Method for welding electrode leads of secondary battery module and compact secondary battery module using the same

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2017331097-A1
Application number	US-201515533855-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Dec 24, 2015
Priority date	Dec 24, 2014
Publication date	Nov 16, 2017
Grant date	—

Abstract

Disclosed is a compact secondary battery module, which includes a cartridge assembly having a plurality of cartridges stacked while accommodating cells, respectively, so that a plurality of lead overlapping portions where leads of adjacent cells overlap with each other are located at a cartridge sidewall with a predetermined pattern; and a sensing housing having a plurality of bus bars located and welded corresponding to the lead overlapping portions, respectively, the sensing housing being capable of being arranged at a side of the cartridge assembly, wherein a first lead of a cell of each lead overlapping portion is configured to have a shorter width than a second lead having a polarity opposite to the first lead as much as a predetermined width, and in a state where the sensing housing is coupled to the cartridge assembly, a corresponding bus bar comes into contact with the second lead substantially on the same line as the first lead, and the second lead and the bus bar are welded to each other.

First claim

1 . A compact secondary battery module, comprising:
a cartridge assembly having a plurality of cartridges stacked while accommodating cells, respectively, so that a plurality of lead overlapping portions where leads of adjacent cells overlap with each other are located at a cartridge sidewall with a predetermined pattern; and a sensing housing having a plurality of bus bars located and welded corresponding to the lead overlapping portions, respectively, the sensing housing being capable of being arranged at a side of the cartridge assembly, wherein a first lead of a cell of each lead overlapping portion is configured to have a shorter width than a second lead having a polarity opposite to the first lead as much as a predetermined width, and in a state where the sensing housing is coupled to the cartridge assembly, a corresponding bus bar comes into contact with the second lead substantially on the same line as the first lead, and the second lead and the bus bar are welded to each other.

2 . The compact secondary battery module according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a barrier provided at a side of each cartridge to protect the cell during a welding work.

3 . The compact secondary battery module according to claim 1 ,
wherein the lead of each cell is bent at a right angle at about 1 mm from a lead insulation portion in a state of being accommodated in the corresponding cartridge.

4 . The compact secondary battery module according to claim 1 ,
wherein the welding is laser welding.

5 . The compact secondary battery module according to claim 4 ,
wherein in the laser welding, laser is irradiated substantially perpendicular to the sensing housing.

6 . The compact secondary battery module according to claim 1 ,
wherein the bus bar and the second lead are made of copper, and the first lead is made of aluminum.

7 . The compact secondary battery module according to claim 1 ,
wherein the sensing housing further includes a battery management system (BMS) circuit board configured to manage voltage and/or temperature data of each cell detected by each bus bar.

8 . The compact secondary battery module according to claim 7 ,
wherein the sensing housing is coupled to the cartridge assembly by means of snap-fitting or hooking.

9 . The compact secondary battery module according to claim 7 , further comprising:
a sensing cover coupled to the sensing housing.

10 . The compact secondary battery module according to claim 9 ,
wherein the sensing cover is coupled to the sensing housing by means of snap-fitting or hooking.

11 . The compact secondary battery module according to claim 1 ,
wherein two neighboring cartridges of the cartridge assembly are coupled to each other by means of hooking.

12 . The compact secondary battery module according to claim 1 ,
wherein the cartridge assembly further includes an upper cover and a lower cover coupled to cartridges at both ends thereof by means of hooking.

13 . A method for welding electrode leads of a compact secondary battery module, comprising:
(a) preparing a plurality of cells having leads which have opposite polarities and are bent in opposite directions so that a first lead is formed to have a shorter width than a second lead as much as a predetermined width; (b) forming a cartridge assembly by stacking a plurality of cartridges accommodating cells, respectively, so that lead overlapping portions where leads of adjacent cells with opposite polarities overlap with each other are formed at a cartridge sidewall with a predetermined pattern; (c) disposing a sensing housing having a plurality of bus bars respectively installed corresponding to the lead overlapping portions at a side of the cartridge assembly so that a corresponding bus bar comes into contact with the second lead substantially on the same line as the first lead; and (d) welding the second lead and the bus bar of each lead overlapping portion.

14 . The method for welding electrode leads of a compact secondary battery module according to claim 13 ,
wherein in the step (b), a cartridge having a barrier at each sidewall where the first lead and the second lead are disposed is used.

15 . The method for welding electrode leads of a compact secondary battery module according to claim 13 ,
wherein in the step (a), each lead is bent at a right angle at about 1 mm from a lead insulation portion of the cell in a state of being accommodated in the corresponding cartridge.

16 . The method for welding electrode leads of a compact secondary battery module according to claim 13 ,
wherein the step (d) uses a laser welder.

17 . The method for welding electrode leads of a compact secondary battery module according to claim 16 ,
wherein a laser irradiation direction of the laser welder is substantially perpendicular to the sensing housing.

18 . The method for welding electrode leads of a compact secondary battery module according to claim 13 ,
wherein the bus bar and the second lead are made of copper, and the first lead is made of aluminum.

19 . A compact secondary battery module, manufactured by the method of claim 13 .

20 . A secondary battery pack, comprising the compact secondary battery module defined in claim 19 .

Assignees

• Lg Chemical Ltd

Inventors

• Lee Bum-Hyun
• Chae Seang-Hee

Classifications

• B23K26/21 Primary

  by welding · CPC title

• H01M10/425 Primary

  Structural combination with electronic components, e.g. electronic circuits integrated to the outside of the casing (printed circuits H05K1/00) · CPC title

• H01M2010/4271

  Battery management systems including electronic circuits, e.g. control of current or voltage to keep battery in healthy state, cell balancing · CPC title

• B23K2103/10

  Aluminium or alloys thereof · CPC title

• B23K2103/18

  Dissimilar materials · CPC title