Patent Publication Number: US-2009233163-A1

Title: Battery assembly bracket

Description:
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 
     1. Field of the Invention 
     The present invention relates to a battery assembly bracket, particularly to a battery assembly bracket, which can flexibly cascades or parallels different numbers of battery cells, whereby battery cells can be conveniently configured and easily assembled to satisfy various applications. 
     2. Description of the Related Art 
     Lithium batteries have been widely used in consumer electronics because of its high capacity, high charge/discharge efficiency, and long service life. The technologies of lithium batteries also have greatly advanced in recent years to meet the market, such as the technologies for safety and high current capability. The current trend of lithium batteries is toward medium or large size, and the potential markets include: vehicle batteries (mainly for electric vehicles), industrial machines (electric tools), and energy storage devices (for notebook computers). In the field of light-duty electric vehicles, such as electric bikes and electric motorcycles, the performance of batteries and the environment for charging batteries still have many problems to overcome. 
     Currently, the devices needing high current and high power output, such as light-duty vehicles, usually adopt two 12V batteries as the basic power supply unit. If necessary, several basic power supply units are cascaded to obtain a higher voltage (mainly 24V). Batteries of this type are much cheaper than other types of batteries. However, such a type of power supply system has some intrinsic defects to overcome, such as bulkiness and low space efficiency, especially in the cascaded batteries, which reduces the flexibility of car body design. Besides, a lead-acid battery is very heavy, which decreases the energy efficiency of the motor and the endurance of the battery. Further, charging a lead-acid is very time-consuming. Therefore, the lead-acid battery lacks economic efficiency and competitiveness. As for the cascaded lithium battery module, the cells thereof need an assembly module or casing, which increases the cost of molds. Besides, the assembly module should be able to overcome impact or vibration, which may cause the collision or drop of cells. Further, the assembly module should be able to overcome the electrical/thermal insulation of cells. 
     Thus, the manufacturers should pay attention to improving the simplicity and efficiency of assembling battery modules to lower the fabrication cost and increase the economic benefits. 
     SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
     One objective of the present invention is to provide a battery assembly bracket, which can simplify and convenience battery assembly, reduce assembly manpower, and promote assembly efficiency, and which can also decrease the number of molds, lower the fabrication cost and increase the economic benefits. 
     Another objective of the present invention is to provide a battery assembly bracket, which achieves unlimited expandability via flexibly assembling identical-structure hollow casings to accommodate different numbers of battery cells. 
     Further objective of the present invention is to provide a battery assembly bracket, which prevents battery cells from collision and drop and electrically/thermally insulates battery cells, whereby the security and reliability of a battery assemblage is enhanced. 
     To achieve the abovementioned objectives, the present invention proposes a battery assembly bracket comprising a hollow casing. The hollow casing has accommodation spaces used to accommodate battery cells. Convex strips and engagement slots are formed in the edges of every two opposite faces of the hollow casing. Positioning block plates having positioning holes are respectively arranged at four corners of one bottom face of the hollow casing. In packing, the bottoms of battery cells are packed into one battery assembly bracket, and then another battery assembly bracket hoods the tops of the battery cells. Further, a sleeve element may cooperate with the hollow casing to enhance the security of the packed battery assembly bracket. Then, the packed battery assembly brackets are assembled together via the engagement of the convex strips and engagement slots. 
     Below, the present invention is described in detail to make easily understood the technical contents of the present invention. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1A  is a perspective view schematically showing the structure of a battery assembly bracket according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 1B  is another perspective view schematically showing the structure of a battery assembly bracket according to the present invention; 
         FIG. 2  is an exploded view schematically showing a first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 3  is a perspective view schematically showing a packed battery assembly bracket in the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4A  is a perspective view schematically showing the structure of a sleeve element in the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 4B  is another perspective view schematically showing the structure of a sleeve element in the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 5  is an exploded view schematically showing that a sleeve element is additionally used in the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 6  is a perspective view schematically showing a packed battery assembly bracket containing a sleeve element in the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 7  is an exploded view schematically showing a second embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 8  is a perspective view schematically showing a packed battery assembly bracket in the second embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 9  is an exploded view schematically showing that a sleeve element is additionally used in the second embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 10  is a perspective view schematically showing a packed battery assembly bracket containing a sleeve element in the second embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 11  is an exploded view schematically showing the steps of assembling the packed battery assembly brackets in the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 12  is a perspective view schematically showing the assemblage of the packed battery assembly brackets in the first embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 13  is an exploded view schematically showing the steps of assembling the packed battery assembly brackets in the second embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 14  is a perspective view schematically showing the assemblage of the packed battery assembly brackets in the second embodiment of the present invention; 
         FIG. 15  is an exploded view schematically showing the steps of packaging a battery module in the second embodiment of the present invention; and 
         FIG. 16  is a perspective view schematically showing the package of a battery module in the second embodiment of the present invention. 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION 
     Refer to  FIG. 1A ,  FIG. 1B  and  FIG. 2  for a first embodiment of the present invention, wherein a battery assembly bracket for two Li-polymer battery cells is used to exemplify the first embodiment. In this embodiment, the battery assembly bracket  10  has a hollow casing  12 . The hollow casing  12  has accommodation spaces  14  used to accommodate battery cells  11 . The accommodation space  14  is adapted to the shape and dimensions of the battery cell  11 . In this embodiment, a cylindrical battery cell is used. Convex strips  16  and engagement slots  18  are formed in the edges of every two opposite faces of the hollow casing  12 . The convex strips  16  and engagement slots  18  on two opposite faces of the hollow casing  12  are diagonally symmetric. In other words, if they are arranged in an order of convex strip  16 -engagement slot  18  on one face, they are arranged in an order of engagement slot  18 -convex strip  16  on the opposite face. The hollow casing  12 , the convex strips  16  and the engagement slots  18  may be fabricated into a one-piece part via an injection molding process. The convex strips  16  and engagement slots  18  may be arranged to be parallel or vertical to the top of the hollow casing  12 . In this embodiment, the convex strips  16  and engagement slots  18  are arranged to be vertical to the top of the hollow casing  12 . In the hollow casing  12 , four fixing elements  20  are respectively arranged at four corners of one bottom face of the hollow casing  12 . The fixing element  20  is a small positioning block plate  21  having positioning holes  22 . The hollow casing  12  may be made of an insulating material, such as ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), PVC (Polyvinylchloride), ABS+PVC, or nylon. 
