Polymer lithium battery automatic sorting machine systemized smed quick change method

Abstract

The application discloses a polymer lithium battery automatic sorting machine systemized SMED rapid model changing method, and belongs to the technical field of lithium battery automatic production equipment. The method comprises the following steps: S1, a magnetic suction plug-in suction cup standardization model changing process, the magnetic suction mounting seat is pulled out from the fixed base and is replaced; S2, a full-station tool sharing manual adjustment process, each shared station changes the whole process without replacing the tool and manually adjusting the compression screw; S3, a narrow station simple standardization adjustment process, the standardization adjustment operation is performed on the scraper ear pressure block, the positive pressure leak detection, the lateral positioning of the blanking tray, the front and rear end code scanning support and the tray sensor support station; S4, a film tearing station bidirectional reference standardization and two-person balanced division collaborative control process, the quantitative positioning reference is established at the film tearing station, and the model changing operation is balancedly distributed to two operators and is executed in parallel. The whole machine model changing downtime is compressed from 240 minutes to 60 minutes or below.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention belongs to the technical field of automated lithium battery production equipment, specifically relating to a systematic SMED rapid changeover method for an automated sorting machine for polymer lithium batteries. Background Technology

[0002] Soft-pack polymer lithium batteries are widely used in consumer electronics, smart wearable devices, drones, and other fields due to their high energy density, flexible design, and good safety. With the shortening product iteration cycle and frequent battery model updates, the same production line often needs to switch between producing different specifications of cells. Currently, soft-pack polymer lithium batteries have a wide size range, with cell lengths ranging from 8mm to 160mm, widths from 8mm to 120mm, and thicknesses from 1.8mm to 16mm. This multi-variety, small-batch production model makes equipment changeover a common factor affecting production line efficiency.

[0003] In the automated lithium battery production process, the sorting process occurs before module assembly and is used to test, screen, and classify the battery cells. Currently, mainstream sorting equipment adopts an assembly line layout, integrating multiple stations such as automatic feeding, rotary processing, film removal, positive pressure leak testing, thickness and dimensional detection, and automatic unloading into one unit. This type of equipment has a large number of stations and dense adjustment points, requiring the replacement or adjustment of numerous tooling and fixtures each time a battery cell model is changed. Taking six sorting machines of the same model as an example, a total of 126 model changes were performed throughout 2025, averaging 12 times per month. A single complete model changeover took 240 minutes (downtime under two-person parallel operation), involving the disassembly and adjustment of 26 tooling items and 76 adjustment points, with the rotary station adjustment taking 88 minutes. The long downtime for adjustment compresses effective production time, reduces equipment utilization, and results in significant labor costs and capacity losses.

[0004] From an operational perspective, the above problems are related to four aspects: multi-station step-by-step debugging lacks a fixed work sequence; parallel operation by two people lacks a quantifiable basis for load allocation; debugging steps at space-constrained stations are cumbersome; and there is a lack of unified debugging benchmarks between different processes. These factors combine to make it difficult to reduce the overall machine changeover time.

[0005] Currently, industry improvements to address battery changeover issues primarily focus on the mechanical hardware structure of single workstations. For example, some patents disclose changeover devices for formation and capacity testing equipment, using threaded rods and pressure plates to clamp and fix cells of different sizes; others involve battery positioning structures that use adjustment plates to allow changeovers without replacing the entire mold set. These solutions mainly change the physical connection method of the tooling, but lack corresponding standardized operating sequences, adjustment order, and precision control steps for the hardware structure. In practice, different operators adjust the equipment according to their own habits, leading to significant fluctuations in changeover time and machine setup quality, making it difficult to consistently reduce overall machine downtime.

[0006] The general SMED (Single Minute Exchange of Die) theory, proposed by Shigeo Shingo in the 1950s, aims to shorten changeover time by differentiating between internal and external operations, converting internal operations into external ones, and eliminating adjustment steps. This theory has been applied in automotive stamping, injection molding, and pharmaceutical packaging. However, SMED is a general management principle and does not include actionable, quantifiable adjustment steps specific to the mechanical structure of equipment. When directly applied to automated sorting equipment with many workstations and complex adjustment actions, the actual reduction in changeover time is not significant due to the lack of standardized procedures and quantifiable tolerance indicators linked to the physical adjustments of the equipment.

[0007] The automatic sorting equipment for soft-pack polymer lithium batteries differs significantly from other lithium battery equipment (such as formation cabinets, stacking machines, and capacity testing equipment) in its structural layout and changeover methods. The sorting equipment is equipped with 19 sets of cell-transferring suction cups, each secured by four screws and an internal spring. Disassembly and assembly of a single set takes 2.5 minutes, totaling 47.5 minutes. The turntable station has six clamping mechanisms, requiring point-by-point adjustment. Five sets of standard clamping blocks require 2 minutes of adjustment per point, while one set at the inner station, due to limited space, requires 8 minutes of adjustment per point, totaling 18 minutes. Adjustments at stations such as the loading / unloading pallet lifting, scraper ear pressure rollers, etc., total 45 minutes. Stations with narrow spaces, such as those for scraper ears, leak detection, barcode scanning, and pallet sensor brackets, often have obstructed adjusting bolts, requiring the removal of surrounding parts before debugging. The leak detection station relies on tactile calibration of the eight leveling screws, and the front and rear barcode scanning brackets each require disassembly and assembly of eight screws, resulting in a total debugging time of 71 minutes for these confined spaces. As the connection point between the preceding and following processes, the film-tearing station is prone to misalignment of the battery cells when two people are debugging it separately due to the lack of a unified positioning benchmark. The entire machine needs to be reworked and fine-tuned for about 30 minutes. In addition, when two people change models in parallel, the serial working time for each operator at the entire station is 150 minutes and 210 minutes respectively, a difference of 60 minutes. In actual operation, there are situations where one person is busy operating while the other is waiting.

