JP2000090961A - Square battery and battery pack - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To secure the circuit arrangement space without enlarging a battery case, miniaturize the battery pack, and reduce the weight of the battery pack by forming a boundary of at least one pair of adjacent surfaces of six surfaces with a circuit arrangement surface for elements forming a circuit to be built in the battery pack with chamfering or rounding. SOLUTION: In square batteries 2 housed in a battery case 3 in parallel with each other, four boundaries formed by adjacent surfaces of the peripheral four surfaces thereof are formed into a circuit arrangement surface 4. Both the circuit arrangement surfaces 4 are formed with a V-shaped groove in an upper and a lower part at a central part between the square batteries 2, and a circuit arrangement spaces 7, 8 having the triangle cross section are formed by the V-shaped groove and the battery case 3. Wires 10, 11 for positive electrode and negative electrode are connected to a control board 15, and wires 12, 13, 14 are extended from the control board 15 to a positive electrode terminal, a negative electrode terminal and a control terminal of the battery pack 1. A part of the wires 10-14 is passed through the circuit arrangement spaces 7, 8 so that structural elements of a built-in circuit can be arranged.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

The present invention relates to a structure of a prismatic battery and a battery pack.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art An example of a battery pack is disclosed in JP-A-5-2510.
No. 75. This is one in which two round batteries are housed in a battery case, and a positive electrode terminal and a negative electrode terminal are disposed in a gap formed between the round battery and a corner of the battery case.

On the other hand, an example of a prismatic battery is shown in FIG. In this example, two rectangular batteries a, a are arranged side by side, and a wire b and a control board c, which constitute a circuit to be built in the battery pack, form a gap between the battery a and the battery case d. And is appropriately disposed around the battery a.

[0004]

However, in a battery pack containing the above-mentioned rectangular battery, it is necessary to make the battery case slightly larger in order to obtain a space for arranging the pack built-in circuit. It is difficult to reduce the size and weight of the battery pack. On the other hand, only the portion of the battery case where the built-in circuit is provided can be expanded outward, but only the unevenness of the battery case increases, and it does not contribute much to the reduction in size and weight.

[0005]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Accordingly, the present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problem by dropping a corner of a rectangular battery and using the portion to form a space for installing a built-in circuit. is there.

That is, the invention according to claim 1 of the present application is a substantially hexahedral prismatic battery which is housed in a battery case and constitutes a battery pack, wherein at least one set of adjacent ones of the six surfaces is adjacent to each other. A boundary where the surfaces intersect is formed by chamfering or rounding on a circuit mounting surface for arranging elements constituting a circuit to be built in the battery pack.

In the case of a conventional prismatic battery, the boundary where adjacent surfaces intersect is a corner, but in the present invention, at least a part of the corner is dropped, that is, the circuit layout is formed by chamfering or rounding. It is a surface. Therefore, in the case of such a prismatic battery, even if the battery case is enlarged or a part of the battery case is enlarged outward without providing irregularities, the distance between the battery case and the circuit mounting surface of the prismatic battery can be improved. It is easy to secure a space for arranging the components constituting the pack built-in circuit. Also, four rectangular batteries can be combined so that the circuit arrangement surfaces of the two form a substantially diamond-shaped circuit arrangement space.

Here, the built-in circuit includes, for example, a circuit for charging and discharging, a protection circuit for preventing overcharge, overdischarge, and overcurrent, a control circuit for managing the remaining charge, and the like. In this circuit arrangement space, components such as electric wires and boards that constitute a built-in circuit are arranged.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the rectangular battery according to the first aspect, the strip-shaped positive electrode and the strip-shaped negative electrode are wound via a strip-shaped separator so as not to be short-circuited. A substantially elliptical wound material having a semicircular portion whose cross-sectional shape is opposed and a linear portion connecting the two semicircular portions,
A rectangular outer can inserted with the wound material, and each of four boundaries formed by adjacent surfaces around the outer can correspond to the quadrants of the wound material. The circuit arrangement surface is formed.

That is, a wound product of a prismatic battery is obtained by winding a band-shaped positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a separator around a plate-shaped winding core, for example. It has a substantially elliptical shape having a portion and a straight portion connecting the two semicircular portions. On the other hand, when each of the four boundaries formed by the adjacent surfaces of the outer can peripheral surface corresponding to the quadrants of the four sides of the wound product is formed at the corner, the outer can and the wound product are formed. Unnecessary gaps are created between the quadrants. Therefore, in the present invention, the circuit arrangement surface is formed at each of the four boundaries, and the space can be used as a circuit arrangement space while reducing the gap. In addition, when the circuit layout surface is formed on each of the four boundaries as described above, the positional restriction on the place where the circuit layout space is formed is reduced.

According to a third aspect of the present invention, there is provided a battery pack in which a substantially hexahedral prismatic battery is housed in a battery case, wherein at least one set of adjacent faces of the six faces of the prismatic battery is provided. Is formed on the circuit mounting surface by chamfering or rounding, a circuit mounting space is formed between the circuit mounting surface and the battery case, and the battery is disposed in the circuit mounting space. An element constituting a circuit to be built in the pack is provided.

