Fuel cell collector plate feeding system

Abstract

The invention relates to the technical field of visual inspection equipment manufacturing, in particular to a fuel cell collector plate feeding system. In an initial state, a bearing jig of a full-load batch fuel cell collector plate falls on a right conveyor, and under the action of carrying force, the bearing jig in the full-load state flows to a jig transverse moving runner through a full-load jig conveying runner and temporarily stays at a feeding station; and after the collector plate is picked up and emptied by the multi-degree-of-freedom picking manipulator, the no-load state bearing jig performs displacement motion along the jig transverse moving runner under the action of driving force from the transverse moving driving mechanism until the no-load state bearing jig is aligned with the no-load jig conveying runner. Therefore, on one hand, on the premise that the collector plate feeding rhythm is met, the field area occupied by the fuel cell collector plate feeding system is greatly reduced; and on the other hand, when the collector plate is picked up and emptied, the fuel cell collector plate feeding system is kept in a shutdown state or an almost state, and the electric energy consumption is obviously reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The invention relates to the technical field of visual inspection equipment manufacturing, in particular to a fuel cell collector plate feeding system. Background Art

[0002] Fuel cells, as an efficient power generation device that converts the chemical energy of fuel into electrical energy directly through electrochemical reactions without burning fuel, have been widely recognized and applied. The current collector is an important component of the fuel cell system, which plays a key role in concentrating, distributing and transmitting the electrical energy generated by the fuel cell. The current collector is a plate-shaped component made of conductive material, which is used to connect multiple single cells in the fuel cell stack and provide power supply and current distribution functions.

[0003] There are a large number of structural features and forming welds distributed on the collector plate, and all of them have extremely strict forming quality requirements. As for the forming welds alone, according to the functional classification of the collector plate area, they are divided into flow channel area welding and sealing area welding. The corresponding welding materials are mostly metals, and the thickness of the single piece of material is controlled between 0.05 and 0.3 mm. Specifically: the weld surface should be smooth and flat, without obvious weld bumps, depressions, pores, cracks and other defects; the weld should have a smooth transition with the parent material, without obvious undercuts, lack of fusion, incomplete penetration and other defects; the shape and size of the weld should meet the design requirements and shall not exceed the allowable deviation; the weld surface should not have defects such as leaking welds, wrong welds, slag inclusions, etc. that affect use and appearance. Upstream new energy vehicle manufacturers have purchased a new batch of visual inspection equipment, which mainly consists of machine platforms, ring conveyor belts, carrying fixtures, flipping manipulators, upstream visual inspection cameras, and downstream visual inspection cameras. The carrying fixture is used to support a single collector plate. Multiple carrying jigs are arranged on the circular conveyor belt in sequence, and under the conveying force from the circular conveyor belt, the collector plates pass through the upstream inspection position one by one, during which the upstream visual inspection camera picks up the complete front image of the collector plate, and then, with the help of the flipping robot, the collector plate is flipped 180°, continues to flow under the conveying force, and passes through the downstream inspection position, during which the downstream visual inspection camera picks up the complete back image of the collector plate. However, according to feedback from upstream new energy vehicle manufacturers, in actual applications, the inspection effect is poor, the inspection efficiency is extremely low, the image processing time is too long, and the data is easily distorted during the processing process, which leads to the frequent misdetection and omission of weld defects. In view of this, our company has recently developed a visual inspection device for fuel cell collector plates.

[0004] As far as the current technical status is concerned, the need to meet the synchronous flow design purpose of multiple linearly arranged load-bearing fixtures has strict requirements on the total length of the conveyor design, and it requires a large site area, making the workshop layout design extremely difficult. Furthermore, due to the conveying speed of the conveyor, the number of collector plates that can be supplied per unit time is relatively limited, which is difficult to match the working rhythm of the visual inspection camera. In addition, during the entire visual inspection process, the conveyor needs to be kept in operation in real time, resulting in low energy utilization. Therefore, technical personnel are urgently needed to solve the above problems. Summary of the invention

[0005] Therefore, in view of the above-mentioned existing problems and defects, the designers of the present invention collected relevant information, conducted multiple evaluations and considerations, and continued to experiment and modify after many years of R&D experience in this industry, which ultimately led to the emergence of the fuel cell collector plate feeding system.

