Patent Application
20240189939
The present disclosure relates to recyclable vehicle batteries, particularly battery enclosures with removable covers.
The statements in this section merely provide background information related to the present disclosure and may not constitute prior art.
The desire to reduce automotive fuel consumption and emissions has been well documented. Thus, electric vehicles have been developed to significantly reduce reliance on internal combustion engines. In general, electric vehicles differ from conventional motor vehicles because they are driven by one or more rechargeable battery packs disposed within a battery housing and having lithium-ion batteries cell assemblies such as modules or arrays, for example, or any other suitable electrical power storage units. The battery pack typically powers one or more motors to drive a set of wheels.
Battery assemblies for electric vehicles may use replaceable and recyclable components. For example, a battery cell array can be routinely replaced during the lifetime of the electric vehicle. The battery cell array can then be recycled to use in new vehicle batteries. Conventional battery assemblies seal the battery cell array within an enclosure. It can be difficult to efficiently remove these components for recycling or service.
The present disclosure addresses these and other challenges related to vehicle batteries.
This section provides a general summary of the disclosure and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features.
In one form, a method for removing a component from a battery assembly includes detecting, via a sensor, data identifying a locator on a cover of the battery assembly, the locator indicating a removal zone of the cover, adjusting, via a controller, a path of a removal tool based on the data identifying the locator, actuating the removal tool along the adjusted path to separate the removal zone from a remainder of the cover, and removing the component covered by the removal zone of the cover.
In variations of the method, which may be implemented individually or in combination: the locator includes a pattern printed onto the cover, and the method further includes actuating the removal tool along the pattern to remove the removal zone from the remainder of the cover; the locator includes an identifying mark corresponding to a virtual model of the cover, the virtual model indicating the cover and the removable zone of the cover, and the method further includes adjusting the path of the removal tool based on the virtual model; the locator includes a protrusion indicating a three-dimensional position on the cover, and the method further includes adjusting three-dimensional coordinates of the path of the removal tool based on the three-dimensional position of the protrusion; the locator includes a tab and a perforated outline of the removal zone, and the method further includes attaching the removal tool to the tab, pulling the tab away from the cover, and separating perforations of the perforated outline to separate the removal zone from the remainder of the cover; the sensor is configured to collect three-dimensional coordinate data of the cover; the sensor is one of a lidar, a sonar, an ultrasonic sensor, an x-ray sensor, an infrared imaging sensor, a neutron imaging sensor, and a vision system; the component is one of a cell array, a control module, and an electronic connection.
In another form, a battery assembly includes a housing including a base and a cover, the base and the cover defining an interior cavity of the housing and a battery component disposed within the cavity of the housing. The cover includes a component removal zone configured to be removed from a remainder of the cover and arranged to cover the battery component, and a locator identifying the component removal zone for removal.
In variations of the battery assembly, which may be implemented individually or in combination: the locator includes a pattern delimiting the component removal zone from the remainder of the cover; the locator includes an identifying mark corresponding to a virtual model of the cover, the virtual model indicating the component removal zone of the cover; the locator includes a protrusion indicating a three-dimensional position on the cover; the locator includes a tab and a perforated or thinned outline of the component removal zone.
In another form, a system for accessing a component of a battery assembly behind a cover of the battery assembly includes a removal tool configured to separate a component removal zone of the cover from a remainder of the cover, a sensor configured to detect a locator on the cover of the battery assembly, and a controller configured to receive data from the sensor and identify a location of the component removal zone based on the received data. The controller is configured to operate the removal along a removal path to separate the component removal zone from the remainder of the cover.
In variations of the system, which may be implemented individually or in combination: the removal path includes a plurality of three-dimensional coordinates to remove the component removal zone; the controller is programmed to, upon identifying three-dimensional coordinates of the locator, to determine a coordinate transformation between the three-dimensional coordinates of the locator and a default three-dimensional coordinate system of the removal tool; the controller is programmed to transform coordinates of a predetermined path into coordinates of an adjusted removal path based on the coordinate transformation; the sensor is configured to collect three-dimensional coordinate data of the cover; the sensor is one of a lidar, a sonar, an ultrasonic sensor, an x-ray sensor, an infrared imaging sensor, a neutron imaging sensor, and a vision system; the removal tool includes one of a laser cutter, a water jet cutter, an oscillating blade, and a rotatable blade.
