Battery cell appearance inspection device

Abstract

A battery cell appearance inspection device, comprising a feeding assembly (1), an inspection assembly (3), and a clamping assembly (4). The feeding assembly (1) is used for transporting a battery cell (5) to an inspection position. The inspection assembly (3) is movably disposed at the inspection position in the direction of extension of the battery cell (5). The inspection assembly (3) simultaneously inspects two adjacent side surfaces of the battery cell (5). The clamping assembly (4) has a flipping function and is disposed at the inspection position, receives the battery cell transported by the feeding assembly (1), and drives the battery cell to flip along an axis so as to change an inspection surface of the battery cell.

Description

Battery cell appearance inspection device

[0001] CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

[0002] This disclosure claims priority to a Chinese patent application filed with the Patent Office of China on December 26, 2023, with application number 202323584782.1 and titled “Battery Cell Appearance Inspection Device,” the entire contents of which are incorporated by reference into this disclosure. Technical Field

[0003] The present disclosure relates to the technical field of battery cell detection, and in particular, to a battery cell appearance detection device. Background Art

[0004] Battery cells are intermediate products of various lithium-ion battery types. Through the packing process, they can be assembled into batteries of varying specifications, such as those for electric bicycles and electric cars. Because the outer shell of a battery cell is a relatively soft composite material, many quality issues can be seen in its appearance after production. Therefore, during the production process, the appearance of the battery cells must be photographed and inspected. However, related technologies either use only a single camera, which is inexpensive but requires multiple inspections, resulting in low efficiency; or use four cameras, which is efficient but costly and cannot meet current usage requirements.

[0005] Summary of the Invention

[0006] The purpose of the present disclosure is to provide a battery cell appearance inspection device, which can solve the above technical problems.

[0007] In order to achieve the above-mentioned purpose, the present disclosure provides a battery cell appearance inspection device, comprising: a loading assembly, used to transport the battery cell to an inspection position; a detection assembly, which can be movably arranged at the inspection position along the extension direction of the battery cell, and the detection assembly can simultaneously detect two adjacent side surfaces of the battery cell; and a clamping assembly with a flipping function, which is arranged at the inspection position, for receiving the battery cell transported by the loading assembly and driving the battery cell to flip along the axis to replace the inspection surface of the battery cell.

[0008] Optionally, the detection component has an initial position and a stop position after completing one detection, and the detection component can reciprocate between the initial position and the stop position so that the detection component can perform a second detection on the battery cell when it resets from the stop position to the initial position.

[0009] Optionally, the detection component can be rotatably arranged at the detection position along the circumferential direction of the battery core, and the detection component and the clamping component can be flipped simultaneously.

[0010] Optionally, the flipping directions of the clamping assembly and the detection assembly are opposite and the flipping angles of both are 90°.

[0011] Optionally, the detection assembly includes a first drive module, a mounting plate, a detection member, an arc-shaped guide rail, an arc-shaped slider and a first drive device, the first drive module extends in the same direction as the battery cell and the first drive module drives the mounting plate to move, the detection member is arranged on the mounting plate and the detection member is provided with two groups to respectively detect the adjacent two side surfaces of the battery cell, the mounting plate is slidingly connected to the arc-shaped guide rail through the arc-shaped slider, the arc-shaped guide rail extends along the circumference of the battery cell, the arc-shaped slider is provided with teeth, the first drive device is arranged on the arc-shaped guide rail and the driving end of the first drive device is provided with a gear meshing with the teeth.

[0012] Optionally, the clamping assembly includes a second driving device, a transmission shaft, a first connecting member, a second connecting member and an openable and closable clamping member, the second driving device is connected to the transmission shaft through the first connecting member, the clamping members are provided at both ends of the transmission shaft, and the transmission shaft is connected to the clamping member through the second connecting member to drive the two clamping members to rotate synchronously.

[0013] Optionally, the clamping assembly further includes a second driving module extending in the same direction as the transmission shaft, and the second driving module drives the clamping member to move toward and away from the battery core.

