Battery module and battery pack

Abstract

To provide a battery module that is more integrated, has improved convenience of maintenance, and requires a simple process, so that large-scale production is easily achieved.SOLUTION: A battery module includes: a casing including a bottom plate, side plates, a top plate, and end plates, where the side plates are arranged on opposite two sides of the bottom plate; the end plates are arranged on the other two sides of the bottom plate; and the top plate and the bottom plate and the side plates and the end plates are fixedly connected in order, to enclose and form an accommodating cavity; a fixed holder located in the accommodating cavity, mounted on the bottom plate, and provided with a plurality of rows of positioning grooves thereon; a cell stack comprising cylindrical cells arranged in a plurality of rows, where a top portion of each of the cylindrical cells is provided with an electrode terminal; a bottom portion of each of the cylindrical cells is provided with an explosion proof valve; and the bottom portions of the cylindrical cells are mounted in the positioning grooves; a CCS assembly mounted on one side of the cell stack close to the top plate and electrically connected to the electrode terminals of the cylindrical cells; and a cooling plate arranged on one side of the CCS assembly away from the cell stack.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 2

Description

[Technical Field]

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of battery cells, and in particular to battery modules and battery packs. [Background technology]

[0002] Power batteries are the power source for electric vehicles, and cell-to-pack (CTP) power batteries are a relatively common power battery structure. Power battery CTP technology eliminates the need for modules and directly connects multiple cylindrical cells in series and parallel. In the case of a CTP structure using cylindrical cells, the assembly process involves first arranging multiple cylindrical cells into groups to form cell groups, and then sealing the cell groups into a battery pack enclosure. However, if the CTP structure contains a large number of individual cylindrical cells, the grouping process becomes complicated, making overall sealing difficult. Furthermore, current cylindrical cell CTP structures commonly suffer from repair difficulties. For example, a quality problem with a single cylindrical cell can require the entire battery pack to be disassembled. Summary of the Invention [Problem to be solved by the invention]

[0003] In consideration of the above-mentioned drawbacks of the prior art, the object of the present invention is to provide a battery module and a battery pack that overcome the problems present in the structural form of the existing cylindrical cell CTP, such as a complicated grouping process and difficulty in sealing the whole, as well as the problem of difficulty in repair. [Means for solving the problem]

[0004] To achieve the above object and other related objects, the present invention includes a bottom plate, side plates, a top plate, and end plates. The side plates are provided on both opposite sides of the bottom plate, and the end plates are provided on the other two sides of the bottom plate. The top plate, the bottom plate, the side plates, and the end plates are sequentially fixedly connected to form a housing surrounding an accommodation cavity. A fixed holder is located in the accommodation cavity, mounted on the bottom plate, and provided with a plurality of rows of positioning grooves thereon. A cell stack includes a plurality of rows of cylindrical cells. Each cylindrical cell is provided with an electrode terminal at its top and an explosion-proof valve at its bottom. The bottom of the cylindrical cell is mounted in the positioning groove. A CCS assembly is mounted on the side of the cell stack close to the top plate and is electrically connected to the electrode terminals of the cylindrical cells. A cooling plate is provided on the side of the CCS assembly away from the cell stack. A battery module is provided.

[0005] In one embodiment of the present invention, a thermally conductive structural adhesive is further included, and the thermally conductive structural adhesive is filled in at least the space between the top of the cylindrical cell and the cooling plate.

[0006] In one embodiment of the present invention, the height of the thermally conductive structural adhesive occupies a range from one-fifth to one-fourth of the height of the cylindrical cell.

[0007] In one embodiment of the present invention, the thermally conductive structural adhesive wraps the CCS assembly and the electrode terminals of the cylindrical cells.

[0008] In one embodiment of the present invention, a sealing adhesive is further included, and the sealing adhesive fills the space around the cell stack that is not filled with the thermally conductive structural adhesive.

[0009] In one embodiment of the present invention, the side plates and the bottom plate form an integrated U-shaped frame structure.

[0010] In one embodiment of the present invention, the cooling plate is provided between the CCS assembly and the top plate, or the cooling plate and the top plate are integrated into an integral structure.

[0011] In one embodiment of the present invention, the outside of the top plate is covered with heat-insulating foam.

