Wearable Accessory Protection Circuit Module for Flexible Battery Safety
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Solution Overview
Problem
Flexible batteries in wearable devices face damage or malfunction when subjected to external bending forces, requiring a protection mechanism to prevent electrical damage and ensure safety.
Innovation Solution
A wearable accessory with a protection circuit module that includes a substrate part designed to fracture and break the current flow path between the cell terminal and connection circuit when excessive bending occurs, incorporating a PCM integrated circuit to sense voltage or current conditions and control current flow, and a heat radiation plate for effective heat management.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Adaptability or versatility
If the flexible battery is designed to be highly flexible for wearable devices, then the adaptability and ease of operation are improved, but the reliability and safety deteriorate when excessive bending occurs
Solution Approach 1:
A protection circuit module is introduced as an intermediary component between the flexible battery and the device. This module includes a substrate that can fracture under excessive bending stress, thereby breaking the electrical connection and preventing damage to the battery. The substrate acts as a mechanical mediator that translates physical deformation into electrical disconnection, protecting the battery while maintaining flexibility.
Solution Approach 2:
The protection circuit module is designed to preemptively respond to bending forces before the battery itself is damaged. The substrate is configured to fracture at a bending threshold lower than what would damage the battery, creating a preliminary protective action that prevents the harmful effect from occurring in the first place.
2Reliability
If the protection circuit module is designed to fracture the substrate under excessive bending, then the reliability is improved by preventing battery damage, but the device complexity increases
Solution Approach 1:
The protection function is extracted as a separate, dedicated module (protection circuit module) rather than being integrated into the battery or device structure. This modular approach allows the protection mechanism to be added without fundamentally redesigning the existing systems, thereby limiting the increase in overall device complexity while achieving reliable battery protection.
Solution Approach 2:
The substrate in the protection circuit module is designed as a thin, flexible component that can bend with the wearable device but will fracture under excessive stress. This thin-film approach minimizes the added bulk and complexity while providing the necessary mechanical-to-electrical translation function for protection.
3Reliability
If the substrate is designed to fracture at low bending amounts, then the safety is improved by preemptive protection, but the manufacturing precision requirements increase
Solution Approach 1:
The substrate is designed with specific physical parameters (thickness, material composition, structural geometry) that determine its fracture threshold. By carefully controlling these parameters during manufacturing, the substrate can be made to fracture at a predetermined bending threshold that provides protection while accounting for normal wearability. This parameter-based design allows for standardized manufacturing processes.
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 protection circuit module effectively blocks electrical connections and prevents damage to the flexible battery, ensuring safety and reliability by preemptively shutting down the battery when external forces cause excessive deformation, thereby enhancing the safety and economic feasibility of wearable devices.
Implementation Method 1
The substrate part is configured to be cracked or fractured when the body-coupled part is bent with a smaller amount of bending than a predetermined amount of bending allowable to the flexible cell
Implementation Method 2
The pattern part is configured to break a current flow path between the connection circuit pad and the cell terminal pad when the substrate part is cracked or fractured
Implementation Method 3
a heat radiation plate bonded to a region of the substrate part overlapped by the PCM integrated circuit
Data Source
AI summary
A wearable accessory, comprising: a device mounting part configured to be coupled with a device; and a body-coupled part formed to extend from the device mounting part along a lengthwise direction, wherein the body-coupled part includes: a flexible cell equipped with an electrode assembly, a casing that accommodates therein the electrode assembly, and a cell terminal connected to the electrode assembly and protruding from an opposite side of a side adjacent to the device mounting part; a connection circuit extending by being connected to a main circuit module formed on the device or the device mounting part; and a protection circuit module configured to connect the cell terminal and the connection circuit to each other and block an electrical connection between the cell terminal and the connection circuit when damage of the protection circuit module occurs by external force.