Cooling roll core

Abstract

The utility model relates to a cooling roll core, a group of symmetrical cooling single columns are arranged in the middle of the cooling roll core, liquid cooling channels are arranged in the cooling single columns, the symmetrical cooling single columns can form an outer peripheral surface in smooth transition, and a winding layer comprising a positive plate, a first layer of diaphragm, a negative plate and a second layer of diaphragm is wound on the outer peripheral surface. According to the utility model, the processing difficulty of the cooling roll core structure is reduced, the cooling efficiency and the structural reliability are improved, the realization of automatic winding production is promoted, and the marketization application problem of the existing cooling roll core is solved.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] The utility model belongs to the technical field of battery manufacturing, and particularly relates to a cooling coil core with a built-in double structure. Background Art

[0002] The application scenarios of chemical energy storage modules in new energy vehicles, energy storage, 3C and other fields are constantly expanding, and the market scale is constantly expanding. With the increase in demand, end customers have higher and higher requirements for the charging and discharging speed of energy storage modules, especially in the power field. However, it is faced with disadvantages such as large temperature rise during fast charging, poor battery rate performance, high temperature has a great impact on battery life, and thermal runaway safety issues, which in turn limits the use of lithium batteries in high-rate application scenarios.

[0003] At present, the common way to improve the high temperature performance of battery cells is to use cooling plates in battery modules, reduce the temperature of the battery during use through external cooling, and indirectly improve the high temperature performance of the battery. However, adding cooling plates reduces the space utilization of the module or pack system. In addition, the cooling path of the cooling plate is limited by the installation position, most of which are located at the bottom, and some are located in the middle of the side; the cooling path is long and the cooling effect is poor, especially the top cooling and the cooling effect in the middle of the battery cell need to be improved.

[0004] Some researchers have proposed that a liquid cooling channel can be set in the middle of the core of a battery pack to achieve the purpose of reducing the battery temperature. This solution allows the cooling liquid to pass through the center of the core, which promotes the rapid discharge of heat from the center of the core and has an excellent improvement effect on the problem of thermal runaway of the battery. However, since this structure is difficult to match with the current high-speed winding process, it cannot realize automated, high-efficiency batch production operations, automatic feeding in the liquid cooling channel, automatic application of the diaphragm end, and continuous automatic winding, etc. Therefore, this structure has not achieved mechanized mass production, which limits the application of battery packs of this type of structure. At the same time, this structure also has restrictions on the size of the core, and is generally only applicable to cylindrical cores or square cores with an aspect ratio close to 1. For square cores with a larger aspect ratio, due to the large pressure in the thickness direction, it is easy to cause the size of the liquid cooling channel to deform, and it is also easy to cause wrinkles inside the core. The above reasons have led to the difficulty of the core with a liquid cooling channel in the middle to be successfully promoted and applied in the market. Summary of the invention

[0005] In view of the above-mentioned problems in the prior art, the utility model fully considers the design requirements of the cooling core in a single battery pack and the process requirements of automated winding, and provides a cooling core, as well as an automated winding device and an automated winding method for the automated production of the cooling core.

[0006] The cooling coil core of the utility model is provided with a group of symmetrical cooling single columns in the middle, and liquid cooling channels are provided in the cooling single columns. The symmetrical cooling single columns can form a smoothly transitioned outer peripheral surface, and a winding layer including a positive electrode sheet, a first layer of diaphragm, a negative electrode sheet, and a second layer of diaphragm is wound on the outer peripheral surface.

[0007] As some optimized solutions, one end of the outer circumference of the cooling single column is a plane end face, and the other end is a curved end face. The plane end face and the curved end face are directly connected through the side edges of the end faces, or are connected through at least one group of symmetrically arranged planes.

[0008] As some optimized solutions, the cross-section of the outer peripheral surface of the symmetrically arranged cooling single column presents various geometric shapes such as circle, ellipse, rounded rectangle, etc.

[0009] As some optimized solutions, the cross-section of the liquid cooling channel in the middle of the cooling single column has various geometric shapes such as square, circular, triangular, and semicircular.

[0010] As some optimized solutions, various meshing structures such as saw teeth, wavy lines, and concave-convex grooves are arranged on the mutually symmetrical end faces of the cooling columns.

[0011] As some optimized solutions, the surface of the cooling single column is provided with an insulating layer.

