HORIZONTAL COMPOSITE ELECTRICITY SUPPLY STRUCTURE

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to a horizontal composite electricity supply structure, which comprises a first insulation layer, a second insulation layer, two patterned conductive layers, and a plurality of electrochemical system element groups. The two patterned conductive layers are disposed on the first and second insulation layers, respectively. The plurality of electrochemical system element groups are disposed between the first insulation layer and the second insulation layer, and connected serially and/or parallelly via the patterned conductive layers. The electrochemical system element group is formed by serially connecting one or more electrochemical system elements. Each electrochemical system element includes a package layer on the sidewall, so that their electrolyte systems don't circulate. Thereby, the high voltage produced by connection will not influence any single electrochemical system element nor decompose their electrolyte systems. Hence, serial and/or parallel connections can be done concurrently in the horizontal composite electricity supply structure.

Claims

1. A horizontal composite electricity supply structure, comprising: a first insulation layer; a second insulation layer, disposed opposing to said first insulation layer; two patterned conductive layers, disposed on the corresponding surfaces of said first insulation layer and said second insulation layer; and a plurality of electrochemical system element groups, sandwiched between said first insulation layer and said second insulation layer, forming series and/or parallel connections internally by connected with said patterned conductive layers, each said electrochemical system element group formed by one or more electrochemical system elements, said electrochemical system element including a package layer on the sidewall for separating the electrolyte systems of said plurality of electrochemical system element individually, each said electrochemical system element group with adjacent electrochemical system elements having no electrochemical reaction except for charge transferring, and said electrochemical system elements on both outermost sides of each said electrochemical system element group using said patterned conductive layers directly as the electricity collecting layers.

2. The horizontal composite electricity supply structure of claim 1, wherein when said electrochemical system element group is formed by one or more electrochemical system elements, said plurality of electrochemical system elements are vertically stacked and adjacent electrochemical system elements share a common electricity collecting layer.

3. The horizontal composite electricity supply structure of claim 2, wherein said electrochemical system element comprises: a first active material layer, contacting adjacent patterned conductive layer or said common electricity collecting layer; a second active material layer, contacting the other adjacent patterned conductive layer or the other common electricity collecting layer; an isolation layer, sandwiched between said first active material layer and said second active material layer; and said electrolyte system, disposed in said first active material layer and said second active material layer.

4. The horizontal composite electricity supply structure of claim 1, further comprising a first conductive lead and a second conductive lead connected electrically to the same or different patterned conductive layers.

5. The horizontal composite electricity supply structure of claim 4, wherein said first conductive lead and said second conductive lead are formed integrally with said patterned conductive layers connected with them.

6. The horizontal composite electricity supply structure of claim 4, wherein when a plurality of said horizontal composite electricity supply structures are required, said plurality of horizontal composite electricity supply structures are externally connected serially and/or parallelly by using said first conductive lead and said second conductive lead.

7. The horizontal composite electricity supply structure of claim 1, further comprising a plurality of heat dissipation channels disposed between adjacent electrochemical system element groups.

8. The horizontal composite electricity supply structure of claim 1, wherein a plurality of positioning members are formed on the surfaces of said first insulation layer and/or said second insulation layer facing said electrochemical system element group, and said plurality of positioning members are exposed outside said patterned conductive layers for limiting the location of said electrochemical system element group.

9. The horizontal composite electricity supply structure of claim 1, wherein said electrolyte system is selected form the group consisting of gel state, liquid state, pseudo solid state, solid state, or combinations thereof.

10. The horizontal composite electricity supply structure of claim 2, wherein said plurality of electrochemical system elements use said first active material layer and said second active material layer with different polarities to contact said common electricity collecting layer for forming series connection.

11. The horizontal composite electricity supply structure of claim 1, wherein said package layer includes a silicone layer and two modified silicone layers on both sides of said silicone layer.

