A method for automatically stacking a fuel cell stack

Abstract

The present invention provides a method for automatic stacking of fuel cell stacks, which is applied to a stacking device, and the method includes: using a first handling manipulator and a second handling manipulator to pick up materials respectively, and placing them on a corresponding correction platform after scanning a code; correcting the position of the bipolar plates on the correction platform by a corresponding visual positioning component, and placing them one by one on a pneumatic material tray after correction; each time the placement of the bipolar plate membrane electrode is completed, the lead screw drives the pneumatic tray to descend to a preset height; after completing the stacking of the preset number of membrane electrodes and bipolar plates, the lead screw drives the pneumatic tray to descend to the bottom; the lead screw drives the pneumatic tray to rise to the starting material receiving position, and the next round of stacking is started; after completing the stacking of the preset number of membrane electrodes and bipolar plates, the lead screw drives the pneumatic tray to descend to the position of the membrane electrode bipolar plates stacked in the previous round. Through the present invention, the difficulties existing in the prior art of manually stacking fuel cell stacks can be avoided.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The present invention relates to the field of fuel cell stacking technology, and in particular to a method for automatically stacking fuel cell stacks. Background Art

[0002] Fuel cell automatic stacking technology is an important part of the fuel cell production process. It involves the assembly accuracy, efficiency and cost control of fuel cells, and is one of the key technologies to promote the commercialization of fuel cells. With the increase in global demand for clean energy, fuel cells, as an efficient and environmentally friendly energy conversion device, have been rapidly developed in the fields of transportation, portable power, and fixed power. However, the manufacturing process of fuel cells is complicated, and manual stacking of fuel cell monomers (MEA) is not only inefficient, but also difficult to ensure product consistency and quality. Specifically, the manual stacking of fuel cell stacks is a complex and delicate process involving a variety of technical challenges and potential problems, such as:

[0003] 1. Alignment accuracy problem: Each single cell in the battery stack needs to be precisely aligned to ensure the accuracy of the gas flow channel and electrical connection. Manual stacking is difficult to achieve high-precision alignment, resulting in reduced battery stack performance.

[0004] 2. Poor repeatability: Due to the inconsistency of human operation, the repeatability in the stacking process is poor, and the quality of each battery stack will be different;

[0005] 3. Damage risk: During the manual stacking process, improper operation force or improper use of tools can easily cause damage to the fuel cell monomer, such as tearing of the membrane electrode assembly (MEA) and damage to the gas diffusion layer;

[0006] 4. Operating environment control: Manual stacking needs to be carried out in a clean environment to prevent the intrusion of dust and other pollutants, but this is difficult to ensure in an uncontrolled environment;

[0007] 5. Low production efficiency: Compared with automated production lines, manual stacking has low efficiency and long production cycles, which is not conducive to large-scale production;

[0008] 6. Safety risks: Operators may be exposed to harmful chemicals or be in a high-pressure environment during stacking, which poses certain safety risks. Summary of the invention

[0009] The object of the present invention is to provide a method for automatically stacking a fuel cell stack.

[0010] In order to achieve the above purpose, the following technical solutions are adopted:

[0011] A method for automatic stacking of a fuel cell stack is applied to a stack stack device, the stack stack device comprising a frame, bipolar plate bins and membrane electrode bins are respectively arranged on both sides of the frame, a first handling robot and a second handling robot corresponding to the bipolar plate bin and the membrane electrode bin are respectively arranged on the frame, a deviation correction platform is respectively arranged below the first handling robot and the second handling robot, a stacking assembly is arranged below the frame, the stacking assembly comprises a pneumatic tray and a lead screw, the stacking assembly is installed on a transmission mechanism, and a visual positioning assembly is also arranged on the frame, the method comprising:

[0012] The first handling robot is used to take materials from the bipolar plate material bin, and put them on the corresponding deviation correction platform after scanning the code;

[0013] Performing position correction on the bipolar plate on the correction platform by using the corresponding visual positioning component;

[0014] The first handling robot sucks up the corrected bipolar plate with a suction cup and places it on the pneumatic tray;

[0015] The second handling robot is used to take materials from the membrane electrode material bin, and put them on the corresponding deviation correction platform after scanning the code;

[0016] Performing position correction on the membrane electrode on the correction platform by using the corresponding visual positioning component;

[0017] The second handling robot sucks up the corrected membrane electrode with a suction cup and places it on the bipolar plate in the pneumatic tray;

[0018] Each time the bipolar plate membrane electrode is placed, the lead screw drives the pneumatic tray to descend to a preset height;

