System for processing battery plates and arrangement thereof in the provided battery housing

Abstract

A system for processing battery plates and arrangement thereof in the battery housing, including transportation apparatuses and individual processing stations, such as insertion stations, tin bath, and a lead casting station. The battery plates which are to be processed are arranged as plate stacks in a plurality of clamping cassettes which are equipped with the plate stacks arranged in a vertically oriented transportation apparatus which rotates in a circle. The plate stacks and the individual processing stations rotate in a vertically oriented circular movement and can be supplied to the clamping cassette which is positioned in the processing station.

Claims

1. A system for processing battery plates comprising: a rotary transport device that is rotatable about a horizontal axis and is vertically aligned performing a rotary movement in a vertical plane; and a plurality of spaced apart individual processing stations disposed about the rotary transport device, the individual processing stations comprising: an insertion station, a flux station, a lead casting station, and a boxing station in which the battery plates are installed in battery cases, wherein, the battery plates to be processed are arranged on the rotary transport device and spaced from the horizontal axis to rotate in a circular manner for processing in disk stacks in a designated number of clamping cassettes, wherein clamping cassettes provided with the disk stacks are arranged on the rotary transport device spaced from the horizontal axis to rotate in a circular manner, the plurality of spaced apart individual processing stations for positioning the individual processing stations are arranged in the position of the clamping cassettes above, below or radially outside of the rotary transport device, the flux station further comprises a drying apparatus, a tin bath, and a tin level measuring system, wherein the lead casting station has a melting vessel divided into two chambers by a partition wall, forming a lead casting chamber and a lead settling chamber, on the melting vessel a continuously running pump is arranged, which continuously pumps molten lead from the lead casting chamber of the melting vessel into the lead settling chamber of the melting vessel to reach a constant level and further thereto on the partition wall between the lead casting chamber and the lead settling chamber of the melting vessel, at least one overflow bead is arranged, which additionally regulates the level of molten lead in the lead settling chamber of the melting vessel, and a further pump is arranged on the lead settling chamber, which transfers the molten lead from the lead settling chamber of the melting vessel into a casting mold.

2. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein the tin level measuring system, comprises an eddy current measuring system.

3. The system as claimed in claim 1, wherein each processing station has a separate transporting device of its own, serving for moving back and forth in relation to the rotary transport device.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 shows a schematic representation of a system for processing battery plates and arrangement of them in the battery housings provided for this purpose.

(2) FIG. 2 shows a schematic representation of the flux station with tin bath, tin wire feed and tin level measuring system.

(3) FIG. 3 shows a schematic representation of the lead bath (2.3.1) with the two compartments (2.3.1.3) divided by wall (2.3.1.4) forming a melting vessel and a settling compartment.

(4) FIG. 4 shows a side view of a separating wall (2.3.1.4) with overflow bead.

(5) FIG. 5a shows a schematic side view of the cleaning device (5) for the boxing frames (2.4.3) with their spreaders (2.4.4).

(6) FIG. 5b shows a schematic side view of the cleaning device (5) in the form of a detail.

(7) FIG. 5c shows a schematic plan view of the boxing station 2.4 with the cleaning system 5 for the boxing frames (2.4.3) and spreaders (2.4.4).

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

(8) According to FIGS. 1 to 5c, a system for processing battery plates and for arranging these battery plates in battery housings provided for this purpose consists of transporting devices and individual processing stations, such as an insertion stations, the tin bath, the lead casting station. The battery plates to be processed are in this case arranged for the processing as defined plate stacks in a number of clamping cassettes provided for this purpose. According to the invention, these clamping cassettes provided with plate stacks are arranged in a transporting device 1 performing a vertical turning movement. The individual processing stations 2.1-2.n are arranged in relation to this transporting device 1 peripherally, but outside the circle of movement of the transporting device 1. From there, the processing stations 2.1-2.n are arranged such that they can be respectively brought up to the position of the clamping cassette 3 positioned by the transporting device 1 by means of separate transporting devices 4.1-4.9. Thus, the first processing station, the insertion box 2.1, comprises at least a sixfold gripper system for assigning the plate stacks from a storage buffer into the clamping cassette 3, an aligning device for aligning and for bending the plate lugs and a clamping device for clamping the plate stacks for the insertion into the clamping cassette 3 provided by the transporting device 1.

