Battery string welding equipment and welding method

Abstract

The present invention provides a battery string welding device and a welding method, wherein the battery string welding device includes a welding conveyor, a battery cell laying device, a welding strip processing device, a welding strip pulling device and a welding device, wherein: the welding conveyor is used to convey battery cells and welding strip groups; the battery cell laying device is used to lay the battery cells on the welding conveyor with the back side facing upward; the welding strip processing device is used to clamp multiple welding strips and drive the welding strips to switch between the first welding strip group feeding station and the second welding strip group feeding station, and cut the welding strips to obtain the welding strip group; the welding strip pulling device is used to pull the welding strip group at the first welding strip group feeding station and stack it on the odd-numbered electrode row of the corresponding battery cell, and to pull the welding strip group at the second welding strip group feeding station and stack it on the even-numbered electrode row; the welding device welds the stacked welding strip group and battery cells into a string. The battery string welding device of the present invention realizes the welding of back-contact battery cells into a string.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the field of battery production, in particular to a battery string welding device and a welding method. Background Art

[0002] There is no main grid line on the front of the back-contact solar cell, and the positive electrode row and the negative electrode row are arranged on the back of the solar cell, thereby reducing the shading of the solar cell and improving the light conversion efficiency of the solar cell.

[0003] like Figure 1 The back-contact battery cell 100 shown has a first electrode (such as a positive electrode) and a second electrode (such as a negative electrode) with opposite polarities provided on its back side. The first electrodes are arranged in rows to form at least two first electrode rows 101, and the second electrodes are arranged in rows to form at least two second electrode rows 102. The first electrode rows 101 and the second electrode rows 102 are arranged alternately.

[0004] like Figure 2 and Figure 3 As shown, the back-contact battery cells are welded in series in the following manner: N battery cells 100 are laid out in sequence with their backs facing upward, and the polarities of the electrode rows of adjacent battery cells on the same straight line are opposite. N+1 welding ribbon groups are used to weld the N battery cells 100 into a series, wherein the odd-numbered welding ribbon groups (the 1st, 3rd and 5th welding ribbon groups in the figure) and the even-numbered welding ribbon groups (the 2nd and 4th welding ribbon groups in the figure) are laid out alternately.

[0005] In order to realize the staggered laying of the odd-numbered welding ribbon groups and the even-numbered welding ribbon groups, the conventional back-contact battery cell welding equipment needs to set up two welding ribbon roll groups. The number of welding ribbon rolls included in each welding ribbon roll group is half the number of electrode rows on the battery cell.

[0006] The solder ribbon pulling device pulls and obtains the odd-numbered solder ribbon group and the even-numbered solder ribbon group from the two solder ribbon roll groups in turn, and lays the odd-numbered solder ribbon group and the even-numbered solder ribbon group on the battery cells in an alternating manner.

[0007] The drawback of conventional back-contact cell welding equipment is that a large number of solder ribbon rolls are required, which increases the cost of the welding equipment. Summary of the invention

[0008] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention provides a battery string welding device, which adopts the following technical solutions:

[0009] A battery string welding device is used to weld battery cells into strings, wherein the back of the battery cell is provided with a first electrode row and a second electrode row arranged in a staggered manner, and the battery string welding device comprises a welding conveying device, a battery cell laying device, a welding strip processing device, a welding strip pulling device and a welding device, wherein:

[0010] The welding conveying device is used to convey the battery cells and the welding ribbon group along a first horizontal direction;

[0011] The cell laying device is used to lay N cells with their backs facing upward on the welding conveyor along a first horizontal direction, and to make the polarities of the electrode rows of adjacent cells on the same straight line opposite;

[0012] The welding strip processing device is used to clamp a plurality of welding strips extending along a first horizontal direction, and drive the welding strips to move in a second horizontal direction perpendicular to the first horizontal direction, so as to realize the position switching of the welding strips between the first welding strip group feeding station and the second welding strip group feeding station, and to cut off the welding strips at the first welding strip group feeding station and the second welding strip group feeding station to obtain the welding strip group;

[0013] The welding ribbon pulling device is used to pull the welding ribbon group at the first welding ribbon group feeding station and stack it on the odd-numbered electrode row corresponding to the battery cell on the welding conveyor device, and is used to pull the welding ribbon group at the second welding ribbon group feeding station and stack it on the even-numbered electrode row corresponding to the battery cell on the welding conveyor device;

[0014] The welding device welds the stacked welding ribbon groups and battery cells into strings.

[0015] Through the cooperation of the welding conveying device, the battery cell laying device, the welding strip processing device, the welding strip pulling device and the welding device, the battery string welding equipment of the present invention realizes the welding of back-contact battery cells into strings.

[0016] In particular, the solder strip processing device in the present invention can drive the solder strip to move between the first solder strip group feeding station and the second solder strip group feeding station, thereby ensuring that the solder strip pulling device can obtain the odd-numbered solder strip groups and the even-numbered solder strip groups from the first solder strip group feeding station and the second solder strip group feeding station in turn, and lay the odd-numbered solder strip groups and the even-numbered solder strip groups on the battery cells in an alternating manner. The number of solder strip rolls provided in the present invention is only half of that of the traditional back-contact battery cell welding equipment, which greatly reduces the cost of the welding equipment.

