JP2000215880A - Battery - Google Patents

Abstract

PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To prevent an airtight fastener from being loosened resulting in a leakage of an electrolyte or the deterioration in airtightness by forming a second screw section having the screw diameter smaller than a first screw section and serving as an inverse screw on the tip side than the first screw section screwed with the female screw section of the airtight fastener at the male screw section of a terminal. SOLUTION: Each terminal 3 of positive and negative electrodes is protruded with a male screw section 3a on a flange section 3b. The male screw section 3a is divided into a lower first screw section 3c and an upper second screw section 3d. The first screw section 3c is a left-handed screw, and the second screw section 3d is a normal right-handed screw and has the screw diameter smaller than that of the first screw section 3c. An O-ring 4 is inserted to the male screw section 3a of each terminal 3 and mounted on a flange section 3b, and the male screw section 3a is inserted into a through hole formed on a cover plate 2 from below the cover plate 2 and is protruded. An insulating tube 5 is outwardly coupled with the male screw section 3a of each terminal 3, and an airtight nut 6 is screwed to the first screw section 3c.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention The present invention relates to a battery in which a male screw portion of a terminal projects outside a battery case for connection to an external circuit.

[0002]

2. Description of the Related Art As shown in FIG. 5, for example, a large-capacity non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery for an electric vehicle has a rectangular box-shaped case main body 1 made of stainless steel. The battery case is formed by covering and sealing with the rectangular cover plate 2. A power generating element (not shown) of the nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery is housed in the case body 1 of the battery case. The terminals 3 of the positive and negative electrodes connected to the positive and negative electrodes of the power generating element via current collectors (not shown) are respectively passed through through holes on both sides of the cover plate 2 through only the male screw portions 3a and 3a. It is made to protrude.

As shown in FIG. 6, each of the positive and negative terminals 3 has a male screw 3a protruding above a flange 3b. The terminal 3 has an O-ring 4 fitted on a male screw portion 3a and mounted on the upper surface of a flange portion 3b. The male screw portion 3a is inserted into a through hole formed in the cover plate 2 from below the cover plate 2. Protrude through. Then, the insulating cylinder 5 is externally fitted to the male screw portion 3a of the terminal 3 from above, and the airtight nut 6 is screwed. The insulating cylinder 5 is an insulator provided with a flange at the upper end of the cylindrical part. The cylindrical part fits into the gap between the through hole of the cover plate 2 and the male screw part 3 a of the terminal 3 and is inserted into the O-ring 4. Is also inserted. Accordingly, when the nut 6 for airtightness is tightened, the gap between the flange portion of the insulating cylinder 5 which is pushed down and the flange portion 3b of the terminal 3 which is lifted upward is reduced.
The cover plate 2 is sandwiched via the ring 4, whereby the terminal 3 is attached to the cover plate 2 by insulation sealing.

[0004]

The external thread 3a of each terminal 3 is tightened with a connection nut 8 as shown in FIG. The connection with the electric circuit is made. However, as shown in FIG. 8, the connection nut 8 is
Is screwed to the same male screw portion 3a through the connection fitting 7, so that if the connection fitting 7 is to be loosened to be removed, the airtight nut 6 may be rotated and loosened together. In particular, when the attachment / detachment of the connection fitting 7 is repeated, there is a high possibility that the screwing of the airtight nut 6 is loosened. When the sealing nut 6 is loosened, the pressing force of the O-ring 4 by the flange 3b of the terminal 3 is weakened, so that the electrolyte in the battery case leaks through the through hole of the cover plate 2 or the airtightness of the inside is reduced. The problem of being damaged arises.

The present invention has been made in order to cope with such a situation, and a male screw portion of a terminal is provided with a first screw portion and a second screw portion.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a battery that can be prevented from loosening the airtight fastening tool by dividing the screw portion into a reverse screw or shifting the axis of the second screw portion.

[0006]

According to the first aspect of the present invention, a male screw portion of a terminal connected to an electrode of a power generating element in a battery case is projected from the inside through a through hole of the battery case to project outward. By screwing the female screw portion of the airtight tightening tool from the outside to the male screw portion, in a battery in which this terminal is attached to the battery case via an insulating sealing material, the airtight tightening of the male screw portion of the terminal is performed. A second screw portion having a smaller screw diameter than the first screw portion and having a reverse screw is formed on a tip end side of the first screw portion to which the female screw portion of the attachment is screwed.

