Patent Application
20210367296
The present disclosure relates to a sealing structure.
With the development of e-Mobility, battery case gaskets which seal against leakage from a gap between a battery case for accommodating a battery for vehicles (e.g., electric car) and a cover for covering the battery case are under development. The battery case gaskets have a long peripheral length and a large plan view shape corresponding to a size of such a battery case. For this reason, because it is difficult to form such a long battery case gasket by press forming, the battery case gasket is necessarily formed by extrusion.
Extruded parts which are formed by extrusion have a fixed shape along their peripheral length. Accordingly, in order to attach such a gasket, the extruded part is necessarily subjected to additional processing, or a groove or the like for holding the gasket is additionally formed on a member to which the gasket is attached. An example of the related art of gasket attachment is provided by Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2012-122536 which discloses a gasket of extruded part having through holes for bolt insertion. Another example is provided by Japanese Patent Laid-Open Publication No. 2017-172756 which discloses a sealing structure having a circular groove formed on a member to which the gasket is attached.
Additional processing in which through holes or the like are formed on the extruded part as gasket is laborious and increases its cost. On the other hand, in the case in which the member to which the gasket is attached is formed by press forming, a space on which a gasket attachment groove is formed cannot be sufficiently provided, or the member to which the gasket is attached is necessarily additionally subjected to additional processing in which a groove or the like is formed. For these reasons, a sealing structure is required to more simply and securely hold a gasket on an attached member such as battery case.
An object of the present disclosure is to provide a sealing structure which can more simply and securely hold a gasket on an attached member.
A sealing structure according to the present disclosure includes
According to a sealing structure of the present disclosure, a gasket can be more simply and securely held on an attached member.
The following description will describe sealing structures according to preferred embodiments. It is noted that the scope of the present disclosure defined by claims attached hereto is not limited to these embodiments. Not all the components described in the description of the embodiments are essential components for the solution means of the present disclosure.
The schematic construction of a sealing structure according to a first embodiment is first schematically described with reference to
The sealing structure 100 is a gasket for a battery case which seals leakage from a gap between a battery case 10 and a covers 20 which covers the battery case 10 (see
The gasket 110 is held on the battery case 10. The gasket 110 provides hermeticity between the battery case 10 and the cover 20 (see
The gasket 110 according to this embodiment includes gasket main bodies 111 which extend along their corresponding edge of the battery case 10 on the opening side as shown in
The gasket 110 according to this embodiment is arranged along side walls 11 of the battery case 10 on their upper end sides as shown in
The welded walls 120 are a bar-shaped member which is formed of metal such as steel and has an angular cross-sectional shape. The welded walls 120 are fastened onto the side walls 11 of the battery case 10 on their exterior sides. The welded walls 120 serve as an attachment wall which holds the gasket 110 and positions the cover 20. When the battery case 10 is covered by the cover 20, the welded walls 120 according to this embodiment are attached so that a placement surface 120a will contact a lower end 21a of an engagement portion 21 on the outer edge of the cover 20 (see
The construction of a principal part of the sealing structure according to this embodiment is now described with reference to
The sealing structure 100 according to this embodiment achieves sealing performance mainly in the vertical direction between the battery case 10 and the cover 20 by producing a small reactional force. As shown in
The gasket 110 according to this embodiment includes the gasket main bodies 111 and supported portions 113 as shown in
The gasket main body 111 supports the first seal lip 112 on its upper end side. The first seal lips 112 provide hermeticity between the battery case 10 and the ceiling surface 20a of the cover 20. The gasket main body 111 according to this embodiment is accommodated in an accommodation portion 124 which is arranged in the welded wall 120. The first seal lip 112 which extends from the upper end 11a of the side wall 11 is positioned in a space in which the first seal lip 112 can be elastically deformed when the gasket main body 111 is held along the upper end side of the side wall 11 of the battery case 10 by the welded wall 120.