Therefore, even if the battery case itself is the same as the conventional one for a rectangular battery having no circuit mounting surface, a space for circuit installation can be secured. Of course, the shape of the battery case can be appropriately determined according to the circuit components to be provided on the circuit mounting surface of the prismatic battery.

According to a fourth aspect of the present invention, there is provided a battery pack in which at least four rectangular batteries are assembled into a battery case in a vertical and horizontal manner in a fourth shape, and each of the rectangular batteries is A boundary where at least one set of adjacent surfaces among the four surrounding surfaces intersects is formed on the circuit mounting surface by chamfering or rounding, and the four rectangular batteries are connected to each other by a circuit. The installation surface is assembled in the fourth shape so as to form a circuit arrangement space having a rhombic cross section, and elements constituting a circuit to be built in the battery pack are arranged in the circuit arrangement space. It is characterized by.

That is, in the present invention, the circuit arrangement space is formed not between the square batteries and the battery case but between the four square batteries assembled in the fourth shape. For this purpose, each prismatic battery has a circuit arrangement surface formed by chamfering or rounding a boundary where at least one set of adjacent surfaces among the four surrounding surfaces intersect.

[0015]

Therefore, according to the present invention, since the boundaries between the adjacent surfaces of the rectangular battery are formed on the circuit mounting surface by chamfering or the like, a part or the whole of the battery case can be enlarged. Without the need for circuit layout space.
This is advantageous for reducing the size and weight of the battery pack.

[0016]

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

<Embodiment 1> As shown in FIG. 1, a battery pack 1 of this embodiment has two rectangular batteries 2, 2 housed side by side in a battery case 3. Each of the rectangular batteries 2 has four boundaries formed by adjacent four surfaces on the circuit arrangement surface 4.

That is, as shown in FIG.
Is a substantially elliptical wound material 5 having semicircular portions 5a, 5a having opposite cross-sectional shapes and linear portions 5b, 5b connecting the two semicircular portions 5a, 5a; And a rectangular outer can 6 into which is inserted. The circuit arrangement surface 4 includes an outer can 6
Are formed by chamfering each of the four boundaries formed by adjacent surfaces around the periphery of each other. Each of the circuit arrangement surfaces 4 is formed by Yes, it is. The wound material 5 is wound so that a strip-shaped positive electrode and a strip-shaped negative electrode are not short-circuited via a strip-shaped separator. On the other hand, the battery case 3 is formed in a horizontally long rectangular shape (rectangular shape).

The adjacent circuit arrangement surfaces 4, 4 of the two side-by-side prismatic batteries 2, 2 form V-grooves above and below the center between the two batteries. The V-groove and the battery case 3 form circuit arrangement spaces 7 and 8 having a triangular cross section extending in the longitudinal direction of the battery above and below the center of the battery pack 1 as shown in FIG. An insulating paper 16 is provided between the rectangular batteries 2.

In this embodiment, the two prismatic batteries 2, 2 are:
The positive terminals 9 are connected to each other by an electric wire 10, and the outer casings 6 and 6 of the negative electrode are connected to each other by an electric wire 11 to be connected in parallel. The respective connection wires 10 and 11 for the positive electrode and the negative electrode are connected to a control board 15.
The terminal wires 12, 13, 14 extend from the battery pack 1 to the positive terminal, the negative terminal and the control terminal of the battery pack 1. And
A part of the electric wires 10 to 14 passes through the upper circuit arrangement space 7, a control board 15 is arranged in the upper circuit arrangement space 7, and the lower circuit arrangement space 8 is connected to the electric wires 13. Part of 14 passes.

Therefore, in this embodiment, the components of the built-in circuit can be arranged between the rectangular battery 2 and the battery case without increasing the size of the battery case 3, and the battery pack 1
This is advantageous in reducing the size and weight of the device.

<Embodiment 2> This embodiment is shown in FIG. The battery pack 21 of this embodiment is one in which four square batteries 2 are assembled in a fourth shape and accommodated in a battery case 23. The structure of the prismatic battery 2 is the same as that of the first embodiment, and the four prismatic batteries 2 are assembled in a fourth shape, so that the circuits are arranged at the center of the prismatic batteries 2. The surface 4 forms a diamond-shaped circuit arrangement space 24. In addition, the circuit arrangement surfaces 4 and 4 adjacent to the two upper rectangular batteries 2 and 2 and the upper wall of the battery case 23 form a circuit arrangement space 7 having the same triangular cross section as in the first embodiment. ing.

The four square batteries 2 are connected in parallel, and a positive connecting wire 10, a negative connecting wire 11, and a negative connecting wire 11 are provided in the upper circuit arrangement space 7 having a triangular cross section, as in the first embodiment. A part of the terminal wires 12 to 14 and the control board 15 are arranged, and a central diamond-shaped circuit arrangement space 24 is provided.
Through which the electric wire 13 for the negative terminal and the electric wire 14 for the control terminal penetrate.