[0008] Most of the publicly disclosed patents related to lithium battery conversion focus on equipment for formation, stacking, and electrode drying, and their workstation composition and adjustment methods differ from those of sorting equipment. Complete process solutions addressing various issues during the conversion process of sorting equipment, such as suction cup disassembly and assembly, turntable clamping and adjustment, operation in confined workstations, unified process connection standards, and balanced load distribution for dual-person operations, are currently undocumented. Summary of the Invention

[0009] The purpose of this invention is to provide a systematic SMED rapid changeover method for an automatic polymer lithium battery sorting machine, aiming to solve the technical problems of excessive downtime for machine changeover caused by multiple factors such as cumbersome suction cup disassembly and assembly, manual fine-tuning of the turntable, blind adjustment in narrow workstations, rework during process connections, and imbalance of load between two workers.

[0010] To achieve the above objectives, the present invention provides the following technical solution: a systematic SMED rapid changeover method for an automatic sorting machine for polymer lithium batteries, wherein the automatic sorting machine is arranged sequentially along the conveying direction with an automatic feeding station, a turntable processing station, a film tearing station, a positive pressure leak testing station, a thickness measurement station, and an automatic unloading station, comprising the following steps: S1: Remove the magnetic mounting bracket from the fixed base at the current workstation; select a magnetic mounting bracket that matches the target cell specification, align it with the positioning pin hole on the fixed plate, insert it, and lock it in place by the interference fit of the pin and the magnetic attraction; connect the negative pressure air pipe connector. S2: The common tooling compatible with all battery cell specifications is used in the loading and unloading pallet lifting station, unloading communication cable station, scraper ear pressure roller station, turntable main clamping block station and turntable inner electrode ear pressure block station. The tooling is not changed throughout the changeover process and the clamping screws are not manually adjusted. S3: Perform standardized adjustment operations on the scraper ear pressing block station, positive pressure leak detection station, material unloading tray side positioning station, front-end barcode scanning bracket station, rear-end barcode scanning bracket station and tray sensor bracket station respectively. S4: Establish quantitative benchmarks for the left and right center positioning tolerances of the battery cell and the rear edge positioning tolerance of the film-tearing platform at the film-tearing station, and assign the changeover operation to two operators to perform in parallel.

[0011] By coupling the implementation of four processes, S1 to S4, suction cup assembly and disassembly, tooling change, narrow workstation debugging, process docking calibration, and dual-person division of labor are incorporated into a unified standardized process, forming a time-series coordination between each process. This method reduces the downtime for whole-machine changeover under dual-person parallel operation from 240 minutes to less than 60 minutes, improves the overall changeover efficiency by 75%, and eliminates rework time and personnel waiting time losses caused by inconsistent debugging benchmarks.

[0012] Preferably, in step S1, all 19 suction cup support platforms of the entire machine uniformly perform the plug-in / plug-out operation.

[0013] By incorporating all 19 suction cup support platforms of the entire machine into a unified plug-and-play operation process, operators no longer need to switch operating modes when changing suction cups at different workstations. The total time for disassembling and assembling the suction cups of the entire machine has been reduced from 47.5 minutes to 4.75 minutes, saving 42.75 minutes. At the same time, it avoids thread wear and reduced positioning accuracy caused by repeated disassembly and assembly of fasteners.

[0014] Preferably, in step S2, both the turntable main clamping block station and the turntable inner electrode tab clamping block station adopt a guide post spring floating clamping structure to adaptively cover the entire cell thickness range.

[0015] By utilizing the adaptive compensation characteristics of the guide post spring floating clamping structure, the main clamping block of the turntable and the inner electrode clamping block do not require manual adjustment of the clamping height within the full range of cell thickness from 1.8mm to 16mm. The original 45 minutes of manual adjustment time at the turntable clamping related stations is completely eliminated, and the problem of inconsistent cell clamping force caused by differences in manual adjustment is also eliminated.

[0016] Preferably, in step S3, the standardized adjustment operation of the scraper ear pressing block station is as follows: after shifting the installation position of the buffer inward to avoid the operation interference area above the adjusting screw, the adjusting screw is directly operated with a wrench.

[0017] By changing the arrangement of the buffer, the obstruction of the operating space of the adjusting screw is removed. Operators no longer need to remove the limit block and other surrounding parts before adjustment. The adjustment time of the scraper ear pressing block station is reduced from 9 minutes to 1 minute, and the loss of positioning accuracy caused by repeated disassembly and assembly of the limit block is avoided.

[0018] Preferably, in step S3, the standardized adjustment operation of the positive pressure leak testing station is as follows: tighten all the leveling screws of the lower cavity to the bottom and lock them as a fixed reference; select the upper cavity suction cup seat according to the thickness specification of the battery cell to be produced, screw it in and tighten it; adopt a hanging installation structure for the back cover of the leak testing station, and loosen the hanging screws to remove the back cover when changing the type.

