JP2004327452A - Square sealed storage battery and its manufacturing method - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a square sealed storage battery with high sealing ability by solving problems of unstable welding or low sealing ability in the square sealed storage battery using aluminum in a battery case and a cover plate. <P>SOLUTION: The square sealed storage battery uses aluminum in the battery case and the cover plate sealing an opening part of the battery case, an electrolyte is poured into the battery from an electrolyte pouring hole for pouring the electrolyte formed in the cover plate or the battery case, a columnar sealing plug in which the diameter in the upper end part is larger than that in the lower end part and the vicinity of the lower end part is tapered is inserted into the electrolyte pouring hole, and the sealing plug is integrated with cover plate or the battery case by laser welding to airtightly seal the electrolyte pouring hole. A preferable welding condition is that an output is 50-300W, a laser beam diameter is 0.3-1 mm, and moving velocity is 1 mm/sec. to 15 mm/sec. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a sealed rectangular storage battery and a method for manufacturing the same, and more particularly, to a square sealed storage battery using aluminum for a battery case and a lid plate for closing an opening of the battery case, and a method for manufacturing the same.

  In recent years, sealed rectangular storage batteries have been increasingly used as power sources for portable devices such as mobile phones and personal computers. As devices have become smaller and lighter, the weight of batteries attached to them has also been required. In order to respond to such demands, in recent rectangular sealed batteries, aluminum is used for the battery case and a lid plate for closing the opening of the battery case to reduce the weight.

  And, as described above, in the case of the rectangular sealed storage battery using aluminum for the battery case and the lid plate, until now, the electrolyte is injected into the battery through the through hole of the hollow rivet attached to the lid plate, and the electrolyte is injected. After the injection, a method of inserting a rubber stopper into the through hole of the hollow rivet and sealing the through hole by utilizing the elasticity of the rubber stopper has been adopted.

  However, in this method, the electrolytic solution easily leaks from between the hollow rivet and the rubber stopper, and there is a problem in hermeticity.

  Therefore, after injecting the electrolyte from the injection hole formed in the cover plate or the battery case for injecting the electrolyte, an aluminum sealing plug is inserted into the injection hole, and the sealing is performed by irradiating ultrasonic waves. A method has been proposed in which a stopper is integrated with a lid plate or a battery case to seal an injection hole (Patent Document 1).

However, in this method, since the sealing plug and the lid plate or the battery case are melted and integrated by frictional heat generated by ultrasonic vibration, the amount of melting varies depending on the direction of vibration, and cracks occur and some parts cannot be sealed. was there. Furthermore, in the method using ultrasonic welding, the vibration is applied to the entire battery case, so that the crimped portion of the insulating packing that maintains the sealing between the hollow rivet and the lid plate is loosened and the sealing is reduced, or the electrode body is deteriorated. There were also problems such as partial destruction.
JP-A-8-45488

  The present invention solves the instability of welding and low hermeticity in the conventional technology as described above, and improves the hermeticity in a rectangular sealed storage battery using aluminum for the battery case and the lid plate. It is an object of the present invention to provide a square sealed storage battery having a high density.

  The present invention is a square sealed storage battery using aluminum for the battery case and the lid plate, wherein after the electrolyte is injected into the battery from the electrolyte injection hole formed in the lid plate or the battery case, Insert a cylindrical sealing plug in which the diameter of the upper end is larger than the diameter of the lower end and the vicinity of the lower end is tapered, and integrate the sealing plug with the lid plate or battery case by laser welding. This problem is solved by hermetically sealing the injection hole.

  ADVANTAGE OF THE INVENTION According to this invention, instability of welding, low sealing property, etc. are eliminated, and the square sealing type storage battery with high sealing property can be provided.

  As the sealing plug used for sealing the injection hole, an aluminum sealing plug is most suitable because the lid plate and the battery case are made of aluminum. , Stainless steel, nickel, etc. can also be used.

