US 12,009,469 B2
Battery including bipolar cells that have an edge insulating device supported by a support frame
Ralf Angerbauer, Moeglingen (DE); Bernd Schumann, Rutesheim (DE); Florian Schmid, Korntal (DE); Joerg Thielen, Briedel (DE); Christian Diessner, Muehlacker-Muehlhausen (DE); Mark Kotik, Rochester Hills, MI (US); David Naughton, Oxford, MI (US); Jerome Homann, Renningen (DE); Anne Serout, Stuttgart (DE); Laura Bauer, Altendorf (DE); Steve Scott, Fairborn, OH (US); Dan Schneider, Orion, MI (US); and Gary Mosley, Cincinnati, OH (US)
Assigned to Robert Bosch Battery Systems GmbH, Stuttgart (DE); and Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart (DE)
Appl. No. 17/055,020
Filed by Robert Bosch GmbH, Stuttgart (DE)
PCT Filed May 17, 2019, PCT No. PCT/EP2019/062798
§ 371(c)(1), (2) Date Nov. 12, 2020,
PCT Pub. No. WO2019/228829, PCT Pub. Date Dec. 5, 2019.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/678,017, filed on May 30, 2018.
Prior Publication US 2021/0367261 A1, Nov. 25, 2021
Int. Cl. H01M 10/04 (2006.01); H01M 10/0562 (2010.01); H01M 10/0585 (2010.01); H01M 50/186 (2021.01)
CPC H01M 10/0418 (2013.01) [H01M 10/0486 (2013.01); H01M 10/0562 (2013.01); H01M 10/0585 (2013.01); H01M 50/186 (2021.01); H01M 2220/20 (2013.01)] 9 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A battery comprising a stacked arrangement of electrochemical cells in which each cell is centered on a stack axis that is aligned with the stacking direction of the cells, and each cell comprises
a bipolar plate that includes a substrate, a first active material layer disposed on a first surface of the substrate, and a second active material layer disposed on a second surface of the substrate, the second surface being opposed to the first surface, the first active material layer having a first active material layer peripheral edge that is spaced apart from, and disposed closer to a center of the substrate than, a substrate peripheral edge, the second active material layer being a material that is different than the material of the first active material layer, the second active material layer having a second active material layer peripheral edge that is spaced apart from the substrate peripheral edge,
a solid electrolyte layer that is disposed on the second surface so as to encapsulate the second active material layer including the second active material layer peripheral edge, and
an edge insulating device that includes a sheet of electrically insulating material, the edge insulating device including an outer peripheral edge and an inner peripheral edge, the edge insulating device being disposed between peripheral edges of the substrates of a pair of adjacent cells in such a way that
the outer peripheral edge is disposed further from the centers of the substrates than the substrate peripheral edges, and
the edge insulating device physically contacts and is directly secured to the first surface of one cell of the pair of adjacent cells and is moveable relative to the other cell of the pair of adjacent cells, or the edge insulating device physically contacts and is directly secured to the solid electrolyte layer of the other cell of the pair of adjacent cells, and is moveable relative to the one cell of the pair of adjacent cells,
the battery comprising a support frame that surrounds the stacked arrangement of cells such that a gap exists between the support frame and the substrate peripheral edges, the support frame configured to receive and support the outer peripheral edge of the edge insulating device of each cell, and maintain a spaced apart relationship between the outer peripheral edge of the edge insulating device of one cell and the outer peripheral edge of the edge insulating device of an adjacent cell,
wherein the support frame is configured to maintain a spaced apart relationship between the outer peripheral edges of the edge insulating devices of adjacent cells, while leaving an unconstrained portion of each edge insulating device, the unconstrained portion residing between the outer peripheral edge and the inner peripheral edge, and
a length of the unconstrained portion of one cell of the battery is different than the length of the unconstrained portion of another cell of the battery, where length of the unconstrained portion of a given cell is a distance between an inner surface of the support frame and the peripheral edge of the substrate of the given cell.