[0019] The lower cavity leveling screw is locked in place as a permanent fixing reference. When changing models, only the upper cavity suction cup seat needs to be replaced according to the cell thickness, and the model can be quickly selected by laser marking. There is no need to manually adjust the 8 leveling screws one by one and repeatedly retest for leaks. The debugging time of the leak testing station is reduced from more than 30 minutes to 10 minutes, and the disassembly and assembly of the back cover is reduced from 10 minutes to 1 minute. At the same time, the batch consistency deviation caused by relying on manual calibration is eliminated.

[0020] Preferably, in step S3, the standardized adjustment operation of the material tray lateral positioning station is as follows: the material tray lateral positioning and locking is completed by the knob locking structure on the front of the equipment.

[0021] By moving the locking operation point from the back of the equipment back panel to the front of the equipment, operators can operate directly without lifting the insulating protective pad. The time for adjusting the lateral positioning of the material tray is reduced from 8 minutes to 1 minute. At the same time, the safety risks caused by lifting the pad and the hidden dangers of improper reset of the insulating pad are eliminated.

[0022] Preferably, in step S3, the standardized adjustment operation of the front-end barcode scanner station is: switching between front and back barcode scanning modes by disassembling and assembling the shared barcode scanner component; the standardized adjustment operation of the rear-end barcode scanner station is: switching between front and back barcode scanning modes by loosening and tightening the fixing screws to replace the shared barcode scanner component.

[0023] By adopting a split-type shared structure design for the front and back scanning components, the number of screws required for disassembly and assembly during front-end scanning mode switching is reduced from 8 to 2, and the time spent is reduced from 8 minutes to 2 minutes. When switching back-end scanning modes, there is no need to move the entire bracket, reducing the time spent from 20 minutes to 3 minutes. The total adjustment time saved for the front and back-end scanning stations is 23 minutes.

[0024] Preferably, in step S4, the quantitative benchmark for the film-tearing station is established as follows: retrieve the standard battery cell positioning template built into the equipment; place the standard battery cell on the film-tearing platform, and simultaneously lower and fix it with three transfer suction cups; measure the offset of the left and right sides of the battery cell from the center line of the platform, and finely adjust the lateral position of the two sets of suction cups; measure the gap between the tail of the battery cell and the limiting block at the rear edge of the film-tearing platform, and move the limiting block; after repeatedly taking multiple standard battery cells for retesting, lock the lateral adjustment knob of the suction cups and the locking screw of the limiting block.

[0025] A dual-dimensional quantitative benchmark was established with a left and right center positioning tolerance of ±0.1mm and a rear edge positioning tolerance of ±0.05mm. Operators in the front and rear processes adjusted according to the same set of numerical standards. The rework and fine-tuning of the whole machine caused by inconsistent benchmarks at the film-tearing station was completely eliminated within 30 minutes. At the same time, batch quality defects such as film-tearing offset and tab scratches caused by cell alignment deviation were eliminated from the root.

[0026] Preferably, in step S4, the allocation method for parallel execution by two people is as follows: Personnel A is responsible for the automatic feeding station type change, the turntable processing station type change, and the positive pressure leak detection quality re-inspection; Personnel B is responsible for the film tearing station type change, the positive pressure leak detection station type change, the thickness dimension detection station type change, and the automatic unloading station type change.

[0027] Based on the actual measured single-person serial adjustment working hours of each workstation, the responsibility boundary of the dual-person operation was reconstructed. The positive pressure leak inspection quality re-inspection originally belonging to person B was adjusted to be the responsibility of person A. This reduced the difference in the total single-person serial working hours of the two operators from 60 minutes before the improvement to less than 15 minutes, eliminating the problem of one person being overloaded and the other person being idle and waiting due to the imbalance in working hours.

[0028] Preferably, after steps S1 to S4 are completed, a unified self-inspection process for model change completion is also included: the whole machine is uniformly re-inspected according to the bidirectional positioning benchmark for film tearing and the spring clamping adaptation standard.

[0029] After all the model changeover operations are completed, the entire machine is re-inspected using a unified judgment standard to identify cell thickness mismatch and suction cup positioning deviation in advance, avoid secondary machine downtime and rework during mass production, and ensure that the model changeover accuracy of each station meets the process requirements under the linkage of the entire machine.

[0030] The beneficial effects of this invention are as follows: After adopting the above solution, the original suction cup disassembly and assembly time of the automatic sorting machine was reduced from 47.5 minutes to 4.75 minutes; the original 45 minutes of manual fine-tuning at the turntable clamping station was directly eliminated; the total debugging time of 71 minutes for narrow stations such as scraper ears, leak detection, and barcode scanning was reduced to 21 minutes; and the 30 minutes of machine rework caused by inconsistent debugging benchmarks at the film-tearing station was also eliminated. When two people work in parallel, the time difference between the two operators is reduced from 60 minutes to less than 15 minutes, and the total downtime of the entire machine is shortened from 240 minutes to less than 60 minutes. The six machines were changed 126 times throughout the year, saving 3 hours of downtime per change, resulting in a total reduction of 378 hours of downtime throughout the year, corresponding to approximately 270,000 new qualified battery cells. At the same time, this method replaces all the blind adjustments, leveling by feel, and repeated disassembly and reassembly trial and error that rely on personal experience in the changeover operation with fixed steps and quantified tolerances. After training, new employees can also independently complete the whole machine changeover. Batch quality problems such as cell film tearing misalignment, electrode scratches, and poor positioning are controlled from the root. The consistency of changeover results between different machines and different shifts has been significantly improved. Attached Figure Description

[0031] Figure 1 This is a schematic diagram of the structure of the present invention; Figure 2 This is a flowchart of the present invention. Detailed Implementation

[0032] The technical solutions of the embodiments of the present invention will be clearly and completely described below with reference to the accompanying drawings. Obviously, the described embodiments are only a part of the embodiments of the present invention, and not all of them. All other embodiments obtained by those skilled in the art based on the embodiments of the present invention without creative effort are within the scope of protection of the present invention.