[0006] In order to solve the above technical problems, the present invention relates to a fuel cell collector plate feeding system, which belongs to the fuel cell collector plate visual inspection equipment, including a carrying jig, a carrier and a multi-degree-of-freedom picking manipulator. The carrying jig is used to load fuel cell collector plates in batches, and it flows between different workstations under the driving force from the carrier. The multi-degree-of-freedom picking manipulator is used to transfer the fuel cell collector plates from the carrying jig to the next process one by one. The carrier includes a left conveyor, a right conveyor, a partition and a transverse drive mechanism. The left conveyor and the right conveyor are placed side by side, and the conveying directions of the two are opposite. The partition is used to partially isolate the left conveyor and the right conveyor, so that a fully loaded jig conveying flow channel, a jig transverse flow channel and an empty jig conveying flow channel are formed. The fixture transverse flow channel spans both the left conveyor and the right conveyor, and the only source of driving force for the fully loaded fixture conveying flow channel is the right conveyor, and the only source of driving force for the empty fixture conveying flow channel is the left conveyor. The transverse drive mechanism is used to drive the empty-loaded fixture to perform displacement movement along the fixture transverse flow channel, and the left conveyor and the right conveyor serve as its installation base.

[0007] As a further improvement of the technical solution disclosed in the present invention, the bearing fixture includes a substrate and a material stopper assembly. The substrate is provided with an avoidance notch for the lateral drive mechanism to apply a driving force thereto. The material stopper assembly is composed of a plurality of material stoppers detachably fixed to the substrate and in an upright state, so that a left-mounted collector plate accumulation partition and a right-mounted collector plate accumulation partition are formed.

[0008] As a further improvement of the technical solution disclosed in the present invention, the fuel cell collector plate feeding system also includes a position correction mechanism. The position correction mechanism is installed on the right conveyor. After the fully loaded bearing fixture stops relative to the fixture transverse flow channel, the position correction mechanism is activated to correct its relative position.

[0009] As a further improvement of the technical solution disclosed in the present invention, the position correction mechanism is composed of multiple groups of pin cylinders and correction sleeves. The multiple pin cylinders are installed on the right conveyor and are hidden under the base plate. The base plate is evenly provided with multiple installation holes for the correction sleeves to be embedded. In the process of the correction sleeves being penetrated by the corresponding pin cylinders, the relative position of the fully loaded bearing fixture can be corrected.

[0010] As a further improvement of the technical solution disclosed in the present invention, the lateral drive mechanism includes a load-bearing frame, a linear module, a lifter and a force-applying member. The left conveyor and the right conveyor serve together as the installation base of the load-bearing frame, and the load-bearing frame is hidden below the two. The linear module is used to drive the lifter to perform lateral movement, and it is installed on the load-bearing frame. The force-applying member used to directly apply lateral thrust to the substrate is driven by the lifter.

[0011] As a further improvement of the technical solution disclosed in the present invention, the force applying member is in an "L" shape, which is connected by a flat section and a vertical hook section. The flat section is detachably fixed to the lifter as a whole by means of a fastener. The vertical hook section extends into the avoidance gap to apply a lateral thrust to the base plate.

[0012] As a further improvement of the technical solution disclosed in the present invention, a plurality of long waist-shaped holes are formed on the flat section and arranged in a rectangular array.

[0013] In the initial state, the supporting jig fully loaded with batch fuel cell collector plates is placed on the right conveyor, and under the action of the carrying force, the fully loaded supporting jig flows through the fully loaded jig conveying channel to the jig transverse flow channel, and temporarily stays at the loading station; after the collector plates are picked up and emptied by the multi-degree-of-freedom picking robot, the empty-loaded supporting jig performs displacement movement along the jig transverse flow channel under the action of the driving force from the transverse drive mechanism until it is aligned with the empty-loaded jig conveying channel; then, under the action of the carrying force from the left conveyor, the empty-loaded supporting jig flows along the empty-loaded jig conveying channel, and finally stops at the supporting jig recovery station.