12. The horizontal composite electricity supply structure of claim 7, wherein a fluid is added inside said heat dissipation channels.

13. The horizontal composite electricity supply structure of claim 2, wherein the materials of said patterned conductive layers and/or said common electricity collecting layer include stainless steel or graphite.

14. The horizontal composite electricity supply structure of claim 12, wherein said fluid is gas or liquid.

15. The horizontal composite electricity supply structure of claim 4, wherein when said first conductive lead, said second conductive lead, and said first patterned conductive layers are different materials, they are connected by physical or chemical connection.

16. The horizontal composite electricity supply structure of claim 15, wherein said first conductive lead and said second conductive lead connect to said patterned conductive layers by soldering, melting, conductive glue, or conductive cloth.

17. The horizontal composite electricity supply structure of claim 2, wherein said patterned conductive layers and/or said common electricity collecting layer are manufacturing by spraying or calendering the metal powders selected from the group consisting of aluminum, copper, titanium, nickel, stainless steel, and the alloys thereof mixed with one or more adhesive.

18. The horizontal composite electricity supply structure of claim 2, wherein the materials of said patterned conductive layers and/or said common electricity collecting layer tolerate high voltages and low voltages and have no oxidation reaction.

19. The horizontal composite electricity supply structure of claim 3, wherein when said electrochemical system element group is formed by a plurality of electrochemical system elements, said plurality of electrochemical system elements in any said electrochemical system element group are electrically connected parallelly and/or serially.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0016] FIG. 1A and FIG. 1B show schematic diagrams of the battery cell and battery module according the first embodiment according to the prior art;

[0017] FIG. 2A and FIG. 2B show schematic diagrams of the battery cell and battery module according the second embodiment according to the prior art;

[0018] FIG. 3 shows a schematic diagram of the horizontal composite electricity supply structure according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0019] FIG. 4A shows a structural schematic diagram of the electrochemical system element and the package layer according to the present disclosure;

[0020] FIG. 4B shows another structural schematic diagram of the electrochemical system element and the package layer according to the present disclosure;

[0021] FIG. 5A shows a schematic diagram of the embodiment of FIG. 3 in which the electrochemical system element group of the horizontal composite electricity supply structure is formed by serially connecting multiple electrochemical system elements;

[0022] FIG. 5B shows a partially enlarged diagram of the region A in FIG. 5A;

[0023] FIG. 6 shows a schematic diagram of internally and parallelly connecting electrochemical system element groups of the horizontal composite electricity supply structure according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0024] FIG. 7 shows a schematic diagram of the horizontal composite electricity supply structure according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0025] FIG. 8A shows a schematic diagram of externally and serially connecting multiple horizontal composite electricity supply structures according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0026] FIG. 8B shows a schematic diagram of externally and parallelly connecting multiple horizontal composite electricity supply structures according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0027] FIG. 9 shows a schematic diagram of the horizontal composite electricity supply structure according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0028] FIG. 10 shows a schematic diagram of the horizontal composite electricity supply structure according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0029] FIG. 11 shows a schematic diagram of the horizontal composite electricity supply structure according to another embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0030] FIG. 12 to FIG. 14 show series and/or parallel electrical connection diagrams of multiple electrochemical system elements in an electrochemical system element group according to the present disclosure; and

[0031] FIG. 15 shows a schematic diagram of a tab formed on the common electricity collecting layer of the electrochemical system element according to the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0032] Given the safety problem caused by puncture on multiple electrochemical system elements stacked vertically and connected serially by metal sharp objects for the demand of high voltage and high capacity, the present disclosure provides a novel horizontal composite electricity supply structure to solve the puncture problem.

