Patent Application
20240274904
The present disclosure relates to a sensor unit and a sensor unit-equipped battery wiring module.
Patent Document 1 discloses a sensor unit to be attached to a detection target. In the sensor unit, a sensor element is connected to a surface of a band-shaped and flexible conductive path structure, and one face of a metal plate material is fixed to a rear surface of the portion of the conductive path structure to which the sensor element is attached. The sensor unit includes a biasing member that biases the plate material toward the detection target, and due to elastic recovery of the biasing member, the other face of the plate material is pressed against the detection target and held while being in contact therewith. In this structure, since the other face of the metal plate material serves as a contact surface for contacting the detection target, it is possible to reliably bring the contact surface into contact with the detection target, realizing stabilization of detection accuracy of the sensor element. Particularly, if the sensor element is a temperature sensor, the heat of the detection target is rapidly transmitted to the metal plate material with excellent thermal conductivity, and the temperature of the detection target can be detected with more accuracy.
However, a metal plate material is obtained by cutting a planar metal plate into a predetermined size using a press-punching process. Therefore, a burr may be formed on a cut surface (side surface) of the metal plate material at an end in a shear direction. If the surface of the plate material on which the burr is formed (at an end of the cut surface in the shear direction) is brought into contact with the rear surface of the conductive path structure, the conductive path structure may be broken. Also, if the surface of the plate material on which the burr is formed is brought into contact with a detection target, a gap or backlash may be created between the detection target and the plate material due to the burr to reduce the detection accuracy of the sensor element. Therefore, a deburring process needs to be additionally performed on the metal plate material, and thus complication of manufacturing and increase in cost are unavoidable.
Therefore, disclosed are a sensor unit and a sensor unit-equipped battery wiring module that can suppress a breakage of a conductive path structure and a reduction in detection accuracy, while simplifying the manufacturing process and suppressing the manufacturing cost.
A sensor unit according to the present disclosure is a sensor unit includes: a band-shaped and flexible conductive path structure including a laminated conductor and an insulating film that covers the conductor; a sensor element that is arranged on a surface of the conductive path structure and is connected to the conductor; and a plate material that is arranged on a rear surface of the conductive path structure, and has one surface fixed to a position of the conductive path structure that is opposite to the sensor element in a thickness direction of the conductive path structure, wherein another surface of the plate material serves as a contact surface for contacting a detection target, and the plate material has a shape obtained by folding one planar metal plate in a plate thickness direction in half, so that a portion of the planar metal plate in which a burr is formed is arranged on an inner side in the folding direction.
A sensor unit-equipped battery wiring module according to the present disclosure is a sensor unit-equipped battery wiring module configured to be mounted on a battery cell group in which a plurality of battery cells are lined up, the sensor unit-equipped battery wiring module including: a plurality of busbars electrically connected to the battery cell group; an insulating case in which the plurality of busbars are received; and a cover part that is mounted on the case and covers the plurality of busbars, wherein the sensor unit according to the present disclosure is used as a sensor unit, the case includes a sensor unit arrangement region that is arranged on at least one battery cell that is a detection target, and in the sensor unit arrangement region, the sensor unit is arranged in a state in which the plate material is accessible to the battery cell.
According to the sensor unit and the sensor unit-equipped battery wiring module, it is possible to suppress a breakage of a conductive path structure and a reduction in detection accuracy, while simplifying the manufacturing process and suppressing the manufacturing cost.
First, modes for carrying out the present disclosure will be listed and described.
A sensor unit according to the present disclosure is
According to this configuration, the metal plate material fixed to the rear surface of the conductive path structure has the shape obtained by folding one planar metal plate in the plate thickness direction in half, so that a portion of the planar metal plate in which a burr is formed is arranged on the inner side in the folding direction. That is to say a burr may be formed on a cut surface (side surface) of a single metal plate material at an end in the shear direction. The inventors of the present invention focused on the fact that a portion in which a burr is formed is limited to one end of a cut surface (side surface) of a plate material, and arrived at employing a plate material having a shape obtained by folding a single planar metal plate in a plate thickness direction in half, so that a portion in which a burr is formed is arranged on the inner side in the folding direction, thereby having accomplished the structure of the present disclosure. Employing such a plate material avoids situations that, even if a burr is formed on the plate material, the burr is arranged on one surface side on which the plate material is fixed to the rear surface of the conductive path structure, or on the other surface (contact surface) side on which the plate material comes into contact with a detection target, since the burr is arranged on the inner side in the folding direction. As a result, even if the metal plate material is employed, likelihoods that a burr comes into contact with the conductive path structure to break the conductive path structure, or a gap or backlash is created between the detection target and the plate material due to a burr to reduce the detection accuracy of the sensor element. Moreover, since a deburring process, which was needed for a conventional plate material, is no longer required, it is possible to simplify the manufacturing process and reduce the manufacturing cost.
