Patent Application
20240066636
This application claims, under 35 U.S.C. § 119(a), the benefit of and priority to Korean Patent Application No. 10-2022-0109549, filed on Aug. 31, 2022, the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The present disclosure relates to a laser protection system and, more particularly, to a laser protection system capable of protecting a laser during laser welding.
A rechargeable secondary battery has recently been expanding its application for various reasons (e.g., the eco-friendly nature thereof). The field to which the secondary battery is applied may be, for example, an electric vehicle.
An electric vehicle includes a vehicle driven by a motor and is provided with a secondary battery as an energy storage configured to drive the motor. The battery installed in the electric vehicle may be assembled successively through a battery cell, a battery module, and then a battery pack. The battery may be finally mounted in the vehicle as the battery pack. The battery module may be manufactured by assembling a plurality of battery cells. Here, each battery cell of the plurality of battery cells may be welded to one another for electrical communication. During the assembly process, the quality of welding between the cells may play a significant role in determining cell performance.
The assembly process of the battery including the welding process of the cells may be conducted through an automated system. However, in the automated system, it may be highly likely that some defects in the weld between the cells causes overall defects. In such a case, production could be severely disrupted. Therefore, it is imperative to manage the assembly process such that welding defects do not occur.
The above information disclosed in this Background section is only for enhancement of understanding of the background of the present disclosure. Therefore, it may contain information that does not form the prior art that is already known to a person of ordinary skill in the art.
The following summary presents a simplified summary of certain features. The summary is not an extensive overview and is not intended to identify key or critical elements.
It is an object of the present disclosure to provide a laser protection system capable of preventing deterioration or defect of welding quality of a battery.
The object of the present disclosure is not limited to the above-mentioned object. Other objects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure pertains (hereinafter, “those skilled in the art”) based on the description below.
In one aspect, the present disclosure provides a laser protection system. The system includes a laser source configured to sequentially direct a laser beam to two or more work targets that are supplied, a plurality of protective lenses disposed between the laser source and the work targets, each of the plurality of protective lenses allowing the laser beam to pass therethrough at different times, and a drive mechanism having the plurality of protective lenses movably mounted thereon.
In another aspect, the present disclosure provides a method of operating a laser protection system. The method includes supplying a plurality of work targets disposed at an interval on a conveyor belt that is configured to move, aligning a laser source configured to perform laser welding with a first work target among the plurality of work targets, placing a first protective lens at an operating position positioned between the first work target and the laser source, performing laser welding on the first work target by the laser source, aligning a second work target with the laser source after completing the laser welding on the first work target, moving the first protective lens from the operating position to a first non-operating position and moving a second protective lens to the operating position, and performing laser welding on the second work target by the laser source.
A laser protection system may comprise: a laser source configured to sequentially emit a plurality of laser beams to a plurality of work targets that are discretely supplied; a plurality of protective lenses disposed between the laser source and the plurality of work targets; and a drive mechanism on which the plurality of protective lenses are movably mounted, wherein the drive mechanism is configured to move the plurality of protective lenses to allow each laser beam of the plurality of laser beams to pass through one of the plurality of protective lenses at a different time.
The drive mechanism may comprise: a protective lens conveyor, on which the plurality of protective lenses are mounted, configured to move the plurality of protective lenses in a direction parallel to a moving direction of the plurality of work targets; and a conveyor motor configured to provide a moving force to the protective lens conveyor.
The laser protection system may further comprise a cleaning member configured to clean the plurality of protective lenses.
The plurality of protective lenses may comprise a first protective lens and a second protective lens. The first protective lens may be placed at an operating position aligned with the laser source and a first work target of the plurality of work targets to allow a first laser beam of the plurality of laser beams to pass through the first protective lens. The second protective lens may be placed at a non-operating position. The cleaning member may be disposed at the non-operating position to clean the second protective lens.
The cleaning member may comprise: a brush element disposed to clean one of the plurality of protective lenses; and a rotation motor configured to rotate the brush element.
The cleaning member may further comprise a linear mover configured to move the cleaning member so that the brush element contacts a first protective lens of the plurality of protective lenses and the brush element is spaced apart from a second protective lens of the plurality of protective lenses.
The plurality of work targets may comprise a first work target and a second work target that are sequentially supplied. The drive mechanism may be configured to move a first protective lens of the plurality of protective lenses to be positioned between the first work target and the laser source when a first laser beam of the plurality of laser beams is radiated to the first work target. The drive mechanism may be configured to move a second protective lens of the plurality of protective lenses to be positioned between the second work target and the laser source when a second laser beam of the plurality of laser beams is radiated to the second work target.
