Button Cell Battery Safety Mechanism for Ingestion Short-Circuiting
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Solution Overview
Problem
Small button cell batteries, particularly those like CR2016 and CR2032 lithium cells, pose a risk of tissue damage and electrolysis when swallowed, as they can become lodged in the throat and cause electrolysis of body fluids or gastric distress due to their size and chemistry, which existing safety mechanisms fail to adequately address.
Innovation Solution
The battery design incorporates a housing with first and second poles and spacers made of electronically insulating materials that prevent electronic coupling under normal conditions but undergo a physical change in the presence of an aqueous solution, such as saliva or stomach fluids, to short-circuit the battery, reducing the cell voltage below harmful levels and preventing electrolysis.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Volume of moving object
If small button cell batteries are made compact for portability, then ease of operation and device miniaturization are improved, but the risk of tissue damage and electrolysis upon ingestion increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent implements a safety mechanism that proactively prevents harmful effects before they occur. A soluble spacer is positioned between the battery electrodes that dissolves upon contact with aqueous fluids (such as saliva or gastric juices), automatically triggering a short-circuit condition that reduces voltage to safe levels. This preliminary safety arrangement ensures that if the battery is ingested, the harmful electrical potential is eliminated before tissue damage or electrolysis can occur.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces a soluble spacer as an intermediary element between the battery electrodes. This spacer acts as a temporary barrier that maintains electrical isolation during normal use but automatically removes itself (via dissolution in aqueous fluids) to enable safety short-circuiting. The intermediary spacer thus mediates between the conflicting requirements of maintaining voltage for functionality and enabling short-circuit for safety.
2Object-affected harmful factors
If spacers are added to prevent electronic coupling, then safety against tissue damage is improved, but device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The patent utilizes parameter changes in the spacer material's solubility properties. The spacer is made from a material that changes its physical state from insoluble (maintaining electrical isolation) to soluble (dissolving to enable short-circuit) based on the presence of aqueous fluids. This parameter change approach allows the safety mechanism to activate automatically without adding complex control systems, switches, or sensors.
Solution Approach 2:
The soluble spacer is designed as a simple, inexpensive, single-use component that performs its safety function and then dissolves away. Rather than creating a complex reusable safety system, the patent employs a disposable sacrificial element (the spacer) that eliminates itself after serving its protective purpose, thereby simplifying the overall device structure while ensuring safety.
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 safety mechanism effectively short-circuits the battery when exposed to aqueous solutions, dropping the voltage to safe levels, thereby preventing tissue damage and electrolysis, ensuring consumer safety in case of accidental ingestion.
Implementation Method 1
The spacer is capable of undergoing a physical change in the presence of an aqueous solution such that electronic coupling between the electronic conductor and the other of the first and second poles can occur
Implementation Method 2
adapted to protect against tissue damage and/or electrolysis, when the battery is exposed to an aqueous solution or a wet tissue
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2A~2B
Figure 3
AI summary
Batteries with a safety mechanism adapted to protect against tissue damage and/or electrolysis when the battery is exposed to an aqueous solution or a wet tissue.