[0033] The present disclosure mainly discloses a horizontal composite electricity supply structure, which comprises a plurality of electrochemical system element groups. The electrochemical system element group comprises one or more mutually serially and/or parallelly connected electrochemical system elements. Then, after multiple electrochemical system element groups are mutually connected serially and/or parallelly via the patterned conductive layers, a first conductive terminal and a second conductive terminal are connected to electrochemical system element groups to form the composite electricity supply structure. In other words, inside the composite electricity supply structure, series and parallel connections can be done concurrently. The electrochemical system elements forming the electrochemical system element group according to the present disclosure don't share electrolyte systems each other. Figures are used for further description. The above composite electricity supply structure can be any supply element capable of storing energy and supply external devices, such as batteries or capacitors.

[0034] First, please refer to FIG. 3, which shows a schematic diagram of the horizontal composite electricity supply structure according to the first embodiment of the present disclosure. As shown in the figure, the horizontal composite electricity supply structure 10 according to the present disclosure mainly comprises a first insulation layer 12, a second insulation layer 14, a patterned conductive layer 16 (16a, 16b 16c), another patterned conductive layer 18 (18a, 18b), and a plurality of electrochemical system element groups 20. The second insulation layer 14 is opposing to the first insulation layer 12 in the horizontal direction. The patterned conductive layer 16 is located on a first surface 12s extending horizontally inside the first insulation layer 12. The patterned conductive layer 18 is located on a second surface 14s extending horizontally inside the second insulation layer 14. The patterned conductive layer 16 is opposing to the patterned conductive layer 18. The material of the first and second patterned conductive layers 16, 18 can be selected from the group consisting of metals and any conductive materials. The plurality of electrochemical system element groups 20 are sandwiched between the first and second insulation layers 12, 14 and connected electrically to the different polarity via the patterned conductive layers 16, 18 for forming series connection. For convenience, a battery is adopted in the following embodiment for description. A person having ordinary skill in the art knows well that the embodiment is not used to limit the scope of the present disclosure.

[0035] The electrochemical system element group 20 as described above is formed by one or more electrochemical system elements 22. For example, in FIG. 3, the horizontal composite electricity supply structure 10 is formed by serially connecting four electrochemical system element groups 20 with each one of the electrochemical system element groups 20 formed by an electrochemical system element 22. The structure of the above electrochemical system element 22 is shown in FIG. 4A. Each electrochemical system element 22 includes a first active material layer 225, an isolation layer 226, a second active material layer 227, and an electrolyte system disposed in the first active material layer 225 and the second active material layer 227. The first active material layer 225 is connected to the electricity collecting layer 16, and the second active material layer 227 is connected to the other electricity collecting layer 18. The isolation layer 226 is located between the first active material layer 225 and the second active material layer 227. A package layer 23 is disposed on the periphery of each electrochemical system element 22 so that the electrolyte system of adjacent electrochemical system elements do not circulate except charge transfer. Without electrochemical reaction, electrochemical system elements will not limit to the maximum voltage of allowance of electrolyte, could connect in series and/or parallel at same time.

[0036] The material of the isolation layer 226 with micro holes allowing ions to passing through can be selected from the group consisting of polymer materials, ceramic materials, and glass fiber materials. The micro holes can be penetrating holes, nonlinear holes, or even made by porous materials. In addition, porous ceramic insulative materials can be distributed inside the micro hole of the substrate. The ceramic insulative materials can be formed by materials such as micrometer- or nanometer-grade titanium dioxide (TiO.sub.2), aluminum oxide (Al.sub.2O.sub.3), silicon dioxide (SiO.sub.2), or alkylated ceramic particles. The ceramic insulative materials can further include polymer adhesives, such as polyvinylidene fluoride (PVDF), polyvinylidene fluoride-co-hexafluoropropylene (PVDF-HFP), polytetrafluoroethylene (PTFE), acrylic acid glue, epoxy, polyethylene oxide (PEO), polyacrylonitrile (PAN), or polyimide (PI).

