Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.

Other

Panasonic Corporation

Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Sumitomo Electric Industries, Limited

Sumitomo Electric Industries, Co.

Munehisa Ikoma

Nobuyasu Morishita

Shinji Hamada

Hiroshi Inoue

Hiromu Matsuda

Isao Matsumoto

Noriyuki Fujioka

Kiyoshi Hayashi

Hideo Kaiya

Hiroshi Kawano

Akihiro Taniguchi

Yoshinori Toyoguchi

Kohei Suzuki

Kohji Yuasa

Shuhei Marukawa

Hiroki Takeshima

Naoto Arai

Keizo Harada

Shosaku Yamanaka

Noboru Ito

Kenji Sato

Kenichi Watanabe

Yoshiaki Ogata

Fumihiko Yoshii

Manabu Kakino

Katsuyuki Tomioka

Masakazu Ikeyama

Osamu Takahashi

Miho Okamoto

Seiji Yamaguchi

Fumio Daio

Mitsugu Takaki

Shinichi Yuasa

Katsunori Komori

Yohei Hattori

Jun Matsumura

Ken Nishimura

Toru Oshima

Yasuko Ito

Toyohiko Eto

Shingo Tsuda

Osamu Yamamoto

Tadao Kimura

Masayoshi Iwase

Tomokazu Yamauchi

Kazuhiro Ohta

Nobuyuki Yanagihara

Kanji Takata

Norikatsu Akutsu

Shinichi Shimakawa

Yasuko Hoshina

Masashi Enokido

Kazutaka Iwasaki

Akinori Yokota

Hiroshi Yoshizawa

Toshiyuki Sekimori

Yoichi Izumi

Takashi Ichiyanagi

Shinichiro Ito

Kazuyuki Kusama

Tetsuo Nanno

Kazuo Tojima

Masato Onishi

Yasuhiro Takahashi

Hajime Seri

Naoto Sato

Hiromi Kajiya

Eiji Kadouchi

Takashi Ito

Kojiro Ito

Toshifumi Ueda

Takao Matsunami

Shinji Murashige

Izumi Yamamura

Takashi Hino

Kimie Muramatsu

Hiroshi Yamasaki

Ayako Tanaka

Satoshi Uda

Norio Saito

Shuhei Marujawa

A method of manufacturing a hydrogen-absorption alloy electrode which comprises particles of a hydrogen-absorption alloy that comprises a rare earth element, Ni, Co and Al. The method comprises subjecting the hydrogen-absorption alloy particles to an alkaline treatment in a 10 to 50 weight % NaOH solution at 60 to 140&#xb0; C. for 0.5 to 5 hours such that on the surface of the particles (amount of Al on surface/amount of Al in alloy)&#x3c;(amount of Co on surface/amount of Co in alloy).

Hydrogen-absorption alloy electrode

A current collector sheet for an electrode of an electrochemical device has a conductive area and an insulating area on the surface thereof. Examples of the current collector sheet includes: a current collector sheet including an insulating sheet, wherein the conductive area has a conductive layer formed on the surface of the insulating sheet, and the insulating area has an exposed portion of the insulating sheet; a current collector sheet including a conductive sheet, wherein the insulating area has an insulating layer formed on the surface of the conductive sheet, and the conductive area has an exposed portion of the conductive sheet; and a current collector sheet including a conductive sheet portion and an insulating sheet portion positioned flush with each other, wherein the conductive area has a surface of the conductive sheet portion, and the insulating area has a surface of the insulating sheet portion.

Current collector sheet and electrochemical device

An electrochemical device having an electrode plate assembly. The electrode plate assembly includes (a) at least one first electrode, (b) at least one second electrode, and (c) a separator interposed between the first electrode and the second electrode. The first electrode includes a first current collector sheet and at least one first electrode mixture layer carried thereon. The second electrode includes a second current collector sheet and at least one second electrode mixture layer carried thereon. At least one of the first current collector sheet and the second current collector sheet has a conductive area and an insulating area.

Electrochemical device and method for producing the same

Provided is a power supply unit for supplying power to an electric apparatus, comprising an indicator unit, an introduction-detecting unit for detecting introduction of the electric apparatus into a vehicle for transportation of the electric apparatus, a voltage-detecting unit for detecting the voltage of the power source, a memory unit for storing a first voltage and a second voltage lower than the first voltage, a judgment unit for determining whether the voltage of the power source detected by the voltage-detecting unit is higher than the first voltage and a forced discharge unit. The forced discharge unit is configured to cause the indicator unit to notify if the electric apparatus is in a state prohibiting introduction into the vehicle and forcibly discharge the power source.

Power supply unit and electric apparatus

An electrochemical device having an electrode plate assembly that includes: (a) at least one first electrode; (b) at least one second electrode; and (c) a separator interposed between the first electrode and the second electrode, the electrode plate assembly including a PTC device. The use of the electrochemical device according to this invention makes it possible to efficiently manufacture secondary batteries with a simple structure, a high reliability and a high electrical capacity.

Electrochemical device

Electrode plate assemblies forming independent elements for electromotive force each contained in a partition member are series-connected and accommodated in a battery case. Each element is constructed as a nickel-metal hydride rechargeable battery cell and has an electromotive force of predetermined voltage, and so the battery connected in series has an output voltage and can be applied to general-purpose uses.

