Method for preventing erroneous loading of component-to-be-loaded on main body side apparatus, component-to-be-loaded and battery pack

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-10756318-B2
Application number	US-201715838445-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 12, 2017
Priority date	Jul 24, 2001
Publication date	Aug 25, 2020
Grant date	Aug 25, 2020

Abstract

In case a similar component-to-be-loaded is erroneously loaded on a main body side apparatus, contact of terminals are avoided. To this end, a video camera (main body side apparatus) 1 has a main body side terminal 30 , and a battery pack (component-to-be-loaded) 100 has a battery side terminal (component-to-be-loaded side terminal) 120 . In the vicinity of the battery side terminal of the component-to-be-loaded, a discriminating tab 111 is provided, and a blocking portion 19 is provided in the vicinity of the main body side terminal of the video camera (main body side apparatus) for determining whether or not its loading is permitted based on the combination of concave and convex engagement with respect to the above-mentioned discriminating tab, and when the loading is not permitted due to the interference between the blocking portion and the above-mentioned discriminating tab, an electric connection between the main body side terminal and the battery side terminal (component-to-be-loaded side terminal) is not to be established.

First claim

The invention claimed is:

1. Apparatus comprising:
a battery having a housing, including:
opposing front and rear sides provided in a loading direction, the front side having a front side surface defining a front side plane;
opposing right and left sides provided between the front and rear sides;
opposing first and second sides provided between the front and rear sides, and between the right and left sides and defining a thickness of the battery;
a terminal portion located at the front side, the terminal portion having a front surface defining a terminal plane, the terminal portion including a plurality of ribs separated by respective slits having terminals disposed therein, the slits being opened in orthogonal directions, one of the orthogonal directions is in a direction facing toward the front side, the opening of the slits in the one orthogonal direction being disposed in the front surface of the terminal portion; and
the terminal portion being disposed in the housing such that the terminal plane of the terminal portion is displaced from the front side plane of the front side of the battery housing, and

an imaging apparatus that receives the battery, the imaging apparatus including:
a battery receiving portion to receive the battery loaded in the imaging apparatus; and
electric terminals configured to establish an electric connection with the terminals of the battery when the battery is loaded in the imaging apparatus.

2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each electric terminal includes a pair of contact pieces disposed to face each other in a respective slit.

3. The apparatus of claim 2 , wherein each slit has a chamfered edge that opens to a thickness direction of said battery.

4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the loading direction is an insertion direction in which the battery is inserted into the battery receiving portion when a user inserts the battery to the imaging apparatus.

5. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the terminal portion is shifted toward one of the left side and right side relative to a longitudinal center line of the second side.

6. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein each of the electric terminals of the imaging apparatus is formed as a flat plate, each terminal of the battery is formed as a pair of contact pieces arranged to face each other, and wherein each of the electric terminals is inserted in a gap between a respective pair of contact pieces when the battery is loaded in the imaging apparatus.

7. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the terminal plane of the terminal portion is recessed from the front side plane of the front side of the battery housing.

8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the terminal plane of the terminal portion extends from the front side plane of the front side of the battery housing.

9. A battery comprising:
a housing including opposing front and rear sides, the front side having a front side surface;
opposing right and left sides provided between the front and rear sides;
opposing first and second sides provided between the front and rear sides, and between the right and left sides and defining a thickness of the battery;
a terminal portion located at the front side, the terminal portion having a front surface defining a terminal plane, the terminal portion including a plurality of ribs separated by respective slits having terminals disposed therein, the slits being opened in orthogonal directions, one of the orthogonal directions is in a direction facing toward the front side, the opening of the slits in the one orthogonal direction being disposed in the front surface of the terminal portion; and
the terminal portion being disposed in the housing such that the terminal plane of the terminal portion is displaced from the front side plane of the front side of the battery housing.

10. The battery of claim 9 , wherein each electric terminal includes a pair of contact pieces disposed to face each other in a respective slit.

11. The battery of claim 10 , wherein each contact piece includes a convex portion located in the vicinity of a tip of said contact piece, and wherein the convex portions of a pair of contact pieces face each other.

12. The battery of claim 9 , wherein the terminal portion is shifted toward one of the left side and right side relative to a longitudinal center line of the second side.

13. The battery of claim 9 , wherein the terminal plane of the terminal portion is recessed from the front side plane of the front side of the battery housing.

14. The battery of claim 9 , wherein the terminal plane of the terminal portion extends from the front side plane of the front side of the battery housing.

Assignees

• Sony Corp

Inventors

• Takeshita Toshio
• Ebine Nobuhito
• Katsuno Yoshiyuki
• Tashiro Kei

Classifications

• H01M10/486 Primary

  for measuring temperature · CPC title

• H04N23/50

  Constructional details · CPC title

• H01M50/588

  outside the batteries, e.g. incorrect connections of terminals or busbars · CPC title

• H01M50/296

  characterised by terminals of battery packs (terminals of batteries H01M50/543) · CPC title

• H01M50/209 Primary

  adapted for prismatic or rectangular cells (H01M50/216 takes precedence) · CPC title