Aluminum shell battery cell tab positioning mechanism and method and welding system

Abstract

The invention relates to an aluminum shell battery cell tab positioning mechanism and method and a welding system.The aluminum shell battery cell tab positioning mechanism comprises a supporting beam used for being arranged on a welding system protection sheet placing station, a plurality of sets of downward pressing tools are arranged on the supporting beam, and each downward pressing tool comprises a lifting driving piece fixed to the supporting beam; the lifting driving piece is connected with the two tab pressing pieces arranged side by side through a lifting plate, and the end parts, used for being in contact with the tabs, of the two tab pressing pieces are located above the motion trail of the roots of the tabs; the lifting driving piece can drive the tab pressing piece to move downwards before the protection piece is placed so as to press the root of the tab, the welding quality of the aluminum shell battery tab protection piece is guaranteed by adopting the positioning mechanism, and the rejection rate of a battery cell is reduced.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the technical field of batteries, and in particular to a positioning mechanism, method and welding system for a tab of an aluminum shell battery cell. Background Art

[0002] The statements herein merely provide background information related to the present invention and do not necessarily constitute prior art.

[0003] In the production process of aluminum shell batteries, ultrasonic welding technology is adopted, and the ultrasonic welding system is used. The loading robot takes the battery cell from the tray and puts it into the fixture of the machine fixture circulation line. Then the transfer mechanism under the fixture pulls the fixture of the circulation line backward, and the protective sheet top cover is placed at the back. The robot puts the protective sheet top cover on the fixture and presses it on the positive and negative pole ears to form a battery cell-ear-top cover assembly. Then the fixture continues to move backward, and the robot puts the protective sheet into the top cover to cooperate with the positive and negative pole ears. Then the fixture continues to move backward and directly welds the protective sheet to the welding station. After placing the protective sheet at the ear, the positive electrode protective sheet will be deviated according to the state of the battery ear. When it arrives at the welding station, it will be directly welded. After welding, the battery cell protection sheet is crooked and cannot meet the normal battery cell usage standards. Moreover, the battery cell after welding cannot be repaired and will be directly scrapped.

[0004] The patent with authorization announcement number CN108511668B discloses a soft-pack battery cell pole ear positioning mechanism and method, which positions the pole ear by a left clamp and a right clamp. However, the above-mentioned positioning mechanism is used to position the pole ear of the soft-pack battery cell. When the pole ear of the aluminum shell battery cell is placed at the protective sheet placement station, a top cover is provided above the pole ear, and the positioning method of the above-mentioned left and right clamps cannot be used. Therefore, a kind of aluminum shell battery cell pole ear positioning mechanism is urgently needed to meet the welding requirements of aluminum shell batteries. Summary of the invention

[0005] In view of the deficiencies in the prior art, the purpose of the present invention is to provide a tab positioning mechanism, method and welding device for an aluminum shell battery cell, which meet the welding requirements of aluminum shell batteries and ensure the welding quality of the protective sheet.

[0006] In order to achieve the above object, the present invention is implemented through the following technical solutions:

[0007] In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a tab positioning mechanism for an aluminum shell battery cell, comprising a support beam for being arranged at a welding system protective sheet placement station, a plurality of sets of pressing fixtures being arranged on the support beam, the pressing fixtures comprising a lifting drive member fixed to the support beam, the lifting drive member being connected to two tab pressing members arranged side by side through a lifting plate, and the ends of the two tab pressing members for contacting the tabs being located above the movement trajectory of the tab roots;

[0008] The lifting drive member can drive the tab pressing member to move downward to press the base of the tab before the protective sheet is placed.

[0009] Optionally, the lifting drive member adopts a cylinder with a vertically arranged axis, the cylinder body of the cylinder is fixedly connected to the support beam, and the piston rod of the cylinder is connected to the lifting plate.

[0010] Optionally, the cylinder body of the cylinder is fixedly connected to the cylinder seat, and the cylinder seat is fixedly connected to the support beam.

[0011] Optionally, the tab pressing member is made of a deformable metal material.