  When the sealing plug and the lid plate or the battery case are integrated by laser welding, the welding conditions are not particularly limited. For example, the output is 50 W to 300 W, particularly 120 W to 200 W, and the laser beam diameter is 0.1 W. A laser beam is applied to the junction between the sealing plug and the lid plate or the battery case at a speed of 3 mm to 1 mm, particularly 0.4 mm to 0.7 mm, and a moving speed of 1 mm / sec to 15 mm / sec, particularly 3 mm / sec to 8 mm / sec. It is preferable to irradiate to melt the above-mentioned joint, and to integrate the sealing plug into the lid plate or the battery case to hermetically seal the injection hole for injecting the electrolyte.

  Next, embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. However, the present invention is not limited to only these examples.

Example 1
FIG. 1 schematically shows a rectangular sealed storage battery manufactured in Example 1, wherein FIG. 1 (a) is a plan view thereof, and FIG. 1 (b) is a sectional view thereof.

  In FIG. 1, 1 is a battery case also serving as a positive electrode terminal, 2 is a cover plate for closing the opening of the battery case 1, and 3 is a sealing stopper for sealing an injection hole for injecting an electrolyte. The battery case 1, the lid plate 2, and the sealing plug 3 are all made of aluminum. The battery case 1 is a rectangular shape having a planar shape of 6 mm × 30 mm, a height of 48 mm, a material made of aluminum as described above, and a thickness of 0.5 mm. The cover plate 2 is made of an aluminum plate having a thickness of 1 mm, and is formed in a size suitable for fitting into the opening of the battery case 1. The injection hole formed in the cover plate 2 for injecting the electrolyte is circular with a diameter of 1 mm.

  The sealing plug 3 for sealing the injection hole is formed of a column having a diameter of 1 mm at the upper end, 0.8 mm at the lower end, and a tapered shape near the lower end. Made of aluminum to be suitable for welding.

  An electrode body 4 is accommodated in the battery case 1, and a rivet-shaped negative electrode terminal 5 made of stainless steel is attached to the cover plate 2 via an insulating packing 6 made of polypropylene. A stainless steel seat plate 7 is fitted between the plate 2 and an insulator 8 made of polypropylene, and the seat plate 7 has an upper end portion of a nickel tab 9 pulled out from the negative electrode of the electrode body 4. Are fixed by welding. Further, an insulator 10 made of polypropylene is arranged at the bottom of the battery case 1 before inserting the electrode body 4 to insulate between the battery case 1 serving also as a positive electrode terminal and the negative electrode of the electrode body 4. I have.

  In the battery shown in the first embodiment, the battery case 1 also serves as the positive electrode terminal, but is not necessarily fixed thereto, and the battery case 1 also serves as the negative electrode terminal, and is now shown as the negative electrode terminal 5. May be the positive terminal.

  The negative electrode terminal 5 is initially in the form of a rivet, the shaft of which is passed through the through hole of the insulating packing 6, the seat plate 7 is fitted into the shaft via the insulator 8, and the tip is pushed. It is attached to the cover plate 2 by being fixed by crushing.

  The battery case 1 and the cover plate 2 are fitted with the cover plate 2 into the opening of the battery case 1, and the junction between the open end of the battery case 1 and the outer peripheral portion of the cover plate 2 is laser-welded to cover the electrolyte. After injecting into the battery through the electrolyte solution injection hole formed in the plate 2, an aluminum sealing plug 3 is inserted into the injection hole, and the aluminum sealing plug 3 is inserted into the joint between the sealing plug 3 and the lid plate 2. A laser beam is emitted at an output of 160 W, a laser beam diameter of 0.5 mm, and a moving speed of 5 mm / sec to perform laser welding. The sealing plug 3 is integrated with the cover plate 2 to hermetically seal the injection hole. In FIG. 1, the sealing plug 3 is inserted into the injection hole used to inject the electrolytic solution into the battery, and the injection hole is sealed by laser welding. Although not shown, the portion where the sealing plug 3 is inserted in the lid plate 2 is the portion that was the injection hole before the sealing plug 3 was inserted.

