Battery cell pre-charging device

Abstract

The utility model relates to a battery cell pre-charging device, which comprises a battery cell conduction mechanism, a detection mechanism and a control mechanism, wherein the battery cell conduction mechanism can be used for pre-charging a tested battery cell before packaging; and a cell positioning mechanism which is arranged opposite to the cell conduction mechanism and is used for positioning the detected cell, wherein the cell conduction mechanism comprises a positive electrode conduction terminal which corresponds to the position of a sealing plate which is a positive electrode part of the detected cell and can be electrically connected with the positive electrode conduction terminal and a negative electrode conduction terminal which corresponds to the position of the sealing plate; and a negative electrode conduction terminal which corresponds to the position of a housing, which is the negative electrode part of the measured cell, and which can be electrically connected to the measured cell. The cell positioning mechanism comprises: a main positioning reference unit for adjusting the pre-charging height of the measured cell; the sealing plate positioning unit is arranged on one side, close to the battery cell conduction mechanism, of the main positioning reference unit; and a groove for embedding the sealing plate is formed in the surface, opposite to the main positioning reference unit side, of the sealing plate positioning unit.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This invention relates to a battery cell pre-charging device used in the manufacture of battery cells. More specifically, this invention relates to a battery cell pre-charging device for pre-charging battery cells (hereinafter sometimes referred to as test cells) before packaging. Background Technology

[0002] With the rapid development of the production of battery cells (including batteries), the control over the battery cell manufacturing process has become increasingly stringent. For example, Patent Document 1 discloses a multi-battery cell intelligent power supply monitoring device.

[0003] Furthermore, in the manufacturing process of cylindrical battery cells, for example, the cells are usually pre-charged to a certain extent after encapsulation (i.e., sealing) to maintain a certain amount of charge. However, the inventors of this invention have adopted a different pre-charging process than described above, namely, pre-charging before cell encapsulation. Specifically, after the cell electrolyte injection process, a pre-charging process is performed, followed by the cell encapsulation process. Here, in the aforementioned electrolyte injection process, either a reduced-pressure injection method or a high-pressure injection method can be used. However, with high-pressure injection, bubbles will be generated in the injected electrolyte. Therefore, for high-pressure injection, pre-charging after the cell electrolyte injection process can effectively eliminate the bubbles generated in the electrolyte. In addition, the activation conditions of active materials in different battery cells are also different, and sometimes it is necessary to pre-charge before cell encapsulation to activate the active materials, depending on the circumstances. Therefore, in view of the above facts, in this utility model, a cell injection process using high-voltage electrolyte injection is adopted during the cell manufacturing process, and a pre-charging process is performed after the cell injection process and before the cell packaging. In such a pre-charging process, the mechanism for positioning the sealing plate (i.e., the positive electrode part of the cell) used in the cell pre-charging device is currently an integrated positioning mechanism. Thus, when switching cell types, the positioning mechanism needs to be replaced accordingly based on different cell models (size, height, shape, etc.) to adjust the positioning reference for different cell models as needed. It should be noted that in this utility model, unless otherwise specified, cell positioning mainly refers to the fixing of the height and position of the sealing plate and the shell during pre-charging.

[0004] Furthermore, in the aforementioned cell pre-charging device, after the cell (i.e., the cell under test) is transported to a designated location, pre-charging is performed by bringing a pair of positive conductive terminals and a pair of negative conductive terminals into contact with the sealing plate (which serves as the positive electrode) and the housing (which serves as the negative electrode), respectively. The pair of negative conductive terminals are as follows: Figure 1 As shown ( Figure 1The middle part consists of a pair of negative conductive terminals 112', which are horizontally distributed in the transverse cross-section of the cell casing 10b (i.e., Figure 1 In the top view (as shown in the image), the parallel arrangement is positioned on both outer sides of the cell housing 10b. It should be noted that the cell uses a cylindrical housing (i.e., a cylindrical shell). Therefore, when the aforementioned pair of negative conductive terminals abut against the cylindrical housing of the cell, they are equivalent to contacting two points on the outer sides of the arc of the cylindrical housing. Here, "outer" refers to the direction away from the cylindrical housing and towards the midpoint O of the arc towards the pair of negative conductive terminals 112'.