The sensor unit further includes the upper housing that is open to the surface of the conductive path structure, and the lower housing that is inserted into the upper housing from the opening side of the upper housing and is displaceable in the axial direction of the upper housing. The lower housing includes, on the lower end side in the axial direction, the sensor element accommodation part that surrounds the sensor element and is fixed to the surface of the conductive path structure, and thus the lower housing can be protected from, for example, interference with another member of the sensor element. Also, by providing the biasing member between the upper housing and the lower housing, it is possible to bias the lower housing toward the plate material provided on the rear surface of the conductive path structure using elastic recovery of the biasing member. Therefore, for example, when the sensor unit is disposed above the detection target, the contact surface of the plate material can be reliably pressed against the detection target due to elastic recovery of the biasing member. As a result, the pressed state can be maintained. As a result, it is possible to provide the sensor unit that can realize reliable detection of the sensor element, with a downsized configuration in which the upper housing and the lower housing are coaxially arranged.
When the diameter of the lower housing is larger on the upper side in the axial direction (biasing member holding portion) than on the lower side in the axial direction (sensor element accommodation part), the stepped surface can be formed that extends over the entire periphery of the lower housing. Also, only with the pair of elastic locking pieces holding the lower housing protruding from the top wall part, it is possible to easily realize a configuration in which the lower housing is assembled to the upper housing in the axial direction in a suitable manner. When the radial dimension between the locking projections of the pair of elastic locking pieces is smaller than the radial dimension of the biasing member holding portion of the lower housing, it is possible to easily realize a configuration in which the locking projections of the pair of elastic locking pieces are locked to the stepped surface. Since the pair of elastic locking pieces are deflectable and deformable outward in the radial direction, when inserting the biasing member holding portion of the lower housing from the lower end side (locking protrusion side) of the pair of elastic locking pieces, the biasing member holding portion of the lower housing is allowed to be inserted toward the top wall part of the upper housing due to the deflection and deformation of the pair of elastic locking pieces outward in the radial direction. Then, when the engagement projection sliding over the outer circumferential surface of the lower housing moves beyond the stepped surface of the lower housing, the pair of elastic locking pieces elastically recover inward in the radial direction, and the locking projections are locked to the stepped surface of the lower housing. With this, a displacement end of the lower housing to the plate material side is defined, and the lower housing is mounted and held in a state in which it is displaceable with respect to the upper housing in the axial direction. By employing such a structure, it is possible to provide the sensor unit that can reliably press and hold the contact surface of the plate material against a detection target.
With this configuration, the battery wiring module to be mounted to the cell group that is a detection target is configured as a sensor unit-equipped battery wiring module provided with the sensor unit. Also, the case of the battery wiring module includes a sensor unit arrangement region to be arranged on a battery cell that is a detection target, and the sensor unit is arranged in the sensor unit arrangement region in a state in which the plate material of the sensor unit is accessible to the battery cell. With this, just by assembling the sensor unit-equipped battery wiring module to the battery cell group from above, it is possible to bring the contact surface of the plate material of the sensor unit into contact with the battery cell that is a detection target. Moreover, a plate material obtained by folding the planar metal plate in half so that the portion in which a burr is formed is arranged on the inner side in the folding direction is used as the plate material of the sensor unit, making it possible to suppress a breakage of the conductive path structure and a reduction in detection accuracy, while simplifying the manufacturing process and reducing the manufacturing cost.
The following will describe specific examples of the sensor unit and the sensor unit-equipped battery wiring module of the present disclosure with reference to the drawings. Note that the present disclosure is not limited to these examples, but rather is indicated by the scope of claims and is intended to include all modifications within a meaning and scope equivalent to the scope of claims.