[0017] In some embodiments, the solder strip processing device includes a solder strip clamping mechanism and a solder strip cutting mechanism, wherein: the solder strip clamping mechanism is used to clamp the solder strip and drive the solder strip to move in the second horizontal direction to realize the position switching of the solder strip between the first solder strip group feeding station and the second solder strip group feeding station; the solder strip cutting mechanism is located at the subsequent station of the solder strip clamping mechanism, and is used to cut the solder strips at the first solder strip group feeding station and the second solder strip group feeding station to obtain the solder strip group.

[0018] Through the cooperation of the solder strip clamping mechanism and the solder strip cutting mechanism, the solder strip processing device realizes alternately supplying odd-numbered solder strip groups and even-numbered solder strip groups to the first solder strip group feeding station and the second solder strip group feeding station.

[0019] In some embodiments, the weld ribbon cutting mechanism is connected to the weld ribbon clamping mechanism, and the weld ribbon cutting mechanism moves in the second horizontal direction with the weld ribbon clamping mechanism; or, the weld ribbon cutting mechanism includes a first cutting execution part and a second cutting execution part, the first cutting execution part is arranged at the first weld ribbon group feeding station, and is used to cut the weld ribbon at the first weld ribbon group feeding station, and the second cutting execution part is arranged at the second weld ribbon group feeding station, and is used to cut the weld ribbon at the second weld ribbon group feeding station; or, the cutting execution part of the weld ribbon cutting mechanism spans the first weld ribbon group feeding station and the second weld ribbon group feeding station, and the cutting execution part of the weld ribbon cutting mechanism is used to cut the weld ribbon at the first weld ribbon group feeding station and to cut the weld ribbon at the second weld ribbon group feeding station.

[0020] Three implementation methods of a welding strip cutting mechanism with a simple structure are provided, all of which can realize the cutting of welding strips at a first welding strip group feeding station and a second welding strip group feeding station.

[0021] In some embodiments, the weld tape traction device includes a first weld tape traction mechanism and a second weld tape traction mechanism, wherein: the first weld tape traction mechanism is used to pull the weld tape moved to the first weld tape group feeding station, and to lay the weld tape group at the first weld tape group feeding station onto the welding conveying device; the second weld tape traction mechanism is used to pull the weld tape moved to the second weld tape group feeding station, and to lay the weld tape group at the second weld tape group feeding station onto the welding conveying device.

[0022] The first welding tape traction mechanism and the second welding tape traction mechanism alternately pull the welding tapes and implement the laying of the first welding tape group and the second welding tape group, which greatly improves the welding tape laying efficiency.

[0023] In some embodiments, the weld tape pulling device includes a mounting bracket and a plurality of first chucks and a plurality of second chucks alternately arranged on the mounting bracket, wherein: the first chuck is used to pull the weld tape at the first weld tape group feeding station, and to lay the weld tape group at the first weld tape group feeding station onto the welding conveying device; the second chuck is used to pull the weld tape at the second weld tape group feeding station, and to lay the weld tape group at the second weld tape group feeding station onto the welding conveying device.

[0024] By configuring the welding tape pulling device, the welding tape pulling device can pull the first welding tape group located at the first welding tape group feeding station, and can also pull the second welding tape group located at the second welding tape group feeding station.

[0025] In some embodiments, the battery string welding equipment also includes a solder tape unwinding device and a flux coating device, wherein: the solder tape unwinding device includes a mounting plate and a plurality of discharge trays arranged on the mounting plate, each discharge tray supports a roll of solder tape and discharges a solder tape; the solder tape discharged from the material tray passes through the flux coating device and then enters into the solder tape processing device, and the flux coating device is used to coat the flux onto the solder tape.

[0026] By providing a soldering tape unwinding device, the feeding of the soldering tape is realized. By providing a soldering flux coating device, the soldering flux can be automatically coated on the soldering tape, thereby improving the soldering efficiency.

[0027] In some embodiments, the battery cell laying device includes a battery cell loading mechanism, a battery cell conveying mechanism, a battery cell positioning platform and a handling mechanism, wherein: the battery cell loading mechanism is used to load the battery cells in the battery box onto the battery cell conveying mechanism, the battery cell conveying mechanism is used to convey the battery cells to the battery cell positioning platform, the battery cell positioning platform is used to position the battery cells, and the handling mechanism is used to pick up the battery cells from the battery cell positioning platform and lay the battery cells onto the welding conveying device; a regularizing mechanism is provided on the battery cell positioning platform, and the regularizing mechanism is used to regularize the battery cells on the battery cell positioning platform.

[0028] Through the cooperation of the cell loading mechanism, cell conveying mechanism, cell positioning platform and handling mechanism, the cell laying device realizes automatic loading, conveying, positioning and laying of cells. And by setting a regularization mechanism on the cell positioning platform, the regularization of cells is realized.

[0029] In some embodiments, the transport mechanism is configured to simultaneously pick up a battery cell and a tool, place the picked-up battery cell on the welding conveyor, and place the picked-up tool on the welding conveyor or on the corresponding battery cell to compress the corresponding welding ribbon group.

[0030] The battery cells and tooling are laid synchronously, and the laying of a tooling is completed at the same time as the laying of a battery cell. On the one hand, the laying efficiency is improved, and on the other hand, it ensures that the laid solder ribbon group can be pressed on the corresponding battery cell in time to prevent the solder ribbon group from deviating from the electrode row.

