Detection device and method for detecting appearance of battery module

Abstract

The present application relates to a detection device and method for detecting the appearance of a battery module. Disclosed is a detection device for detecting the appearance of a battery module, wherein a lifting / lowering mechanism can allow the battery module to remain at at least two heights different from an initial height; at a first height, a first end surface image acquisition apparatus acquires an image of a first end surface, and a second end surface image acquisition apparatus acquires an image of a second end surface; and at a second height, a second image acquisition apparatus acquires images of a first side surface and a second side surface, and a third image acquisition apparatus acquires images of a third side surface and a fourth side surface; and wherein a flipping mechanism can flip the battery module, so that the first side surface or the second side surface of the battery module and the third side surface or the fourth side surface of the battery module face a second image acquisition mechanism and a third image acquisition mechanism, respectively. The present application further discloses a corresponding detection method for detecting the appearance of the battery module by using the detection device.

Description

Detection equipment and detection method for detecting the appearance of battery modules

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This application claims priority to Chinese patent application No. 202311700378.8, filed on December 12, 2023, entitled “Detection equipment and detection method for detecting the appearance of a battery module,” the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference. Technical Field

[0003] The present application relates to the field of batteries, and in particular to a detection device for detecting the appearance of a battery module and a corresponding detection method. Background Art

[0004] Power batteries are core components of new energy vehicles and a key direction for future energy transformation. To meet energy density requirements, batteries typically consist of one or more battery modules connected in series and / or parallel.

[0005] A battery module is typically rectangular in shape, consisting of a bottom, top, front, and back sides, and left and right end faces. Defects and flaws on these six sides can directly impact the quality of the module.

[0006] To ensure battery module quality, during production, manual visual inspections are often performed on all six sides of the module to check for defects such as dirt, scratches, defects, foreign matter, and skewed pins. However, this manual inspection is significantly influenced by the subjective influence of the inspector, resulting in poor stability in the test results.

[0007] Therefore, there is a need for automated module appearance inspection equipment that can meet these requirements. Furthermore, since factory production line layouts are fixed at the initial planning stage, overly complex appearance inspection equipment can lead to high installation costs and a long implementation cycle. Therefore, there is also a need for automated module appearance inspection equipment with a relatively simple structure.

[0008] Summary of the Invention

[0009] In view of the above problems, the present application provides a detection device and a corresponding detection method for detecting the appearance of a battery module, which avoids the shortcomings of manual detection such as high cost, low efficiency and prone to errors.

[0010] The present application provides a detection device and a detection method for detecting the appearance of a battery module. According to a first aspect, the present application provides a detection device for detecting the appearance of six sides of a battery module, wherein the battery module has a longitudinal direction, a transverse direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, and a depth direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and perpendicular to the transverse direction, including a first end face and a second end face opposite to each other in the longitudinal direction, a first side face and a second side face opposite to each other in the depth direction, and a third side face and a fourth side face opposite to each other in the transverse direction, characterized in that the detection device includes: a lifting mechanism, the lifting mechanism can move the battery module in the vertical direction so that the battery module can stay at a height different from the initial height; a flipping mechanism, the flipping mechanism can flip the battery module; a first image acquisition mechanism, the first image acquisition mechanism includes a first end face image acquisition device for acquiring an image of the first end face of the battery module and a second end face image acquisition device for acquiring an image of the second end face of the battery module ; a second image acquisition mechanism, the second image acquisition mechanism includes a second image acquisition device for acquiring images of the first side and the second side; a third image acquisition mechanism, the third image acquisition mechanism includes a third image acquisition device for acquiring images of the third side and the fourth side; wherein the lifting mechanism is capable of causing the battery module to stay at at least two heights different from the initial height, at the first height, the first end face image acquisition device acquires an image of the first end face, and the second end face image acquisition device acquires an image of the second end face, at the second height, the second image acquisition device acquires images of the first side and the second side, and the third image acquisition device acquires images of the third side and the fourth side; and wherein the flipping mechanism is capable of flipping the battery module so that the first side or the second side of the battery module and the third side or the fourth side of the battery module face the second image acquisition mechanism and the third image acquisition mechanism, respectively.

[0011] In the technical solution of the embodiment of the present application, mechanical inspection of the battery module can be achieved by setting a lifting mechanism, a flipping mechanism and an image acquisition mechanism. At the same time, image acquisition of the battery module and appearance defect detection can be achieved in a smaller working area. Moreover, since the detection equipment of the present application does not need to transport the battery module multiple times, it only needs to flip and lift to capture the six-sided images of the battery module at one workstation, so the detection cycle is fast and the detection efficiency is high. In addition, since the detection equipment of the present application occupies a small area, the mechanical mechanism and the visual system are relatively easy to arrange, and the difficulty of introducing the production line is relatively low. At the same time, the cost of production line transformation is low and the transformation speed is fast. In particular, a simple implementation method is provided for image acquisition and appearance defect detection of the six appearance surfaces of the battery module in a smaller working area.

[0012] In some embodiments, the lifting mechanism includes a lifting rod that can be driven by a driving device, and the lifting rod can lift the battery module from below the battery module in the depth direction. In this way, the lifting mechanism can be simply implemented.

[0013] In some embodiments, a support plate is provided at the end of the lifting rod near the battery module, and the support plate is used to support the battery module from below along the depth direction of the battery module, thereby making the lifting of the battery module more stable.

[0014] In some embodiments, a plurality of lifting rods are provided along the longitudinal direction of the battery module, for lifting the battery module from below along the depth direction of the battery module, thereby making the lifting of the battery module more stable.

[0015] In some embodiments, the battery module is supported on a carrier tray; a lifting rod can lift the carrier tray from below to indirectly lift the battery module, or the lifting rod can pass through a through-hole arranged in the carrier tray to lift the battery module. In this way, the lifting mechanism can achieve vertical movement of the battery module in the presence of the carrier tray.

[0016] In some embodiments, the flipping mechanism flips the battery module around its longitudinal central axis, which is the axis in the direction of the central longitudinal side of the four long sides of the battery module. This facilitates a smoother flipping operation of the battery module.

[0017] In some embodiments, the flipping mechanism includes a clamping device for clamping the battery module and a flipping device for flipping the battery module, thereby making it possible to simply implement a flipping mechanism for flipping the battery module.

[0018] In some embodiments, the clamping device includes: two clamping plates for pressing the battery module from its first and second end faces to clamp the battery module; and a movement device for each clamping plate, each movement device including: a slider fixedly connected to the clamping plate; a driving cylinder fixedly connected to the slider to move the slider; and a slide rail for guiding the movement of the slider. This allows for a simple implementation of the clamping device, thereby enabling the flip mechanism to clamp the battery module.

[0019] In some embodiments, the flipping device includes a rotating cylinder that is fixedly connected not only to the slider but also to one of the clamping plates, thereby making it easy to flip the battery module.

[0020] In some embodiments, a photoelectric switch is provided on the slider, and a blocking block for blocking the photoelectric switch is provided on the clamping plate. Thus, the position of the flipping device can be easily determined, thereby achieving flipping of the flipping device in accordance with the angle requirement.