A sensor unit-equipped battery wiring module 12 equipped with a sensor unit 10 according to Embodiment 1 of the present disclosure will be described with reference to
The battery cell group 16 includes the plurality of battery cells 14 lined up in a line. Note that in
The plurality of battery cells 14 are lined up along a predetermined direction in a battery case 18. More specifically, the battery cells 14 each have an electrode forming surface from which a pair of positive electrode terminal 20a and negative electrode terminal 20b constituting an electrode terminal 20 protrude. Hereinafter, the electrode forming surface may be referred to as an upper surface of the corresponding battery cell 14. The plurality of battery cells 14 are lined up in the battery case 18 with the electrode forming surfaces thereof directed upward. Furthermore, the plurality of battery cells 14 are lined up such that the positive electrode terminals 20a and the negative electrode terminals 20b of adjacent battery cells 14 are alternately placed.
A not shown separator made of a resin or the like is disposed between adjacent battery cells 14, and the plurality of battery cells 14 are lined up in the battery case 18 with small gaps therebetween so that their side surfaces do not come into close contact with each other. Due to small gaps formed between adjacent battery cells 14, at least heat dissipation properties of the battery cells 14 can be ensured.
The sensor unit-equipped battery wiring module 12 is mounted on the battery cell group 16 to connect the battery cells 14 in parallel to each other. The sensor unit-equipped battery wiring module 12 is attached to terminal rows 20c.
As shown in
The busbars 22 electrically connect the negative electrode terminal 20b of the rear-most battery cell 14 and the positive electrode terminal 20a of the front-most battery cell 14. Also, each busbar 22 electrically connects a positive electrode 20a and a negative electrode terminal 20b that are adjacent to each other. With this, the plurality of battery cells 14 are connected in series to each other.
Each busbar 22 is a conductor, for example, a plate-shaped member made of copper, and has through holes 30 in a central portion. By inserting not-shown bolts into the through holes 30 and fastening the bolts, the busbar 22 can be fixed to and electrically connected to the positive electrode terminal 20a and/or the negative electrode terminal 20b.
The cases 26 are, for example, insulating plate members made of a synthetic resin, and each have, on both sides in a width direction (left-right direction), a plurality of holes into which a positive electrode terminal 20a and a negative electrode terminal 20b of the battery cell group 16 are respectively inserted. The size of the case 26 corresponds to the surfaces of the battery cell group 16 from which the positive electrode terminals 20a or the negative electrode terminals 20b protrude. The busbar receiving frame 24 of the case 26 is a groove whose cross-section is U-shaped, and the busbars 22 are received in the groove and are placed at the bottom.
Also, a conductive path structure routing route 34 in which a conductive path structure 32 is routed (see
The cover parts 28 are insulating planar plate members made of synthetic resin. Each cover part 28 has, at the outer periphery thereof, a plurality of engagement parts 36 extending downward, and the cover part 28 is fixed and attached to the corresponding case 26 when the engagement parts 36 engage with corresponding engaged parts 38 provided on the case 26 (see
The sensor unit 10 is a unit that is placed onto a single battery cell 14, which serves as a detection target, from above. The sensor unit 10 includes the band-shaped and flexible conductive path structure 32, a sensor element 40 connected to an end of the conductive path structure 32, and a plate material 42 attached to the conductive path structure 32.
As shown in
As shown in
As shown in
With this, even if a gap is created between the first planar plate portion 54a and the second planar plate portion 54b, it is possible to suppress a reduction in heat conductivity between the first planar plate portion 54a and the second planar plate portion 54b via the thermally conductive resin 55 whose thermal conductivity is greater than that of an air layer. Note that a configuration is also possible in which the overlapping surfaces of the first planar plate portion 54a and the second planar plate portion 54b are in intimate contact with each other, and the thermally conductive resin 55 does not need to be provided. Here, as the thermally conductive resin 55, specifically, a silicone resin, a non-silicone acrylic resin or ceramic resin, or the like can be used. More specifically, examples of the material of the thermally conductive resin 55 include a heat dissipation gap filler, a heat conductive grease, a heat conductive silicone rubber, and the like that are made a silicone resin. Also, the thermally conductive resin 55 may be sheet-shaped and elastically deformable, so that the thickness thereof changes according to the force applied in the up-down direction.
As shown in
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The support portion 82 of the lower housing 58 provided on its upper end side in the axial direction has a diameter larger than the sensor element accommodation part 77 provided on the lower end side in the axial direction, and a stepped surface 84 is provided between the support portion 82 and the sensor element accommodation part 77. The support portion 82 has cut-off portions in the circumferential wall 86 that face each other in the left-right direction, and are cut off over the entire length in the up-down direction.
