Patent Application
20240326262
The present disclosure relates to a cell gripper and a cell transfer device including the same, and more particularly, to a cell gripper, which presses and fixes both the side surfaces of a cell during cell transfer to prevent the cell from sliding to be separated from a transfer device, minimize a time taken for a separate positioning operation to improve a takt time, and improve productivity even without increasing in load factor of the device, and a cell transfer device including the cell gripper.
Secondary batteries refer to batteries that are chargeable and dischargeable unlike non-rechargeable primary batteries, and are widely used in not only small electronic devices such as mobile phones and notebook computers, but also large products, such as electric vehicles, which require higher powers, energy storage systems (ESS) for storing surplus electricity or new renewable energy, and energy storage systems for backup.
In the secondary batteries, an electrode assembly mounted in a battery case is a chargeable and dischargeable power generation element having a structure in which a positive electrode/a separator/a negative electrode are stacked. The electrode assembly includes a jelly-roll-type electrode assembly wound by interposing a separator between sheet-shaped positive and negative electrodes that are coated with electrode active material slurry, a stacked type electrode assembly in which cells with a separator interposed between multiple positive and negative electrodes cut are stacked in sequence, and so on.
The secondary batteries are produced through multiple processes and thus, need to be transferred between various equipment. Here, when a cell is transferred between one equipment and another equipment, a cell transfer device in which the cell is seated is provided in an upper portion of a conveyor, and the cell is transferred by the conveyor while being seated in the cell transfer device. The cell that has reached a target equipment is picked up from an upper side by a pick & placement (P&P) unit to be subject to a process in subsequent equipment.
Moreover, since the cell seated in the cell transfer device is transferred in an unfixed state, a positioning operation of re-aligning the position of the cell is essential before the cell is picked up after reaching the target equipment. This also leads to the deterioration in productivity.
In addition, when the transfer speed of the conveyor increases or a transfer amount of the cell increases so as to improve the productivity, there are problems that the load of a cylinder or P&P unit operated during the positioning operation increases and accordingly, the possibility of degradation of components increases.
An object of the present invention for solving the above problems is to provide a cell gripper, which presses and fixes both side surfaces of a cell during cell transfer to prevent the cell from sliding to be separated from a transfer device, minimize a time taken for a separate positioning operation to improve a takt time, and improve productivity even without increasing a load rate of the device, and a cell transfer device including the cell gripper.
A cell gripper according to an aspect of the present invention includes a housing and a grip assembly mounted in the housing, wherein the grip assembly includes: a cell support in which a cell seating groove having an upper portion into which a cell is introduced to be seated is defined; a pair of pinion gears that are provided on both side surfaces of the cell support respectively, and convert vertical linear movement of the cell support into rotational movement; a pair of gear frames that are coupled to the pair of pinion gears, respectively, and transmit the rotational movement of the pinion gears; and a pair of cell fixing members that are provided on end portions of the pair of gear frames, respectively, and press and fix the cell seated in the cell seating groove from both sides.
In the grip assembly, the pair of pinion gears may rotate by descent of the cell support, and the pair of gear frames and the pair of cell fixing members may move, by the rotation of the pair of pinion gears, in a direction of the cell seating groove to press and fix the cell from both the sides.
The grip assembly may further include an elastic member that is provided below the cell support and provides an elastic force in a vertical direction of the cell support.
The cell support may include: a pair of rack gears, each of which has a length in a vertical direction, is provided to be spaced apart from the other, and has an outside surface having sawteeth formed thereon; and a connection part that is provided below the pair of rack gears and connects the pair of rack gears to each other.
The cell seating groove may be defined by inner side surfaces of the pair of rack gears facing each other and the connection part provided below the pair of rack gears so as to have a U-shaped vertical section.
The pinion gears may be each provided with an axial through-hole, which passes through both side surfaces of the pinion gear at a position corresponding to a virtual rotary axis, and a coupling protrusion protruding outward from a side surface in which the axial through-hole is defined.
The gear frame may each include a first frame coupled at a side surface of each of the pinion gears, and a second frame having one side coupled to the first frame and the other side coupled to each of the cell fixing members, wherein the first frame has one side, which is disposed to correspond to an axial through-hole of the pinion gear so as to be coupled to the pinion gear, and the other side coupled to the second frame, and the first frame is coupled to a coupling protrusion of the pinion gear between the one side and the other side.
The gear frame may further include a third frame having one side coupled to the second frame and the other side rotatably coupled to the housing.