[0031] In some embodiments, the battery cell placement device further includes a battery cell rotation mechanism disposed on the battery cell conveying mechanism, and the battery cell rotation mechanism is used to rotate the rear battery cell being conveyed by 180° relative to the front battery cell.

[0032] By arranging a cell rotating mechanism on the cell conveying mechanism, a 180° rotation of the rear cell is achieved, thereby ensuring that the polarities of the electrode rows of adjacent cells on the same straight line are opposite.

[0033] In some embodiments, the battery string welding equipment further includes a pressing device, which is used to press the stacked welding ribbon groups and battery cells.

[0034] By providing a pressing device, it can be ensured that the welding ribbon group is pressed onto the corresponding battery cell, thereby ensuring the welding effect and preventing cold welding.

[0035] In some embodiments, the clamping device includes a tooling conveying mechanism, a tooling stacking mechanism, a tooling and a tooling removal mechanism, wherein: the tooling conveying mechanism is arranged on the side of the welding conveying device, and the tooling conveying mechanism is used to circulate and convey the tooling; the tooling stacking mechanism is used to transport the tooling on the tooling conveying mechanism to the welding conveying device to compact the stacked solder ribbon groups and battery cells; the tooling removal mechanism is used to transport the tooling from the welding conveying device back to the tooling conveying mechanism.

[0036] Through the cooperation of the tooling conveying mechanism, the tooling stacking mechanism and the tooling moving mechanism, the tooling is automatically placed on the welding conveying device to achieve compression of the welding ribbon group and the battery cell, and after welding is completed, the tooling is automatically transported back to the tooling conveying mechanism to achieve the recycling of the tooling.

[0037] The present invention also provides a battery string welding method, which is used to weld battery cells into a string, wherein the back of the battery cell is provided with a first electrode row and a second electrode row arranged in a staggered manner, and the battery string welding method comprises:

[0038] N battery cells are laid with their backs facing upwards along a first horizontal direction on a welding conveying device conveying along the first horizontal direction, and the polarities of electrode rows of adjacent battery cells on the same straight line are opposite.

[0039] Clamp multiple welding strips extending along the first horizontal direction, and drive the welding strips to move in a second horizontal direction perpendicular to the first horizontal direction, so as to realize the position switching of the welding strips between the first welding strip group feeding station and the second welding strip group feeding station, and cut off the welding strips at the first welding strip group feeding station and the second welding strip group feeding station to obtain the welding strip group.

[0040] The soldering ribbon group at the first soldering ribbon group feeding station is pulled and stacked on the odd-numbered electrode rows corresponding to the battery cell on the welding conveyor device, and the soldering ribbon group at the second soldering ribbon group feeding station is pulled and stacked on the even-numbered electrode rows corresponding to the battery cell on the welding conveyor device.

[0041] Weld the stacked solder ribbon groups and battery cells into strings.

[0042] The battery string welding method of the present invention realizes the welding of back-contact battery cells into strings. In particular, the present invention can drive the welding ribbon to move between the first welding ribbon group feeding station and the second welding ribbon group feeding station, thereby ensuring that the welding ribbon pulling device can obtain the odd-numbered welding ribbon group and the even-numbered welding ribbon group from the first welding ribbon group feeding station and the second welding ribbon group feeding station in turn, and lay the odd-numbered welding ribbon group and the even-numbered welding ribbon group on the battery cell in an alternating manner.

[0043] In some embodiments, the battery string welding method further comprises:

[0044] Place N+1 tools on the welding conveyor or on the corresponding battery cells to press the corresponding welding ribbon groups, wherein:

[0045] While the second battery cell is being placed on the welding conveyor, the first tool is placed on the welding conveyor to compact the front half of the first welding ribbon group.

[0046] While placing the i-th battery cell on the welding conveyor, place the i-1th tooling on the i-2th battery cell to compact the second half of the i-2th welding ribbon group and the first half of the i-1th welding ribbon group stacked on the i-2th battery cell, where i is any natural number from 3 to N.

[0047] The Nth tool is placed on the N-1th battery cell to compress the rear half of the N-1th welding ribbon group and the front half of the Nth welding ribbon group on the N-1th battery cell.

[0048] The N+1th tool is placed on the Nth battery cell to compress the second half of the Nth welding ribbon group and the first half of the N+1th welding ribbon group on the N battery cells.

[0049] During the complete laying process of the battery cells, the laying of the solder ribbon group and the tooling is completed simultaneously. On the one hand, it can improve the laying efficiency, and on the other hand, it can ensure that the laid solder ribbon group can be pressed onto the corresponding battery cell in time to prevent the solder ribbon group from deviating from the electrode row. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0050] Figure 1 It is a structural diagram of a back-connected battery cell;

[0051] Figure 2 It is a schematic diagram of the structure after four back-connected solar cells are welded into a string by a welding ribbon assembly;

[0052] Figure 3 A schematic diagram of the structure of a battery string welding device provided by an embodiment of the present invention at a first viewing angle;

[0053] Figure 4A schematic diagram of the structure of a battery string welding device provided by an embodiment of the present invention at a second viewing angle;

[0054] Figure 5 A schematic diagram of the structure of the battery string welding device provided by an embodiment of the present invention at a third viewing angle;

[0055] Figures 6 to 12 It is a schematic diagram of the laying process of the battery cell, the welding ribbon assembly and the tooling in the embodiment of the present invention;

[0056] Figures 1 to 12 Included:

[0057] A battery cell 100, a first electrode row 101, and a second electrode row 102;

[0058] Welding conveying device 10, battery cell laying device 20, welding ribbon processing device 30, welding ribbon traction device 40, welding ribbon clamping mechanism 31, welding ribbon cutting mechanism 32, first welding ribbon traction mechanism 41, second welding ribbon traction mechanism 42, welding device 50. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0059] In order to make the above-mentioned objects, features and advantages of the present invention more obvious and easy to understand, the present invention is further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

[0060] The battery string welding device and the battery string welding method provided by the present invention will be respectively introduced by way of two embodiments as follows.