[0012] In one embodiment of the present invention, an exhaust passage is formed between the fixed holder and the bottom plate, and at least one of the two end plates is provided with an exhaust groove, and the exhaust groove communicates with the exhaust passage.

[0013] In one embodiment of the present invention, a plurality of convex structures are provided on the surface of the fixed holder close to the bottom plate, and the exhaust passage is formed between two adjacent convex structures and the bottom plate, and the positioning groove is located between two adjacent convex structures.

[0014] In one embodiment of the present invention, a low-voltage signal acquisition terminal is provided on one of the two end plates on opposite sides of the housing, and a high-voltage output terminal is provided on the other side. The low-voltage signal acquisition terminal and the high-voltage output terminal are each electrically connected to the CCS assembly, and the exhaust groove is provided at the bottom of the end plate on which the low-voltage signal acquisition terminal is mounted.

[0015] In one embodiment of the present invention, the positioning groove includes a through hole and a concave groove. The concave groove is located on the surface of the fixed holder away from the bottom plate, and the concave groove is arranged to surround the through hole. The bottom of the cylindrical cell is mounted in the concave groove, the explosion-proof valve corresponds to the through hole, and the through hole communicates with the exhaust passage.

[0016] The present invention further proposes a battery pack including at least one battery module described in any one of the above embodiments.

Advantages of the Invention

[0017] The battery module provided by the present invention and the battery pack composed of the battery module are simpler in process and more convenient for mass production compared with the conventional CTP structure. At the same time, the size of the battery module can be designed as required, and it can be applied in a wider range. Also, a small number of single cylindrical cells are stacked to form a cell stack, and by mounting it in the accommodation cavity formed by the housing and the end plate, the number of single cylindrical cells is reduced, realizing encapsulation in a small module, solving the problem that overall encapsulation was difficult in the CTP structure, and reducing the difficulty of the process.

[0018] The battery module and the battery pack provided by the present invention solve the problem that it is difficult to position the cylindrical cells in the CTP structure by providing a fixing holder for positioning the cylindrical cells in the module, thereby reducing the difficulty of the process. At the same time, an exhaust passage is formed between the fixing holder and the bottom plate to provide an exhaust passage when thermal runaway of the cells occurs in the module, improving its safety and avoiding the influence on the cells in other modules. Also, by packaging the battery module into a battery pack, when quality abnormality or thermal runaway occurs in the cells of a certain battery module, only the problematic battery module needs to be maintained or replaced, improving the convenience of overall maintenance.

[0019] The battery module and the battery pack provided by the present invention dissipate heat from the cylindrical cells by providing a cooling plate between the CCS assembly and the top plate, or integrating the cooling plate and the top plate into an integral structure. Further, a thermally conductive structural adhesive is filled in the space between at least the top of the cylindrical cell and the cooling plate to improve the heat dissipation effect of the cooling plate on the cylindrical cell and improve its safety. Also, in order to ensure the overall structural strength and stability, a sealing adhesive is filled in the space around the cell stack where the thermally conductive structural adhesive is not filled.

[0020] The technical solution in the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and briefly described below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings in the embodiments of the present invention. However, the described embodiments are only some embodiments of the present invention, not all embodiments. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without creative efforts are included within the protection scope of the present invention.

Brief Description of the Drawings

[0021]

Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

Figure 4

Figure 5

Figure 6

Figure 7

Figure 8

Figure 9

Figure 10

Embodiments for Carrying Out the Invention

[0022] Hereinafter, embodiments of the present invention will be described through specific examples. Those skilled in the art can easily understand other advantages and effects of the present invention from the disclosure of this specification. The present invention can also be implemented or applied through other different specific embodiments, and various details in this specification can also be modified or changed in various ways based on various viewpoints and applications without departing from the spirit of the present invention.

[0023] The diagrams provided in this embodiment only schematically show the basic concepts of the present invention. Therefore, in the drawings, only the elements related to the present invention are shown. The number, shape, and dimensions of the elements are not shown based on actual implementation. In actual implementation, the form, quantity, and ratio of each element can be arbitrarily changed, and the element layout form may become more complex.

