Button Cell Winding Pin Contact for Weld-Free Pressure Relief
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Solution Overview
Problem
Creating reliable electrical contact between the electrodes and the housing in button cells with winding configurations is challenging due to their small dimensions and low wall thickness, making it difficult for mass manufacturing and prone to damage during welding processes.
Innovation Solution
An energy storage element design featuring a housing with a conductive pin that connects one of the electrodes to a housing part, allowing for electrical contact without the need for welding, and is configured to break contact when the housing parts move apart, ensuring safety and ease of assembly.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If welding is used to create electrical contact between electrodes and housing in button cells, then reliable electrical contact is achieved, but the housing with low wall thickness is prone to damage and manufacturing becomes difficult
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces a conductive pin as an intermediary component that establishes electrical contact between the electrode and housing without requiring direct welding. The pin is inserted through the housing wall and makes contact with the electrode, serving as a mediator that avoids the damaging effects of welding on thin-walled button cell housings while still achieving reliable electrical connection
Solution Approach 2:
The patent replaces the thermal welding process with a mechanical insertion system. Instead of using heat and pressure to fuse materials, the conductive pin is mechanically inserted through the housing and into contact with the electrode, substituting a potentially damaging thermal-mechanical process with a simpler mechanical assembly process suitable for thin-walled structures
2Reliability
If welding is used to create electrical contact in button cells, then electrical connection is established, but the process is prone to damage and difficult for mass manufacturing
Solution Approach 1:
The conductive pin acts as a standardized intermediary component that can be easily inserted and positioned during assembly. This mediator enables consistent electrical connection establishment through a simple insertion motion that is easily automated, thereby improving mass manufacturing capability compared to the more complex and damage-prone welding process
Solution Approach 2:
The patent segments the electrical connection function into separate components: the conductive pin as a distinct element that can be independently manufactured and inserted. This segmentation allows for standardized, pre-manufactured pins to be used in mass production, separating the connection function from the housing and electrode structures, thereby enabling more efficient assembly line processes
3Object-affected harmful factors
If the housing parts are made movable to allow pressure relief, then safety is improved, but the electrical contact may become unreliable
Solution Approach 1:
The conductive pin serves as a resilient intermediary that can accommodate the relative movement between housing parts when pressure relief occurs. The pin's flexibility or compliance allows it to maintain electrical contact with the electrode even when the housing expands or contracts, thereby preserving electrical reliability while enabling the housing to move for pressure relief
Solution Approach 2:
The patent implements a dynamic electrical connection system where the conductive pin can adapt its position or deformation state in response to housing movement. This dynamic capability allows the electrical contact to remain reliable during normal operation and pressure relief events, rather than being a rigid fixed connection that would fail when the housing moves
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 facilitates reliable and durable electrical contact between the electrodes and housing, enabling efficient manufacturing and reducing the risk of damage, while allowing for safe disconnection and pressure relief.
Implementation Method 1
an electrically conductive pin (109) arranged in the cavity and electrically connects one of the electrodes of the winding to one of the housing parts
Data Source
AI summary
An energy storage element includes a housing enclosing an interior space, which housing is formed of a first metal housing part and a second metal housing part and has a substantially circular upper side and a substantially circular lower side spaced from one another and parallel to one another, and an annular housing side that connects the upper side and the lower side; a winding arranged in the interior, which winding includes a strip-shaped positive and a strip-shaped negative electrode and a strip-shaped separator arranged between the electrodes that are wound in a spiral around a winding axis; wherein the winding has a first end face and a second end face and an annularly circumferential winding outer side, the first and second end faces face in the direction of the circular and mutually parallel upper side and lower side such that the winding axis is oriented perpendicular or at least substantially perpendicular to the upper side and the lower side, and the winding has an axial cavity through which the winding axis runs; and an electrically conductive pin arranged in the cavity and electrically connects one of the electrodes of the winding to one of the housing parts, wherein the first and the second housing part are designed such that they are able moveable against each other along an axis running vertically through the circular upper side and the circular lower side of the housing, and the pin is configured such that the electrical contact to one of the electrodes of the winding is broken when the housing parts move away from one another along the axis.