The laser protection system may further comprise a laser source conveyor configured to move the laser source in a direction parallel to a moving direction of the plurality of work targets.
The laser protection system may further comprise a controller configured to control the laser source.
A method may comprise: supplying a plurality of work targets disposed at an interval on a conveyor belt that is configured to move the plurality of work targets; setting a laser source configured to perform a first laser welding operation on a first work target of the plurality of work targets; placing a first protective lens at an operating position positioned between the first work target and the laser source; performing the first laser welding operation on the first work target by using the laser source; aligning a second work target of the plurality of work targets with the laser source after completing the laser welding operation on the first work target; moving the first protective lens from the operating position to a non-operating position and moving a second protective lens to the operating position; and performing a second laser welding operation on the second work target by using the laser source.
The method may comprise cleaning the first protective lens while the first protective lens is positioned at the non-operating position.
The method may comprise: aligning a third work target of the plurality of work targets with the laser source after completing the second laser welding operation on the second work target; moving the second protective lens to the non-operating position or a second non-operating position, and moving the first protective lens from the non-operating position to the operating position; and performing a third laser welding operation on the third work target by using the laser source.
The method may comprise: moving the second protective lens to the non-operating position; and cleaning the second protective lens while the second protective lens is positioned at the non-operating position.
The conveyor belt may be operated by a conveyor belt motor.
The method may comprise: switching, by using a protective lens conveyor, positions of the first protective lens and the second protective lens between the operating position and the non-operating position, wherein the protective lens conveyor is operated by a conveyor motor.
The cleaning the second protective lens may comprise rotating a brush element of a cleaning member. The cleaning member may comprise the brush element and a rotation motor configured to rotate the brush element.
The method may comprise moving, by a linear mover, the cleaning member so that the cleaning member contacts the second protective lens.
The method may comprise moving the laser source in a direction parallel to a moving direction of the conveyor belt.
The operating position may be disposed between the non-operating position and a second non-operating position.
Each of the plurality of work targets may comprise a battery module comprising a plurality of cells, and the first laser welding operation and the second laser welding operation may be performed to electrically connect cells in the plurality of cells.
Other aspects of the disclosure are discussed in greater detail below.
It is to be understood that the term “vehicle” or “vehicular” or other similar terms as used herein are inclusive of motor vehicles in general, such as passenger automobiles including sport utility vehicles (SUVs), buses, trucks, various commercial vehicles, watercraft including a variety of boats and ships, aircraft, and the like, and include hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, hydrogen-powered vehicles, and other alternative fuel vehicles (e.g., fuels derived from resources other than petroleum). As referred to herein, a hybrid vehicle is a vehicle that has two or more sources of power, for example, a vehicle powered by both gasoline and electricity.
These and other features and advantages are described in greater detail below.
The above and other features of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to various examples thereof illustrated in the accompanying drawings which are given hereinbelow by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present disclosure, and wherein:
It should be understood that the appended drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various features illustrative of the basic principles of the disclosure. The specific design features of the present disclosure as disclosed herein, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes, will be determined in part by the particular intended application and usage environment.
In the figures, the reference numbers refer to the same or equivalent parts of the present disclosure throughout the several figures of the drawing.
Descriptions of specific structures or functions presented in various examples of the present disclosure are merely exemplary for the purpose of explaining the features according to the concept of the present invention, and the features according to the concept of the present invention may be implemented in various forms. In addition, the descriptions should not be construed as being limited to the examples described herein, and should be understood to include all modifications, equivalents and substitutes falling within the idea and scope of the present disclosure.
Meanwhile, in the present disclosure, terms such as “first” and/or “second” may be used to describe various components, but the components are not limited by the terms. These terms are only used to distinguish one component from another. For example, a first component could be termed a second component. Similarly, a second component could be termed a first component, without departing from the scope of the present disclosure.
It will be understood that when a component is referred to as being “connected to” another component, the component can be directly connected to the other component, or intervening components may also be present. In contrast, when a component is referred to as being “directly connected to” another component, there are no intervening components present. Other terms used to describe relationships between components should be interpreted in a like fashion (e.g., “between” versus “directly between,” “adjacent” versus “directly adjacent,” etc.).
Throughout the specification, like reference numerals indicate like components. The terminology used herein is for the purpose of illustrating various examples and is not intended to limit the present disclosure. In this specification, the singular form includes the plural sense, unless specified otherwise. The terms “comprises” and/or “comprising” used in this specification mean that the cited component, step, operation, and/or element does not exclude the presence or addition of one or more of other components, steps, operations, and/or elements.