[0061] In order to realize the staggered laying of the odd-numbered welding ribbon groups and the even-numbered welding ribbon groups, the conventional back-contact battery cell welding equipment needs to set up two welding ribbon roll groups. The number of welding ribbon rolls included in each welding ribbon roll group is half the number of electrode rows on the battery cell.

[0062] The solder ribbon pulling device pulls and obtains the odd-numbered solder ribbon group and the even-numbered solder ribbon group from the two solder ribbon roll groups in turn, and lays the odd-numbered solder ribbon group and the even-numbered solder ribbon group on the battery cells in an alternating manner.

[0063] The drawback of conventional back-contact cell welding equipment is that a large number of solder ribbon rolls are required, which increases the cost of the welding equipment.

[0064] In view of this, the present invention provides a battery string welding device and a welding method, so that only one welding ribbon coil group is provided, that is, back-contact battery cells (hereinafter referred to as "battery cells") can be welded into strings. The battery string welding device and welding method of the present invention will be described exemplarily through two embodiments below.

[0065] First embodiment

[0066] like Figures 3 to 5 As shown, the battery string welding equipment provided in this embodiment includes a welding conveying device 10, a battery cell laying device 20, a welding ribbon processing device 30, a welding ribbon pulling device 40 and a welding device 50, wherein:

[0067] The welding conveying device 10 is used to convey the welding Figure 1 The X-axis direction in the figure transports the battery cells and the solder ribbon groups.

[0068] The cell laying device 20 is used to lay N cells on the welding conveyor device 10 along a first horizontal direction with their backs facing upwards, and to make the polarities of the electrode rows of adjacent cells on the same straight line opposite.

[0069] The welding strip processing device 30 is used to clamp a plurality of welding strips extending along a first horizontal direction, and drive the welding strips to extend in a second horizontal direction (such as Figure 1 The welding strip is moved in the Y-axis direction in the first welding strip group feeding station (in the Y-axis direction in the first welding strip group feeding station) to realize the position switching of the welding strip between the first welding strip group feeding station and the second welding strip group feeding station, and the welding strip at the first welding strip group feeding station and the second welding strip group feeding station are cut to obtain the welding strip group. For example, the welding strip cut off at the first welding strip group feeding station is the odd-numbered welding strip group, and the welding strip cut off at the second welding strip group feeding station is the even-numbered welding strip group.

[0070] The welding tape pulling device 40 is used to pull the welding tape group at the first welding tape group feeding station and stack it on the odd-numbered electrode row of the corresponding battery cell on the welding conveyor device, and to pull the welding tape group at the second welding tape group feeding station and stack it on the even-numbered electrode row of the corresponding battery cell on the welding conveyor device. That is, the welding tape pulling device 40 alternately obtains the cut odd-numbered welding tape group and even-numbered welding tape group from the first welding tape group feeding station and the second welding tape group feeding station, and completes the laying of the welding tape group.

[0071] The welding device 50 is used to weld the stacked welding ribbon groups and battery cells into strings.

[0072] It can be seen that through the cooperation of the welding conveying device 10, the battery cell laying device 20, the welding ribbon processing device 30, the welding ribbon pulling device 40 and the welding device 50, the battery string welding equipment in this embodiment realizes the welding of back-contact battery cells into strings.

[0073] In particular, the solder strip processing device 30 in the present embodiment can drive the solder strip to move between the first solder strip group feeding station and the second solder strip group feeding station, thereby ensuring that the solder strip pulling device 40 can obtain the odd-numbered solder strip groups and the even-numbered solder strip groups from the first solder strip group feeding station and the second solder strip group feeding station in turn, and lay the odd-numbered solder strip groups and the even-numbered solder strip groups on the battery cells in an alternating manner.

[0074] In this way, only one solder strip material roll group is needed to release solder strips of half the number of electrode rows on the battery cell, so as to complete the alternating supply of the odd-numbered solder strip groups and the even-numbered solder strip groups, thereby greatly reducing the cost of the welding equipment.

[0075] like Figure 3 and Figure 4 As shown, optionally, the solder strip processing device 30 includes a solder strip clamping mechanism 31 and a solder strip cutting mechanism 32, wherein: the solder strip clamping mechanism 31 is used to clamp the solder strip and drive the solder strip to move in the second horizontal direction to achieve the position switching of the solder strip between the first solder strip group feeding station and the second solder strip group feeding station. The solder strip cutting mechanism 32 is located at the back-end station of the solder strip clamping mechanism 32, and is used to cut off the solder strips at the first solder strip group feeding station and the second solder strip group feeding station to obtain the corresponding odd-numbered solder strip groups and even-numbered solder strip groups.