[0012] An automated winding device comprises a group of tooling components that are rotationally symmetrical around a central axis, wherein the tooling components have a clamping and fixing function for symmetrically arranged cooling single columns; a first cooling single column feeding mechanism and a rotating mechanism capable of driving the symmetrically arranged cooling single columns to rotate around the symmetry center of the two are provided in a first position area where the tooling components are rotationally symmetrical around the central axis; a second cooling single column feeding mechanism and a winding core unloading mechanism are provided in a third position area where the tooling components are rotationally symmetrical around the central axis; and a cutter is also provided between the first position area and the third position area.

[0013] As some optimized solutions, at least one group of support shafts that can be rotationally symmetrical around the central axis are symmetrically arranged between the first position area and the third position area. The support shafts rotate synchronously with the tooling assembly at the same rotation angle, and are used to support and tighten the first and second diaphragm layers during the rotation and transposition process of the tooling assembly.

[0014] As some optimized solutions, the tooling components and the support shaft are integrated and fixed on a turntable.

[0015] As some optimized solutions, the first cooling single-column loading mechanism, the second cooling single-column loading mechanism, and the core unloading mechanism are robots.

[0016] An automated winding method comprises the following steps:

[0017] S1: A group of tooling components that are rotationally symmetrical around the central axis are respectively located in the first position area and the third position area. The tooling components located in the first position area drive the symmetrically arranged cooling single columns to rotate around the symmetry centers of the two. The positive electrode sheet, the first layer of diaphragm, the negative electrode sheet, and the second layer of diaphragm that are arranged in sequence are wound together on the outer peripheral surface of the symmetrical cooling single column to form a winding layer. After the winding reaches a predetermined length, the cutter cuts off the positive electrode sheet and the negative electrode sheet; in this process, the tooling components located in the third position area are loaded and clamped by the second cooling single column loading mechanism;

[0018] S2: The position areas of the two tooling components are interchanged by rotating the tooling components around the central axis;

[0019] S3: The tooling assembly located in the first position area is loaded by the first cooling single column loading mechanism and the second cooling single column is clamped. When the first cooling single column loading mechanism is loading, the first layer of diaphragm and the second layer of diaphragm are clamped and fixed between the symmetrical cooling single columns;

[0020] S4: The cutter moves and cuts off the first and second separator layers between the first and third position areas. The tooling assembly located in the third position area is unloaded through the winding core unloading mechanism, and the positive and negative electrode sheets are introduced, and the process returns to step S1 for the next cycle.

[0021] Compared with the prior art, the utility model has at least the following beneficial effects:

[0022] In terms of cooling core structure:

[0023] 1. The cooling coil core structure provided by the utility model reduces the difficulty of processing a single cooling column, and is convenient for batch processing;

[0024] 2. The pressure bearing capacity of the cooling column is increased, and the utilization rate of the coolant is also improved;

[0025] 3. The internal expansion force of the core can be released by slightly misaligning the two cooling columns to avoid deformation, wrinkles and short circuits;

[0026] 4. It makes it possible to automate the winding process.

[0027] In terms of automated winding equipment:

[0028] 1. Effectively reduce the difficulty and cost of equipment development, and realize automated operation through simple tooling components;

[0029] 2. Tooling components can also be realized through simple modification of existing equipment, which improves the reuse rate of old equipment;

[0030] 3. The equipment occupies a small area and is flexible to place, which reduces the cost of industrial operation.

[0031] In terms of automated winding process methods:

[0032] 1. It can effectively solve the automation application in the winding process, including automatic loading and unloading, automatic clamping, automatic winding, and automatic continuous production process, avoiding the problem of manually fixing the diaphragm at different positions on the outer surface of the cooling column;

[0033] 2. Effectively promoted the market application of cooling coil cores. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0034] In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solutions in the embodiments of the present application, the drawings required for use in the description of the embodiments will be briefly introduced below. Obviously, the drawings described below are only some embodiments of the present application. For ordinary technicians in this field, other drawings can be obtained based on these drawings without creative work.

[0035] Figure 1 It is a schematic diagram of the existing winding core structure and automated winding process equipment.

[0036] Figure 2 The utility model is a schematic diagram of the structure of the cooling coil core.

[0037] Figure 3 It is a schematic diagram of the automatic winding device and process method of the utility model.

[0038] Figure 4 It is a schematic cross-sectional view of several symmetrical cooling single columns of different geometric shapes of the utility model. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0039] In order to facilitate the understanding of the present invention, the present invention will be described more comprehensively below in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, and embodiments of the present invention are given, but the scope of the present invention is not limited thereby.