[0033] In the description of this invention, the terms "center," "longitudinal," "lateral," "length," "width," "thickness," "upper," "lower," "front," "rear," "left," "right," "vertical," "horizontal," "top," "bottom," "inner," and "outer," etc., indicate the orientation or positional relationship based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the accompanying drawings. They are used solely for the convenience of describing the invention and for simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, or be constructed and operated in a specific orientation. Therefore, they should not be construed as limitations on the invention. Furthermore, the terms "first," "second," etc., are used for descriptive purposes only and should not be construed as indicating or implying relative importance or implicitly specifying the number of technical features indicated.

[0034] In the description of this invention, unless otherwise explicitly specified and limited, the terms "installation," "connection," "linking," "fixing," "setting," etc., should be interpreted broadly. For example, they can refer to a fixed connection, a detachable connection, or an integral connection; they can refer to a mechanical connection, an electrical connection, or a signal connection; they can refer to a direct connection or an indirect connection through an intermediate medium; and they can refer to the internal communication between two components. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meaning of the above terms in this invention according to the specific circumstances.

[0035] This invention provides a systematic SMED rapid changeover method for polymer lithium battery automatic sorting machines, such as... Figure 1 As shown, the automatic sorting machine is arranged along the conveying direction with an automatic feeding station 1, a turntable processing station 2, a film tearing station 3, a positive pressure leak detection station 4, a thickness measurement station 5, and an automatic unloading station 6. The method of the present invention consists of standardized physical adjustment procedures for four core equipment and supporting auxiliary control processes. All procedures are realized by adjusting the mechanical structure of the sorting machine.

[0036] It should be noted that the mechanical tooling structures mentioned in this invention, such as the magnetic suction cup holder, spring adaptive pressure block, sensor adjustment bracket, and quick-release back cover, are merely prerequisite hardware conditions for the implementation of the method of this invention, corresponding to the three authorized utility model patents (ZL202321485409.8, ZL202520345910.7, and ZL202322633981.0). This invention does not protect any tooling hardware entities or component assembly connections; it only limits the standardized changeover operation process and personnel collaborative management procedures adapted to the aforementioned hardware.

[0037] like Figure 2 As shown: Example 1 Step S1, a specific implementation of the standardized changeover process for the OneTouch magnetic plug-in suction cup.

[0038] In this embodiment, all 19 sets of battery cell handling suction cups in the entire machine adopt a modular assembly structure of "fixed base + magnetic mounting base". The standardized operating steps are as follows: (1) Disconnect the negative pressure air supply pipe for the corresponding workstation; (2) Pull out the magnetic mounting base of the integrated suction cup and the integrated air pipe connector directly. There is no need to remove the 4 fastening screws or disassemble the internal support spring assembly. (3) Select a magnetic mounting base that matches the target cell specifications, align it with the positioning pin hole of the fixing plate and insert it horizontally. The automatic locking and positioning is achieved by the interference positioning of the pin and the attraction of the neodymium iron boron magnet. (4) Connect the negative pressure air pipe connector to complete the current workstation suction cup specification change operation.

[0039] The above four steps are a fixed and unadjustable standardized sequence. Reversing the operation order is prohibited to avoid negative pressure leakage and suction cup positioning deviation.

[0040] In this embodiment, the above-mentioned standardized operating procedures are uniformly executed on 19 sets of suction cup carriers, including automatic feeding station, turntable loading and unloading station, transfer and transport station, film tearing station, positive pressure leak detection station, front and rear barcode scanning station, thickness measurement station, defective product sorting station, and automatic unloading station.

[0041] Work time comparison: Before the improvement, the disassembly and assembly time per station was 2.5 minutes, and the total time for 19 stations was 47.5 minutes; after adopting the standardized plug-in and plug-out operation described in this embodiment, the plug-in and plug-out replacement per station only takes 0.25 minutes, and the total time for 19 stations is reduced to 4.75 minutes. This process directly saves 42.75 minutes of work time for a single whole machine changeover.

[0042] Example 2 Step S2 is a specific implementation method of a standardized changeover process that uses shared tooling across all workstations and eliminates the need for manual adjustment.

[0043] This embodiment addresses the workstations that previously required frequent disassembly and assembly of tooling and point-by-point thickness fine-tuning during the changeover phase. By relying on a shared tooling design that features spring adaptive compensation and compatibility with all battery cell specifications, it completely eliminates redundant operations such as tooling disassembly and assembly and screw fine-tuning during the changeover process.

[0044] In this embodiment, the loading and unloading pallet lifting station is uniformly adapted to the standardized positioning reference size of narrow-width battery cells, and the interference area of ​​the tooling structure is removed in advance; the lifting plate does not need to be replaced during the entire model switching process, and the single-person serial operation time of this station is reduced from 20 minutes to 0 minutes.

