Insulator component design for maintaining electrode assembly compression in prismatic medical cells

摘要

An electrochemical cell comprising a conductive casing housing an electrode assembly provided with a stack holder surrounding the electrode assembly is described. The stack holder is of a shape memory material that serves to maintain the anode and cathode in a face-to-face close physical proximity alignment throughout discharge. This is particularly important in later stages of cell life. As the cell discharges, anode active material is physically moved from the anode to intercalate with the cathode active material. As this mass transfer occurs, the cathode becomes physically larger and the anode smaller. This can lead to gaps forming between the anode and the cathode. However, the stack holder inhibits the formation of such gaps by maintaining a compressive force on the electrode assembly throughout cell discharge.