[0037] The electrolyte system is disposed in the first and second active material layers 225, 227. The form of the electrolyte system can be selected from the group consisting of liquid state, pseudo solid state, gel state, solid state or combinations thereof. The active materials of the active material layers 225, 227 can convert chemical energy to electrical energy for usage (supplying electricity) or electrical energy to chemical energy for storage (charging), and can achieve ion conduction and transport concurrently. The generated electrons can be led outward via the adjacent electricity collecting layers.

[0038] The material of the package layer 23 can include epoxy, polyethylene, polypropylene, polyurethane, thermoplastic polyimide, silicone, acrylic resin, or ultraviolet-hardened glue. The package layer 23 is disposed on the periphery of the electrochemical system element 22 with two ends glued to the electricity collecting layers on both sides of the electrochemical system element 22. According to the present embodiment, the package layer 23 is glues to the patterned conductive layers 16, 18 for sealing the electrolyte system between the patterned conductive layers 16, 18 and the package layer 23 for avoiding leakage and circulation with the electrolyte system of other electrochemical system elements 22. Thereby, the electrochemical system element 22 is an independent and complete electricity supply module.

[0039] To improve the sealing effect of the package layer 23, the package layer 23 can be designed to have three layers. Please refer to FIG. 4B. The top and bottom layers 23a, 23b are modified silicone and the middle layer is a silicone layer 23c. The modified silicone layers 23a, 23b on both sides are modified by adjusting the ratio of addition and condensation silicone for gluing heterogeneous materials. By using the design, the cohesion at the interface is increased. At the same time, the overall appearance is more complete and the production yield is improved. Furthermore, the design can block permeation of moisture. Internally, the silicone layer 23c acting as the main structure can block damages caused by polar solvent and plastic agent. Thereby, the overall sealing structure can be more complete.

[0040] In addition, for easier description and identification, the electrochemical system elements 22 in the figures for illustrating the horizontal composite electricity supply structure use simple positive and negative symbols to identify the positive and negative electrical polarities for illustrating the electrical properties, instead of plotting the detailed components of the electrochemical system element 22 as shown in FIG. 4A and FIG. 4B. A person having ordinary skill in the art should know the meanings of the positive and negative polarities. Hence, the details will not be described again.

[0041] As shown in FIG. 5A and FIG. 5B, a single electrochemical system element group 20 is formed by serially connecting a plurality of vertically stacked electrochemical system elements 22 in opposite polarities. The outer sides of the electrochemical system elements 22 on the outermost sides of the electrochemical system element group 20 use the patterned conductive layers 16, 18 directly as the electricity collecting layers. Two stacked electrochemical system elements 22 use a common electricity collecting layer 19 for isolating and collecting electrons. Thereby, the second active material layers 227 and the first active material layers 225 of adjacent electrochemical system elements 22 are connected electrically through the common electricity collecting layer. For example, as shown in the figures, the first active material layer 225 is the positive layer, and the second active material layer 227 is the negative layer. Then the second active material layer 227 of the topmost electrochemical system element 22 contacts the common electricity collecting layer 19; the first active material layer 225 of the adjacent (bottom) electrochemical system element 22 contacts the common electricity collecting layer 19. By stacking sequentially, the electrochemical system element group 20 in series connection can be formed. Because the electrolyte systems of each electrochemical system element 22 do not circulate, there is no electrochemical reactions between adjacent electrochemical system elements 22 except charge transfer (i.e., ions will not transfer or conduct). Therefore, even multiple electrochemical system elements 22 are connected serially to form a high voltage, the electrolyte system inside individual electrochemical system element 22 will not be influenced. The internal voltage is still maintained at the voltage of a single electrochemical system element 22. Thereby, it will not limit to the maximum voltage (generally, around 5 volts) of the electrolyte system, the electricity supply element group 20 with high voltage could be formed by serial stacking multiple electricity supply elements 22. In addition, the electricity collecting layers between adjacent electrochemical system elements 22 are shared for connection. The contact area is much larger than the one by nickel plate soldering according to the prior art. Thereby, the internal resistance of the electrochemical system element group can be reduced substantially. The performance of the power module formed by the electrochemical system element groups hardly loses. Besides, as the reduction of resistance, the charging and discharging speeds increase significantly, and the heating problem is reduced significantly. Then the cooling system of the electrochemical system element group can be simplified and can be managed and controlled easily. Thereby, the reliability and safety of the overall composite electricity supply structure can be enhanced.