[0019] After the preset number of layers of membrane electrode and bipolar plate are stacked, the lead screw drives the pneumatic tray to descend to the current collecting plate at the bottom, the pneumatic tray is separated to both sides, and the stacked bipolar plate membrane electrode is placed on the current collecting plate;

[0020] The lead screw drives the pneumatic tray to rise to the starting material receiving position to start the next round of stacking;

[0021] After the stacking of the preset number of membrane electrode and bipolar plates is completed, the lead screw drives the pneumatic tray to descend to the position of the membrane electrode and bipolar plates stacked in the previous round, and the pneumatic tray is separated to both sides, and the stacked bipolar plate membrane electrode is placed on the bipolar plate membrane electrode stacked in the previous round;

[0022] According to the number of membrane electrodes required by different battery stacks, after completing the stacking of a specified number of membrane electrode bipolar plates, the transmission mechanism drives the stacking assembly to flow to the next station.

[0023] Furthermore, the stacking assembly also includes a positioning fixture, which is installed on both sides of the pneumatic tray. During the descent of the pneumatic tray, the positioning fixture positions the membrane electrode bipolar plate on the pneumatic tray to ensure that the upper and lower layers are aligned.

[0024] By adopting the above scheme, the beneficial effects of the present invention are:

[0025] All stacked membrane electrodes and bipolar plates can be aligned in their upper and lower positions to ensure the quality consistency of the stacked battery stack, avoid membrane electrode damage caused by improper operation and improper use of tools during the stacking process, avoid the problem of low production efficiency of manual stacking, and reduce safety risks. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0026] Figure 1 A flowchart of a method for automatically stacking a fuel cell stack according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0027] Figure 2 A schematic diagram of the structure of a battery stacking device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

[0028] Figure 3 Schematic diagram of the structure of a stacking assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention.

[0029] The accompanying drawings illustrate:

[0030] 1. Frame; 2. Bipolar plate silo; 3. Membrane electrode silo; 4. First handling robot; 5. Second handling robot; 6. Correction platform; 7. Stacking assembly; 71. Pneumatic tray; 72. Screw; 73. Positioning fixture; 8. Transmission mechanism. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] Typical embodiments that embody the features and advantages of the present invention will be described in detail in the following description. It should be understood that the present invention can have various changes in different embodiments without departing from the scope of the present invention, and the descriptions and illustrations therein are essentially used for illustration purposes rather than for limiting the present invention.

[0032] like Figure 1-3As shown, a method for automatic stacking of fuel cell stacks is applied to a stack stacking device, wherein the stack stacking device includes a frame 1, bipolar plate silos 2 and membrane electrode silos 3 are respectively arranged on both sides of the frame 1, a first handling robot 4 and a second handling robot 5 corresponding to the bipolar plate silo 2 and the membrane electrode silo 3 are respectively arranged on the frame 1, and a correction platform 6 is respectively arranged below the first handling robot 4 and the second handling robot 5, a stacking assembly 7 is arranged below the frame 1, the stacking assembly 7 includes a pneumatic tray 71 and a lead screw 72, and the stacking assembly 7 is installed on the transmission mechanism. A visual positioning assembly is also arranged on the frame 1, and the method includes steps S1-S:

[0033] In step S1, a first handling robot 4 is used to take materials from the bipolar plate bin 2, and after scanning the code, the materials are placed on the corresponding deviation correction platform 6;

[0034] In step S2, the bipolar plate on the correction platform 6 is corrected in position by a corresponding visual positioning component;

[0035] In step S3, the first handling robot 4 picks up the corrected bipolar plate with a suction cup and places it on the pneumatic tray 71;

[0036] In step S4, the second handling robot 5 is used to take materials from the membrane electrode material bin 3, and put them on the corresponding deviation correction platform 6 after scanning the code;

[0037] In step S5, the membrane electrode on the correction platform 6 is corrected in position by the corresponding visual positioning component;

[0038] In step S6, the second handling robot 5 picks up the corrected membrane electrode with a suction cup and places it on the bipolar plate in the pneumatic tray 71;

[0039] In step S7, each time the bipolar plate membrane electrode is placed, the lead screw 72 drives the pneumatic tray 71 to descend to a preset height;

[0040] In step S8, after the preset number of layers of membrane electrode and bipolar plate are stacked, the lead screw 72 drives the pneumatic tray 71 to descend to the current collecting plate at the bottom, and the pneumatic tray 71 is separated to both sides, and the stacked bipolar plate membrane electrode is placed on the current collecting plate;