Closed alkaline storage battery

A group of electrodes are accommodated in a prismatic cell case of a rechargeable battery. Intervening separators are provided between positive and negative electrode plates arranged alternately in parallel to long lateral walls of the cell case. The positive electrode plates each include a lead portion having a surface on which at least one lead plate is attached. Lateral edges of the positive electrode plates protrude beyond the negative electrode plates on one side, and lateral edges of the negative electrode plates protrude beyond the group of positive electrode plates on the opposite side. The protruding portions form the lead portions. Upper open ends of the cell cases are closed by an integral lid member.

Battery module, and rechargeable battery for constituting the battery module

A positive electrode plate for alkaline storage battery that does not swell very much even after repeated charge-discharge cycles and can be manufactured easily, a method for manufacturing the same, and an alkaline storage battery using the same are provided. A conductive support (nickel foam) and an active material (nickel hydroxide particles) that is supported by the support are provided. An intermediate part of a positive electrode plate has a larger porosity than surface parts thereof.

Positive electrode plate for alkaline storage battery and method for manufacturing the same, and alkaline storage battery using the same

A battery assembly includes a plurality of battery modules electrically connected together, each battery module acting as a secondary battery and including an electrode group, an electrolyte, a container for housing the electrode group and the electrolyte, and a safety valve operating in accordance with the internal pressure of the container. The working pressure of each safety valve is set so that the safety valve of at least one battery module is opened when the at least one battery module has its maximum internal pressure or less during the charge equalization. It is possible to provide a battery assembly that can improve the reliability of the container strength by keeping the working pressure of each safety valve lower than the pressure that the container resists even under elevated temperature conditions.

Battery assembly

In each of the cells that constitute an battery module, a plurality of positive electrode plates and negative electrode plates are layered parallel to the long lateral walls of prismatic cell cases with intervening separators therebetween, wherein lateral edge portions of the positive electrode plates protrude beyond the negative electrode plates on one side, and lateral edge portions of the negative electrode plates protrude beyond the group of positive electrode plates on the opposite side, the protruding portions forming lead portions.

A battery module is provided which includes multiple rechargeable batteries coupled together. The battery module includes multiple prismatic cell cases having short lateral walls and long lateral walls arranged side by side. Adjacent short lateral walls are integral with each other. The battery module includes holes extending through the short lateral walls of the cell cases at upper edge portions. The battery module also includes a pair of frame fittings that have base ends and protruding portions in each of the cell cases for connecting two adjacent cell cases. The protruding portions of the pair of frame fittings extend into the through holes in the upper edge portions of the short lateral walls of the cell cases from both sides and are welded together. Positive and negative electrode collector plates in the cell cases are respectively attached to the base ends of the frame fittings. End frame fittings that have base ends and protruding portions for cell cases are located at both outer ends of the rechargeable battery for connecting the cell cases to outside terminals. Connection terminals that have protruding portions are connected to the end frame fittings at both outer ends of the rechargeable battery.

An alkaline storage battery having excellent self-discharge characteristics even after a number of charge-discharge cycles is provided. The alkaline storage battery is provided with a case and an electrode group enclosed in the case, and a separator that is included in the electrode group retains at least 15 mg/cm of an electrolyte at least in a period after assembling the battery, from the time the separator is impregnated with the electrolyte to the time the battery is activated.

Alkaline storage battery

A square shaped battery includes: an electrode plate group including a belt-like positive electrode plate, a belt-like negative electrode plate, and a belt-like separator, the belt-like positive electrode plate, the belt-like negative electrode plate, and the belt-like separator being laminated and rolled up to form the electrode plate group; and a pair of power collectors disposed on sides of the electrode plate group for collecting electric power from the electrode plate group.

Square shaped battery

A method for producing a nickel metal-hydride storage battery includes: (i) assembling a battery by enclosing the positive electrodes, the negative electrodes, separators, and an electrolyte in a case; (ii) charging the battery with electric current in a range of 0.05 C (ampere) to 0.2 C (ampere) until a state of charge rises to a range of 10% to 30%; (iii) overcharging the battery that has been subjected to the charging, with electric current in a range of 0.2 C (ampere) to 1 C (ampere), and thereafter discharging the same until the state of charge lowers to 10% or below; and (iv) subjecting the battery after overcharging to a plurality of charging-discharging cycles, each charging-discharging cycle being composed of charging the battery that has been subjected to the overcharging, with electric current in a range of 0.2 C (ampere) to 5 C (ampere) until the state of charge rises to a range of 60% to 95%, and discharging the same until a battery voltage lowers to a range of 0.70 V to 1.05 V. In this method, in the charging-discharging cycles, the battery is cooled with a coolant at a temperature in a range of 30&deg; C. to 60&deg; C. This method makes it possible to produce a nickel metal-hydride storage battery at high productivity and low cost.

Method for producing a nickel metal-hydride storage battery

After joining strips of lead plates in a lengthwise direction to a strip of porous metal sheet having a three-dimensional structure, the metal sheet is rolled entirely or in the vicinity of the lead plates. The porous metal sheet is then cut into several electrode substrates, which are coated with active materials and further cut into several electrode plates having a lead plate on one side thereof.

Method of manufacturing electrode plates for batteries

Growing community of inventors

Toyohashi, Japan

Munehisa Ikoma