[0042] Due to the requirement of contacting positive and negative electrode (active material layers 225,227) concurrently, the materials of the patterned conductive layers 16, 18 and/or the common electricity collecting layer 19 as described above should be able to tolerate high and low voltages and no oxidation reaction should occur. For example, the materials include stainless steel (SUS) or graphite. Furthermore, the materials can be the metal powders selected from the group consisting of aluminum, copper, titanium, nickel, stainless steel, and the alloys thereof. By spraying or calendering the metal powers mixed with adhesive, the patterned conductive layers 16, 18 and/or the common electricity collecting layer 19 can be manufactured.

[0043] The horizontal composite electricity supply structure 10 according to the present disclosure further comprises a first conductive lead 24 and a second conductive lead 26. In FIG. 3, the first conductive lead 24 and the second conductive lead 26 are connected electrically to the patterned conductive layer 16 concurrently. Of course, they can be connected to different patterned conductive layers. For example, the first conductive lead 24 is connected electrically to the patterned conductive layer 16 and the second conductive lead 26 is connected electrically to the patterned conductive layer 18, as illustrated in FIG. 6.

[0044] Furthermore, the first conductive lead 24 and the second conductive lead 26 can be formed integrally with the patterned conductive layers 16, 18 connected electrically with them. As shown in FIG. 7, a portion of the patterned conductive layer 16a is extended to the outside of the first insulation layer 12 and acting as the first conductive lead 24; a portion of the patterned conductive layer 16c is extended to the outside of the first insulation layer 12 and acting as the second conductive lead 26. In other words, during the process of patterning, the patterns of the first conductive lead 24 and the second conductive lead 26 are reserved.

[0045] When the first and second conductive leads 24, 26 are formed not adopting the integral method, the materials of the first and second conductive leads 24, 26 can be different from those of the patterned conductive layers 16, 18. In addition, direct contact can be formed by soldering with or without soldering material, or by melting method. Alternatively, conductive silver glue or conductive cloth can be adopted.

[0046] Under the architecture of the horizontal composite electricity supply structure according to the present disclosure, to increase the total capacity or total voltage of the battery module, the only thing to do is to perform external series/parallel connection of multiple horizontal composite electricity supply structures 10 by using the first and second conductive leads 24, 26. Then the total capacity or the total voltage of the battery module can be increased. For example, by externally connecting serially multiple horizontal composite electricity supply structures 10, the total voltage can be increased, as shown in FIG. 8A. By externally connecting parallelly multiple horizontal composite electricity supply structures 10, the total capacity can be increased, as shown in FIG. 8B.

[0047] To increase the voltage of a single horizontal composite electricity supply structure, simply add the electrochemical system element group. For example, as shown in FIG. 9, compared to FIG. 3, two electrochemical system element groups 20 are added and connected serially via the patterned conductive layers 16, 18.

[0048] Please refer to FIG. 6. This horizontal composite electricity supply structure 10 uses two electrochemical system element groups 20 to form a new set 28 by parallelly connecting the same polarity via the patterned conductive layers 16, 18. Then the new set 28 is used as an element. By connecting the opposite polarities via the first and second patterned conductive layer 16, 18, a series connection is formed. Besides, although the new set 28 can be integrated into an electrochemical system element, the number of gaps 30 can be increased if they are separated.