According to the first aspect of the present invention, since the second screw portion is a reverse screw of the first screw portion, even if the connection nut or the like is repeatedly attached to and detached from the second screw portion, the first screw portion remains. The possibility that the screwed airtight fastener is loosened is eliminated. The reason why the screw diameter of the second screw portion is smaller than that of the first screw portion is as follows.
This is to prevent the second screw portion from being blocked when the airtight fastening tool is screwed.

According to a second aspect of the present invention, a male screw portion of a terminal connected to an electrode of a power generating element in a battery case is made to project outward from the inside through a through hole of the battery case. By screwing the female screw portion of the airtight fastener from above, in a battery in which this terminal is attached to the battery case via an insulating sealing material, the female screw portion of the airtight fastener at the male screw portion of the terminal A second screw portion having a smaller screw diameter than that of the first screw portion and having an axis shifted from the first screw portion on which the first screw portion is screwed is formed.

According to the second aspect of the present invention, since the axis of the second threaded portion is shifted from the first threaded portion, the first screwed portion can be repeatedly attached and detached to and from the second threaded portion. Since it becomes difficult to transmit the rotational force to the airtight fastener screwed to the portion, there is no possibility that the tightening tool will be loosened. The reason why the screw diameter of the second screw portion is smaller than that of the first screw portion is to prevent the second screw portion from being impeded when the airtight fastener is screwed.

[0010] According to a third aspect of the present invention, the second screw portion is a first screw portion.
It is a reverse screw of the screw part.

According to the third aspect of the present invention, by loosening the shaft center of the second screw portion and making the screw reverse, the loosening of the airtight fastener screwed to the first screw portion is reliably prevented. Can be.

[0012]

Embodiments of the present invention will be described below with reference to the drawings.

FIGS. 1 and 2 show a first embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 1 is a partially enlarged longitudinal sectional view showing the vicinity of a terminal. FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged longitudinal sectional view of FIG. Components having the same functions as those of the conventional example shown in FIGS. 5 to 8 are denoted by the same reference numerals.

In this embodiment, a large-capacity, large-capacity non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery for an electric vehicle similar to the conventional example will be described. The positive terminal 3 of this nonaqueous electrolyte secondary battery is made of aluminum, and the negative terminal 3 is made of copper. Then, similarly to the conventional example shown in FIG.
Only a is projected from the through holes on both sides of the cover plate 2 to the outside.

As shown in FIG. 1, each of the positive and negative terminals 3 has a male screw 3a protruding above a flange 3b. A connection portion with a current collector (not shown) is provided below the flange portion 3b. The male screw portion 3a is divided into a lower first screw portion 3c and an upper second screw portion 3d. The first screw portion 3c is a left-hand screw, and the second screw portion 3d
Is a normal right-hand screw having a smaller screw diameter than the first screw portion 3c.

Each of the terminals 3 is inserted into a through hole formed in the cover plate 2 from below the cover plate 2 in a state where the O-ring 4 is fitted on the male screw portion 3a and placed on the upper surface of the flange portion 3b. Screw part 3a
And project it through. The diameter of the through-hole of the cover plate 2 is sufficiently larger than the first screw portion 3c of the male screw portion 3a of the terminal 3 and sufficiently smaller than the flange portion 3b. The O-ring 4 has an inner diameter substantially equal to the diameter of the through hole of the cover plate 2. The insulating cylinder 5 is externally fitted to the male screw portion 3a of the terminal 3 from above, and an airtight nut 6 is screwed to the first screw portion 3c. The insulating cylinder 5 is an insulator made of an epoxy resin or the like having a flange at the upper end of the cylindrical part.
And is also inserted into the O-ring 4. Further, unlike the case of the conventional example, the airtight nut 6 has a female screw portion formed with a left screw that is screwed to the first screw portion 3c. The diameter of the second screw portion 3d is reduced in order to allow the female screw portion of the hermetic nut 6 to pass therethrough. Therefore, when the airtight nut 6 is screwed counterclockwise and tightened, the flange portion of the insulating tube 5 is pressed downward, and the lower end surface of the tube portion is pressed against the flange portion 3b of the terminal 3 and fixed. . At this time, the edge of the through hole of the cover plate 2 is formed by the flange of the insulating tube 5 and the flange 3 of the terminal 3.
Since the terminal 3 is sandwiched and pressed between the terminal 3 and the terminal b, the terminal 3 is attached to the cover plate 2 by insulation sealing. The first screw portion 3c of the male screw portion 3a of the terminal 3 is
It is preferable that the nut 6 is formed to a height such that it does not protrude above the upper end surface of the nut 6 even when the nut 6 is tightened. Actually, an insulating ring is fitted around the O-ring 4 to prevent the O-ring 4 from coming off.

