Battery housing assembly plant

Abstract

The invention relates to a battery housing assembly system (10) for assembling a roll-applied extruded housing outer wall (21) of a cuboid high-voltage battery housing body (20), with a housing holder (32) for holding a base housing body (20') which is open at least on one side and onto which the extruded housing outer wall (21) is mounted in a rolling manner, the housing outer wall body (21'') of which is flat in the assembled, rolled-out state, a feed wheel (40) associated with the housing holder (32) for holding and guiding the housing outer wall body (21') rolled up in a single layer onto the feed wheel (40) in the unassembled state, which is rolled out onto the open base housing body (20') by the rotating feed wheel (40) and is thereby bent from its rolled-up form into a flat form at a bending point (55), a drive (70) for generating a linear relative movement between the housing holder (32) and the feed wheel (40), and a heating arrangement (50) for the targeted heating of the rolled-up housing outer wall body (21') guided by the feed wheel (40) before rolling out and bending at the bending point (55).

Description

[0001] The invention relates to a battery housing assembly system for assembling a roll-applied extruded housing outer wall of a cuboid high-voltage battery housing body.

[0002] In this context, a high-voltage battery is understood to be a battery with a system voltage of over 60 V DC or 30 V AC, for example 400 V or 800 V. The high-voltage battery is particularly preferably a traction battery of an electric motor-driven vehicle. Such a high-voltage battery is subject to stringent requirements with regard to crash safety and active cooling capability, so that the housing body accommodating the battery cells and an active cooling structure can have a complex design both on the outside and, in particular, on the inside. Such complex structures of a housing outer wall can be efficiently manufactured, in particular, by extrusion and similar continuous manufacturing processes. In a traction battery, a housing outer wall may be well over 1 m long.However, extruding a flat extruded body with a width of more than 1.0 m is extremely complex, if it is even technically feasible. However, a housing outer wall body with a length of over 1 m can be produced using the extrusion process if it is extruded as a single-wound cylindrical body, in which case the circumference of the cylindrical body can be greater than 1.0 m.

[0003] The object of the invention is to provide a battery housing assembly system with which a housing outer wall of great length can be mounted on a base housing body which is open on at least one side.

[0004] This object is achieved according to the invention with a battery housing assembly system having the features of claim 1.

[0005] The battery housing assembly system according to the invention is used to assemble a roll-out extruded housing wall of a cuboid-shaped high-voltage battery housing body in its fully assembled state. The high-voltage battery has a system voltage of more than 60 V DC or 30 V AC, preferably 400 V or 800 V. Preferably, battery cells and cooling elements, for example, actively liquid-cooled cooling elements, are also installed in the interior of the open base housing body before or during the application of the extruded housing outer wall to the open base housing body. The extruded housing outer wall is made of aluminum, for example.

[0006] The battery housing assembly system comprises a housing holder for holding the base housing body, which is open on at least one side. The extruded housing outer wall is mounted in a rolling manner onto the respective housing opening. The rolled-out and assembled housing outer wall body is essentially flat in the rolled-out and assembled state and preferably forms one of the two largest outer walls of the housing body. Particularly preferably, the housing outer wall body is longer than 1.0 m in the rolling-out direction.

[0007] The battery case assembly system has a feed wheel associated with the case holder for holding and guiding the case outer wall body, which is rolled onto the feed wheel in a single layer in the unassembled state. The feed wheel thus carries the cylindrically manufactured extruded case outer wall body. The rolled case outer wall body is unrolled onto the open base case body by the rotating feed wheel and is permanently and plastically deformed or bent at a bending point from its cylindrically rolled form into a flat shape.

[0008] A drive mechanism is provided to generate a linear relative movement between the housing holder and the feed wheel. During the unrolling of the housing outer wall of the initially rolled housing outer wall body, the drive mechanism ensures a linear relative movement, while simultaneously the feed wheel rotates accordingly.

[0009] Furthermore, the battery housing assembly system comprises a heating arrangement for the targeted heating of the rolled housing outer wall body guided by the feed wheel immediately before unrolling and plastic deformation at the bending point. By heating the housing outer wall body before its plastic deformation at the bending point, the bending forces for the plastic deformation of the housing outer wall body into its flat final shape are significantly reduced. This is particularly important when assembling a high-voltage battery housing body because the options for mechanically supporting the housing outer wall body in the area of ​​the bending point are spatially very limited, so that the reduction of the bending forces by heating the housing outer wall body significantly reduces the assembly effort and thus makes assembly possible in the first place.

[0010] Preferably, the heating arrangement can be arranged on the feed wheel, i.e. can be translationally coupled to the feed wheel, so that it is linearly coupled to the feed wheel in the unrolling direction, and heats the rolled-up housing outer wall body preferably from the radial outside.

[0011] Alternatively, the heating assembly is arranged on the inside of the feed wheel, and the heating assembly heats the rolled-up housing outer wall body from the radial inside. This way, the entire space outside the feed wheel is available for other tools. Furthermore, the heating assembly can be arranged very close to the rolled-up housing outer wall body.

[0012] The heating arrangement preferably consists of several selectively activatable heating elements evenly distributed around the circumference of the feed wheel. Particularly preferably, the selectively activatable heating elements can also be individually controlled in terms of their heating power. In this way, the heating regime of the heating arrangement can be adjusted to different boundary conditions. Furthermore, in this way, only the area of ​​the rolled-up housing outer wall body that lies directly in front of the bending point can be specifically heated.

[0013] Particularly preferably, the heating arrangement is arranged in a rotationally fixed manner on the feed wheel. In this way, the heating arrangement can be arranged radially particularly close to the rolled-up housing outer wall body, so that energy-efficient and locally precise heating of the rolled-up housing outer wall body can be achieved.