[0005] Prior art literature

[0006] Patent Literature

[0007] Patent Document 1: CN116476692A Utility Model Content

[0008] However, the multi-cell intelligent power monitoring device disclosed in Patent Document 1 does not mention a cell pre-charging device. Furthermore, as mentioned above, because the cell pre-charging device uses an integrated positioning mechanism for the cell sealing plate, switching between cell types requires disassembling numerous mechanisms, resulting in a large workload for debugging and difficulty in standardizing benchmarks, thus reducing productivity. Additionally, in the aforementioned cell pre-charging device, the pair of negative conductive terminals are located on the outer sides of the cell casing, resulting in a small contact area and high pressure between these terminals and the casing, easily causing indelible marks on the product surface and affecting the cell's appearance. It should be noted that the tested cell in this invention is a cylindrical or near-cylindrical cell; square cells, due to differences in manufacturing processes, do not involve such a pre-charging process. Furthermore, in some existing cell manufacturing methods, charging and discharging are performed after electrolyte injection. However, such charging and discharging is for the purpose of distinguishing battery capacity levels and shipping, and the cycle charging and discharging is performed according to the specified capacity standard according to process requirements. This obviously does not correspond to the non-cycle pre-charging of this utility model.

[0009] This invention was made in view of the above-mentioned problems existing in the prior art, and its purpose is to provide a battery cell pre-charging device with excellent productivity.

[0010] Furthermore, when there are multiple negative conductive terminals, a pre-charging device for the battery cell with excellent cell appearance is provided.

[0011] To achieve the above objectives, the inventors of this utility model conducted repeated and in-depth research. By dividing the original integrated positioning mechanism into two independent units, namely the main positioning reference unit and the sealing plate positioning unit, only the sealing plate positioning unit needs to be replaced when switching cell types. This reduces the workload of adjusting the size and height of the cell and greatly improves productivity.

[0012] In addition, the inventors of this utility model changed the arrangement of the negative conductive terminals (when the number of terminals is large), that is, arranged multiple negative conductive terminals along the axial direction of the cell, so that during precharging, multiple negative conductive terminals contact the arc surface of approximately the front end of the cylindrical cell casing, thereby increasing the contact area and reducing the pressure brought by the negative conductive terminals. As a result, the damage that may be caused to the surface of the cell casing is reduced.

[0013] The present invention has been accomplished based on the above-mentioned findings, and its gist is as follows.

[0014] [1] A battery cell pre-charging device, comprising:

[0015] A cell conduction mechanism capable of pre-charging the cell under test before packaging; and

[0016] A cell positioning mechanism is opposite to the cell conduction mechanism and is used to position the cell under test.

[0017] The aforementioned cell conduction mechanism includes: a positive conduction terminal that corresponds to and is electrically connected to the positive electrode portion (i.e., the sealing plate) of the cell under test; and a negative conduction terminal that corresponds to and is electrically connected to the negative electrode portion (i.e., the housing) of the cell under test.

[0018] The aforementioned cell positioning mechanism includes: a main positioning reference unit for adjusting the pre-charge height of the tested cell; and a sealing plate positioning unit disposed on the side of the main positioning reference unit near the cell conduction mechanism.

[0019] A groove for fitting the sealing plate is provided on a surface of the sealing plate positioning unit opposite to the main positioning reference unit.

[0020] [2] The cell pre-charging device according to [1], wherein a plurality of conduction terminals may be provided in at least one of the positive electrode conduction terminal and the negative electrode conduction terminal.

[0021] [3] The cell pre-charging device according to [2], wherein the negative electrode conduction terminal may be provided in plurality, and the plurality of negative electrode conduction terminals are arranged along the axial direction of the cell under test.

[0022] [4] According to the pre-charging device for the battery cell described in [3], the number of the negative electrode conducting terminals may also be two.