[0045] In this embodiment, the communication cable unloading station pre-buries and arranges the idle communication cables of different specifications to the fixed terminal of the equipment; during the changeover stage, there is no need to disassemble or replace the communication cables, and the serial working time for a single person is reduced from 5 minutes to 0 minutes.

[0046] In this embodiment, the scraper ear long and short composite pressure roller station is pre-installed with one long and one short integrated composite pressure roller. A single pressure roller is compatible with all tab spacing specifications of soft-pack battery cells in the equipment; the entire changeover process requires no disassembly or replacement of the pressure roller, reducing the single-person serial work time from 5 minutes to 0 minutes. This composite pressure roller is permanently fixed in place, relying on its full coverage of all battery cell models across its length range. The shared tooling operation logic can be migrated and reused to other roller and clamping block stations in the equipment.

[0047] In this embodiment, the five main clamping block stations on the turntable adopt a large-stroke guide post spring floating clamping structure, adaptively covering the entire cell thickness range from 1.8mm to 16mm; completely eliminating the original manual fine-tuning operation of the long slot adjusting screw, reducing the single-person serial changeover time from 10 minutes to 0 minutes. The clamping block of the inner electrode tab station on the turntable integrates an adaptive spring floating compensation structure, eliminating the need for manual adjustment of the clamping height in the narrow inner station, directly reducing the previous 8-minute adjustment time for a single person to zero.

[0048] Work time comparison: Before the optimization of the two turntable clamping fixtures mentioned above, the total manual adjustment time for a single person was 45 minutes; after optimization, the guide post-spring floating compensation component enables compatibility and sharing of all specifications of battery cells, and no manual debugging is required during the model changeover stage, with no additional adjustment time consumption.

[0049] Example 3 Step S3 is a specific implementation method for simplifying and standardizing the adjustment process in confined workstations.

[0050] This embodiment optimizes the installation orientation of components in confined workstations and the locking and adjustment structure, eliminates the problem of structural components blocking and interfering, and eliminates the redundant steps of disassembling surrounding auxiliary components before model change and debugging. It also develops exclusive, fixed, step-by-step standardized adjustment operation procedures for six types of confined workstations.

[0051] (I) Standardized Changeover and Adjustment Process for Scraper Ear Press Block In this embodiment, the buffer installation position is shifted inward to avoid the interference area above the adjusting screw, allowing the operator to directly operate the adjusting screw with a wrench. Previously, operators had to completely remove the limit block before accessing the adjusting screw; the improved version eliminates this limit block removal step. The single-person adjustment time at this station is reduced from 9 minutes to 1 minute.

[0052] (II) Standardized Changeover Procedure for Positive Pressure Leak Testing Station In this embodiment, both the upper and lower cavities of the positive pressure leak detection station are equipped with battery cell adsorption plates. The working principle of the equipment is to introduce a constant positive pressure into the battery cell and determine whether the aluminum-plastic film packaging is damaged and leaking by detecting the deformation amplitude of the battery cell.

[0053] In the original type change adjustment mode, when the cell thickness is switched, the upper cavity is used as a fixed reference. The operator needs to manually adjust the eight leveling screws of the lower cavity in sequence, relying solely on the feel of the hand to complete the cavity height leveling. After each adjustment, the quality inspector needs to retest for leaks multiple times and repeatedly rework and fine-tune. The serial adjustment time for a single person is more than 30 minutes.

[0054] The standardized operating procedure in this embodiment is as follows: tighten all 8 cavity leveling screws at the workstation to the bottom and lock them in place, permanently fixing the lower cavity as a unified installation benchmark for all specifications; according to the thickness specifications of the battery cell to be produced, read the thickness marking laser mark on the outside of the suction cup seat, select the upper cavity suction cup seat with the matching thickness specification, align it with the benchmark threaded hole, screw it in and tighten it; relying on the laser marking mark, the specifications can be quickly distinguished, and there is no need for repeated manual leveling or multiple retests and rework throughout the process, reducing the single-person serial changeover time to 10 minutes.

[0055] In addition, this embodiment also modifies the back cover of the leak inspection station into a suspended installation structure, which is fixed by only one suspension limit screw; during the changeover operation, the back cover can be directly removed by simply loosening the suspension screw, eliminating the step of disassembling and assembling multiple independent fixing screws one by one, and reducing the single-person serial work time for disassembling and assembling the back cover from a maximum of 10 minutes to 1 minute.

[0056] (III) Standardized Changeover Process for Lateral Positioning of Material Discharge Tray In this embodiment, the side positioning and locking mechanism of the feed tray is replaced with a knob locking structure on the front of the equipment. Under the original working conditions, the locking screws are located on the back of the structure's back plate, and the operator must lift the insulating protective pad to reach and operate the fasteners, with a single person taking 8 minutes for serial adjustment. After the model changeover operation is optimized, it is not necessary to lift the insulating pad; the operator can directly rotate the knob on the front of the equipment to complete the side positioning and locking of the feed tray, reducing the single person serial adjustment time to 1 minute.

[0057] (iv) Standardized replacement procedure for front-end barcode scanner bracket In this embodiment, the front-end barcode scanner bracket adopts a split-type shared structure design, reusing common basic components for scanning on both sides. Under the original switching conditions, switching between the scanning modes of the battery cell on both sides requires complete disassembly and reassembly of both sets of mounting points, totaling 8 fastening screws. The installation space at the back is narrow, and standard wrenches cannot be used properly. The serial switching adjustment time for a single person is 8 minutes. After the working condition switching is optimized, only 2 mounting screws need to be disassembled and reassembled to complete the entire replacement of the barcode scanner, and the serial replacement time for a single person is shortened to 2 minutes.

