Patent Application
20230361433
The present invention refers, in general, to apparatuses and methods for assembling electric batteries.
The invention relates—in particular—to an apparatus for assembling together battery cells or battery modules, wherein said battery cells or battery modules include electrical terminals that must be subjected to a welding operation.
An apparatus of the type indicated above is known, for example, in the document U.S. Pat. No. 8,460,817 B2. However, the solution described in this document is not fully satisfactory from various points of view, in particular, in terms of constructive simplicity and in terms of speed, as well as efficiency, of the assembly operations, for assembling battery cells or battery modules together.
Additional aspects to consider are the adaptability of the apparatus to different types of battery cells, and the simplicity of the operations required for placement in a production site and commissioning of the apparatus.
The object of the invention is to produce an apparatus of the type indicated above, which is constructively simple, functional, and with high flexibility of use.
Another object of the invention is to produce an apparatus of the type indicated above that can be easily and quickly adapted to different applications, and in particular to different battery cell configurations.
Another object of the invention is that of producing a welding apparatus of the type indicated above that ensures excellent welding quality, and the simple and reliable control of a step preliminary to the welding, wherein the elements to be welded are brought into a configuration suitable for welding.
Another object of the invention is to produce an apparatus of the type indicated above, which has compact dimensions, and which has simple and rapid commissioning/installation procedures, so as to be particularly suitable for being transported and made operational in different sites of production.
Yet another object of the invention is to produce an apparatus of the type indicated above that allows monitoring the quality of a weld bead made with the apparatus.
According to one or more embodiments, one or more of the preceding objects are achieved through an apparatus having the distinctive characteristics specifically set forth in the following claims.
In particular, the invention relates to an apparatus for assembling battery cells or battery modules together, wherein said battery cells or battery modules comprise electrical terminals that must be subjected to a welding operation, said apparatus including:
According to a preferred characteristic of the invention, the welding head carried on said tool is configured to carry out the welding while remaining in a remote position with respect to the elements to be welded.
In one or more embodiments, the welding head is configured to move integrally with said tool along said at least two axes, and is configured to move and/or oscillate along at least a third axis.
In one or more embodiments, the tool for engaging and holding the elements to be welded is a tool assembly also capable of bending, configured to simultaneously bend one or more elements, prior to welding.
In one or more embodiments, the apparatus includes a system for automatically controlling the quality of the welding carried out by means of the welding head, implemented by means of at least one thermal camera configured to control the quality of a weld bead in a welding area.
In one or more embodiments, the system for automatically controlling the welding quality includes a first and a second thermal camera controlled so that one of said first and second thermal cameras is always aligned with respect to a position wherein the head is located for carrying out welding, and the other of said first and second thermal camera is still arranged in a position further back, along a respective auxiliary guiding bar, aligned with a previous position of the welding head, in such a way that the thermal camera in the rearmost position controls the cooling step of a weld bead, after the welding has been performed.
In one or more embodiments, the apparatus is carried—as a whole—on a single, palletizable, equipped platform.
In one or more embodiments, the apparatus comprises service systems for the electrical and/or fluid supply to said apparatus, and quick-coupling devices of the “plug-in” type, for coupling with external systems of electrical power and/or fluid supply.
The embodiments also regard a related method for assembling battery cells or battery modules together, wherein said battery cells or battery modules comprise electrical terminals, which must be subjected to a welding operation, said method comprising the following steps:
The embodiments also relate to a relative method for controlling the quality of the welding carried out by means of the aforesaid apparatus, as indicated in the attached claims.
Thanks to the aforesaid characteristics, the apparatus according to the invention presents a series of advantages. In particular:
Further characteristics and advantages of the invention will become apparent from the description that follows with reference to the attached drawings, provided purely by way of non-limiting example, wherein:
In the following description various specific details are illustrated aimed at a thorough understanding of examples of one or more embodiments. The embodiments can be implemented without one or more of the specific details, or with other methods, components, materials, etc. In other cases, known structures, materials, or operations are not shown or described in detail to avoid obscuring various aspects of the embodiments. The reference to “an embodiment” in the context of this description indicates that a particular configuration, structure or characteristic described in relation to the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment. Therefore, phrases such as “in an embodiment”, possibly present in different places of this description do not necessarily refer to the same embodiment. Moreover, particular conformations, structures or characteristics can be combined in a suitable manner in one or more embodiments and/or associated with the embodiments in a different way from that illustrated here, for example, a characteristic here exemplified in relation to a figure may be applied to one or more embodiments exemplified in a different figure.
