JP5045049B2 - Battery welding apparatus and battery manufacturing method - Google Patents

Description

  The present invention relates to a battery welding apparatus for welding a metal lead to a current collector plate connected to at least one end of an electrode group formed by winding a positive electrode and a negative electrode through a separator, and more specifically, a metal lead. The present invention relates to a technique for avoiding problems that occur during continuous supply.

  Batteries such as alkaline storage batteries and lithium ion secondary batteries are widely used as power sources for portable devices, electric tools, or electric vehicles. Above all, the use of nickel-metal hydride storage batteries, which have a relatively high energy density and excellent durability, is spreading mainly in high-output types such as power sources for electric vehicles.

  In order to improve the current collecting performance from the positive electrode and the negative electrode, such a high output type battery is replaced by a method of directly connecting one end of the strip-shaped electrode and the electrode terminal via a metal lead. A current collector plate is connected to at least one end of an electrode group formed by winding a separator through a separator, and the current collector plate and the electrode terminal are connected via a metal lead.

  FIG. 5 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a high-power type battery. A positive electrode 1 composed of a positive electrode core material 1a and a positive electrode active material layer 1b and a negative electrode 2 composed of a negative electrode core material 2a and a negative electrode active material layer 2b are wound through a separator 3 to form an electrode group 4, A positive electrode current collector plate 5 is connected to the positive electrode core material 1 a, and the positive electrode current collector plate 5 and the positive electrode terminal 6 are connected via a metal lead 7. On the other hand, the negative electrode core material 1b is connected to the negative electrode current collector plate 8, and this negative electrode current collector plate 8 is directly connected to the outer can 9 also serving as the negative electrode terminal. Furthermore, in order to insulate the part electrically connected with the positive electrode 1 and the part electrically connected with the negative electrode 2, a high-power type battery is configured by disposing the insulator 10 at an appropriate place. The

  As a method for connecting the metal lead 7 to the positive electrode current collector plate 5, resistance welding is generally used. Specifically, since the positive electrode current collector plate 5 and the metal lead 7 cannot be sandwiched between a pair of welding electrodes, the metal lead 7 is disposed on the positive electrode current collector plate 5 and then a pair of welding electrodes disposed in parallel. Is brought into contact with the metal lead 7 and energized between the welding electrodes. 5 shows an example in which the negative electrode current collector plate 8 is electrically connected to the outer can 9, but the positive electrode current collector plate 5 is disposed below the electrode group 4 and electrically connected to the outer can 9. When connected, the positive electrode terminal 6 becomes a negative electrode terminal, and the negative electrode current collector plate 8 is connected to the metal lead 7.

Patent Document 1 describes a battery welding electrode capable of performing stable welding regardless of the flatness of an object to be welded. When such a welding electrode for a battery is developed on a mass production line and continuously welded at a constant period, a head 12 that supports a pair of welding electrodes 11 is provided at the upper end as shown in the schematic external view of FIG. A cam floor 16 fitted to a circumferential groove 15 provided on the outer peripheral portion of the disc-shaped cam 14 is provided at the lower end of the shaft 13, and the head 12 is moved up and down as indicated by arrows in the figure by the rotation of the cam 14. The method of moving is taken.
JP 2002-050339 A

As described above, since welding is performed at a constant cycle in a mass production line, it is necessary to supply an object to be welded to the welding process at a constant cycle. Here, a relatively large member such as a current collector plate (positive current collector plate 5 in FIG. 5) can be stably supplied continuously with a parts feeder or the like, but a minute member such as a metal lead 7 is By arranging the precursor adjacent to the welding process and further arranging the precursor punching process, the precursor can be stably supplied continuously.

  By the way, in order to rotate the cam 14 stably, it is necessary to provide a so-called “play” by making the width A of the groove 15 slightly larger than the diameter B of the fitting portion of the cam floor 16 (A> B). However, when the metal lead precursor is punched out to produce the metal lead, vibration is generated, so that the pressurization of the welding electrode is not effective by the size of this play, resulting in poor welding.

  The present invention has been made in view of the above-described problems, and an object of the present invention is to realize a highly reliable welding process suitable for a mass production line that can smoothly supply members while eliminating the adverse effects of vibration.