[0012] Optionally, the tab pressing members all include a horizontal plate, one end of which is fixed to the top of the pressing plate, the bottom of which is used to contact the root of the tab, and the other end of the horizontal plate is fixed to the bottom of the fixed plate, which is fixedly connected to the lifting plate.

[0013] Optionally, the horizontal plate adopts a T-shaped structure, including a first plate portion and a second plate portion vertically arranged in the middle of the first plate portion, the first plate portion is connected to the bottom end of the horizontal plate, and the second plate portion is fixedly connected to the top end of the lower pressure plate.

[0014] Optionally, the fixing plate is provided with an elongated hole arranged vertically with the long axis, and the fixing plate is detachably fixedly connected to the lifting plate via the elongated hole and threaded fasteners.

[0015] Optionally, the two tab pressing members are symmetrically arranged relative to the center of the lifting plate, and the lifting drive member is fixedly connected to the center position of the lifting plate.

[0016] In the second aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides a working method of the aluminum shell battery cell tab positioning mechanism described in the first aspect: after the cell tab moves to the protective sheet placement station, the lifting drive member works, and drives the two tab pressing members to descend through the lifting plate, one of the tab pressing members presses the root of the positive pole tab, and the other tab pressing member presses the root of the negative pole tab, and then a protective sheet is placed on the tab. After the protective sheet is placed, the lifting drive member drives the two tab pressing members to rise, and the tab with the protective sheet is moved to the welding station for welding.

[0017] In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present invention provides an aluminum shell battery welding system, wherein the protective sheet placement station is provided with the aluminum shell battery cell tab positioning mechanism described in the first aspect.

[0018] The beneficial effects of the present invention are as follows:

[0019] 1. The battery cell tab positioning mechanism, method and welding device of the present invention, the positioning mechanism is arranged at the protective sheet placement station of the welding device, including a lifting drive member, the lifting drive member is connected to two pressing members through a lifting plate, the pressing members are located above the movement track of the root of the tab, when the battery cell, tab and top cover move to the protective sheet placement station, before placing the protective sheet, the lifting drive member can drive the two pressing members to move downward, so that the two pressing members press the roots of the two tabs respectively, to ensure that the battery cell tabs do not curl or wrinkle, thus avoiding the tabs from exceeding the protective sheet placement area of ​​the top cover. The protective sheet can be well and effectively placed in the top cover, the protective sheet will not be skewed, and after ultrasonic welding, there will be no skew in the welding of the protective sheet, which can effectively reduce or avoid the scrapping of the skewed battery cell protective sheet, and the method of using the pressing member to press down and fix the tab, the movement of the pressing member will not interfere with the top cover, meeting the positioning requirements of the aluminum shell battery cell tab.

[0020] 2. The battery cell tab positioning mechanism, method and welding device of the present invention, the positioning mechanism includes a support beam and two pressing tooling located on the support beam, the structure is simple, and the support beam only needs to be installed at the protective sheet placement position. The support beam can be fixed to the frame provided by the existing welding system, and there is no need to improve the other equipment of the welding system, and the improvement cost is low.

[0021] 3. The battery cell tab positioning mechanism, method and welding device of the present invention, the pressing piece is made of a deformable metal material, and the pressing piece includes a horizontal plate and a fixed plate and a pressing plate arranged at both ends of the horizontal plate. The pressing piece is arranged in this way to facilitate the adjustment of the position of the pressing plate, so that the pressing plate can accurately match the root position of the tab. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0022] The accompanying drawings in the specification, which constitute a part of the present invention, are used to provide a further understanding of the present invention. The exemplary embodiments of the present invention and their descriptions are used to explain the present invention and do not constitute improper limitations on the present invention.

