Battery Tab Hold-Down Assembly for Controlled Folding Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
The manufacturing process of battery modules requires a tab to be long, leading to uncontrollable folding and potential short circuits due to the tab being inserted into the electrode unit, compromising safety performance.
Innovation Solution
A secondary battery design featuring a top cover assembly with positioning bulges and hold-down beams that detachably engage with the tab, ensuring controlled folding and preventing the tab from being inserted into the electrode unit, thereby enhancing safety.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If the tab is made long to meet manufacturing requirements, then the manufacturing process can be completed, but the tab may be uncontrollably folded and inserted into the electrode unit causing short circuits
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a top cover assembly as an intermediary component between the tab and the electrode unit. This assembly includes positioning bulges with positioning chutes that guide and constrain the tab during the manufacturing process, preventing uncontrolled folding and insertion into the electrode unit while still allowing the tab to be sufficiently long for manufacturing requirements.
Solution Approach 2:
The top cover assembly is installed beforehand to establish predetermined positioning structures (positioning bulges and chutes) that guide the tab's path during manufacturing. This preliminary action ensures that when the tab is folded and positioned, it follows a controlled trajectory that prevents harmful insertion into the electrode unit.
2Volume of moving object
If the tab is folded into a specific space to accommodate the battery module structure, then the battery module can be compacted, but the safety performance is reduced due to potential short circuits
Solution Approach 1:
The top cover assembly serves as a mediator that enables compact folding of the tab while maintaining safety. The positioning bulges and chutes provide a controlled path for the tab during folding, ensuring that even when compressed into a compact space, the tab cannot be uncontrollably inserted into the electrode unit.
Solution Approach 2:
The positioning structures in the top cover assembly provide beforehand protection by creating physical constraints that prevent the tab from being inserted into the electrode unit during the folding and compacting process. This prior cushioning measure ensures safety is maintained even when the battery module is compacted.
3Reliability
If positioning structures are added to control the tab during folding, then safety is improved, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The top cover assembly performs multiple functions: it provides positioning bulges with chutes to guide and constrain the tab, offers structural support for the battery module, and maintains safety during manufacturing and assembly. By combining these functions into a single component, the patent adds positioning capabilities without proportionally increasing overall device complexity.
Data Source
AI summary
A secondary battery is disclosed, including: an electrode unit, including an electrode body and a tab extending from the electrode body, where the tab includes a first part and a second part that are spaced apart along a height direction of the secondary battery; and a top cover assembly, disposed on one side of the electrode body toward the tab, where the top cover assembly includes a top cover body and a hold-down beam, and a positioning bulge is disposed on a first surface of the top cover body toward the electrode unit, a positioning chute is disposed on the positioning bulge, and the hold-down beam is located between the first part and the second part, and is detachably disposed in the positioning chute.