[0023] [5] The pre-charging device for the battery cell according to any one of [1] to [4] may also have a plurality of protrusions provided at the front end of any one or more of the positive and negative conductive terminals.

[0024] [6] The pre-charging device for the battery cell according to any one of [1] to [5] may also have a pair of sliding parallel shafts provided on both sides of the main positioning reference unit, and a scale design is performed on at least one of the pair of parallel shafts.

[0025] [7] According to the pre-charging device for the battery cell described in [6], the range of the above-mentioned scaled design can also be within 25 mm.

[0026] [8] The pre-charging device for the battery cell according to any one of [1] to [7], wherein the shape of the groove provided on the sealing plate positioning unit may also be convex in the top view.

[0027] [9] The pre-charging device for the battery cell according to any one of [1] to [8] may also be configured in parallel with 2 to 10 units.

[0028]

[10] According to the cell pre-charging device described in [9], a cell clamping mechanism for clamping a mounting fixture that holds multiple cells to be tested may also be provided below the cell pre-charging device, and a bottom baffle is provided at least on the inlet side of the cell to be tested in the loading direction and at one end of the mounting fixture.

[0029] The aforementioned cell clamping mechanism is arranged along the length of the aforementioned mounting fixture, and its total length is more than 3 / 10 of the length of the aforementioned mounting fixture.

[0030] Utility Model Effect

[0031] According to this utility model, a cell pre-charging device with excellent productivity can be provided.

[0032] In addition, when there are multiple negative conductive terminals, a pre-charging device for the battery cell with excellent cell appearance can be provided. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0033] Figure 1 This diagram schematically illustrates the configuration of a pair of negative conductive terminals in an existing battery cell pre-charging device. The top diagram is a top view, and the bottom diagram is a side view.

[0034] Figure 2This is a perspective view schematically illustrating a battery cell pre-charging device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0035] Figure 3 This is a top view schematically illustrating one embodiment of the battery cell pre-charging device of the present invention.

[0036] Figure 4 This is a side view schematically illustrating a battery cell pre-charging device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0037] Figure 5 yes Figure 4 AA-direction view.

[0038] Figure 6 This is a perspective view schematically showing an example of 10 battery cell pre-charging devices arranged side by side according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0039] Figure 7 It is a schematic representation Figure 6 A perspective view of the bottom baffle in the pre-charging device for the battery cells. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0040] The pre-charging device for the battery cell of this utility model will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The embodiments described below are illustrative, merely representing general or specific examples, and can take many different forms. The numerical values, shapes, materials, constituent elements, arrangement and connection methods of constituent elements, steps, and order of steps shown in the following embodiments are all examples and are not intended to limit the present utility model. Furthermore, constituent elements not described in the independent claims among the constituent elements of the following embodiments are described as optional constituent elements. In addition, the drawings disclosed in this specification are, in principle, only schematic illustrations. That is, the size ratios in the drawings may not be consistent with the actual size ratios, and the size ratios may not be consistent between different drawings. In the drawings, substantially identical components are represented by the same symbols, and repeated descriptions are omitted or simplified.

[0041] Furthermore, in this specification, the terms used to indicate the relationships between elements, the terms used to indicate the shape of elements, and the numerical ranges are not only expressions in a strict sense, but also include expressions that indicate substantially equivalent ranges, such as differences of a few percent.

[0042] (Implementation Method)

[0043] The following is a detailed description of a battery cell pre-charging device according to one embodiment of the present invention.

[0044] The cell pre-charging device of this embodiment includes:

[0045] A cell conduction mechanism capable of pre-charging the cell under test before packaging; and

[0046] A cell positioning mechanism is opposite to the cell conduction mechanism and is used to position the cell under test.

[0047] The aforementioned cell conduction mechanism includes: a positive conduction terminal that corresponds to and is electrically connected to the positive electrode portion (i.e., the sealing plate) of the cell under test; and a negative conduction terminal that corresponds to and is electrically connected to the negative electrode portion (i.e., the housing) of the cell under test.

