Patent Application
20200403191
The present invention relates to a secondary battery and a method for manufacturing the same in embodiments thereof.
Recently, a lithium secondary battery, which is rechargeable and lightweight and has a high energy and power density, has been widely used as an energy source for wireless mobile devices. Further, as a solution to the problems such as air pollution and the greenhouse house effect which are caused by existing internal combustion engine vehicles using fossil fuels such as a gasoline vehicle and a diesel vehicle, a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (PHEV), a battery electric vehicle (BEV), an electric vehicle (EV), or the like have been proposed. The lithium secondary battery may serve as a power source for the alternative vehicles.
The lithium secondary battery is classified into a lithium ion battery using a liquid electrolyte and a lithium polymer battery using a polymer electrolyte in terms of a type of electrolytic solutions. The lithium secondary battery is also classified into cylindrical, prismatic, and a pouch shapes in terms of a shape of an exterior material in which an electrode assembly is housed.
Among these, the pouch type lithium secondary battery is made of a metal layer (foil) and a pouch film which is formed of multi-layered synthetic resin layers and coated on upper and lower surfaces of the metal layer, the weight of the pouch type lithium secondary battery may be remarkably lighter than that of the cylindrical lithium secondary battery or the prismatic lithium secondary battery using a metallic can. Thus, the pouch type lithium secondary battery may be lightweight and may be amenable to a change in shape.
Referring to
The forming portion 6 is formed by pressing an inside of the pouch film 5 with a press or the like to allow the pouch film 5 to have a predetermined depth. In this regard, the depth at which the forming portion 6 may be formed about 7 mm at maximum, and therefore a thickness of the electrode assembly 1 housed in the forming portion 6 has also a depth limitation (about 14 mm). Therefore, a capacity of the secondary battery 10 has a limitation.
An object of the present invention is to provide a secondary battery and a method for manufacturing the same capable of increasing a thickness of a secondary battery cell in embodiments thereof.
Another object of the present invention is to provide a high-capacity secondary battery and a method for manufacturing the same by solving a limitation in a thickness of a secondary battery cell in embodiments thereof.
In addition, another object of the present invention is to provide a secondary battery and a method for manufacturing the same capable of actually increasing an energy density within the same volume by reducing a sealing side face in embodiments thereof.
According to one embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a secondary battery, including: an exterior material which includes a pouch film and a sealing portion formed at an outer side of the pouch film; and an electrode assembly which includes a plurality of electrode bodies stacked with a separator interposed therebetween and are packaged by the exterior material, wherein a pair of forming portions are formed within the pouch film to house the electrode assembly, and a predetermined interval is formed between the pair of forming portions.
The pair of forming portions may face each other with the electrode assembly interposed therebetween.
Each of the pair of forming portions may have a predetermined depth, and a thickness of the electrode assembly may have a relationship between the predetermined interval and a predetermined depth represented by Equation 1 below:
t≤T+2f [Equation 1]
(wherein t denotes the thickness of the electrode assembly, T denotes the predetermined interval between the pair of forming portions, and f denotes the predetermined depths of each of the pair of forming portions).
The predetermined interval may be a range of exceeding from 0 mm but 20 mm or less.
Lateral intervals between the pair of forming portions and outermost parts of the pouch film may be a half (½) or more of the predetermined interval.
Both sides of the electrode assembly may be respectively provided with electrode tabs connected through a welding portion, and longitudinal intervals between the pair of forming portions and outermost parts of the pouch film may be a sum or more of the half (½) of the predetermined interval and a width of the welding part.
According to another embodiment of the present invention, there is provided a method for manufacturing a secondary battery, including: forming a pair of forming portions within a pouch film of an exterior material which includes the pouch film and a sealing portion formed at an outer side of the pouch film; housing an electrode assembly which includes a plurality of electrode bodies stacked with a separator interposed therebetween and packaged by the exterior material within the pair of forming portions; and sealing the sealing portions positioned at both sides with the electrode assembly interposed therebetween.
A predetermined interval may be formed between the pair of forming portions.
Each of the pair of forming portions may have a predetermined depth, and a thickness of the electrode assembly may have a relationship between the predetermined interval and a predetermined depth represented by Equation 1 below:
t≤T+2f [Equation 1]
(wherein t denotes the thickness of the electrode assembly, T denotes the predetermined interval between the pair of forming portions, and f denotes the predetermined depths of each of the pair of forming portions).
The predetermined interval may be a range of exceeding from 0 mm but 20 mm or less.
Lateral intervals between the pair of forming portions and outermost parts of the pouch film may be a half (½) or more of the predetermined interval.
Both sides of the electrode assembly may be respectively provided with electrode tabs connected through a welding portion, and longitudinal intervals between the pair of forming portions and outermost parts of the pouch film may be a sum or more of the half (½) of the predetermined interval and a width of the welding part.
According to the embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to increase the thickness of the secondary battery cell by forming the pair of forming portions within one pouch film and forming a predetermined interval between the pair of forming portions.
According to the embodiments of the present invention, it is possible to manufacture the high-capacity secondary battery by solving the limitation in the thickness of the secondary battery cell.
Further, according to the embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to actually increase the energy density within the same volume by reducing the sealing side face.
