Battery Intermediate Member Protrusions for High-Energy Welding
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Solution Overview
Problem
The assembly process for medical device batteries often results in less-robust welded joints due to the transfer of heat-sensitive components during welding, leading to longer production times and increased costs, as conventional methods use lower-heat welding to prevent damage to internal components.
Innovation Solution
A battery assembly featuring a polymeric intermediate member with protrusions that align the electrode stack within the housing, providing thermal insulation and absorbing heat during welding, allowing for higher weld energy and more robust joints while preventing overheating or deformation of critical components.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If lower-heat welding is used to prevent damage to internal components, then component integrity is maintained, but welded joint strength is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a heat-resistant intermediate member positioned between the electrode stack and the battery housing. This intermediary component absorbs and shields heat during welding operations, allowing higher weld energies to be applied without damaging the heat-sensitive electrode stack. The intermediate member acts as a thermal buffer that mediates between the high-heat welding process and the heat-sensitive internal components.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent converts the harmful effect of high welding heat into a beneficial process by allowing the heat to be directed specifically at the intermediate member, which is designed to withstand and dissipate it. The heat that would otherwise damage the electrode stack is instead used to create strong welded joints in the battery housing, with the intermediate member serving as a heat sink that protects critical components.
2Strength
If higher weld energy is applied to create robust joints, then joint strength is improved, but internal components overheat and deform
Solution Approach 1:
The heat-resistant intermediate member serves as a protective intermediary that absorbs excess welding heat. It is positioned strategically between the welding zone and the electrode stack, allowing high-energy welds to be performed while the intermediate member takes on the thermal burden, preventing heat transfer to sensitive internal components.
Solution Approach 2:
The intermediate member is designed as a sacrificial component that may undergo thermal degradation or deformation during welding, but this is acceptable as it protects the much more valuable and critical electrode stack. The intermediate member is replaced if necessary, while the electrode stack remains intact and reusable.
3Productivity
If production time is reduced by using faster welding, then productivity increases, but weld quality and joint robustness decrease
Solution Approach 1:
The intermediate member enables faster welding cycles by absorbing the thermal shock of high-energy, short-duration welds. This allows the welding process to be completed more quickly without the need for slow, low-heat welding that would compromise joint strength. The intermediate member acts as a thermal buffer that permits aggressive, fast welding parameters.
4Manufacturing precision
If alignment precision is improved for electrode stack positioning, then manufacturing accuracy increases, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The intermediate member is designed to perform multiple functions simultaneously: it provides mechanical alignment features for precise electrode stack positioning, thermal protection during welding, and structural support within the battery housing. By combining these functions into a single component, the patent achieves precise alignment without proportionally increasing device complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The intermediate member incorporates localized alignment features such as protrusions or recesses at specific positions to ensure precise electrode stack positioning. Rather than making the entire intermediate member complex, only specific local areas have enhanced geometric features for alignment, while the rest of the component maintains simple geometry for ease of manufacturing.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This solution enables reduced production times and costs by allowing higher weld energies, resulting in more robust hermetic enclosures and improved accuracy in the injection-molding process, while ensuring the integrity of internal components during assembly.
Implementation Method 1
the at least one protrusion is in thermal contact with an interior surface of the housing
Implementation Method 2
an intermediate member configured to align the electrode stack at a fixed position within the housing
Data Source
AI summary
In some examples, a battery assembly for an implantable medical device. The assembly includes a housing, an electrode stack comprising a plurality of electrode plates disposed inside the housing, and an intermediate member configured to align the electrode stack at a fixed position within the housing, the intermediate member comprising a plurality of side walls, and at least one protrusion disposed on an exterior surface of the side walls, wherein the at least one protrusion is in thermal contact with an interior surface of the housing.