The third frame may be coupled to the second frame so as to be disposed between the cell fixing member and the first frame.
The cell fixing member may include a pressing part provided as a flat surface, and a pair of coupling parts bent backwards from both sides of the pressing part.
In the second frame, the other side opposite to the one side coupled to the first frame may be inserted between the pair of coupling parts to be rotatably coupled.
A notch groove having a U-shaped vertical section may be defined in the housing at a position facing the cell seating groove.
The notch groove may be defined to have a size greater than a size of the cell seating groove.
A cell transfer device according to an aspect of the present invention includes a cell gripper provided in at least one, and a mount that fixes the cell gripper from below the cell gripper, wherein the cell gripper includes a housing and a grip assembly mounted in the housing, wherein the grip assembly includes: a cell support in which a cell seating groove having an upper portion into which a cell is introduced to be seated is defined; a pair of pinion gears that are provided on both side surfaces of the cell support, respectively, and convert vertical linear movement of the cell support into rotational movement; a pair of gear frames that are coupled to the pair of pinion gears, respectively, and transmit the rotational movement of the pinion gears; and a pair of cell fixing members that are provided on end portions of the pair of pinion gears, respectively, and press and fix the cell seated in the cell seating groove from both sides.
The cell gripper and the cell transfer device according to an aspect of the present invention include the housing and the grip assembly mounted in the housing. The grip assembly includes the cell support, in which the cell seating groove in which the cell is introduced from the upper side to be seated is defined, the pair of pinion gears, which are provided on both the side surfaces of the cell support and convert the vertical linear movement of the cell support into the rotational movement, the pair of gear frames, which are coupled to the pair of pinion gears, respectively, and transmit the rotational movement of the pinion gears, and the pair of cell fixing members which are provided on the end portions of the pair of gear frames, respectively, and press and fix the cell seated in the cell seating groove from both the sides. Accordingly, both the side surfaces of the cell may be pressed and fixed during the cell transfer to prevent the cell from sliding to be separated from the transfer device, minimize the time taken for the separate positioning operation to improve the takt time, and improve the productivity even without increasing the load rate of the device.
Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so as to enable those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains to easily carry out the present invention. The present invention may, however, be embodied in different forms and should not be construed as limited by the embodiments set forth herein.
The parts unrelated to the description, or the detailed descriptions of related well-known art that may unnecessarily obscure subject matters of the present invention, will be ruled out in order to clearly describe the present invention. Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the whole specification.
Moreover, terms or words used in this specification and claims should not be restrictively interpreted as ordinary meanings or dictionary-based meanings, but should be interpreted as meanings and concepts conforming to the scope of the present invention on the basis of the principle that an inventor can properly define the concept of a term to describe his or her invention in the best ways.
Referring to
As illustrated in
Successively, referring to
The cell seating groove having an upper portion into which the cell is introduced to be seated is defined in the cell support 210. Here, the cell may mean an electrode assembly unit, in which an electrode and a separator are alternately stacked and which is cut to have a flat surface having a rectangular shape with a long side and a short side, and may include cells having various shapes such as bi-cell, mono-cell, and half-cell. The cell may be introduced from above the cell support 210, and the long side may be introduced into an upper portion of the cell seating groove to be seated in a state in which the cell stands upright.
The pinion gear 220 is provided in a pair on both side surfaces of the cell support 210, respectively, and converts vertical linear movement of the cell support 210 into rotational movement. When the cell is seated, the cell support 210 may move by a self-weight of the cell in a downward direction or in the gravity direction (hereinafter, referred to as “descent of the cell support”). The pinion gear 220 is provided to be engaged with a side surface of the cell support 210 to rotate according to the descent of the cell support 210. Here, the pair of pinion gears 220 may be provided to be disposed at sides opposite to each other with the cell support 210 therebetween and accordingly, rotation directions of the pair of pinion gears 220 may be opposite to each other, for example, a clockwise direction and a counterclockwise direction. When the cell is removed from the cell support 210, the cell support 210, which has descended by the weight, may return in an upward direction or in a direction opposite to the gravity direction (hereinafter, referred to as “ascent of the cell support”), and the pinion gear 220 may rotate in a direction opposite to the direction in which the pinion gear 220 has rotated according to the descent of the cell support 210.
The gear frame 230 is coupled to each of the pair of pinion gears 220 and transmits the rotational movement of the pinion gear 220. The cell fixing member 240 is provided on an end portion of each of a pair of gear frames 230, and the cell fixing members 240 press and fix the cell seated in the cell seating groove from both sides.
