Mounting Device and Method for Mounting a Nut on a Screw of a Battery Assembly, and Battery Assembly

Abstract

The present invention relates to a mounting device for mounting a nut on a screw of a battery assembly, comprising a mounting body having a receptacle extending continuously in a longitudinal direction for receiving the nut, and a holding element extending radially inwardly in the receptacle for holding the nut in a pre-mounting position distanced from the screw as well as a battery assembly comprising the mounting device.

Claims

1. A mounting device for mounting a nut on a screw of a battery assembly, comprising a mounting body having a receptacle extending continuously in a longitudinal direction for receiving the nut, and a holding element extending radially inwardly in the receptacle for holding the nut in a pre-mounting position distanced from the screw.

2. The mounting device as claimed in claim 1, wherein a connection unit extending from the mounting body for connecting to a busbar to be fixed by the nut.

3. The mounting device as claimed in claim 2, wherein the connection unit has a snap hook or clip for forming an undercut connection to the busbar, wherein the connection unit, with respect to a center axis of the mounting body, preferably has two snap hooks or clips arranged at a distance from one another on both sides of the center axis.

4. The mounting device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the connection unit extends radially outwardly from the mounting body with respect to the longitudinal direction.

5. The mounting device as claimed in claim 4, wherein the holding element has an elastic collar inclined toward the mounting side and extending in a circumferential direction with respect to the longitudinal direction.

6. The mounting device as claimed in claim 5, wherein the holding element is formed by a plurality of circumferentially mutually distanced collar segments.

7. The mounting device as claimed in claim 6, wherein the holding element has two collars arranged offset from one another in the longitudinal direction.

8. The mounting device as claimed in claim 7, wherein the collars are each formed by a plurality of collar segments distanced from one another in the circumferential direction.

9. The mounting device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the first collar and the second collar are formed such that a flange receptacle for receiving a flange of a nut with a flange formed between the collars.

10. The mounting device as claimed in claim 9, wherein the mounting device is formed in one piece.

11. A battery assembly, preferably a vehicle battery assembly, comprising at least one of: a battery module and a battery cell and a busbar electrically conductively connected via a screw connection to at least one of: a terminal of the battery module and the battery cell, wherein a nut of the screw connection is surrounded by a mounting device.

12. A method for mounting a nut on a screw of a battery assembly, comprising the steps of: pre-positioning a nut in a mounting device; applying the mounting device to a busbar of the battery assembly, wherein the nut is held in the pre-mounting position distanced from the screw; and mounting the nut on the screw.

13. The mounting device as claimed in claim 3, wherein the connection unit extends from the mounting body in the longitudinal direction in the direction of the busbar on a mounting side of the mounting body facing the busbar in a mounted state on the busbar.

14. The mounting device as claimed in claim 8, wherein the collar segments of the first collar extend recesses of the second collar present between the collar segments of the second collar.

15. The mounting device as claimed in claim 14, wherein the collar segments of the first collar and the collar segments of the second collar partially overlap in the longitudinal direction.

16. The mounting device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the mounting device has an electrically insulating material.

17. The mounting device as claimed in claim 10, wherein the electrically insulating material is a plastic material.

18. The battery assembly as claimed in claim 11, wherein the battery assembly is a vehicle battery assembly.

19. The battery assembly as claimed in claim 11, wherein the mounting device comprises: a mounting body having a receptacle extending continuously in a longitudinal direction for receiving the nut, and a holding element extending radially inwardly in the receptacle for holding the nut in a pre-mounting position distanced from the screw.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE FIGURES

[0046] Preferred further embodiments of the invention will be explained in more detail by the following description of the figures, which show:

[0047] FIG. 1 a schematic perspective side view of a busbar of a battery assembly with two mounting devices for mounting a nut on a screw;

[0048] FIG. 2 a schematic top view of a mounting device from FIG. 1; and

[0049] FIG. 3 a schematic sectional view of the mounting device from FIG. 2.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0050] In the following, preferred embodiments are described on the basis of the figures. In this context, identical, similar or similarly acting elements are provided with identical reference signs in the various figures, and a repeated description of these elements is omitted to some extent in order to avoid redundancies.

[0051] FIG. 1 schematically shows a perspective side view of a busbar 5 in the form of a busbar of a battery assembly 100 with two mounting devices 1 for mounting a nut 4 on a screw. Here, one of the mounting devices 1, which can be seen in the lower left of FIG. 1, is shown in a state connected to the busbar 5. In this mounting device 1, a nut 4 is further held in a pre-mounting position. The mounting device 1, which is shown in the upper right of FIG. 1, corresponds to the aforementioned mounting device 1, wherein the mounting device 1 and the nut 4 are shown in the upper right of FIG. 1 in an exploded view with respect to the busbar 5.