In order to solve the above-mentioned problems, the battery welding apparatus of the present invention welds a metal lead to a current collector plate connected to at least one end of an electrode group formed by winding a positive electrode and a negative electrode through a separator. A pair of welding electrodes arranged in parallel, a head for supporting the welding electrodes, a shaft having a head at the upper end and a cam floor at the lower end, and a cam floor fitted in a circumferential groove provided at the outer periphery. At the same time, a disc-shaped cam that moves the head up and down at a fixed period by rotation, a cylinder that pressurizes the head downward, and when the head reaches the vicinity of the lower end in the vertical movement by rotation of the cam, Ri Do and a control unit for controlling so as to energize the welding electrode when it reaches the lowermost end, of the groove of the cam, the lower end of the vertical movement of the head
The part corresponding to the vicinity is a wide groove part wider than other parts,
The control unit is configured to operate the cylinder when the cam floor reaches the wide groove portion .

  The battery manufacturing method of the present invention includes a welding step of welding a metal lead to a current collector plate connected to at least one end of an electrode group formed by winding a positive electrode and a negative electrode through a separator. A cam floor fitted to a circumferential groove provided on the outer periphery of a disc-shaped cam at the lower end of a shaft having a head supporting a pair of welding electrodes arranged in parallel at the upper end, and rotation of the cam The first operation of lowering the head by the above, the second operation of pressing the head downward by the operation of the cylinder when the head reaches the vicinity of the lower end, and the welding electrode is energized when the head reaches the lowermost end. It consists of 3rd operation | movement.

  Until the head 12 reaches the vicinity of the lower end, the head 12 is lowered by the rotation of the cam 14 with high periodicity, and in order to remove the adverse effect of vibration, the cylinder in the vicinity of the lower end where the welding electrode 11 is desired to be firmly brought into contact with the welding object. By controlling the control unit 18 so as to apply a pressure of 17, it is possible to perform welding with high mass productivity and high stability.

  As described above, according to the present invention, it is possible to eliminate the adverse effects of vibration that occurs when a metal lead is punched and supplied or when a large transport vehicle (such as a freight train or a truck) passes through the vicinity. A welding process that is highly suitable for mass production lines can be realized.

  Hereinafter, the best mode for carrying out the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

  A first invention is a battery welding apparatus for welding metal leads to a current collector plate connected to at least one end of an electrode group obtained by winding a positive electrode and a negative electrode through a separator, and is arranged in parallel. A pair of welding electrodes, a head that supports the welding electrodes, a shaft that has the head at the upper end and a cam floor at the lower end, and a cam floor that fits in a circumferential groove provided on the outer periphery and rotates the head at a fixed period A disc-shaped cam that moves up and down with a cylinder, a cylinder that pressurizes the head downward, and when the head reaches the lower end in the up-and-down motion due to rotation of the cam, the cylinder is operated and welding when the head reaches the lowest end And a control unit that controls to energize the electrodes.

  FIG. 1 is a schematic external view showing a battery welding apparatus of the present invention. A cam floor 16 fitted to a circumferential groove 15 provided on the outer peripheral portion of a disk-like cam 14 is provided at the lower end of a shaft 13 provided with a head 12 supporting a pair of welding electrodes 11 arranged in parallel at the upper end. In the present invention, the head 12 is moved up and down as indicated by the arrow in the figure by the rotation of the cam 14, but in the present invention, the cylinder 17 that pressurizes the head 12 downward is provided, and the head 12 reaches the vicinity of the lower end in the vertical movement At this time, the cylinder 17 is operated, and when the head 12 reaches the lowermost end, a control unit (not shown) controls to energize the welding electrode 11.

  FIG. 2 is a schematic view showing the periphery of the cylinder 17 in the battery welding apparatus of the present invention. As an example, the cylinder 17 is operated with compressed air. The air that has passed through the air supply port 20 is divided into a first line 21, a second line 22, and a third line 23. Precision regulators 19 are installed in the three lines, respectively, and high pressure compressed air is supplied to the first line 21, and low pressure compressed air is supplied to the second line 22 and the third line 23, respectively. is doing. The first line 21 and the second line 22 are each connected to the electromagnetic valve 18. Since the low-pressure compressed air is always supplied from the second line 22 to the cylinder 17, the cylinder 17 does not pressurize the head 12 downward. However, when the head 12 reaches the vicinity of the lower end in the vertical movement due to the rotation of the cam 14, the solenoid valve 18 is operated, and the cylinder 17 is switched so that high-pressure compressed air is supplied from the first line 21. The head 12 is pressed downward. The pressure applied by the cylinder 17 is larger than the pressure applied by the cam 14 when the shaft 13 is lowered. Therefore, when the control unit energizes the welding electrode 11 when the head 12 reaches the lowest end, the welding electrode 11 is turned on. It becomes possible to firmly contact the object to be welded, and the stability of welding is greatly improved even when vibration is applied. Since the low pressure compressed air is supplied from the third line 23 to the cylinder 17, the compressed air can be canceled even if the low pressure compressed air is sent from the second line 22. As long as high-pressure compressed air is not supplied, the burden on the cam floor 16 can be reduced.