[0014] Optionally, the clamping assembly also includes a mounting seat for mounting the clamping member and a ball spline connected to the transmission shaft, the second connecting member includes a spline sleeve rotatably connected to the mounting seat for acting as a driving pulley, a driven pulley rotatably connected to the mounting seat and connected to the clamping member, and a transmission belt for connecting the driving pulley and the driven pulley, the spline shaft of the ball spline passes through the spline sleeve and the mounting seat so that the mounting seat can move linearly along the spline shaft and drive the spline sleeve to rotate.

[0015] Optionally, the battery cell appearance inspection device further comprises a support assembly that is liftably arranged at the inspection position for receiving the battery cell, and the support assembly is provided with a vacuum suction cup for adsorbing the battery cell.

[0016] Optionally, the loading assembly includes a horizontal module and a lifting module movable along the horizontal module, and the lifting module is provided with a grabbing device for grabbing the battery cell.

[0017] Through the above technical solution, the loading assembly transports the battery cell to the detection position, the clamping assembly arranged at the detection position receives the battery cell, and the detection assembly moves along the extension direction of the battery cell to simultaneously detect two adjacent side surfaces of the battery cell. After the detection is completed, the clamping assembly drives the battery cell to flip along the axis to replace the detection surface, and the detection assembly moves again to complete the detection of the remaining two sides. It only takes two times to complete the detection of the four sides of the battery cell, which saves costs and improves detection efficiency.

[0018] Other features and advantages of the present disclosure will be described in detail in the following detailed description. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0019] The accompanying drawings are used to provide a further understanding of the present disclosure and constitute a part of the specification. Together with the following detailed description, they are used to explain the present disclosure but do not constitute a limitation of the present disclosure. In the accompanying drawings:

[0020] FIG1 is a schematic structural diagram of a battery cell appearance inspection device in the present disclosure;

[0021] FIG2 is a schematic structural diagram of a feeding assembly in the present disclosure;

[0022] FIG3 is a schematic structural diagram of a detection component in the present disclosure;

[0023] FIG4 is a schematic structural diagram of a clamping assembly in the present disclosure;

[0024] FIG5 is a schematic structural diagram of a support assembly in the present disclosure.

[0025] Description of Reference Numerals

[0026] 1. Loading assembly; 11. Horizontal module; 111. Guide rail; 112. Transmission rod; 113. Third drive device; 12. Lifting module; 121. First lifting device; 122. Crossbeam; 13. Grasping device;

[0027] 2. Support assembly; 21. Support plate; 22. Vacuum suction cup; 23. Second lifting device;

[0028] 3. Detection assembly; 31. First drive module; 32. Mounting plate; 33. Detection member; 34. First drive device; 35. Gear; 36. Arc guide rail; 37. Arc slider;

[0029] 4. Clamping assembly; 41. Second drive device; 42. Transmission shaft; 43. First connecting member; 44. Clamping member; 45. Mounting seat; 46. Ball spline; 47. Second connecting member; 471. Driven pulley; 472. Transmission belt; 473. Driving pulley; 48. Second drive module;

[0030] 5. Battery cell. DETAILED DESCRIPTION

[0031] The following describes the specific embodiments of the present disclosure in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. It should be understood that the specific embodiments described herein are only used to illustrate and explain the present disclosure and are not intended to limit the present disclosure.

[0032] In this disclosure, unless otherwise indicated, directional terms such as "upper," "lower," "top," and "bottom" generally refer to the upper, lower, top, and bottom positions of the corresponding component in the direction of gravity when in use. "Inside" and "outside" refer to the inside and outside positions relative to the outline of the component or structure itself. Furthermore, it should be noted that terms such as "first," "second," and "third" are used to distinguish one element from another and do not convey sequential order or importance. Furthermore, in the description with reference to the accompanying drawings, the same reference numerals in different drawings represent the same element.

[0033] As shown in Figure 1, the present disclosure provides a battery cell appearance inspection device, including: a loading component 1, used to transport the battery cell 5 to a detection position; a detection component 3, which can be movably set at the detection position along the extension direction of the battery cell 5, and the detection component 3 can simultaneously detect two adjacent side surfaces of the battery cell 5; and a clamping component 4 with a flipping function, which is set at the detection position, for receiving the battery cell 5 transported by the loading component 1 and driving the battery cell 5 to flip along the axis to replace the detection surface of the battery cell 5.