  The electrode body 4 in the battery of Example 1 was formed by spirally winding a sheet-like positive electrode using LiCoO2 as an active material and a sheet-like negative electrode using graphite as an active material through a separator. As described above, the tab 9 is pulled out from the negative electrode of the spiral electrode body 4, and the electrical connection from the negative electrode of the electrode body 4 to the negative electrode terminal 5 is made via the tab 9 and the seat plate 7. The battery case 1 is electrically connected to the positive electrode of the electrode body 4.

  FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing a welded portion when the sealing plug is welded to the lid plate by laser welding, wherein (a) is a plan view of the sealing plug and (b) is a cross section of the welding portion. FIG. First, after the electrolyte is injected into the battery from the injection hole formed in the cover plate 2, the sealing plug 3 is inserted into the injection hole, and the laser beam is applied to the joint between the sealing plug 3 and the cover plate 2. 11 was irradiated over one or more rounds at an output of 160 W, a laser beam diameter of 0.5 mm, and a moving speed of 5 mm / sec, and the above-mentioned joint was melted, and the sealing plug 3 was integrated with the lid plate 2 to hermetically seal the injection hole. I do. At this time, if the diameter of the laser beam 11 is increased, one-shot welding can be performed at such a strength that the entire sealing plug can be melted. In FIG. 2, a cross-hatched portion is a portion where the sealing plug 3 and the lid plate 2 are fused and integrated by laser welding.

  The shape of the sealing plug 3 is generally a columnar shape as shown in FIG. 2 and is the cheapest, but a shape with a head for easy handling is practical and improves productivity. FIG. 3 shows an example of the sealing plug 3 with a head. In the embodiment shown in FIG. 3, since the peripheral edge of the head 3a rests on the cover plate 2, stability is good, workability at the time of welding is improved, and productivity is improved. Further, FIG. 4 shows an example in which a counterbore 12 is provided on the cover plate 2 and the sealing plug 3 with a head is embedded. In this case, the welding can be performed more stably and easily as compared with the case where a sealing plug with a head is simply used, and there is an advantage that the surface after welding becomes flat. 3 and 4, the cross-hatched portions are portions where the head 3a of the sealing plug 3 and the cover plate 2 are fused and integrated by laser welding.

  In the first embodiment, the case where the injection hole for injecting the electrolyte is formed in the cover plate 2 is described. However, the injection hole is formed in the battery case 1 (for example, formed on the side surface of the battery case 1). Even in such a case, after the electrolyte is injected into the battery from the injection hole, the sealing plug 3 is inserted into the injection hole, and the joint between the sealing plug 3 and the battery case 1 is laser-welded. This allows hermetic sealing as in the case where the injection hole is formed in the lid plate.

Comparative Example 1
An injection hole having a diameter of 1 mm was provided in the cover plate of the same battery as in Example 1, an electrolyte was injected through the injection hole, and a spherical sealing stopper having a diameter of 1.2 mm was placed in the injection hole. An ultrasonic horn was applied to the sample to apply ultrasonic vibration under the conditions of a vibration frequency of 20 kHz, an amplitude of 30 μm, and a load of 60 kgf, and the sealing stopper was welded to the lid plate.

  This state will be described with reference to FIG. As shown in FIG. 5A, an injection hole 13 having a diameter of 1 mm is formed in the cover plate 2 as an injection hole for injecting an electrolyte, and after the electrolyte is injected into the battery through the injection hole 13, A spherical sealing plug 3 having a diameter of 1.2 mm is disposed above the injection hole 13 and an ultrasonic horn 14 is applied to the upper portion of the sealing plug 3 under the conditions of a vibration frequency of 20 kHz, an amplitude of 30 μm, and a load of 60 kgf. Then, ultrasonic vibration was applied to the sealing plug 3 and the sealing plug 3 was welded to the lid plate 2 to obtain a state as shown in FIG. In FIG. 5A, the downward arrow indicates the load direction, and the lateral arrow indicates the ultrasonic vibration direction.

