Wave-Shaped Battery Enclosure for Thick Flexible Cells
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing flexible batteries face challenges in maintaining capacity and reliability while allowing safe bending, as thin batteries lack sufficient capacity and thicker batteries risk damage when bent.
Innovation Solution
A battery design featuring a stack enclosed by a film-like exterior body with a wave shape, allowing the battery to bend safely by shifting the electrode stack and maintaining a space between the stack and the exterior body, even with larger thicknesses.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the battery is made thin to enable bending, then flexibility is improved, but capacity is reduced
Solution Approach 1:
The exterior body is divided into multiple functional portions: first portions that overlap with the stack, second portions that form folded portions, third portions that are belt-like sealing portions, and a fourth portion that seals the opposite side. This segmentation allows each portion to perform its specific function while maintaining overall flexibility and capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The stack is nested within the folded exterior body structure. The first portions of the exterior body overlap with each other and surround the stack, creating a nested configuration that maximizes space utilization and maintains capacity while enabling bending.
2Quantity of substance
If the battery is made thick to increase capacity, then capacity is improved, but reliability is reduced due to damage risk when bent
Solution Approach 1:
The exterior body is designed with wave shapes in the first portions, allowing dynamic deformation during bending. The wave patterns enable the structure to flex and adapt to bending stresses without damaging the thick battery pack, maintaining reliability while accommodating larger capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
The exterior body uses a flexible film-like material with a specific folded structure that includes wave-shaped first portions and belt-like third portions. This flexible shell design allows the thick battery to bend safely by distributing mechanical stress across the folded structure rather than concentrating it on the battery stack.
3Volume of moving object
If the exterior body is folded tightly to reduce size, then compactness is improved, but the stack and exterior body contact causing damage
Solution Approach 1:
The exterior body portions are designed with asymmetric wave shapes and different geometries. The first portions have wave shapes with specific crest and trough configurations, while the third portions are belt-like structures. This asymmetry creates controlled spacing between the stack and exterior body during folding, preventing direct contact and damage while maintaining compact form.
Solution Approach 2:
The design introduces spatial separation in the folded structure by creating a three-dimensional configuration where the stack exists in a space surrounded by but not in direct contact with the exterior body. The folded portions and wave shapes create dimensional separation that prevents harmful contact while achieving compactness.
Data Source
AI summary
A battery capable of changing its form safely is provided. A bendable battery having a larger thickness is provided. A battery with increased capacity is provided. For an exterior body of the battery, a film in the shape of a periodic wave in one direction is used. A space is provided in an area surrounded by the exterior body and between an end portion of the electrode stack that is not fixed and an interior wall of the exterior body. Furthermore, the phases of waves of a pair of portions of the exterior body between which the electrode stack is located are different from each other. In particular, the phases are different from each other by 180 degrees so that wave crest lines overlap with each other and wave trough lines overlap with each other.