[0024] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 10, the present invention provides a battery module and a battery pack that improve the problems existing in the existing cylindrical cell CTP structure form, such as the grouping process being complex, the overall encapsulation being difficult, and the repair being difficult. Specifically, if there is a problem with the quality of one cylindrical cell, it may affect the safety of the entire battery pack and even cause the entire battery pack to be discarded. Specifically, as shown in the figure, the battery module 100 includes a housing 10, a fixing holder 20, a cell stack 30, a CCS (Cell Contact System, integrated busbar system) element 40, and a cooling plate 50. An accommodation cavity is formed in the housing 10. The fixing holder 20 is installed in the accommodation cavity and is located at the bottom of the accommodation cavity. The cell stack 30 includes cylindrical cells 31 arranged in multiple rows. The cell stack 30 is mounted on the fixing holder 20. The fixing holder 20 is used for positioning and fixing each cylindrical cell 31. The CCS assembly 40 is provided on the surface of the cell stack 30 away from the fixing holder 20 and is electrically connected to the cylindrical cells 31. The cooling plate 50 is provided on the top of the cylindrical cells 31 and is used for heat dissipation of the cylindrical cells 31. That is, since the battery module 100 has structures such as a unique cooling plate 50 and a fixing holder 20, the integrity of the battery module 100 is higher.

[0025] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, in this embodiment, an electrode terminal 311 is provided at the top of each cylindrical cell 31, and an explosion-proof valve is provided at the bottom of the cylindrical cell 31. For example, the cylindrical cell 31 includes an electrode terminal 311, an explosion-proof valve, and a case 312. The electrode terminal 311 is provided at the top of the case 312, and the explosion-proof valve is provided at the bottom of the case 312 to achieve thermoelectric separation. In this embodiment, the cell stack 30 is formed by stacking a plurality of rows of cylindrical cells 31. Each row of the cylindrical cells 31 includes a plurality of single cylindrical cells 31. By sealing and filling the outside of each cylindrical cell 31 with a sealing adhesive 301, a plurality of single cells 31 are fixed together to form the cell stack 30. The sealing adhesive 301 can guarantee its overall structural strength and stability. At the same time, in the present invention, since the number of single cylindrical cells is small, encapsulation in a small module can be realized, solving the problem that it is difficult to achieve overall encapsulation in a CTP structure and reducing the difficulty of the process. It is understood that the shape of the sealing adhesive 301 shown in the figure is only a schematic diagram and not the actual shape. In this embodiment, the CCS assembly 40 is installed on the side close to the top plate 13 of the cell stack 30 and is electrically connected to the electrode terminal 311 of the cylindrical cell 31.

[0026] Referring to FIGS. 1 to 3, in this embodiment, the housing 10 includes a bottom plate 11, side plates 12, a top plate 13 and end plates 14. The side plates 12 are provided on both opposite sides of the bottom plate 11, and the end plates 14 are provided on the other two sides of the bottom plate 11. The top plate 13, the bottom plate 11, the side plates 12 and the end plates 14 are sequentially fixedly connected to surround and form an accommodation cavity. For example, the bottom plate 11, the side plates 12, the top plate 13 and the end plates 14 are fixedly connected by methods such as welding or engagement. Specifically, the side plate 12 includes a first side plate 121 and a second side plate 122, the end plate 14 includes a first end plate 141 and a second end plate 142. The first side plate 121 and the second side plate 122 are fixedly connected to both opposite sides of the bottom plate 11, the first end plate 141 and the second end plate 142 are provided on the other two sides of the bottom plate 11, and the top plate 13 sequentially surrounds the accommodation cavity with the first side plate 121, the second side plate 122, the first end plate 141 and the second end plate 142 respectively to form. In this embodiment, the first side plate 121 and the second side plate 122 have an integral structure with the bottom plate 11, that is, the first side plate 121, the second side plate 122 and the bottom plate 11 can be integrated into a U-shaped frame structure.

[0027] Referring to FIGS. 2 to 4, in this embodiment, a plurality of rows of positioning grooves 21 are provided in the fixing holder 20, and cylindrical cells 31 are correspondingly provided in each positioning groove 21 of each row. When the cell stack 30 is attached to the fixing holder 20, the bottom of the explosion-proof valve is attached to the corresponding positioning groove 21 in the cylindrical cell 31 to realize the positioning and attachment of the cylindrical cell 31. By providing the fixing holder 20 in the module, the problem that it is difficult to position the cylindrical cell in the CTP structure is solved, and the difficulty of the process is reduced.