[0052] The mounting device 1 comprises a mounting body 10 having a receptacle 12 extending continuously in a longitudinal direction 11 for receiving the nut 4. A holding element 2 extends radially inwardly in the receptacle 12 for holding the nut 4 in the pre-mounting position in which the nut 4 is distanced from the screw, as described in more detail below with respect to FIG. 3.

[0053] The mounting device 1 comprises a connection unit 3 extending radially outwardly from the mounting body 10 in relation to the longitudinal direction 11, which connection unit in this case has two clips 30 arranged at a distance from one another on both sides of the center axis of the mounting body 10. The clips 30 are designed in such a way that the mounting device can be pushed onto the busbar 5 in a mounting direction 13, which in this case corresponds to the longitudinal direction 11. For connecting to the connection unit 3, the busbar 5 has a connection portion 52 extending substantially in the longitudinal direction 11. When the mounting device 1 is pushed onto the busbar 5 in the mounting direction 13, the mounting device 1 is consequently clipped onto the connection portion 52 of the busbar 5. The clips 30 thereby form an undercut connection with the connection portion 52, so that the mounting device 1 is fixed in position on the busbar 5. The receptacle 12, which in this embodiment is optionally cylindrical, is arranged in such a way that a center axis of the receptacle 12, which in the present case corresponds to the illustrated longitudinal direction 11, is positioned substantially centrically with respect to a bore 54 in a contacting portion 56 of the busbar 5.

[0054] In the present case, the holding element 2 comprises a plurality of circumferentially mutually distanced elastic first collar segments 20 inclined with respect to the longitudinal direction 11 in the direction of a mounting side 14, which accordingly form an elastic first segmented collar inclined with respect to the longitudinal direction 11. Further, the holding element 2 comprises a plurality of circumferentially mutually distanced elastic second collar segments 22 inclined with respect to the longitudinal direction 11 toward the mounting side 14, which correspondingly form an elastic second segmented collar inclined with respect to the longitudinal direction 11.

[0055] The plurality of first collar segments 20 are distanced from the plurality of second collar segments 22 in the longitudinal direction 11. In this regard, the first collar segments 20 and the second collar segments 22 partially overlap as viewed in the longitudinal direction 11, wherein the first collar segments 20 extend in correspondingly formed recesses between the second collar segments 22, and, conversely, the second collar segments 22 extend in correspondingly formed recesses between the first collar segments 20.

[0056] As a result, a flange receptacle 24 is formed between the plurality of first collar segments 20 and the plurality of second collar segments 22, in which flange receptacle 24 a flange 42 of the nut 4 can be received, as described in more detail with respect to FIG. 3 below.

[0057] In the present case, the mounting device 1 is formed in one piece from an electrically insulating plastic material.

[0058] As can be seen in the mounted position of the mounting device 1 at the bottom left of FIG. 1, the mounting device 1 covers the contacting portion 56 of the busbar 5 substantially entirely. The mounting device 1 thus constitutes an electrical insulation of the contacting portion 56 of the busbar 5. The mounting device 1 extends here such that it partially overlaps an insulation 50 of the busbar 5, with which the latter is substantially completely coated except in the contacting portions 56. Substantially complete electrical insulation from the surrounding environment can thus be provided for the busbar 5.

[0059] FIG. 2 schematically shows a top view of a mounting device 1 from FIG. 1. The nut is held here relative to the mounting body in the pre-mounting position optionally achieved by means of a minimum pitch circle inner diameter of the holding element being smaller than a maximum pitch circle outer diameter of the nut.

[0060] The nut 4 is able to be received here in the receptacle 12 by means of a minimum pitch circle inner diameter of the receptacle 12 being larger than the maximum pitch circle outer diameter of the nut 4.

[0061] The first collar segments 20 and the second collar segments 22 are formed such that their minimum pitch circle inner diameter is smaller than the outer diameter of the flange 42 of the nut 4 and larger than the maximum outer pitch circle diameter of the main body 43 of the nut 4. As described above, the nut 4 is thus held substantially at its flange 42 by the holding element 2.

[0062] Furthermore, this makes it possible to place a tool, for example a socket wrench, on the nut 4 in the longitudinal direction 11 from above, i.e. from the side facing away from the mounting side 14, and to engage with the nut without this being significantly impeded by the collar segments 20, 22 of the holding element 2.