Hereinafter, various examples of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In order to prevent spatters and fumes generated during laser welding from reaching the laser source 100, a protective lens 200 configured to protect the laser source 100 from the foreign substances may be provided. However, the protective lens 200 may also be contaminated due to a long use. If the protective lens 200 is contaminated, it may cause deterioration of the quality of a welded portion or defects in the welded portion, for example, due to a decrease in the output of the laser source 100, etc.
If the protective lens 200 is contaminated, welding defects may be caused by insufficient heat input of a welding material. Since it may be difficult to monitor such welding defects in an automated system, monitoring by an operator is being done. Such a monitoring process results in decrease in productivity and increase in manufacturing cost. In addition, factors, such as regular maintenance for maintaining welding quality and the time consumed to resolve defects when the defects are found, may further decrease productivity and increase maintenance items.
For this reason, the present disclosure provides a laser protection system capable of maintaining welding quality at a certain level by automatically handling foreign substances, such as spatters and fumes created during laser welding. The present disclosure aims to provide an automated device which can eliminate factors causing welding defects generated due to foreign substances in a protective lens and prevent decrease in productivity that may arise due to the required attention of a worker and a facility shutdown.
More than one work target 300 may be welded. A plurality of work targets 300 may be sequentially supplied for laser welding. To this end, the work targets 300 may be disposed at a predetermined interval on a conveyor belt 320 configured to move in a moving direction D1 (e.g., in a y-axis direction as shown in
The laser source 100 may be bidirectionally movable in the moving direction D1 (e.g., in the y-axis direction). The laser source 100 may include a laser source conveyor 140. As a non-limiting example, the laser source conveyor 140 may include a linear actuator and/or a cylinder actuator.
The laser protection system may include the protective lens 200. The protective lens 200 may prevent the laser source 100 from being contaminated by spatters, fumes, etc., generated during a laser welding. The protective lens 200 may be arranged in alignment with the laser source 100 so that the laser beam 120 passes therethrough.
The laser protection system may include one or more protective lenses 200. The one or more protective lenses 200 may be operatively associated with each other. A first protective lens 202, which may be one of the protective lenses 200, may be placed at an operating position OP used for protection of the laser source 100. A second protective lens 204, which may be another one of the protective lenses 200, may be placed at a non-operating position NP, which is in a standby state or a cleaning state. The first protective lens 202 may change its position with the second protective lens 204. For example, the first protective lens 202 and the second protective lens 204 may switch their positions with each other after the first protective lens 202 is at the operating position OP for a predetermined period. As another example, the first protective lens 202 and the second protective lens 204 may switch their positions with each other if the welding of one of the work targets 300 is completed at the operating position OP. The first protective lens 202 may move from the operating position OP to the non-operating position NP, while the second protective lens 204 is moved to the operating position OP. In other words, the first protective lens 202 and the second protective lens 204 alternately move from the operating position OP to the non-operating position NP, or from the non-operating position NP to the operating position OP. The laser protection system may further include more protective lenses in addition to the two protective lenses.
The laser protection system may further include a controller 500 (e.g., as shown in
As illustrated in
Referring to
Referring to
The laser protection system illustrated in
When defects occur in the welding process during the automated battery pack manufacturing process, since there is a very high possibility that mass defects will occur, periodic monitoring and management may be needed. Defects in welding may be caused by, specifically, foreign substances, such as fume gas and spatter generated during the welding process, which contaminates the protective lens of the laser source thereby decreasing the output of the laser. However, even if the laser welding apparatus is regularly maintained, it may be difficult to predict the generation of foreign substances.
For this reason, the present disclosure proposes a system configured to automatically clean foreign substances attached to the protective lens of the laser welding apparatus, thereby greatly reducing defects caused by a decrease in laser output due to foreign substances and avoiding costs from disposal of products due to the defects.
Throughout the disclosure, various examples are described such that the laser protection system is applied to the welding process needed when assembling the battery. However, it will be apparent to those skilled in the art that the laser protection system according to the present disclosure may be applied to other systems to which an automated welding process as well as a battery assembly process is applied.
As is apparent from the above description, the present disclosure provides at least the following advantages.
The laser protection system may prevent or reduce deterioration in welding quality or defects in welding of a battery.
Advantageous effects of the proposed system and method are not limited to those described above, and other advantageous effects not mentioned will be clearly recognized by those skilled in the art based on the above description.
It will be apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art to which the present disclosure pertains that the present disclosure described above is not limited by the above-described examples and the accompanying drawings, and various substitutions, modifications and changes are possible within a range that does not depart from the technical idea of the present invention.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 10-2022-0109549 | Aug 2022 | KR | national |