The references illustrated here are only for convenience and do not therefore delimit the field of protection or the scope of the embodiments.
Some construction details of the apparatus are not illustrated in the attached drawings, since they can be made according to techniques widely known in the technical field of reference.
It should be noted that the apparatuses illustrated in the drawings are only embodiment examples, made in accordance with the present invention, since the invention is generally applicable to any apparatus for assembling battery cells or battery modules together, incorporating the unique characteristics stated in the attached claims.
The apparatus 1 according to the present invention is designed to assemble battery cells C or battery modules M together, comprising electrical terminals T that must be subjected to a welding operation. The electrical terminals T can be welded together and/or to respective electrical connecting elements.
The apparatus 1 can be used to assemble different types of battery cells and/or modules, for example, cells constituting battery packs for vehicles with a purely electric or hybrid propulsion system.
In the attached drawings, the apparatus 1 is associated with a battery pack P having the characteristics indicated above. However, as already indicated above, the apparatus 1 can also be used to assemble other types of battery cells and modules not illustrated in the drawings.
In one or more embodiments of the invention, and as will be described in more detail below, the moving parts of the apparatus 1 that carry out the assembly of the cells C include:
In accordance with a first relevant characteristic of the invention, the engagement and holding tool 4 can be moved along at least two axes, and the welding head 10 is carried on the tool 4, so as to provide a single movement system designed for carrying out both the preliminary step to the welding, wherein the cells C are kept in a configuration suitable for being subjected to a welding operation, and a welding step of the elements (i.e., the electrical terminals (T)) to be welded.
As will be further indicated in the following description, the engagement and holding tool 4 is controlled to keep the cells C in the aforesaid configuration during implementation of the welding of the elements (i.e., the electrical terminals (T)) to be welded.
In the following description, the embodiment illustrated in
With reference to the perspective views of
According to this embodiment example, the tool 4, carrying the head 10, is movably mounted on the supporting structure 2 along two mutually orthogonal axes, in accordance with a general configuration substantially similar to that of a Cartesian robot, thus ensuring characteristics of high precision and repeatability.
The supporting structure 2 is illustrated in the attached drawings in an extremely schematic way, since it can be made according to any configuration known in the technical field of reference. The actuators that can be used to control the movements of the movable parts with respect to the supporting structure 2 are also illustrated in the attached drawings, which are extremely schematic and can be made in any known way.
According to the embodiment illustrated in
The terminal-pressing bar 5 is supported above the battery pack P on which the apparatus 1 must operate and is movable, with the whole assembly, in both a first horizontal direction X and in a vertical direction Z. In accordance with the example illustrated in
The position of the assembly 4 is controlled along the aforesaid first horizontal direction X by respective actuators A1, A2, illustrated purely schematically in the drawings. The actuators A1, A2 may be electric or fluid actuators, made in any known way. According to the example of the figures, the bending tool assembly 4 can move according to the first horizontal direction X, by means of the sliding of a pair of carriages 23, 24, slidably mounted on respective end guides 19, 20. The opposite ends of the bending tool assembly 4 are connected to and supported by the carriages 23, 24. The components of the actuators A1, A2 are not illustrated in the attached drawings since, as said, these actuators can be made according to any known configuration, and since elimination of these details from the drawings makes the latter more readily and easily understood.
Reference A3 indicates additional actuators configured to perform the movement of the bending tool assembly 4 along the vertical direction Z. The actuators A3 can be made in such a way as to translate a rotary motion into a linear motion along the vertical direction Z according to any technique known per se.
According to the example illustrated in the drawings, two actuators A3 are arranged, respectively, in the vicinity of a respective carriage 23, 24, and are designed to be operated simultaneously in order to achieve the vertical movement of the assembly 4. As indicated in greater detail later in the description, the actuators A1, A2, A3 control the movement of the bending tool assembly 4, to achieve a horizontal movement along said first direction X, and a vertical movement along the direction Z, to complete the step of bending the terminals T, preliminary to the welding step.
