Battery pack having lower case of small thickness and laptop computer including the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10665830-B2
Application number	US-201615555250-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Oct 27, 2016
Priority date	Oct 29, 2015
Publication date	May 26, 2020
Grant date	May 26, 2020

Abstract

A battery pack that is mounted to a laptop computer, wherein two or more battery cells that can be charged and discharged are housed in a pack case; the battery cells are cylindrical battery cells having a circular vertical cross-section; the pack case is configured with a lower case in which battery cells are received and an upper case that is coupled to the lower case in order to close and seal the battery cells; in the upper case, a thickness of an upper contact point portion that contacts an upper end external circumferential surface of the battery cells is 70% or less of that of the remaining portions of the upper case, and a first sheet is attached to an outer surface of the upper case corresponding to the upper contact point portion; and in the lower case, a thickness of a lower contact point portion that contacts a lower end external circumferential surface of the battery cells is 70% or less of that of the remaining portions of the lower case, and a second sheet is attached to an outer surface of the lower case corresponding to the lower contact point portion.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. A battery pack that is mounted to a laptop computer, the battery pack including:
a pack case; and
battery cells configured to be charged and discharged, wherein the battery cells are housed in the pack case,
wherein the battery cells are cylindrical battery cells having a circular vertical cross-section in which a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and an electrode assembly of a separation membrane structure that is interposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode are received in a battery case that is formed in a cylindrical metal can together with an electrolyte solution,
wherein the pack case includes:
a lower case in which the battery cells are received; and
an upper case coupled to the lower case in order to close and seal the battery cells,

the upper and lower cases forming a closed cross-section,
wherein the upper case includes an upper contact point portion, at least a first portion of the upper contact point portion contacting an upper end external circumferential surface of the battery cells,
wherein the lower case includes a lower contact point portion, at least a first portion of the lower contact point portion contacting a lower end external circumferential surface of the battery cells,
wherein an entirety of the upper case, excluding the upper contact point portion, has a substantially uniform thickness,
wherein an entirety of the lower case, excluding the lower contact point portion, has a substantially uniform thickness,
wherein in the upper case, a thickness of the first portion of the upper contact point portion that contacts the upper end external circumferential surface of the battery cells is 70% or less than a thickness of remaining portions of the upper case, and a first sheet is attached to an outer surface of the upper case corresponding to the upper contact point portion,
wherein in the lower case, a thickness of the first portion of the lower contact point portion that contacts the lower end external circumferential surface of the battery cells is 70% or less than a thickness of remaining portions of the lower case, and a second sheet is attached to an outer surface of the lower case corresponding to the lower contact point portion,
wherein a metal plate is interposed between the outer surface of the lower case and the second sheet such that the metal plate is on an outermost portion of the outer surface of the lower case, and
wherein the lower case is exactly opened in the lower contact point portion such that only a peak of the lower end external circumferential surface of the battery cells directly contacts the metal plate.

2. The battery pack of claim 1 , wherein in the upper case, the upper contact point portion is recessed upward in a shape corresponding to the upper end external circumferential surface of the battery cells.

3. The battery pack of claim 1 , wherein in the upper case, a second portion of the upper contact point portion is opened such that a peak of the upper end external circumferential surface of battery cells is exposed.

4. The battery pack of claim 1 , wherein in the lower case, the lower contact point portion is recessed downward in a shape corresponding to the lower end external circumferential surface of the battery cells.

5. The battery pack of claim 1 , wherein in the lower case, a second portion of the lower contact point portion is opened such that the peak of the lower end external circumferential surface of battery cells is exposed.

6. The battery pack of claim 1 , wherein the upper case and the lower case are injection molded articles of a polymer resin.

7. The battery pack of claim 1 , wherein an average thickness of the upper case and the lower case is 0.6 to 2 mm.

8. The battery pack of claim 1 , wherein the upper and lower cases form a rectangular shape along a vertical cross-section.

9. The battery pack of claim 1 , wherein the thicknesses of the upper contact point portion in the upper case and the lower contact point portion in the lower case are greater than 0 mm and equal to or less than 0.7 mm.

10. The battery pack of claim 1 , wherein in the upper case, the thickness of the first portion of the upper contact point portion is 60% or less than the thickness of the remaining portions of the upper case, and in the lower case, the thickness of the first portion of the lower contact point portion is 60% or less than the thickness the remaining portions of the lower case.

11. The battery pack of claim 1 , wherein the metal plate is made of stainless steel.

12. The battery pack of claim 1 , wherein the metal plate is coupled to the second sheet by an adhesive.

13. The battery pack of claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the metal plate is in a range of 15% to 25% of the thickness of the remaining portions of the lower case.

14. The battery pack of claim 1 , wherein a thickness of the metal plate is in a range of about 30% of the thickness of the remaining portions of the lower case.

15. The battery pack of claim 1 , wherein the first sheet and the second sheet is made of a polymer resin having a VTM-0 flame retardant grade, and
wherein the polymer resin is polyethyleneterephthalate or polycarbonate.

16. A laptop computer comprising a battery pack as a power source, the battery pack including:
a pack case; and
two or more battery cells configured to be charged and discharged, wherein the battery cells are housed in the pack case,
wherein the battery cells are cylindrical battery cells having a circular vertical cross-section structure in which a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and an electrode assembly of a separation membrane structure that is interposed between the positive electrode and the negative electrode are received in a battery case that is formed in a cylindrical metal can together with an electrolyte solution,
wherein the pack case includes:
a lower case in which battery cells are received; and
an upper case that is coupled to the lower case in order to close and seal the battery cells,

the upper and lower cases forming a closed cross-section,
wherein the upper case includes an upper contact point portion, wherein at least a first portion of the upper contact point portion contacts an upper end external circumferential surface of the battery cells,
wherein the lower case includes a lower contact point portion, wherein at least a first portion of the lower contact point portion contacts a lower end external circumferential surface of the battery cells,
wherein an entirety of the upper case, excluding the upper contact point portion, has a substantially uniform thickness,
wherein an entirety of the lower case, excluding the lower contact point portion, has a substantially uniform thickness,
wherein in the upper case, a thickness of the first portion of the upper contact point portion that contacts the upper end external circumferential surface of the battery cells is 70% or less than a thickness of remaining portions of the upper case, and a first sheet is attached to an outer surface of the upper case corresponding to the upper contact point portion,
wherein in the lower case, a thickness of the first portion of the lower contact point portion that contacts the lower end external circumferential surface of the battery cells is 70% or less than a thickness of remaining portions of the lower case, and a second sheet is attached to an outer surface of the lower case corresponding to the lower contact point portion,
wherein a metal plate is interposed between the outer surface of the lower case and the second sheet such that the metal

Assignees

• Lg Chemical Ltd

Inventors

• Yang Jin Oh
• Song Suk Jin
• Lee Suk Hoon
• Yi Yeon Ok

Classifications

• G06F1/16

  Constructional details or arrangements · CPC title

• H01M2220/30

  Batteries in portable systems, e.g. mobile phone, laptop · CPC title

• G06F1/1635 Primary

  Details related to the integration of battery packs and other power supplies such as fuel cells or integrated AC adapter · CPC title

• H01M2/1022 Primary

  Electricity · mapped topic

• H01M2/1061

  Electricity · mapped topic