[0028] Referring to FIGS. 2 to 6, in this embodiment, a fixing holder 20 is attached on the bottom plate 11, an exhaust passage 22 is formed between the fixing holder 20 and the bottom plate 11, and the exhaust passage 22 communicates with the positioning groove 21. Specifically, a plurality of convex structures 23 are provided on the surface of the fixing holder 20 close to the bottom plate 11, an exhaust passage 22 is formed between two adjacent convex structures 23 and the bottom plate 11, and the positioning groove 21 is positioned between two adjacent convex structures 23, so that the positioning groove 21 is blocked, avoiding affecting the opening and exhaust of the explosion-proof valve during thermal runaway. When thermal runaway occurs in the cylindrical cell 31, the discharged gas enters the exhaust passage 22 and is discharged to the outside through the exhaust passage 22, thus avoiding the occurrence of a chain reaction of thermal runaway and improving the safety of the battery module 100.

[0029] Referring to FIGS. 4 to 7, in this embodiment, the positioning groove 21 includes a through hole 211 and a concave groove 212. The through hole 211 communicates with the exhaust passage 22. The concave groove 212 is provided on the surface of the fixing holder 20 away from the bottom plate 11, and the concave groove 212 is arranged to surround the through hole 211. When the cylindrical cell 31 is attached in the positioning groove 21, the bottom of the explosion-proof valve provided on the cylindrical cell 31 is located in the concave groove 212, and the explosion-proof valve corresponds to the through hole 211. When the cylindrical cell 31 has a thermal runaway, the discharged gas enters the exhaust passage 22 through the through hole 211 and is discharged to the outside through the exhaust passage 22, thus avoiding the occurrence of a chain reaction of thermal runaway and improving the safety of the battery module 100.

[0030] Referring to FIGS. 2, 5, 8 to 10, in this embodiment, on one of the two end plates 14 on both opposite sides of the housing 10, a low-voltage signal acquisition terminal 144 is provided, and on the other, a high-voltage output terminal 145 is provided. The low-voltage signal acquisition terminal 144 and the high-voltage output terminal 145 are electrically connected to the CCS assembly 40 respectively. For example, the low-voltage signal acquisition terminal 144 is provided on the first end plate 141, and the high-voltage output terminal 145 is provided on the second end plate 142. By separating the high-voltage output and the low-voltage signal acquisition, the safety of the battery output can be improved. In this embodiment, an exhaust groove 143 is provided at the bottom of at least one of the two end plates 14, that is, the exhaust groove 143 is provided on at least one of the first end plate 141 and the second end plate 142. The exhaust groove 143 communicates with the exhaust passage 22 to discharge the gas generated by thermal runaway to the outside of the battery module 100. Preferably, the exhaust groove 143 is provided on the end plate 14 where the low-voltage signal acquisition terminal 144 is provided. For example, the exhaust groove 143 is provided at the bottom of the first end plate 141 and communicates with the exhaust passage 22. By separating the high-voltage connection and the thermal runaway exhaust, the safety of the battery module 100 can be improved.

[0031] Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, in this embodiment, since the positive and negative electrode output terminals of the cylindrical cell 31 are both located at its top, the heat generated by the cylindrical cell 31 mainly concentrates at the top position, and more heat is also generated in the CCS assembly 40. Therefore, in this embodiment, different from the conventional corrugated plate cooling method, a cooling plate 50 is provided at the top of the cell stack 30. Specifically, the cooling plate 50 is arranged on the side of the CCS assembly 40 away from the cell stack 30 to realize the heat dissipation of the cylindrical cell 31 and the CCS assembly 40. In some other embodiments, the cooling plate 50 and the top plate 13 are integrated into an integral structure, that is, a cooling flow path is provided in the top plate 13, and the top plate 13 is provided with a cooling function to dissipate heat from the cylindrical cell 31.