[0034] Through the above technical solution, the loading component 1 transports the battery cell 5 to the detection position, and the clamping component 4 set at the detection position receives the battery cell 5. The detection component 3 moves along the extension direction of the battery cell 5 to simultaneously detect the two adjacent sides of the battery cell 5. The battery cell 5 is a square shell battery cell. During detection, the four sides of the battery cell 5 extending in the circumferential direction are detected. After detecting the two sides, the clamping component 4 drives the battery cell 5 to flip along the axis to replace the detection surface. The axis is the axis of the battery cell 5. At this time, the flip angle is 180°. The detection component 3 moves again to complete the detection of the remaining two sides. It only takes two times to complete the detection of the four sides of the battery cell 5, which saves costs and improves detection efficiency. In the related art, the clamping component 4 clamps the battery cell 5 when the battery cell 5 is incoming for detection. After the detection is completed, the clamping component 4 flips over to unload the battery cell. That is to say, the present disclosure uses the flipping function of the clamping component 4 itself to reduce the number of detection components 3, achieving cost savings while ensuring detection efficiency.

[0035] As an optional embodiment, the detection component 3 has an initial position and a stop position after completing one detection. The detection component 3 can reciprocate between the initial position and the stop position so that the battery cell 5 can be detected twice when the detection component 3 is reset from the stop position to the initial position, that is, the forward and backward movement of the detection component 3 are detected, the mechanism utilization rate is high, and the efficiency is relatively fast.

[0036] As an optional embodiment, as shown in Figure 3, the detection component 3 can be rotatably set at the detection position along the circumferential direction of the battery cell 5, and the detection component 3 and the clamping component 4 can be flipped at the same time. The detection component 3 and the clamping component 4 are flipped at the same time, which can shorten the rotation time of the battery cell 5 and improve the detection efficiency.

[0037] Optionally, the flipping directions of the clamping assembly 4 and the detection assembly 3 are opposite and the flipping angle is 90°, which is used to replace the detection surface, that is, the clamping assembly 4 and the detection assembly 3 rotate 180° relative to each other, so that the rotation time of the battery cell 5 is shortened by half.

[0038] Optionally, the detection assembly 3 includes a first drive module 31, a mounting plate 32, a detection member 33, an arc-shaped guide rail 36, an arc-shaped slider 37 and a first drive device 34. The first drive module 31 extends in the same direction as the battery cell 5 and the first drive module 31 drives the mounting plate 32 to move. The mounting plate 32 moves along the axial direction of the battery cell 5 through the first drive module 31. The first drive module 31 can be constructed as any form of translation module as long as it can achieve the purpose of translation in the present disclosure. For example, it can be driven by a screw, a belt or a cylinder, which will not be described here. For example, the detection member 33 is a 3D laser profiler, which uses laser scanning technology to measure the height difference and color depth of the battery cell 5 surface. The detection member 33 is arranged on the mounting plate 32 and the detection member 33 is provided with two groups to respectively detect the adjacent two side surfaces of the battery cell 5, one group is used to detect the wide side of the battery cell 5, and the other group is used to detect the narrow side of the battery cell 5. In order to perform a comprehensive detection of the wide side, two 3 can be set on the side for detecting the wide side. D laser profiler, for example, the mounting plate 32 can be constructed in an L-shape. To facilitate flipping, an inclined transition plate can be added between the horizontal and vertical sides of the L-shape. The mounting plate 32 is slidably connected to the arcuate guide rail 36 via an arcuate slider 37. The arcuate guide rail 36 extends along the circumference of the battery cell 5. The arcuate slider 37 is provided with teeth. The first drive device 34 is arranged on the arcuate guide rail 36 and a gear 35 meshing with the teeth is provided on the driving end of the first drive device 34. The first drive device 34 is a servo motor. The servo motor drives the arc-shaped slider 37 to move along the arc-shaped guide rail 36 through the gear 35 and the teeth to rotate the mounting plate 32 on which the detection component 33 is installed. The arc-shaped guide rail 36 is constructed as an arc structure with a central angle of at least 180°. It can be a whole or can be composed of three arc-shaped tracks with a central angle of 60°. The arc-shaped slider 37 is constructed as an arc-shaped member with a central angle of at least 90° to ensure that the mounting plate 32 can rotate 90°. For example, the central angle of the arc-shaped slider 37 is 110°.

