Battery and manufacturing method for battery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10109824-B2
Application number	US-201615333642-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 25, 2016
Priority date	Oct 27, 2015
Publication date	Oct 23, 2018
Grant date	Oct 23, 2018

Abstract

A battery includes a battery case; an outside member that is arranged on an outer portion of the battery case, and is made of an Al—Mg alloy or Al—Mg—Si alloy; a collector member made of pure aluminum, which has i) an extending portion that extends from within the battery case, passes through a first through-hole provided in the battery case and a second through-hole in the outside member, and protrudes out of the battery case, and ii) a crimped portion that spreads out toward an outside of the second through-hole from the extending portion, and circularly covers a periphery of the second through-hole in the outside member; as well as a bead that electrically connects an outer peripheral edge portion of the crimped portion to the outside member; and an additional bead that is positioned farther toward a radial inside of the crimped portion than the bead.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A battery comprising:
a battery case;
an outside member that is arranged on an outer portion of the battery case, and is made of an Al—Mg aluminum alloy or Al—Mg—Si aluminum alloy;
a collector member made of pure aluminum, which has
i) an extending portion that extends from within the battery case, passes through a case through-hole provided in the battery case and a member through-hole that passes through the outside member, and protrudes out of the battery case, and
ii) a crimped portion that spreads out toward an outside of the member through-hole from the extending portion, and circularly covers a periphery of the member through-hole in the outside member, and fixes the extending portion and the outside member to the battery case;

a bead that is made of a first alloy derived from the crimped portion and the outside member, and electrically connects an outer peripheral edge portion of the crimped portion to the outside member; and
an additional bead that is made of a second alloy derived from the bead and the crimped portion, and is positioned farther toward a radial inside of the crimped portion than the bead.

2. The battery according to claim 1 , wherein
the bead
forms a continuous bead in which a plurality of spot-shaped beads are continuous and partially overlapping each other in a circumferential direction of the crimped portion;

the additional bead
forms a continuous additional bead in which a plurality of spot-shaped additional beads are continuous and partially overlapping each other in the circumferential direction of the crimped portion;

the outside member includes a conductive portion that abuts against, and is electrically connected to, an external terminal; and
the continuous bead
is positioned on a portion of the outer peripheral edge portion of the crimped portion, which is closest to the conductive portion of the outside member.

3. The battery according to claim 1 , further comprising:
an insulating member made of insulating resin, which insulates the collector member and the outside member from the battery case.

4. The battery according to claim 1 , wherein
the additional bead does not contact the outside member.

5. A manufacturing method for a battery that includes
a battery case;
an outside member that is arranged on an outer portion of the battery case, and is made of an Al—Mg aluminum alloy or Al—Mg—Si aluminum alloy;
a collector member made of pure aluminum, which has
i) an extending portion that extends from within the battery case, passes through a case through-hole provided in the battery case and a member through-hole that passes through the outside member, and protrudes out of the battery case, and
ii) a crimped portion that spreads out toward an outside of the member through-hole from the extending portion, and circularly covers a periphery of the member through-hole in the outside member, and fixes the extending portion and the outside member to the battery case;

a bead that is made of a first alloy derived from the crimped portion and the outside member, and electrically connects an outer peripheral edge portion of the crimped portion to the outside member; and
an additional bead that is made of a second alloy derived from the bead and the crimped portion, and is positioned farther toward a radial inside of the crimped portion than the bead, the manufacturing method comprising:
a bead forming step of forming the by emitting a first laser light toward a portion of an outer peripheral edge portion of the crimped portion and a portion of the outside member that is covered by the portion of the outer peripheral edge portion; and
an additional bead forming step of forming the additional bead by emitting a second laser light to an inside of the formed bead in a radial direction of the crimped portion.

6. The manufacturing method according to claim 5 , wherein
the bead
forms a continuous bead in which a plurality of spot-shaped beads are continuous and partially overlapping each other in a circumferential direction of the crimped portion;

the additional bead
forms a continuous additional bead in which a plurality of spot-shaped additional beads are continuous and partially overlapping each other in the circumferential direction of the crimped portion;

the bead forming step
is a step of forming the spot-shaped beads by fixing a position where the first laser light is emitted and emitting the first laser light;

the additional bead forming step
is a step of forming the spot-shaped additional beads by fixing a position where the second laser light is emitted and emitting the second laser light; and

the continuous bead and the continuous additional bead are formed by performing the bead forming step and the additional bead forming step alternately.

7. The manufacturing method according to claim 6 , wherein
the outside member includes a conductive portion that abuts against, and is electrically connected to, an external terminal; and
in the bead forming step, the continuous bead is formed on a portion of the outer peripheral edge portion of the crimped portion, which is closest to the conductive portion of the outside member.

8. The manufacturing method according to claim 5 , wherein
emission energy of the second laser light is smaller than the emission energy of the first laser light.

9. The manufacturing method according to claim 5 , wherein
the bead
forms a continuous bead in which a plurality of spot-shaped beads are continuous and partially overlapping each other in a circumferential direction of the crimped portion;

the additional bead
forms a continuous additional bead in which a plurality of spot-shaped additional beads are continuous and partially overlapping each other in the circumferential direction of the crimped portion; and

the second laser light is emitted such that a newly formed spot-shaped additional bead of the plurality of spot-shaped additional beads overlaps with a most recently formed spot-shaped bead of the plurality of spot-shaped beads and a most recently formed spot-shaped additional bead of the plurality of spot-shaped additional beads.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Takasu Junta
• Ishida Hiroki

Classifications

• B23K26/26 Primary

  of rectilinear seams · CPC title

• H01M50/117

  Inorganic material · CPC title

• H01M50/566

  by welding, soldering or brazing · CPC title

• H01M50/553

  Terminals adapted for prismatic, pouch or rectangular cells · CPC title

• H01M50/562

  characterised by the material · CPC title