Bipolar Cell Edge Seal Structure for Housing-Free Battery Stacks
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional battery designs with series-connected electrochemical cells require gas-impermeable housings, leading to increased manufacturing complexity, cost, and reduced efficiency due to the need for insulation between cells to prevent short circuits and moisture ingress.
Innovation Solution
A battery design featuring stacked, housing-free electrochemical cells with bipolar plates and an edge insulating device that electrically insulates adjacent cells while allowing expansion and contraction, using an elastic seal to prevent moisture ingress and eliminate the need for individual cell housings.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If gas-impermeable housings are used to enclose each cell, then electrical insulation and moisture protection are improved, but device complexity and manufacturing cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent merges the housing functions of multiple cells into a single common housing structure. Instead of providing individual housings for each cell, the invention uses one housing to enclose multiple cells stacked together, thereby reducing the number of housing components and simplifying the overall device structure while maintaining electrical insulation and moisture protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The common housing structure serves multiple functions simultaneously: it provides electrical insulation between cells, prevents moisture ingress, and mechanically supports the stacked cell arrangement. This multi-functional design eliminates the need for separate housing components for each cell, reducing complexity while maintaining reliability.
2Reliability
If individual cell housings with insulating structures are used, then short circuit prevention is improved, but manufacturing complexity and cost increase
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the manufacturing process for multiple cell housings into a single housing structure. By designing one housing to accommodate multiple cells, the invention reduces the number of manufacturing steps, assembly operations, and quality control checks required, thereby simplifying manufacturing while maintaining short circuit prevention through the common housing's insulating properties.
3Reliability
If cell housings and insulating structures are used, then electrical isolation between cells is improved, but battery efficiency decreases due to space occupation
Solution Approach 1:
The patent eliminates the need for multiple separate housing structures by using a single common housing for multiple cells. This merging approach significantly reduces the total volume occupied by housing materials and insulating structures, thereby increasing the active material volume fraction and improving battery energy density and overall efficiency while maintaining adequate electrical isolation between cells.
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 design enhances battery efficiency and reduces manufacturing complexity by eliminating the need for individual cell housings, while maintaining electrical insulation and preventing short circuits, thus improving overall performance and cost-effectiveness.
Implementation Method 1
an elastic seal disposed between the edge insulating device and the solid electrolyte layer of the adjacent cell
Data Source
AI summary
A battery includes a stacked arrangement of electrochemical cells. Each electrochemical cell is free of a cell housing and includes a bipolar plate having a substrate, a first active material layer formed on a first surface of the substrate, and a second active material layer formed on a second surface of the substrate. Each cell includes a solid electrolyte layer that encapsulates at least one of the active material layers, and an edge insulating device that is disposed between the peripheral edges of the substrates of each pair of adjacent cells. Within each cell, an elastic seal is provided between the edge insulating device and the first surface of one cell or the solid electrolyte layer of an adjacent cell.