The present application claims priority from Japanese Patent Application No. 2015-043814 filed on Mar. 5, 2015, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference into this application.
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell, a producing method thereof, and a cell stack, to be specific, to a method for producing a covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell, a covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell obtained by the producing method, and a cell stack including the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell.
2. Description of Related Art
It has been conventionally known that a non-aqueous secondary cell such as a lithium ion secondary cell is covered with a cover sheet or the like.
It has been, for example, proposed that in a prismatic cell including a prismatic outer can having an opening at the top thereof and a sealing body for sealing the opening, the bottom and side surfaces of the prismatic outer can are covered with a piece of folded insulation sheet (ref: for example, Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2011-181485).
However, in the prismatic cell described in Japanese Unexamined Patent Publication No. 2011-181485, there is a disadvantage that the upper surfaces of the prismatic outer can and the sealing body are exposed, so that, when used under a high humidity atmosphere, a drop of water adheres to the above-described upper surfaces and infiltrates from a gap between the prismatic outer can and the sealing body into the inside and thus, the prismatic cell deteriorates.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell having excellent reliability, a producing method thereof, and a cell stack.
The present invention [1] includes a covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell including a non-aqueous secondary cell including a cell main body having one surface, the other surface disposed in opposed relation at spaced intervals to the one surface, and circumferential side surfaces connecting a circumferential end edge of the one surface to a circumferential end edge of the other surface and a terminal provided on at least any one of the one surface and the other surface and a covering material covering the cell main body so as to expose the terminal, wherein the covering material includes a substrate and a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer disposed on one surface of the substrate and by allowing the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer to pressure-sensitively adhere to at least a part of the circumferential end edge of at least any one of the one surface and the other surface of the cell main body, the covering material covers at least a part of the circumferential end edge of at least any one of the one surface and the other surface of the cell main body.
According to the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell, by allowing the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer to pressure-sensitively adhere to at least a part of the circumferential end edge of at least any one of the one surface and the other surface of the cell main body, the substrate covers at least a part of the circumferential end edge of at least any one of the one surface and the other surface of the cell main body, so that infiltration of water from at least the part of the circumferential end edge of at least any one of the one surface and the other surface of the cell main body into the inside of the cell main body can be suppressed. Thus, deterioration of the non-aqueous secondary cell can be suppressed. As a result, the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell has excellent reliability.
The present invention [2] includes the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell described in [1], wherein the covering material covers 60% or more of at least any one of the one surface and the other surface.
According to the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell, infiltration of water from at least any one of the one surface and the other surface into the inside of the cell main body can be effectively suppressed.
The present invention [3] includes the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell described in [1] or [2], wherein the terminal is provided on the one surface of the cell main body; each of the one surface and the other surface of the cell main body has a generally rectangular shape having two long sides facing each other and two short sides facing each other between the two long sides; the circumferential side surfaces have two first surfaces continuous to the two long sides and disposed in opposed relation at spaced intervals to each other and two second surfaces continuous to the two short sides and disposed in opposed relation at spaced intervals to each other; and by allowing the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer to pressure-sensitively adhere to the other surface and the two first surfaces of the cell main body, the covering material covers the other surface and the two first surfaces of the cell main body and has overlapped portions having the covering material overlapped with each other at the outer sides of the two second surfaces of the cell main body.
In the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell, the overlapped portions are provided not at the outer sides of the first surfaces, but at the outer sides of the second surfaces, so that bulkiness thereof in a direction in which the first surfaces are adjacent to each other can be suppressed. Thus, when a cell stack is produced by stacking a plurality of covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cells so that the first surfaces are adjacent to each other, the compact cell stack can be produced.
The present invention [4] includes the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell described in any one of [1] to [3], wherein the covering material has a generally rectangular shape in a developed state.
According to the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell, the covering material has a generally rectangular shape in the developed state, so that the covering material in a simple shape can cover the non-aqueous secondary cell without performing trimming such as a cut or a cutout to the covering material.
The present invention [5] includes the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell described in any one of [1] to [4], wherein the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is disposed on the entire one surface of the substrate.
According to the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is disposed on the entire one surface of the substrate, so that the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer is easily formed without being formed in a pattern and thus, an easy structure of the covering material can be achieved. Also, the non-aqueous secondary cell can be covered without any space.
