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

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2018019453-A1
Application number	US-201615555250-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Oct 27, 2016
Priority date	Oct 29, 2015
Publication date	Jan 18, 2018
Grant date	—

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

1 . 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.

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

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

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 a lower end external circumferential surface of the battery cells.

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

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

7 . The battery pack of claim 1 , wherein thicknesses of the upper contact point portion in the upper case and the lower contact point portion in the lower case are in a range of 0 to 0.7 mm.

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

9 . 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.

10 . The battery pack of claim 9 , wherein the polymer resin is polyethyleneterephthalate or polycarbonate.

11 . The battery pack of claim 1 , wherein a metal plate is additionally interposed between an outer surface of the lower case and the second sheet.

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

13 . The battery pack of claim 11 , wherein a thickness of the metal plate is in a range of 5% to 30% of a thickness of the remaining portions of the lower case.

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

15 . The battery pack of claim 11 , wherein in a lower contact point portion of the lower case, a peak of the lower end external circumferential surface of the battery cells is opened to directly contact the metal plate.

16 . The battery pack of claim 11 , wherein the metal plate is coupled to the second sheet by an adhesive.

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

18 . A laptop computer using the battery pack according to claim 1 as a power source.

Assignees

• Lg Chemical Ltd

Inventors

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

Classifications

• 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

• G06F1/16

  Constructional details or arrangements · CPC title

• H01M2220/30

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

• H01M50/231

  having a layered structure · CPC title

• H01M50/227

  Organic material · CPC title