[0041] In step S9, the lead screw 72 drives the pneumatic tray 71 to rise to the starting material receiving position, and the next round of stacking begins;

[0042] In step S10, after the stacking of the preset number of membrane electrode and bipolar plates is completed, the lead screw 72 drives the pneumatic tray 71 to descend to the position of the membrane electrode and bipolar plates stacked in the previous round, and the pneumatic tray 71 is separated to both sides, and the stacked bipolar plate membrane electrode is placed on the bipolar plate membrane electrode stacked in the previous round;

[0043] In step S11, according to the number of membrane electrodes required by different stacks, after completing the stacking of a specified number of membrane electrode bipolar plates, the transmission mechanism 8 drives the stacking assembly 7 to flow to the next station.

[0044] In another embodiment, the stacking assembly 7 further includes a positioning fixture 73, which is installed on both sides of the pneumatic tray 71. During the descent of the pneumatic tray 71, the positioning fixture 73 positions the membrane electrode bipolar plate on the pneumatic tray 71 to ensure that the upper and lower layers are aligned.

[0045] Based on the stacking method of the above embodiment, the upper and lower positions of all stacked membrane electrodes and bipolar plates can be aligned to ensure the quality consistency of the stacked battery stack, avoid damage to the membrane electrodes caused by improper operation and improper use of tools during the stacking process, avoid the problem of low production efficiency of manual stacking, and reduce safety risks.

[0046] Although the present disclosure has been described with reference to several typical embodiments, it should be understood that the terms used are illustrative and exemplary, rather than restrictive. Since the present disclosure can be embodied in a variety of forms without departing from the spirit or essence of the invention, it should be understood that the above embodiments are not limited to any of the foregoing details, but should be interpreted broadly within the spirit and scope defined by the appended claims, so all changes and modifications falling within the scope of the claims or their equivalents should be covered by the appended claims.

Claims

1. A method for automatically stacking a fuel cell stack, characterized in that: Applied in a battery stacking device, the battery stacking device comprises a frame, bipolar plate bins and membrane electrode bins are respectively arranged on both sides of the frame, a first handling robot and a second handling robot corresponding to the bipolar plate bin and the membrane electrode bin are respectively arranged on the frame, a deviation correction platform is respectively arranged below the first handling robot and the second handling robot, a stacking assembly is arranged below the frame, the stacking assembly comprises a pneumatic tray and a lead screw, the stacking assembly is installed on a transmission mechanism, and a visual positioning assembly is also arranged on the frame, the method comprises: The first handling robot is used to take materials from the bipolar plate material bin, and put them on the corresponding deviation correction platform after scanning the code; Performing position correction on the bipolar plate on the correction platform by using the corresponding visual positioning component; The first handling robot sucks up the corrected bipolar plate with a suction cup and places it on the pneumatic tray; The second handling robot is used to take materials from the membrane electrode material bin, and put them on the corresponding deviation correction platform after scanning the code; Performing position correction on the membrane electrode on the correction platform by using the corresponding visual positioning component; The second handling robot sucks up the corrected membrane electrode with a suction cup and places it on the bipolar plate in the pneumatic tray; Each time the bipolar plate membrane electrode is placed, the lead screw drives the pneumatic tray to descend to a preset height; After the preset number of layers of membrane electrode and bipolar plate are stacked, the lead screw drives the pneumatic tray to descend to the current collecting plate at the bottom, the pneumatic tray is separated to both sides, and the stacked bipolar plate membrane electrode is placed on the current collecting plate; The lead screw drives the pneumatic tray to rise to the starting material receiving position to start the next round of stacking; After the stacking of the preset number of membrane electrode and bipolar plates is completed, the lead screw drives the pneumatic tray to descend to the position of the membrane electrode and bipolar plates stacked in the previous round, and the pneumatic tray is separated to both sides, and the stacked bipolar plate membrane electrode is placed on the bipolar plate membrane electrode stacked in the previous round; According to the number of membrane electrodes required by different battery stacks, after completing the stacking of a specified number of membrane electrode bipolar plates, the transmission mechanism drives the stacking assembly to flow to the next station.

2. The method for automatically stacking a fuel cell stack according to claim 1, characterized in that: The stacking assembly also includes a positioning fixture, which is installed on both sides of the pneumatic tray. During the descent of the pneumatic tray, the positioning fixture positions the membrane electrode bipolar plate on the pneumatic tray to ensure that the upper and lower layers are aligned.

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