[0021] In some embodiments, the first end surface image acquisition device is configured to include at least one first end surface image acquisition camera, and a first end surface illumination component is configured for the at least one first end surface image acquisition camera, and / or the second end surface image acquisition device is configured to include at least one second end surface image acquisition camera, and a second end surface illumination component is configured for the at least one second end surface image acquisition camera. This simplifies the implementation of the first end surface and second end surface image acquisition devices and improves the quality of the captured images.

[0022] In some embodiments, the first end face and the second end face are the faces of the battery module, respectively, where the wide side and the tall side are located. Each first end face image acquisition camera is equipped with a first end face annular lighting component, and / or each second end face image acquisition camera is equipped with a second end face annular lighting component. This can further improve the quality of the captured images.

[0023] In some embodiments, the second image acquisition device is configured to include at least one second image acquisition camera, and the at least one second image acquisition camera is equipped with a second lighting component, thereby simplifying the implementation of the second image acquisition device and improving the quality of the acquired image.

[0024] In some embodiments, the first and second side surfaces, as well as the third and fourth side surfaces, are surfaces on which the long sides of the battery module are located; the at least one second image acquisition camera comprises a plurality of second image acquisition cameras arranged in a straight line in the direction of the long sides of the battery module; and two second strip lighting components are configured for the plurality of second image acquisition cameras, with the two second strip lighting components being arranged symmetrically about the straight line of the plurality of second image acquisition cameras. This improves the quality of the captured images and reduces equipment costs.

[0025] In some embodiments, the third image acquisition device is configured to include at least one third image acquisition camera, and a third lighting component is configured for the at least one third image acquisition camera, thereby simplifying the implementation of the third image acquisition device and improving the quality of the acquired image.

[0026] In some embodiments, the first and second side surfaces, as well as the third and fourth side surfaces, are surfaces on which the long sides of the battery module are located; the at least one third image acquisition camera comprises a plurality of third image acquisition cameras arranged in a straight line in the direction of the long sides of the battery module; and two third strip lighting components are configured for the plurality of third image acquisition cameras, with the two third strip lighting components being arranged symmetrically about the straight line of the plurality of third image acquisition cameras. This improves the quality of the captured images and reduces equipment costs.

[0027] In some embodiments, the inspection device further includes a control system that is communicatively connected to the lifting mechanism, the flipping mechanism, and the at least one image acquisition mechanism. The control system can thereby control the inspection device and determine whether each exterior surface of the battery module is qualified.

[0028] According to a second aspect, the present application provides a method for detecting the appearance of a battery module using the detection equipment for detecting the appearance of a battery module disclosed in the present application, characterized in that the detection method includes the following steps: using a lifting mechanism to move the battery module from an initial height to a first height; using a first image acquisition mechanism to acquire images of a first end face and a second end face of the battery module; using a lifting mechanism to move the battery module from a first height to a second height; using a second image acquisition mechanism to acquire an image of a first side face of the battery module and using a third image acquisition mechanism to acquire an image of a third side face of the battery module; using a flipping mechanism to flip the battery module for a first time so that the second side face of the battery module and the fourth side face of the battery module respectively; using the second image acquisition mechanism to acquire an image of the second side face of the battery module and using the third image acquisition mechanism to acquire an image of the fourth side face of the battery module; using the flipping mechanism to flip the battery module for a second time so that the first side face of the battery module and the third side face of the battery module respectively; using a lifting mechanism to move the battery module from the second height to the initial height.

[0029] Therefore, by lifting and flipping the battery module, all six exterior surfaces of the battery module can be automatically inspected mechanically. Moreover, since all six exterior surfaces of the battery module can be inspected at a single station, the six-sided appearance inspection of the battery module can be completed in a smaller work area, occupying less space and making it easier to integrate into the production line.

[0030] In some embodiments, the first height is higher than the second height, which can facilitate the installation and arrangement of the flip mechanism.

[0031] In some embodiments, the detection method further includes: before or after the second image acquisition mechanism acquires an image of the first side of the battery module and the third image acquisition mechanism acquires an image of the third side of the battery module, clamping the battery module using the flipping mechanism and lowering the lifting mechanism to at least a height that does not hinder flipping of the battery module. This facilitates flipping of the flipping mechanism.

[0032] In some embodiments, the detection method further comprises: after the battery module is flipped a second time by the flipping mechanism, the lifting mechanism is raised to a second height, and the flipping mechanism is released from the battery module, thereby easily achieving a reset operation of the battery module.

[0033] In some embodiments, the inspection method further includes: before using the lifting mechanism to move the battery module from the initial height to the first height, detecting whether there is a battery module at the inspection station; if there is a battery module, then making the subsequent battery module wait; if there is no battery module, then making the subsequent battery module enter the inspection station. This can facilitate the automation of the inspection equipment and inspection method disclosed in this application.

[0034] In some embodiments, the inspection method further includes: after the lifting mechanism moves the battery module from the second height to the initial height, using a control system to determine whether the images captured by the first image acquisition mechanism, the second image acquisition mechanism, and the third image acquisition mechanism are qualified; if qualified, the battery module is moved to the next station; if unqualified, the battery module is moved to a failed zone. This allows for simple screening of failed battery modules.

[0035] In some embodiments, the detection method further includes: after the battery module is moved from the first height to the second height using the lifting mechanism, first capturing an image of the first side of the battery module using the second image capturing mechanism, and then capturing an image of the third side of the battery module using the third image capturing mechanism. This prevents interference between the different image capturing mechanisms during image capture.

[0036] In some embodiments, the detection method further includes: after the battery module is flipped for the first time using the flipping mechanism, first using the second image capture mechanism to capture an image of the second side of the battery module, and then using the third image capture mechanism to capture an image of the fourth side of the battery module. This prevents interference between the different image capture mechanisms during image capture.

[0037] The above description is only an overview of the technical solution of the present application. In order to more clearly understand the technical means of the present application, it can be implemented in accordance with the contents of the specification. In order to make the above and other purposes, features and advantages of the present application more obvious and easy to understand, the specific implementation methods of the present application are listed below. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] Various other advantages and benefits will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon reading the detailed description of the preferred embodiments below. The accompanying drawings are for illustration purposes only and are not to be construed as limiting the present application. The same reference numerals are used throughout the accompanying drawings to represent the same components.

[0039] FIG1 is a schematic structural diagram of a battery module according to some embodiments of the present application.

[0040] FIG2 is a schematic structural diagram of a detection device for detecting the appearance of a battery module according to some embodiments of the present application.

[0041] FIG3 is a schematic structural diagram of the lifting mechanism of the detection device of FIG2 .

[0042] FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of a flipping mechanism of the detection device of FIG. 2 .

[0043] FIG5 is a partial enlarged view of the detection device of FIG2 showing a portion of the flip mechanism and a portion of the first image acquisition mechanism.

[0044] FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of a second image acquisition mechanism of the detection device of FIG. 2 .

[0045] FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of a third image acquisition mechanism of the detection device of FIG. 2 .

