1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery assembly and a battery casing, and particularly to a battery assembly and a battery casing with a stress-bearing element for individually dispersing the stress of a single battery.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a battery assembly may refer to a body with at least one cell accommodated therein as a battery pack, or with at least one battery packs accommodated therein as a battery module. Hereafter, the battery assembly will indicate both situations. In order to ensure the operation stability of the battery assembly, each battery cell or pack is separated from the others by thermal insulation plates or buffering pads individually when assembling the battery so as to prevent one battery from touching another. In addition, by employing the thermal insulation plates or buffering pads, the heat yielded from the battery during operation can be dissipated.
U.S. Pat. No. 7,862,924 and U.S. Pat. No. 8,039,141 disclose a common assembly method of the battery assembly. The assembly procedure is presented as follows: placing thermal insulation plates or buffering pads between each battery and then employing screw rods and two fixing boards for clamping battery in-between. As a result, each battery touches the adjacent thermal insulation plate or the adjacent buffering pad to prevent the battery from deformation and to dissipate the heat yielded from the battery. For a single battery cell or pack assembly, there is no stress-bearing concern. However, when the battery assembly is consisting of several battery cells or packs stacking together, issues of stress-bearing and the orientation of the aforementioned battery assembly has not been considered. Thus the aforementioned battery assembly can operate properly only under horizontal placement. If the battery assembly is placed vertically, the battery at the bottom bears all the weight and stress of the elements situated above to such a degree that the battery at the bottom is damaged or even lead to a malfunction of the whole battery assembly. In addition, if the battery assembly is in an unsteady environment, such as a vehicle travelling on a bumpy road, the battery assembly cannot operate properly because of the unsteadiness of the battery caused by the vehicle in bumpy motion.
To sum up, the battery assembly of the prior art is designed without consideration of the stress-bearing issue or the orientation of the battery assembly, so massive stress is applied on a single battery. Also, the battery cell assembly of the prior art is designed without considering the safety issue of a battery assembly operating in an unsteady environment or impacted by external forces from the operating environment (for instance, vehicle's vibrations), which affects the battery assembly in terms of safety. As a result, there is a need to provide a new battery assembly and a battery casing to overcome the problems of the prior art.
An object of the present invention is to provide a battery casing with a stress-bearing element for individually dispersing the stress of a single battery.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a battery assembly with a stress-bearing element for individually dispersing the stress of a single battery.
In order to achieve the above objects, the battery casing of the present invention comprises a casing body, at least one first stress-bearing element, and at least one second stress-bearing element. The casing body comprises two oppositely disposed first side walls and a bearing surface. The at least one first stress-bearing element is disposed on the bearing surface. The two ends of the at least one second stress-bearing element connect to the two first side walls, respectively, and the at least one second stress-bearing element is situated above and is substantially aligned with the at least one first stress-bearing element; therefore, at least one stress-bearing space is formed between the at least one first stress-bearing element, the at least one second stress-bearing element, and the casing body, so as to accommodate at least one battery.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, the casing body further comprises two oppositely disposed second side walls, and the two ends of the two second side walls connect with the two first side walls, respectively. A plane that is formed between the at least one second stress-bearing element and the at least one first stress-bearing element is substantially parallel to the second side wall such that a stress-bearing space is formed between the plane and the second side wall.
Each of the two first side walls of the aforementioned battery casing comprises an insertion groove for engaging with the second stress-bearing element.
The insertion groove comprises a notch whose location corresponds to the second stress-bearing element for allowing the two ends of the second stress-bearing element to enter the insertion groove via the notch. The second stress-bearing element comprises a main body, and each of the two ends of the main body comprises a bended section and an engagement portion; the bended section touches against the notch, and a portion of the engagement portion is inserted into the insertion groove after the two ends of the main body enter the insertion groove via the notch.
The at least one first stress-bearing element is a plurality of first stress-bearing elements, and the at least one second stress-bearing element is a plurality of second stress-bearing elements, and the at least one battery unit is a plurality of battery units. Each of the second stress-bearing elements is situated above and is aligned with each of the first stress-bearing elements correspondingly such that a plurality of stress-bearing spaces are formed among each of the first stress-bearing elements, each of the second stress-bearing elements, and the casing body for accommodating each of the battery individually.
The casing body further comprises two oppositely disposed second side walls, and the two ends of the two second side walls connect with the two first side walls, respectively. A plane that is formed between the at least one first stress-bearing element and the corresponding second stress-bearing element, in which each stress-bearing space is formed between any two adjacent planes or between the plane and the adjacent second side wall. Each of the two first side walls comprises a recessing section for engaging with the second stress-bearing element.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, a depth of the recess of the recession section is equal to a width of the insertion groove.
The present invention further provides a battery assembly comprising a casing body, at least one first stress-bearing element, at least one second stress-bearing element, and at least one battery. The casing body comprises two oppositely disposed first side walls and a bearing surface, the at least one first stress-bearing element is disposed on the bearing surface. The two ends of the at least one second stress-bearing element connect to the two first side walls respectively, and the at least one second stress-bearing element is situated above and is substantially aligned with the at least one first stress-bearing element such that at least one stress-bearing space for accommodating at least one battery is formed among the at least one first stress-bearing element, the at least one second stress-bearing element, and the casing body.
The casing body further comprises two oppositely disposed second side walls, wherein the two ends of the two second side walls connect to the two first side walls, respectively; a plane that is formed between the at least one second stress-bearing element and the at least one first stress-bearing element is substantially parallel to the second side wall, and a stress-bearing space is formed between the plane and the second side wall.
