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US 9,431,644 B1Granted
Preconditioned bus bar interconnect system
AssigneeAtieva, Inc.
InventorMartin Forest Eberhard
Life of this patent
Estimating the term…
Abstract
A method is provided for interconnecting the batteries in a battery pack in a manner that is designed to minimize damage and contamination of the contact surfaces of the interconnect and the battery terminal, thereby minimizing connection resistance and increasing interconnect reliability.
Claims12
A method of electrically interconnecting a plurality of batteries, said method comprising:
- fabricating a bus bar, said bus bar comprising a plurality of interconnects configured to include at least one interconnect per battery of said plurality of batteries, said at least one interconnect comprising:
- a first end portion formed as an extension of said bus bar;
- a second end portion distal from said first end portion and configured to be attached to a battery terminal of a corresponding battery of said plurality of batteries, wherein said second end portion is comprised of a battery terminal contact tab, wherein said battery terminal contact tab is comprised of sacrificial contact and a primary contact, wherein said sacrificial contact is separate and distinct from said primary contact;
- pre-shaping said sacrificial contact and said primary contact prior to contacting said at least one interconnect to said battery terminal, wherein said step of pre-shaping creates a first separation distance between a first contact surface corresponding to said sacrificial contact and said battery terminal, and creates a second separation distance between a second contact surface corresponding to said primary contact and said battery terminal, wherein said second separation distance is greater than said first separation distance;
- contacting said first contact surface corresponding to said sacrificial contact to said battery terminal;
- contacting said second contact surface corresponding to said primary contact to said battery terminal, wherein said step of contacting said second contact surface to said battery terminal is performed after completion of said step of contacting said first contact surface to said battery terminal;
- and
- attaching said primary contact to said battery terminal, wherein said step of attaching forms an electrical connection between said primary contact and said battery terminal.
5 more elements
Dependencies are inferred from the claim text.