[0058] (v) Standardized replacement process for back-end barcode scanner brackets In this embodiment, the rear-end barcode scanning bracket is equipped with an independent bottom mounting bracket, and the front and back barcode scanning configurations are universal and detachable components. Under the original working condition, when switching to the back barcode scanning mode, the operator needs to completely remove the entire bracket and move it to the lower layer of the equipment base plate. The installation space at the bottom layer is small, and the assembly and position adjustment are difficult. A single person takes 20 minutes to adjust the front and back modes sequentially. After the working condition switching is optimized, only one fixing screw needs to be tightened or loosened, and the shared barcode scanning component can be directly replaced. There is no need to move the entire bracket or transport it. The single person's sequential changeover time is shortened to 3 minutes.

[0059] (vi) Standardized changeover and adjustment process for tray sensor brackets In this embodiment, the sensor bracket integrates an external knob direct adjustment structure, allowing operators to fine-tune the sensor's working angle simply by rotating the knob. Under normal operating conditions, the sensor bracket lacks an independent angle fine-tuning structure. If the sensor's sensing angle needs correction, the entire bracket must be completely disassembled due to space constraints, the installation position adjusted, and then reassembled. This repeated disassembly and reassembly process is cumbersome, taking 16 minutes per person for sequential adjustment. The optimized version eliminates the need to disassemble the entire bracket, saving the repetitive steps of "bracket disassembly-alignment-tightening," reducing the single-person sequential adjustment time to 4 minutes.

[0060] Summary of working hours: Before the optimization of all narrow workstations, the total working time for a single person to make a complete changeover and serial adjustment was 71 minutes; after the optimization of the entire set of simplified, knob direct adjustment, and split quick-release structure and supporting operation process, the total working time for a single person to make serial adjustments in narrow workstations was reduced to 21 minutes, and the entire S3 process saved a total of 50 minutes of adjustment time.

[0061] Example 4 Step S4 is a specific implementation method of bidirectional benchmark standardization and two-person balanced division of labor and collaborative control of the film-tearing station.

[0062] (I) Standardized Operating Procedures for Two-Way Quantitative Unified Benchmark at the Film Removal Station In this embodiment, a two-dimensional quantitative positioning benchmark is established for the film-peeling station: the positioning tolerance of the left and right centers of the battery cell is controlled at ±0.1mm, and the positioning tolerance of the rear edge of the film-peeling platform is controlled at ±0.05mm. The complete standardized calibration steps are as follows: ① Retrieve the standard battery cell positioning template built into the equipment. The template has a factory-calibrated tolerance of ±0.02mm. ② Place the standard battery cell stably on the film-peeling platform, and the three transfer suction cups descend simultaneously to complete the adsorption and fixation of the battery cell; ③ Use high-precision calipers to measure the offset of the left and right sides of the battery cell from the center line of the platform, and simultaneously fine-tune the lateral position of the two sets of suction cups to calibrate the center deviation of the battery cell to the tolerance range of ±0.1mm; ④ Use a feeler gauge to measure the gap between the tail of the battery cell and the limiting block at the rear edge of the film-tearing platform, move the limiting block back and forth, and calibrate the gap deviation to the tolerance range of ±0.05mm; ⑤ Take three standard cells consecutively and repeat the test. If all three measurement values ​​fall within the tolerance range, the benchmark calibration is considered complete. ⑥ After calibration, lock the suction cup horizontal adjustment knob and the limit block locking screw to complete the standardized locking operation of the three suction cups to prevent the battery cell from shifting left and right.

[0063] All operators strictly calibrate according to the unified tolerance standard, completely eliminating the 30-minute rework time caused by misalignment between upstream and downstream processes.

[0064] (II) Standardized Management and Control Process for Balanced Allocation of Changeover Time for Two Personnel In this embodiment, the OneTouch quick-change modification of the suction cup support platform, the modification of the turntable spring clamping shared tooling, the simplification of the narrow work station for scraper ears and positive pressure leak testing, and the optimization of the hardware supporting the standardization of the film tearing work station are completed first, thereby reducing the inherent adjustment time of each work station from the bottom up. On the premise that all hardware modifications are completed, the responsibility boundary of the two-person changeover operation is reconstructed based on the measured single-person serial adjustment time data of each work station.

[0065] The fixed, standardized division of labor is as follows: Personnel A is simultaneously responsible for: automatic feeding station type change, rotary table processing station type change, positive pressure leak detection quality re-inspection; the total working time for a single person in the serial process is controlled within 28-32 minutes.

[0066] Personnel B is simultaneously responsible for: changing the film at the film-peeling station, changing the positive pressure leak detection station, changing the thickness and dimension detection station, and changing the automatic unloading station; the total working time for a single person in the serial process is controlled within 28-32 minutes.

[0067] After optimization, the difference in total working time between two operators in a single serial operation does not exceed 15 minutes, completely eliminating the waste of working time caused by one operator being overloaded while the other is idle and waiting.

[0068] In this embodiment, after the tooling hardware was modified and standardized dual-person division of labor was optimized, the total time for a single person to work sequentially in the later stages such as film removal, inspection, and material unloading was evenly distributed from 75 minutes before optimization to 30 minutes each for two people, and the total time for parallel work in the later stages was reduced to 60 minutes.

