Sanyo Electric Co., Ltd.

Yukichi Uesugi

Takashi Oda

Hideki Okajima

Yoshinobu Okumura

Hitoshi Tanaka

In the method for manufacturing the battery module according to this invention, after a pair of welding upper/lower electrodes or are arranged in contact on the cases of adjacent unit cells of a plurality of unit cells aligned in a line, a welding current is passed between the pair of welding upper electrodes from a welding power source while both ends of the unit cells are pressurized by pressurizing members under a prescribed pressure. Thus, Joule heat is generated at the contact portion between the bottom of the outer case of the unit cell and the positive polarity terminal of the unit cell so that the contact portion melts. Accordingly, the bottom of the outer case of the unit cell and the positive polarity terminal of the unit cell are welded to each other at the contact portion.

Method and apparatus for manufacturing battery module and unit battery cell for use in battery module

A battery module of the present invention comprises an annular connecting member having an aperture at a position corresponding to a cap provided on a sealing plate and between the sealing member of one cell B and a bottom of a can of the other cell A. The annular connecting member comprises an annular base portion having its outer diameter smaller than an inner diameter of the opening portion of the can , a convex portion with bottom protruding upward or downward alternately from the annular base portion , and a projection projecting from the bottom of the convex portion . Thereby, the connecting portion between the cell A and the cell B has a collecting path of a length between both projections , namely, a length between the sealing plate of the cell B and the bottom of the can of the cell A, whereby the voltage drop across the connecting portion decreases, resulting in a battery module having high operation voltage.

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Tuna-gun, Japan

Yukichi Uesugi