As illustrated, in particular, in the perspective views of
In accordance with a characteristic of the invention, the welding head 10 is configured to move integrally with the tool 4.
With reference to the illustrated example, the welding head 10 is movably mounted on the frame 6 along a second horizontal direction Y, perpendicular to said first direction X. More particularly, the frame 6 includes a guiding bar 7 perpendicular to the first horizontal direction X, spaced in a raised and spaced apart position from the terminal-pressing bar 5 of the tool assembly 4.
The welding head 10 is movably mounted (along the direction Y) on the guiding bar 7 and is positioned to emit a welding beam passing through at least one opening 11 obtained on the terminal-pressing bar 5. It will, therefore, be appreciated that, by virtue of the fact that the welding head 10 is mounted on the frame 6, configured to move integrally with the bending tool assembly 4 along the first horizontal direction X and the vertical direction Z, the head 10 is thus movable according to three mutually orthogonal axes (X, Y, Z), according to a configuration substantially similar to that of a Cartesian robot.
The frame 6, configured to move integrally with the terminal-pressing bar 5 and carrying the welding head 10, is schematically illustrated in the attached drawings. In accordance with the illustrated schematic example, the frame 6 may comprise vertical portions 13, 14, 15, configured to support a respective end of the aforesaid horizontal guiding bar 7. The vertical portions 13, 14, 15, arranged on both sides of the terminal-pressing bar 5, are carried by a respective end portion 12 of the bending tool assembly 4. In the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, the aforesaid end portions 12 are bar-like end portions perpendicular to the terminal-pressing bar 5, wherein the extension of the bar-like end portions 12 is significantly less than the longitudinal extension of the terminal-pressing bar 5. Again with reference to the specific example illustrated in the drawings, the vertical portions of the frame 6 include a pair of vertical rods 13 connected, respectively, at one of their upper ends to a respective end of the horizontal guiding bar 7, carrying the head 10. The vertical rods 13 each comprise a lower portion supported by the bar-like end portions 12 of the assembly 4, and connected to one of said carriages 23, 24, to achieve the movement along the horizontal direction X.
As previously indicated, the actuators A3 for controlling the movement of the assembly 4, and of the frame 6 carrying the head 10, along the vertical direction Z, can be made according to a screw/nut mechanism operated by an electric motor, or in any other known way. According to a specific embodiment, the mechanism can also be implemented by means of a recirculating ball screw mechanism.
The actuators A1, A2, A3, operate the bending tool assembly 4, and the frame 6 carrying the head 10, so as to perform a horizontal movement along the first direction X and a vertical movement along the direction Z, to complete the step of bending the terminals T, prior to welding. Furthermore, as also indicated below, the bending tool assembly 4, in particular the terminal-pressing bar 5, is controlled to hold the terminals T in a bent position, during the welding step carried out by the head 10. The actuators A1, A2, A3 can be controlled by means of a control circuit, in such a way as to move the bending tool assembly 4 (and the head 10) along a predefined bending path, to bend the metal terminals T prior to welding.
As previously indicated, the welding head 10 is movably mounted on the aforesaid guiding bar 7 along the direction Y, and is positioned to emit a welding beam passing through at least one opening 11 obtained on the terminal-pressing bar 5.
As illustrated—in particular—in the schematic cross-sectional view of
In one or more embodiments, as well as in the one illustrated in the drawings, the welding head 10 is a laser focusing head of any known type, having a vertical axis Z1, and including a support structure 22 provided with a flange for coupling the supporting element 16 to the horizontal plane 21.
According to a per se known technique, the head 10 may receive a laser beam from a laser generator by means of an optical fiber. Consequently, the apparatus 1 may include a laser source (not illustrated in the drawings) associated with the welding head 10. The laser source and the welding head 10 may be controlled by means of a respective control circuit, also not illustrated in the attached drawings. The construction details of the welding head 10 and of the laser source are not illustrated here, since, as already indicated, they can be made in any known way and as these details do not fall, taken alone, within the scope of the present invention.
