The present disclosure relates to an apparatus and method for mounting a battery cell, and more particularly, to an apparatus and method for mounting a battery cell, which allows a battery cell stack to be mounted to a frame without deforming the frame.
As technology development and demand for a mobile device have increased, demand for a secondary battery as an energy source has rapidly increased. Conventionally, a nickel-cadmium battery or a hydrogen ion battery has been used as the secondary battery. However, a lithium secondary battery is recently widely used because charging and discharging is free due to rare memory effect in comparison with a nickel-based secondary battery, a self-discharge rate is very low, and an energy density is high.
The lithium secondary battery mainly uses a lithium oxide and a carbonaceous material as a positive electrode active material and a negative electrode active material, respectively. The lithium secondary battery includes an electrode assembly in which a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode plate, respectively coated with the positive electrode active material and the negative electrode active material, are arranged with a separator therebetween, and an outer member, that is a battery case, which seals and receives the electrode assembly together with an electrolyte solution.
The lithium secondary battery includes a positive electrode, a negative electrode, a separator interposed therebetween, and an electrolyte. Depending on which material is used for the positive electrode active material and the negative electrode active material, the lithium secondary battery is classified into a lithium ion battery (LIB) and a polymer lithium ion battery (PLIB). Generally, an electrode of the lithium secondary battery is prepared by applying the positive or negative electrode active material to a current collector made of aluminum or copper sheet, mesh, film, foil, or the like and then drying the same.
In a secondary battery, a battery cell stack may be mounted to frames of various shapes. Here, if the frame has a U shape, it is not easy to mount the battery cell stack to the frame.
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The present disclosure is designed to solve the problems of the related art, and therefore the present disclosure is directed to providing an apparatus and method for mounting a battery cell, which may allow a battery cell stack to be mounted to a frame without deforming or distorting the frame.
Also, the present disclosure is directed to providing an apparatus and method for mounting a battery cell, which may prevent the space utilization of the battery from deteriorating.
In addition, the present disclosure is directed to providing an apparatus and method for mounting a battery cell, which may allow the battery cell stack to be mounted to the frame without damaging the battery cell stack.
In one aspect of the present disclosure, there is provided an apparatus for mounting a battery cell, which mounts a battery cell stack to a frame that includes a base cover and a pair of side covers respectively extending from both ends of the base cover, the apparatus comprising: a support member to support the battery cell stack, and two films, wherein one side of each of the two films is respectively attachable to one of the pair of side covers of the frame, and another side of each of the two films is respectively attachable to one of a two side surfaces of the battery cell stack, wherein, when the support member and the frame move toward each other, the two films are movable into the frame, and the battery cell stack is movable along the two films to be mounted to the frame.
Also, the apparatus for mounting a battery cell may further comprise a pressing member configured to move toward the support member at a position spaced apart from the support member to press one of the two side surfaces of the battery cell stack.
In addition, the pressing member may include: a movable rod; at least one rotating roller coupled to the movable rod and configured to contact one of the two films at one of the side surfaces of the battery cell stack; and a driving force transmission source coupled to the movable rod to transmit a driving force to the movable rod.
Also, the two films may be insulation films.
In addition, the apparatus for mounting a battery cell may further comprise a double-sided tape by which each of the two films may be attachable to the frame or the battery cell stack.
Also, the apparatus for mounting a battery cell may further comprise a push member configured to push the frame toward the support member.
In addition, the apparatus for mounting a battery cell may further comprise a heat conduction member couplable to the battery cell stack.
Meanwhile, in another aspect of the present disclosure, there is also provided a method for mounting a battery cell, which mounts a battery cell stack to a frame that includes a base cover and a pair of side covers respectively extending from both ends of the base cover, the method comprising: attaching one side of each of two films respectively to one of the pair of side covers of the frame; attaching another side of each of the two films respectively to one of two side surfaces of the battery cell stack; moving a support member supporting the battery cell stack and the frame toward each other; and moving the battery cell stack along the two films to be inserted into the frame.
Also, the method may further comprise moving a pressing member toward the support member at a position spaced apart from the support member to press one of the two side surfaces of the battery cell stack.
In embodiments of the present disclosure, since the battery cell stack is mounted to the frame along a film, the battery cell stack may be mounted to the frame without deforming or distorting the frame.
Also, since no space is formed between the frame and the battery cell stack, it is possible to prevent the space utilization of the battery from deteriorating.
In addition, since the battery cell stack is inserted into the frame while sliding along the film, the battery cell stack may be mounted to the frame without being damaged.