[0039] As an optional embodiment, as shown in Figure 4, the clamping assembly 4 includes a second driving device 41, a transmission shaft 42, a first connecting member 43, a second connecting member 47 and an openable and closable clamping member 44. For example, the second driving device 41 is a servo motor, and the clamping member 44 is a parallel air claw. The parallel air claw is equipped with a proximity switch to detect the presence or absence of the battery cell 5. The parallel air claw is wrapped with a rubber pad to prevent damage to the outer shell of the battery cell 5. The second driving device 41 is connected to the transmission shaft 42 through the first connecting member 43. Clamping members 44 are provided at both ends of the transmission shaft 42 for clamping the opposite sides of the battery cell 5 to make the battery cell 5 clamped more firmly. The transmission shaft 42 is connected to the clamping member 44 through the second connecting member 47 to drive the two clamping members 44 to rotate synchronously to flip the battery cell 5.

[0040] Optionally, the clamping assembly 4 also includes a second drive module 48 extending in the same direction as the transmission shaft 42. The second drive module 48 drives the clamping member 44 to move toward and away from the battery cell 5, so as to move toward the battery cell 5 to clamp the battery cell 5 when incoming materials are received, and release the battery cell 5 and move toward and away from the battery cell 5 when unloading materials, waiting for the next incoming materials. The second drive module 48 can be constructed as any form of translation module, as long as it can achieve the purpose of translation in the present disclosure, for example, it can be driven by a screw, a belt or a cylinder.

[0041] In addition, the clamping assembly 4 also includes a mounting seat 45 for mounting the clamping member 44 and a ball spline 46 connected to the transmission shaft 42. The ball spline 46 and the transmission shaft 42 can be connected through a coupling, and the ball spline 46 extends in the same direction as the transmission shaft 42. The ball spline 46 includes a spline shaft and a spline sleeve that moves on the spline shaft. The ball spline 46 is a linear motion system. When the spline sleeve uses the steel balls therein to move linearly on the spline shaft, it can also transmit torque. The second connecting member 47 includes a spline sleeve that is rotatably connected to the mounting seat 45 and is used as a driving pulley 473, and a spline sleeve that is rotatably connected to the mounting seat 45. The driven pulley 471 is connected to and is connected to the clamping member 44, and the transmission belt 472 is used to connect the driving pulley 473 and the driven pulley 471. The spline shaft of the ball spline 46 passes through the spline sleeve and the mounting seat 45 so that the mounting seat 45 can move linearly along the spline shaft and drive the spline sleeve to rotate. The mounting seat 45 can move horizontally on the spline shaft through the spline sleeve. The transmission shaft 42 drives the spline sleeve to rotate through the spline shaft, and the spline sleeve drives the driven pulley 471 to rotate through the transmission belt 472, thereby driving the clamping member 44 to rotate. The structure of the first connecting member 43 can be the same as that of the second connecting member 47, or it can be a gear set.

[0042] As an optional embodiment, as shown in Figure 5, the battery cell appearance inspection device also includes a support assembly 2 that can be lifted and lowered at the inspection position for receiving the battery cell 5. The support assembly 2 is provided with a vacuum suction cup 22 for adsorbing the battery cell 5, that is, the battery cell 5 can also be received by the support assembly 2. At this time, the clamping assembly 4 is only used for flipping. The support assembly 2 can make the battery cell 5 more stable, and at the same time, it can also prevent the clamping assembly 4 from interfering with the movement of the inspection assembly 3. The support assembly 2 includes a second lifting device 23, a support plate 21 arranged on the top of the second lifting device 23, retractable guide columns arranged on both sides of the second lifting device 23, and a vacuum suction cup 22 arranged on the support plate 21. The second lifting device 23 can be an electric cylinder or a pneumatic cylinder. Taking the electric cylinder as an example, the electric cylinder drives the support plate 21 to move up and down. When the battery cell 5 is incoming, the support plate 21 moves upward to contact the battery cell 5 and adsorbs the battery cell 5 through the vacuum suction cup 22. When the battery cell 5 needs to be rotated, the clamping assembly 4 clamps the battery cell 5, the vacuum suction cup 22 breaks the vacuum, and the electric cylinder descends.