In each of Example 1 and Comparative Example 1, welding of the sealing plug was performed on 200 samples, and air pressure of 5 kgf / cm ² was applied to the welded portion to check whether or not there was air leakage. The defect occurrence rate was determined as a defective product when there was a leak. However, in this air leak test, if an actual battery (mounted battery) with a sealing plug welded is used, the electrode body 4 and the like in the battery case 1 are adversely affected, and the battery may not be used. Therefore, a sample was modeled under the same welding conditions and subjected to the above air leak test.

  Table 1 shows the results of the air leak test. However, in Table 1, the total number of samples subjected to the test is described in the denominator so that the relationship between the total number of samples subjected to the test and the number of failures can be easily understood. The failure rate was indicated by the method described.

  As shown in Table 1, in Example 1, no defect was observed at all, but in Comparative Example 1, which was welded by ultrasonic waves according to the conventional method, 14 out of 200 samples had defects.

  In the above embodiment, after injecting the electrolyte into the battery from the injection hole for electrolyte injection formed in the lid plate, the specific sealing plug is inserted into the injection hole, and laser welding is performed. Although the injection hole was hermetically sealed and a highly sealed rectangular sealed storage battery was obtained, the injection hole for injecting the electrolyte was formed in an aluminum battery case. By inserting the specific sealing plug and laser welding to hermetically seal the injection hole in the same manner as described above, it is possible to obtain a highly sealed rectangular sealed storage battery.

1 shows an example of a rectangular sealed storage battery of the present invention, wherein (a) is a plan view and (b) is a cross-sectional view. FIG. 2 is an enlarged view showing a welded portion between a lid plate and a sealing plug in FIG. 1, (a) is a plan view of the sealing plug, and (b) is a cross-sectional view of the welding portion. FIG. 3A is an enlarged view showing a welded portion between a lid plate and a sealing plug when a sealing plug having a shape different from that shown in FIG. 2 is used, and FIG. (B) is a cross-sectional view of the welding portion. 2A and 2B are enlarged views showing a welded portion between a lid plate and a sealing plug when a sealing plug having a shape different from that shown in FIGS. 2 and 3 is used. (B) is a cross-sectional view of the welded portion. 7A and 7B are diagrams for explaining a method of sealing an injection hole in a conventional technique, wherein FIG. 7A shows a state before the sealing and FIG. 7B shows a state after the sealing.

Explanation of reference numerals

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Battery case 2 Cover plate 3 Seal plug 4 Electrode body 5 Negative terminal 6 Insulating packing 7 Seat plate 8 Insulator 9 Tab 10 Insulator 11 Laser beam 12 Counterbore 13 Injection hole 14 Ultrasonic horn

Claims (4)

Using aluminum for the battery case and a lid plate for closing the opening of the battery case, a sealing plug is inserted into an injection hole formed in the lid plate or the battery case for injecting an electrolyte, and the sealing is performed by laser welding. A rectangular sealed storage battery in which a stopper is integrated with a lid plate or a battery case to hermetically seal the injection hole, wherein the diameter of the upper end is larger than the diameter of the lower end, and the vicinity of the lower end is tapered. A rectangular sealed storage battery having a cylindrical shape. 2. The rectangular sealed battery according to claim 1, wherein the injection hole for injecting the electrolyte has a spot facing. In manufacturing a rectangular sealed storage battery using aluminum for the battery case and a lid plate for closing the opening of the battery case, the inside of the battery is inserted through an electrolyte solution injection hole formed in the lid plate or the battery case. After the electrolyte is injected into the injection hole, a cylindrical sealing plug having a diameter at the upper end larger than the diameter at the lower end and having a tapered shape near the lower end is inserted into the injection hole, and the sealing plug is laser-welded. A method for producing a sealed rectangular battery, wherein the injection hole is hermetically sealed by integrating the injection hole with a lid plate or a battery case. 4. The method according to claim 3, wherein the injection hole for injecting the electrolyte has a counterbore.

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