[0014] In practical applications, the fuel cell collector plate feeding system disclosed in the present invention can achieve at least the following beneficial technical effects, specifically:

[0015] 1) Abandoning the traditional linear transportation and feeding method, in this application, batches of fuel cell collector plates are stacked and placed on the carrying jig, and the left conveyor and the right conveyor are used to respectively realize the transportation of the fully loaded carrying jig and the empty carrying jig, and after the feeding is completed, under the action of the pushing force from the transverse driving mechanism, the empty carrying jig can be moved transversely from the right conveyor to the left conveyor. In this way, on the one hand, under the premise that the number of fuel cell collector plates carried per unit time is guaranteed, the site area occupied by the fuel cell collector plate feeding system is greatly reduced, which is conducive to the execution of the workshop layout design; on the other hand, during the period when the multi-degree-of-freedom picking manipulator picks up and gradually empties the fuel cell collector plates, both the left conveyor and the right conveyor, as well as the transverse driving mechanism, are kept in a stopped or exhausted state, thereby effectively reducing the power consumption and improving the power utilization rate;

[0016] 2) Thanks to the fast, efficient and high-precision execution of the multi-degree-of-freedom picking robot, the total number of fuel cell collector plates that can be supplied per unit time can be effectively increased, laying a good foundation for subsequent matching with the working rhythm of the visual inspection camera. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0017] In order to more clearly illustrate the embodiments of the present invention or the technical solutions in the prior art, the drawings required for use in the embodiments or the description of the prior art will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present invention. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without paying creative work.

[0018] Figure 1 It is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the visual inspection device for fuel cell collector plates disclosed in the present invention.

[0019] Figure 2 It is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the fuel cell collector plate loading system disclosed in the present invention.

[0020] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the state of the supporting fixture in the fuel cell collector plate feeding system disclosed in the present invention after it is dropped relative to the carrier machinery.

[0021] Figure 4 It is also a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the fuel cell collector plate loading system disclosed in the present invention (the carrying fixture, the multi-degree-of-freedom picking robot, and some conveying rollers of the left and right conveyors are hidden).

[0022] Figure 5 It is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a supporting fixture in the fuel cell collector plate feeding system disclosed in the present invention.

[0023] Figure 6 yes Figure 5 Top view of the .

[0024] Figure 7 It is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a carrier machine in a fuel cell collector plate feeding system disclosed in the present invention.

[0025] Figure 8 yes Figure 7 Top view of the .

[0026] Fig. 9 It is also a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the carrier machinery in the fuel cell collector plate loading system disclosed in the present invention (with some conveying rollers of the left and right conveyors in a state).

[0027] Fig.10 It is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of the transverse driving mechanism in the fuel cell collector plate feeding system disclosed in the present invention.

[0028] Fig.11 It is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a force-applying member in a fuel cell collector plate feeding system disclosed in the present invention.

[0029] Fig.12 It is a three-dimensional schematic diagram of a position guiding mechanism in a fuel cell collector plate feeding system disclosed in the present invention.

[0030] Fig.13 yes Figure 3 Top view of the .

[0031] Fig.14 yes Fig.13 AA section view.

[0032] Fig.15 yes Fig.13 BB cross-sectional view.

[0033] 1-carrying fixture; 11-base plate; 111-avoidance gap; 112-installation hole; 12-material blocking assembly; 121-material blocking member; 13-left collector plate accumulation partition; 14-right collector plate accumulation partition; 2-carrying machinery; 21-left conveyor; 22-right conveyor; 23-blocking member; 24-transverse driving mechanism; 241-load-bearing frame; 242-linear module; 243-lifter; 244-force-applying member; 2441-flat section; 24411-long waist-shaped hole; 2442-vertical hook section; 25-full-load fixture conveying flow channel; 26-fixture transverse movement flow channel; 27-empty fixture conveying flow channel; 3-multi-degree-of-freedom picking robot; 4-position guiding mechanism; 41-pin cylinder; 42-guiding sleeve. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0034] In the description of the present invention, it is necessary to understand that the directions or positional relationships indicated by the terms "front", "rear", "left", "right", "up", "down", etc. are based on the directions or positional relationships shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the present invention and simplifying the description, rather than indicating or implying that the device or element referred to must have a specific direction, be constructed and operated in a specific direction, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation on the present invention.

