Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha

Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Sumitomo Metal Mining Company, Ltd.

Takuichi Arai

Akira Tsujiko

Daisuke Teramoto

Tomitaro Hara

Sachie Yuasa

Keiko Wasada

Takeshi Abe

Yohei Shindo

Tsuyoshi Yano

Yasuhiro Yamauchi

Naoya Nakanishi

Yoshinori Yokoyama

Tomoyoshi Ueki

Toshihiro Takada

Yutaka Oyama

Katsuya Kase

Hiroshi Hamaguchi

Akira Kiyama

Hironori Harada

Ryuichi Kuzuo

Ryuta Morishima

Hiroshi Inukai

Syuhei Oda

Kazuhiro Ohkawa

Koichi Yokoyama

A proposed cell systemhas a simple second cell unit(for instance, a unit cell (second cell)) electrically connected in series to a first cell unit(battery pack) that constitutes a main power source. The state of charge (SOC) of the first cell unitis detected on the basis of a mixed voltage (V) of first cellsincluded in the first cell unitand the second cell

Cell system

Provided is a sealed battery with improved safety and reliability in which no spark discharge or voltage recovery occurs after a current interrupt mechanism has been actuated. A sealed batteryincludes a current interrupt mechanism: having an inversion plateand a collector. The collectorand the inversion plateare electrically and mechanically joined in the easily breakable sectionand the inversion section, the easily breakable sectionis broken and displaced together with the inversion sectionby the displacement of the inversion section, and the electric connection of the collectorand the inversion plateis interrupted. The distance between the collectorand the easily breakable sectionafter the displacement is within a range of 0.3 mm to 1.5 mm.

Sealed battery including current interrupting mechanism

Disclosed is a nonaqueous secondary battery () comprising a positive electrode () having a positive current collector () made of a metal, and a positive electrode active material () composed of a lithium-metal complex oxide. The surface of the positive electrode active material () is coated with a lithium salt () having an average thickness of 20-50 nm.

Coated positive electrode active material, positive electrode for nonaqueous secondary battery, nonaqueous secondary battery, and their production methods

Provided is a secondary battery system which can accurately detect a state of a secondary battery system (such as a secondary battery state and a secondary battery system failure). The secondary battery system () includes dV/dQ calculation means which calculates a dV/dQ value as a ratio of a change amount dV of a battery voltage V of a secondary battery () against a change amount dQ of an accumulation amount Q when the accumulation amount Q of the secondary battery () is changed. The secondary battery system () detects the state of the secondary battery system () by using the dV/dQ value.

Secondary battery system

A battery control system controls an external charging unit in a vehicle including a vehicle body, engine, motors, secondary battery, and the external charging unit, and includes a degradation detecting unit that detects degradation of the secondary battery, during charging of the second battery by the external charging unit.

Battery control system and vehicle

A battery systemincludes an upper-limit electrical quantity setting means (an ECU) for setting an upper limit of an electrical quantity (an upper-limit electrical quantity Da) obtainable from a battery packto a lower value than in a full charge state. This upper-limit electrical quantity setting meanssets the upper-limit electrical quantity Da to a value having a difference from the electrical quantity (a full-charge electrical quantity Dmax) obtainable from the full charge state so that the difference is smaller as the deterioration of the battery packprogresses. Further, the battery systemincludes a charging means (the ECU) for charging the battery packunder the condition that the upper-limit electrical quantity Da is an upper limit.

Battery system and battery system-equipped vehicle

A control method for a lithium ion secondary battery includes performing a charging step of charging the lithium ion secondary battery with a predetermined quantity of electricity when the battery voltage of the lithium ion secondary battery has decreased to a lower limit battery voltage that is set at a value that falls within a range higher than (B&#x2212;C) V and lower than or equal to (B&#x2212;C+0.2) V where a maximum value of a positive electrode potential of a flat portion in a discharge positive electrode potential curve is B (V) and a negative electrode dissolution potential is C (V). It is possible to suppress a dissolution of a negative electrode current collector of the lithium ion secondary battery to prevent the service life of the lithium ion secondary battery from shortening because of an internal short circuit.

Control method for lithium ion secondary battery, and lithium ion secondary battery system

The invention provides a method of diagnosing a malfunction in an abnormal voltage detecting apparatus, which includes breaking an electrical connection between a secondary battery () and an abnormal voltage detecting apparatus () and connecting the abnormal voltage detecting apparatus to a direct current voltage generating portion () that is different from the secondary battery (), applying direct current voltage that has a predetermined voltage value that is outside of a normal voltage range to the abnormal voltage detecting apparatus () using the direct current voltage generating portion, and determining that there is a malfunction in the abnormal voltage detecting apparatus if the abnormal voltage detecting apparatus does not determine that the voltage is abnormal.

Method of diagnosing a malfunction in an abnormal voltage detecting apparatus, secondary battery system, and hybrid vehicle

A proton conducting material and proton conducting membrane which have high proton conductivity, high strength, flexibility (strong against deformation), and high size stability when swollen (water absorbed) are provided. The proton conducting material and the proton conducting membrane are formed by crosslinking the unit structure of a layered clay mineral, wherein a polyvalent metal ion is incorporated between layers of the layered clay mineral.

Proton conducting material, proton conducting membrane, and fuel cell

A proton conductive membrane according to the invention includes layered clay mineral powder which is a cation exchanger or an anion exchanger, and a crosslinking structure including an &#x2014;O&#x2014;SO&#x2014;O&#x2014; group which crosslinks particles of the layered clay mineral powder. The proton conductive membrane may be obtained by applying a modifying agent which contains one or more compounds selected from the group consisting of sulfuric acid and metal sulfates, to the layered clay mineral powder, each particle of the layered clay mineral powder having an acid site on a surface thereof. Thus, a phosphoric acid-derived compound which crosslinks the particles of the layered clay mineral powder is replaced by the sulfuric acid which is a stronger acid, whereby the proton conducting ability of the proton conductive membrane can be improved.

Proton conductive membrane and production method thereof

A proton conduction material having high proton conductivity and exhibiting high reactive gas permeability regardless of the percentage of water content is provided. This proton conduction material consists of a polymer material whose molecular structure has a strong acid functional group. This polymer material consists of a polymer of a mixture of a monomer having an end structure expressed by a formula (1) or a vinyl radical and a monomer expressed by a formula (2). A strong acid functional group is included in the structure of both the monomers. It is to be noted herein that R1, R2, R3, R4, R5 and R6 represent a hydrocarbon radical, a fluoro-substituted hydrocarbon radical, or a trimethylsiloxy radical. Because introduction of a structure in which a hydrocarbon radical is bonded to silicon weakens interaction and causes bulkiness, gaps are created among atoms. If the number of the gaps among the atoms increases, the diffusion coefficient of reactive gases increases. As a result, permeability of the reactive gases can be enhanced.

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Toyota, Japan

Takuichi Arai