the conductive sheet 11 is used to connect a plurality of battery cores 12 in series or in parallel.

Generally speaking, the conductive sheet 11 is usually made of a metal material with low resistance and high conductivity, such as copper, to reduce energy loss caused by charging and discharging of the battery cell 12 through the conductive sheet 11.

In practical applications, the conductive sheet 11 and the battery cell 12 are connected by welding, such as resistance welding. Welding is a process for joining dissimilar metals by heating or pressurizing. When the conductivity of the conductive sheet 11 is high, it may be difficult to weld the conductive sheet 11 and the battery cell 12 by resistance welding.

The conductive sheet 11 includes a first surface 111 and a second surface 113, wherein the first surface 111 and the second surface 113 are two surfaces facing each other on the conductive sheet 11, for example, the first surface 111 is a lower surface, and the second surface 113 is an upper surface. A plurality of first protruding soldering portions 115 are disposed on the first surface 111 of the conductive sheet 11, wherein the first protruding soldering portions 115 may be bumps protruding from the first surface 111 of the conductive sheet 11 and used to connect to the battery cell 12.

In one embodiment of the present invention, a first protruding portion 115 is formed on the first surface 111 of the conductive sheet 11 by stamping, and at least one recess is formed on the second surface 113 of the conductive sheet 11 , wherein the position of the recess corresponds to the position of the first protruding portion 115 .

Of course, forming the first protruding soldering portion 15 on the conductive sheet 11 by stamping is only an embodiment of the present invention, and is not a limitation of the scope of the present invention. In actual application, the conductive sheet 11 can be made by other methods, such as casting the conductive sheet 11 and the first protruding soldering portion 115, wherein there will be no concave portion on the second surface 113 of the conductive sheet 11.

During the welding process, the first protruding welding portion 115 of the conductive sheet 11 may be first connected to the shell 121 of the battery cell 12, wherein the shell 121 is made of metal, for example, to the positive electrode or the negative electrode of the shell 121. Then, a welding current is transmitted to the conductive sheet 11, the first protruding welding portion 115 and the shell 121 of the battery cell 12, so that the temperature of the first protruding welding portion 115 of the conductive sheet 11 and the shell 121 in contact therewith increases.

When the temperature of the conductive sheet 11, the first protruding weld 115 and the shell 121 of the battery core 12 reaches a certain value, they will melt to form a molten pool. Then, pressure is applied to the shell 121 of the battery core 12 through the conductive sheet 11 and the first protruding weld 115, so that the first protruding weld 115 sinks into the shell 121 of the battery core 12. After the temperature of the conductive sheet 11, the first protruding weld 115 and the shell 121 of the battery core 12 drops, the connection between the conductive sheet 11 and the battery core 12 is completed.

Although the conductive sheet 11 and the battery cell 12 can be connected by the above method, since the conductive sheet 11 and the battery cell 12 are only connected through the contact point of the first protruding welding portion 115 and the battery cell 12, the connection between the conductive sheet 11 and the battery cell 12 is not firm, and the conductive sheet 11 and the battery cell 12 may be separated during subsequent manufacturing or use.

In actual application, the conductive sheet 11 is usually connected to a plurality of battery cells 12 in sequence. For example, after one end of the conductive sheet 11 is connected to the battery cell 12 on the left side of FIG. 1 , the other end of the conductive sheet 11 is connected to the battery cell 12 on the right side by welding.

As described above, in the welding sequence of the conductive sheet 11 and the plurality of battery cells 12, the conductive sheet 11 will usually apply pressure to the battery cell 12 during the process of connecting the battery cell 12 on the right side. Although the pressure applied by the conductive sheet 11 to the battery cell 12 is usually not too great, the connection between the conductive sheet 11 and the battery cell 12 is only at the first protruding weld 115 and the contact point thereof. In addition, there is a certain distance between the two battery cells 12 connected by the conductive sheet 11, so that the pressure applied by the conductive sheet 11 to the battery cell 12 on the right side will form a torque at the first protruding weld 115 connecting the conductive sheet 11 and the battery cell 12 on the left side, and may cause the conductive sheet 11 to separate from the battery cell 12 on the left side.

In order to avoid the above situation, the present invention further provides a fixing unit 13 on the conductive sheet 11 and the battery cell 12. The fixing unit 13 includes a fixing portion 131 and a pressing portion 133, wherein the fixing portion 131 is used to connect to the shell 121 of the battery cell 12, and the pressing portion 133 is used to contact and press the conductive sheet 11 to increase the connection strength between the conductive sheet 11 and the battery cell 12.

In one embodiment of the present invention, the fixing unit 13 may be a metal sheet, wherein the fixing portion 131 and the pressing portion 133 have different setting heights, for example, the fixing portion 131 is connected to the pressing portion 133 via a connecting portion 132, wherein the fixing portion 131 is approximately parallel to the pressing portion 133, and the connecting portion 132 has an angle greater than 90 degrees with the fixing portion 131 and the pressing portion 133. In the drawings of the present invention, the angle is described as 90, so that the cross-section of the fixing unit 13 is stepped.