The above and other objects, features and other advantages of the present invention will be more clearly understood from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which:
Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. But, these are only an example, and the present invention is not limited thereto.
In description of the present invention, detailed description of the publicly known functions and configurations that are judged to be able to make the purport of the present invention unnecessarily obscure are omitted. In addition, terms or words used in the specification and claims should not be construed as limited to a lexical meaning, and should be understood as appropriate notions by the inventor based on that he/she is able to define terms to describe his/her invention in the best way to be seen by others.
However, those skilled in the art will appreciate that such embodiments are provided for illustrative purposes and do not limit subject matters to be protected as disclosed in the detailed description and appended claims. Therefore, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that various alterations and modifications of the embodiments are possible within the scope and spirit of the present invention and duly included within the range as formed by the appended claims.
The secondary battery 100 may be a pouch type secondary battery. The electrode assembly 110 may be a jelly roll in an oval shape or the like in which cathode plates and anode plates are alternately stacked with each other with the separator interposed therebetween. Both ends of the electrode assembly 110 have electrode tabs 120, and welding portions 125 may be formed between the electrode tab 120 and the electrode assembly 110 to connect these parts with each other.
The pouch film 150 may include aluminum. The reason of using the aluminum in the pouch film 150 is to resist severe thermal environments, mechanical impacts, or the like as well as to achieve miniaturization, weight reduction, and slimness.
The pouch film 150 includes a pair of forming portions 160 for housing the electrode assembly 110. The forming portion 160 may be in a recessed shape, and may be formed by pressing the inside of the pouch film 150 or the like.
However, when the forming portion 160 is pressed too hard, the pouch film 150 may be damaged, and therefore the depth of the forming portion 160 is limited. As a result, in the conventional secondary battery, the thickness of the electrode assembly 110 housed in the forming portion 160 is also limited due to the limitation in the depth of the forming portion 160.
According to the embodiments of the present invention, the pair of forming portions 160 may be formed in the pouch film 150, and a predetermined interval T may be formed between the pair of forming portions 160. Further, the secondary battery may be formed by placing one side of the electrode assembly 110 within one forming portion 160, and then wrapping the other side of the electrode assembly 110 with the other forming portion 160. An extra space is additionally generated as much as the predetermined interval T formed between the pair of forming portions 160, and thus the thickness of a space, in which the electrode assembly 110 is received, may be increased as much as the predetermined interval T.
Herein, the pair of forming portions 160 may face each other and the electrode assembly 110 is interposed therebetween.
Further, the predetermined interval may be in a range between 0 mm, exclusive, and 20 mm, inclusive.
As illustrated in
When the pouch film 150 is wrapped, the pair of forming portions 160 and both sides of the outermost part of the pouch film 150 about each other. Therefore, it is preferable that each of the lateral intervals is the half (½) or more of the predetermined interval T.
Further, a longitudinal distance between each of the forming portions 160 and the outermost part of the pouch film 150 may be W+T/2 or more. Here, W is a width of the welding portion 125.
Referring to
A thickness t of the electrode assembly 110 within the secondary battery 100 may be represented by Equation 1 below:
t≤T+2f [Equation 1]
Here, f is a depth of each of the forming portions 160.
The above relationship Equation 1 may be expressed as illustrated in
Further, as illustrated in
Referring to
Hereinafter, a method for manufacturing a secondary battery 100 according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described.
First, the pouch film 150 and the exterior material 130 including the sealing portion 140 formed at the outer side of the pouch film 150 may be prepared. The pair of forming portions 160 may be formed within the pouch film 150. The predetermined interval may be formed between the pair of forming portions 160 and the predetermined interval may be in a range between 0 mm, exclusive, and 20 mm, inclusive. Further, the interval between each of the pair of forming portions 160 and the sealing portion 140 may a half (½) or more of the predetermined interval.
Next, the electrode assembly 110 may be housed within the pair of forming portions 160. In this case, the secondary battery may be formed by placing the electrode assembly 110 over one forming portion 160, and then wrapping the electrode assembly 110 with the other forming portion 160. Therefore, the extra space is additionally generated as much as the predetermined interval T, which is a distance between the forming portions 160. Thus, the thickness of the electrode assembly 110 may be increased as much as the predetermined interval T.
Further, the sealing portions 140 are attached to each other so that the electrode assembly 110 is enclosed within the pouch film 150.
While the present invention has been described with reference to the preferred embodiments, it will be understood by those skilled in the related art that various modifications and variations may be made therein without departing from the scope of the present invention as formed by the appended claims. Therefore, the scope of the present invention should not be formed by the described embodiment but should be formed by the appended claims and their equivalents.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2015-0091847 | Jun 2015 | KR | national |
This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 16/155,437 filed on Oct. 9, 2018, which is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No. 15/196,703 filed on Jun. 19, 2016 and issued on Nov. 6, 2018 as U.S. Pat. No. 10,121,994, which claims priority from Korean patent application 10-2015-0091847 filed Jun. 29, 2015. The disclosure of each of the foregoing applications is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Parent | 16155437 | Oct 2018 | US |
| Child | 16934854 | US | |
| Parent | 15196703 | Jun 2016 | US |
| Child | 16155437 | US |