The supported portion 113 is supported by the placement surface 120a of the welded wall 120. Accordingly, the gasket main body 111 is stably held in the accommodation portion 124 of the welded wall 120. The supported portion 113 extends along the placement surface 120a to a position near an inner peripheral surface 21b of the engagement portion 21 of the cover 20.
Although the supported portion 113 which extends in a horizontal direction from the upper end side of the gasket main body 111 is illustratively described in this embodiment, the supported portion 113 may be omitted in the gasket 110.
The welded wall 120 serves as the attachment wall which is fastened onto the side wall 11 by welding from the exterior side so that the gasket 110 is held along the upper end side of the side wall 11 of the battery case (attached member) 10. The welded wall 120 according to this embodiment includes a placement portion 121, an intermediate wall portion 122, and a bottom portion 123 as shown in
When the battery case 10 is covered by the cover 20, the welded walls 120 according to this embodiment are attached so that the placement surface 120a will contact the lower end 21a of the engagement portion 21 on the outer edge of the cover 20. That is, the welded walls 120 easily position the cover 20, and additionally prevent reduction of the sealing performance caused by an excess load of the weight of the cover 20 applied to the first seal lips 112 of the gasket 110.
As discussed above, in the sealing structure 100 according to this embodiment, the welded wall 120 as the attachment wall for holding the gasket 110 are fixedly attached onto the exterior part of the battery case (attached member) 10 in proximity to the upper ends 11a of the side walls 11 by welding. For this reason, the gasket 110 can be securely held on the side walls 11 of the battery case (attached member) 10 by a simple structure without additional processing in which fastening through holes, protrusions or the like are formed on the gasket 110 of extruded part formed by extrusion.
In particular, in order to reliably achieve sealing performance in the vertical direction between the battery case 10 and the cover 20 by producing a smaller reactional force whereby reducing unevenness of hermeticity, the first seal lip (sealing means) 112 is arranged on the upper end side of the gasket main body 111 in the gasket 110 according to this embodiment. To this end, in order to prevent an excess load by the weight of the cover 20 applied to the first seal lips 112, the welded walls 120 serve to position the cover 20.
The construction of a sealing structure according to a second embodiment is now schematically described with reference to
The sealing structure 200 according to this embodiment achieves sealing performance mainly in the vertical and horizontal directions between the battery case 10 and the cover 20 by producing a small reactional force. The sealing structure 200 includes a gasket 210, welded walls 220, and coupling portions 230 as shown in
The metal welded walls 220 are fastened onto parts of the side walls 11 of the battery case 10 in proximity to their upper ends 11a by welding from the exterior side. Also, the gasket 210 is held along the exterior sides of the upper ends 11a of the side walls 11 of the battery case 10 by the welded walls 220 which serve as the attachment wall. The seal lips 212 and 213 are arranged on the upper end side of the gasket 210. The seal lips 212 and 213 will be brought in tight contact with the cover 20 which covers the opening side of the battery case 10.
The gasket 210 according to this embodiment includes the first seal lips 212, the second seal lips 213, and the gasket main bodies 211 as shown in
The gasket main body 211 supports the first seal lip 212 and the second seal lips 213 on its upper end side. The first seal lips 212 provide hermeticity between the battery case 10 and the ceiling surface 20a of the cover 20. The second seal lips 213 provide hermeticity between the battery case 10 and the inner peripheral surfaces 21b of the engagement portions 21 of the cover 20. The gasket main body 211 according to this embodiment is accommodated in an accommodation portion 223 which is arranged in the welded wall 220. The first seal lip 212 which extends from the upper end 11a of the side wall 11 is positioned in a space in which the first seal lip 212 can be elastically deformed when the gasket main body 111 is held along the upper end side of the side wall 11 of the battery case 10 by the welded wall 220.
