Patent Application
20240186601
The present disclosure relates to cordless power tools, and more particularly to batteries for cordless power tools.
From do-it-yourself projects at home to large scale commercial construction projects, cordless power tools are ubiquitous. These tools have increased productivity and efficiency. These tools require battery packs that are constantly improving.
The present disclosure provides, in one aspect, a battery pack that includes a battery housing, a core housing disposed within the battery housing, at least one pouch cell disposed within the core housing, a flexible circuit extending along an inner surface of the core housing, and a temperature sensor operably coupled to the flexible circuit.
The present disclosure provides, in another aspect, a battery pack that includes a battery housing, a core housing disposed within the battery housing, at least one pouch cell disposed within the core housing, a flexible circuit extending along an outer surface of the core housing, a temperature sensor operably coupled to the flexible circuit, and a copper trace operable coupled to the temperature sensor and extending into the core housing.
The present disclosure provides, in another aspect, a battery pack that includes a battery housing having an upper battery housing portion and a lower battery housing portion, a core housing disposed within the battery housing, at least one pouch cell disposed within the core housing, and wherein the core housing is made from a thermally conductive material.
Other features and aspects of the disclosure will become apparent by consideration of the following detailed description and accompanying drawings.
Before any embodiments of the disclosure are explained in detail, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not limited in its application to the details of construction and the arrangement of components set forth in the following description or illustrated in the following drawings. The disclosure is capable of other embodiments and of being practiced or of being carried out in various ways. Also, it is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used herein is for the purpose of description and should not be regarded as limiting.
Features illustrated or described as part of one embodiment can be used with another embodiment to yield a still further embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present disclosure covers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of the appended claims and their equivalents. The detailed description uses numerical and letter designations to refer to features in the drawings. Like or similar designations in the drawings and description have been used to refer to like or similar parts of the disclosure.
As used herein, the terms “first”, “second”, and “third” may be used interchangeably to distinguish one component from another and are not intended to signify location or importance of the individual components. The singular forms “a,” “an,” and “the” include plural references unless the context clearly dictates otherwise. The terms “coupled,” “fixed,” “attached to,” and the like refer to both direct coupling, fixing, or attaching, as well as indirect coupling, fixing, or attaching through one or more intermediate components or features, unless otherwise specified herein. As used herein, the terms “comprises,” “comprising,” “includes,” “including,” “has,” “having” or any other variation thereof, are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion. For example, a process, method, article, or apparatus that comprises a list of features is not necessarily limited only to those features but may include other features not expressly listed or inherent to such process, method, article, or apparatus. Further, unless expressly stated to the contrary, “or” refers to an inclusive- or and not to an exclusive- or. For example, a condition A or B is satisfied by any one of the following: A is true (or present) and B is false (or not present), A is false (or not present) and B is true (or present), and both A and B are true (or present).
Terms of approximation, such as “generally,” “approximately,” or “substantially,” include values within ten percent greater or less than the stated value. When used in the context of an angle or direction, such terms include within ten degrees greater or less than the stated angle or direction. For example, “generally vertical” includes directions within ten degrees of vertical in any direction, e.g., clockwise or counter-clockwise.
Benefits, other advantages, and solutions to problems are described below with regard to specific embodiments. However, the benefits, advantages, solutions to problems, and any feature(s) that may cause any benefit, advantage, or solution to occur or become more pronounced are not to be construed as a critical, required, or essential feature of any or all the claims.
Referring to
As shown, the rails 124, 126 extend outward from a central portion 132 of the rail assembly 120 away from a central axis 134 of the battery pack 100 such that the rails 124, 126 are parallel to the central axis 134. Each rail 124, 126 is generally shaped like an inverted “L” and is sized and shaped to fit into a complementary shaped feature on a battery receptacle of a cordless power tool. The tool body engagement assembly 114 further includes a recess 136 that extends into the second end 130 of the rail assembly 120 and terminates at a plurality of terminal openings 138. When the battery pack 100 is engaged with a battery receptacle on a cordless power tool, the terminal openings 138 will fit around one or more terminals within the cordless power tool and battery terminals within the terminal openings 138 will be operably coupled to each other to transmit direct current (DC) power from the battery pack 100 to the cordless power tool to provide DC power to a motor and other electrical components within the cordless power tool.