As shown in FIG. 2, the terminal 3 has a through hole of a connection fitting 7 passed through a male screw portion 3a and disposed on an airtight nut 6, and a connection nut 8 is screwed into a second screw portion 3d. By attaching, it is connected to other non-aqueous electrolyte secondary batteries and external electric circuits. At this time, when the first screw portion 3c protrudes above the upper end surface of the hermetic nut 6, the diameter of the through hole of the connection fitting 7 is made larger than the first screw portion 3c, and the connection nut 8 is made. So that it can be placed on top. This is because, when the connection fitting 7 is placed on the step surface between the first screw portion 3c and the second screw portion 3d, not only the first screw portion 3c does not need to be left-handed, but also the connection fitting 7 This is because the contact area cannot be sufficiently increased. If the step surface is widened, the contact area can be made sufficiently large. However, in this case, the diameter of the first screw portion 3c needs to be extremely large, and the area of the terminal mounting portion becomes too large. Not realistic.

According to the above configuration, even if the connection nut 8 is rotated counterclockwise to remove the connection fitting 7, it can be loosened.
Since the counterclockwise rotation is in the tightening direction for the hermetic nut 6, the tightening of the hermetic nut 6 is not loosened. Further, even when the connection nut 8 is rotated clockwise to tighten it, if the airtight nut 6 tries to loosen by receiving the clockwise force, the downward movement of the connection nut 8 causes the airtightness to decrease. The nut 6 can be prevented from moving upward and loosening can be prevented.

In the first embodiment, the first screw 3c of the male screw 3a of the terminal 3 is left-handed and the second screw 3
Although d is a right-hand thread, these may be reversed. However, the user often attaches and detaches the connection nut 8 to and from the second screw portion 3d.
The screw portion 3d is configured to be a normal right-hand screw.

3 and 4 show a second embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 3 is a partially enlarged longitudinal sectional view showing the vicinity of a terminal, and FIG. 4 shows a state in which a connection fitting is fastened to a terminal with a connection nut. 3 is a partially enlarged longitudinal sectional view of FIG. Note that components having the same functions as those of the first embodiment shown in FIGS. 1 and 2 are denoted by the same reference numerals, and description thereof is omitted.

The non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery of the present embodiment also has the male screw portions 3a, 3a of the positive and negative terminals 3, 3 and the airtight nut 6.
Except for this, the configuration is the same as that of the first embodiment. As shown in FIG. 3, the male screw portion 3a of each of the positive and negative terminals 3 also has a lower first screw portion 3e and an upper second screw portion 3f.
It is the same point that is divided into and. However, the first screw portion 3e is a normal right-hand screw, and the female screw portion of the hermetic nut 6 is also a right-hand screw accordingly. Further, the second screw portion 3f is the same right screw having a smaller screw diameter than the first screw portion 3e, but the shaft center is displaced d as shown in FIG.
It is formed so as to be shifted only by one.

As shown in FIG. 4, the terminal 3 has a through hole of a connection fitting 7 passed through a male screw portion 3a and disposed on an airtight nut 6, and a connection nut 8 is screwed into a second screw portion 3f. By attaching, it is connected to other non-aqueous electrolyte secondary batteries and external electric circuits. At this time, when the first screw portion 3e protrudes above the upper end surface of the hermetic nut 6, the diameter of the through hole of the connection fitting 7 is made larger than the first screw portion 3e, and the connection nut 8 is formed. It is the same as in the first embodiment that it can be placed on the top.