The welded wall 220 serves as the attachment wall which is fastened onto the side wall 11 by welding from the exterior side so that the gasket 210 is held along the upper end side of the side wall 11 of the battery case (attached member) 10. The welded wall 220 according to this embodiment includes a placement portion 221 and a partitioning wall portion 222 as shown in
When the battery case 10 is covered by the cover 20, the welded walls 220 according to this embodiment are attached so that the placement surface 220a contacts the lower end 21a of the engagement portion 21 on the outer edge of the cover 20. That is, the welded walls 220 easily position the cover 20, and additionally prevent reduction of the sealing performance caused by an excess load of the weight of the cover 20 applied to the first seal lips 212 of the gasket 210.
As discussed above, in the sealing structure 200 according to this embodiment, the welded wall 220 as the attachment wall for holding the gasket 210 are fixedly attached onto the exterior part of the battery case (attached member) 10 in proximity to the upper ends 11a of the side walls 11 by welding. For this reason, the gasket 210 can be securely held onto the side walls 11 of the battery case (attached member) 10 by a simple structure without additional processing in which fastening through holes, protrusions or the like are formed on the gasket 210 of extruded part formed by extrusion.
In particular, in order to reliably achieve sealing performance in the vertical and horizontal directions between the battery case 10 and the cover 20 by producing a smaller reactional force whereby reducing unevenness of hermeticity, the first seal lip (sealing means) 212 and the second seal lips (seal means) 213 are arranged on the upper end side of the gasket main body 211 in the gasket 210 according to this embodiment. To this end, in order to prevent an excess load by the weight of the cover 20 applied to the first seal lips 212, the welded walls 220 serve to position the cover 20. In addition, according to this embodiment, even in the case in which the engagement portion 21 of the cover 20 is long, the second seal lips 213 can provide hermeticity between the battery case 10 and the inner peripheral surface 21b of the engagement portion 21 of the cover 20.
Although the attachment walls of the sealing structures according to the foregoing embodiments have been described to include the welded wall which is fastened by welding, means for fastening the attachment wall onto the side wall of the battery case is not limited to welding. For example, in the case in which both the battery case and the attachment wall are formed of a rigid resin or the like, the attachment wall may be fastened onto the battery case by other fastening means such as adhesive or thermocompression bonding.
As discussed above, in the sealing structures according to the foregoing embodiments, in order to fasten the gasket and position the cover, the welded walls as the attachment wall of the gasket which have a desired shape are fastened onto the side walls of the battery case by welding from the exterior side. As a result, the gasket can be securely held onto the side walls of the battery case as the attached member by a simple structure without additional processing in which fastening through holes, protrusions or the like are formed on the gasket of extruded part formed by extrusion.
Also, according to the sealing structures of the foregoing embodiments, the gasket can be held in place and provide sealing effects without forming grooves or the like for holding the gasket on the side walls of the battery case by presswork. For this reason, according to the sealing structures of the foregoing embodiments, the gasket of extruded part which is formed by extrusion is not necessarily subjected to additional processing, and grooves or the like for holding the gasket are not required to be formed on the side walls of the battery case as the attached member to which the gasket is attached.
In addition, sealing performance between the battery case and the cover in the vertical direction or the vertical and horizontal directions which is obtained by producing a small reactional force can be surely achieved by a simple structure and simple method. As a result, in the case in which the sealing structure according to each embodiment is applied to gaskets for battery cases to be used for vehicles such as electric cars, the workability and attachment performance of a gasket for battery cases can be improved. Therefore, the sealing structure according to the embodiment has great value in industry.
Although the sealing structures of the foregoing embodiments have been described above in detail, it will be easily understood by a person skilled in the art that various changes can be made. For example, a term that is stated together with a different term used in a broader sense of the term or synonymous with the term at least once in the specification or the drawings can be replaced by the different term in other statements in the specification or the drawings. Also, the construction and operation of the sealing structure are not limited to the foregoing embodiments but various changes can be made.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2019-018237 | Feb 2019 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2020/001049 | 1/15/2020 | WO | 00 |