[0076] Optionally, the welding ribbon cutting mechanism 32 can be configured in the following three ways.

[0077] The first setting method:

[0078] The welding strip cutting mechanism 32 is connected to the welding strip clamping mechanism 31, and the welding strip cutting mechanism 32 moves synchronously in the second horizontal direction with the welding strip clamping mechanism 31. In this way, when the welding strip clamping mechanism 31 moves the welding strip to the first welding strip group feeding station or the second welding strip group feeding station, the welding strip cutting mechanism 32 immediately performs the cutting action, thereby obtaining the odd number welding strip group or the even number welding strip group.

[0079] The second setting method:

[0080] The solder strip cutting mechanism 32 includes a first cutting execution part and a second cutting execution part, wherein the first cutting execution part is arranged at the first solder strip group feeding station, and is used to cut the solder strip at the first solder strip group feeding station, and the second cutting execution part is arranged at the second solder strip group feeding station, and is used to cut the solder strip at the second solder strip group feeding station.

[0081] That is, when the solder strip clamping mechanism 31 moves the solder strip to the first solder strip group feeding station, the first cutting execution unit performs the cutting action to obtain the odd-numbered solder strip groups. When the solder strip clamping mechanism 31 moves the solder strip to the second solder strip group feeding station, the second cutting execution unit performs the cutting action to obtain the even-numbered solder strip groups.

[0082] The third setting method:

[0083] The cutting execution part of the welding strip cutting mechanism 32 spans across the first welding strip group feeding station and the second welding strip group feeding station. The cutting execution part of the welding strip cutting mechanism is used to cut the welding strip at the first welding strip group feeding station and to cut the welding strip at the second welding strip group feeding station.

[0084] That is, a wider cutting execution part is provided to ensure that the cutting execution part spans the first welding strip group feeding station and the second welding strip group feeding station. In this way, when the welding strip clamping mechanism 31 moves the welding strip to the first welding strip group feeding station, the cutting execution part performs the cutting action, and the cutting execution part at the first welding strip group feeding station cuts the welding strip to obtain the odd welding strip group, and the cutting execution part at the second welding strip group feeding station is empty. When the welding strip clamping mechanism 31 moves the welding strip to the second welding strip group feeding station, the cutting execution part performs the cutting action, and the cutting execution part at the second welding strip group feeding station cuts the welding strip to obtain the even welding strip group, and the cutting execution part at the first welding strip group feeding station is empty.

[0085] Continue to refer Figure 3 and Figure 4 As shown, optionally, the welding ribbon traction device 40 in this embodiment includes a first welding ribbon traction mechanism 41 and a second welding ribbon traction mechanism 42, wherein:

[0086] The first welding tape traction mechanism 41 is used to pull the welding tape moved to the first welding tape group feeding station, and to lay the welding tape group at the first welding tape group feeding station onto the welding conveying device 10 .

[0087] The second welding tape traction mechanism 42 is used to pull the welding tape moved to the second welding tape group feeding station, and to lay the welding tape group at the second welding tape group feeding station onto the welding conveying device 10 .

[0088] The first welding tape pulling mechanism 41 and the second welding tape pulling mechanism 42 pull the welding tape alternately and lay the first welding tape group and the second welding tape group, thereby greatly improving the welding tape laying efficiency.

[0089] In some other embodiments, the welding tape pulling device 40 is an integrated structure, which includes a mounting bracket and a plurality of first clamps and a plurality of second clamps staggeredly arranged on the mounting bracket, wherein: the first clamp is used to pull the welding tape at the first welding tape group feeding station, and lay the welding tape group at the first welding tape group feeding station onto the welding conveying device. The second clamp is used to pull the welding tape at the second welding tape group feeding station, and lay the welding tape group at the second welding tape group feeding station onto the welding conveying device 10.

[0090] Optionally, the battery string welding device in this embodiment further includes a solder strip unwinding device and a flux coating device, wherein: the solder strip unwinding device includes a mounting plate and a plurality of unwinding trays arranged on the mounting plate, each unwinding tray supports a solder strip roll and unwinds a solder strip. After the solder strip unwinding from the tray passes through the flux coating device, it is inserted into the solder strip processing device 30, and the flux coating device is used to coat the flux on the solder strip.

[0091] By setting up a solder tape unwinding device, automatic feeding of the solder tape is achieved. In this embodiment, the total number of unwinding trays in the solder tape unwinding device is half the number of electrode rows on the battery cell. For example, Figure 1 The cell shown in FIG. 1 is provided with 18 electrode rows. Correspondingly, 9 material rolls are arranged in the solder tape unwinding device in this embodiment, so that the solder tape unwinding device can unwind 9 solder tapes at the same time, and each odd-numbered solder tape group and even-numbered solder tape group obtained after being processed by the solder tape processing device 30 includes 9 solder tape segments.

[0092] Optionally, the battery cell laying device in this embodiment includes a battery cell loading mechanism, a battery cell conveying mechanism, a battery cell positioning platform and a handling mechanism, wherein: the battery cell loading mechanism is used to load the battery cells in the battery box onto the battery cell conveying mechanism, the battery cell conveying mechanism is used to convey the battery cells to the battery cell positioning platform, the battery cell positioning platform is used to position the battery cells, and the handling mechanism is used to pick up the battery cells from the battery cell positioning platform and lay the battery cells on the welding conveying device.

