Patent ID: 7875382

Claim:
A method of creating a battery having a decreased volume interconnection to a terminal comprising: providing at least one electrode stack comprising a plurality of electrodes, said electrode stack having an electrode active area stack comprising a plurality of electrode active areas and an electrode tab stack comprising a plurality of electrode tabs, each electrode having a thickness and each electrode tab having a tip, and the same length between the electrode active area and the tip, wherein all of the tips extend in a common direction; providing a space between adjacent electrodes; folding each said electrode tabs of said plurality of electrode tabs into a compact arrangement such that ends of all of the tips form a plane perpendicular to the common direction; and connecting said electrode tab stack to a connection means, wherein the electrode tabs are folded into the compact arrangement using formulae, A 0 =B 0 =d 0 =( N )× g, A n =|Σ n=0 n ( d n )|, B n =|Σ n=0 n ( d n )|−( n )×( g+t ), wherein said n is from n=0 to n=N−1, B N =0, L n =A n +B n +h −( N−n )× t , wherein said n is from n=0 to n=N, d (n+1) =g/ 2, for all n from n=0 to n=N, wherein N is an outermost folded electrode tab, n is an index number of any specific individual electrode tab numbering 0 for an innermost folded electrode tab to said N, A 0 is an electrode length along an upper horizontal portion of the innermost folded electrode tab, B 0 is an electrode length of a horizontal lower portion of the innermost folded electrode tab, d 0 is a distance from a first edge to the innermost folded electrode tab, A n is an electrode length along a upper horizontal portion of any folded electrode tab for all 0<n≦N, B n is an electrode length of a horizontal lower portion of any folded electrode tab for all 0<n≦N, t is a thickness of any electrode tab, said t of any electrode tab being uniform for all electrodes of a same type, g is a gap between surfaces of the electrode tabs, h is a vertical height of the outermost folded electrode tab, d (n+1) is a distance between vertical legs of the electrode tabs, L n is a length of each electrode tab.