[0046] FIG8 is a schematic diagram of the optical path in FIG6 and FIG7.

[0047] FIG9 is a schematic flowchart of a method for detecting the appearance of a battery module using the detection device of FIG2 in some embodiments of the present application.

[0048] The figure numbers in the specific implementation manner are as follows: battery module 10, first end face 11, second end face 12, first side face 13, second side face 14, third side face 15, fourth side face 16; detection equipment 20; lifting mechanism 100, lifting rod 110, support plate 111, carrying plate 120, through-hole 121; flipping mechanism 200, clamping device 210, clamping plate 211, slider 212, driving cylinder 213, slide rail 214, flipping device 220, photoelectric switch 240; first image acquisition mechanism 300, first end face image acquisition device 310, second end face image acquisition device 320, first end face lighting component 330, second end face lighting component 340; second image acquisition mechanism 400, second image acquisition device 410, second lighting component 420; third image acquisition mechanism 500, third image acquisition device 510, third lighting component 520; detection method 30. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0049] The following embodiments of the technical solution of the present application will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following embodiments are only used to more clearly illustrate the technical solution of the present application and are therefore only examples and are not intended to limit the scope of protection of the present application.

[0050] Unless otherwise defined, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by those skilled in the art to which this application belongs; the terms used herein 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.

[0051] In the description of the embodiments of this application, technical terms such as "first" and "second" are used solely to distinguish different objects and should not be understood to indicate or imply relative importance or to implicitly specify the quantity, specific order, or primary and secondary relationship of the technical features indicated. In the description of the embodiments of this application, "plurality" means more than two, unless otherwise specifically defined.

[0052] References herein to "embodiments" mean that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiments may be included in at least one embodiment of the present application. The appearance of this phrase in various places in the specification does not necessarily refer to the same embodiment, nor does it constitute an independent or alternative embodiment that is mutually exclusive of other embodiments. It is understood, both explicitly and implicitly, by those skilled in the art that the embodiments described herein may be combined with other embodiments.

[0053] In the description of the embodiments of this application, the term "and / or" is simply a description of the association relationship between associated objects, indicating that three relationships can exist. For example, A and / or B can represent the following three situations: A exists alone, A and B exist simultaneously, and B exists alone. In addition, the character " / " in this document generally indicates that the associated objects are in an "or" relationship.

[0054] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the term "multiple" refers to more than two (including two). Similarly, "multiple groups" refers to more than two groups (including two groups), and "multiple pieces" refers to more than two pieces (including two pieces).

[0055] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the technical terms "center", "longitudinal", "lateral", "length", "width", "thickness", "up", "down", "front", "back", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inside", "outside", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", "axial", "radial", "circumferential", etc., indicating the orientation or position relationship, are based on the orientation or position relationship shown in the accompanying drawings, and are only for the convenience of describing the embodiments of the present application and simplifying the description, and do not indicate or imply that the device or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be constructed and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore cannot be understood as a limitation on the embodiments of the present application.

[0056] In the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless otherwise expressly specified or limited, technical terms such as "installed," "connected," "connected," and "fixed" should be understood in a broad sense. For example, they can refer to fixed connections, detachable connections, or integration; mechanical connections or electrical connections; direct connections or indirect connections through an intermediate medium; internal connections between two components or interactions between two components. Those skilled in the art can understand the specific meanings of the above terms in the embodiments of the present application based on specific circumstances.

[0057] Currently, market developments indicate that power batteries are becoming increasingly widely used. Power batteries are not only used in energy storage systems such as hydropower, thermal, wind, and solar power plants, but are also widely used in electric vehicles like electric bicycles, electric motorcycles, and electric vehicles, as well as in military equipment and aerospace. As power battery applications continue to expand, market demand is also growing. The production of the battery modules that comprise power batteries is also increasing year by year. Furthermore, the new energy industry's requirements for power battery quality are becoming increasingly stringent, leading to increasingly sophisticated quality control of battery modules.

[0058] The inventors have noted that the current manual visual inspection of the six-sided appearance of battery modules for various defects (including dirt, scratches, defects, foreign matter, skewed PINs, etc.) is greatly affected by the subjective influence of the inspectors, resulting in poor stability of the inspection results. In addition, if mechanical inspection equipment is to be introduced, since the factory production line layout is fixed at the initial planning stage, if the appearance inspection equipment is too complex, it will lead to high equipment import costs and a long import cycle. Therefore, there is a need for an automatic module appearance inspection device that can meet the needs of module appearance inspection and has a relatively simple equipment structure.

[0059] To this end, the inventors have proposed an inspection device and corresponding inspection method for inspecting the appearance of battery modules. By incorporating a lifting mechanism, a flipping mechanism, and multiple sets of image acquisition mechanisms, images of the six exterior surfaces of a battery module can be captured within a relatively small working area, allowing for inspection of appearance defects.

[0060] Since the detection device can collect six-sided images of the battery module without transferring the battery module multiple times, that is, without continuously transferring the battery module between multiple workstations, the detection device has a fast detection cycle and high detection efficiency.

[0061] Because the inspection equipment occupies a small footprint and its mechanical structure and visual system are relatively easy to deploy, it is relatively easy to integrate into production lines. Therefore, while replacing manual inspections to meet the needs of battery module appearance inspections, this inspection equipment also allows for low-cost and rapid production line retrofits.

[0062] The detection device and corresponding detection method for detecting the appearance of a battery module disclosed in the embodiments of the present application can be used not only to detect the appearance of a battery module, but also to detect the appearance of any object with six appearance surfaces, such as a rectangular object.

[0063] For the convenience of description, the following embodiments are described by taking a battery module 10 according to an embodiment of the present application as an example.

[0064] Please refer to Figure 1, which is a schematic diagram of the structure of a battery module 10 provided in some embodiments of the present application. Battery module 10 has a longitudinal direction, a transverse direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, and a depth direction perpendicular to both the longitudinal direction and the transverse direction. It includes six exterior surfaces: a first end surface 11 and a second end surface 12 opposing each other along the longitudinal direction, a first side surface 13 and a second side surface 14 opposing each other along the depth direction, and a third side surface 15 and a fourth side surface 16 opposing each other along the transverse direction. Battery module 10 may, for example, have a generally rectangular parallelepiped shape.

[0065] Although not shown, the battery module may also include an output PIN and two input / output metal plates. The output PIN can be used to monitor the battery module's temperature. External equipment can be connected to the battery module via the output PIN socket to, for example, monitor the module's temperature. The output PIN can be located on one of the first end face 11 and the second end face 12 of the battery module. The two input / output metal plates can be used for charging and discharging the battery module. The two input / output metal plates can be partially or fully exposed on the left and right sides of the battery module, respectively, and can be viewed from above.

[0066] As mentioned at the beginning of this article, the quality of the battery module determines, to a certain extent, the quality of the equipment in which it is used. Therefore, battery module quality should be appropriately inspected. This inspection can include inspecting the six exterior surfaces of the battery module itself, as well as inspecting the position of one output terminal PIN and detecting surface defects on the two input and output terminal metal sheets. These inspections can all be performed through image inspection of the six exterior surfaces of the battery module.