[0032] Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, in this embodiment, the outside of the cell stack 30 is, for example, divided into a sealing adhesive 301 and a thermally conductive structural adhesive 302 along the direction from the bottom to the top of the cylindrical cell 31, and a layered encapsulation method is adopted for encapsulation and fixation. The sealing adhesive 301 provides relatively strong mechanical strength, and the thermally conductive structural adhesive 302 can provide relatively strong heat transfer performance and certain mechanical strength. Therefore, the battery module 100 can be provided with favorable rigidity while ensuring its heat dissipation ability, and furthermore, the weight of the module can be reduced to a certain extent.

[0033] Referring to FIGS. 2 and 3, in this embodiment, the thermally conductive structural adhesive 302 fills at least the space between the top of the cylindrical cell 31 and the cooling plate 50, and the height of the thermally conductive structural adhesive 302 occupies between one-fifth and one-fourth of the height of the cylindrical cell 31 to improve the heat dissipation effect of the cooling plate 50. In this embodiment, the thermally conductive structural adhesive 302 further covers the CCS assembly 40 and the electrode terminal 311 of the cylindrical cell 31 to further improve the heat dissipation effect. In some other embodiments, the thermally conductive structural adhesive 302 further wraps the first region of the case 312, and the first region is the region of the portion extending downward from the electrode terminal 311 in the case 312, that is, the thermally conductive structural adhesive 302 wraps the region near the electrode terminal 311 of the case 312 to further improve the heat dissipation effect of the cooling plate. Furthermore, the space around the cell stack 30 that is not filled with the thermally conductive structural adhesive 302 is filled with the sealing adhesive 301. For example, the outside of the second region not wrapped by the thermally conductive structural adhesive 302 in the case 312 is wrapped by the sealing adhesive 301, and the sealing adhesive 301 can guarantee the rigidity of the battery module 100 and improve the stability of its structure. In this embodiment, the outside of the top plate 13 is further covered with a heat insulation foam 131 to further improve the heat dissipation ability of the battery module 100.

[0034] Referring to FIGS. 1 and 10, the present invention further provides a battery pack including at least one battery module 100. Since the battery module 100 is the same as or similar to the structure of the battery module 100 described in the above embodiment, in order to avoid duplication, the repeated description is omitted. With the battery pack composed of the battery module 100, even if there are quality problems or thermal runaway in the cells within a certain battery module 100, it is only necessary to maintain or replace only the problematic battery module 100, improving the convenience of overall maintenance.

[0035] The battery module provided by the present invention and the battery pack composed of the battery module are simpler in process and more convenient for mass production compared with the conventional CTP structure. At the same time, the size of the battery module can be designed as required, and it can be applied in a wider range. Also, by stacking a small number of single cylindrical cells to form a cell stack and mounting it in the accommodation cavity formed by the housing and the end plate, the number of single cylindrical cells is reduced, realizing encapsulation in a small module, solving the problem that overall encapsulation was difficult in the CTP structure, and reducing the difficulty of the process.

[0036] The battery module and the battery pack provided by the present invention solve the problem that it is difficult to position the cylindrical cells in the CTP structure by providing a fixing holder for positioning the cylindrical cells in the module, thereby reducing the difficulty of the process. At the same time, an exhaust passage is formed between the fixing holder and the bottom plate to provide an exhaust passage when thermal runaway occurs in the cells in the module, improving its safety and avoiding the influence on the cells in other modules. Also, by forming the battery module into a battery pack, when quality abnormalities or thermal runaway occur in the cells of a certain battery module, it is only necessary to maintain or replace only the problematic battery module, improving the convenience of overall maintenance.

[0037] The battery module and battery pack provided by the present invention dissipate heat from the cylindrical cells by providing a cooling plate between the CCS assembly and the top plate, or by integrating the cooling plate and the top plate into an integral structure. Furthermore, a thermally conductive structural adhesive is filled in the space between at least the top of the cylindrical cell and the cooling plate to improve the heat dissipation effect of the cooling plate on the cylindrical cell and enhance its safety. Also, in order to ensure the overall structural strength and stability, a sealing adhesive is filled in the space around the cell stack where the thermally conductive structural adhesive is not filled.

[0038] The above description is only a preferred embodiment of the present invention and only an explanation of the technical principles used. Those skilled in the art should understand that the scope covered by the present invention is not limited to the technical solutions formed by the above specific combinations. At the same time, the present invention includes other technical solutions formed by any combination of the above technical features or their equivalent features without departing from the concept of the present invention. For example, technical solutions formed by replacing each other with similar functions (but not limited to this) disclosed in the above features and the above description are also included.

