The present application relates to the technical field of secondary batteries, in particular to a top cover assembly, a secondary battery and an electric equipment.
Owing to such advantages as high energy density, high power density, multiple cycles and long storage time, secondary batteries such as lithium-ion batteries are widely used in electric vehicles. During the actual use of the secondary batteries, it is found that a cell has such safety risks as fire and explosion.
One technical problem to be solved in the present application is to reduce such risks as fire or explosion of secondary batteries when the secondary batteries are subjected to high voltage.
To solve the above technical problem, the present application on a first aspect provides a top cover assembly of a secondary battery, including:
a top cover plate, provided with an electrode extraction hole;
a sealing member, including a first sealing part, wherein the first sealing part is arranged on an upper surface of the top cover plate; and
a lower insulating member, provided with a first insulating part and a second insulating part which are connected with each other, wherein the first insulating part is arranged below the top cover plate, the second insulating part extends upwards from the first insulating part and at least part of the second insulating part is located in the electrode extraction hole, one of the second insulating part and the sealing member is provided with a groove, the other one of the second insulating part and the sealing member includes a first matching part, and the first matching part is embedded into the groove and is sealed with a bottom wall of the groove.
In some embodiments, the sealing member is provided with the groove, and the second insulating part includes the first matching part.
In some embodiments, the groove is arranged on a lower surface of the first sealing part.
In some embodiments, the first sealing part is embedded with the top cover plate through the groove; or the lower surface of the first sealing part is provided with a slot, and the first sealing part is embedded with the top cover plate through the slot.
In some embodiments, a side surface of the first matching part, which is far away from a central axis of the electrode extraction hole, is configured to be a first inclined surface, and the first inclined surface is gradually close to the central axis of the electrode lead-out hole along a direction from bottom to top.
In some embodiments, at least part of an inner wall of the electrode lead-out hole is configured to be a second inclined surface, and the second inclined surface is gradually close to the central axis of the electrode lead-out hole along the direction from bottom to top.
In some embodiments, the first matching part is sealed with a side wall of the groove which is adjacent to a central axis of the electrode extraction hole.
In some embodiments, the sealing member includes a second sealing part, and the second sealing part extends downwards from the first sealing part and at least part of the second sealing part is located in the electrode extraction hole.
In some embodiments, the second insulating part includes a second matching part, the second matching part is connected to a side surface of the first matching part which is adjacent to a central axis of the electrode extraction hole, and the second matching part is sealed with a lower end of the second sealing part.
In some embodiments, a top end of the second matching part is sealed with the lower end of the second sealing part.
In some embodiments, the top end of the second matching part is lower than a top end of the first matching part.
The present application on a second aspect provides a secondary battery, and the secondary battery includes the top cover assembly of the present application.
By embedding and sealing the sealing member and the lower insulating member, the present application can effectively extend the creepage distance, thereby reducing such risks as fire or explosion when the secondary battery is subjected to high voltage.
The present application on a third aspect provides an electric equipment, the electric equipment includes the secondary battery of the present application, and the secondary battery is configured to provide electric energy.
Other characteristics and advantages of the present application will become clear through a detailed description of the exemplary embodiments of the present application with reference to the accompanying drawings below.
In order to more clearly illustrate technical solutions in embodiments of the present application or in the prior art, a brief introduction will be given below on accompanying drawings which need to be used in the description of the embodiments or the prior art. Apparently, the accompanying drawings described below are merely some embodiments of the present application. Those skilled in the art can obtain other accompanying drawings according to these drawings without any creative effort.
Reference numerals in the drawings:
1, secondary battery;
11, terminal assembly; 111, terminal plate;
12, sealing member; 121, first sealing part; 122, second sealing part; 121a, groove;
13, top cover plate; 131, electrode lead-out hole; 131a, second inclined surface;
14, lower insulating member; 141, first insulating part; 142, second insulating part; 142a, first matching part; 142b, second matching part; 14a, first inclined surface;
15, connecting plate; 151, tab connecting part; 152, terminal connecting part;
16, electrode assembly; 161, tab;
17, case.