The welding head 10 is supported vertically by the supporting element 16, and is arranged spaced apart from the terminal-pressing bar 5 and from the terminals T to be welded, so as to be at a correct focusing distance with respect to the components to be welded, so that the welding beam (schematically illustrated by the dotted lines L in
As previously indicated, the head 10 and the assembly 4 form a single movement system configured to carry out the assembly of the cells C. One or more electronic units (not illustrated in the drawings) may be provided for controlling the assembly 4 and the head 10. The actuators A1, A2, A3, A4 may be controlled by means of a control circuit in such a way as to move the bending tool assembly 4 (and the head 10) along a predefined bending path to bend the terminals T prior to welding, and to move the head 10 along a predefined welding path to weld the terminals T to an electrically conductive bar B associated with the cells C.
Optionally, one or more embodiments of the apparatus 1 may include auxiliary control characteristics, to control a vertical movement and/or an oscillation of the head 10, in addition to its movement that is integral with the assembly 4. Thanks to this characteristic, it is possible to vary the distance of the head 10 from the terminals T, making the apparatus even more flexible for different applications.
The welding head 10 can be made in accordance with any known welding device, with or without contact with the elements to be welded, such as, for example, a laser welding head. In one or more embodiments, the welding head 10 may be an electric spot welding device having an electrode that is movable along a vertical direction.
As previously indicated, the welding apparatus 1 illustrated in
In accordance with a preferred characteristic of the invention, the apparatus 1 includes a system for automatically controlling the quality of the welding carried out by the welding head 10. Of course, this system can be associated with any type of apparatus 1 in accordance with the invention, without any limitation with respect to the embodiments illustrated in the drawings.
In one or more embodiments, this system for automatically controlling the quality is implemented by means of at least one thermal camera configured to control the quality of a weld bead in a welding area. The aforesaid thermal camera can be made in accordance with the technique described in the Italian patent application 102018000021022 by the same Applicant, which forms part of the state of the art pursuant to Art. 46(3) IPC. Of course, the quality control system may include one or more devices that are different from the aforesaid thermal camera, such as, for example, ultrasound, tomography, X-ray equipment, etc.
In the embodiment illustrated in the drawings, the frame 6 comprises a first and a second auxiliary horizontal guiding bar 8, 9, on which a first and a second thermal camera 17, 18 are slidably mounted, respectively. Each auxiliary horizontal guiding bar 8, 9 is spaced apart and parallel to the guiding bar 7 carrying the head 10, along a respective side of the bar 7. The thermal cameras 17, 18 are, therefore, able to move, similarly to the head 10, along the aforesaid second horizontal direction Y. Each auxiliary guiding bar 8, 9 is supported at the ends by a respective pair of vertical rods 14, 15. In a manner completely similar to that described above for the rods 13 of the horizontal bar 7 carrying the head 10, the rods 14,15 each comprise a lower portion supported by the bar-like end portions 12 of the bending tool assembly 4.
In accordance with that described in the Italian patent application 102018000021022, each thermal camera 17, 18, is configured to provide a thermal image that shows the welding area. During an operating condition of the head 10, the beam supplied by the welding head 10 moves along a welding path and heats the material of the components to be welded in a welding area, thus creating a weld bead by melting the materials of these components. The thermal cameras 17, 18 are configured to provide a two-dimensional image, wherein the value of each pixel identifies the temperature of a respective spot of the welding area. The thermal image is then processed by a processing circuit, such as, for example, a microprocessor programmed using software code. In particular, by carrying out welding, the pixels in the welding area will have higher values (i.e. higher temperatures), and the processing circuit can, therefore, detect an area in the thermal image that corresponds to the welding area. The processing circuit is configured to compare the value of each pixel of the thermal image with a reference threshold, select the pixels that have a value greater than a predetermined threshold, and approximate the area wherein the selected pixels are located with a rectangular or trapezoidal area. In various embodiments, this area is divided into a plurality of sub-areas and for each sub-area a respective temperature is determined as a function of the values of the pixels comprised in the respective sub-area. Thanks to these characteristics, the temperature trends are monitored, making it possible to estimate the quality of the welding performed.
As previously indicated, the thermal cameras 17, 18 are slidably mounted on a respective auxiliary horizontal guiding bar 8, 9. The position of the thermal cameras 17, 18 is controlled along the second horizontal direction Y by respective actuators A5, A6. The actuators A5, A6 may be electric or fluid actuators, made in any known way, similar to the actuator A4 that controls the head 10. Preferably the cameras 17, 18 are also configured to be able to rotate 360 degrees, in order to monitor a large welding area.