Each of the two first side walls comprises an insertion groove for engaging with the second stress-bearing element.
A notch is disposed in the insertion groove, and the location of the notch corresponds to the second stress-bearing element for allowing two ends of the second stress-bearing element to enter the insertion groove via the notch. The second stress-bearing element comprises a main body, and each of the two ends of the main body comprises a bended section and an engagement section. The bended section presses against the notch and a portion of the engagement section inserts into the insertion groove after the two ends of the main body enter the insertion groove via the notch.
The at least one battery cell further comprises a battery main body, an upper cover, and a bottom cover. The battery main body comprises an electrode connecting surface and a bottom surface opposite to the electrode connecting surface, wherein the upper cover connects with the electrode connecting surface and the bottom cover connects with the bottom surface.
When the at least one battery is accommodated in the at least one stress-bearing space, the at least one first stress-bearing element touches one end of the bottom cover and the at least one second stress-bearing element touches one end of the upper cover.
The at least one second stress-bearing element further comprises an extension section situated above the main body, and the upper cover comprises a top surface. When the at least one battery is accommodated in the at least one stress-bearing space, the extension section touches the top surface.
The at least one battery cell further comprise a first buffering pad and a second buffering pad, wherein the first buffering pad touches the upper cover and the electrode connecting surface respectively, and the second buffering pad touches the bottom cover and the bottom surface, respectively. The at least one first stress-bearing element is a plurality of first stress-bearing elements, the at least one second stress-bearing element is a plurality of second stress-bearing elements, and the at least one battery cell is a plurality of battery cells. Each of the second stress-bearing elements is situated above and is aligned with each of the at least one first stress-bearing elements correspondingly, such that a plurality of stress-bearing spaces is formed among each of the first stress-bearing elements, each of the second stress-bearing elements, and the casing body for accommodating the plurality of battery correspondingly.
The casing body comprises two oppositely disposed second side walls, and the two ends of the two second side walls connect with the two first side walls, respectively. A plane that is formed between each of the first stress-bearing elements and each of the second stress-bearing elements correspondingly is parallel to the second side wall, wherein each the stress-bearing spaces is formed between any two adjacent planes or between the plane and the adjacent second side walls.
Each of the plurality of battery assemblies comprises at least one battery main body. When each of the battery is accommodated in each of the stress-bearing spaces individually, any two of the adjacent battery bodies are separated by a gap.
Each of the two first side walls comprises a recessing section for engaging the battery body.
Thus, because the design provides a plurality of separate stress-bearing spaces for each battery cell, the stress of each battery cell can be transferred to the casing body to prevent the battery from being applied with excessive force on a,single battery.
The exemplary embodiment of the present invention will be understood more fully from the detailed description given below and from the accompanying drawings of the invention, which, however, should not be taken into limiting the invention to the specific embodiment but are for explanation and understanding only.
a is a schematic drawing of one embodiment of the battery casing of the present invention.
b is a schematic drawing of one embodiment of the second stress-bearing element.
To facilitate understanding and to clarify the object, characteristics and advantages of the present invention, the following specific embodiments and figures illustrating the present invention are presented to provide a detailed description.
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The battery casing 1 of the present invention is employed for accommodating at least one or a plurality of batteries. According to one embodiment of the present invention, as shown in
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The first buffering pad 14 is located between the upper cover 12 and the electrode connecting surface 111, and the second buffering pad 15 is located between the bottom cover 13 and the bottom surface 112 to provide vibration-proofing and buffering effects for the battery body 11. Both the first buffering pad 14 and the second buffering pad 15 are made of rubber. However, if the battery 10 operates in an environment requiring enhanced heat dissipation, both the first buffering pad 14 and the second buffering pad 15 can be replaced by thermal pads to enhance the heat dissipating efficiency of the battery 10 to maintain the stability of the battery 10.
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Each battery 10 of the battery assembly 100 of the present invention is pressed by each corresponding first stress-bearing element 30 and each corresponding second stress-bearing element 40. Thus the first buffering pad 14 and the second buffering pad 15 inside each battery 10 are under a stressed-tight state to ensure that the electrode heads of the battery 10 receives no vibration even when the battery assembly 100 of the present invention is operated in an unsteady environment, such as a moving vehicle. As a result, the stability and safety of each battery 10 are ensured.
Furthermore, as shown in
Regarding the orientation of the battery assembly 100 of the present invention, the battery assembly 100 of the present invention can be placed upright. When the battery assembly 100 is placed upright, each of the second stress-bearing elements 40 and the first stress-bearing elements 30 bears the weight of each battery 10 individually, and then the weight of each battery cell 10 is transferred to the casing body 20 for preventing the battery 10 at the bottom from deterioration or explosion caused by excessive stress being applied thereon; thus, problems in the prior art are solved accordingly.
Furthermore, when each battery 10 is accommodated in each of the stress-bearing spaces individually, as shown in
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In summary, regardless of the purposes, means and effectiveness, this invention has characteristics that are quite different from those of known technology. It is noted that many of the aforementioned embodiments are only for illustrative purposes and that the claims of this invention should depend on the claims rather than being limited to the embodiments. Any professional who is skilled in the art can modify and change the embodiments in the case without violating the technical principles and spirit of the present invention. The protected rights will be as described later in the claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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102123311 | Jun 2013 | TW | national |