Note: Descriptions are shown in the official language in which they were submitted.
37~i
This invention relates to an elliptical column
type non-aqueous elec-trolyte battery provided with an ellip-
tical column type spiral electrode assembly.
The present invention will be illustrated by way
of the accompanying drawings, in which:-
Fig. 1 is a vertical sectional view of a battery
according to one embodiment of the present invention;
Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of the battery
taken along a line A-A' in Fig. l;
Fig. 3 is a perspective view of a resilient mem-
ber (11) in Figs. 1 and 2;
Fig. 4 is a perspective view of a resilient mem-
ber (11') according to another example; and
Fig. 5 is a view showing that two cylindrical
type conventional batteries are arranged in parallel and
located in a space for batteries of an electronic appliance.
Recently, with rapid technical progress in various
kinds of electronic equipment and appliances, batteries
have been employed as their power sources. Among these
equipment and applicances, comparatively high current has
been especially required in the fields of radio receivers,
tape recorders, cameras, and the like. In spite of small
appliances, for example, two or four cylindrical type alka-
line manganese batteries (bat-tery voltage: 1.5V) have been
used as a 3 V- or 6 V-battery by connecting them in series
with one another.
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As shown in Fig. 5 as a concrete example, two
al~aline manganese batteries (20) are arranged in parallel
so that positive and nega-tive terminals (21) and (22) are
positioned at one end surface, and are placed in a space
~or batteries of an appliance (30) which includes positive
and negative contact strips t31) and (32), respectively.
Recently, lithium non-aqueous electrolyte bat-
teries, which include a negative active material of lithium
and a positive active matelial of manganese dioxide, carbon
fluoride, silver chromate or the like, have been put into
practice, and such batteries have attracted the attention
because the battery voltage is 3 V which is about two times
as high as usual alkaline manganese batteries or manganese
dry batteries and because such batteries include high energy
density.
The inventors have found the described features
of the non-aqueous electrolyte battery, and have proposed
~0 the non-aqueous electrolyte battery which is used instead
of arranging two cylindrical type alkaline manganese bat-
teries or manganese dry batteries in parallel. That is,
the battery is one which includes an elliptically cylindri-
cal casing which accommodates an elliptical column type
spiral electrode assembly formed by winding positive and
negative electrode plates through a separator. The ellip-
tical column type spiral electrode assembly is provided by
winding the electrode group around a plate-shaped core
especially. The present invention is intended to improve
further such elliptical column type non-aqueous battery
described above, and the object is to improve the battery
characteristics bylowering the internal resistance.
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The presen-t invention is to provide an elliptical column
type non-aqueous electroly-te battery which includes an ellip-
tical column type spiral elec-trode assembly formed by winding
a positive electrode plate and a negative electrode pla-te of
lithium metal through a separa-tor, around a resilien-t member
loca-ted at the center of the electrode assembly and normally
expanding the electrode assembly from the cen-ter toward the
outward directions of larger and smaller radius portions, the
larger and smaller radius portions of the battery casing being
in a size ratio wi-th respect ofeach other of about 2:1, said
battery having a voltage of about 3 volts.
According to the present invention, one bat-tery is
not used instead of ob-taining high current by employing two
cylindrical batteries arranged in parallel as shown in known
manners, but also the adhesion of the positive electrode
pla-te to the negative electrode plate through the separator
is made high by the resilient member located at the center of
the electrode assembly. As a resul-t, the internal resistance
is reduced to improve the battery characteristics.
3 --
The electrode assembly used for the non-a~ueous
electrolyte battery according to the present invention
includes an elliptical column type electrode assembly which
is provided by spirally winding belt-shaped negative and
positive electrode plates through a belt-shaped separator.
The larger radius portion is about two times as large as
the smaller radius portion in size.
The resilient member used for the non-aqueous
electrolyte battery according to the present invention is
made of, for example, a conduc-tive metal plate such as
stainless steel, and is positioned at the center of the
elliptical column type electrode assembly to expand it from
the center to directions of larger and smaller radius por-
tions. The structures of the elliptical resilent member
are concretely given as follows: 1) a gap continuous from
one open end to the other is provided at the side
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376
walls as shown in Fig. 3, and 2) one end, cut from one
open end to the other,,is bent so as to obtain an U-shaped
recessed portion, and the other end is engaged with the
U-shaped recessed portion as shown in Fig. 4.