The tool body engagement assembly 114 also includes a first latch 140 and a second latch 142 disposed in the latch assembly housing 116 and partially extending into the first end 128 of the rail assembly 120. The first latch 140 includes a hook 150 and a release button 152. The second latch 142 also includes a hook 154 and a release button 156. The first latch 140 and the second latch 142 are biased outward relative to the central axis 134 via one or more springs. During use, when the battery pack 100 is engaged with a battery receptacle of a cordless power tool, the hooks 150, 154 engage complementary features of the battery receptable to retain the battery pack 100 in engagement with the cordless tool. When the release buttons 152, 156 are pressed by a user, the hooks 150, 154 are retracted and the battery pack 100 may be removed from the cordless power tool by sliding the battery pack 100 from the battery receptacle.
Referring to
As shown, the battery pack 100 includes a flexible circuit 212 having a proximal end 214 and a distal end 216. The proximal end 214 of the flexible circuit 212 is electrically and operably coupled to a connector 218 and the flexible circuit 212 extends from the connector 218 down along an inner wall 220 of the core housing 200. In extending along the inner wall 220 of the core housing 200, the flexible circuit 212 also extends along an outer surface 222 of each of the plurality of pouch cells 202.
As further illustrated in
The temperature sensor 224 allows the temperature of the stack of pouch cells 202 to be accurately. Moreover, the arrangement disclosed herein is relatively easy to assemble in the battery pack 100 and relatively durable. The ribs 230 can be sloped, or angled, to facilitate assembly. The thermistor 224 and the flexible circuit 212 are within the core housing 200 and do not slide against the lower battery housing portion 106 during assembly.
In another aspect, as shown in
As shown, the first flexible circuit 320 includes a first temperature sensor 324 and a second temperature sensor 326 that are located outside of the core housing and inside of the lower battery housing portion i.e., between an outer surface of the core housing and an inner surface of a lower battery housing portion in which the core housing is disposed. The temperature sensors 324, 326 are electrically and operably connected to the first flexible circuit 320. The temperature sensors 324, 326 are thermistors, for example. In one embodiment, the thermistors are negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistors in which the electrical resistance decreases as the temperature increases. In another embodiment, the thermistors are positive temperature coefficient (PTC) thermistors in which the electrical resistance increase as the temperature increases.
As further illustrated, a second flexible circuit 340 extends from a second connector 342 down along an exterior surface of the pouch cells 302, 304, 306, 308, 310. In a particular aspect, the second flexible circuit 340 is located outside of a core housing in which the pouch cells 302, 304, 306, 308, 310 are disposed and inside of a lower battery housing portion, i.e., between an outer surface of the core housing and an inner surface of a lower battery housing portion in which the core housing is disposed.
As shown, the second flexible circuit 320 includes a third temperature sensor 344 and a fourth temperature sensor 346 that are located outside of the core housing and inside of the lower battery housing portion i.e., between an outer surface of the core housing and an inner surface of a lower battery housing portion in which the core housing is disposed. The temperature sensors 344, 346 are electrically and operably connected to the second flexible circuit 340. The temperature sensors 344, 346 are thermistors, for example. In one embodiment, the thermistors are negative temperature coefficient (NTC) thermistors in which the electrical resistance decreases as the temperature increases. In another embodiment, the thermistors are positive temperature coefficient (PTC) thermistors in which the electrical resistance increase as the temperature increases.
Although the disclosure has been described in detail with reference to certain preferred embodiments, variations and modifications exist within the scope and spirit of one or more independent aspects of the disclosure as described.
The present application claims priority to U.S. provisional application No. 63/430,585, filed Dec. 6, 2022, the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference herein.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 63430585 | Dec 2022 | US |