The present invention [6] includes a method for producing a covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell including a cell preparing step of preparing a non-aqueous secondary cell including a cell main body having one surface, the other surface disposed in opposed relation at spaced intervals to the one surface, and circumferential side surfaces connecting a circumferential end edge of the one surface to a circumferential end edge of the other surface and a terminal provided on at least any one of the one surface and the other surface; a covering material preparing step of preparing a covering material including a substrate and a pressure-sensitive adhesive layer disposed on one surface of the substrate; and a covering step of covering the cell main body with the covering material so as to expose the terminal, wherein in the covering step, by allowing the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer to pressure-sensitively adhere to at least a part of the circumferential end edge of at least any one of the one surface and the other surface of the cell main body, the covering material covers at least a part of the circumferential end edge of at least any one of the one surface and the other surface of the cell main body.
According to the method for producing a covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell, in the covering step, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer pressure-sensitively adheres to at least a part of the circumferential end edge of at least any one of the one surface and the other surface of the cell main body, so that infiltration of water from at least a part of the circumferential end edge of at least any one of the one surface and the other surface of the cell main body into the inside of the cell main body can be suppressed. Thus, deterioration of the non-aqueous secondary cell can be suppressed. As a result, the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell having excellent reliability can be produced.
The present invention [7] includes the method for producing a covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell described in [6], wherein the terminal is provided on the one surface of the cell main body; each of the one surface and the other surface of the cell main body has a generally rectangular shape having two long sides facing each other and two short sides facing each other between the two long sides; the circumferential side surfaces have two first surfaces continuous to the two long sides and disposed in opposed relation at spaced intervals to each other and two second surfaces continuous to the two short sides and disposed in opposed relation at spaced intervals to each other; and the covering step includes a first step of covering the other surface and the two first surfaces of the cell main body with the covering material by allowing the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer to pressure-sensitively adhere to the other surface and the two first surfaces of the cell main body and a second step of forming overlapped portions having the covering material overlapped with each other at the outer sides of the two second surfaces of the cell main body.
According to the method for producing a covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell, in the first step, the covering material covers the other surface and the two first surfaces of the cell main body and in the second step, the overlapped portions in which the covering material is overlapped with each other are formed at the outer sides of the two second surfaces of the cell main body, so that the overlapped portions can be surely disposed not at the outer sides of the first surfaces, but at the outer sides of the second surfaces.
The present invention [8] includes a cell stack including a plurality of covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cells described in [3], wherein the plurality of covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cells are stacked so that the first surfaces are adjacent to each other.
In the cell stack, the overlapped portions are provided not at the outer sides of the first surfaces, but at the outer sides of the second surfaces, so that bulkiness thereof in a direction in which the first surfaces are adjacent to each other can be suppressed and miniaturization thereof can be achieved.
One embodiment of a covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell, a producing method thereof, and a cell stack of the present invention is sequentially described as follows.
1. Covering Material-Provided Non-Aqueous Secondary Cell
In
In
In
As shown in
1-1. Non-Aqueous Secondary Cell
As shown in
The non-aqueous secondary cell 2 includes a cell main body 4 and terminals 5.
The cell main body 4 has a generally box shape that is long in the right-left direction. The cell main body 4 includes a charging/discharging portion 6, the exterior portion 7 that has an opening portion at the top thereof and houses the charging/discharging portion 6 therein, and an upper lid 18 (ref:
The charging/discharging portion 6 has a generally box shape and includes a known positive electrode, negative electrode, and non-aqueous electrolytic solution.
The exterior portion 7 is an exterior case having a generally bottomed rectangular cylindrical shape. The exterior portion 7 houses the charging/discharging portion 6 at the inner side thereof.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown by the dashed lines in
The two long sides 20 have a front long side 23 and a rear long side 24 that faces the rear side of the front long side 23 at spaced intervals thereto.
The two short sides 21 have a right short side 25 and a left short side 26 that faces the left side of the right short side 25 at spaced intervals thereto.
The upper surface 10 has circumferential end edges 30. The circumferential end edges 30 have a front end edge 31 that includes the front long side 23, a rear end edge 32 that is disposed in opposed relation at spaced intervals to the rear side of the front end edge 31 and includes the rear long side 24, a right end edge 33 that is continuous to the right end of the front end edge 31 and that of the rear end edge 32 and includes the right short side 25, and a left end edge 34 that is continuous to the left end of the front end edge 31 and that of the rear end edge 32 and includes the left short side 26.
Furthermore, the upper surface 10 has a front portion 35 that is positioned at the front-side half portion of the upper surface 10 and includes the front end edge 31 and a rear portion 36 that is positioned at the rear-side half portion of the upper surface 10 and includes the rear end edge 32.