[0014] Preferably, the heating arrangement comprises at least one electromagnetic heating element for locally heating the rolled-up housing outer wall body. The electromagnetic heating element is formed by an electromagnetic coil, which, upon activation, is supplied with an alternating electrical voltage. An electromagnetic heating element is effective and allows precise quantitative and local control of the heating of the housing outer wall body.

[0015] Alternatively or additionally, the heating arrangement may comprise a radiant heater element and / or a laser heater element.

[0016] An exemplary embodiment of the invention is explained in more detail below with reference to the drawing. The drawing schematically shows a battery housing assembly system for assembling a roll-applied extruded housing outer wall of a cuboid high-voltage battery housing body.

[0017] The figure schematically shows a battery housing assembly system 10 for assembling an extruded housing outer wall 21 of a cuboid-shaped high-voltage battery housing body 20. A plurality of, in this case, prismatic battery cells 26 and a corresponding plurality of actively liquid-cooled internal cooling plates 28 are arranged alternately in the finally closed high-voltage battery housing body 20.

[0018] The final high-voltage battery has a system voltage of, for example, 400 V or 800 V and serves as a traction battery for an electric vehicle drive. Such a high-voltage battery therefore has high demands on its mechanical stability and the cooling performance of the battery cooling system.

[0019] The housing body 20 or the base housing body 20' is held in position by a housing holder 32 designed as a stationary stage.

[0020] The finished high-voltage battery housing body 20 is comprised of a base housing body 20' open at the top, onto which an extruded housing outer wall 21 has been mounted in a rolling manner, the rolled-out housing outer wall body 21'' of which is essentially flat in the rolled-out and assembled state and lies in a horizontal plane xy, as shown in the figure to the right of a feed wheel 40.

[0021] The battery housing assembly system 10 has a feed wheel 40 that is linearly movable and rotatable relative to the housing holder 32 for holding and guiding the housing outer wall body 21', which in the unassembled state is rolled up in a single layer onto the feed wheel 40. The fully rolled up housing outer wall body 21' forms a cylindrical body interrupted at a circumferential point with a circumference of more than 1.0 m and an axial depth of less than 1.0 m, for example 0.5 m. The housing outer wall body 21 can have rib-like structures that are oriented radially outward in the rolled-up state and proximally to the interior 23 of the high-voltage battery housing body 20 in the unrolled and assembled state of the housing outer wall body 21. The housing outer wall body 21', which is fully rolled up in a single layer, is produced by continuous aluminum casting.

[0022] The feed wheel 40 is formed by an externally cylindrical wheel body 42 which is rotationally driven by a rotation drive (not shown) and which is linearly guided and moved on a linear guide 72 and by a linear drive 70 in a horizontal drive direction x.

[0023] Furthermore, a heating arrangement 50 is rotationally fixedly associated with the feed wheel 40. The heating arrangement consists of a plurality of selectively activatable heating elements 52, 52', which are uniformly distributed over the circumference of the feed wheel 40 or the wheel body 42 and are fastened to the wheel body 42. The heating elements 52, 52' are designed as electromagnetic heating elements 52, 52' for inductive local heating of the rolled-up housing outer wall body 21'.

[0024] During the rolling application of the housing outer wall 21, a bending section 21''' of the rolled-up housing outer wall body 21' reaches a bending point 55 moving in the assembly direction x, at which the cylindrically rolled-up housing outer wall body 21' is successively bent into a flat shape in which it lies in a horizontal plane xy and, as a rolled-out housing outer wall body 21'', closes the upper opening of the base housing body 20'. To reduce the bending forces to be overcome, the selectively activatable heating elements 52' are activated in the area in front of the bending point 55 or in front of the housing outer wall body bending section 21''', so that the bending section 21''' in this area is heated to a temperature of over 100 °C. Since only the respective bending section 21''' is heated, the total heat input of the applied housing outer wall 21 into the heat-sensitive battery cells 26 is low.

Claims

[1] Battery housing assembly system (10) for assembling a roll-applied extruded housing outer wall (21) of a cuboid high-voltage battery housing body (20), with a housing holder (32) for holding a base housing body (20') which is open at least on one side and onto which the extruded housing outer wall (21) is mounted in a rolling manner, the housing outer wall body (21'') of which is flat in the assembled, rolled-out state, a feed wheel (40) associated with the housing holder (32) for holding and guiding the housing outer wall body (21') rolled up in a single layer onto the feed wheel (40) in the unassembled state, which is rolled out onto the open base housing body (20') by the rotating feed wheel (40) and is thereby bent from its rolled-up form into a flat form at a bending point (55), a drive (70) for generating a linear relative movement between the housing holder (32) and the feed wheel (40), and a heating arrangement (50) for the targeted heating of the rolled-up housing outer wall body (21') guided by the feed wheel (40) before rolling out and bending at the bending point (55). [2] Battery case assembly system (10) according to claim 1, wherein the heating arrangement (50) is arranged on the feed wheel (40). [3] Battery housing assembly system (10) according to claim 2, wherein the heating arrangement (50) consists of a plurality of selectively activatable heating elements (52, 52') which are arranged distributed over the circumference of the feed wheel (40). [4] Battery housing assembly system (10) according to claim 2 or 3, wherein the heating arrangement (50) is arranged in a rotationally fixed manner on the feed wheel (40). [5] Battery housing assembly system (10) according to one of the preceding claims, wherein the heating arrangement (50) comprises at least one electromagnetic heating element (52, 52') for locally heating the rolled-up housing outer wall body (21'). [6] Battery housing assembly system (10) according to one of the preceding claims 1 to 4, wherein the heating arrangement (50) comprises at least one heat radiation heating element and / or a laser heating element.

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