[0069] Example 5 Step S5 is a specific implementation method of the supporting standardized management and control auxiliary process.

[0070] In this embodiment, all auxiliary control processes are linked to three types of industrial technical objectives: sorting equipment adjustment accuracy, cell positioning accuracy, and equipment utilization rate control, in order to solve industrial technical problems such as excessively long equipment changeover time and poor batch positioning of cells.

[0071] (I) Standardized training process for all employees Before starting the equipment changeover operation, all operators are organized to undergo unified training on the four core processes (S1 to S4), including the operation steps, quantified positioning tolerances, and standard operating hours. This is accompanied by on-site practical training and assessment. The technical purpose of this process is to standardize the debugging and judgment criteria for all personnel and eliminate defects such as poor cell positioning and film offset caused by debugging deviations by new employees.

[0072] (II) Standardized Recording Process for Changeover Working Hours The process categorizes and records the individual physical adjustment time for each workstation by independent machine and battery cell production model, and regularly reviews the data to continuously iterate and optimize the dual-person work plan. The technical purpose of this process is to quantify the time consumed by bottleneck processes at each workstation, dynamically balance the workload of dual workers, and reduce downtime for concurrent operators.

[0073] (III) Standardized horizontal replication process for the entire production line The entire SMED changeover method of this invention was simultaneously applied to six sorting machines of the same model: 201, 202, 203, 301, 302, and 303. The technical purpose of this process is to unify the changeover standards across the entire production line and eliminate differences in machine adjustment accuracy caused by different machines and different operators.

[0074] (iv) Unified self-inspection process upon completion of model changeover After all the changeover operations at each workstation are completed, the operators conduct a unified re-inspection of the entire machine based on the bidirectional positioning benchmark for film tearing and the adaptive spring clamping standard, avoiding the need for batch secondary machine adjustments. The technical purpose of this process is to identify cell thickness mismatches and suction cup positioning offsets in advance, avoiding secondary machine downtime and rework.

[0075] Example 6: Complete Implementation Results This embodiment provides a comprehensive implementation effect of fully implementing the complete set of standardized changeover control procedures from S1 to S5 into an automatic polymer lithium battery sorting machine.

[0076] Under identical hardware conditions, after fully implementing the S1 to S4 standardized processes and balanced division of labor control method of this invention, the bottleneck downtime of the sorting equipment for a single parallel changeover is reduced from 240 minutes to less than 60 minutes, and the overall efficiency of the changeover is improved by 75%.

[0077] Verification of synergistic effects across multiple processes: Comparative Example 1: Only the S1 suction cup quick change process is implemented separately, while the other stations use the traditional changeover operation. The downtime for the entire machine changeover is reduced to 185 minutes, an optimization of 22%.

[0078] Comparative Example 2: Only the S2 tooling shared adjustment-free process was implemented separately, while the other workstations used the traditional changeover operation. The downtime for the entire machine changeover was reduced to 172 minutes, an optimization of 28%.

[0079] Comparative Example 3: The combination of the S1 and S2 processes was optimized, while the remaining workstations continued to use the traditional changeover operation. The downtime for the entire machine changeover was reduced to 130 minutes, an optimization of 46%.

[0080] Comparative Example 4: The combination of the three processes S1+S2+S3 was optimized, and the film-tearing benchmark calibration and balanced division of labor control were not implemented. The downtime for the whole machine changeover was reduced to 98 minutes, an optimization of 59%.

[0081] In this embodiment of the invention, the four core processes of S1, S2, S3 and S4 are fully implemented in a coupled manner, and the downtime for the entire machine changeover is stably controlled within 55-60 minutes, representing an optimization of 75%.

[0082] The comparative data above demonstrates that the coupled and coordinated implementation of the four major processes produces a synergistic effect that exceeds the linear superposition of individual process optimizations. Simply executing any single or partial combination of processes cannot achieve the expected optimization goals.

[0083] Quantitative data on capacity improvement: Taking six sorting machines of the same model as an example, a total of 126 model changes were made throughout 2025. Each model change reduced downtime by 3 hours (from 4 hours to 1 hour), resulting in a total reduction of 378 hours (22,680 minutes) of downtime throughout the year. Based on equipment production efficiency, this translates to an additional 272,160 qualified battery cells throughout the year, significantly improving the effective production time and output capacity of the equipment.

[0084] Single-person, full-station, itemized, serial operation time: Before the improvement, the total working time for a single person to perform serial operations at all workstations was 175.5 minutes. After optimization, it was reduced to 27.75 minutes. The inherent adjustment time of each workstation was significantly reduced, which is the underlying core foundation for shortening the downtime of the entire machine in parallel operation.

[0085] Summary of pain points for the complete solution: The original time for disassembling and assembling 19 suction cups was 47.5 minutes. After optimization using the S1 OneTouch standardized insertion and removal process, the time was reduced to 4.75 minutes, saving 42.75 minutes. The manual fine-tuning of the turntable clamping station, which took a total of 45 minutes, was completely reduced to zero after optimization using the S2 tooling shared adjustment-free process. The blind adjustment of narrow stations such as scraper ears, leak detection, and barcode scanning took a total of 71 minutes. After optimization using the S3 simplified adjustment process for narrow stations, the time was reduced to 21 minutes, saving 50 minutes. The lack of a unified benchmark at the film peeling station caused 30 minutes of rework for the entire machine. After optimization using the S4.1 bidirectional quantitative positioning benchmark standard, the rework time was completely eliminated. The imbalance of two-person working hours and the waste of 60 minutes of waiting time were reduced to no more than 15 minutes after optimization using the S4.2 balanced collaborative management of two people.