The lower surface 11 is disposed in opposed relation at spaced intervals to the lower side of the upper surface 10. As shown in
The circumferential side surfaces 12 connect the circumferential end edge 30 of the upper surface 10 to the circumferential end edge 30 of the lower surface 11. To be specific, as shown in
The two first surfaces 40 are disposed in opposed relation at spaced intervals to each other and consist of a front surface 13 and a rear surface 14 that is disposed at the rear side of the front surface 13. The front surface 13 is continuous to the front end edge 31. The rear surface 14 is continuous to the rear end edge 32.
As shown in
As shown in
1-2. Covering Material
The covering material 3 covers the cell main body 4 so as to expose the terminals 5.
As shown in
The covering material 3 includes a first overlapped portion 45 that is formed on the upper side of the upper surface 10, terminal covering portions 87 that cover the lower portions of the terminals 5, and second overlapped portions 60 that are formed at the outer sides of the right surface 15 and the left surface 16.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
An example of the substrate 8 includes a sheet formed from known flexible plastic such as polyethylene terephthalate, polyacrylate, and polyolefin. The substrate 8 may have a single layer form or a multilayer form. The substrate 8 has a thickness of, for example, 5 μm or more, or preferably 10 μm or more, and, for example, 100 μm or less, or preferably 60 μm or less.
As shown in
The covering material 3 can be obtained by disposing the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 on the surface (upper surface) of the substrate 8 by a known method. Also, though not shown, the covering material 3 can be produced as follows: the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 is disposed on one piece of rectangular substrate 8 and this operation is repeatedly performed to be produced per one piece of covering material 3 (single sheet method). Or, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 is continuously disposed, while the substrate 8 that is wound around a roll is continuously delivered and thereafter, the resulting layer is cut into a rectangular shape, so that one piece of covering material 3 can be also produced.
The size of the covering material 3 is appropriately adjusted so as to be capable of forming the above-described covering portions (the upper surface-covering portion 80, the lower surface-covering portion 81, the front surface-covering portion 83, the rear surface-covering portion 84, the right surface-covering portion 85, the left surface-covering portion 86, and the terminal covering portions 87) and the overlapped portions (the first overlapped portion 45 and the second overlapped portions 60).
To be specific, as referred to
As shown in
The covering material 3 has a thickness of, for example, 5 μm or more, or preferably 10 μm or more, and, for example, 200 μm or less, or preferably 100 μm or less.
2. Method for Producing Covering Material-Provided Non-Aqueous Secondary Cell
Next, a method for producing the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell 1 is described.
The method for producing the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell 1 includes a cell preparing step (ref:
2-1. Cell Preparing Step
As shown in
2-2. Covering Material Preparing Step
In the covering material preparing step, the covering material 3 including the substrate 8 and the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 that is disposed on the surface of the substrate 8 is prepared as a rectangular sheet.
2-3. Covering Step
The covering step is performed after “2-1. Cell Preparing Step” and “2-2. Covering Material Preparing Step”.
The covering step includes a first step (ref:
2-3-1. First Step
In the first step, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 pressure-sensitively adheres to the lower surface 11 (ref:
To perform the first step, first, as shown in
Next, as shown in
To be more specific, as shown by arrows in
In this manner, the front portion 52 (the front portion 52 excluding the front end portion thereof) and the rear portion 53 (the rear portion 53 excluding the rear end portion thereof) of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 pressure-sensitively adhere to the front surface 13 and the rear surface 14 (ref:
Subsequently, as shown in
In this manner, the front end portion of the front portion 52 of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 pressure-sensitively adheres to the front end portion 31 of the upper surface 10. To be specific, as shown in
In this manner, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 pressure-sensitively adheres to the entire front end edge 31 in the right-left direction. Also, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 pressure-sensitively adheres to the entire rear end edge 32 in the right-left direction.
In short, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 pressure-sensitively adheres to the entire front portion 52 and the entire rear portion 53 (excluding portions in which the terminals 5 are provided) of the upper surface 10.
In this manner, the upper surface-covering portion 80 is formed in the covering material 3.
Subsequently, as shown in
Meanwhile, as shown in
As shown in
2-3-2. Second Step
The second step is performed after “2-3-1. First Step”.
As shown in
To perform the second step, each of the right portion 54 and the left portion 55 of the covering material 3 is folded back toward the center in the front-rear direction of the right surface 15 and the left surface 16.
To be specific, the right end portion (to be more specific, right end base portions 58 in the right portion 54) in the right portion 54 of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 pressure-sensitively adheres to the right surface 15. In this manner, the right surface-covering portion 85 is formed in the covering material 3.