[0067] According to some embodiments of the present application, referring to FIG. 2 and further referring to FIG. 3 to FIG. 7 , FIG. 3 is a schematic structural diagram of the lifting mechanism 100 of the detection device 20 of FIG. 2 , FIG. 4 is a schematic structural diagram of the flipping mechanism 200 of the detection device 20 of FIG. 2 , FIG. 5 is a partially enlarged view of the detection device 20 of FIG. 2 showing a portion of the flipping mechanism 200 and a portion of the first image acquisition mechanism 300 , FIG. 6 is a schematic structural diagram of the second image acquisition mechanism 400 of the detection device 20 of FIG. 2 , and FIG. 7 is a schematic structural diagram of the third image acquisition mechanism 500 of the detection device 20 of FIG. The present application provides a detection device 20 for detecting the appearance of, for example, the battery module 10 of FIG. The detection device 20 may include: at least one image acquisition mechanism, a lifting mechanism 100, and a flipping mechanism 200.

[0068] The at least one image capture mechanism can be configured to capture images of the first and second end faces 11, 12, and / or the first and second side faces 13, 14, and / or the third and fourth side faces 15, 16 of the battery module 10. The lifting mechanism 100 can vertically move the battery module 10, allowing the battery module 10 to reside at a height different from its initial height. The flipping mechanism 200 can flip the battery module 10.

[0069] The lifting mechanism 100 can raise or lower the battery module 10, thereby enabling the battery module 10 to be moved from an initial height to other different heights. At different heights, the at least one image acquisition mechanism and the flipping mechanism 200 can be used to detect the first end face 11 and the second end face 12 and / or the first side face 13 and the second side face 14 and / or the third side face 15 and the fourth side face 16 of the battery module 10. The at least one image acquisition mechanism, the lifting mechanism 100 and the flipping mechanism 200 can be controlled by a control system (which will be described below), and the at least one image acquisition mechanism can directly send the image to the control system after image detection. The control system can use the corresponding detection model to perform image analysis to determine whether the corresponding appearance surface of the battery module 10 is qualified.

[0070] This enables machine-based inspection of the appearance of the battery module 10. In particular, when the battery module 10 arrives at the inspection station shown in FIG2 , the inspection device 20 can be used to automatically inspect the appearance of the battery module 10. Moreover, since the six exterior surfaces of the battery module 10 can be inspected at one station, the six-sided appearance inspection of the battery module can be achieved in a smaller work area, occupying a small area, and thus the difficulty of introducing it into the production line is relatively low. The inspection device 20 can be directly modified above the original assembly line, does not require too much additional space on both sides of the assembly line, occupies a small space, is fast to modify, and has a fast inspection cycle.

[0071] According to some embodiments of the present application, the at least one image acquisition mechanism may optionally include a first image acquisition mechanism 300, a second image acquisition mechanism 400, and a third image acquisition mechanism 500. The first image acquisition mechanism 300 may include a first end surface image acquisition device 310 for acquiring an image of the first end surface 11 of the battery module 10 and a second end surface image acquisition device 320 for acquiring an image of the second end surface 12 of the battery module 10. The second image acquisition mechanism 400 may include a second image acquisition device 410 for acquiring images of the first side surface 13 and the second side surface 14. The third image acquisition mechanism 500 may include a third image acquisition device 510 for acquiring images of the third side surface 15 and the fourth side surface 16. In this case, the lifting mechanism 100 can enable the battery module 10 to remain at at least two heights different from the initial height. At a first height, the first end surface image capturing device 310 can capture an image of the first end surface 11, and the second end surface image capturing device 320 can capture an image of the second end surface 12. At a second height, the second image capturing device 410 can capture images of the first side surface 13 and the second side surface 14, and the third image capturing device 510 can capture images of the third side surface 15 and the fourth side surface 16. The flipping mechanism 200 can flip the battery module 10 so that the first side surface 13 or the second side surface 14 of the battery module 10 and the third side surface 15 or the fourth side surface 16 of the battery module 10 face the second image capturing mechanism 400 and the third image capturing mechanism 500, respectively.

[0072] That is, at a first height, the first image capture mechanism 300 can capture images of the first end face 11 and the second end face 12 of the battery module 10 using the first end face image capture device 310 and the second end face image capture device 320, respectively. At a second height, the second image capture mechanism 400 can capture images of the first side face 13 of the battery module 10 using the second image capture device 410, and the third image capture mechanism 500 can capture images of the third side face 15 of the battery module 10 using the third image capture device 510. Then, the flipping mechanism 200 can flip the battery module 10 180 degrees, so that the first side face 13 or the second side face 14 of the battery module 10 and the third side face 15 or the fourth side face 16 of the battery module 10 face the second image capture mechanism 400 and the third image capture mechanism 500, respectively. Next, the second image capture mechanism 400 can capture images of the second side face 14 of the battery module 10 using the second image capture device 410, and the third image capture mechanism 500 can capture images of the fourth side face 16 of the battery module 10 using the third image capture device 510.

[0073] This provides a simple implementation method for image acquisition and appearance defect detection on the six appearance surfaces of the battery module in a smaller working area.

[0074] According to some embodiments of the present application, optionally, with particular reference to Figures 2 and 3, the lifting mechanism 100 may include a lifting rod 110 driven by a driving device, the lifting rod 110 being capable of lifting the battery module 10 from below in the depth direction of the battery module 10. In this regard, the lifting rod 110 may be located below the battery module 10. The driving device may be configured as a driving cylinder.

[0075] In this way, the lifting mechanism 100 can be easily realized.

[0076] According to some embodiments of the present application, optionally, particularly with reference to FIG. 3 , a support plate 111 may be provided at the end of the lifting rod 110 close to the battery module 10 for supporting the battery module 10 from below along the depth direction of the battery module 10 .

[0077] This allows the battery module 10 to be raised and lowered more smoothly.

[0078] According to some embodiments of the present application, and particularly with reference to FIG3 , multiple lifting rods 110 may optionally be provided along the longitudinal direction of the battery module 10 to lift and lower the battery module 10 from below along the depth direction of the battery module 10. In the embodiment of FIG3 , two lifting rods 110 are provided. Of course, it is also conceivable that multiple lifting rods 110 may also be provided along the width direction of the rectangular battery module 10.

[0079] This allows the battery module 10 to be raised and lowered more smoothly.

[0080] According to some embodiments of the present application, optionally, with particular reference to FIG3 , the battery module 10 may be carried on a carrier tray 120. The lifting rods 110 may lift the carrier tray 120 from below to indirectly lift the battery module 10, or the lifting rods 110 may pass through a through-hole 121 disposed in the carrier tray 120 to lift the battery module 10.

[0081] In a factory production line, the carrier tray 120 can be used to carry the battery module 10 so as to transfer the battery module 10 to various workstations. Therefore, this embodiment can realize the vertical movement of the battery module 10 by the lifting mechanism 100 in the presence of the carrier tray 120.