[0035] The present invention will be further described in detail below with reference to specific embodiments. Figure 1 A three-dimensional schematic diagram of the fuel cell collector plate visual inspection device disclosed in the present invention is shown. It can be seen that the fuel cell collector plate feeding system is arranged upstream to continuously supply the fuel cell collector plate to the optical inspection unit located downstream.

[0036] Figure 2 The three-dimensional schematic diagram of the fuel cell collector plate loading system disclosed in the present invention is shown, and it can be seen that it is mainly composed of a carrying fixture 1, a carrier 2, and a multi-degree-of-freedom picking manipulator 3. Among them, the carrying fixture 1 is used to load fuel cell collector plates in batches, and it flows between different stations under the driving force from the carrier 2. The multi-degree-of-freedom picking manipulator 3 is used to transfer the fuel cell collector plates from the carrying fixture 1 to the next process piece by piece.

[0037] like Figure 7 , 8 As shown in the figure, the carrying machinery 2 is mainly composed of a left conveyor 21, a right conveyor 22, a barrier 23 and a transverse driving mechanism 24. The left conveyor 21 and the right conveyor 22 are arranged side by side in the front-to-back direction, and their conveying directions are opposite. The barrier 23 is used to partially isolate the left conveyor 21 and the right conveyor 22, so that the full-loaded jig conveying channel 25, the jig transverse flow channel 26 and the empty jig conveying channel 27 are formed. The jig transverse flow channel 26 spans the left conveyor 21 and the right conveyor 22 at the same time, and the only source of carrying driving force for the full-loaded jig conveying channel 25 is the right conveyor 22, and the only source of carrying driving force for the empty jig conveying channel 27 is the left conveyor 21. The transverse driving mechanism 24 is used to drive the unloaded carrying jig 1 to perform displacement movement along the jig transverse flow channel 26, and the left conveyor 21 and the right conveyor 22 serve as its installation basis.

[0038] The working principle of the fuel cell collector plate loading system is roughly as follows: in the initial state, the supporting jig 1 fully loaded with a batch of fuel cell collector plates falls on the right conveyor 22, and under the action of the carrying force, the fully loaded supporting jig 1 flows through the fully loaded jig conveying channel 25 to the jig transverse flow channel 26, and temporarily stays at the loading station; then, the multi-degree-of-freedom picking robot 3 is activated to pick up the fuel cell collector plates one by one, and transfer them to the next process until the fuel cell collector plates are completely emptied; then, the empty-loaded supporting jig 1 performs a displacement movement along the jig transverse flow channel 26 under the action of the driving force from the transverse drive mechanism 24 until it is relative to the empty-loaded jig conveying channel 27; then, under the action of the carrying force from the left conveyor 21, the empty-loaded supporting jig 1 flows along the empty-loaded jig conveying channel 27, and finally stops at the supporting jig recovery station.

[0039] In the present embodiment, batches of fuel cell collector plates are stacked and placed on the carrying jig 1, and the left conveyor 21 and the right conveyor 22 are used to transport the fully loaded carrying jig 1 and the empty carrying jig 1 respectively. After the feeding is completed, under the pushing force from the transverse drive mechanism 24, the empty carrying jig 1 can be moved transversely from the right conveyor 22 to the left conveyor 21. In this way, on the one hand, under the premise that the number of fuel cell collector plates carried per unit time is guaranteed, the site area required to be occupied by the fuel cell collector plate feeding system is greatly reduced, which is conducive to the execution of the workshop layout design; on the other hand, during the period when the multi-degree-of-freedom picking robot 3 picks up and gradually empties the fuel cell collector plates, both the left conveyor 21 and the right conveyor 22, as well as the transverse drive mechanism 24, are kept in a stopped or exhausted state, thereby effectively reducing the energy consumption and improving the energy utilization rate.

