Patents Assigned to Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
  • Patent number: 8809743
    Abstract: There are provided a heater with temperature detecting device capable of accurately detecting the temperature of a laminated sheet heater (the temperature of a heater element) by a temperature detecting device, a battery structure provided with this heater with temperature detecting device, and a heater unit. A first heater with temperature detecting device includes a first laminated sheet heater and a temperature detecting device. In this first heater, a first metal sheet includes a part protruding outward in a lamination direction of a laminated heater to provide at least part of an accommodation space in which the temperature detecting device is accommodated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 19, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masahiko Suzuki, Jun Okuda, Yukie Uemura, Kunio Kanamaru
  • Patent number: 8802260
    Abstract: A method for disassembling a battery pack to separate a secondary battery which can be reused, without impairing the performance of a secondary battery, having remaining life which, constitutes the battery pack. A pair of holding plates is brought into contact with binding plates on both ends of a battery pack to compress the battery pack in the stacking direction. The open circuit voltage before and after the compression is measured, and based on an amount of change of the open circuit voltage before and after compression, a battery pack which can be reused is separated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 24, 2010
    Date of Patent: August 12, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Toshiaki Nakanishi, Shuhei Marukawa
  • Patent number: 8795862
    Abstract: A battery pack that electrically connects a terminal cover, which is attached to a terminal base, and a battery pack case even if the terminal cover and case are not in direct contact with each other. The case is formed from a conductive material and accommodates a battery. The terminal base is formed from a non-conductive material and attached to the case. The terminal cover is formed from a conductive material and attached to the terminal base. A conductor formed from a conductive material comes in contact with both of the terminal cover and the case.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 21, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 5, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Shuhei Marukawa
  • Patent number: 8785014
    Abstract: A nickel-metal hydride secondary battery includes: a plurality of power generating elements each having a negative plate containing hydrogen absorbing alloy; a battery case provided with partition walls and a plurality of compartments arranged adjacently on both sides of each partition wall, each of the compartments accommodating each power generating element, and the compartments allowing gas intercommunication between compartments through communication holes formed in the partition walls; and at least one of safety valves placed on the battery case, the safety valves being less in number than the number of the compartments; wherein each of the communication holes has a hole sectional area per battery module capacity in a range 0.03 to 0.30 mm2/Ah.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 11, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 22, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shinji Hamada, Hideki Kasahara, Shinichiro Ito, Hideki Ando, Toyohiko Eto
  • Patent number: 8741459
    Abstract: A device which judges a change of a capacity balance between a cathode and an anode of a secondary battery in a non-destructive manner is provided. The secondary battery has one of the capacities of the cathode and the anode greater than the other capacity. A battery ECU calculates an internal resistance (DCIR) of the secondary battery based on a current and a voltage of the secondary battery. When the calculated internal resistance (DCIR) is higher than the initial state in a low SOC region or a high SOC region, the battery ECU judges that the capacity balance between the cathode and the anode of the secondary battery has changed.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 25, 2010
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Motoyoshi Okumura, Katsunori Maegawa
  • Patent number: 8742723
    Abstract: Provided is a battery pack producing method and a battery pack capable of suppressing defects such as overcharging or overdischarging in one or more of the used secondary batteries constituting a battery pack, and sufficiently exhibiting the performance of the used secondary batteries of the battery pack. This method includes an obtaining process for obtaining each full charge capacity of the used secondary batteries, a selecting process for selecting one or more used secondary batteries having similar full charge capacities from the used secondary batteries whose full charge capacities have been obtained, and an assembling process for assembling the selected secondary batteries.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 12, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 3, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Motoyoshi Okumura, Katsunori Maegawa
  • Patent number: 8701810
    Abstract: A battery pack to be mounted on a vehicle. The battery pack has a battery stack. A cooling fan, a fan relay, and a main relay (?) are disposed on one side of the battery stack. A control module, a register, a main relay (+), and a pre-charge relay are disposed on the other side of the same. As a result of devices being disposed on both sides of the battery stack, the weight of the battery pack is adjusted to the neighborhood of the center of the battery pack.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 19, 2006
    Date of Patent: April 22, 2014
    Assignee: Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Shuhei Marukawa, Toyohiko Eto, Masahiro Misu
  • Patent number: 8674702