[0082] According to some embodiments of the present application, optionally, particularly with reference to FIG. 2 and FIG. 4 , the flipping mechanism 200 can flip the battery module 10 around the central long axis of the battery module 10 along the longitudinal direction.

[0083] Here, the central long axis of the battery module 10 refers to an axis in the direction of the central long side of the four long sides of the battery module 10 .

[0084] Therefore, this embodiment is conducive to making the flipping operation of the battery module 10 more stable.

[0085] According to some embodiments of the present application, optionally, particularly with reference to FIG. 4 and FIG. 5 , the flipping mechanism 200 may include a clamping device 210 for clamping the battery module 10 and a flipping device 220 for flipping the battery module 10 .

[0086] In this way, the turning mechanism 200 for turning the battery module 10 can be easily realized.

[0087] According to some embodiments of the present application, optionally, with particular reference to Figures 4 and 5 , the clamping device 210 may include two clamping plates 211 for pressing the battery module 10 from the first end face 11 and the second end face 12 of the battery module 10, thereby clamping the battery module 10. The clamping device 210 may also include two moving devices, one for each of the clamping plates 211. Each moving device may include: a slider 212 fixedly connected to one of the clamping plates 211; a driving cylinder 213 fixedly connected to the slider 212 to move the slider 212; and a slide rail 214 for guiding the movement of the slider 212. When extended, the driving cylinder 213 can drive the two clamping plates 211 to clamp the battery module 10. In this regard, to prevent the battery module 10 from disengaging during rotation, the two clamping plates 211 may be provided with support bars at the bottom and top to prevent the battery module 10 from falling.

[0088] In this way, the clamping device 210 can be simply realized, thereby enabling the flipping mechanism 200 to clamp the battery module 10 .

[0089] According to some embodiments of the present application, optionally, particularly with reference to Figures 4 and 5 , the turning device 220 may include a turning cylinder. The turning cylinder is fixedly connected to the slider 212 on one hand, and to one of the clamping plates 211 on the other hand.

[0090] In this way, the battery module 10 can be easily flipped by the flipping mechanism 200 .

[0091] According to some embodiments of the present application, and particularly with reference to Figures 4 and 5 , a photoelectric switch 240 may optionally be provided on the slider 212, and a blocking block for shielding the photoelectric switch 240 may be provided on the clamping plate 211. When the clamping plate 211 rotates, the blocking block triggers a signal from the photoelectric switch, thereby enabling the rotational position of the clamping plate 211 to be determined based on the signal from the photoelectric switch. In this regard, a photoelectric switch 240 may be provided on each side of the slider 212.

[0092] Thus, the photoelectric switch can be used to control the rotary cylinder, so that the turning device 220 can be turned easily to meet the angle requirements, such as 180 degrees.

[0093] According to some embodiments of the present application, optionally, with particular reference to Figures 2 and 5, the first end-face image acquisition device 310 can be configured as at least one first end-face image acquisition camera (two in the embodiment of Figure 2), and a first end-face illumination component 330 can be provided for the at least one first end-face image acquisition camera. Similarly, the second end-face image acquisition device 320 can also be configured as at least one second end-face image acquisition camera (two in the embodiment of Figure 2), and a second end-face illumination component 340 can be provided for the at least one second end-face image acquisition camera. In this regard, the image of the first end face 11 or the second end face 12 of the battery module 10 can be stitched together from images captured by the various end-face image acquisition cameras. In particular, the various end-face image acquisition cameras can be area array cameras. In addition, the module PIN pins are oriented toward the end face, and defects such as skewed or damaged PIN pins can be detected and determined using the end-face images.

[0094] In this way, the second end surface and the first end surface image capturing device can be realized simply and the quality of the captured image can be improved.

[0095] According to some embodiments of the present application, optionally, in particular with reference to Figures 2 and 5, when the first end face 11 and the second end face 12 are the faces where the wide side and the high side of the battery module 10 are located, a first end face annular lighting component can be respectively configured for each first end face image acquisition camera, and a second end face annular lighting component can be respectively configured for each second end face image acquisition camera.

[0096] Since the areas of the first end surface 11 and the second end surface 12 are relatively small, fewer acquisition cameras can be used to acquire the images. Therefore, each acquisition camera is configured with a corresponding annular lighting component, which can further improve the quality of the acquired images.

[0097] According to some embodiments of the present application, and particularly with reference to Figures 2 and 6 , the second image capture device 410 may optionally be configured as at least one second image capture camera, and the at least one second image capture camera may be equipped with a second lighting component 420. In this regard, an image of the first side 13 or the second side 14 of the battery module 10 may be stitched together from images captured by the various second image capture cameras. In particular, each second image capture camera may be an area array camera.

[0098] In this way, the second image acquisition device can be realized simply and the quality of the acquired image can be improved.

[0099] According to some embodiments of the present application, optionally, in particular with reference to Figures 2 and 6, when the first side 13 and the second side 14 as well as the third side 15 and the fourth side 16 are the surfaces where the long sides of the battery module 10 are located, the at least one second image acquisition camera may include a plurality of second image acquisition cameras (three second image acquisition cameras in the embodiment of Figure 6) arranged in a straight line in the direction of the long side of the battery module 10; and two second strip lighting components are configured for the plurality of second image acquisition cameras, and the two second strip lighting components are arranged symmetrically about the straight line of the plurality of second image acquisition cameras so that the illumination light converges to the first side 13 or the second side 14.

[0100] This can improve the quality of the acquired images and save equipment costs.

[0101] According to some embodiments of the present application, and particularly with reference to Figures 2 and 7 , the third image capture device 510 may optionally be configured as at least one third image capture camera, and the at least one third image capture camera may be equipped with a third lighting component 520. In this regard, an image of the third side surface 15 or the fourth side surface 16 of the battery module 10 may be stitched together from images captured by each of the third image capture cameras. In particular, each of the third image capture cameras may be an area array camera.

[0102] In this way, the third image acquisition device can be realized simply and the quality of the acquired image can be improved.

[0103] According to some embodiments of the present application, optionally, in particular with reference to Figures 2 and 7, when the first side 13 and the second side 14 and the third side 15 and the fourth side 16 are the surfaces where the long sides of the battery module 10 are located, the at least one third image acquisition camera may include a plurality of third image acquisition cameras (three third image acquisition cameras in the embodiment of Figure 7) arranged in a straight line in the direction of the long side of the battery module 10; and two third strip lighting components are configured for the plurality of third image acquisition cameras, and the two third strip lighting components are arranged symmetrically about the straight line of the plurality of third image acquisition cameras so that the illumination light converges to the third side 15 or the fourth side 16.

[0104] As shown in FIG8 , two strip-shaped second lighting components 420 can be arranged symmetrically about the line of the second image capture device 410, or two strip-shaped third lighting components 520 can be arranged symmetrically about the line of the third image capture device 510. In this way, the illumination light from the second lighting component 420 or the third lighting component 520 can be focused on a surface of the battery module 10 captured by the corresponding image capture device, allowing the second image capture device 410 or the third image capture device 510 to capture images of better quality.

[0105] This can improve the quality of the acquired images and save equipment costs.