The left end portion (to be more specific, left end base portions 59 in the left portion 55) in the left portion 55 of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 pressure-sensitively adheres to the left surface 16. In this manner, the left surface-covering portion 86 is formed in the covering material 3.
Subsequently, at the right side of the right surface 15, the most right portions 56 (the right free end portions that are positioned at the right side with respect to the above-described right end base portions 58, that is, the excess right portion 54 after forming the right surface-covering portion 85, that is, the right end edges 56) of the right portion 54 are overlapped with each other by the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9. Also, at the left side of the left surface 16, the most left portions 57 (the left free end portions that are positioned at the left side with respect to the above-described left end base portions 59, that is, the excess left portion 55 after forming the left surface-covering portion 86, that is, the most left portions 57) of the left portion 55 are overlapped with each other by the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9.
In this manner, the most right portions 56 of the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 pressure-sensitively adhere to each other and the most left portions 57 thereof pressure-sensitively adhere to each other, so that the second overlapped portions 60 in which the most right portions 56 of the covering material 3 are overlapped with each other and the most left portions 57 thereof are overlapped with each other are formed in the covering material 3.
In this manner, the cell main body 4 is covered with the covering material 3 so as to expose the terminals 5. By the above-described steps, the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell 1 including the non-aqueous secondary cell 2 and the covering material 3 is obtained.
3. Cell Stack
As shown in
In the cell stack 70, the plurality of covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cells 1 are stacked in the front-rear direction so that each of the front surfaces 13 and each of the rear surfaces 14 (not shown in
In the cell stack 70, the terminals 5 corresponding to the plurality of covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cells 1 have shapes protruding upwardly from the upper surfaces 10.
The plurality of second overlapped portions 60 corresponding to the plurality of covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cells 1 are not positioned at the inner side of a projected surface obtained by projecting the cell stack 70 in the front-rear direction, but at the outer sides (right and left sides) in the right-left direction of the projected surface. The plurality of first overlapped portions 45 corresponding to the plurality of covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cells 1 are not positioned at the inner side of the above-described projected surface, but at the upper side of the projected surface.
<Function and Effect>
According to the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell 1, the substrate 8 covers the upper surface 10 by pressure-sensitively adhering to the front end edge 31 and the rear end edge 32 of the circumferential end edges 30 of the upper surface 10, so that infiltration of water from the front end edge 31 and the rear end edge 32 of the circumferential end edges 30 of the upper surface 10 into the inside of the cell main body 4 can be suppressed. To be specific, infiltration of water from the front end edge 31 and the rear end edge 32 into a gap between the upper lid 18 and the exterior portion 7 can be suppressed. Thus, deterioration of the non-aqueous secondary cell 2 can be suppressed. As a result, the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell 1 has excellent reliability.
In the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell 1, the substrate 8 pressure-sensitively adheres to and covers the entire circumference end edges 30 of the upper surface 10, that is, in addition to the front end edge 31 and the rear end edge 32, the right end edge 33 and the left end edge 34, so that the above-described infiltration of water is effectively suppressed and deterioration of the non-aqueous secondary cell 2 can be effectively suppressed.
In the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell 1, the second overlapped portions 60 are provided not at the outer sides of the first surfaces 40, but at the outer sides of the second surfaces 41, so that bulkiness thereof in the front-rear direction can be suppressed. Thus, when the cell stack 70 is produced by stacking the plurality of covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cells 1 so that the first surfaces 40 are adjacent to each other, the compact cell stack 70 can be produced.
According to the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell 1, as shown in
According to the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell 1, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 is disposed on the entire surface of the substrate 8, so that the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 is easily formed without being formed in a pattern and thus, an easy structure of the covering material 3 can be achieved. Also, the non-aqueous secondary cell 2 can be covered without any space.
According to the method for producing the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell 1, in the covering step, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 pressure-sensitively adheres to the front end edge 31 and the rear end edge 32 of the circumferential end edges 30 of the upper surface 10, so that the covering material 3 covers the front end edge 31 and the rear end edge 32 of the circumferential end edges 30 of the upper surface 10 and thus, infiltration of water from the front end edge 31 and the rear end edge 32 of the circumferential end edges 30 of the upper surface 10 into the inside of the cell main body 4 can be suppressed. To be specific, infiltration of water from the front end edge 31 and the rear end edge 32 into a gap between the upper lid 18 and the exterior portion 7 can be suppressed. Thus, deterioration of the non-aqueous secondary cell 2 can be suppressed. As a result, the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell 1 having excellent reliability can be produced.