[0039] Except for the technical features described, other technical features are known to those skilled in the art. Therefore, in order to emphasize the innovative features of the present invention, the description of other technical features is omitted here.

Industrial Applicability

[0040] The battery module and battery pack of the present invention can also be applied in the technical field of battery cells.

Explanation of Reference Numerals

[0041] 100: Battery module 10: Housing 11: Bottom plate 12: Side plate 121: First side plate 122: Second side plate 13: Top plate 131: Thermal insulation foam 14: End plate 141: First end plate 142: Second end plate 143: Exhaust groove 144: Low-voltage signal acquisition terminal 145: High-voltage output terminal 20: Fixed holder 21: Positioning groove 211: Through hole 212: Concave groove 22: Exhaust passage 23: Convex structure 30: Cell stack 31: Cylindrical cell 311: Electrode terminal 312: Case 301: Sealing adhesive 302: Thermally conductive structural adhesive 40: CCS assembly 50: Cooling plate

Claims

1. A housing including a bottom plate, side plates, a top plate, and end plates, wherein the side plates are provided on both opposite sides of the bottom plate, the end plates are provided on the other two sides of the bottom plate, and the top plate, the bottom plate, the side plates, and the end plates are sequentially fixedly connected to form a housing surrounding a receiving cavity; A fixed holder located within the receiving cavity, attached to the bottom plate, and having a plurality of rows of positioning grooves formed thereon; A cell stack including a plurality of rows of cylindrical cells, each cylindrical cell having an electrode terminal provided at the top thereof and an explosion-proof valve provided at the bottom thereof, and the bottom of the cylindrical cell being attached within the positioning groove; A CCS assembly attached to the side of the cell stack closer to the top plate and electrically connected to the electrode terminals of the cylindrical cells; A cooling plate provided on the side of the CCS assembly away from the cell stack. A battery module comprising the above components.

2. The battery module according to claim 1, further comprising a thermally conductive structural adhesive, wherein the thermally conductive structural adhesive is filled at least in the space between the top of the cylindrical cell and the cooling plate.

3. The battery module according to claim 2, wherein the height of the thermally conductive structural adhesive occupies a range between one-fifth and one-fourth of the height of the cylindrical cell.

4. The battery module according to claim 3, wherein the thermally conductive structural adhesive wraps the CCS assembly and the electrode terminals of the cylindrical cells.

5. The battery module according to claim 2, further comprising a sealing adhesive, wherein the sealing adhesive fills the space around the cell stack that is not filled with the thermally conductive structural adhesive.

6. The battery module according to claim 1, wherein the side plates and the bottom plate have an integrated U-shaped frame structure.

7. The battery module according to claim 1, wherein the cooling plate is provided between the CCS assembly and the top plate, or the cooling plate and the top plate are integrated into an integral structure.

8. The battery module according to claim 5, wherein the outside of the top plate is covered with a heat-insulating foam.

9. The battery module according to claim 1, wherein an exhaust passage is formed between the fixed holder and the bottom plate, and at least one of the two end plates is provided with an exhaust groove, and the exhaust groove communicates with the exhaust passage.

10. A plurality of convex structures are provided on a surface of the fixing holder close to the bottom plate, and the exhaust passage is formed between two adjacent convex structures and the bottom plate. The positioning groove is located between two adjacent convex structures. The battery module according to claim 9.

11. One of the two end plates on opposite sides of the housing is provided with a low-voltage signal acquisition terminal, and the other is provided with a high-voltage output terminal. The low-voltage signal acquisition terminal and the high-voltage output terminal are each electrically connected to the CCS assembly. The exhaust groove is provided at the bottom of the end plate where the low-voltage signal acquisition terminal is attached. The battery module according to claim 9.

12. The positioning groove includes a through hole and a concave groove. The concave groove is located on a surface of the fixing holder away from the bottom plate. The concave groove is arranged to surround the through hole. The bottom of the cylindrical cell is mounted in the concave groove. The explosion-proof valve corresponds to the through hole, and the through hole communicates with the exhaust passage. The battery module according to claim 9.

13. A battery pack including at least one battery module according to any one of claims 1 to 12.

Images