[0106] According to some embodiments of the present application, the detection device may optionally further include a control system, which may be communicatively connected to the lifting mechanism 100 , the flipping mechanism 200 , and the at least one image acquisition mechanism.

[0107] The control system may be implemented as any type of computing device, computing circuit, or any type of processor or processing circuit capable of executing a series of instructions stored in a memory. The control system may include multiple processors and / or multi-core central processing units (CPUs) and may include any type of processor, such as a microprocessor, a digital signal processor, a microcontroller, etc. The control system may also include a memory to store data and / or algorithms to execute a series of instructions. The control system may also be implemented as a computer program product or software product.

[0108] The control system can be used to control the lifting mechanism 100 and the flipping mechanism 200, thereby lifting and flipping the battery module 10. Furthermore, the control system can analyze the images captured by the at least one image acquisition mechanism (including the first image acquisition mechanism 300, the second image acquisition mechanism 400, and the third image acquisition mechanism 500) and determine whether the corresponding external surfaces of the battery module 10 are qualified. Specifically, the control system can use corresponding inspection models to identify whether each external surface of the battery module 10 has defects (such as damage, scratches, pits, foreign matter, skewed PIN pins, etc.) and, based on the inspection results, transport the inspected battery modules 10 to the next process step or to a rejected area on the assembly line.

[0109] According to some embodiments of the present application, referring to FIG. 2 to FIG. 7 , the present application provides a detection device 20 for detecting the appearance of a battery module 10 .

[0110] The inspection device 20 includes a lifting mechanism 100. The lifting mechanism 100 is capable of vertically moving the battery module 10, allowing the battery module 10 to rest at at least two heights different from its initial height. The lifting mechanism 100 may include two lifting rods 110, which are arranged along the long sides of the rectangular battery module 10 and can be driven by a drive device. Each lifting rod 110 is capable of raising and lowering the battery module 10 from below. A support plate 111 is provided at the end of each lifting rod 110 near the battery module 10.

[0111] The detection device 20 also includes a flipping mechanism 200. The flipping mechanism 200 is capable of flipping the battery module 10 around the central long axis of the battery module 10. The flipping mechanism 200 may include a clamping device 210 for clamping the battery module 10 and a flipping device 220 for flipping the battery module 10. The clamping device 210 includes: two clamping plates 211 for pushing the battery module 10 from the first end face 11 and the second end face 12 of the battery module 10 to clamp the battery module 10; and two moving devices respectively for one of the clamping plates 211, each moving device including: a slider 212 fixedly connected to one of the clamping plates 211; a driving cylinder 213 fixedly connected to the slider 212 to move the slider 212; and a slide rail 214 for guiding the movement of the slider 212.

[0112] The detection device 20 also includes a first image acquisition mechanism 300. The first image acquisition mechanism 300 is capable of acquiring images of the first end face 11 and the second end face 12 of the battery module 10, and includes two first end face image acquisition cameras for acquiring images of the first end face 11 of the battery module 10, and two second end face image acquisition cameras for acquiring images of the second end face 12 of the battery module 10; each acquisition camera is configured with a corresponding annular lighting component.

[0113] The inspection device 20 also includes a second image acquisition mechanism 400. The second image acquisition mechanism 400 is capable of acquiring images of the first side 13 and the second side 14 of the battery module 10 and includes three second image acquisition cameras arranged in a straight line for acquiring images of the first side 13 and the second side 14; and the three second image acquisition cameras are equipped with two strip lighting components arranged symmetrically about the line of the three second image acquisition cameras.

[0114] The inspection device 20 also includes a third image acquisition mechanism 500. The third image acquisition mechanism 500 is capable of acquiring images of the third side surface 15 and the fourth side surface 16 of the battery module 10 and includes three third image acquisition cameras arranged in a straight line for acquiring images of the third side surface 15 and the fourth side surface 16; and the three third image acquisition cameras are equipped with two strip lighting components arranged symmetrically about the line of the three third image acquisition cameras.

[0115] The detection device further includes a control system, which is communicatively connected to the lifting mechanism 100 , the flipping mechanism 200 , the first image acquisition mechanism 300 , the second image acquisition mechanism 400 and the third image acquisition mechanism 500 .

[0116] According to some embodiments of the present application, referring to FIG. 9 , the present application provides a method 30 for detecting the appearance of a battery module 10 using the detection device disclosed in the present application.

[0117] In step S1 , the lifting mechanism 100 may be used to move the battery module 10 from an initial height to a first height.

[0118] In step S2 , the first image acquisition mechanism 300 may be used to acquire images of the first end surface 11 and the second end surface 12 of the battery module 10 .

[0119] In step S3 , the lifting mechanism 100 may be used to move the battery module 10 from the first height to the second height.

[0120] In step S4 , the second image acquisition mechanism 400 may be used to acquire an image of the first side surface 13 of the battery module 10 , and the third image acquisition mechanism 500 may be used to acquire an image of the third side surface 15 of the battery module 10 .

[0121] In step S5 , the flipping mechanism 200 can be used to flip the battery module 10 for the first time, for example, 180 degrees, so that the second side surface 14 of the battery module 10 and the fourth side surface 16 of the battery module 10 face the second image acquisition mechanism 400 and the third image acquisition mechanism 500 respectively.

[0122] In step S6 , the second image acquisition mechanism 400 may be used to acquire an image of the second side surface 14 of the battery module 10 , and the third image acquisition mechanism 500 may be used to acquire an image of the fourth side surface 16 of the battery module 10 .

[0123] In step S7 , the flipping mechanism 200 can be used to flip the battery module 10 a second time, for example, 180 degrees, so that the first side surface 13 of the battery module 10 and the third side surface 15 of the battery module 10 face the second image acquisition mechanism 400 and the third image acquisition mechanism 500 respectively.

[0124] In step S8 , the lifting mechanism 100 may be used to move the battery module 10 from the second height to the initial height.

[0125] Therefore, by lifting and flipping the battery module 10, the six external surfaces of the battery module 10 can be mechanically and automatically inspected. Moreover, because all six external surfaces of the battery module 10 can be inspected at a single station, the six-side appearance inspection of the battery module can be completed in a smaller work area, occupying less space and making it easier to integrate into the production line.

[0126] According to some embodiments of the present application, optionally, the first height may be higher than the second height.

[0127] Thus, the turning mechanism 200 can be located at a lower position, which can facilitate the installation and arrangement of the turning mechanism 200 .

[0128] According to some embodiments of the present application, optionally, the detection method may also include: before or after using the second image acquisition mechanism 400 to capture the image of the first side 13 of the battery module 10 and using the third image acquisition mechanism 500 to capture the image of the third side 15 of the battery module 10, using the flipping mechanism 200 to clamp the battery module 10, and lowering the lifting mechanism 100 to at least a height that will not hinder the flipping of the battery module 10.

[0129] Thus, the turning operation of the turning mechanism 200 can be easily achieved.

[0130] According to some embodiments of the present application, optionally, the detection method may further include: after the battery module 10 is flipped a second time by the flipping mechanism 200 , raising the lifting mechanism 100 to a second height, and releasing the battery module 10 by the flipping mechanism 200 .