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. Prior to the description, it should be understood that the terms used in the specification and the appended claims should not be construed as limited to general and dictionary meanings, but interpreted based on the meanings and concepts corresponding to technical aspects of the present disclosure on the basis of the principle that the inventor is allowed to define terms appropriately for the best explanation. Therefore, the description proposed herein is just a preferable example for the purpose of illustrations only, not intended to limit the scope of the disclosure, so it should be understood that other equivalents and modifications could be made thereto without departing from the scope of the disclosure.
In the drawings, the size of each element or a specific part of the element may be exaggerated, omitted, or schematically illustrated for convenience and clarity of a description. Thus, the size of each element does not entirely reflect the actual size of the element. A detailed description of well-known functions or elements associated with the present disclosure will be omitted if it unnecessarily obscures the subject matter of the present disclosure.
The term, ‘combine’ or ‘connect’ as used herein, may refer not only to a case where one member and another member are directly combined or directly connected but also a case where one member is indirectly combined with another member via a connecting member or is indirectly connected.
In this specification, a battery cell stack 600 may be mounted to a frame 500 to form a battery module. The frame 500 may have various shapes, and for convenience of explanation, as shown in
Referring to
The support member 100 supports the battery cell stack 600. That is, referring to
Meanwhile, referring to
As described above, the film 700 may be attached to the battery cell stack 600 in various ways and, for example, the film 700 may be attached to the battery cell stack 600 by using a double-sided tape. However, the method of attaching the film 700 is not limited thereto. That is, one side of the film 700 is attached to the side cover 520 of the frame 500, and the other side of the film 700 is attached to the side surface of the battery cell stack 600.
If the support member 100 moves toward the frame 500 in a state where the film 700 is respectively attached to the side cover 520 of the frame 500 and the battery cell stack 600, for example if the support member 100 moves upward based on
Here, the film 700 may be provided as an insulation film 700. As explained later, after the film 700 is inserted into the frame 500 together with the battery cell stack 600, the film 700 remains in the frame 500 in contact with the battery cell stack 600 without being removed. In addition, since the film 700 is provided as the insulation film 700 and remains inside the frame 500, it is not necessary to separately perform insulation coating on the side cover 520 of the frame 500. Accordingly, the insulation coating process of the frame 500 is excluded, thereby shortening the overall process time and reducing the cost.
The pressing member 200 moves toward the support member 100 at a position spaced apart from the support member 100 to press a side surface of the battery cell stack 600 to which the other side of the film 700 is attached. That is, the pressing member 200 presses the side surface of the battery cell stack 600 so that the battery cell stack 600 is smoothly inserted into the frame 500.
The pressing member 200 may include a movable rod 210, a rotating roller 220 and a driving force transmission source 230. The movable rod 210 contacts the side surface of the battery cell stack 600 via roller 220 and presses the battery cell stack 600 (see
The push member 300 may employ various jigs, mechanisms or devices that are adapted to push the frame 500 toward the support member 100 to provide a pressure to the frame 500. The push member 300, for example, contacts and presses the base cover 510 of the frame 500 (see
A heat conduction member 400 may be coupled to the battery cell stack 600. Referring to
Hereinafter, a method for mounting a battery cell according an embodiment of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the figures.
As described above, the frame 500 to which the battery cell stack 600 is mounted will be described as including a base cover 510 and a pair of side covers 520 respectively extending from both ends of the base cover 510.
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Meanwhile, the film 700 is interposed between the side cover 520 of the frame 500 and the battery cell stack 600 in a state of being attached to the side cover 520 of the frame 500 and the battery cell stack 600, and the film 700 is not removed even after the battery cell stack 600 is mounted to the frame 500. Here, since the film 700 may be provided as the insulation film 700, it is not necessary to separately perform insulation coating or the like on the side cover 520 of the frame 500.
The present disclosure has been described in detail. However, it should be understood that the detailed description and specific examples, while indicating preferred embodiments of the disclosure, are given by way of illustration only, since various changes and modifications within the scope of the disclosure will become apparent to those skilled in the art from this detailed description.
The present disclosure relates to apparatus and method for mounting a battery cell and is particularly applicable to an industry related to a secondary battery.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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10-2018-0061626 | May 2018 | KR | national |
The present application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/765,611, filed on May 20, 2020, which is a national phase entry under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/KR2019/002243, filed Feb. 22, 2019, published in Korean, which claims priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2018-0061626 filed on May 30, 2018 in the Republic of Korea, the disclosures of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Number | Date | Country | |
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Parent | 16765611 | May 2020 | US |
Child | 17835486 | US |