As shown in
The following will describe an overview of a method for assembling the sensor unit-equipped battery wiring module 12 according to Embodiment 1 of the present disclosure. First, the sensor element 40 is soldered to the pair of connection parts 50 provided on the surface 48 at an end of the conductive path structure 32. Then, the plate material 42 is fixed to the rear surface 52 at one end of the conductive path structure 32 at a position opposite to the sensor element 40. Then, the lower housing 58 surrounds the sensor element 40 and is fixed to the surface 48 at the end of the conductive path structure 32, and the sealing material 79 is injected into the sensor element accommodation part 77 and is hardened. Subsequently, the conductive path structure 32 is arranged on the conductive path structure routing route 34 provided on the surface side of the case 26. The other end of the conductive path structure 32 is connected to the connector 94, and the connector 94 is attached to the rear end of the conductive path structure routing route 34. Then, the biasing member 80 is pressed against the positioning protrusion 70 while being positioned such that the axis of the biasing member 80 is aligned with the axis of the positioning protrusion 70 of the upper housing 56 provided in the sensor unit arrangement region A. At this time, as a result of the proximal portion 88a and the distal portion 88c of the engagement projection 88 of the biasing member 80 respectively engaging with the first guide surface 74a and the second guide surface 74b of the guide recess 74 of the positioning protrusion 70, the engagement projection 88 and the biasing member 80 are positioned in the circumferential direction of the positioning protrusion 70. With this, the engagement projection 88 of the biasing member 80 is deflected and deformed inward in the axial direction of the biasing member 80, allowing the positioning protrusion 70 to be inserted into the biasing member 80. Then, the engagement projection 88 of the biasing member 80 is guided by the guide recess 74 and reaches the receiving recess 72. As a result, the engagement projection 88 elastically recovers, and is received and locked in the receiving recess 72, so that the biasing member 80 is held by the positioning protrusion 70.
Then, one end of the conductive path structure 32 is moved toward the rear surface of the case 26 through an opening 92 (see
Then, the case 26 having such a configuration is assembled to the battery cell group 16. As a result, as shown in
According to the sensor unit 10 of the present disclosure having the above-described configuration, the metal plate material 42 fixed to the rear surface 52 of the conductive path structure 32 has a shape obtained by folding a single planar metal plate 54 in a plate thickness direction in half. With this, a portion in which a burr is formed is arranged on the inner side in the folding direction. That is to say, the inventors and the like of the present application focused on the fact that a portion in which a burr is formed is limited to one end of a cut surface (side surface) of a single planar metal plate 54, and employed the plate material 42 having a shape obtained by folding a single planar metal plate 54 in a plate thickness direction in half, so that the portion in which a burr is formed is arranged on the inner side in the folding direction. With this, even if the planar metal plate 54 constituting the plate material 42 has a burr, the burr will be arranged on the inner side in the folding direction. This prevents such a situation that a burr is arranged on one surface side on which the plate material 42 is fixed to the rear surface 52 of the conductive path structure 32, or on the other surface side on which the plate material 42 comes into contact with the battery cell 14 that is a detection target. Accordingly, even if the metal plate material 42 is employed, such situations are suppressed that a burr comes into contact with the conductive path structure 32 to break the conductive path structure 32, or a gap or backlash is created between the battery cell 14 that is a detection target, and the plate material 42 due to a burr to reduce the detection accuracy of the sensor element 40. Moreover, since a deburring process, which was needed for a conventional plate material, is no longer required, it is possible to simplify the manufacturing process and reduce the manufacturing cost. Particularly, in the present embodiment, since the sensor element 40 is a temperature sensor, the heat collecting effects of the plate material 42 can be used to stabilize the detection of the sensor element 40.
The sensor unit 10 further includes: an upper housing 56 that is open to the surface 48 of the conductive path structure 32; and a lower housing 58 that is inserted into the upper housing 56 from the opening side of the upper housing 56 and is displaceable in the axial direction of the upper housing 56. The lower housing 58 includes, on the lower end side in the axial direction, the sensor element accommodation part 77 that surrounds the sensor element 40 and is fixed to the surface 48 of the conductive path structure 32, and thus the lower housing 58 can be protected from, for example, interference with another member of the sensor element 40. Also, by providing the biasing member 80 between the upper housing 56 and the lower housing 58, it is possible to bias the lower housing 58 toward the plate material 42 provided on the rear surface 52 of the conductive path structure 32. Therefore, for example, when the sensor unit 10 is disposed above the battery cell 14 that is a detection target, the plate material 42 can be held in a state in which the contact surface to the battery cell 14 is reliably pressed against the battery cell 14 due to elastic recovery of the biasing member 80. As a result, it is possible to provide the sensor unit 10 that can realize reliable detection of the sensor element 40, with a downsized configuration in which the upper housing 56 and the lower housing 58 are coaxially arranged.