A clear and complete description will be given below on the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application in combination with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present application below, and apparently the embodiments described below are only a part but not all of the embodiments of the present application. The description of at least one exemplary embodiment below is merely illustration, rather than serving as any limitation to the present application and applications or uses thereof. Based upon the embodiments of the present application, all the other embodiments which can occur to those skilled in the art without any inventive effort shall fall into the protection scope of the present application.
The techniques, methods and devices known to those of ordinary skills in the art may not be discussed in detail, however, under appropriate conditions, the techniques, methods and devices should be deemed as a part of the authorized description.
In the description of the present application, it should be understood that, the orientation or positional relationship indicated by such nouns of locality as “front, rear, up, down, left, right”, “transverse, longitudinal, vertical, horizontal” and “top, bottom” is generally based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and is merely for facilitating description of the present application and for simplifying the description. In the absence of an opposite statement, these nouns of locality do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must be located in a certain orientation or must be configured or operated in a certain orientation, therefore, these nouns of locality cannot be understood as a limitation to the protection scope of the present application; and such nouns of locality as “inside, outside” refer to the inside or outside of the outline of each part itself.
In the description of the present application, it should be understood that, the defining of components and parts by such terms as “first” and “second” is merely for the convenience of distinguishing corresponding components and parts, unless otherwise stated, the above terms have no special meanings, therefore, such terms cannot be understood as a limitation to the protection scope of the present application.
In addition, the technical features involved in different embodiments of the present application described below can be combined mutually as long as they do not conflict with each other.
At present, the voltage of a complete vehicle system is about 300V to 900V. When a cell is abnormal, an internal circuit or a fuse (a fusing structure) will be disconnected, at this time, the cell will be subjected to a reverse high voltage of the system, however, the safety distance inside the existing secondary battery is not sufficient, therefore, the cell which is subjected to a reverse high voltage will have such safety risks as fire or explosion.
As shown in
The case 17, for accommodating the electrode assembly 16 and the like, is provided with a cavity inside and a top opening. The case 17 may be made of metal materials including aluminium, aluminum alloy or nickel-plated steel.
The electrode assembly 16, as a core part of the secondary battery 1, is accommodated in the cavity inside the case 17, and is formed by stacking or winding of a first electrode plate, a second electrode plate and an insulating spacer arranged between the first electrode plate and the second electrode plate. One of the first electrode plate and the second electrode plate is served as a positive electrode plate, while the other one is served as a negative electrode plate, and the first electrode plate and the second electrode plate both have a coating part coated with an active substance and tabs 161 which extend outwards from the coating part and are not coated with the active substance. The electric energy produced by the electrode assembly 16 is transmitted outwards through the tabs 161. The tab 161 corresponding to the positive electrode plate is called a positive tab (the tab 161 arranged on the right side in the figure), while the tab 161 corresponding to the negative electrode plate is called a negative tab (the tab 161 arranged on the left side in the figure).
The top cover assembly covers on the top opening of the case 17, and is configured to provide a sealed space for the electrode assembly 16 and electrolyte in the cavity inside the case 17, and is configured to guide the electric energy produced by the electrode assembly 16 out of the case 17. As shown in
The top cover plate 13 covers on the top opening of the case 17, and provides an installation foundation for the terminal assembly 11, the sealing member 12 and the lower insulating member 14. As can be seen from
The terminal assembly 11, the sealing member 12 and the lower insulating member 14 are all arranged on the top cover plate 13, and corresponding to the two tabs 161, the number of the terminal assemblies 11, the sealing members 12 and the lower insulating members 14 is also two, wherein the terminal assembly 11, the sealing member 12 and the lower insulating member 14 corresponding to the positive tab form one group, while the terminal assembly 11, the sealing member 12 and the lower insulating member 14 corresponding to the negative tab form the other group, and the structures of the two groups are generally set to be the same, to simplify the structures. Therefore, one of the groups is mainly described below. If two groups need to be mentioned, then the groups are respectively named as “positive” and “negative”, to facilitate distinguishing.
The terminal assembly 11 is arranged above the top cover plate 13 and is configured to be electrically connected with the tab 161. The terminal assembly 11 includes an electrode terminal and a terminal fixed member, the electrode terminal is electrically connected with the tab 161, and the electrode terminal is connected with the top cover plate 13 through the terminal fixed member.