[0131] In this way, the battery module 10 can be easily reset.

[0132] According to some embodiments of the present application, optionally, the detection method may also include: before using the lifting mechanism 100 to move the battery module 10 from the initial height to the first height, detecting whether there is a battery module 10 on the detection station; if there is a battery module 10, making the subsequent battery module 10 wait; if there is no battery module 10, making the subsequent battery module 10 enter the detection station.

[0133] This can facilitate the automated implementation of the detection device 20 and the detection method 30 .

[0134] According to some embodiments of the present application, optionally, the detection method may also include: after using the lifting mechanism 100 to move the battery module 10 from the second height to the initial height, using the control system to determine whether the captured images of the first image acquisition mechanism 300, the second image acquisition mechanism 400 and the third image acquisition mechanism 500 are qualified; if qualified, the battery module 10 is moved to the next workstation; if unqualified, the battery module 10 is moved to the unqualified area.

[0135] This makes it easy to screen out unqualified battery modules.

[0136] According to some embodiments of the present application, optionally, the detection method may also include: after using the lifting mechanism 100 to move the battery module 10 from the first height to the second height, first using the second image acquisition mechanism 400 to capture the image of the first side 13 of the battery module 10, and then using the third image acquisition mechanism 500 to capture the image of the third side 15 of the battery module 10.

[0137] This can prevent different image acquisition devices from interfering with each other during image acquisition.

[0138] According to some embodiments of the present application, optionally, the detection method may also include: after the battery module 10 is flipped for the first time using the flipping mechanism 200, first using the second image acquisition mechanism 400 to capture an image of the second side 14 of the battery module 10, and then using the third image acquisition mechanism 500 to capture an image of the fourth side 16 of the battery module 10.

[0139] This can prevent different image acquisition devices from interfering with each other during image acquisition.

[0140] According to some embodiments of the present application, with reference to FIG9 , the present application provides a method 30 for inspecting the appearance of a battery module 10 using the inspection apparatus disclosed herein. In this inspection method 20, when the battery module 10 arrives at the inspection station, the battery module 10 is raised from an initial height to a first height using a lifting mechanism 100. Then, the first image capture mechanism 300 uses a first end surface image capture device 310 and a second end surface image capture device 320 to capture images of the first end surface 11 and the second end surface 12 of the battery module 10, respectively. Next, the lifting mechanism 100 is used to lower the battery module 10 from the first height to a second height. The flipping mechanism 200 then clamps the battery module 10 and lowers the lifting mechanism 100 to a height that does not hinder flipping of the battery module 10. Finally, the second image capture mechanism 400 captures an image of the first side surface 13 of the battery module 10, and the third image capture mechanism 500 captures an image of the third side surface 15 of the battery module 10. Next, the flipping mechanism 200 flips the battery module 10 180 degrees for the first time. The second image capture mechanism 400 captures an image of the second side 14 of the battery module 10, and the third image capture mechanism 500 captures an image of the fourth side 16 of the battery module 10. The flipping mechanism 200 then flips the battery module 10 a second time 180 degrees. The lifting mechanism 100 then rises to a second height and releases the flipping mechanism 200 from the battery module 10. The lifting mechanism 100 then moves the battery module 10 from the second height to the initial height. The control system then determines whether the images captured by the first, second, and third image capture mechanisms 300, 400, and 500 are acceptable. If acceptable, the battery module 10 proceeds to the next workstation. If unacceptable, the battery module 10 is moved to the unacceptable zone.

[0141] Finally, it should be noted that the above embodiments are only used to illustrate the technical solutions of the present application, rather than to limit them. Although the present application has been described in detail with reference to the aforementioned embodiments, those skilled in the art should understand that they can still modify the technical solutions described in the aforementioned embodiments, or make equivalent replacements for some or all of the technical features therein. These modifications or replacements do not deviate the essence of the corresponding technical solutions from the scope of the technical solutions of the embodiments of the present application, and they should all be included in the scope of the claims and specification of the present application. In particular, as long as there is no structural conflict, the various technical features mentioned in the various embodiments can be combined in any way. The present application is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed herein, but includes all technical solutions that fall within the scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A detection device for detecting the appearance of a battery module, the battery module (10) having a longitudinal direction, a transverse direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction, and a depth direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction and perpendicular to the transverse direction, comprising a first end face (11) and a second end face (12) opposite to each other in the longitudinal direction, a first side face (13) and a second side face (14) opposite to each other in the depth direction, and a third side face (15) and a fourth side face (16) opposite to each other in the transverse direction, The detection device (20) comprises: A lifting mechanism (100), the lifting mechanism (100) being capable of moving the battery module (10) in a vertical direction so that the battery module (10) can stay at a height different from an initial height; A flipping mechanism (200), wherein the flipping mechanism (200) is capable of flipping the battery module (10); A first image acquisition mechanism (300), the first image acquisition mechanism (300) comprising a first end surface image acquisition device (310) for acquiring an image of a first end surface (11) of the battery module (10) and a second end surface image acquisition device (320) for acquiring an image of a second end surface (12) of the battery module (10); A second image acquisition mechanism (400), the second image acquisition mechanism (400) comprising a second image acquisition device (410) for acquiring images of the first side surface (13) and the second side surface (14); A third image acquisition mechanism (500), the third image acquisition mechanism (500) comprising a third image acquisition device (510) for acquiring images of the third side surface (15) and the fourth side surface (16); The lifting mechanism (100) is capable of causing the battery module (10) to stay at at least two heights different from an initial height, wherein at a first height, a first end surface image acquisition device (310) acquires an image of a first end surface (11), and a second end surface image acquisition device (320) acquires an image of a second end surface (12), and at a second height, a second image acquisition device (410) acquires images of a first side surface (13) and a second side surface (14), and a third image acquisition device (510) acquires images of a third side surface (15) and a fourth side surface (16); and The flipping mechanism (200) is capable of flipping the battery module (10) so that the first side surface (13) or the second side surface (14) of the battery module (10) and the third side surface (15) or the fourth side surface (16) of the battery module (10) face the second image acquisition mechanism (400) and the third image acquisition mechanism (500), respectively.

2. The detection device according to claim 1, wherein: The lifting mechanism (100) comprises a lifting rod (110) which can be driven by a driving device, and the lifting rod (110) can lift the battery module (10) from below the battery module (10) in the depth direction.

3. The detection device according to claim 2, wherein: A support plate (111) is provided at the end of the lifting rod (110) close to the battery module (10), and the support plate (111) is used to support the battery module (10) from below the battery module (10) in the depth direction.

4. The detection device according to claim 2, wherein: A plurality of lifting rods (110) are arranged along the longitudinal direction of the battery module (10) and are used to lift the battery module (10) from below the battery module (10) along the depth direction.

5. The detection device according to claim 2, wherein: The battery module (10) is carried on a carrying plate (120); The lifting rod (110) can lift the carrying plate (120) from below the carrying plate (120) to indirectly lift the battery module (10), or the lifting rod (110) can pass through a through hole (121) arranged in the carrying plate (120) to lift the battery module (10).