[0063] FIG. 3 schematically shows a sectional view of the mounting device 1 of FIG. 2 along the sectional line A-A shown therein. It shows the busbar 5, the mounting device 1 and a representation of the nut 4 in a mounted position 41, in which the nut 4 is screwed onto a screw extending through the bore 54, which is not shown for reasons of clarity. Furthermore, by means of the dashed lines, a nut 4′ is shown in the pre-mounting position 40. It can be clearly seen that the nut 4′ in the pre-mounting position 40 is distanced in the longitudinal direction 11 from the nut 4 in the mounted position 41. The distance between the pre-mounting position 40 and the mounted position 41 is selected or predetermined in such a way that the nut 4′ in the pre-mounting position 40 is distanced from the screw extending through the bore 54.

[0064] Preferably, the distance between the nut 4′ and the screw in the pre-mounting position 40 is at least 1 mm in the longitudinal direction, particularly preferably at least 1.5 mm, further preferably at least 2 mm, and very particularly preferably at least 3 mm. By selecting the size of this distance, it is possible, for example, to avoid sparking between the screw, which is energized, and the nut 4′ held in the pre-mounting position 40.

[0065] As already noted above, in the pre-mounting position 40, the mounting device 1 provides the nut 4 with a substantially stationary positioning relative to the bore 54 and thus relative to the screw passing through the bore 54.

[0066] To mount the nut 4 onto the screw, the nut 4 can be inserted initially into the mounting device 1 so that the nut 4 is held in the receptacle 12 in the pre-mounting position 40 by the holding element 2. In other words, a sub-assembly of mounting device 1 and nut 4 can be created.

[0067] The mounting device 1 provided with the nut 4 in the pre-mounting position 40 can then be clipped onto the busbar 5, as described above, by bringing the clips 30 of the connection unit 3 into engagement with the connection portion 52. As a result, the mounting device 1 is fixedly positioned on the busbar 5, whereby the nut 4 is positioned in the pre-mounting position 40 relative to the bore 54. Thus, in the pre-mounting position 40, the nut 4 is distanced in the longitudinal direction 11 from the screw substantially centrically with respect thereto.

[0068] To screw the nut 4 onto the screw, a person carrying out the mounting process only has to push the tool required for this purpose, for example a socket wrench, onto the nut 4 in the longitudinal direction 11 from the top as seen in FIG. 3 and, by exerting pressure on the nut 4 in the longitudinal direction 11, move it from the pre-mounting position 40 downwardly as seen in FIG. 3 toward the contacting portion 56 until the nut 4 comes into contact with the screw. Then, the nut 4 is to be screwed onto the screw in the conventional manner.

[0069] Because the collar segments 20, 22 are elastic and inclined with respect to the longitudinal direction 11 in the direction of the mounting side 14, it is possible for the tool to deform the collar segments 20, 22 radially outwardly and, as seen in FIG. 3, downwardly, thus in the direction of the mounting side 14. This means that the tool is not prevented by the holding element 2 from being moved further past the holding element 2 in the longitudinal direction 11.

[0070] In addition to elastic deformation of the collar segments 20, 22, the holding element 2 may also be configured to be at least partially plastically deformed by the tool when the nut 4 is applied to the screw by the tool.

[0071] After removal of the tool, the mounting device 1 provides a cover for the screw connection and the contacting portion 56 on the side of the nut 4. This can provide electrical insulation as well as contact protection for the nut 4.

[0072] Alternatively, the mounting device 1 can also be placed initially on the busbar 5 and can only subsequently be provided with a nut 4, so that the nut 4 is held in the pre-mounting position 40.

[0073] The mounting device 1, provided with or without a nut 4, may be fitted onto the busbar 5 before or after the busbar 5 is inserted into the battery assembly 100.

[0074] To the extent applicable, any of the individual features shown in the embodiments may be combined and/or interchanged without departing from the scope of the invention.

LIST OF REFERENCE SIGNS

[0075] 1 Mounting device [0076] 10 Mounting body [0077] 11 Longitudinal direction [0078] 12 Receptacle [0079] 13 Mounting direction [0080] 14 Mounting side [0081] 2 Holding element [0082] 20 First collar segment [0083] 22 Second collar segment [0084] 24 Flange receptacle [0085] 3 Connection unit [0086] 30 Clip [0087] 4 Nut [0088] 40 Pre-mounting position [0089] 41 Mounted position [0090] 42 Flange [0091] 43 Main body [0092] 5 Busbar [0093] 50 Insulation [0094] 52 Connection portion [0095] 54 Bore [0096] 56 Contacting portion [0097] 100 Battery assembly