[0093] It can be seen that through the cooperation of the battery cell loading mechanism, the battery cell conveying mechanism, the battery cell positioning platform and the handling mechanism, the battery cell laying device realizes automatic loading, conveying, positioning and laying of battery cells.

[0094] Optionally, a regularizing mechanism is further provided on the battery cell positioning platform, and the regularizing mechanism is used to regularize the battery cells on the battery cell positioning platform.

[0095] Optionally, the cell laying device further comprises a cell rotating mechanism disposed on the cell conveying mechanism, the cell rotating mechanism being used to rotate the rear cell being conveyed by 180° relative to the front cell. In this way, it can be ensured that the polarities of the electrode rows of adjacent cells laid out on the same straight line are opposite.

[0096] Optionally, in this embodiment, the transport mechanism is configured to pick up a battery cell and a tool at the same time, and place the picked-up battery cell on the welding conveyor 10, and place the picked-up tool on the welding conveyor 10 or on the corresponding battery cell to compress the corresponding welding ribbon group.

[0097] In this way, the handling mechanism realizes the synchronous laying of the battery cells and the tooling, and it completes the laying of a tooling while completing the laying of a battery cell. On the one hand, it improves the laying efficiency, and on the other hand, it ensures that the laid solder ribbon group can be pressed on the corresponding battery cell in time to prevent the solder ribbon group from deviating from the electrode row.

[0098] Of course, in other embodiments, a separate clamping device may be additionally provided to clamp the stacked solder ribbon group and battery cells, thereby ensuring that the solder ribbon group is clamped on the corresponding battery cell, thereby ensuring the welding effect and preventing cold soldering. Optionally, in these embodiments, the clamping device includes a tooling conveying mechanism, a tooling stacking mechanism, a tooling and a tooling removal mechanism, wherein: the tooling conveying mechanism is arranged on the side of the welding conveying device 10, and the tooling conveying mechanism 10 is used to cyclically convey the tooling. The tooling stacking mechanism is used to transport the tooling on the tooling conveying mechanism to the welding conveying device 10 to clamp the stacked solder ribbon group and battery cells, and the tooling removal mechanism is used to transport the tooling from the welding conveying device 10 back to the tooling conveying mechanism.

[0099] Through the cooperation of the tooling conveying mechanism, the tooling stacking mechanism, and the tooling moving mechanism, the tooling is automatically placed on the welding conveying device 10 to achieve compression of the welding ribbon group and the battery cell, and after welding is completed, the tooling is automatically transported back to the tooling conveying mechanism to achieve the recycling of the tooling.

[0100] Second embodiment

[0101] The battery string welding method provided in this embodiment can be implemented by the battery string welding arrangement in the first embodiment. Specifically, the battery string welding method includes:

[0102] N battery cells are laid with their backs facing upwards along a first horizontal direction (such as the X-axis direction) on a welding conveyor that conveys along the first horizontal direction, and the polarities of the electrode rows of adjacent battery cells that are on the same straight line are opposite.

[0103] Clamp multiple welding strips extending along the first horizontal direction, and drive the welding strips to move in a second horizontal direction (such as the Y-axis direction) perpendicular to the first horizontal direction, so as to realize the position switching of the welding strips between the first welding strip group feeding station and the second welding strip group feeding station, and cut off the welding strips at the first welding strip group feeding station and the second welding strip group feeding station to obtain the welding strip group.

[0104] The soldering ribbon group at the first soldering ribbon group feeding station is pulled and stacked on the odd-numbered electrode rows corresponding to the battery cell on the welding conveyor device, and the soldering ribbon group at the second soldering ribbon group feeding station is pulled and stacked on the even-numbered electrode rows corresponding to the battery cell on the welding conveyor device.

[0105] Weld the stacked solder ribbon groups and battery cells into strings.

[0106] The battery string finally obtained by the present invention is formed by welding N battery cells through N+1 welding ribbon groups, wherein: the first welding ribbon group is a head welding ribbon group welded only on the first battery cell (head battery cell), the N+1 welding ribbon group is a tail welding ribbon group welded only on the Nth battery cell (tail battery cell), and the remaining N-1 welding ribbon groups are used to connect two adjacent battery cells.

[0107] In order to ensure that the laid-out solder ribbon groups can be pressed onto the corresponding battery cells in time and prevent the solder ribbon groups from deviating from the electrode rows, optionally, during the laying process of N battery cells and N+1 solder ribbon groups, the laying of N+1 tooling is completed. Specifically:

[0108] While the second battery cell is being placed on the welding conveyor, the first tool is placed on the welding conveyor to compact the front half of the first welding ribbon group.

[0109] While the i-th battery cell is being laid on the welding conveying mechanism, the i-1th tooling is placed on the i-2th battery cell to compact the second half of the i-2th welding ribbon group and the first half of the i-1th welding ribbon group stacked on the i-2th battery cell, where i is any natural number from 3 to N.

[0110] The Nth tool is placed on the N-1th battery cell to compress the rear half of the N-1th welding ribbon group and the front half of the Nth welding ribbon group on the N-1th battery cell.

[0111] The N+1th tool is placed on the Nth battery cell to compress the second half of the Nth welding ribbon group and the first half of the N+1th welding ribbon group on the N battery cells.

