Snap-Fit Battery Cell Connections for Flexible Pack Assembly
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current battery manufacturing techniques face inefficiencies in connecting battery cells, leading to poor contact, misalignment, and difficulty in adjusting the number of cells, which affects production efficiency and reliability.
Innovation Solution
The use of snap-fit bodies on cathodes and anodes of battery cells allows for easy connection and adjustment of cells, ensuring reliable electrical contact and simplified manufacturing by limiting movement and allowing for flexible grouping, with welding of the snap-fit structure to enhance connection strength.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Strength
If battery cells are connected by welding terminal posts directly, then connection strength is improved, but manufacturing complexity and time increase due to alignment difficulties
Solution Approach 1:
The snap-fit body acts as an intermediary component between terminal posts, providing a guiding structure that facilitates alignment during assembly. The snap-fit body with groove structure receives the protrusion from another terminal post, ensuring proper positioning before welding occurs, thereby reducing alignment complexity while maintaining connection strength.
Solution Approach 2:
The snap-fit bodies are pre-installed on terminal posts before assembly. This preliminary action ensures that alignment features are already in place, making the subsequent assembly and welding processes simpler and more reliable, as the guiding structure is prepared in advance rather than requiring complex alignment during final assembly.
2Productivity
If battery cells are connected using snap-fit bodies, then assembly efficiency is improved, but connection strength may be reduced compared to direct welding
Solution Approach 1:
The snap-fit body structure merges mechanical connection and welding functions into a single integrated component. The groove and protrusion structure provides mechanical interlocking that maintains connection strength, while the integrated design allows for simplified assembly followed by welding, combining the benefits of both mechanical and thermal connection methods.
3Ease of manufacture
If the number of battery cells is fixed during manufacturing, then production process is simplified, but adaptability to different usage requirements is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The battery pack is segmented into modular battery cell groups that can be independently assembled using snap-fit bodies. This segmentation allows for flexible configuration where cells can be easily added or removed by simply connecting or disconnecting the snap-fit bodies, enabling adaptation to different usage requirements while maintaining a simple modular production process.
4Device complexity
If terminal posts are connected without guiding structures, then device complexity is reduced, but misalignment and poor contact occur
Solution Approach 1:
The snap-fit body employs an asymmetric groove-protrusion design where the groove has specific dimensional characteristics that match the protrusion. This asymmetric geometry provides directional guidance during assembly, ensuring that terminal posts align correctly without requiring complex symmetric guiding structures, thereby maintaining simplicity while improving connection reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A battery includes two or more battery cells arranged in a first direction. One of a cathode and an anode of each of the battery cells is configured with a first snap-fit body, the other one of the cathode and the anode of each of the battery cells is configured with a second snap-fit body, the first snap-fit body of one of any two adjacent battery cells is snap-fit to the second snap-fit body of the other one of the any two adjacent battery cells, and movement of the battery cells connected by snap-fitting the first snap-fit body to the second snap-fit body in the first direction is limited.