    Abstract: A lithium-ion secondary battery includes an aluminum case, an electrolytic solution, a positive plate, a negative plate, a positive terminal, a negative terminal, and voltage sensors. The positive terminal and the negative terminal project to the outside of the case while being insulated from the case. The voltage sensor is connected between the case and the positive terminal and detects the potential of the positive terminal with respect to a potential VR of the case. The voltage sensor is connected between the case and the negative terminal and detects the potential of the negative terminal with respect to the potential VR of the case. From the detected results, the states of the positive plate and the negative plate are separately detected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: September 16, 2008
    Date of Patent: March 18, 2014
    Assignees: Toyota Jidosha Kabushiki Kaisha, Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Hirokazu Kawai, Yuichi Ibi, Kunio Kanamaru
  • Patent number: 8555695
    Abstract: A battery unit is housed in a metallic battery case. In the battery unit, current collectors having bent portions on both sides are fixed to face surfaces of an electrode plate group of a prismatic battery. The portions of the battery case, which correspond to the bent portions, are pressed in a thickness direction. Under the pressure, a short circuit inspection for a short circuit between the battery case and the current collectors of the battery unit is executed. When a projected object exists on the bent portion, a short circuit is generated between the battery case and the current collector by pressing so that a short circuit failure caused by a shape of the current collector can be detected.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: June 8, 2012
    Date of Patent: October 15, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masato Onishi, Shinichi Sakai, Masaru Doutai, Masaru Kobayashi, Hiroaki Arai
  • Patent number: 8521458
    Abstract: Provided is an apparatus for detecting state of charge (SOC) of a battery. A voltage of a battery pack (100) is detected by voltage sensors (120-1) to (120-n). A determining unit (160) samples currents at times when the battery voltage reaches predetermined threshold voltages (Vth1, Vth2) respectively, and calculates an open end voltage (Vocv), based on representative values (I1, I2) of the sampled currents and threshold voltages (Vth1, Vth2). Furthermore, based on a correspondence relationship between the voltage (Vocv) and the state of charge (SOC) which is determined in advance, the state of charge (SOC) that corresponds to the calculated voltage (Vocv) is calculated.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 13, 2008
    Date of Patent: August 27, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Toshiaki Nakanishi
  • Patent number: 8483987
    Abstract: There is provided a circuit with control function including a circuit to be controlled so as to be operated only if a predetermined environment meets a specific condition and being arranged to detect, in any predetermined environment, whether or not the circuit with control function is normally operated, and a test method thereof. The circuit with control function includes a controller (microcomputer) for operating the circuit to be controlled (a heater) only if a predetermined environment (ambient temperature) detected by a sensor (a first temperature sensor) meets a specific condition (0° or below).
    Type: Grant
    Filed: January 31, 2008
    Date of Patent: July 9, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Kyozo Terao
  • Patent number: 8470470
    Abstract: Provided are a battery pack manufacturing method, which can prevent a drawback where some of the used secondary batteries constituting a battery pack prematurely come to an end and which can suppress the enlargement of the temporary voltage difference between a used secondary battery at a charging/discharging time (especially in a low-temperature circumstance), and a battery pack. The battery pack manufacturing method includes an acquiring step of acquiring the individual internal resistances of used secondary batteries collected from the market, a selection step of selecting a plurality of the used secondary batteries having the internal resistances close to each other from a group of the used secondary batteries whose internal resistances have been acquired, and an assembling step of combining the used secondary batteries selected, to constitute the battery pack.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 9, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 25, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Motoyoshi Okumura, Katsunori Maegawa
  • Patent number: 8463562
    Abstract: Provided is an abnormality detecting device for detecting an abnormality of electric storage devices such as a battery pack. Comparators (140-1) to (140-n) detect a time when a voltage reaches a prescribed voltage, for each block of a battery pack (100). A judging section (160) detects a current at a time when the voltage reaches the prescribed voltage, and a representative current value is calculated for each block. The deviation of the representative current value of each block is compared with the threshold value, and when the deviation is large, it is judged that there are abnormalities such as short-circuiting, minute short-circuiting, IR (internal resistance) increase, capacitance reduction, and the like.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 6, 2008
    Date of Patent: June 11, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventor: Toshiaki Nakanishi
  • Patent number: 8432058
    Abstract: A power supply device that enables completion of precharging to be accurately determined without increasing manufacturing cost. The power supply device includes a battery pack, a positive main contactor, a precharge contactor, and a precharge resistor. The battery pack supplies DC power to an inverter. A smoothing capacitor is arranged between input terminals of the inverter. The positive main contact disconnects the inverter from a positive electrode of the battery pack. A voltmeter detects the voltage between a negative electrode of the battery pack and a connection node of the precharge contactor and precharge resistor. Voltage detection values taken by the voltmeter immediately before precharging and during precharging are used to determine precharging completion.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: February 5, 2008