According to a characteristic of the invention, the cameras 17, 18 are controlled to slide along the respective horizontal auxiliary guiding bar 8, 9, following the movement of the welding head 10 on the bar 7, so as to analyze the quality of the weld carried out by the head 10, in real time, while the head 10 proceeds to weld the terminals T. As will be apparent from that described in detail below, the thermal cameras 17, 18 are controlled so as to monitor the quality of the welding, without including periods of inactivity of the quality control operating cycle, due to the movement of the thermal cameras, to follow the movement of the head 10.
As illustrated in these figures, the thermal cameras 17, 18 are controlled so that one of said first and second cameras 17, 18 is always aligned with respect to a position wherein the head 10 is located for carrying out a welding, and the other of said first and second cameras 17, 18, is still arranged in a position further back, along the respective guiding bar 8, 9. This rearmost position is aligned with a previous position of the welding head 10, in such a way that the thermal camera 17, 18 in the rearmost position controls the cooling step of a weld bead after performing the welding.
In
In
In
In summary, according to the method described above, the cameras 17, 18 are controlled—by means of the respective actuators A5, A6—so that one of them is always ready to monitor the welding performed by the head 10 following the movement along bar 7.
Thanks to these characteristics, the apparatus 1 is designed to monitor the quality of a weld bead made with the welding head 10. Furthermore, the time required to carry out a complete welding cycle and to monitor its quality is extremely reduced, since the periods of inactivity of the operating cycle are eliminated, due to the movement of the cameras 17, 18, as a consequence of a movement of the head 10 for welding a row of terminals T.
In one or more embodiments, the apparatus comprises service systems for the electrical and/or fluid supply to said apparatus, and is provided with quick-coupling devices, of the “plug-in” type, for coupling with external electrical power and/or fluid supply systems. Also thanks to these characteristics, the commissioning/installation step of the apparatus 1 is extremely simple and quick.
Furthermore, according to a preferred characteristic of the invention, the apparatus 1—as a whole—is carried on a single palletizable equipped platform.
Thanks to all the characteristics indicated above, the welding apparatus 1 according to the invention is compact in size, has a simple and quick commissioning step, and is particularly suitable for being transported to different production sites, without having to resort to complicated transport and/or installation operations.
The apparatus 1 may also include a light-tight booth (not shown in the drawings), which encloses the frame 6 carrying the head 10, in such a way that the apparatus 1 includes all the components necessary for its operation “on board”, without having to resort to the assembly of additional components before being operational.
Of course, the construction details of the previously described embodiments may vary widely. This applies as much to the actuators A1, A2, A3, A4, A5, A6 as to the conformation of the terminal-pressing bar 5, the supporting frame 6, the welding head 10, as well as the thermal cameras 17, 18.
In accordance with another preferred characteristic of the invention, the apparatus 1 is able to be reconfigured automatically according to requirements, without the aid of an operator, to adapt to different types of batteries, for example, following reading of a QR code placed on the battery pack or on the bending tool assembly. For example, a reconfiguration of the program for controlling the movements of the tool assembly and the welding head may be envisaged. Furthermore, it is possible to provide a tool store with different terminal-pressing bars configured and arranged to operate on battery packs having different configurations and/or dimensions. In this case, the tool assembly 4 is connected to its supporting structure 2 by means of quick-coupling devices that allow automatic tool change.
As is clear from the above description, the welding apparatus according to the invention, therefore, has a number of undoubted advantages. In particular:
Of course, without prejudice to the principle of the invention, the details of construction and the embodiments may vary widely with respect to those described and illustrated purely by way of example, without departing from the scope of the present invention, as defined by the attached claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 102020000006016 | Mar 2020 | IT | national |
This application is filed pursuant to 35 U.S.C. § 371 claiming priority benefit to PCT/IB2021/052226 filed Mar. 17, 2021, which claims priority to Italian Patent Application No. 102020000006016 filed Mar. 20, 2020, the contents of both applications are incorporated herein by reference in their entirety for all purposes.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/IB2021/052226 | 3/17/2021 | WO |