[0049] Please refer to FIG. 10. The gaps between connected electrochemical system element groups 20 can act as the heat dissipation channels for the horizontal composite electricity supply structure 10. Multiple positioning members 32 are formed on the surfaces of the first insulation layer 12 and/or the second insulation layer 14 facing the electrochemical system element groups 20. The positioning members 32 are exposed outside the patterned conductive layers 16, 18 for limiting the locations of the electrochemical system element groups 20. For example, the existence of the positioning member 32 can assist to fix the patterned conductive layers 16, 18 to the correct location. Furthermore, a fluid, such as gas or liquid, can be added into the gaps for increasing the heat dissipation effect.

[0050] The benefits of the present disclosure will be further described. For example, according to the composite electricity supply structure of the Taiwan patent application No. 106136071, 24 electrochemical system elements are vertically and serially connected to give a voltage value of 24*4.2 volts. By adopting the horizontal composite electricity supply structure according to the present disclosure given the same voltage value and number of electrochemical system elements, 24 single electrochemical system elements can be connected in opposite polarities horizontally via the conductive layers 16, 18, as shown in FIG. 9. Alternatively, 12 pairs of stacked electrochemical system elements can be connected in opposite polarities horizontally via the patterned conductive layers 16, 18, as shown in FIG. 11. Alternatively, another number of stacked electrochemical system elements can be adopted. Under this architecture, when a sharp metal object 34 punctures the horizontal composite electricity supply structure from the outside, instead of the 24 vertically stacked electrochemical system elements, the punctured object will be only a few stacks. Thereby, the danger of puncture on a massive serially stacked electrochemical system elements can be avoided effectively.

[0051] Next, when the electrochemical system element group 20 is formed by two or more electrochemical system elements 22, the serial and/or parallel configurations of the plurality of electrochemical system elements 22 are described.

[0052] Please refer to FIG. 5A. In the figure, multiple electrochemical system elements 22 in the electrochemical system element group 20 are connected electrically in series and opposite polarities. Please refer to FIG. 12, multiple electrochemical system elements 22 in the electrochemical system element group 20 are connected electrically in parallel and the same polarity. Please refer to FIG. 13, multiple electrochemical system elements 22 in the electrochemical system element group 20 are connected in a mixed method by first parallel and then series connections. Please refer to FIG. 14, multiple electrochemical system elements 22 in the electrochemical system element group 20 are connected in a mixed method by first series and then parallel connections. In the mixed connection method as described above, suitable wires 78 can be used to connect the positive/negative terminals (the electricity collecting layers) of the electrochemical system element 22 to the corresponding patterned conductive layers. In addition, for convenient connection of the wires 78 and the electricity collecting layers of the electrochemical system elements 22 or the common electricity collecting layer 19, a projective tab 79 can be disposed at the electricity collecting layers, as shown in FIG. 15. The protruding projective tab 79 can be used for electricity connecting.

[0053] To sum up, the present disclosure provides a horizontal composite electricity supply structure, which comprises multiple electrochemical system element groups. The electrochemical system element groups are serially and/or parallelly connected internally in a horizontal extension method via the patterned conductive layers for reaching a certain voltage and capacity. In addition, external series and/or parallel connections of multiple horizontal composite electricity supply structures can be done via the first and second conductive leads of the horizontal composite electricity supply structures. Furthermore, the horizontal composite electricity supply structure according to the present disclosure comprises a first and a second insulation layers at the top and bottom for effectively preventing potential damages caused by puncture of metal objects on the electricity supply structure.

[0054] Moreover, in addition to blocking puncture effectively, the first and second insulation layers 12, 14 according to the present disclosure can act as the blocking layers for electrical contact between the patterned conductive layers when multiple electricity supply structures 10 are externally connected serially and/or parallelly.

[0055] Accordingly, the present disclosure conforms to the legal requirements owing to its novelty, nonobviousness, and utility. However, the foregoing description is only embodiments of the present disclosure, not used to limit the scope and range of the present disclosure. Those equivalent changes or modifications made according to the shape, structure, feature, or spirit described in the claims of the present disclosure are included in the appended claims of the present disclosure.