Further areas of applicability will become apparent from the description provided herein. It should be understood that the description and specific examples are intended for purposes of illustration only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure.
In order that the disclosure may be well understood, there will now be described various forms thereof, given by way of example, reference being made to the accompanying drawings, in which:
The drawings described herein are for illustration purposes only and are not intended to limit the scope of the present disclosure in any way.
The following description is merely exemplary in nature and is not intended to limit the present disclosure, application, or uses. It should be understood that throughout the drawings, corresponding reference numerals indicate like or corresponding parts and features.
With reference to
The battery assembly 14 powers a rear motor (not shown) to drive rear wheels 18a, 18b of a set of rear wheels 18 via a rear axle 20. Additionally or alternatively, the battery assembly 14 powers a front motor (not shown) to drive front wheels 22a, 22b of a set of front wheels 22 via a front axle 24. The battery assembly 14 includes one or more components 26, such as one or more cell arrays, a control module, and an electronic connection for example. Each cell array includes a plurality of battery cells that provide and store electricity, and the electronic connection provides electricity from the cell array to one or more other vehicle components, such as the front and rear motors for example. The control module receives instructions from a central vehicle computer (not shown) and instructs or otherwise controls the cell array to provide power to the electronic connection. The components 26 are removable from the battery assembly 14 for recycling or repair, and new or refurbished components 26 can be placed back in the battery assembly 14 to replace the removed components 26.
With reference to
The cover 36 includes one or more component removal zones 38 that cover the one or more components 26 disposed in the interior cavity. In other words, these removal zones 38 do not encompass the entire cover 36. Instead, the removal zones 38 overlap specifically with the removable or serviceable components 26 but not necessarily with other areas of the housing 32 where other, non-removable or non-serviceable components (not shown) may reside.
The cover 36 can include at least one locating feature, referred to herein as a locator 40a, 40b, 40c, 40d (collectively or generally, “locator(s) 40”) that assist in identifying or locating the component removal zones 38. The locators 40 described herein may be defined by topology of the cover 36 or may include additional components to assist in identifying or locating the component removal zones 38.
Referring to
The system 27 is configured to remove the component removal zones 38 from the cover 36. The system 27 identifies the component removal zones 38 based on data about the locator(s) 40 detected by the sensor 42. In the non-limiting form of
In the case of the removal tool 28 is configured to physically contact the cover 36 (e.g., a rotatable blade, an oscillating cutting tool), the cutting program can be a removal path is a set of three-dimensional coordinates along which the removal tool 28 moves to separate the component removal zones 38 from the rest of the cover 36.
In the case where the removal tool 28 acts on the cover 36 remotely (e.g., a laser cutter, a water jet cutter), the cutting program may be a set of three-dimensional coordinates (i.e., a removal path) along which the removal tool 28 directs the laser or water jet to separate the removal zones 38 from the rest of the cover 36. In one such form of this configuration, the cutting program moves the removal tool 28 along a three-dimensional path to direct the laser or water jet to separate the component removal zones 38 from the rest of the cover 36. In an alternative form of this configuration, the cutting program may move the removal tool 28 along a two-dimensional path while controlling intensity values (e.g., power level or focus distance configured to cut through only the thickness of the cover 36 but not through other components behind the cover 36). In another alternative form of this configuration, the removal tool 28 may remain in a fixed XYZ coordinate location while the cutting program pivots the removal tool 28 (or at least the laser beam or water jet coming therefrom) to direct the laser or water jet while controlling the intensity values accordingly to separate the component removal zones 38 from the rest of the cover 36.
The controller 30 adjusts the cutting program based on data collected by the sensor 42, such as data identifying the locator 40, described in further detail below for each form of the locator 40.
The system 27 may optionally include a relocation device (not specifically shown) that removes or assists in relocating the removal zone 38 from the rest of the cover 36 after the removal zone 38 is severed from the rest of the cover 36. In some non-limiting examples, such a relocation device may include a gripper, a hook, a magnet (electromagnet or permanent magnet), a mechanical clamp, a vacuum or suction clamp. Such a relocation device may be coupled to the removal tool 28 for movement therewith or may be separate from the removal tool 28 for movement independent of the removal tool 28. In some non-limiting examples, such a relocation device may be mounted on a robotic arm, a gantry, a cable, a movable robot, a hand-held tool, a conveyor, or other suitable device.