[0043] As an optional embodiment, as shown in Figure 2, the loading assembly 1 includes a horizontal module 11 and a lifting module 12 that can move along the horizontal module 11. The lifting module 12 is provided with a grabbing device 13 for grabbing the battery cell 5. The grabbing device 13 is a parallel air claw. The parallel air claw is wrapped with a rubber pad to prevent damage to the battery cell 5. The horizontal module 11 adopts a single-drive dual-module, that is, a third drive device 113 drives the two horizontal modules 11 to move. The third drive device 113 is a servo motor. The driving end of the servo motor is connected to a transmission rod 112. The two ends of the transmission rod 112 are respectively connected to the horizontal module 11. The horizontal module 11 includes The guide rail 111 and the screw rod arranged in the guide rail 111, the transmission rod 112 is connected to the screw rod through a transmission device such as a gear set to drive the screw rod to rotate, and a moving block is provided on the screw rod. The moving block moves along the guide rail 111 inside the guide rail 111, and the moving block protrudes from the guide rail 111 and is connected to the lifting module 12. The moving block drives the lifting module 12 to move along the guide rail 111. The lifting module 12 includes a crossbeam 122 connected to the two horizontal modules 11, and a first lifting device 121 arranged on the crossbeam 122. The bottom of the first lifting device 121 is connected to a grasping device 13. For example, the first lifting device 121 can be an electric cylinder or a pneumatic cylinder.

[0044] In actual use, the lifting module 12 descends and grabs the battery cell 5 through the grabbing device 13 and transports the battery cell 5 to the detection position through the horizontal module 11. The support plate 21 rises to catch the battery cell 5, and the vacuum suction cup 22 draws vacuum to suck the battery cell 5. The detection component 33 is driven by the first driving module 31 and moves horizontally to perform the first round of detection, and at the same time detects the two adjacent sides of the battery cell 5. After the first round of detection is completed, the clamping members 44 on both sides are respectively driven by the second driving modules 48 on both sides to move to the center to clamp the battery cell 5. The clamping member 44 clamps the battery cell 5, the vacuum suction cup 22 breaks the vacuum, and the support assembly 2 is lowered. The battery cell 5 and the detection component 3 rotate 180 degrees relative to each other, and the support component 2 rises. The support plate 21 catches the battery cell 5 again, and the vacuum suction cup 22 sucks the battery cell 5 by vacuum. The detection component 33 is driven by the first driving module 31 to reset to the initial position in the horizontal direction and perform a second round of detection to detect the remaining two side surfaces under the battery cell 5. The detection component 33 performs image processing and feeds back the detection results. If the detection results are qualified, the next process is carried out. If the detection results are unqualified, the battery cell 5 is discharged.

[0045] The preferred embodiments of the present disclosure are described in detail above in conjunction with the accompanying drawings. However, the present disclosure is not limited to the specific details of the above embodiments. Within the technical concept of the present disclosure, various simple modifications can be made to the technical solutions of the present disclosure, and these simple modifications all fall within the scope of protection of the present disclosure.

[0046] It should also be noted that the various specific technical features described in the above specific embodiments can be combined in any appropriate manner without contradiction. In order to avoid unnecessary repetition, the present disclosure will not further describe various possible combinations.

[0047] In addition, the various embodiments of the present disclosure may be arbitrarily combined, and as long as they do not violate the concept of the present disclosure, they should also be regarded as the contents disclosed by the present disclosure.

