Flexible Plug Strip for Battery Vent Sealing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing rechargeable battery designs, such as lead-acid batteries, face challenges in manufacturing efficiency and cost due to the need for precise alignment and fitting of plugs to seal filling and monitoring openings, which can lead to tilting and leaks, posing risks of explosion and health hazards.
Innovation Solution
A rechargeable battery design featuring a flexible connecting element that allows the distance between plugs to be variably matched to the distance between filling openings through rotation, enabling multiple plugs to be connected and sealed in a single production step, thereby reducing manufacturing complexity and costs while ensuring liquid-tight and gas-tight sealing.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If screw-type plugs are used to seal filling openings, then liquid-tight and gas-tight sealing is achieved, but the manufacturing process requires large effort and increases production costs
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple individual plugs are merged into a single plug strip assembly where multiple plugs are pre-connected to each other. This allows multiple filling openings to be sealed simultaneously in one insertion operation, dramatically reducing the number of separate operations required while maintaining the sealing reliability of individual plugs.
Solution Approach 2:
The plug strip incorporates a flexible connecting element that allows dynamic adjustment of the distance between individual plugs. This flexibility enables the rigid plug strip structure to adapt to manufacturing tolerances in the spacing between filling openings, ensuring proper alignment and sealing without requiring extremely precise manufacturing.
2Productivity
If plug-in-type plugs are connected to close multiple openings simultaneously, then production efficiency is improved, but very accurate adjustment and tool alignment are required
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible connecting element changes the distance parameter between connected plugs based on the actual spacing of filling openings. This parameter adaptation allows the plug strip to accommodate normal manufacturing tolerances without requiring extremely precise alignment, while still enabling simultaneous closure of multiple openings for improved productivity.
Solution Approach 2:
The flexible connecting element provides dynamic adaptability, allowing the plug strip to adjust its configuration during insertion to match the actual positions of filling openings. This reduces the stringency of alignment requirements while maintaining the productivity benefits of simultaneous multi-opening closure.
3Ease of manufacture
If the distance between connected plugs is fixed, then manufacturing is simpler, but manufacturing tolerances cause tilting of plugs and leaks
Solution Approach 1:
The flexible connecting element enables the distance between plugs to vary within a range, allowing the plug strip to adapt to the actual spacing between filling openings caused by manufacturing tolerances. This prevents plug tilting and ensures reliable sealing while keeping the overall structure relatively simple.
Data Source
AI summary
A rechargeable battery includes a housing, a plurality of cells within the housing, and a cover which closes the housing. The battery also includes a plurality of filling openings arranged in the cover separated from one another by a distance and a plurality of plugs. Each of the plurality of plugs is configured to close one of the plurality of filling openings. A flexible connecting element connects at least two of the plugs. The flexible connecting element is configured such that the distance between the plugs which are connected to one another can be variably matched to the distance between their associated filling openings by rotating at least one of the plugs connected by the flexible connecting element.