The present embodiment is characterized in that the circuit arrangement space 24 is formed between the square batteries 2, which is advantageous in reducing the size and weight of the battery pack 21 as in the first embodiment. .

<Other Embodiment> Battery pack 3 shown in FIG.
Reference numeral 1 denotes a battery case 3 in which two prismatic batteries 32, 32 are housed side by side, but the structure of the prismatic battery 32 is different. That is, the prismatic battery 32 has the circuit arrangement surface 4 formed only at one of the four peripheral surface boundaries, and the two prismatic batteries 32, 32 The surfaces 4 and 4 are juxtaposed so as to form a V-groove which is adjacent to and open upward. Therefore, in this battery pack 31,
A circuit arrangement space 7 having a triangular cross section is formed on the upper surface side by the circuit arrangement surfaces 4 and 4 and the upper wall of the battery case 3. In FIG. 4, illustration of circuit components is omitted.

In a battery pack 41 shown in FIG. 5, four rectangular batteries 42 are arranged in pairs as a set, and each set is back-to-back (so that the back surfaces without the positive electrode terminal 9 are in contact with each other). ) And housed in a battery case 43. Each prismatic battery 42 has circuit arrangement surfaces 44, 44 formed by chamfering at the boundary between the upper surface and the back surface and at the boundary between the lower surface and the back surface. And, since the rectangular batteries 42 are back to back, the circuit arrangement surfaces 44 on the back side form V-grooves, and the V-groove and the upper or lower wall of the battery case 43 are formed. Thus, circuit arrangement spaces 45 and 46 having a triangular cross section are formed. In FIG. 5, circuit components are not shown.

In the prismatic batteries of the above embodiments, the circuit arrangement surface was formed by chamfering.
May be provided as a circuit arrangement surface.

Although the battery pack of each of the above embodiments contains a plurality of prismatic batteries, the present invention can also be applied to a battery pack of a type containing one prismatic battery. Of course.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 is a perspective view showing a battery pack according to a first embodiment of the present invention with a part thereof omitted;

FIG. 2 is a sectional view of the battery pack.

FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a battery pack according to a second embodiment of the present invention with a part thereof omitted;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing a battery pack according to another embodiment of the present invention with a part thereof omitted;

FIG. 5 is a perspective view showing a battery pack according to still another embodiment of the present invention, with a part of the battery pack omitted;

FIG. 6 is a perspective view showing a conventional battery pack with a part thereof omitted.

[Explanation of symbols]

 1,21,31,41 Battery pack 2,32,42,52 Square battery 3,23,43 Battery case 4,44,54 Circuit disposition surface 5 Rolled material 6 Outer can 7,8,24,45 circuit Arrangement space 10-14 Wire 15 Control board

 ────────────────────────────────────────────────── ─── Continuation of the front page (72) Inventor Hiroshi Ouchi 4-3 Ikejiri, Itami-shi, Hyogo F-term in Mitsubishi Cable Industries, Ltd. Itami Works (reference) 5H011 AA07 BB03 5H028 AA01 CC01 CC08 CC12

Claims (4)

[Claims] 1. A substantially hexahedral prismatic battery that is housed in a battery case and constitutes a battery pack, wherein at least one set of adjacent surfaces of the six surfaces intersects by chamfering or rounding. By attaching
A prismatic battery formed on a circuit disposition surface for disposing elements constituting a circuit to be incorporated in the battery pack. 2. The rectangular battery according to claim 1, wherein the strip-shaped positive electrode and the strip-shaped negative electrode are wound via a strip-shaped separator so as not to be short-circuited, and the cross-sectional shapes thereof are opposite to each other. A substantially elliptical wound material having a semicircular portion and a linear portion connecting the two semicircular portions, and a rectangular outer can into which the wound material is inserted, and a periphery of the outer can A rectangular battery, wherein a circuit disposition surface corresponding to a quadrant of the above-mentioned wound material is formed at each of four boundaries formed by adjacent surfaces. 3. A battery pack in which a substantially hexahedral prismatic battery is housed in a battery case, wherein at least one set of adjacent faces of the six faces of the prismatic battery intersects a chamfer. Or by rounding, a circuit layout space is formed between the circuit layout surface and the battery case, and a circuit to be built in the battery pack in the circuit layout space. A battery pack characterized in that the elements constituting (1) are arranged. 4. A battery pack comprising at least four prismatic batteries assembled in a battery case in a vertical and horizontal manner in a fourth shape, wherein each of the prismatic batteries is formed of one of four peripheral surfaces. A boundary where at least one pair of adjacent surfaces intersects is formed on the circuit mounting surface by chamfering or rounding, and in the four square batteries, the circuit mounting surfaces of each other are rhombic in cross section. A battery pack characterized by being assembled in the fourth shape so as to form the circuit arrangement space described above, wherein elements constituting a circuit to be built in the battery pack are arranged in the circuit arrangement space. .