  Although FIG. 2 shows a mode in which the cylinder 17 is operated with compressed air, it is needless to say that the same effect can be obtained even when the cylinder 17 is operated with hydraulic pressure, for example.

  According to a second aspect of the present invention, in the first aspect, a portion of the groove 15 corresponding to the vicinity of the lower end in the vertical movement of the head 12 is a wide groove portion that is wider than other portions. This is characterized in that the cylinder 17 is actuated at the time when the value is reached.

  FIG. 3 is a schematic external view showing the cam 14 in the second invention. A part of the groove 15 is a wide groove portion 15a, and the cam floor 16 and the cam 14 are arranged so that the head 12 reaches the lowest end in the vertical movement when the fitting portion of the cam floor 16 reaches a substantially middle point of the wide groove portion 15a. By connecting, it can be set as the aspect of 2nd invention. By adopting such a mode, the fitting portion of the cam floor 16 does not hit the outer peripheral surface of the groove 15 as compared with the case where there is no wide groove portion, so that it is not necessary to carefully consider the dimension of “play”. Breakage of the cam floor 16 can be prevented.

  A third invention is a battery manufacturing method including a welding step of welding a metal lead to a current collector plate connected to at least one end of an electrode group formed by winding a positive electrode and a negative electrode through a separator. The process includes a cam floor fitted in a circumferential groove provided on an outer peripheral portion of a disc-shaped cam at a lower end of a shaft having a head supporting a pair of welding electrodes arranged in parallel at an upper end, A first operation for lowering the head by rotation of the cam, a second operation for pressing the head downward by the operation of the cylinder when the head reaches the lower end, and a welding electrode when the head reaches the lowermost end And a third operation for energizing the circuit. The operation and effect of the third invention are as described in the first invention.

  According to a fourth invention, in the third invention, the head is lowered in the second operation only by the cylinder. The operation and effect of the fourth invention are as described in the second invention.

  The configuration of the present invention will be further described in detail. Since the general material of the positive electrode current collector plate 5 (or the negative electrode current collector plate 8), which is an object to be welded, is nickel-plated iron, and the general material of the metal lead 7 is iron or nickel, the welding electrode The material of 11 can select copper, molybdenum, etc. in order to improve weldability. In order to achieve the second and fourth inventions with high accuracy, it is preferable that the width C of the wide groove portion 15a with respect to the width A of the general groove 15 satisfies A <C ≦ 2A.

  According to the present invention, since it is possible to continuously supply members while eliminating the adverse effects of vibration, mass production of large-scale batteries, for example, single cells constituting battery modules that are auxiliary power supplies for electric vehicles In addition, it is extremely useful.

Schematic external view showing the battery welding apparatus of the present invention The schematic diagram which shows the circumference | surroundings of the cylinder in the welding apparatus for batteries of this invention Schematic external view showing the cam in the second and fourth inventions Schematic external view showing conventional battery welding equipment Schematic cross section of a high-power battery

Explanation of symbols

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Positive electrode 1a Positive electrode core material 1b Positive electrode active material layer 2 Negative electrode 2a Negative electrode core material 2b Negative electrode active material layer 3 Separator 4 Electrode group 5 Positive electrode current collector plate 6 Positive electrode terminal 7 Metal lead 8 Negative electrode current collector plate 9 Exterior can 10 Insulator 11 Welding electrode 12 Head 13 Shaft 14 Cam 15 Groove 15a Wide groove 16 Cam floor 17 Cylinder 18 Solenoid valve 19 Precision regulator 20 Air supply port 21 First line 22 Second line 23 Third line

Claims (1)

A battery welding device for welding a metal lead to a current collector plate connected to at least one end of an electrode group formed by winding a positive electrode and a negative electrode through a separator,
A pair of welding electrodes arranged in parallel;
A head for supporting the welding electrode;
A shaft with the head at the top and a cam floor at the bottom;
A disc-shaped cam that fits the cam floor in a circumferential groove provided on the outer periphery, and moves the head up and down at a constant cycle by rotation;
A cylinder that pressurizes the head downward;
A controller for controlling the energization of the welding electrode when the head reaches the lowest end when the head reaches the lower end in the vertical movement by rotation of the cam; and
Tona is, of the groove of the cam, a portion corresponding to the lower end vicinity of the vertical movement of the head, the wide breadth Shun Mizobe than the other portion,
The battery welding apparatus according to claim 1, wherein the control unit operates the cylinder when the cam floor reaches the wide groove portion .

Images