Patent Application
20230318092
Recent advances enabled wearable electronic devices, such as a headset device, that require considerable amounts of electrical energy. The electrical energy requirements of these devices coupled with the continual demand for smaller and/or non-uniformly shaped wearable electronic devices makes it difficult to adequately power the devices. Smaller conventional battery cells are useful and cost effective for larger and/or uniformly shaped devices. However, existing battery cells are available in limited sizes (e.g., thickness, and length), shapes, and configurations, and conventional battery cells are not always available to meet the requirements of wearable devices.
The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanying figures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference number identifies the figure in which the reference number first appears.
While conventional battery cells are suitable for powering certain portable electronic devices. Some portable electronic devices, such as, by way of example and not limitation, extended reality headsets (e.g., augmented reality and/or virtual reality headsets, which may be referred to herein simply as “headsets”), glasses, watches, rings, or other wearable electronic devices may have requirements that are not possible or practical to meet with conventional battery cells. For example, conventional batteries, such as those used in laptops and cell phone batteries are not suitable for many wearable devices due to the high power requirements, small form factors and/or non-uniform geometries available to house batteries, and weight limitations of the wearable devices. For instance, some wearable devices (e.g., glasses, headsets, watches, rings, etc.) have housing or portions thereof that are thin and/or non-conventionally shaped and are not sized to accommodate traditional batteries such as those used in laptops and cell phones. Additionally, in order to improve user comfort, wearable devices often have and weight and space limitations that are not present (or are less restrictive) for laptops and cell phones.
This disclosure describes high capacity 2D non-cuboidal metal can batteries and techniques for manufacturing such high capacity 2D non-cuboidal metal can batteries. In some examples, the metal can batteries described in this disclosure may have a higher energy density (e.g., higher storage capacity per volume) than comparably sized batteries made using other manufacturing techniques (e.g., pouch batteries). In some examples, the 2D non-cuboidal metal can batteries may include non-conventional shapes, such as a semicircle, a trapezoid, a rectangle with chamfered corners, a rectangle with rounded corners, a ring, a semi-ring, an L-shape, and S-shape, a triangle, curvilinear, or other non-cuboidal shapes and can be sized and shaped fit into small and/or non-uniform spaces in housings of wearable devices (e.g., in frames and/or temples of a pair of glasses, in a strap or visor of a headset, in a housing or band of a wrist wearable, in a band of a ring, etc.). In some examples, 2D non-cuboidal metal can batteries according to this disclosure may be shaped and sized to fit with a portion of a housing, visor, strap, or other portion of a headset device. In some examples, 2D non-cuboidal metal can batteries according to this disclosure may be shaped and sized to fit with a portion of a frame or temple arm of a pair of glasses. Additionally, the 2D non-cuboidal metal can battery may have a thickness that is consistent and uniform along the length of the 2D non-cuboidal metal can battery.
In some examples, the 2D non-cuboidal metal can battery may be assembled by hermetically sealing an electrode stack within a metal can housing and a metal lid. The metal lid may be configured to be coupled to the metal can housing. In some examples, the metal lid may be secured to the metal can housing by welding (e.g., laser welding, friction welding, etc.), brazing, direct bonding, adhesive, crimping, mechanical fasteners, or other fastening mechanisms. A lip or flange may be formed around all or a portion of a perimeter of the metal lid and/or metal can housing. In some examples, the metal lid can be secured to the metal can housing by or along at least portion of the lip or flange (e.g., by welding along the flange(s), by crimping the flange(s), etc.). In some examples, the material for the metal can housing and the metal lid can include stainless steel, aluminum, titanium, nickel, or their alloys. The metal can housing and the metal lid can be made from the same materials. In other examples, the metal can housing and the metal lid can be made from different materials.
The electrode stack may be manufactured by stacking an anode layer on a cathode layer, and including a separator layer between the anode layer and the cathode layer. The electrode stack may include any number of anode layers, cathode layers, interleaved with intervening separator layers. A negative terminal is electrically coupled to the anode layer(s) and a positive terminal that is electrically coupled to the cathode layer(s) and protrudes through one or both of the metal can housing or the metal lid, and is disposed on an exterior side of the metal can housing or the metal lid. In some examples, the negative terminal and the positive terminal may be disposed on the same exterior side of the metal can housing or the metal lid to enable to the non-cuboidal battery to be coupled to closely positioned positive and negative terminals of an electronic component within the wearable device, thereby minimizing the need for lengthy wires or traces within the wearable device, and thereby further minimizing weight of the wearable device. In some examples, an electrolyte fill hole may be disposed on an exterior surface near an edge of the metal can housing or the metal lid.
The metal can housing may have a cross-sectional area that is defined by a width and a length. In some examples, the 2D non-cuboidal metal can battery may have a thickness that is substantially smaller than the length and width of the metal can housing. In at least one example, the length and width of the metal can housing may be at least five times the thickness of the 2D non-cuboidal metal can battery. In some examples, the electrode stack may have a complex, non-conventional shape that complements the non-conventional shape of metal can housing and/or the metal lid. By way of example and not limitation, suitable shapes of the cross-sectional area of the 2D non-cuboidal metal can battery include a semicircle, a trapezoid, a rectangle with a chamfered corner, a rectangle with a rounded corner, a ring, a semi-ring, an L-shape, an S-Shape, another curvilinear shape, or a triangle.
Any or all of the foregoing examples may be implemented alone or in combination with any one or more of the other examples described herein.
Although the discussion above sets forth example implementations of the described techniques, other architectures may be used to implement the described functionality, and are intended to be within the scope of this disclosure. Furthermore, although the subject matter has been described in language specific to structural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understood that the subject matter defined in the appended claims is not necessarily limited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specific features and acts are disclosed as exemplary forms of implementing the claims.
This Application claims priority to U.S. Pat. Application No. 63/327,745, filed Apr. 5, 2022, which is incorporated herein by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63327745 | Apr 2022 | US |