In addition, in the drawings of the present invention, the connecting portion 132 of the fixing unit 13 is attached to the side surface of the conductive sheet 11. However, in different embodiments, there may be a gap between the connecting portion 132 of the fixing unit 13 and the conductive sheet 11.

In actual application, after the conductive sheet 11 is connected to one of the battery cells 12, a fixing unit 13 may be provided on the battery cell 12 connected to the conductive sheet 11 to strengthen the connection between the conductive sheet 11 and the battery cell 12. Afterwards, the conductive sheet 11 is connected to another or other battery cells 12 to prevent the conductive sheet 11 from being separated from the connected battery cell 12 during the process of connecting the conductive sheet 11 to other battery cells 12.

In the embodiment of the present invention, the number of the fixing units 13 and the battery cells 12 are both plural, wherein each fixing unit 13 is connected to each battery cell 12 respectively.

The fixing portion 131 of the fixing unit 13 can be connected to the shell 121 of the battery cell 12 by welding, and the pressing portion 133 of the fixing unit 13 can also be connected to the conductive sheet 11 by welding, such as resistance welding. Therefore, after the first surface 111 of the conductive sheet 11 and the shell 121 of the battery cell 12 are welded by welding equipment, the fixing unit 13 can be welded to the shell 121 of the battery cell 12 and the second surface 113 of the conductive sheet 11 by the same welding equipment.

The fixing unit 13 is mainly used to fix the conductive sheet 11 on the battery core 12, and is not used to transmit current. Therefore, the fixing unit 13 can be made of a metal material with low conductivity to facilitate the connection of the fixing unit 13, the battery core 12 and the conductive sheet 11 by welding. For example, the fixing unit 13 can be a nickel sheet. Specifically, the conductivity of the fixing unit 13 can be less than that of the conductive sheet 11, and the thickness of the fixing unit 13 can also be less than that of the conductive sheet 11.

In one embodiment of the present invention, at least one second protruding weld portion 135 may be provided on the surface of the pressing portion 133 of the fixing unit 13, wherein the pressing portion 133 is connected to the second surface 113 of the conductive sheet 11 via the second protruding weld portion 135. The provision of the second protruding weld portion 135 facilitates the connection of the pressing portion 133 of the fixing unit 13 and the second surface 113 of the conductive sheet 11 by welding.

In addition, at least one third protruding weld 137 may be disposed on the surface of the fixing portion 131 of the fixing unit 13, wherein the fixing portion 131 is connected to the battery core 12 via the third protruding weld 137. The fixing unit 13 including the second protruding weld 135 and the third protruding weld 137 is only an embodiment of the present invention and is not a limitation of the scope of the present invention.

In addition, the press-fitting portion 133 of the fixing unit 13 can cover the conductive sheet 11 above the first protruding portion 115, so that the press-fitting portion 133 overlaps with the first protruding portion 115, which is beneficial to further strengthen the connection between the conductive sheet 11 and the battery cell 12 through the fixing unit 13.

In the above embodiment of the present invention, the fixing unit 13 is metal, and is connected to the battery core 12 and the conductive sheet 11 by welding. In different embodiments, the fixing unit 13 may also be non-metallic, for example, the fixing unit 13 may be plastic, and may be connected to the battery core 12 and/or the conductive sheet 11 by gluing or ultrasonic welding. The fixing unit 13 being metal is only an embodiment of the present invention, and is not a limitation of the scope of the present invention.

In addition, when the fixing unit 13 is connected to the battery core 12 and the conductive sheet 11 by gluing or ultrasonic welding, the second protruding welding portion 135 and the third protruding welding portion 137 may not be provided on the fixing unit 13.

In the embodiment of FIG. 2 of the present invention, the appearance of the conductive sheet 11 is approximately forked, and a plurality of branches 117 are provided at the end of the conductive sheet 11, wherein a gap 112 is provided between adjacent branches 117, for example, a plurality of branches 117 are provided at both ends of the conductive sheet 11. The first protruding soldering portions 115 are respectively provided at each branch 117 of the conductive sheet 11, wherein the plurality of branches 117 at the same end of the conductive sheet 11 are used to connect to the same battery cell 12.

As shown in FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 , the main difference between the embodiment of the present invention and FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 is that in the embodiment of FIG. 1 and FIG. 2 , each battery cell 12 is respectively provided with a fixing unit 13, wherein the number of the fixing units 13 and the battery cells 12 is the same, and the connection relationship between the end of the conductive sheet 11 and the battery cell 12 is strengthened by the fixing units 13.

