Button Cell Housing Assembly With Gas-Escape Flow Path
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Solution Overview
Problem
The presence of entrapped gas in rechargeable button cell batteries leads to contamination, unintended side reactions, increased pressure, and manufacturing inefficiencies, with existing solutions like assembling in an inert gas environment or creating a vacuum being inadequate in addressing the pressure issues.
Innovation Solution
A housing design for button cell batteries featuring a grommet and can with a flow path defined by a radially offset skirt, allowing gas to escape during assembly, which maintains neutral pressure within the battery without relying on a vacuum, thereby preventing gas entrapment and associated risks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Object-affected harmful factors
If the battery is assembled in an inert gas environment, then contamination and moisture are minimized, but interior pressure increases due to trapped inert gas
Solution Approach 1:
The patent extracts the harmful trapped gas from the battery interior by designing an asymmetric flow path that allows gas to escape during assembly. The flow path is positioned to enable gas removal while maintaining the benefits of inert gas assembly environment.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent changes the physical configuration parameters of the battery housing by introducing an asymmetric flow path with specific radial offsets between the grommet and can surfaces, enabling gas to escape during assembly while maintaining neutral pressure.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If a vacuum is created within the battery housing during assembly, then gas entrapment is reduced, but negative pressure causes increased leakage risk and welding interference
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of creating negative pressure (vacuum) to remove gas, the patent inverts the approach by allowing gas to escape under neutral or positive pressure conditions through the asymmetric flow path design during assembly, thereby avoiding the harmful effects of negative pressure.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent incorporates the flow path design into the battery housing structure before assembly, so that gas escape is automatically enabled during the assembly process itself, eliminating the need for post-assembly vacuum treatment or special gas removal steps.
3Productivity
If the battery interior is sealed during assembly, then manufacturing efficiency improves, but trapped gas causes increased pressure and safety risks
Solution Approach 1:
The asymmetric flow path is designed into the housing structure before assembly begins, enabling gas to escape automatically during the sealing process itself. This allows the battery to be sealed during assembly without creating dangerous gas entrapment, maintaining both manufacturing efficiency and safety.
Solution Approach 2:
The asymmetric flow path acts as an intermediary mechanism that allows gas to escape during assembly while still enabling the housing to be sealed. The flow path provides a controlled escape route that disappears or closes after assembly, allowing both sealing and gas removal.
Data Source
AI summary
A method of assembling a button cell battery. The method includes positioning a free end of a grommet over a free end of a top, and a free end of a can over a top panel of the grommet. The can includes a skirt having a vertical first section extending from a top panel of the can, and an outwardly tapered second section extending from the first section. An inner diameter of the skirt in the first section is substantially equal to an outer diameter of the top panel. The method also includes resizing a put-together arrangement defined following positioning the can over the grommet and positioning the grommet over the top from a first, expanded configuration to a second, constrained configuration, where an inner diameter of the skirt in the second section is substantially equal to the inner diameter of the skirt in the first section following resizing.