Battery container case

• US 7,422,113 B2
• Filed: 07/20/2006
• Issued: 09/09/2008
• Est. Priority Date: 01/23/2004
• Status: Expired due to Fees

• Current Assignee: FDK Energy Company Limited (Fujitsu Limited)
• Original Assignee: FDK Energy Company Limited (Fujitsu Limited)
• Inventors: Shibata, Hiroshi, Wakuda, Nobuyuki
• Primary Examiner(s): ACKUN, JACOB K
• Application Number:
  US11/490,279
• Publication Number:
  US 20070020512A1
• Time in Patent Office: 782 Days
• Field of Search: 206/703, 206/704, 206/705, 206/443, 206/507, 206/560, 206/775, 206/776, 220/507
• US Class Current: 206/705
• CPC Class Codes: B65D 71/70 Trays provided with projections or recesses in order to assemble multiple articles, e.g. intermediate elements for stacking
• CPC Class Codes: H01M 50/213 adapted for cells having curved cross-section, e.g. round or elliptic H01M50/209, H01M50/216 take precedence
• CPC Class Codes: Y02E 60/10 Energy storage using batteries

Abstract

A battery container case comprises an ensemble storage section 21 having made and arranged therein plural holder holes 231 that hold individually respectively cylindrical batteries 10 upright in such a way that they are half fitted into the holder holes; an open/close lid 22 that covers the batteries in the ensemble storage section from above; and a restraint member 31 for each holder hole that hinders a respective one of the batteries from being taken out of the holder hole. Each restraint member 31 is fixed to the ensemble storage section in such a disposable manner that it is removable irreversibly.

Claims

1. A battery container case comprising:

an ensemble storage box having a top panel, a bottom panel and side panels, the top panel having plural holder holes that loosely hold individually respectively cylindrical batteries upright in such a way that the batteries are fitted up to a midway point of their length into the holder holes with the rest left outside above the top panel, the bottom panel having received bottoms of the cylindrical batteries thereon; and

a restraint member for each of the holder holes that hinders a respective one of the batteries from being taken out of the holder hole,

wherein each of the restraint members is fixed to the top panel in such a disposable manner that it is removable irreversibly and thereby has a seal function to identify used/unused of a respective one of the batteries, and the used batteries can be put into the box upright through the holder holes where the restraint members have been removed.

2. The battery container case according to claim 1, wherein the restraint members are arranged and fixed in such a way as to cover electrode terminals of the cylindrical batteries respectively.

3. The battery container case according to claim 1, wherein the ensemble storage box is a rectangular box, and the bottom panel has formed and arranged therein concaves to position bottoms of the cylindrical batteries half fitted into the holder holes.

4. The battery container case according to claim 1, further comprising:

an open/close lid that covers the batteries in the ensemble storage box.

5. The battery container case according to claim 4, wherein the open/close lid is a transparent lid.

6. The battery container case according to claim 4, wherein a single resin thin board is bent and assembled into the ensemble storage box and the open/close lid.

7. The battery container case according to claim 6, wherein the resin thin board is bent into the ensemble storage box and the open/close lid, and by fitting together cylindrical convexes and cylindrical concaves formed in the resin thin board, surface panels of the container case bent orthogonal to each other are joined together, thereby assembling the resin thin board into a predetermined solid structure, and

wherein at least one of the surface panels, on which pressing force is exerted in a direction along its surface when fitting together the cylindrical convexes and concaves, is selectively reinforced with a rib formed along an acting direction of the pressing force.

8. The battery container case according to claim 1, wherein the restraint member is transparent and shaped like a cap that covers part, outside the holder hole, of the cylindrical battery held in a half-fitted state in the holder hole.

9. The battery container case according to claim 3, wherein the restraint members are formed like caps from the top panel by selectively expanding it, and in association with the forming, the openings of the holder holes are made, and annular parts along the edges of the openings are formed as thinner or notched portions easy to break.

10. The battery container case according to claim 8, wherein the top of the cap-shaped restraint member has a slit that surrounds half-circularly a convex electrode terminal of the cylindrical battery.

11. The battery container case according to claim 1, wherein the restraint member is a tap-like sheet and straddles the top of the cylindrical battery held in a half-fitted state in the holder hole, and both its ends are fixed to the top panel in such a way that it is irreversibly removable.

12. The battery container case according to claim 1, wherein the restraint member is a cross-shaped sheet and intersection of the cross covers the top of the cylindrical battery, and each end of the cross is fixed to the top panel in such a way that it is irreversibly removable.

13. The battery container case according to claim 1, wherein the restraint member is formed such that at least its part takes on a different color and/or pattern from those of its neighbors.