     Refer to  FIG. 3 . In packing, the battery cell  11  is pushed into the accommodation space  14  until the top and bottom of the battery cell  11  press against the positioning block plates  21 . Refer to  FIG. 4A ,  FIG. 4B  and  FIG. 5 . A sleeve element  26  may cooperate with the hollow casing  12 . The sleeve element  26  is adapted to the number, shape and dimensions of the battery cells  11 . The sleeve element  26  may be made of an insulating material, such as ABS (Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene), PVC (Polyvinylchloride), ABS+PVC, or nylon. The cooperation of the hollow casing  12  and sleeve element  26  can enhance the security of the battery cell pack and the electrical/thermal insulation of the battery cells  11 . The top face of the hollow casing  12  has pillars  24 . The pillars  24  and the hollow casing  12  may be fabricated into a one-piece part via an injection molding process. The top and bottom of the sleeve element  26  have fixing holes  28  corresponding to the pillars  24  of the hollow casing  12 . The engagement of the pillars  24  and fixing holes  28  joins together the sleeve element  26  and hollow casing  12 . Refer to  FIG. 6 . Via packing the battery cells  11  into the hollow casing  12  and sleeve element  26 , the battery cells  11  are secured reliably, and the electrical/thermal insulation of the battery cells  11  is enhanced. 
     Refer to from  FIG. 7  to  FIG. 10  for a second embodiment of the present invention, wherein a battery assembly bracket for three battery cells is used to exemplify the second embodiment. All the technical features and assembling steps of the second embodiment are similar to those of the first embodiment except the hollow casing  121  has three accommodation spaces  14  to accommodate three battery cells  11 . In the second embodiment, a sleeve element  261  is used to achieve the same function as in the first embodiment. 
     In the abovementioned two embodiments, the hollow casings  12  can be assembled via the engagement of the convex strips  16  and engagement slots  18 . Refer to  FIG. 11  for the steps of assembling the packed battery assembly brackets  10  in the first embodiment, and refer to  FIG. 12  for the assemblage of the packed battery assembly brackets in the first embodiment. The convex strip  16  and engagement slot  18  on one face of one packed battery assembly bracket  10  are parallel slid into the engagement slot  18  and convex strip  16  on one face of another packed battery assembly bracket  10  to engage the two packed battery assembly brackets  10  together. Every face of the hollow casing  12  has the convex strips  16  and engagement slots  18 . Therefore, the hollow casings  12  can be infinitely assembled without the limitation of number and direction. Refer to  FIG. 13  and  FIG. 14 . The battery assembly brackets  10  of the second embodiment can also be assembled in the same way, and the steps thereof will not repeat herein. 
     Refer to  FIG. 15 . After the assemblage of the battery assembly brackets  10  is completed, metallic conduction plates  30  and  31 , such as nickel plates, are respectively installed on the top face and bottom face of the hollow casings  12  to respectively contact the positive and negative electrodes of the battery cells  11 . The metallic conduction plates  30  and  31  may be fixed via spot welding. Thereby, the battery cells  11  are connected in series. Then, a fixing plate  36  is fixed to the positioning holes  22  of the positioning block plate  21  with screws  32  and joint bolts  34 . As shown in  FIG. 16 , the package of the battery assembly brackets  10  is thus completed. 
     Via only a single type of casings, the present invention can achieve the configuration flexibility and assembly simplification of battery cells, improve the assembly efficiency, reduce the assembly cost, and promote the economic benefits. 
     From the above description, it is proved that the present can really simplify the assembly procedures of batteries, and that the present invention is indeed a superior innovation. Thus, the Inventor files the application for a patent. 
     The preferred embodiments described above are only to exemplify the present invention but not to limit the scope of the present invention. Therefore, any equivalent modification or variation according to the spirit of the present invention is to be also included within the scope of the present invention.