(9) By vertical turning of the transporting device 1, the clamping cassette 3 provided with plate stacks arrives at the position of the second processing station, the flux station 2.2. By means of a horizontal slide as a separate transporting device 4.1 of the flux station 2.2, the latter is taken with the arranged tin bath 2.2.1 and the integrated measuring system 2.2.1.1, which operates as an eddy current measuring process, for the continuous measurement of the tin bath level, and the tin bath feed 2.2.1.2 to the clamping cassette 3. For optimally regulating the tin bath level, the measuring system 2.2.1.1 and the tin bath feeds 2.2.1.2 are coupled to one another in terms of information technology. Both the tin bath 2.2.1 and the additionally arranged drying device can in this case be brought up vertically to the transporting device 1 by means of the separate transporting device 4. In addition, the tin bath 2.2.1 can be brought up in a vertical direction to the clamping cassette 3. Before entering, the latter is turned as it travels downward, and can enter thus the tin bath 2.2.1 brought up from below. After the drying, the clamping cassette is transported by the transporting device to the processing station 3 as a result of the vertical turning movement.

(10) In the casting station 2.3, the casting on of the lead bridges is performed. For this purpose, the casting station 2.3 has a lead bath 2.3.1 with a melting vessel 2.3.1.2. The melting vessel 2.3.1.2 is in turn divided by a separating wall 2.3.1.4 into two part-compartments. In the one vessel half, the feeding in of lead bars for the molten lead is performed. In the other vessel half, the settling of the molten lead is performed. The lead is constantly pumped from the one vessel half into the settling compartment of the melting vessel 2.3.1.2 by means of a first pump 2.3.1.3. At least one overflow bead 2.3.1.5, which additionally regulates the level of the molten lead in the settling compartment of the melting vessel by a permanent overflow, since the surfaces of the levels of lead in the two compartments of the melting vessel 2.3.1.2 are at different heights, is arranged in the separating wall 2.3.1.4 between the settling compartment and the compartment for feeding lead to the melting vessel 2.3.1.1. From the settling compartment of the melting vessel 2.3.1.2, the molten lead, of very good quality, passes by means of a second pump 2.3.1.6 into a casting mold 2.3.1.1, where the casting on of the lead bridges is performed. For this purpose, the casting station 2.3 has an additional vertical transporting device 4 for bringing the casting mold 2.3.1.1 up to the clamping cassette 3. An additional horizontal displacing device as transporting device 4 provides the possibility of exchanging the entire casting mold 2.3.1.1 for maintenance and/or repair work, so that the processing sequence of the transporting device does not have to be interrupted.

(11) After the casting on of the bridges of lead, the clamping cassette 3 is transported by means of the transporting device 1, by vertical turning thereof, to the position of the boxing station 2.4 for the boxing of the completely fitted-out battery plate stacks into the provided battery cases.

(12) For this purpose, the boxing station 2.4 has at least a threefold gripper system 2.4.1 and a cleaning device 5 which serves for the cleaning of the boxing frames 5.1. This cleaning device serves for cleaning the spreaders 2.4.4, of the boxing frames 2.4.3, which become contaminated by the constant use. The cleaning station 5 has a brush 5.1 and/or spray system 5.2, which enters the provided boxing frames by means of a multi-axis system before the loading with the battery plate stacks and performs and reliably carries out there the cleaning and removal of dirt particles and deposits in 3D directions.

(13) The advantages of the present invention are summarized in a technical solution for the processing and arrangement of battery plates in provided battery housings that is distinguished by a low space requirement, has a high degree of monitoring functions and quality assurance measures for the processing sequences in the individual processing stations, operates efficiently and, as a result of the assignment of additional transporting devices to the individual processing stations, reduces the time expenditure for repair and maintenance tasks enormously. In particular, the measures for improving the quality assurance contribute to permanently and reliably inspecting and controlling all of the processing steps for the production and loading of the battery plate stacks, so that the system delivers a high degree of high-quality and completely loaded battery cases.

LIST OF DESIGNATIONS

(14) 1 Transporting device for clamping cassettes 2.1-2.n Processing stations 2.1 Insertion box 2.1.1 Sixfold gripper system 2.2 Flux station 2.2.1 Tin bath 2.2.1.1 Measuring system for tin level 2.2.1.2 Tin wire feed 2.3 Casting station 2.3.1 Lead bath 2.3.1.1 Casting mold 2.3.1.2 Melting vessel 2.3.1.3 Pump 2.3.1.4 Separating wall 2.3.1.5 Overflow bead 2.4 Boxing station 2.4.1 Threefold gripper 2.4.3 Boxing frame 2.4.4 Spreaders 3 Clamping cassettes 4 Separate transporting devices of the processing stations 5 Cleaning device 5.1 Brush system 5.2 Spray system