The electrode terminal may be implemented as a pole extending into the case 17, or a terminal plate outside the case 17. As shown in
In the present embodiment, the terminal plate 111 is electrically connected with the tab 161 through a connecting plate 15. The connecting plate 15 is arranged between the electrode assembly 16 and the top cover assembly, and is configured to electrically connect the tab 161 with the terminal plate 111, so as to transmit the electric energy produced by the electrode assembly 16 to the terminal plate 111, thereby facilitating the terminal plate 111 to draw the electric energy out of the secondary battery 1. It can be seen from
To simplify the structure, in the present embodiment, the two connecting plates 15 adopt the same structure. As shown in
Moreover, in combination with
The sealing member 12 is arranged between the top cover plate 13 and the terminal plate 111, and is configured to seal the electrolyte and the like, to prevent leakage of the electrolyte, thus improving operational reliability of the secondary battery 1. The lower insulating member 14 is configured to realize insulation between the top cover plate 13 and the electrode assembly 16 and the connecting plate 15, and the lower insulating member 14 is generally made of insulating materials including plastics.
In the process of practicing the present application, the inventor found that, when being matched, the sealing member 12 and the lower insulating member 14 generally do not contact or connect, or only contact but do not connect. Under such a condition, the creepage distance between the top cover plate 13 and the terminal plate 111 is short, meanwhile, the sealing effect of the sealing member 12 is poor, much electrolyte exists on the creepage distance, and the resistance is small, and these are important reasons that cause high-pressure discharge of the secondary battery 1 fire and even explosion under high voltage).The creepage distance refers to the shortest distance between two conducting parts along the surface of solid insulating materials. The longer the creepage distance is, the lower the risk of high-pressure discharge between conductors is.
In addition, the sealing member 12 arranged between the top cover plate 13 and the terminal plate 111 will be squeezed by the top cover plate 13 and the terminal plate 111, and thus be deformed (including deformation along a radial direction of the electrode lead-out hole 131), therefore, in the case that the sealing member 12 and the lower insulating member 14 only contact but do not connect, even if the two are expected to be sealed through contact, however, since the two are not connected with each other, after the sealing member 12 is deformed, the contact area between the sealing member 12 and the lower insulating member 14 will become small, even the two will be separated from each other and cannot contact, such that an expected sealing effect cannot be achieved, and even sealing failure may occur.
In view of the above situation, in the present application, the structure of the top cover assembly is improved, and the sealing member 12 of the top cover assembly is embedded with and sealed with the lower insulating member 14, thereby achieving at least one effect of extending the creepage distance and improving tightness, and further lowering the risk of high-pressure discharge of the secondary battery 1.
As shown in
By utilizing the match between the first matching part 142a and the groove 121a, the sealing member 12 and the lower insulating member 14 are embedded and sealed with each other, and in the present application, the creepage distance between the top cover plate 13 or the connecting plate 15 and the terminal plate 111 can be extended, thereby effectively lowering the risk of high-pressure discharge of the secondary battery 1.
Meanwhile, the sealing member 12 is in interface seal with the lower insulating member 14, thereby reducing electrolyte on the creepage distance, increasing the resistance, reducing current at a constant voltage, and further lowering the risk of high-pressure discharge.
Moreover, different from the structural form in which the sealing member 12 and the lower insulating member 14 are not connected with each other, in the present application, one of the sealing member 12 and the lower insulating member 14 is embedded into the other , such that the two are connected in an embedding manner (or called a clamping manner), since this can restrict the relative positional relationship of the two to a certain extent, the positional relationship and sealing interface of the two will not be influenced too much by the deformation of the sealing member 12, thus such problems as poor sealing or even failed sealing between the sealing member 12 and the lower insulating member 14 caused by the deformation of the sealing member 12 can be effectively prevented, thereby the sealing effect of the two being improved, and the risk of high-pressure discharge being lowered.