[0023] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the overall structure of Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

[0024] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the pressing tooling according to Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

[0025] Figure 3 1 is a schematic diagram of the assembly of the lifting plate and the tab pressing member in Embodiment 1 of the present invention;

[0026] Figure 4 is a schematic diagram of the position of the protective sheet in the top cover of Embodiment 2 of the present invention;

[0027] Among them, 1. support beam, 2. cylinder, 3. cylinder seat, 4. lifting plate, 5. horizontal plate, 6. fixed plate, 7. lower pressure plate, 8. long hole, 9. top cover, 10. position for protective sheet. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0028] Example 1

[0029] This embodiment provides a tab positioning mechanism for an aluminum shell battery cell. Figure 1-Figure 3 As shown, it includes a support beam 1, which is used to be set at a protective sheet placement station of a welding system, and the support beam is used to be fixedly connected to a frame of the welding system.

[0030] A plurality of sets of pressing tools are arranged on the support beam 1, and the number of the pressing tools matches the number of the battery cell-tab-cover plate assemblies on which the protective sheets are to be placed at the protective sheet placement station on the circulation line, so that the tabs of multiple battery cell-tab-cover plate assemblies can be pressed down and positioned at the same time.

[0031] In this embodiment, two sets of pressing tools are provided on the support beam, which can press down and position the tabs of two battery cell-tab-cover plate assemblies at the same time.

[0032] The pressing tooling includes a vertically arranged lifting drive member, the lifting drive member adopts a cylinder 2, and the cylinder body of the cylinder 2 is fixedly connected to the support beam 1.

[0033] In this embodiment, the cylinder body of the cylinder 2 is fixedly connected to the side of the cylinder seat 3, and the cylinder seat 3 is fixed to the top surface of the support beam 1, so that the axis of the cylinder 2 is located on one side of the support beam 1.

[0034] The piston rod of the cylinder 2 is connected to the lifting plate 4 and can drive the lifting plate 4 to move. In this embodiment, the lifting plate 4 adopts a rectangular plate, and two tab pressing members are arranged on the lifting plate 4, one tab pressing member is used to press down the positive tab, and the other tab pressing member is used to press down the negative tab. The end of the tab pressing member that contacts the tab is located above the root movement trajectory of the tab of the battery cell-tab-top cover assembly, and the tab pressing member can contact the root of the tab to apply downward pressure on the root of the tab.

[0035] Furthermore, in order to ensure uniform downward pressure on the two tabs, the piston rod of the cylinder 2 is fixedly connected to the center of the top plate surface of the lifting plate 4, and the two tab pressing members are symmetrically arranged relative to the center of the lifting plate 4.

[0036] Preferably, the tab pressing member is fixed on the side of the lifting plate 4 away from the support beam 1 .

[0037] In order to facilitate the adjustment of the tab pressing member, so that the end of the tab pressing member that contacts the base of the tab is just above the movement track of the base of the tab, the tab pressing member is made of a deformable metal material, and can adjust its shape under the action of an external force, so that the end of the tab pressing member that contacts the base of the tab is aligned with the movement track of the base of the tab. For example, the tab pressing member is made of an iron sheet, a copper sheet, an aluminum sheet, or a stainless steel sheet, and those skilled in the art can select according to actual needs.

[0038] The tab pressing member comprises a horizontal plate 5 , one end of which is fixedly connected to the bottom end of a fixing plate 6 , and the fixing plate 6 is detachably fixed on the side of the lifting plate 4 away from the supporting beam 1 .

[0039] Preferably, the horizontal plate 5 and the fixed plate 6 are arranged perpendicularly.

[0040] The other end of the horizontal plate 5 is fixedly connected to the top end of the lower pressing plate 7. Preferably, the horizontal plate 5 and the lower pressing plate 7 are vertically arranged.

[0041] It can be understood that by deforming the tab pressing piece through external force, adjusting the angle between the horizontal plate 5 and the fixed plate 6, and adjusting the angle between the horizontal plate 5 and the lower pressing plate 7, the bottom end of the lower pressing plate 7 can be accurately aligned with the movement trajectory of the heel of the tab.

[0042] Furthermore, in order to adjust the initial height of the tab pressing piece, the fixing plate 6 is provided with a plurality of long holes 8 arranged vertically with the long axis. Preferably, the fixing plate 6 is provided with two long holes 8, and the side of the lifting plate 4 for fixing the tab pressing piece is provided with threaded holes corresponding to the long holes 8, and the fixing plate 6 is fixedly connected to the lifting plate 4 via the long holes 8 and threaded fasteners.