[0040] It should also be noted here that, according to industry common knowledge, the multi-degree-of-freedom picking robot 3 has design characteristics such as rapid execution, high efficiency, and high precision. Therefore, in actual applications, it can quickly empty the carrier fixture 1, thereby effectively increasing the total number of fuel cell collector plates that the fuel cell collector plate loading system can supply per unit time, laying a good foundation for subsequent matching with the working rhythm of the visual inspection camera.

[0041] like Figure 5 , 6As shown in , the carrying jig 1 is mainly composed of a base plate 11 and a material blocking assembly 12. The material blocking assembly 12 is composed of a plurality of material blocking members 121 detachably fixed to the base plate 11 and in an upright state, so that a left collector plate accumulation partition 13 and a right collector plate accumulation partition 14 are formed. In practical applications, both the left collector plate accumulation partition 13 and the right collector plate accumulation partition 14 can be used to batch-accept stacked fuel cell collector plates. Under the premise that the total number of loads is determined, the stacking height of the fuel cell collector plates is controlled within a reasonable value range, thereby greatly improving the carrying stability and safety of the carrying jig 1.

[0042] like Figure 3 , 4 As shown in , the fuel cell collector plate loading system is further provided with a position correction mechanism 4. The position correction mechanism 4 is installed on the right conveyor 22. After the fully loaded carrying fixture 1 has stopped relative to the fixture transverse flow channel 26, the position correction mechanism 4 is started to correct its relative position, which lays a good foundation for the subsequent high-efficiency and high-precision picking operation of the multi-degree-of-freedom picking manipulator 3.

[0043] As Fig.12 , 13 As shown in FIG. 15 , the position guiding mechanism 4 is composed of four sets of pin cylinders 41 and guiding sleeves 42. The four pin cylinders 41 are all installed on the right conveyor 22 and are hidden under the base plate 11. The base plate 11 is evenly distributed with a plurality of mounting holes 112 (such as Figure 5 , 6 In actual application, when the fully loaded jig 1 flows through the fully loaded jig conveying channel 25 to the jig lateral movement channel 26 and temporarily stays at the loading station, the four pin cylinders 41 are simultaneously started, and the pins thereof are able to perform an upward movement. In the process of the guide sleeve 42 being penetrated by the corresponding pin cylinder 41, the relative position of the fully loaded jig 1 is corrected.

[0044] As is known, according to design common sense, the lateral drive mechanism 24 can adopt a variety of design structures to achieve the lateral displacement of the unloaded carrying fixture 1. However, a design structure is simple, easy to manufacture and implement, and the pushing action is extremely stable. Specifically, as follows: Fig. 9 , 10As shown in Figures 13 and 14, the transverse drive mechanism 24 includes a load-bearing frame 241, a linear module 242, a lifter 243 and a force-applying member 244. The left conveyor 21 and the right conveyor 22 together serve as the installation base of the load-bearing frame 241, and the load-bearing frame 241 is hidden under the two. The linear module 242 is used to drive the lifter 243 to perform transverse movement, and it is installed on the load-bearing frame 241. The force-applying member 244 for directly applying a lateral thrust to the substrate 11 is driven by the lifter 243 (preferably a cylinder with excellent response speed). An avoidance gap 111 (such as 211) is provided on the substrate 11 to facilitate the force-applying member 244 to apply a driving force thereto. Figure 5 ).

[0045] Depend on Fig.11 It can also be clearly seen from the figure that the force-applying member 244 is in an "L" shape, which is connected by a flat section 2441 and an upright hook section 2442. The flat section 2441 is detachably fixed to the lifter 243 by means of fasteners. The upright hook section 2442 extends into the avoidance gap 111 to apply a lateral thrust to the substrate 11. A plurality of long waist-shaped holes 24411 for fasteners to pass through are formed on the flat section 2441, and are arranged in a rectangular array. In this way, on the one hand, the model of the force-applying member 244 can be optimally adapted according to the specific external dimensions of the carrier jig 1, and the entire disassembly and replacement process is convenient and quick; on the other hand, when the carrier jig 1 stops relative to the loading station and is corrected, the worker needs to pay attention to whether the force-applying member 244 occupies the correct position relative to the carrier jig 1. If not, it is necessary to loosen the fasteners, drag the force applying member 244 along the left-right direction until the vertical hook section 2442 critically abuts against the base plate 11, and then re-tighten the fasteners.