As above, in the cell gripper 10 according to an embodiment of the present invention, the cell fixing members 240 press and fix both the side surfaces of the cell so that the cell may be prevented from sliding to be separated during the transfer, a time taken for a separate positioning operation may be minimized to improve a takt time, and productivity may be improved even without increasing a load rate of the device.
In the grip assembly 200, the pair of pinion gears 220 may rotate by the descent of the cell support 210, and the pair of gear frames 230 and a pair of cell fixing members 240 may move, by the rotation of the pair of pinion gears 220, in a direction of the cell seating groove to press and fix the cell from both the sides.
On the other hand, the pair of pinion gears 220 may rotate, by the ascent of the cell support 210, in directions opposite to directions in which the pinion gears 220 have rotated according to the descent of the cell support 210, respectively, and the pair of gear frames 230 and the pair of cell fixing members 240 may move, by the rotation of the pair of pinion gears 220 in the opposite directions, in a direction that is away from the cell seating groove to release the fixing at both the sides of the cell. That is, when the cell is seated in the grip assembly 200 and the cell weight is applied, the cell fixing members 240 may press and fix the cell from both the sides, and when the cell is picked up and the cell weight is removed, the cell fixing members 240 may operate so as to release the fixing of the cell.
The grip assembly 200 may further include an elastic member 250 that is provided below the cell support 210 and provides an elastic force in a vertical direction of the cell support 210. Here, the elastic member 250 may be selected as a spring, but is not necessarily limited thereto. The elastic member is sufficient as long as one having a material or structure that is compressed when the cell is seated on the cell support 210 and recovered when the cell is removed. The elastic force of the elastic member 250 may be defined so that when the cell is seated on the cell support 210, the elastic member 250 can further descend than an initial position of the cell support 210 by the weights of the cell support and the cell.
Hereinafter, respective components of the grip assembly 200 will be described in detail with reference to
As illustrated in
The cell seating groove defined in the cell support 210 may be defined by inner side surfaces of the pair of rack gears 211 facing each other and the connection part 212 provided below the pair of rack gears 211 so as to have a U-shaped vertical section. That is, when in a state in which the cell stands upright, the long side of the cell is introduced into the upper portion of the cell seating groove to be seated, a lower portion of the cell may be supported by the connection part 212, and wide side surfaces of the cell may be supported, without being separated, by the inner side surfaces of the pair of rack gears 211 provided above the connection part 212.
Referring to
The gear frame 230 may include a first frame 230-1, a second frame 230-2, and a third frame 230-3. The first frame 230-1 may be coupled at a side surface of the pinion gear 220. In more detail, the first frame 230-1 may have one side disposed to correspond to the axial through-hole of the pinion gear 220 to be coupled to the pinion gear 220. Here, a coupling hole (a reference symbol not shown) may be defined in the one side of the first frame 230-1, and the first frame 230-1 may be coupled at the side surface of the pinion gear 220 in a state in which the stationary shaft described above passes through the coupling hole of the one side of the first frame 230-1 and the axial through-hole of the pinion gear 220 together.
The first frame 230-1 may have the other side coupled to the second frame 230-2, and be coupled to the coupling protrusion of the pinion gear 220 between the one side and the other side. In more detail, a coupling hole may be defined also in the other side of the first frame 230-1, and a coupling protrusion provided on the second frame 230-2 is inserted into the coupling hole so that the first frame 230-1 and the second frame 230-2 may be rotatably coupled to each other at the other side of the first frame 230-1. A coupling hole may be defined also between the one side and the other side of the first frame 230-1, and the coupling protrusion provided on the side surface of the pinion gear 220 described above is inserted into the coupling hole so as to be coupled. However, the coupling method is not necessarily limited to such a coupling method using the coupling hole and the coupling protrusion. For example, the coupling protrusion may be provided in the first frame 230-1, and the coupling holes may be defined in the pinion gear 220 and the second frame 230-2 so as to be coupled to each other.
The second frame 230-2 may have one side coupled to the first frame 230-1 and the other side coupled to the cell fixing member 240. The structure in which the second frame 230-2 is coupled to the cell fixing member 240 will be described later.