[0043] In this embodiment, the threaded fasteners are bolts, which pass through the long holes and are threadedly fixedly connected to the lifting plate 4 through the threaded holes, so as to achieve the fixation of the fixing plate 6 and the lifting plate 4.

[0044] Furthermore, the horizontal plate 5 adopts a T-shaped structure, including a first plate portion and a second plate portion vertically arranged at the center of the first plate portion, the length of the second plate portion is the same as the length of the fixed plate 6 and the lower pressure plate 7, the first plate portion is integrally connected to the fixed plate 6, and the second plate portion is integrally connected to the lower pressure plate 7.

[0045] The battery cell tab positioning mechanism of this embodiment has a simple structure. It only requires installing the support beam 4 at the protective sheet placement station. The support beam 4 can be fixed to the frame provided by the existing welding system. There is no need to improve the remaining equipment of the welding system, and the improvement cost is low.

[0046] Example 2

[0047] This embodiment provides a working method of the aluminum shell battery cell tab positioning mechanism described in Embodiment 1:

[0048] The battery cells are transported to the welding system via pallets on the logistics line. After the sensor of the welding system senses that the pallet is in place, the manipulator moves to the pallet of the logistics line. The barcode scanner on the manipulator scans the barcode, identifies the barcode of the incoming battery cells and uploads it to the control system. The control system shows that the barcode of the battery cell is normal, then the manipulator grabs the A and B battery cells and puts them into the corresponding battery cell circulation fixture. The battery cell circulation fixture moves with the circulation line to the top cover placement station, and the manipulator places the top cover. The top cover 9 is fixed at the positive and negative poles of the battery and pressed on the top of the pole ear to form a battery cell-pole ear-cover assembly. The battery cell circulation fixture continues to move with the circulation line to the protective sheet placement station. The manipulator that takes the protective sheet moves horizontally to the protective sheet material box, and the manipulator moves downward vertically to take the pole ear protection sheet out of the material box. The manipulator rises vertically and moves horizontally to the protective sheet thickness detection station to detect the thickness of the protective sheet. The unqualified protective sheets are taken away by the manipulator and rejected to the unqualified protective sheet material box next to it. Detect the normal protective sheet and the robot takes it away, such as Figure 4 As shown, the robot moves horizontally to the protective sheet placement position 10 of the top cover 9 of the protective sheet placement station.

[0049] The above working process can be carried out by using the existing technology, and no further detailed description is given here.

[0050] Before the manipulator places the protective sheet, the cylinder 2 drives the lifting plate 4 to descend, one of the tab pressing pieces presses the root of the positive tab, and the other tab pressing piece presses the root of the negative tab.

[0051] Then the robot places the protective sheet on the pole ear. The placement method can be based on existing technology and will not be described in detail here.

[0052] After the protective sheet is placed, the cylinder 2 drives the lifting plate to rise, and the two tab pressing parts are reset.

[0053] The circulation line drives the cell circulation fixture to move to the welding station for ultrasonic welding. The ultrasonic welding method can adopt the existing technology and will not be described in detail here.

[0054] After welding, the battery cell moves backward to the gluing station along with the battery cell circulation fixture, where the tabs are glued. After gluing is completed, the battery cell is taken away by the robot and transferred to the next process.

[0055] The working method of this embodiment only increases the pressure on the base of the pole ear before placing the protective sheet, and loosens the base of the pole ear after placing the protective sheet. The remaining methods can adopt the existing technology and will not be described in detail here.

[0056] The two pressing parts press the roots of the two tabs respectively to ensure that the tabs of the battery cell do not curl or wrinkle, thus preventing the tabs from exceeding the protective sheet area of ​​the top cover. The protective sheet can be effectively placed inside the top cover, and the protective sheet will not be skewed. After ultrasonic welding, there will be no skew in the welding of the protective sheet, which can effectively reduce or avoid the number of scrapped battery cell protective sheets due to skew. In addition, by using the method of pressing down the tabs to fix the tabs, the movement of the pressing part will not interfere with the top cover, meeting the positioning requirements of the tabs of the aluminum shell battery cell.