According to the method for producing the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell 1, as shown in
Thus, in the cell stack 70, the front surface-covering portion 83 and the rear surface-covering portion 84 of the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell 1 that are adjacent to each other can be brought into tight contact with each other. As a result, bulkiness of the cell stack 70 in the front-rear direction can be suppressed and miniaturization thereof can be achieved.
In modified examples, the same reference numerals are provided for the members and steps corresponding to each of those described in the above-described one embodiment, and their detailed description is omitted.
In the above-described one embodiment, the non-aqueous secondary cell 2 is described as a prismatic non-aqueous secondary cell. However, the non-aqueous secondary cell 2 is not limited to the above-described description. Alternatively, for example, as shown in
As shown in
In the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell 1 including the non-aqueous secondary cell 2, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 pressure-sensitively adheres to both of the circumferential end edge 30 of the upper surface 10 and the circumferential end edge 30 of the lower surface 11, so that the covering material 3 covers the circumferential end edges 30 of the upper surface 10 and the lower surface 11.
According to the covering material-provided non-aqueous secondary cell 1 shown in
In the above-described one embodiment, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 pressure-sensitively adheres to the entire upper surface 10 (100%) (excluding the portions in which the terminals 5 are formed). However, the covering range is not limited to this. The pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 (the covering material 3) may cover at least a part of the circumferential end edges 30 of the upper surface 10, that is, at least the front end edge 31 and the rear end edge 32, to be specific, may cover, for example, 60% or more, preferably 75% or more, or more preferably 90% or more, and 99% or less of the upper surface 10.
Furthermore, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 pressure-sensitively adheres to the entire front end edge 31 and the entire rear end edge 32. Alternatively, for example, though not shown, the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 may also pressure-sensitively adhere to only the central portion in the right-left direction of the front end edge 31 (portion excluding both end portions in the right-left direction of the front end edge 31) and/or the central portion in the right-left direction of the rear end edge 32 (portion excluding both end portions in the right-left direction of the rear end edge 32) and may be disposed at spaced intervals to both end portions in the right-left direction of the front end edge 31 and/or both end portions in the right-left direction of the rear end edge 32. That is, both end portions in the right-left direction of the front end edge 31 and/or both end portions in the right-left direction of the rear end edge 32 can be also exposed.
In the above-described one embodiment, as shown in
In the above-described one embodiment, as shown in
As shown in
To perform the second step by using the covering material 3 having the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9, as shown in
In this manner, the most right portions 56 of the substrate 8 are thermally compression bonded to each other and the most left portions 57 thereof are thermally compression bonded to each other, so that the second overlapped portions 60 in which the most right portions 56 of the covering material 3 are overlapped with each other and the most left portions 57 thereof are overlapped with each other are formed in the covering material 3.
That is, by thermally compression bonding the substrate 8 in which the pressure-sensitive adhesive layer 9 is not formed to each other, the second overlapped portions 60 are formed by only the covering material 3.
As shown in
As shown in
To perform the first step by using the covering material 3 shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
In
The two left end base portions 59 are disposed in opposed relation at spaced intervals to each other. The left surface 16 is exposed.
In
In the above-described one embodiment, the covering material 3 and the upper surface 10 have rectangular shapes. Alternatively, for example, the covering material 3 and the upper surface 10 may also have generally rectangular shapes. That is, the generally rectangular shapes fail to have clear four vertexes and can include curved shapes that are formed in positions corresponding to the four vertexes.
As shown in
Furthermore, in the above-described one embodiment, the covering material 3 covers the lower surface 11; next, covers the front surface 13 and the rear surface 14; and thereafter, covers the upper surface 10. However, the order of these is not limited. That is, for example, though not shown, first, the covering material 3 covers the front portion 35 of the upper surface 10 and subsequently, can also sequentially cover the front surface 13, the lower surface 11, the rear surface 14, and the rear portion 36 of the upper surface 10. Or, oppositely, that is, first, the covering material 3 covers the rear portion 36 of the upper surface 10 and subsequently, can also sequentially cover the rear surface 14, the lower surface 11, the front surface 13, and the front portion 35 of the upper surface 10.
While the illustrative embodiments of the present invention are provided in the above description, such is for illustrative purpose only and it is not to be construed as limiting the scope of the present invention. Modification and variation of the present invention that will be obvious to those skilled in the art is to be covered by the following claims.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
---|---|---|---|
2015-043814 | Mar 2015 | JP | national |