Folded battery cell structure for application of stack pressure

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2019305377-A1
Application number	US-201815939574-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Mar 29, 2018
Priority date	Mar 29, 2018
Publication date	Oct 3, 2019
Grant date	—

Abstract

An improved method of making a battery uses a sheet of one material for the anode, a sheet of a second material for the cathode, and a sheet of separator material between them to form a laminate of the three sheets. To make this laminate into a form factor suitable for a small thin battery, the anode sheet and cathode sheet may have slots to enable each sheet to be easily folded along the slot lines to create a concertina configuration.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A method of making a battery, comprising:
providing a first sheet of material for a battery anode, the first sheet having a first series of parallel evenly spaced slots; providing a second sheet of material for a battery cathode, the second sheet having a second series of parallel evenly spaced slots matching the first series of slots; placing a separator sheet between the first sheet and the second sheet to form a laminate, the slots of the first sheet aligned with the slots of the second sheet; and folding the laminate along multiple parallel folds, each fold aligned with a corresponding slot; wherein alternating folds are folded in opposite directions to form a concertina configuration.

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein each fold is a fold of approximately 180 degrees.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the first sheet of material contains lithium ions.

4 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the material between each pair of adjacent slots is considered a finger; and the method further comprises applying pressure from opposing sides of the concertina configuration to maintain contact between each finger and the separator sheet:

5 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the slots extend to one edge of the first sheet but not to an opposing edge of the first sheet.

6 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the slots do not extend to any edge of the first sheet.

7 . The method of claim 1 , further comprising placing the concertina configuration in a battery case.

8 . A computer-readable non-transitory storage medium that contains instructions, which when executed by one or more processors result in performing operations comprising:
providing a first sheet of material for a battery anode, the first sheet having a first series of parallel evenly spaced slots; providing a second sheet of material for a battery cathode, the second sheet having a second series of parallel evenly spaced slots matching the first series of slots; placing a separator sheet between the first sheet and the second sheet to form a laminate, the slots of the first sheet aligned with the slots of the second sheet; and folding the laminate along multiple parallel folds, each fold aligned with a corresponding slot; wherein alternating folds are folded in opposite directions to form a concertina configuration.

9 . The medium of claim 8 , wherein each fold is a fold of approximately 180 degrees.

10 . The medium of claim 8 , wherein the first sheet of material contains lithium ions.

11 . The medium of claim 8 , wherein the material between each pair of adjacent slots is considered a finger; and the method further comprises applying pressure from opposing sides of the concertina configuration to maintain contact between each finger and the separator sheet:

12 . The medium of claim 8 , wherein the slots extend to one edge of the first sheet but not to an opposing edge of the first sheet.

13 . The medium of claim 8 , wherein the slots do not extend to any edge of the first sheet.

14 . The medium of claim 8 , wherein the operations further comprise placing the concertina configuration in a battery case.

15 . A battery assembly, comprising:
a laminate having an anode sheet with parallel evenly spaced slots, a cathode sheet with parallel evenly spaced slots, and an unslotted separator sheet between the anode sheet and the cathode sheet; wherein the laminate is folded into a concertina configuration with 180 degree folds aligned with the slots.

16 . The battery assembly of claim 15 , wherein the anode sheet contains lithium ions.

17 . The battery assembly of claim 15 , wherein the slots of the anode sheet and the slots of the cathode sheet are open at a same end of the laminate.

18 . The battery assembly of claim 15 , wherein the slots of the anode sheet and the slots of the cathode sheet are open at opposite edges of the laminate.

19 . The battery assembly of claim 15 , wherein the slots of the anode are not open at any edge of the anode sheet.

20 . The battery assembly of claim 15 , further comprising a battery case containing the concertina configuration.

Assignees

• Intel Corp

Inventors

• Keates Andrew W

Classifications

• H01M10/045

  Cells or batteries with folded plate-like electrodes · CPC title

• H01M10/052 Primary

  Li-accumulators · CPC title

• H01M10/0583 Primary

  of accumulators with folded construction elements except wound ones, i.e. folded positive or negative electrodes or separators, e.g. with "Z"-shaped electrodes or separators · CPC title

• H01M10/0525

  Rocking-chair batteries, i.e. batteries with lithium insertion or intercalation in both electrodes; Lithium-ion batteries · CPC title

• H01M50/102

  characterised by their shape or physical structure · CPC title