[0048] The aforementioned cell positioning mechanism includes: a main positioning reference unit for adjusting the pre-charge height of the tested cell; and a sealing plate positioning unit disposed on the side of the main positioning reference unit near the cell conduction mechanism.

[0049] A groove for fitting the sealing plate is provided on a surface of the sealing plate positioning unit opposite to the main positioning reference unit.

[0050] Figure 2 A perspective view of a cell pre-charging device according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown schematically. Figure 3 A top view of a cell pre-charging device according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown schematically. Figure 4 A side view of a cell pre-charging device according to one embodiment of the present invention is shown schematically. Figure 5 yes Figure 4 As shown in these figures, the cell pre-charging device 100 includes: a cell conduction mechanism 110 capable of pre-charging the cell under test 10 before packaging; and a cell positioning mechanism 120 opposite to the cell conduction mechanism 110 and used to position the cell under test 10, the cell conduction mechanism 110 includes: a positive electrode conduction terminal 111 corresponding to the position of the positive electrode portion of the cell under test, i.e., the sealing plate 10a, and capable of being electrically connected thereto; and a positive electrode conduction terminal 112 corresponding to the position of the sealing plate 10a, i.e., the negative electrode portion of the cell under test 10. The position of the shell 10b corresponds to the negative conduction terminal 112 and can be electrically connected thereto, and the battery cell positioning mechanism 120 includes: a main positioning reference unit 121 for adjusting the pre-charge height of the tested battery cell 10; and a sealing plate positioning unit 122 arranged on the side of the main positioning reference unit 121 close to the battery cell conduction mechanism 110, and a groove 122a for embedding the sealing plate 10a is provided on the surface of the sealing plate positioning unit 122 opposite to the side of the main positioning reference unit 121.

[0051] In the present invention, as described above, in the battery cell positioning mechanism 120, the main positioning reference unit 121 and the sealing plate positioning unit 122 are set as two independent units respectively, rather than being set as an integrated unit. Therefore, when the type of battery cell (i.e., the battery cell 10 to be tested) is switched, only the sealing plate positioning unit 122 needs to be replaced and adjusted accordingly. As a result, the workload of debugging a part of the size and height of the battery cell 10 to be tested is reduced, and productivity is greatly improved. Here, the main positioning reference unit 121 can be set as a whole to be high enough (i.e., the main positioning reference unit 121 is thick enough) so that there is no need to adjust the height, and miniaturization can also be considered to reduce the overall height (i.e., thinning the thickness of the main positioning reference unit 121). In the case of reducing the overall height, for example Figure 2 As shown in , etc., a pair of parallel shafts 123 capable of sliding can be provided on both sides of the main positioning reference unit 121. Thus, the height reference can be adjusted by sliding up and down through the pair of parallel shafts 123 according to the height of the tested battery cell 10. In addition, in order to facilitate the adjustment of the height reference of the tested battery cell 10, a scale design can also be made on at least one of the pair of parallel shafts 123. The range of the scale can be set arbitrarily, but according to the height of the existing battery cell, it can also be set to within 30mm, that is, the main positioning reference unit 121 can be managed by sliding within a range of 30mm to adjust the height reference, preferably within a range of 25mm. It should be noted that when the main positioning reference unit 121 is managed by the above-mentioned scale, the battery cell conduction mechanism 110 side can also be coordinated to perform corresponding movement adjustments, and a corresponding scale design is provided, so that an adjustment data table matching different battery cell types can be generated and managed accordingly. In this way, even if different types of battery cells are switched, there is basically no need to adjust the main positioning reference unit 121 (if the main positioning reference unit 121 is high enough, no adjustment is required), and only the corresponding sealing plate positioning unit 122 needs to be replaced. Compared with the overall replacement of the existing integrated positioning mechanism, the replacement of only the sealing plate positioning unit 122 reduces the workload of adjusting the height reference of the tested battery cell 10, making the operation simple and saving work hours.

