Battery separator with integral thermal fuse
First Claim
1. A battery separator comprising a porous substrate and a thermal fuse material adhered to at least one surface of said porous substrate in a predetermined geometric array thereupon so as to establish open areas of said at least one surface.
6 Assignments
0 Petitions
Accused Products
Abstract
A battery separator includes a porous substrate and a thermal fuse material adhered to at least one surface of said porous substrate. The thermal fuse material is adhered to the substrate surface in a predetermined geometric array thereupon so as to establish open areas of the at least one substrate surface to thereby allow ionic migration therethrough. The thermal fuse material forming the geometric array on the substrate surface may itself define open pores to further facilitate such ionic migration. The thermal fuse material melts at or near a predetermined threshold temperature so that the substrate'"'"'s permeability irreversibly becomes significantly decreased and thus interrupts the chemical reaction in an electrochemical battery. In such a manner, batteries of improved safety may be provided using the separators of this invention.
31 Citations
44 Claims
- 1. A battery separator comprising a porous substrate and a thermal fuse material adhered to at least one surface of said porous substrate in a predetermined geometric array thereupon so as to establish open areas of said at least one surface.
- 12. A battery separator comprising a porous substrate, and thermal fuse means integrally associated with said porous substrate for significantly decreasing permeability of said porous substrate in response to exposure to a predetermined threshold temperature below a melting temperature of said substrate, wherein said thermal fuse means includes a material meltable substantially at said threshold temperature and adhered to at least one surface of said substrate in the form of a geometric pattern which establishes regions on said at least one surface covered by said meltable material, and open areas on said substrate surface uncovered by said meltable material.
- 23. In a battery comprising an anode, a cathode, and a separator interposed between said anode and cathode, the improvement wherein said separator includes a porous substrate and a thermal fuse material adhered to at least one surface of said porous substrate in a predetermined geometric array thereupon so as to establish open areas of said at least one substrate surface.
- 33. A method of fabricating a battery separator comprising applying a meltable thermal fuse material in a predetermined geometric pattern onto at least one surface of a porous substrate.
Specification