6. The detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: The flipping mechanism (200) flips the battery module (10) around the central long axis of the battery module (10) in the longitudinal direction, wherein the central long axis is an axis in the direction of the central long side of the four long sides of the battery module (10).

7. The detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: The flipping mechanism (200) comprises a clamping device (210) for clamping the battery module (10) and a flipping device (220) for flipping the battery module (10).

8. The detection device according to claim 7, wherein: The clamping device (210) comprises: two clamping plates (211) for pushing the battery module (10) from a first end face (11) and a second end face (12) of the battery module (10) to clamp the battery module (10); and A moving device is respectively used for each clamping plate (211), each moving device comprising: a slider (212) fixedly connected to the clamping plate (211); a driving cylinder (213) fixedly connected to the slider (212) to move the slider (212); and a slide rail (214) for guiding the slider (212) to move.

9. The detection device according to claim 8, wherein: The turning device (220) comprises a rotating cylinder which is not only fixedly connected to the slide block (212) but also fixedly connected to one of the clamping plates (211).

10. The detection device according to claim 9, wherein: A photoelectric switch (240) is arranged on the slider (212), and a shielding block for shielding the photoelectric switch (240) is arranged on the clamping plate (211).

11. The detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: The first end surface image acquisition device (310) is constructed to include at least one first end surface image acquisition camera, and a first end surface lighting component (330) is configured for the at least one first end surface image acquisition camera, and / or The second end surface image acquisition device (320) is constructed to include at least one second end surface image acquisition camera, and a second end surface lighting component (340) is configured for the at least one second end surface image acquisition camera.

12. The detection device according to claim 11, wherein: The first end face (11) and the second end face (12) are the faces where the wide side and the high side of the battery module (10) are located, and a first end face annular lighting component is respectively configured for each first end face image acquisition camera, and / or a second end face annular lighting component is respectively configured for each second end face image acquisition camera.

13. The detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: The second image acquisition device (410) is constructed to include at least one second image acquisition camera, and a second lighting component (420) is configured for the at least one second image acquisition camera.

14. The detection device according to claim 13, wherein: The first side surface (13) and the second side surface (14) as well as the third side surface (15) and the fourth side surface (16) are surfaces where the long sides of the battery module (10) are located; the at least one second image acquisition camera comprises a plurality of second image acquisition cameras arranged in a straight line in the direction of the long sides of the battery module (10); two second strip-shaped lighting components are configured for the plurality of second image acquisition cameras, and the two second strip-shaped lighting components are arranged symmetrically about the straight line of the plurality of second image acquisition cameras.

15. The detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: The third image acquisition device (510) is constructed to include at least one third image acquisition camera, and a third lighting component (520) is configured for the at least one third image acquisition camera.

16. The detection device according to claim 15, wherein: The first side surface (13) and the second side surface (14) as well as the third side surface (15) and the fourth side surface (16) are surfaces where the long sides of the battery module (10) are located; the at least one third image acquisition camera comprises a plurality of third image acquisition cameras arranged in a straight line in the direction of the long sides of the battery module (10); two third strip-shaped lighting components are configured for the plurality of third image acquisition cameras, and the two third strip-shaped lighting components are arranged symmetrically about the straight line of the plurality of third image acquisition cameras.

17. The detection device according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein: The detection device also includes a control system, which is respectively communicatively connected with the lifting mechanism (100), the turning mechanism (200) and the at least one image acquisition mechanism.

18. A method for detecting the appearance of a battery module (10) using the detection device for detecting the appearance of a battery module according to any one of claims 1 to 17, the detection method comprising the following steps: Using a lifting mechanism (100) to move the battery module (10) from an initial height to a first height; Using a first image acquisition mechanism (300) to acquire images of a first end surface (11) and a second end surface (12) of a battery module (10); Using a lifting mechanism (100) to move the battery module (10) from a first height to a second height; Using a second image acquisition mechanism (400) to acquire an image of a first side surface (13) of the battery module (10) and using a third image acquisition mechanism (500) to acquire an image of a third side surface (15) of the battery module (10); Using the flipping mechanism (200) to flip the battery module (10) for the first time, so that the second side surface (14) of the battery module (10) and the fourth side surface (16) of the battery module (10) face the second image acquisition mechanism (400) and the third image acquisition mechanism (500), respectively; Using a second image acquisition mechanism (400) to acquire an image of a second side surface (14) of the battery module (10) and using a third image acquisition mechanism (500) to acquire an image of a fourth side surface (16) of the battery module (10); Using the flipping mechanism (200) to flip the battery module (10) for a second time, so that the first side surface (13) of the battery module (10) and the third side surface (15) of the battery module (10) face the second image acquisition mechanism (400) and the third image acquisition mechanism (500), respectively; The battery module (10) is moved from the second height to the initial height using a lifting mechanism (100).

19. The detection method according to claim 18, wherein: The first height is higher than the second height.

20. The detection method according to claim 18 or 19, wherein: The detection method further comprises: before or after using the second image acquisition mechanism (400) to acquire an image of the first side surface (13) of the battery module (10) and using the third image acquisition mechanism (500) to acquire an image of the third side surface (15) of the battery module (10), using the flipping mechanism (200) to clamp the battery module (10), and causing the lifting mechanism (100) to at least descend to a height that will not hinder flipping of the battery module (10).

21. The detection method according to claim 18 or 19, wherein: The detection method further comprises: after the battery module (10) is flipped for the second time using the flipping mechanism (200), the lifting mechanism (100) is raised to a second height, and the flipping mechanism (200) releases the battery module (10).

22. The detection method according to claim 18 or 19, wherein: The detection method further comprises: before using the lifting mechanism (100) to move the battery module (10) from the initial height to the first height, detecting whether there is a battery module (10) at the detection station; if there is a battery module (10), making the subsequent battery module (10) wait; if there is no battery module (10), making the subsequent battery module (10) enter the detection station.

23. The detection method according to claim 18 or 19, wherein: The detection method further comprises: after using the lifting mechanism (100) to move the battery module (10) from the second height to the initial height, using a control system to determine whether the images captured by the first image acquisition mechanism (300), the second image acquisition mechanism (400) and the third image acquisition mechanism (500) are qualified; if qualified, the battery module (10) is moved to the next workstation; if unqualified, the battery module (10) is moved to an unqualified area.

24. The detection method according to claim 18 or 19, wherein: The detection method further comprises: after using the lifting mechanism (100) to move the battery module (10) from a first height to a second height, first using the second image acquisition mechanism (400) to acquire an image of a first side surface (13) of the battery module (10), and then using the third image acquisition mechanism (500) to acquire an image of a third side surface (15) of the battery module (10).

25. The detection method according to claim 18 or 19, wherein: The detection method further comprises: after the battery module (10) is flipped for the first time using the flipping mechanism (200), firstly using the second image acquisition mechanism (400) to acquire an image of the second side surface (14) of the battery module (10), and then using the third image acquisition mechanism (500) to acquire an image of the fourth side surface (16) of the battery module (10).

Images