Battery and method of assembling battery

Abstract

A battery includes a casing made of metal; and a safety valve made of a thin plate. The casing includes a vent hole that provides communication between the inside of the battery and the outside of the battery. A seal member made of synthetic resin is provided between the peripheral edge portion around the vent hole and the peripheral edge portion of the safety valve. The seal member connects the peripheral edge portion around the vent hole to the peripheral edge portion of the safety valve such that the peripheral edge portion around the vent hole does not contact the peripheral edge portion of the safety valve.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing and/or further objects, features and advantages of the invention will become more apparent from the following description of example embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings, in which the same or corresponding portions are denoted by the same reference numerals and wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a battery according to a first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 2 is a plan view of the battery according to the first embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 3 is a sectional view taken along line III-III in FIG. 2;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view of a battery according to a second embodiment of the invention;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the battery according to the second embodiment of the invention; and

FIG. 6 is a sectional view taken along line VI-VI in FIG. 5.

Claims

1. A battery comprising: a metal casing, wherein the casing includes a vent hole that provides communication between an inside of the battery and an outside of the battery;a safety valve made of a thin plate; anda synthetic resin seal member, provided between a peripheral edge portion around the vent hole and a peripheral edge portion of the safety valve, wherein the seal member connects the peripheral edge portion around the vent hole of the casing to the peripheral edge portion of the safety valve such that the peripheral edge portion around the vent hole does not contact the peripheral edge portion of the safety valve.

2. The battery according to claim 1, wherein the seal member extends from an area outside the casing to an area inside the casing; andwherein the peripheral edge portion around the vent hole of the casing is connected to the peripheral edge portion of the safety valve such that the peripheral edge portion around the vent hole and the peripheral edge portion of the safety valve are inserted in the seal member.

3. The battery according to claim 1, wherein the seal member extends on at least one of an outside and an inside of a surface of the casing, in which the vent hole is formed, such that the at least one of the outside and the inside of the surface is coated with the seal member.

4. The battery according to claim 1, wherein the safety valve is more fragile than the casing.

5. The battery according to claim 1, wherein a groove is formed on a surface of the safety valve.

6. A method of assembling a battery, comprising: preparing a casing made of metal, which has a vent hole that provides communication between an inside of a battery and an outside of the battery;preparing a safety valve made of a thin metallic plate; andconnecting a peripheral edge portion around the vent hole of the casing to a peripheral edge portion of the safety valve via a seal member made of synthetic resin such that the peripheral edge portion around the vent hole does not contact the peripheral edge portion of the safety valve.

7. The method according to claim 6, wherein the casing includes a cover and a housing;wherein the cover has the vent hole, and holes through which a positive-electrode terminal and a negative-electrode terminal extend; andwherein the housing includes an opening, a sidewall that forms a peripheral edge of the opening, and a bottom wall that is opposite to the opening.

8. The method according to claim 6, wherein the peripheral edge portion around the vent hole of the casing is connected to the peripheral edge portion of the safety valve by an insert molding process; andwherein during the insert molding process, the casing and the safety valve are set in an injection mold according to a predetermined positional relation, and then synthetic resin is filled in the injection mold to form the seal member by injection molding.