    Date of Patent: April 30, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Yasushi Matsukawa, Duncan Bullock, Tetsuya Mizoguchi
  • Patent number: 8395072
    Abstract: A resistance welding quality determination method comprises: a step of detecting a voltage value applied to a welding electrode of a resistance welding machine; a step of detecting a current value supplied to the welding electrode; a step of calculating a welding resistance value based on the voltage value and the current value; a step of correcting the welding resistance value based on a change amount of a contact resistance value between the work and the welding electrode during welding of a work; and a step of determining welding quality of the work based on a corrected welding resistance value obtained by correcting the welding resistance value.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: November 12, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 12, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Kenichi Suzuki, Yugo Nakagawa
  • Patent number: 8389137
    Abstract: A method of reusing a rechargeable battery includes collecting from users assembled batteries formed by rechargeable batteries, each holding initial individual information including at least a manufacturing date and an initial weight of the rechargeable battery. The collected assembled batteries are dismantled into rechargeable batteries, each holding the individual information. The rechargeable batteries of the dismantled assembled batteries are classified into groups based on the initial individual information of the rechargeable batteries and individual information of the plurality of rechargeable batteries obtained after the dismantling. A regenerated assembled battery is rebuilt reusing rechargeable batteries that have been classified into the same group.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: August 14, 2009
    Date of Patent: March 5, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Katsunori Maegawa, Toshiaki Nakanishi, Katsunori Komori
  • Patent number: 8380452
    Abstract: A two-dimensional map for calculating an SOC of a secondary battery is corrected. A battery ECU obtains a voltage index of a secondary battery. The voltage index is, for example, a no-load voltage of the secondary battery. When an amount of change of the calculated no-load voltage from an initial state falls outside a predefined range, the battery ECU corrects the two-dimensional map of initial state which is stored in advance in a storage unit using data obtained by statistically processing a plurality of two-dimensional maps obtained from a plurality of vehicles.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: March 26, 2010
    Date of Patent: February 19, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Katsunori Maegawa, Toshiaki Nakanishi, Motoyoshi Okumura
  • Patent number: 8367973
    Abstract: A heater with temperature detecting device, arranged to accurately detect the temperature of a laminated sheet heater over long periods, and a battery structure including the same. A first embodiment includes a laminated sheet heater and a temperature sensor having a temperature measuring portion. The laminated sheet heater includes first and second insulating resin films, a heater element, a first metal sheet, and a second metal sheet and includes a heater metallic section in which, any one of only the first metal sheet and only a combination of the first metal sheet and the second metal sheet is arranged in a lamination layering direction of the laminated sheet heater. The temperature sensor is fastened to the heater metallic section with a flat rivet and fixed to an outer surface of the first metal sheet with the temperature measuring portion in contact with the first metal sheet.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: October 12, 2007
    Date of Patent: February 5, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Masahiko Suzuki, Jun Okuda, Yuji Torii, Yukie Uemura, Kunio Kanamaru
  • Patent number: 8362749
    Abstract: A rechargeable battery exchanging method which exchanges rechargeable batteries of an assembled battery to rebuild new assembled battery. The method includes discharging a rechargeable battery derived from an assembled battery until the rechargeable battery becomes a fully discharged state and storing the rechargeable battery in a storage region for a predetermined period of time or longer from when the rechargeable battery becomes the fully discharged state to prepare a reusable rechargeable battery. The method further includes rebuilding a regenerated assembled battery by combining the stored reusable rechargeable battery with a stored reusable rechargeable battery derived from other assembled batteries or combining the stored reusable rechargeable battery with a fresh rechargeable battery.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: May 14, 2009
    Date of Patent: January 29, 2013
    Assignee: Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Katsunori Komori, Naoto Sato
  • Patent number: 8354180
    Abstract: An electrode plate (20) for storage batteries is immersed into an aqueous solution (18) containing phosphoric acid, an ethoxy alcohol, ammonium bifluoride, sulfonic acid and sodium xylenesulfonate, and the aqueous solution (18) is stirred by a screw stirrer (22). The aqueous solution (18) is kept at about 30° C. by a heater (14), and the active material of the electrode (20) is separated therefrom. The aqueous solution (18) contains the respective solutes in the following mass ratios: 15-20 parts by mass of the phosphoric acid; 3-7 parts by mass of the ethoxy alcohol; 2-6 parts by mass of the ammonium bifluoride; 4-8 parts by mass of the sulfonic acid; and 1-3 parts by mass of the sodium xylenesulfonate.
    Type: Grant
    Filed: December 20, 2006
    Date of Patent: January 15, 2013
    Assignees: Panasonic EV Energy Co., Ltd., Omega Techno Modeling Co., Ltd.
    Inventors: Takashi Kamo, Kyoichi Shukuri, Shunji Kuramoto