[0040] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used in this application have the same meaning as those commonly understood by technicians in the technical field to which this application belongs; the terms used in this application are only for the purpose of describing specific embodiments and are not intended to limit this application; the terms "including" and "having" and any variations thereof in the specification and claims of this application and the above-mentioned figure descriptions are intended to cover non-exclusive inclusions. The terms "first" and "second" in the specification and claims of this application and the above-mentioned figure descriptions do not have sequential meanings or differences in importance, but are only used to distinguish different referents with the same name.

[0041] The existing winding core structure with a liquid cooling channel in the middle (hereinafter referred to as the cooling core 20) and the automated winding process equipment are as follows: Figure 1As shown, a cooling column 21 is provided in the middle of the cooling coil core 20, and the outer periphery of the cooling column 21 needs to be wound together by the positive electrode sheet 24, the first layer of separator 25, the negative electrode sheet 26, and the second layer of separator 27 arranged in sequence to form a winding layer. Figure 1 In a, the automated winding process equipment can load the cooling column 21 at the target position through the loading robot 3, and then fix the ends of the first layer of diaphragm 25 and the second layer of diaphragm 27 (generally in a single-sided pasting manner) at different positions on the outer surface of the cooling column 21, and then introduce the positive electrode sheet 24 and the negative electrode sheet 26 respectively, and then start to wind the cooling column 21. Figure 1 In b, after reaching the preset winding number or thickness, the positive electrode sheet 24, the first layer of separator 25, the negative electrode sheet 26, and the second layer of separator 27 need to be cut using the cutter 4, thereby completing the preparation of a cooling core 20 unit. However, when the preparation of the next cooling core 20 unit is required, it is necessary to Figure 1 After the cooling core 20 of middle b is unloaded, a new cooling core 20 reenters Figure 1 In the initial state of a, since the positive electrode sheet 24, the first layer of diaphragm 25, the negative electrode sheet 26, and the second layer of diaphragm 27 all form new free ends during the cutting process of the previous cooling core 20 unit, it is necessary to manually re-fix the ends of the first layer of diaphragm 25 and the second layer of diaphragm 27 at different positions on the outer surface of the next cooling column 21 before starting a new winding operation, which causes the intermittent process to be too long, greatly reduces the production efficiency, and increases the unstable factors of manual fixation.

[0042] At the same time, the applicant also found that with the increase in the requirements for battery energy density, the number of winding layers is increasing, especially in square cooling cores with a relatively high aspect ratio. The cooling column 21 is subjected to greater pressure in the thickness direction, which can easily cause deformation of the column structure and cause wrinkles and other undesirable defects in the internal winding layer.

[0043] In order to solve the above problems, the applicant proposed a new cooling column 21 structure, such as Figure 2 As shown, a group of symmetrical cooling columns are provided in the middle of the cooling core 20, namely the first cooling column 22 and the second cooling column 23. Liquid cooling channels are provided in the cooling columns. The symmetrical cooling columns can form a smoothly transitioned outer peripheral surface, on which a winding layer including a positive electrode sheet 24, a first layer of diaphragm 25, a negative electrode sheet 26, and a second layer of diaphragm 27 is wound.

[0044] The above structure can be automatically prepared by a new automated winding process, such as Figure 3As shown, an automated winding device is provided, which has a group of tooling components that can be rotationally symmetrical around a central axis, and the tooling components have a clamping and fixing function for the symmetrically arranged cooling single columns; a first cooling single column loading mechanism 31 and a rotating mechanism that can drive the symmetrically arranged cooling single columns to rotate around the symmetry center of the two are provided in the first position area 11 where the tooling components are rotationally symmetrical around the central axis; a second cooling single column loading mechanism 32 and a core unloading mechanism 33 are provided in the third position area 13 where the tooling components are rotationally symmetrical around the central axis; a cutter 4 is also provided between the first position area 11 and the third position area 13.

[0045] The automated working process of the automated winding device is as follows:

[0046] (1) See Figure 3 In a, a group of tooling components that are rotationally symmetrical around the central axis are respectively located in the first position area 11 and the third position area 13. The tooling component located in the first position area 11 drives the symmetrically arranged cooling single column to rotate around the symmetry center of the two. The positive electrode sheet 24, the first layer of diaphragm 25, the negative electrode sheet 26, and the second layer of diaphragm 27 arranged in sequence are wound together on the outer peripheral surface of the symmetrical cooling single column to form a winding layer. After the winding reaches a predetermined length, the cutter 4 moves and cuts off the positive electrode sheet 24 and the negative electrode sheet 26; in this process, the tooling component located in the third position area 13 is loaded and clamped by the second cooling single column loading mechanism 32.