[0057] In actual production, the positioning mechanism of this embodiment is used to reduce the scrap ratio of defective products from 0.7% to 0.03%.

[0058] Example 3

[0059] The present embodiment provides an aluminum shell battery welding system, which is improved on the basis of the current aluminum shell battery welding system. The aluminum shell battery cell ear positioning mechanism described in Example 1 is added to the protective sheet placement station of the welding system, and the support beam 1 is fixedly connected to the existing frame of the welding system. The remaining structures and equipment of the welding system can adopt existing technologies and will not be described in detail here.

[0060] The above description is only the preferred embodiment of the present application and is not intended to limit the present application. For those skilled in the art, the present application may have various modifications and variations. Any modification, equivalent replacement, improvement, etc. made within the spirit and principle of the present application shall be included in the protection scope of the present application.

Claims

1. A tab positioning mechanism for an aluminum shell battery cell, characterized in that: It includes a support beam for being arranged at a welding system protective sheet placement station, a plurality of sets of pressing fixtures are arranged on the support beam, the pressing fixtures include a lifting drive member fixed to the support beam, the lifting drive member is connected to two tab pressing members arranged side by side through a lifting plate, and the ends of the two tab pressing members for contacting the tabs are located above the movement track of the tab roots; The lifting drive member can drive the tab pressing member to move downward to press the base of the tab before the protective sheet is placed.

2. The aluminum shell battery cell tab positioning mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that: The lifting drive member adopts a cylinder with a vertically arranged axis, a cylinder body of the cylinder is fixedly connected to the support beam, and a piston rod of the cylinder is connected to the lifting plate.

3. The aluminum shell battery cell tab positioning mechanism according to claim 2, characterized in that: The cylinder body of the cylinder is fixedly connected to the cylinder seat, and the cylinder seat is fixedly connected to the support beam.

4. The aluminum shell battery cell tab positioning mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that: The tab pressing member is made of a deformable metal material.

5. The aluminum shell battery cell tab positioning mechanism according to claim 4, characterized in that: The tab pressing members all include a horizontal plate, one end of which is fixed to the top of the pressing plate, the bottom of which is used to contact the root of the tab, and the other end of the horizontal plate is fixed to the bottom of the fixing plate, which is fixedly connected to the lifting plate.

6. The aluminum shell battery cell tab positioning mechanism according to claim 5, characterized in that: The horizontal plate adopts a T-shaped structure, including a first plate portion and a second plate portion vertically arranged in the middle of the first plate portion, the first plate portion is connected to the bottom end of the horizontal plate, and the second plate portion is fixedly connected to the top end of the lower pressure plate.

7. The aluminum shell battery cell tab positioning mechanism according to claim 4, characterized in that: The fixing plate is provided with a long hole vertically arranged with a long axis, and the fixing plate is detachably fixedly connected with the lifting plate through the long hole and a threaded fastener.

8. The aluminum shell battery cell tab positioning mechanism according to claim 1, characterized in that: The two tab pressing members are symmetrically arranged relative to the center of the lifting plate, and the lifting driving member is fixedly connected to the center position of the lifting plate.

9. A working method of the aluminum shell battery cell tab positioning mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 8, characterized in that: After the battery cell tab moves to the protective sheet placement station, the lifting drive component works, driving the two tab pressing parts to descend through the lifting plate, one of the tab pressing parts presses the root of the positive tab, and the other tab pressing part presses the root of the negative tab, and then a protective sheet is placed on the tab. After the protective sheet is placed, the lifting drive component drives the two tab pressing parts to rise, and the tab with the protective sheet is moved to the welding station for welding.

10. An aluminum shell battery welding system, characterized in that the protective sheet placement station is provided with the aluminum shell battery cell tab positioning mechanism according to any one of claims 1 to 8.

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