[0046] The above description of the disclosed embodiments enables one skilled in the art to implement or use the present invention. Various modifications to these embodiments will be apparent to one skilled in the art, and the general principles defined herein may be implemented in other embodiments without departing from the spirit or scope of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention will not be limited to the embodiments shown herein, but rather to the widest scope consistent with the principles and novel features disclosed herein.

Claims

1. A fuel cell collector plate loading system, belonging to a fuel cell collector plate visual inspection device, comprising a carrying jig, a carrier and a multi-degree-of-freedom picking manipulator; the carrying jig is used to load fuel cell collector plates in batches, and the fuel cell collector plates are transferred between different workstations under the driving force from the carrier; the multi-degree-of-freedom picking manipulator is used to transfer the fuel cell collector plates from the carrying jig to the next process piece by piece, characterized in that: The transport machinery includes a left conveyor, a right conveyor, a barrier and a transverse driving mechanism; the left conveyor and the right conveyor are placed side by side, and the conveying directions of the two are opposite; the barrier is used to partially isolate the left conveyor and the right conveyor, and a full-loaded jig conveying channel, a jig transverse flow channel and an empty jig conveying channel are formed; the jig transverse flow channel spans the left conveyor and the right conveyor at the same time, and the only source of carrying driving force for the full-loaded jig conveying channel is the right conveyor, and the only source of carrying driving force for the empty jig conveying channel is the left conveyor; the transverse driving mechanism is used to drive the empty-loaded carrying jig to perform displacement movement along the jig transverse flow channel, and the left conveyor and the right conveyor together serve as its installation basis.

2. The fuel cell collector plate feeding system according to claim 1, characterized in that: The supporting fixture includes a base plate and a material blocking assembly; an avoidance gap is provided on the base plate to facilitate the lateral driving mechanism to apply driving force thereto; the material blocking assembly is composed of a plurality of material blocking members detachably fixed on the base plate and in an upright state, thereby forming a left-placed collector plate accumulation partition and a right-placed collector plate accumulation partition.

3. The fuel cell collector plate feeding system according to claim 2, characterized in that: It also includes a position correction mechanism; the position correction mechanism is installed on the right conveyor; after the fully loaded carrier fixture stops relative to the fixture transverse flow channel, the position correction mechanism is activated to correct its relative position.

4. The fuel cell collector plate feeding system according to claim 3, characterized in that: The position correction mechanism is composed of multiple groups of pin cylinders and correction sleeves; the multiple pin cylinders are installed on the right conveyor and are hidden under the base plate; the base plate is evenly distributed with multiple installation holes for the correction sleeves to be embedded; in the process of the correction sleeve being penetrated by the corresponding pin cylinder, the relative position of the carrying fixture in the fully loaded state can be corrected.

5. The fuel cell collector plate feeding system according to any one of claims 2 to 4, characterized in that: The transverse driving mechanism includes a load-bearing frame, a linear module, a lifter and a force-applying member; the left conveyor and the right conveyor together serve as the installation base of the load-bearing frame, and the load-bearing frame is hidden underneath the two; the linear module is used to drive the lifter to perform transverse movement, and it uses the load-bearing frame as the installation base; the force-applying member used to directly apply lateral thrust to the substrate is driven by the lifter.

6. The fuel cell collector plate feeding system according to claim 5, characterized in that: The force-applying member is in an "L" shape, and is connected by a horizontal section and an upright hook section; the horizontal section is detachably fixed to the lifter as a whole by means of a fastener; the upright hook section extends into the avoidance gap to apply a lateral thrust toward the base plate.

7. The fuel cell collector plate feeding system according to claim 6, characterized in that: A plurality of long waist-shaped holes are formed on the flat section and arranged in a rectangular array.

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