[0047] (2) See Figure 3 In b, the position areas of the two tooling components are interchanged by rotating the tooling components around the central axis. At this time, the tooling component clamping the first cooling single column 22 enters the first position area 11, and the tooling component that completes the winding enters the third position area 13. At the same time, there is an uncut first layer of diaphragm 25 and a second layer of diaphragm 27 between the first position area 11 and the third position area 13;

[0048] (3) See Figure 3 In c, the tooling assembly located in the first position area 11 is loaded by the first cooling single column loading mechanism 31 and clamps the second cooling single column 23, and the first cooling single column loading mechanism 31 causes the first layer of diaphragm 25 and the second layer of diaphragm 27 to be clamped and fixed between the symmetrical cooling single columns when loading;

[0049] (4) See Figure 3In the middle d, the cutter 4 moves and cuts off the first layer of diaphragm 25 and the second layer of diaphragm 27 between the first position area 11 and the third position area 13, and the tooling assembly located in the third position area 13 can be unloaded by the winding core unloading mechanism 33; at this time, since the ends of the first layer of diaphragm 25 and the second layer of diaphragm 27 are clamped and fixed between the symmetrical cooling single columns, the positive electrode sheet 24 and the negative electrode sheet 26 can be directly introduced, so that the tooling assembly located in the first position area 11 drives the symmetrically arranged cooling single columns to rotate around the symmetry center of the two, and a winding layer is formed on the outer peripheral surface of the symmetrical cooling single columns, that is, it returns to Figure 3 The state shown in a completes the automatic winding cycle.

[0050] Therefore, the present invention designs the cooling columns in the cooling core 20 as a group of symmetrical cooling single columns, which can successfully realize the automated winding production of the cooling core by simply modifying the existing automated winding device.

[0051] As some specific embodiments, one end of the outer circumference of the cooling single column is a plane end face 2003, and the other end is a curved end face 2001. The plane end face 2003 and the curved end face 2001 can be directly connected through the side edges of the end faces, or can be connected through at least one group of symmetrically arranged planes 2004, so that the cross-section of the outer circumference of the symmetrically arranged cooling single column presents various geometric shapes such as circle, ellipse, rounded rectangle, etc.

[0052] As some specific embodiments, the cross-section of the liquid cooling channel 2002 in the middle of the cooling column may also be in various geometric shapes such as square, circular, triangular, semicircular, etc. to facilitate the flow of the cooling liquid. Figure 4 The cross-sectional views of several symmetrical cooling single columns of different geometric shapes are given as examples.

[0053] As some further specific embodiments, various forms of meshing structures such as sawtooth, wavy lines, concave-convex grooves, etc. can be set on the mutually symmetrical end faces (plane end faces 2003) of the cooling single column to increase the clamping force of the cooling single column on the first layer of diaphragm 25 and the second layer of diaphragm 27.

[0054] As some specific embodiments, the surface of the cooling column can be further insulated to isolate it from the battery current collector and prevent short circuit.

[0055] The cooling coil of the utility model not only successfully realizes automated winding production through the design of a symmetrical cooling single column, but also has the following advantages: (1) the width of the cooling single column is effectively reduced, especially for square coils with a large length-to-width ratio, which reduces the difficulty of machining or extrusion of a single cooling column, and is more convenient for industrial realization; (2) the cooling single column is divided into two, and the middle symmetry surface also plays a supporting role, which increases the pressure-bearing capacity of the cooling column. Under the condition of the same liquid cooling channel size (flow), the symmetrical design has a stronger anti-deformation ability; (3) the channel of the coolant is divided into two, and under the condition of the same liquid cooling channel size (flow), the utilization rate of the coolant is also improved, avoiding the defect of low heat exchange rate of the coolant located in the center under a single large channel; (4) the symmetrically designed cooling single column also increases the stress release window after the coil expands, and the internal expansion force of the coil can be released by slightly misaligning the two cooling single columns, effectively avoiding the hard deformation and wrinkling of the pole piece and reducing the risk of short circuit caused by pole piece breakage.