When the diameter of the lower housing 58 is larger in the support portion 82 on the upper side in the axial direction than in the sensor element accommodation part 77 on the lower side in the axial direction, the stepped surface 84 of the lower housing 58 can be formed over the entire periphery thereof. Also, only with the pair of elastic locking pieces 62 holding the lower housing 58 protruding from the top wall part 60 of the upper housing 56, it is possible to easily realize a configuration in which the lower housing 58 is assembled to the upper housing 56 in the axial direction in a suitable manner. More specifically, the radial dimension between the locking projections 64 of the pair of elastic locking pieces 62 is smaller than the radial dimension of the support portion 82 of the lower housing 58. With this, when inserting the support portion 82 of the lower housing 58 from the lower end side (locking projection 64 side) of the pair of elastic locking pieces 62, the support portion 82 is allowed to be inserted into the upper housing 56 toward the top wall part 60 due to the deflection and deformation of the pair of elastic locking pieces 62 outward in the radial direction. Then, when the engagement projection 64 sliding over the outer circumferential surface of the lower housing 58 moves beyond the stepped surface 84 of the lower housing 58, the pair of elastic locking pieces 62 elastically recover inward in the radial direction, and the locking projections 64 are locked to the stepped surface 84 of the lower housing 64. With this, a displacement end of the lower housing 58 on the plate material 42 side is defined, and the lower housing 58 is mounted and held in a state in which it is displaceable with respect to the top wall part 60 of the upper housing 56 in the axial direction. By employing such a structure, it is possible to provide the sensor unit 10 that can reliably press and hold the contact surface of the plate material 42 against the battery cell 14 that is a detection target.
The battery wiring module to be mounted to the cell group 16 that is a detection target is configured as a sensor unit-equipped battery wiring module 12 provided with the sensor unit 10. The case 26 of the sensor unit-equipped battery wiring module 12 includes a sensor unit arrangement region A that is arranged on the battery cell 14 that is a detection target. In the sensor unit arrangement region A, the sensor unit 10 is arranged in a state in which the plate material 42 of the sensor unit 10 is accessible to the battery cell 14. With this, just by assembling the sensor unit-equipped battery wiring module 12 to the battery cell group 16 from above, it is possible to bring the contact surface of the plate material 42 of the sensor unit 10 into contact with the battery cell 14 that is a detection target. Moreover, a plate material obtained by folding the planar metal plate 54 in half so that the portion in which a burr is formed is arranged on the inner side in the folding direction is used as the plate material 42 of the sensor unit 10. Therefore, it is possible to suppress a breakage of the conductive path structure 32 and a reduction in detection accuracy of the sensor element 40, while simplifying the manufacturing process and reducing the manufacturing cost.
The upper housing 56 is arranged in the sensor unit arrangement region A so as to be open to the battery cell 14. With this, it is possible to realize reliable biasing of the plate material 42 toward the battery cell 14 using the biasing structure with the upper housing 56, the lower housing 58, and the biasing member 80. Moreover, since the upper housing 56 is formed in one piece with the case 26, it is possible to improve the handling of the sensor unit-equipped battery wiring module 12 and reduce the number of members. Accordingly the workability of assembling the sensor unit-equipped battery wiring module 12 to the battery cell group 16 can be improved.
The technology described herein is not limited to the embodiments described above and illustrated in the drawings, and for example, the following embodiments are also included in the technical scope of the technology described herein.
Since the guide surfaces 100 can be provided at four positions of the positioning protrusion 98 distanced from each other in the circumferential direction, there are many directions in which the biasing member 80 can be assembled to the positioning protrusion 98, making it possible to improve the assembling workability. Also, the arc-shaped outer circumferential surface portions 104 are arranged in the respective gaps in the circumferential direction between the four flat-surface shaped guide surfaces 100 provided on the positioning protrusion 98. Therefore, even if the circumferential position of the engagement projection 101 is shifted from a guide surface, the engagement projection 88 abutting against an arc-shaped outer circumferential surface portion 104 is guided toward the guide surface 100, and the engagement projection 101 of the engagement projection 88 can be advantageously guided to the correct circumferential position, and can be reliably locked into the locking recess 102.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2021-088579 | May 2021 | JP | national |
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/JP2022/005524 | 2/11/2022 | WO |