[0052] Additionally, the sealing plate positioning unit 122 is used for positioning the sealing plate 10a. During pre-charging, the sealing plate 10a of the battery cell 10 under test is positioned at the groove 122a on the sealing plate positioning unit 122. In other words, the groove 122a is used to confine the sealing plate 10a within a suitable range. The shape of the groove 122a depends on the structure of the sealing plate 10a, and for example, it may be as follows: Figure 3 The “convex shape” is designed to prevent the positive electrode lead (not shown) located between the sealing plate 10a and the sealing plate positioning unit 122 from being squeezed by the two during pre-charging.

[0053] Furthermore, regarding the positive electrode conducting terminal 111 and negative electrode conducting terminal 112 in the cell conducting mechanism 110, generally, from the perspective of redundant design of the device, multiple conducting terminals are provided respectively, that is, multiple positive electrode conducting terminals 111 and multiple negative electrode conducting terminals 112 are provided, thereby improving the reliability of the device and ensuring the manufacturability of the product. In addition, from the viewpoint of reducing costs and ease of terminal setting, the number of positive electrode conducting terminals 111 and negative electrode conducting terminals 112 is provided in two. In this case, as mentioned above, during pre-charging, a pair of negative electrode conducting terminals are arranged in a horizontally distributed manner on the outer sides of the cell housing 10b, resulting in a small contact area and high pressure between the pair of negative electrode conducting terminals and the cell housing, which easily causes marks that are difficult to remove on the surface of the product, affecting the appearance of the cell. In this utility model, when there are multiple negative electrode conducting terminals 112, for example, two, the arrangement of the multiple negative electrode conducting terminals 112 is different from the above-mentioned prior art, and is set to be along the axial direction of the cell 10 being tested ( Figure 5 The arrangement is as shown by the direction of the dashed line L in the diagram. In other words, the arrangement direction of the plurality of negative conductive terminals 112 in this invention is rotated by 90° relative to the arrangement direction of the prior art. This way, during pre-charging, after each positive conductive terminal 111 and negative conductive terminal 112 contacts and becomes fully conductive with the sealing plate 10a and housing 10b of the tested cell 10 through the action of the drive unit connected to them, the plurality of negative conductive terminals 112 can not only completely press and fix the tested cell 10, but also increase the contact area, reduce pressure, and reduce potential damage to the surface of the housing 10b of the cell 10. Furthermore, to improve electrical contact and contact area during pre-charging, multiple protrusions can be provided at the front end of any one or more of the conductive terminals, either the positive conductive terminals 111 or the negative conductive terminals 112.

[0054] The above-mentioned battery cell pre-charging device 100 may be used alone, or may be configured in parallel to use in consideration of productivity, with the number of configured devices being, for example, 2 to 10. Figure 6 The diagram schematically illustrates an example of 10 battery cell pre-charging devices 100 arranged side-by-side. In this case, 10 battery cells can be pre-charged simultaneously. Furthermore, during pre-charging, a mounting fixture 12 for mounting multiple test cells 10 is arranged below the battery cell pre-charging device 100. Figure 6 The cell clamping mechanism (not shown) is used to clamp the 10 cells under test by the mounting fixture 12 for mounting 10 cells under test. Figure 6 As shown in FIG, the cell under test 10 is placed in the loading jig 12 in a manner such that it is inserted into the transport jig 11 and is loaded from the loading jig 12. Figure 6The battery cell is loaded into the pre-charging device from the inlet side shown above. In existing devices, the clamping mechanism is not long enough, only clamping the middle part of the mounting fixture 12 in the length direction, which may result in the mounting fixture 12 being clamped crookedly. Therefore, the inventors of this utility model have increased the clamping length of the battery cell clamping mechanism, and at least at the inlet side of the loading direction of the battery cell 10 and one end of the mounting fixture 12 ( Figure 6 A bottom baffle 13 is installed at the location indicated by the dotted line in the image. Figure 7 The component in the shaded area (in the image) allows the cell clamping mechanism to work together with the bottom baffle 13 to clamp the battery during fixture clamping, thereby enabling more stable and reliable clamping. Specifically, the cell clamping mechanism is arranged along the length direction of the mounting fixture 12, and its total length is at least 3 / 10 of the length of the mounting fixture 12, preferably at least 2 / 5, and more preferably at least 1 / 2. It should be noted that this length is the total length for clamping, and as long as stable and reliable clamping can be achieved, it can be centrally arranged or distributed along the length direction of the mounting fixture 12. Furthermore, as... Figure 7 As shown, the bottom baffle 13 is set in a roughly L-shaped form, but its shape is not limited to this. It can serve to clamp and fix the mounting fixture 12 during pre-charging, and various shapes can be appropriately selected according to operational needs and the shape of the mounting fixture 12. In addition, depending on the specific circumstances and requirements of cell manufacturing, the bottom baffle 13 can also be provided at the other end of the mounting fixture 12 (i.e., the side opposite to the inlet side of the direction of the cell being tested 10).