A further description will be given below on the top cover assembly of the present application with the structures shown in
As shown in
As can be seen from
As shown in
As shown in
Moreover, as shown in
Specifically, it can be known from
The first matching part 142a is sealed with the groove 121a, such that the environmental medium between the top cover plate 13 and the terminal plate 111 and the connecting plate 15 is changed from air or electrolyte into the lower insulating member 14, therefore, the creepage distance is increased, and the electrolyte on the creepage distance is reduced, thus helping to lower the risk of safety accidents of the secondary battery 1 due to bearing reverse high voltage. Moreover, the first matching part 142a is simultaneously in sealed match with the bottom wall and the side wall of the groove 121a, such that more than one sealing interface is formed between the first matching part 142a and the first sealing part 121, the overall seal between the first matching part 142a and the first sealing part 121 will not fail due to the failure of one of the sealing interfaces, therefore, the sealing reliability is higher.
Meanwhile, the sealing member 12 is clamped with the lower insulating member 14 through the embedding between the first matching part 142a and the groove 121a, relative to the condition in which the sealing member 12 is not connected with the lower insulating member 14, the relative positions of the two are not restricted, and the sealing interface between the two is not easily damaged due to the extrusion deformation of the sealing member 12, therefore, the problem of failed sealing caused by the deformation of the sealing member 12 can be effectively prevented. The sealing interface between the first matching part 142a and the bottom wall of the groove 121a is especially not influenced by the extrusion deformation of the sealing member 12. When the sealing member 12 is deformed towards the electrode lead-out hole and down due to extrusion, a good contact sealing relationship between the first matching part 142a with the bottom wall of the groove 121a can be maintained, therefore, the sealing effect is good, and the sealing reliability is high. Moreover, as mentioned above, the groove 121a in the present embodiment is also embedded with the top cover plate 13 simultaneously, and under such a condition, the top cover plate 13 can further restrict the deformation of the sealing member 12 when the sealing member 12 is squeezed, and reduce changes in shape and position of the groove 121a in the deformation process of the sealing member 12, such that the embedding and sealed matching relationship between the groove 121a and the first matching part 142a is more stable, thereby being beneficial for realizing a more effective and reliable sealing effect.
In addition, as mentioned above, in the present embodiment, the lower insulating member 14 is not only in sealed match with the sealing member 12 through the first matching part 142a, but also in sealed match with the sealing member 12 through the second matching part 142b, based on this, the sealing interfaces between the lower insulating member 14 and the sealing member 12 are further increased, and the sealing area are enlarged, thereby being beneficial for further improving the sealing effect, and improving the operating safety of the secondary battery 1.
Specifically, as shown in
The top end of the second matching part 142b may abut against the lower end of the second sealing part 122, and the two interfere with each other to form an interference fit, such that a tighter and more reliable sealed matching relationship can be realized between the second matching part 142b and the second sealing part 122.
Moreover, as can be seen from
In addition, it can be known from
To facilitate assembly of the second insulating part 142 and the sealing member 12, at least part of an inner wall of the electrode lead-out hole 131 may be configured to be a second inclined surface 131a, and the second inclined surface 131a is gradually close to the central axis of the electrode lead-out hole 131 along the direction from bottom to top. Specifically, as shown in
It can be known in combination with the above that, as to the top cover assembly in the embodiments shown in
However, to improve use safety and operating reliability of the secondary battery 1, the structure of the top cover assembly is not limited to what is shown in the above
As a variant of the top cover assembly shown in
As another variant of the top cover assembly shown in
As still another variant of the top cover assembly shown in
As still another variant of the top cover assembly shown in
The present application further provides a battery module which includes the secondary battery 1 of the present application.
The present application further provides an electric equipment which includes the secondary battery 1 of the present application, and the secondary battery 1 is configured to provide electric energy.
The above are merely exemplary embodiments of the present application, and are not used for limiting the present application. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions and improvements made within the spirit and principle of the present application shall all fall within the protection scope of the present application.
Number | Date | Country | Kind |
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201920678452.3 | May 2019 | CN | national |
The present application is a National Stage Application of International Application No. PCT/CN2020/085442 filed on Apr. 17, 2020, which claims the priority of the Chinese patent application No. 201920678452.3, filed with the Chinese Patent Office on May 14, 2019 and entitled “Top Cover Assembly and Secondary Battery”, both of which are incorporated herein by reference in their entireties.
Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
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PCT/CN2020/085442 | 4/17/2020 | WO | 00 |