Battery with laminated insulator/metal/insulator case

Details Battery with laminated insulator/metal/insulator case Battery with laminated insulator/metal/insulator case

2000-03-30

2002-05-14

Dunn, Tom (Department: 1725)

Chemistry: electrical current producing apparatus, product, and

Current producing cell, elements, subcombinations and...

Intracell assembly having cell electrode connector

C429S090000, C429S094000, C429S096000, C029S623100

Reexamination Certificate

active

06387566

ABSTRACT:

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery, and more particularly to a rechargeable-battery case.
2. Description of the Related Art
A conventional polymer lithium-ion battery
10
is shown in
FIGS. 1A
,
1
B, and
2
. The conventional polymer lithium ion battery
10
includes a case
11
for accommodating an electrode assembly
15
. As shown in
FIG. 1B
, the electrode assembly includes positive electrode sheets
12
, negative electrode sheets
13
and separators
14
interposed therebetween. The case
11
includes an upper case body
11
a
and a lower case body
11
b
having the same shape. Each of the positive and negative electrode sheets is electrically coupled to a connector
16
. The connector
16
is further coupled to an external terminal
18
which is drawn out from the case
11
in an extended manner between the upper and lower case bodies
11
a
and
11
b
before they are hermetically sealed at their peripheries by a thermal pressing process. The peripheral surfaces, coated with a heat-activated adhesive, of the upper and lower case bodies
11
a
and
11
b
are contacted and pressed to hermetically seal the electrode assembly
15
inside the case
11
with the terminals
18
placed between the peripheral edges. However, since the external terminals
18
have a certain thickness, it is probable that peripheral surfaces just around the terminals
18
are not airtightly adhered. In other words, there will exist gaps, though possibly very small, around the terminals
18
between the upper case body
11
a
and the lower case body
11
b
. If the electrolyte inside the case
11
should leak out from around the terminals
18
, both the battery
10
and a device in which the battery
10
is installed may be damaged.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
To solve the above problem, it is an objective of the present invention to seal a battery case. The case is comprised of two portions, each portion having a centrally recessed region to receive an electrode assembly where the depth of the recess is about one half the thickness of the electrode assembly and a peripheral region as the seal surface with a corresponding region of the other portion. Each portion is made of aluminum coated with an insulating material. Rather than providing separate positive and negative terminals electrically coupled to the positive electrodes and negative electrodes, respectively, the battery case itself serves as terminals by electrically connecting the inner surfaces to the electrode sheets and some outer surface portions are made free of an insulating material so that they would function as terminals to which corresponding terminals of a device contact.
A second objective of the present invention is to minimize the size of the battery, which is achieved automatically since the terminals are not necessary in the present invention, unlike in the prior art.


REFERENCES:
patent: 4670664 (1987-06-01), Hara
patent: 4996128 (1991-02-01), Aldecoa et al.
patent: 5580679 (1996-12-01), Tanaka
patent: 5631101 (1997-05-01), Amero, Jr.
patent: 5656876 (1997-08-01), Radley et al.
patent: 5849044 (1998-12-01), Tuttle
patent: 5907472 (1999-05-01), Farahmandi et al.
patent: 6021040 (2000-02-01), Suzuki et al.
patent: 6225778 (2000-07-01), Hayama et al.
patent: 6203938 (2001-03-01), Yoshida et al.

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