Dip-Coated Bus Bar Insulation for Complex Battery Shapes
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing bus bars require winding of ceramic tape, which is difficult for complex shapes, leading to uneven application and adhesive failure, and gaps, and lack sufficient insulation and heat resistance.
Innovation Solution
A bus bar with a planar portion and corner portions, where the insulating film thickness on the corner is thinner than on the planar portion, formed by dip coating, using a combination of inorganic compounds and silicone-based materials.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If ceramic tape is wound around the bus bar body to provide insulation and heat resistance, then the insulation property and heat resistance are improved, but the manufacturing complexity increases and the applicability to complicated shapes deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical winding process with a chemical coating process. The insulating film is formed by applying an insulating coating material to the bus bar body and drying it, eliminating the need for manual or automated winding operations. This substitution resolves the contradiction by maintaining insulation effectiveness while dramatically reducing manufacturing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical state and application method of the insulating material from a pre-formed tape requiring mechanical winding to a liquid or paste coating material that can be applied by dipping, spraying, or brushing. This parameter change enables the insulating film to conform to complicated bus bar shapes without the manufacturing difficulties associated with winding tape around complex geometries.
2Reliability
If ceramic tape is wound around the bus bar body to provide insulation and heat resistance, then the insulation property and heat resistance are improved, but the manufacturing precision deteriorates due to winding unevenness and gaps
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces the mechanical winding process with a chemical coating process. The insulating film is formed by applying an insulating coating material to the bus bar body and drying it, eliminating the need for manual or automated winding operations. This substitution resolves the contradiction by maintaining insulation effectiveness while dramatically reducing manufacturing complexity.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical state and application method of the insulating material from a pre-formed tape requiring mechanical winding to a liquid or paste coating material that can be applied by dipping, spraying, or brushing. This parameter change enables the insulating film to conform to complicated bus bar shapes without the manufacturing difficulties associated with winding tape around complex geometries.
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
The solution provides a bus bar with improved insulation and heat resistance, avoiding unevenness and peeling, and maintains insulation even under high heat or impact, enhancing safety in power storage devices.
Implementation Method 1
a step of immersing, in an insulating coating material, a bus bar body having a plurality of planar portions and a corner portion that is formed between adjacent planar portions and that extends linearly to apply the insulating coating material to a surface of the bus bar body
Implementation Method 2
drying the insulating coating material to form the insulating film
Data Source
Figure 1~2
Figure 3
AI summary
To provide a bus bar that does not require a winding operation using a ceramic tape or the like, that does not have problems of winding unevenness, a gap, or peeling off, that can even easily cope with a complicated shape, and that is also easy to produce. A bus bar (20) is for use in a power storage device including a battery cell, and includes a bus bar body (25) having a plurality of planar portions (5a, 5c, and 5e) and corner portions (5d and 5b) formed between adjacent planar portions and extending linearly, and an insulating film (10) formed on a surface of the bus bar body (25). A film thickness of the insulating film formed on the corner portion (5d and 5b) of the bus bar body (25) is smaller than a film thickness of the insulating film formed on the planar portion (5a, 5c, and 5e) of the bus bar body (25).