[0086] The five major pain points are resolved simultaneously in one go through a complete set of coupled processes. The bottleneck of parallel changeover for the entire machine is reduced from 240 minutes to 55-60 minutes, improving overall efficiency by 75%.

[0087] The above description is merely a preferred embodiment of the present invention and is not intended to limit the invention. Various modifications and variations can be made to the present invention by those skilled in the art. Any modifications, equivalent substitutions, improvements, etc., made within the spirit and principles of the present invention should be included within the scope of protection of the present invention.

Claims

1. A systematic SMED rapid changeover method for an automatic polymer lithium battery sorting machine, wherein the automatic sorting machine is arranged sequentially along the conveying direction with an automatic feeding station, a turntable processing station, a film-tearing station, a positive pressure leak testing station, a thickness measurement station, and an automatic unloading station, characterized in that, Includes the following steps: S1: Remove the magnetic mounting bracket from the fixed base at the current workstation; select a magnetic mounting bracket that matches the target cell specification, align it with the positioning pin hole on the fixed plate, insert it, and lock it in place by the interference fit of the pin and the magnetic attraction; connect the negative pressure air pipe connector. S2: The common tooling compatible with all battery cell specifications is used in the loading and unloading pallet lifting station, unloading communication cable station, scraper ear pressure roller station, turntable main clamping block station and turntable inner electrode ear pressure block station. The tooling is not changed throughout the changeover process and the clamping screws are not manually adjusted. S3: Perform standardized adjustment operations on the scraper ear pressing block station, positive pressure leak detection station, material unloading tray side positioning station, front-end barcode scanning bracket station, rear-end barcode scanning bracket station and tray sensor bracket station respectively. S4: Establish quantitative benchmarks for the left and right center positioning tolerances of the battery cell and the rear edge positioning tolerance of the film-tearing platform at the film-tearing station, and assign the changeover operation to two operators to perform in parallel.

2. The SMED rapid changeover method for the polymer lithium battery automatic sorting machine system according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S1, all 19 suction cup support platforms of the machine uniformly perform the plug-in / plug-out operation.

3. The SMED rapid changeover method for the polymer lithium battery automatic sorting machine system according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S2, both the turntable main clamping block station and the turntable inner electrode tab clamping block station adopt a guide post spring floating clamping structure to adaptively cover the entire cell thickness range.

4. The SMED rapid changeover method for the polymer lithium battery automatic sorting machine system according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S3, the standardized adjustment operation of the scraper ear pressing block station is as follows: after shifting the installation position of the buffer inward to avoid the operation interference area above the adjusting screw, directly use a wrench to operate the adjusting screw.

5. The SMED rapid changeover method for the polymer lithium battery automatic sorting machine system according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S3, the standardized adjustment operation of the positive pressure leak testing station is as follows: tighten all the leveling screws of the lower cavity to the bottom and lock them as a fixed reference; select the upper cavity suction cup seat according to the thickness specification of the battery cell to be produced, screw it in and tighten it; adopt a hanging installation structure for the back cover of the leak testing station, and loosen the hanging screws to remove the back cover when changing the type.

6. The SMED rapid changeover method for the polymer lithium battery automatic sorting machine system according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S3, the standardized adjustment operation of the material tray lateral positioning station is as follows: the material tray lateral positioning and locking is completed by using the knob locking structure on the front of the equipment.

7. The SMED rapid changeover method for the polymer lithium battery automatic sorting machine system according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S3, the standardized adjustment operation of the front-end barcode scanner station is as follows: switch between front and back barcode scanning modes by disassembling and assembling the shared barcode scanner component; the standardized adjustment operation of the back-end barcode scanner station is as follows: switch between front and back barcode scanning modes by loosening and tightening the fixing screws to replace the shared barcode scanner component.

8. The SMED rapid changeover method for the polymer lithium battery automatic sorting machine system according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S4, the quantitative benchmark for the film-tearing station is established as follows: retrieve the standard battery cell positioning template built into the equipment; place the standard battery cell on the film-tearing platform, and simultaneously lower and fix it with three transfer suction cups; measure the offset of the left and right sides of the battery cell from the center line of the platform, and finely adjust the lateral position of the two sets of suction cups; measure the gap between the tail of the battery cell and the limit block at the rear edge of the film-tearing platform, and move the limit block; after repeatedly taking multiple standard battery cells for retesting, lock the lateral adjustment knob of the suction cups and the locking screw of the limit block.

9. The SMED rapid changeover method for the polymer lithium battery automatic sorting machine system according to claim 1, characterized in that, In step S4, the allocation method for parallel execution by two people is as follows: Personnel A is responsible for the automatic feeding station changeover, the turntable processing station changeover, and the positive pressure leak detection quality re-inspection; Personnel B is responsible for the film tearing station changeover, the positive pressure leak detection station changeover, the thickness dimension detection station changeover, and the automatic unloading station changeover.

10. The SMED rapid changeover method for an automated polymer lithium battery sorting machine system according to any one of claims 1 to 9, characterized in that, After steps S1 to S4 are completed, a unified self-inspection process for model change completion is also included: the whole machine is uniformly re-inspected based on the bidirectional positioning benchmark for film tearing and the spring clamping adaptation standard.

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