[0056] Since the tooling assembly in the automated winding device of the utility model only needs to have the function of tightening and fixing the two cooling single columns, there is no strict restriction on the specific structure of the tooling assembly, and the tooling in the existing winding machine is easy to implement and applied in the utility model. In addition, since the function of the two cooling single columns rotating around their symmetry centers to realize winding is only required in the first position area 11, the utility model does not limit the setting of the rotating mechanism, and can only be fixed in the first position area 11, and the tooling assembly can be connected to the first position area 11 to realize the rotation drive of the tooling assembly, or the rotation mechanism can be used as a part of the integrated functional assembly of the tooling assembly, and after entering the first position area 11 together with the tooling assembly, the rotation drive function is started. The tooling in the existing winding machine also meets such needs.

[0057] As some specific embodiments, in the automated winding device, at least one group of support shafts that can be rotationally symmetrical around the central axis are symmetrically provided between the first position area 11 and the third position area 13, which are support shafts 51 and 52, respectively. They can be regarded as being located in the second position area 12 and the fourth position area 14, respectively. The support shafts rotate synchronously with the tooling assembly at the same rotation angle, and are used to support and tighten the first layer of diaphragm 25 and the second layer of diaphragm 27 during the rotation and transposition process of the tooling assembly to prevent dislocation or falling wrinkles, and also guide the diaphragm.

[0058] As some specific embodiments, in an automated winding device, the tooling assembly and the support shaft may be integrated and fixed on a turntable, thereby realizing position conversion between different position areas.

[0059] As some specific embodiments, in the automated winding device, the first cooling single-column loading mechanism 31, the second cooling single-column loading mechanism 32, and the winding core unloading mechanism 33 may adopt a robot, or directly adopt the loading and unloading tooling in the existing winding machine.

[0060] We compared the advantages of the cooling core structure of the utility model and the automated winding process in terms of equipment transformation investment and production efficiency improvement.

[0061] For the existing battery pack with one cooling channel (single column for short), it is difficult to realize automated operation and there is no mature equipment to match the production. The existing winding machine is used for production during the trial production, with a production efficiency of about 1 piece / 6.5 minutes, including about 1 minute for single column loading, about 1 minute for the first layer of diaphragm application, about 1.5 minutes for the second layer of diaphragm application, and about 3 minutes for winding. If you want to develop special equipment for single column to achieve full automation, the development cycle is about 1 year and the development cost is about 5 million.

[0062] The automatic winding device of the cooling core structure of the utility model can be assembled and used with the tooling components of the existing winding machine, with a cycle of about 2 months and a cost of about 500,000 yuan. The automatic operation can reduce the 2.5 minutes of diaphragm application to 0.5 minutes, and directly improve the efficiency by about 30%. At the same time, the utility model can also significantly reduce the incidence of wrinkles to about 2%, greatly improving the product yield.

[0063] Although the embodiments of the present invention have been shown and described above, it is understood that the above embodiments are exemplary and cannot be understood as limiting the present invention. A person skilled in the art may change, modify, replace and deform the above embodiments within the scope of the present invention. In addition, a person skilled in the art may combine and combine different embodiments or examples described in this specification and features of different embodiments or examples without contradiction.

Claims

1. A cooling core, characterized in that: A group of symmetrical cooling columns are arranged in the middle, and liquid cooling channels are arranged in the cooling columns. The symmetrical cooling columns can form a smoothly transitional outer peripheral surface, and a winding layer including a positive electrode sheet (24), a first layer of diaphragm (25), a negative electrode sheet (26), and a second layer of diaphragm (27) is wound on the outer peripheral surface; an insulating layer is arranged on the surface of the cooling column, and one end of the outer peripheral surface of the cooling column is a plane end surface (2003), and the other end is a curved end surface (2001), and the plane end surface (2003) and the curved end surface (2001) are directly connected through the side edges of the end surfaces, or are connected through at least one group of symmetrically arranged planes (2004).

2. The cooling coil core according to claim 1, characterized in that: The cross-section of the outer peripheral surface of the symmetrically arranged cooling single column presents an elliptical or rounded rectangular geometric shape.

3. The cooling coil core according to claim 1, characterized in that: The cross-section of the liquid cooling channel in the middle of the cooling column is in a square, circular, triangular, or semicircular geometric shape.

4. The cooling coil core according to claim 1, characterized in that: The mutually symmetrical plane end faces (2003) of the cooling single column are provided with meshing structures of saw teeth, wavy lines and concave-convex grooves.

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