According to the above construction, even if the connection nut 8 is rotated and loosened to remove the connection fitting 7, the center of the rotational force is shifted from the rotation center of the airtight nut 6 by the displacement d. The torque of the nut 8 is not transmitted smoothly to the nut 6 for airtightness. For this reason, even if the attachment / detachment of the connection fitting 7 is repeated, there is almost no possibility that the airtight nut 6 is loosened. Note that the larger the displacement d, the greater the effect of preventing the loosening of the hermetic nut 6 becomes. However, when the displacement d is increased, the diameter of the second screw portion 3f is usually reduced to allow the female screw portion of the hermetic nut 6 to pass through. And the tightening force of the connecting nut 8 becomes weaker, so that it is necessary to limit it to an appropriate size.

In the above-described second embodiment, both the first screw portion 3e and the second screw portion 3f of the male screw portion 3a of the terminal 3 are each a normal right-handed screw. Both can be left-handed. Also, the first
If the screw portion 3e and the second screw portion 3f are reversely screwed, loosening of the hermetic nut 6 can be more reliably prevented. In this case, it is preferable that the second screw portion 3f is a normal right-hand screw, as in the case of the first embodiment.

Further, in the first and second embodiments,
The case where the terminal 3 is insulated and sealed to the cover plate 2 using the O-ring 4 and the insulating tube 5 has been described. It can be changed appropriately according to the insulating sealing material.

Further, in the above embodiment, the non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery has been described, but the present invention is not limited to the type of battery.

[0027]

As is apparent from the above description, according to the battery of the present invention, the male screw portion of the terminal is screwed into the first screw portion to which the airtight fastener is screwed, and the small-diameter second screw portion at the tip end thereof. By separating the screw portion from the screw portion, the second screw portion is reversely screwed or the axis is shifted, so that the airtight fastening tool can be prevented from being loosened, preventing leakage of the electrolyte and impairing the airtightness inside the battery. become.

[Brief description of the drawings]

FIG. 1 shows a first embodiment of the present invention, and is a partially enlarged longitudinal sectional view near a terminal.

FIG. 2, showing the first embodiment of the present invention, is a partially enlarged longitudinal sectional view when a connection fitting is fastened to a terminal with a connection nut.

FIG. 3 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, and is a partially enlarged longitudinal sectional view near a terminal.

FIG. 4 shows a second embodiment of the present invention, and is a partially enlarged longitudinal sectional view when a connection fitting is fastened to a terminal with a connection nut.

FIG. 5, which shows a conventional example, is an overall perspective view of a non-aqueous electrolyte secondary battery.

FIG. 6 is a partially enlarged longitudinal sectional view showing a conventional example, in the vicinity of a terminal.

FIG. 7 is a perspective view showing a conventional example, showing a terminal, a connection fitting, and a connection nut.

FIG. 8 shows a conventional example, and is a partially enlarged longitudinal sectional view when a connection fitting is fastened to a terminal with a connection nut.

[Explanation of symbols]

 2 Cover plate 3 Terminal 3a Male screw part 3c First screw part 3d Second screw part 3e First screw part 3f Second screw part 4 O-ring 5 Insulating cylinder 6 Airtight nut

Continued on the front page (72) Inventor Hideyuki Sugiyama 1 Kishijoin Nishinosho Inobaba-cho, Minami-ku, Kyoto F-term within Nippon Battery Co., Ltd. 5H022 AA09 BB00 BB03 CC03 CC09 CC12 CC13 KK03 KK08

Claims (3)

[Claims] 1. A male screw portion of a terminal connected to an electrode of a power generating element in a battery case is projected from the inside through a through hole of the battery case to project outward, and an airtight tightening is performed on the male screw portion from the outside. By screwing the female screw part of the terminal, the terminal is attached to the battery case via an insulating sealing material. In the battery, the female screw part of the airtight fastener in the male screw part of the terminal is screwed. A battery characterized in that a second screw portion having a smaller screw diameter than the first screw portion and having a reverse screw is formed on a tip end side of the one screw portion. 2. A male screw portion of a terminal connected to an electrode of a power generating element in a battery case is projected from the inside through a through hole of the battery case and protrudes outward, and the male screw portion is hermetically tightened from the outside. By screwing the female screw part of the terminal, the terminal is attached to the battery case via an insulating sealing material. In the battery, the female screw part of the airtight fastener in the male screw part of the terminal is screwed. A battery characterized in that a second screw portion having a smaller screw diameter than that of the first screw portion and offset from the axis is formed on the distal end side of the one screw portion. 3. The battery according to claim 2, wherein the second screw portion is a reverse screw of the first screw portion.