Battery Pack Cap Cover Ribs for Electrical Isolation
Find Innovative SolutionsGenerate Solutions
Solution Overview
Problem
Existing battery packs face challenges in preventing short circuits between adjacent unit batteries, which can lead to overheating, explosion, or dislocation of components, especially due to the lack of effective structural features to maintain electrical isolation.
Innovation Solution
The battery pack design incorporates a protective circuit module with a substrate and protective devices adjacent to the unit batteries, and cap covers with ribs and skirt portions that extend between adjacent batteries, along with an insulating film, to prevent physical contact and electrical shorts, ensuring secure electrical connections and isolation.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Use of energy by moving object
If unit batteries are arranged side-by-side to increase battery capacity, then the battery pack can store more energy, but the risk of short circuits between adjacent batteries increases
Solution Approach 1:
An insulating film is introduced as an intermediary material between adjacent unit batteries to prevent direct electrical contact. The insulating film acts as a mediator that maintains electrical isolation while allowing the batteries to be arranged in a compact side-by-side configuration, thus enabling increased battery capacity without compromising safety.
Solution Approach 2:
The insulating film is applied locally only in the regions where adjacent batteries make contact, rather than covering entire battery surfaces. This localized application provides electrical isolation precisely where needed between adjacent batteries, maintaining reliability while minimizing additional material usage and assembly complexity.
2Reliability
If insulating films are added between adjacent unit batteries to prevent short circuits, then electrical isolation is improved, but the number of parts and assembly complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The insulating film is integrated with the cap cover structure, combining two separate components (insulating film and cap cover) into a unified assembly. This merging reduces the total number of discrete parts that need to be handled and assembled, while still providing the necessary electrical isolation between adjacent batteries.
Solution Approach 2:
The cap cover is designed to serve multiple functions: it provides structural support for the battery pack, maintains the shape of the assembly, and simultaneously serves as a carrier for the insulating film that prevents short circuits. This multi-functionality reduces the need for separate dedicated insulating components.
3Reliability
If multiple separate components are used to ensure electrical isolation and structural support, then reliability is improved, but manufacturing and assembly processes become more complex
Solution Approach 1:
The insulating film and cap cover are combined into a single integrated component, reducing the number of assembly steps required. Instead of separately installing the cap cover and then adding insulating films between batteries, the integrated design allows for a single assembly operation, simplifying the manufacturing process while maintaining electrical isolation reliability.
Data Source
AI summary
A battery pack includes a plurality of unit batteries, each including a pair of first side surfaces and a pair of second side surfaces perpendicular to the pair of first side surfaces, the unit batteries being side-by-side in a first direction such that the pair of first side surfaces face each other. A protective circuit module including a substrate and protective devices mounted on the substrate is electrically connected to the unit batteries adjacent to top portions of the unit batteries. A first cap cover accommodates the protective circuit module and the top portions of the unit batteries. A second cap cover is spaced apart from the first cap cover with the unit batteries therebetween. The second cap cover accommodates bottom portions of the unit batteries. At least one of the first cap cover and the second cap cover includes a rib extending in a region between adjacent unit batteries.