Secondary Battery Safety Valve Mounting on Stepped Cap Plate
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Solution Overview
Problem
The conventional integration of a pressure relief valve with the cap plate in secondary batteries makes manufacturing difficult due to non-uniform thickness and operational performance issues, especially for high-power batteries like those used in hybrid electric vehicles, where the cap plate thickness increases, complicating the manufacturing process and affecting the battery's ability to provide adequate electrical power.
Innovation Solution
A safety valve is mounted on a stepped surface of the cap plate, which is formed separately from the cap plate, allowing for easier assembly and ensuring uniform operation by using a fastening member to secure the valve, ensuring the valve can be easily mounted and operates consistently across varying battery sizes and pressures.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Device complexity
If the pressure relief valve is integrated with the cap plate as an integral structure, then the manufacturing process can be simplified, but the manufacturing difficulty increases due to non-uniform thickness and operational performance issues
Solution Approach 1:
The pressure relief valve is separated from the cap plate into an independent component. The valve is manufactured separately and then mounted onto the cap plate through a hole, allowing each component to be optimized and manufactured independently without the thickness and operational performance issues that arise from integral manufacturing
Solution Approach 2:
The pressure relief valve is extracted from the cap plate structure and formed as a separate component. This extraction allows the valve to be manufactured with uniform thickness and consistent operational characteristics, then installed onto the cap plate through a dedicated mounting hole with fastening member
2Power
If the cap plate thickness is increased for high-power batteries, then the battery can provide adequate electrical power for hybrid electric vehicles, but the manufacturing process becomes more difficult when integrating the valve
Solution Approach 1:
By separating the valve from the cap plate structure, the invention allows the cap plate to be manufactured with any required thickness for high-power applications without the added complexity of integrating a valve into the thick plate. The valve becomes an independent component mounted on the cap plate surface
Solution Approach 2:
A fastening member is introduced as an intermediary component between the valve and the cap plate. This fastening member simplifies the assembly process by providing a standardized mounting mechanism that works regardless of cap plate thickness, making the manufacturing process easier for high-power batteries with thicker cap plates
3Stability of the object's composition
If the pressure relief valve is formed as an integral structure with the cap plate, then the structural integrity is maintained, but the operational performance becomes non-uniform due to thickness variations
Solution Approach 1:
Separating the valve into an independent component allows it to be manufactured with precise, uniform thickness and consistent material properties. The valve is then mounted onto the cap plate, maintaining structural integrity through the fastening member while ensuring uniform operational performance that cannot be achieved through integral manufacturing
Data Source
AI summary
A secondary battery may be manufactured with an electrode assembly having a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a separator interposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode. A container encases the electrode assembly. A hole formed on one end of the container with a stepped configuration that opens with different diameters on opposite sides of a cap plate and a safety valve mounted in the stepped surface of the hole, is configured to rupture and tear open upon occurrence of a predetermined internal battery pressure.