In the embodiment of FIG. 3 and FIG. 4 , a plurality of battery cells 12 share the same fixing unit 13. In the embodiment of the present invention, the fixing unit 13 includes two fixing portions 131 and a pressing portion 133, wherein the two fixing portions 131 of the fixing unit 13 are respectively connected to different battery cells 12, and the pressing portion 133 spans across the two ends of the conductive sheet 11. The pressing portion 133 is used to contact and cover a portion or all of the second surface 113 of the conductive sheet 11, and press the conductive sheet 11 toward the battery cell 12.

Specifically, the fixing unit 13 is disposed along the conductive sheet 11, wherein the two fixing portions 131 of the fixing unit 13 are respectively welded to two different battery cells 12, and the pressing portion 133 of the fixing unit 13 does not need to be welded to the second surface 113 of the conductive sheet 11. In different embodiments, the pressing portion 133 of the fixing unit 13 may also be welded to the second surface 113 of the conductive sheet 11 to further enhance the fixing effect of the fixing unit 13.

As shown in FIG. 5 and FIG. 6 , in the embodiment of the present invention, each battery cell 12 is provided with a fixing unit 13, wherein the number of the fixing units 13 and the number of the battery cells 12 are the same. The fixing unit 13 of the present embodiment includes two fixing portions 131 and a pressing portion 133, wherein the two fixing portions 131 of the fixing unit 13 are connected to the same battery cell 12, and the pressing portion 133 contacts and covers a portion of the second surface 113 of the conductive sheet 11, and presses the conductive sheet 11 toward the battery cell 12.

Since the fixing portions 131 at both ends of the fixing unit 13 are welded to the shell 121 of the same battery cell 12, the pressing portion 133 of the fixing unit 13 does not need to be welded to the second surface 113 of the conductive sheet 11. In different embodiments, the pressing portion 133 of the fixing unit 13 can also be welded to the second surface 113 of the conductive sheet 11 to further enhance the fixing effect of the fixing unit 13.

The above is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the scope of the present invention. All equivalent changes and modifications made according to the shape, structure, features and spirit described in the patent application scope of the present invention should be included in the patent application scope of the present invention.

10: battery conductive frame 11: conductive sheet 111: first surface 112: interval 113: second surface 115: first protruding welding part 117: branch 12: battery core 121: shell 13: fixing unit 131: fixing part 132: connecting part 133: pressing part 135: second protruding welding part 137: third protruding welding part

[Fig. 1] is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of an embodiment of the battery conductive frame and battery core of the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a top perspective view of the battery conductive frame and the battery core of the above embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 3 is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of another embodiment of the battery conductive frame and battery core of the present invention.

FIG. 4 is a top perspective view of the battery conductive frame and the battery core of the above embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional schematic diagram of another embodiment of the battery conductive frame and battery core of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a top perspective view of the battery conductive frame and the battery core of the above embodiment of the present invention.

10: Battery conductive frame

11: Conductive sheet

111: First surface

113: Second surface

115: First protruding weld part

12:Battery core

121: Shell

13: Fixed unit

131:Fixed part

132: Connection part

133: Pressing part

135: Second protruding weld part

137: The third protruding weld part

Claims (10)

A battery conductive frame includes: a conductive sheet including a first surface and a second surface, wherein the first surface and the second surface are two surfaces facing each other; a plurality of first protruding welding portions, arranged on the first surface of the conductive sheet and used to connect a plurality of battery cells; and a fixing unit, including a fixing portion and at least one pressing portion, wherein the fixing portion is used to connect the battery cell, and the pressing portion is used to press the conductive sheet. A battery conductive rack as described in claim 1, wherein the pressing portion of the fixing unit overlaps with the first protruding welding portion of the conductive sheet. The battery conductive frame as described in claim 1 includes at least one second protruding welding portion located on the pressing portion of the fixing unit, and the pressing portion of the fixing unit is connected to the second surface of the conductive sheet via the second protruding welding portion. The battery conductive frame as described in claim 3 includes at least one third protruding welding portion located on the fixing portion of the fixing unit, and the fixing portion of the fixing unit is connected to the battery core via the third protruding welding portion. A battery conductive rack as described in claim 1, wherein the fixing unit includes two fixing parts, which are respectively connected to different battery cells. A battery conductive rack as described in claim 1, wherein the fixing units are plural in number and are respectively connected to the plural battery cells. A battery conductive rack as described in claim 6, wherein the fixing unit includes two press-fit parts and is connected to the same battery cell via the two press-fit parts. A battery conductive frame as described in claim 1, wherein the conductive sheet includes a plurality of branches, and the first protruding welding portion is disposed on the branches. A battery conductive rack as described in claim 1, wherein the conductivity of the fixing unit is less than that of the conductive sheet. A battery conductive rack as described in claim 1, wherein the thickness of the fixing unit is smaller than that of the conductive sheet.

Images