[0055] The present invention has been described above according to the currently preferred embodiments, but such disclosure should not be interpreted as limiting. Various modifications and alterations will be apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the above disclosure. Therefore, the appended claims should be understood to include all modifications and alterations without departing from the true spirit and scope of the present invention.

[0056] Industrial availability

[0057] The pre-charging device for battery cells according to this invention can improve the productivity of battery cells. Furthermore, when there are multiple negative conductive terminals, it can provide a pre-charging device for battery cells with excellent appearance.

Claims

1. A battery pre-charging device, characterized in that: Include: A cell conduction mechanism capable of pre-charging the cell under test before packaging; and a cell positioning mechanism which is opposite to the cell conduction mechanism and is used to position the cell under test, The cell conduction mechanism comprises: a positive electrode conduction terminal corresponding to the position of the positive electrode portion of the cell under test, i.e., the sealing plate, and electrically connected thereto; and a negative electrode conduction terminal corresponding to the position of the negative electrode portion of the cell under test, i.e., the shell, and electrically connected thereto. The cell positioning mechanism comprises: a main positioning reference unit for adjusting the pre-charge height of the tested cell; and a sealing plate positioning unit disposed on one side of the main positioning reference unit close to the cell conduction mechanism. A groove for inserting the sealing plate is provided on a surface of the sealing plate positioning unit opposite to the main positioning reference unit.

2. The battery pre-charging device according to claim 1, characterized in that: A plurality of conduction terminals are provided in at least one of the positive electrode conduction terminal and the negative electrode conduction terminal.

3. The battery pre-charging device according to claim 2, characterized in that: A plurality of negative electrode conduction terminals are provided, and the plurality of negative electrode conduction terminals are arranged along the axial direction of the tested battery cell.

4. The battery cell pre-charging device according to claim 3, characterized in that: The number of the negative electrode conduction terminals is 2.

5. The battery cell pre-charging device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: A plurality of protrusions are provided at the front end of at least one of the positive electrode conduction terminal and the negative electrode conduction terminal.

6. The battery cell pre-charging device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: A pair of parallel axes capable of sliding are respectively arranged on both sides of the main positioning reference unit, and a scale design is performed on at least one of the pair of parallel axes.

7. The battery cell pre-charging device according to claim 6, characterized in that: The range of the scaled design is within 25 mm.

8. The battery cell pre-charging device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: The shape of the groove provided on the sealing plate positioning unit is a convex shape in a top view.

9. The battery cell pre-charging device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, characterized in that: Arrange 2 to 10 in parallel.

10. The battery cell pre-charging device according to claim 9, characterized in that: A cell clamping mechanism for clamping a loading fixture carrying a plurality of the cells to be tested is arranged below the cell pre-charging device, and a bottom baffle is provided at least on the entrance side of the loading direction of the cells to be tested and at one end of the loading fixture. The battery cell clamping mechanism is arranged along the length direction of the loading fixture, and the total length thereof is more than 3 / 10 of the length of the loading fixture.

Images