[0112] In order to make those skilled in the art understand the above-mentioned laying process more clearly, the following will be combined with Figures 6 to 12 An exemplary description is given of the laying process of the battery cells, welding ribbon groups and tooling in a specific embodiment. The battery string in this embodiment includes 10 battery cells, that is, N=10.

[0113] First, if Figure 6 As shown, the first battery cell is placed on the welding conveyor.

[0114] Then, if Figure 7 As shown, the first welding ribbon group is laid, and the rear half of the first welding ribbon group is located on the first electrode row of the first battery cell, and the front half is located on the welding conveyor device.

[0115] Then, if Figure 8 As shown, while the second battery cell is placed on the welding conveyor mechanism, the first tool is placed on the welding conveyor device to compress the front half of the first welding ribbon group.

[0116] Then, if Fig. 9 As shown, the second welding ribbon group is laid, and the front half and the rear half of the second welding ribbon group are respectively located on the second electrode rows of the first battery cell and the second battery cell.

[0117] Then, if Fig.10 As shown, while the third battery cell is placed on the welding conveyor mechanism, the second tool is placed on the first battery cell to compact the second half of the first welding ribbon group and the first half of the two welding ribbon groups stacked on the first battery cell.

[0118] Then, if Fig.11 As shown, the third welding ribbon group is laid, and the front half and the rear half of the third welding ribbon group are respectively located on the first electrode rows of the second battery cell and the third battery cell.

[0119] According to the above rules, the 4th to 10th battery cells and the 3rd to 9th tooling are laid out in sequence, and the 4th to 11th welding ribbon groups are laid out.

[0120] Finally, if Fig.12 As shown, the 10th tool is placed on the 9th battery cell to compress the second half of the 9th solder ribbon group and the first half of the 10th solder ribbon group on the 9th battery cell, and the 11th tool is placed on the 10th battery cell to compress the second half of the 10th solder ribbon group and the first half of the 11th solder ribbon group on the 10th battery cell.

[0121] At this point, the placement of all cells, tooling and welding ribbons has been completed. The welding conveyor mechanism transports the laid cells, tooling and welding ribbons to the welding station for welding.

[0122] The present invention has been described in sufficient detail with certain particularity. It should be understood by those skilled in the art that the description in the embodiments is merely exemplary, and all changes made without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present invention should fall within the scope of protection of the present invention. The scope of protection claimed by the present invention is defined by the claims, rather than by the above description in the embodiments.

Claims

1. A battery string welding device, used for welding battery cells into strings, wherein the back of the battery cell is provided with a first electrode row and a second electrode row arranged alternately, characterized in that: The battery string welding equipment includes a welding conveying device, a battery cell laying device, a welding strip processing device, a welding strip pulling device and a welding device, wherein: The welding conveying device is used to convey the battery cells and welding ribbon groups along a first horizontal direction; The cell laying device is used to lay N cells with their backs facing upward on the welding conveyor along the first horizontal direction, and to make the polarities of the electrode rows of adjacent cells on the same straight line opposite; The welding strip processing device is used to clamp a plurality of welding strips extending along the first horizontal direction, and drive the welding strips to move in a second horizontal direction perpendicular to the first horizontal direction, so as to realize the position switching of the welding strips between the first welding strip group feeding station and the second welding strip group feeding station, and to cut off the welding strips at the first welding strip group feeding station and the second welding strip group feeding station to obtain the welding strip group; The welding ribbon pulling device is used to pull the welding ribbon group at the first welding ribbon group feeding station and stack it on the odd-numbered electrode rows corresponding to the battery sheet on the welding conveying device, and is used to pull the welding ribbon group at the second welding ribbon group feeding station and stack it on the even-numbered electrode rows corresponding to the battery sheet on the welding conveying device; The welding device welds the stacked welding ribbon groups and battery cells into a string.

2. The battery string welding equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The welding strip processing device comprises a welding strip clamping mechanism and a welding strip cutting mechanism, wherein: The solder strip clamping mechanism is used to clamp the solder strip and drive the solder strip to move in the second horizontal direction, so as to realize the position switching of the solder strip between the first solder strip group feeding station and the second solder strip group feeding station; The solder strip cutting mechanism is located at the rear station of the solder strip clamping mechanism, and is used to cut the solder strips at the first solder strip group feeding station and the second solder strip group feeding station to obtain the solder strip group.

3. The battery string welding equipment according to claim 2, characterized in that: The solder strip cutting mechanism is connected to the solder strip clamping mechanism, and the solder strip cutting mechanism moves along with the solder strip clamping mechanism in the second horizontal direction; or, The solder strip cutting mechanism comprises a first cutting execution part and a second cutting execution part, wherein the first cutting execution part is arranged at the first solder strip group feeding station, and is used to cut the solder strip at the first solder strip group feeding station, and the second cutting execution part is arranged at the second solder strip group feeding station, and is used to cut the solder strip at the second solder strip group feeding station; or, The cutting execution part of the welding ribbon cutting mechanism spans the first welding ribbon group feeding station and the second welding ribbon group feeding station, and the cutting execution part of the welding ribbon cutting mechanism is configured to cut the welding ribbon at the first welding ribbon group feeding station, and is configured to cut the welding ribbon at the second welding ribbon group feeding station.