The present invention will now be described by the
embodiments, but will not be limited by them.
In FigS. 1 and 2, (1) is the stainless steel casing
which is elliptical in cross section, and an insulating
sheet (2) is provided at the bottom. In this case, the
elliptical type cylindrical casing is designed in such
a manner that the larger radius portion is about two times
as large as the smaller radius portion, and corresponds
approximately to the size in arranging two usual 1.5 V-
cylindrical type batteries in parallel. (3) is a
stainless steel cover plate for enclosing the open
portion of the casing (1), whose periphery is fixed to
the open end of the casing by using, for example, laser
welding. (4) is a T-shaped terminal pin, a part of which
is inserted through aninsulator (5) into a perforation
formed in the cover plate (3), and whose end is crimped
and secured to a metal ring (6). A negative external ter-
minal plate (7) is secured to the upper surface of the
me ~ ring (6). (8) is an insulating ring for preventing
the electrical connection between the negative external
terminal plate (7) and the cover plate (3). Further, (9)
is a positive external terminal cap attached to the cover
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plate (3) in opposition to the negative external terminal
plate (7~. (10) is the elliptical column type spiral
electrode assembly which is constituted by spot welding
a negative collector net (12'), exposed from one end of
lithium negative electrode palte (12), to the elliptical
type conductive resilient member (11) of cylindrical
form used as a winding core, superposing the positive
electrode plate (14) of manganese dioxide on the negative
electrode plate (12) through the separator ~13), and
winding them around the resilient member. In the practical
winding, a shaft of a take-up jig is inserted into the
center of the resilient member (11) to carry out the winding.
In this case, the positive electrode plate ~14) is positioned
at the outermost side of the electrode assembly, and the
positive collector net (14') exposed from the positive
electrode plate (14) is contacted to the inner surface of
the casing (1) so as to be electrically connected. (15)
is an insulating sheet arranged on the upper surface of
the electrode assembly (10).
In the embodiment, the resilient member (11) located
at the central space of the spiral electrode assembly
(10~ is used as both the winding core in producing the
electrode assembly and the negative collector. One end of
a negative lead plate (16), which is secured to the
resilient mem~er (11) by s~ot welding, is fixed to the
lower end of the negative terminal pin (4) and is electri-
76
cally connected thereto. Fi~. 4 shows a resilient member(11') according to anothar embodiment.
According to the non-aqueous electrolyte battery
of the present invention, since the battery is provided
with the elliptical col~lmn type spiral electrode assembly
andthe appearance shape is the elliptical column type,
the following advantages will be obtained when the battery
is used instead of the power supply batteries of electronic
equipment and appliances which employ two usual cylindrical
batteries with the battery voltage of 1.5 V by arranging
them in parallel and connecting them in series wlth each
other as stated at the beginning
a) Since the appearance shape is the elliptical
column type, the battery is similar to the shape that two
cylindrical type batteries are arranged in parallel, and
it is possible to employ the battery in existing electronic
equipment and appliances. In addition, because the battery
has such a structure that the electrode assembly is posi-
tioned at the space caused between two cylindrical type
batteries when they are arranged in parallel, the volume
efficiency is improved.
b) Although the attention must be taken so that
two cylindrical type batteries are arranged in the defined
directions, the insertion work is made simple according
to the non-aqueous electrolyte battery of the present
invention because it can be used instead of two cylindrical
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type batteries.
Further, the resilient member is positioned at the
central space of the elliptical column type spiral
electrode assembly, and the electrode assembly (10) is
usually expanded outwardly ~rom the center due to the
force of restitution of the resilient member (11) as
shown in Fig. 2. Consequently, good adhesion of the
positive electrode plate to the negative electrode plate
are obtained, and the internal resistance is reduced to
improve the battery characteristics.