With reference to
Referring now to the battery assembly 14b of
With reference to the battery assembly 14c of
In the form of
The controller 30 stores default coordinates of each locator 40c in the default coordinate system, and upon identifying the three-dimensional positions of the locators 40c on the cover 36, the controller 30 determines a new coordinate system based on the positions of the locators 40c.
In an example of such a new coordinate system, if the default coordinates of one of the locators 40c indicates an origin of the default coordinate system (e.g., [0,0,0]), and the controller 30 determines the actual three-dimensional position of the locator 40c is [x, y, z] offset from the origin, the controller 30 can determine a transformation matrix that converts coordinates in the default coordinate system to a new coordinate system at which [x, y, z] is the origin. Such a transformation matrix is conventional in image processing software (such as Pixi3D, OpenGL Viewport, or OpenGL Projection) and is stored in the memory of the controller 30. Then, the controller 30 adjusts the three-dimensional coordinates of the removal path with the transformation matrix to determine and adjusted removal path. In another form, the coordinate systems described herein may be any suitable three-dimensional system, such as spherical or cylindrical coordinate systems.
The controller 30 actuates the removal tool 28 to remove material along the adjusted removal path, which more precisely removes the component removal zones 38 than the default removal path. The controller 30 can use three-dimensional positions from a plurality of locators 40c to determine the transformation matrix, each additional locator 40c refining the transformation into the new coordinate system.
With reference to the battery assembly 14d of
The tab 40d extends out from the cover 36 and has a conventional shape such as a square ring (as shown in
While each of the locators 40 are shown individually, it is within the scope of the disclosure to use two or more of the locators 40 on a same cover 36 to identify and remove the component removal zones 38, such as storing the virtual model 44 in the controller 30, identifying the virtual model 44 according to the identifying mark 40b, and adjusting the removal path stored in the virtual model 44 based on the transformation matrix determined based on the three-dimensional positions of the protrusions 40c. In addition, while one removal tool 28, 48 is shown in
Referring to
Unless otherwise expressly indicated herein, all numerical values indicating mechanical/thermal properties, compositional percentages, dimensions and/or tolerances, or other characteristics are to be understood as modified by the word “about” or “approximately” in describing the scope of the present disclosure. This modification is desired for various reasons including industrial practice, material, manufacturing, and assembly tolerances, and testing capability.
As used herein, the phrase at least one of A, B, and C should be construed to mean a logical (A OR B OR C), using a non-exclusive logical OR, and should not be construed to mean “at least one of A, at least one of B, and at least one of C.”
In this application, the term “controller” and/or “module” may refer to, be part of, or include: an Application Specific Integrated Circuit (ASIC); a digital, analog, or mixed analog/digital discrete circuit; a digital, analog, or mixed analog/digital integrated circuit; a combinational logic circuit; a field programmable gate array (FPGA); a processor circuit (shared, dedicated, or group) that executes code; a memory circuit (shared, dedicated, or group) that stores code executed by the processor circuit; other suitable hardware components (e.g., op amp circuit integrator as part of the heat flux data module) that provide the described functionality; or a combination of some or all of the above, such as in a system-on-chip.
The term memory is a subset of the term computer-readable medium. The term computer-readable medium, as used herein, does not encompass transitory electrical or electromagnetic signals propagating through a medium (such as on a carrier wave); the term computer-readable medium may therefore be considered tangible and non-transitory. Non-limiting examples of a non-transitory, tangible computer-readable medium are nonvolatile memory circuits (such as a flash memory circuit, an erasable programmable read-only memory circuit, or a mask read-only circuit), volatile memory circuits (such as a static random access memory circuit or a dynamic random access memory circuit), magnetic storage media (such as an analog or digital magnetic tape or a hard disk drive), and optical storage media (such as a CD, a DVD, or a Blu-ray Disc).
The apparatuses and methods described in this application may be partially or fully implemented by a special purpose computer created by configuring a general-purpose computer to execute one or more particular functions embodied in computer programs. The functional blocks, flowchart components, and other elements described above serve as software specifications, which can be translated into the computer programs by the routine work of a skilled technician or programmer.
The description of the disclosure is merely exemplary in nature and, thus, variations that do not depart from the substance of the disclosure are intended to be within the scope of the disclosure. Such variations are not to be regarded as a departure from the spirit and scope of the disclosure.