Claims

1. An appearance detection device for an electric core, characterized in that Comprising: A loading component (1) for transporting the battery cell (5) to the detection position; A detection component (3) movably arranged at the detection position along the extending direction of the battery cell (5), and the detection component (3) can simultaneously detect two adjacent side surfaces of the battery cell (5); And A clamping component (4) with a flipping function, arranged at the detection position, for receiving the battery cell (5) transported by the loading component (1) and driving the battery cell (5) to flip along the axis to replace the detection surface of the battery cell (5).

2. The cell appearance detection device according to claim 1, characterized in that The detection component (3) has an initial position and a stop position after completing one detection, and the detection component (3) can reciprocate between the initial position and the stop position so that the detection component (3) performs a secondary detection on the battery cell (5) when resetting from the stop position to the initial position.

3. The cell appearance detection device according to claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, The detection component (3) is rotatably arranged at the detection position along the circumferential direction of the battery cell (5) and the detection component (3) flips simultaneously with the clamping component (4).

4. The cell appearance detection device according to claim 3, wherein, The clamping component (4) and the detection component (3) have opposite flipping directions and both have a flipping angle of 90°.

5. The appearance detection device for the battery cell according to any one of claims 1-4, characterized in that, The detection component (3) includes a first driving module (31), a mounting plate (32), a detection piece (33), an arc-shaped guide rail (36), an arc-shaped slider (37), and a first driving device (34). The first driving module (31) extends in the same direction as the battery cell (5) and the first driving module (31) drives the mounting plate (32) to move. The detection piece (33) is arranged on the mounting plate (32) and there are two groups of the detection pieces (33) to respectively detect two adjacent side surfaces of the battery cell (5). The mounting plate (32) is slidably connected to the arc-shaped guide rail (36) through the arc-shaped slider (37). The arc-shaped guide rail (36) extends along the circumferential direction of the battery cell (5). The arc-shaped slider (37) is provided with teeth. The first driving device (34) is arranged on the arc-shaped guide rail (36) and a gear (35) meshing with the teeth is arranged on the driving end of the first driving device (34).

6. The appearance detection device for the battery cell according to any one of claims 1-5, characterized in that The clamping component (4) includes a second driving device (41), a transmission shaft (42), a first connecting piece (43), a second connecting piece (47), and an openable and closable clamping piece (44). The second driving device (41) is connected to the transmission shaft (42) through the first connecting piece (43). The clamping pieces (44) are arranged at both ends of the transmission shaft (42). The transmission shaft (42) is connected to the clamping pieces (44) through the second connecting piece (47) to drive the two clamping pieces (44) to rotate synchronously.

7. The appearance detection device for the battery cell according to claim 6, wherein, The clamping component (4) further includes a second driving module (48) extending in the same direction as the transmission shaft (42), and the second driving module (48) drives the clamping piece (44) to move in the direction close to and away from the battery cell (5).

8. The appearance detection device for the battery cell according to claim 6 or 7, characterized in that, The clamping assembly (4) further includes a mounting seat (45) for mounting the clamping member (44) and a ball spline (46) connected to the transmission shaft (42). The second connecting member (47) includes a spline sleeve rotatably connected to the mounting seat (45) and serving as a driving pulley (473), a driven pulley (471) rotatably connected to the mounting seat (45) and connected to the clamping member (44), and a transmission belt (472) for connecting the driving pulley (473) and the driven pulley (471). The spline shaft of the ball spline (46) passes through the spline sleeve and the mounting seat (45) so that the mounting seat (45) can move linearly along the spline shaft and drive the spline sleeve to rotate.

9. The appearance detection device for the battery cell according to any one of claims 1-8, characterized in that, The cell appearance detection device further includes a support assembly (2) that is liftably arranged at the detection position for receiving the cell (5). A vacuum chuck (22) for adsorbing the cell (5) is provided on the support assembly (2).

10. The appearance detection device for the battery cell according to any one of claims 1-9, characterized in that, The loading assembly (1) includes a horizontal module (11) and a lifting module (12) that can move along the horizontal module (11). A grasping device (13) for grasping the cell (5) is provided on the lifting module (12).

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