Study on the Mechanical Characteristics of an Electrode Tab-Clamp for Lithium-Ion Battery Formation

Abstract

In the formation process of lithium-ion battery, the clamping force of the electrode tab-clamp is a very important factor for lithium-ion battery charge-discharge performance. Different from the traditional spring type tab-clamp, this paper proposes a leaf-spring type tab-clamp, that could produce the deformation of leaf-spring by the micro-motion of an actuating cylinder to provide a controllable clamping force of the tab-clamp upon the electrodes of lithium-ion battery. It is verified that the leaf-spring type structure is available and feasible through finite element analysis (FEA). According to the data from FEA, the relational expression between the clamping force and the micro-motion of the actuating cylinder is drawn out, and an impact analysis about design parameters to the clamping force is accomplished and some useful results are got. The study of this paper is helpful to guide mechanical design of the electrode tab-clamp for lithium-ion battery charging and discharging and to improve its mechanical performance.