4. The battery string welding equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The welding tape traction device comprises a first welding tape traction mechanism and a second welding tape traction mechanism, wherein: The first welding tape traction mechanism is used to pull the welding tape moved to the first welding tape group feeding station, and to lay the welding tape group at the first welding tape group feeding station onto the welding conveying device; The second welding tape traction mechanism is used to pull the welding tape moved to the second welding tape group feeding station, and to lay the welding tape group at the second welding tape group feeding station onto the welding conveying device.

5. The battery string welding equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The welding ribbon pulling device comprises a mounting bracket and a plurality of first clamps and a plurality of second clamps staggeredly arranged on the mounting bracket, wherein: The first clamp is used to pull the welding tape at the first welding tape group feeding station, and to lay the welding tape group at the first welding tape group feeding station onto the welding conveying device; The second clamp is used to pull the welding tape at the second welding tape group feeding station, and to lay the welding tape group at the second welding tape group feeding station onto the welding conveying device.

6. The battery string welding equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The battery string welding equipment also includes a welding ribbon unwinding device and a flux coating device, wherein: The solder strip unwinding device comprises a mounting plate and a plurality of unwinding trays arranged on the mounting plate, each of the unwinding trays respectively supports a solder strip roll and unwinds a solder strip; The solder strip released from the material tray passes through the flux coating device and then enters into the solder strip processing device. The flux coating device is used to coat the flux onto the solder strip.

7. The battery string welding equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The cell laying device includes a cell loading mechanism, a cell conveying mechanism, a cell positioning platform and a handling mechanism, wherein: The battery cell loading mechanism is used to load the battery cells in the battery box onto the battery cell conveying mechanism, the battery cell conveying mechanism is used to convey the battery cells to the battery cell positioning platform, the battery cell positioning platform is used to implement positioning of the battery cells, and the handling mechanism is used to pick up the battery cells from the battery cell positioning platform and lay the battery cells on the welding conveying device; The battery cell positioning platform is provided with a regularizing mechanism, and the regularizing mechanism is used to regularize the battery cells on the battery cell positioning platform.

8. The battery string welding device according to claim 7, characterized in that: The transport mechanism is configured to simultaneously pick up a battery cell and a tool, and place the picked-up battery cell on the welding conveyor device, and place the picked-up tool on the welding conveyor device or on the corresponding battery cell to compress the corresponding welding ribbon group.

9. The battery string welding device according to claim 7, characterized in that: The cell placement device further comprises a cell rotation mechanism disposed on the cell conveying mechanism, and the cell rotation mechanism is used to rotate the rear cell being conveyed by 180° relative to the front cell.

10. The battery string welding equipment according to claim 1, characterized in that: The battery string welding equipment also includes a pressing device, which is used to press the stacked welding ribbon group and battery cells.

11. The battery string welding device according to claim 10, characterized in that: The clamping device includes a tooling conveying mechanism, a tooling stacking mechanism, and a tooling and tooling removal mechanism, wherein: The tooling conveying mechanism is arranged on the side of the welding conveying device, and the tooling conveying mechanism is used for cyclically conveying the tooling; The tool stacking mechanism is used to transport the tool on the tool conveying mechanism to the welding conveying device to compact the stacked welding ribbon group and battery cells; The tooling removal mechanism is used to transport the tooling from the welding conveying device back to the tooling conveying mechanism.

12. A battery string welding method for welding battery cells into a string, wherein the back of the battery cell is provided with a first electrode row and a second electrode row arranged in a staggered manner, characterized in that: The battery string welding method comprises: Laying N battery cells with their backs facing upwards along a first horizontal direction on a welding conveyor that conveys along the first horizontal direction, and making sure that the polarities of electrode rows of adjacent battery cells that are in the same straight line are opposite; Clamping a plurality of welding strips extending along the first horizontal direction, and driving the welding strips to move in a second horizontal direction perpendicular to the first horizontal direction, so as to realize the position switching of the welding strips between the first welding strip group feeding station and the second welding strip group feeding station, and cutting off the welding strips at the first welding strip group feeding station and the second welding strip group feeding station to obtain the welding strip group; Pulling the first welding ribbon group at the feeding station and stacking them on the odd-numbered electrode rows corresponding to the battery sheet on the welding conveyor device, and pulling the second welding ribbon group at the feeding station and stacking them on the even-numbered electrode rows corresponding to the battery sheet on the welding conveyor device; Weld the stacked solder ribbon groups and battery cells into strings.

13. The battery string welding method according to claim 12, characterized in that: The battery string welding method further comprises: Place N+1 tools on the welding conveyor device or the corresponding battery cell to press the corresponding welding ribbon group, wherein: While placing the second battery cell on the welding conveyor, placing the first tool on the welding conveyor to compress the front half of the first welding ribbon group; While placing the i-th battery cell on the welding conveyor, placing the i-1th tool on the i-2th battery cell to compress the second half of the i-2th welding ribbon group and the first half of the i-1th welding ribbon group stacked on the i-2th battery cell, wherein i is any natural number from 3 to N; Placing the Nth tool on the N-1th battery cell to compress the second half of the N-1th welding ribbon group and the first half of the Nth welding ribbon group on the N-1th battery cell; The N+1th tool is placed on the Nth battery cell to compress the second half of the Nth welding ribbon group and the first half of the N+1th welding ribbon group on the N battery cells.

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