The third frame 230-3 may have one side coupled to the second frame 230-2 and the other side rotatably coupled to the housing 100. In more detail, a coupling hole may be defined in the one side of the third frame 230-3, and a coupling protrusion provided on the second frame 230-2 may be inserted into the coupling hole so that the third frame 230-3 and the second frame 230-2 are rotatably coupled to each other. Here, the coupling protrusion provided on the second frame 230-2 is a component different from the coupling protrusion described above, which is coupled to the first frame 230-1, and may be provided at a point between positions at which the cell fixing member 240 and the first frame 230-1 are coupled to the second frame 230-2, respectively. That is, the third frame 230-3 may be coupled to the second frame 230-2 so as to be disposed between the cell fixing member 240 and the first frame 230-1. Accordingly, a movable range of the second frame 230-2 may be appropriately restricted, and the cell fixing member 240 to be described later may accurately press the side surface of the cell.
The third frame 230-3 may have the other side rotatably coupled to the housing 100. In more detail, another coupling hole may be defined in the other side of the third frame 230-3, and a stationary shaft defined in the inner surface of the housing 100 may pass through the coupling hole so as to be coupled. Here, the stationary shaft defined in the inner surface of the housing 100 is a component different from the stationary shaft described above, which passes through the pinion gear 220 and the first frame 230-1, and may be a component that fixes the third frame 230-3 alone. Thus, in a state in which the other side of the third frame 230-3 is fixed to the housing 100, the one side of the third frame 230-3 coupled to the second frame 230-2 may move.
Referring to
A pair of coupling parts 242 may be provided to be bent from both sides of the pressing part 241 to a backward direction. Here, the backward direction may mean a direction opposite to the flat surface on which the pressing part 241 presses and fixes the cell. The pair of coupling parts 242 may be bent in the backward direction of the pressing part 241 to define a space between the coupling parts 242. Here, the other side of the second frame 230-2, which is opposite to the one side coupled to the first frame 230-1, may be inserted between the pair of coupling parts 242 so as to be rotatably coupled. Accordingly, even when the second frame 230-2 moves in an upward and downward direction or in a front and rear direction, a pressing part 241 surface of the cell fixing member 240 may be maintained to face in a certain direction. When the method of coupling the second frame 230-2 to the coupling parts 242 of the cell fixing member 240 is described in detail, coupling holes may be defined in the pair of coupling parts 242, respectively, a coupling hole may be defined also in the other side of the second frame 230-2, and the second frame 230-2 may be coupled to the coupling parts 242 at a position, which corresponds to the coupling holes of coupling parts 242 and the coupling hole of the second frame 230-2 described above, through a fixing pin, a screw, or the like, passing therethrough.
The content in common with Embodiment 1 will be preferably omitted and the description of Embodiment 2 will be focused on differences. That is, it is apparent that the content that is not described in Embodiment 2 may be regarded as the content of Embodiment 1 if necessary.
Referring to
The cell transfer device 1, which includes the cell gripper 10 and the mount 20 that fixes the cell gripper 10, may be transferred by means of, e.g., a conveyor belt. The cell gripper 10 includes a housing 100 and a grip assembly 200 mounted in the housing 100. The grip assembly 200 includes a cell support 210, in which a cell seating groove having an upper portion into which a cell is introduced to be seated is defined, a pair of pinion gears 220, which are provided on both side surfaces of the cell support 210, respectively, and convert vertical linear movement of the cell support 210 into rotational movement, a pair of gear frames 230, which are coupled to the pair of pinion gears 220, respectively, and transmit the rotational movement of the pinion gears 220, and a pair of cell fixing members 240 which are provided on end portions of the pair of gear frames 230, respectively, and press and fix the cell seated in the cell seating groove from both sides.
Accordingly, the cell transfer device 1 according to an embodiment of the present invention may prevent the cell from sliding to be separated, minimize the time taken for the separate positioning operation to improve the takt time, and improve the productivity even without increasing the load rate of the device. In the cell transfer device 1 according to Embodiment 2 of the present invention, the detailed configuration of the cell gripper 10 and the resultant effects may be understood to be the same as those in Embodiment 1.
Although the present invention has been described with reference to the limited embodiments and drawings, the present invention is not limited thereto and may be variously implemented by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present invention pertains, within the technical idea of the present invention and an equivalent of the appended claims.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2021-0117974 | Sep 2021 | KR | national |
The present application is a national phase entry under 35 U.S.C. § 371 of International Application No. PCT/KR2022/013233, filed on Sep. 2, 2022, which claims the benefit of the priority from Korean Patent Application No. 10-2021-0117974, filed on Sep. 3, 2021, all of which are hereby incorporated by reference in its entirety.
| Filing Document | Filing Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| PCT/KR2022/013233 | 9/2/2022 | WO |
