CN116706472A

CN116706472A - Top cover cleaning method and device, battery cell, battery and electricity utilization device

Info

Publication number: CN116706472A
Application number: CN202210188669.2A
Authority: CN
Inventors: 乔柳强; 孙可心; 崔如德
Original assignee: Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd
Current assignee: Contemporary Amperex Technology Co Ltd
Priority date: 2022-02-28
Filing date: 2022-02-28
Publication date: 2023-09-05

Abstract

The application discloses a top cover cleaning method and device, a battery monomer, a battery and an electric device. In the top cover cleaning method, the top cover comprises a to-be-cleaned area and a liquid injection hole arranged in the to-be-cleaned area, and the top cover cleaning method comprises the following steps: sealing the liquid injection hole; and cleaning the area to be cleaned. According to the embodiment of the application, the area to be cleaned is cleaned under the condition of sealing the liquid injection hole, so that pollutants generated in the cleaning process can be effectively prevented from reaching the inner side of the top cover through the liquid injection hole, and further the processing quality of a product comprising the top cover is improved.

Description

Top cover cleaning method and device, battery cell, battery and electricity utilization device

Technical Field

The application belongs to the technical field of cleaning, and particularly relates to a top cover cleaning method and device, a battery cell, a battery and an electric device.

Background

Many products are provided with liquid injection holes for injecting functional liquid into the cavities inside the product. Taking a battery cell as an example, a liquid injection hole for injecting an electrolyte into the battery cell may be provided in the battery cell. Generally, after the injection of the electrolyte is completed, it is generally necessary to clean the periphery of the injection hole so as to seal the injection hole later. However, in the related art, contaminants generated when the liquid injection hole is cleaned easily enter the inside of the battery cell, thereby resulting in lower quality of the battery cell.

Disclosure of Invention

The embodiment of the application provides a method and a device for cleaning a liquid injection hole, which are used for solving the problem that in the related art, pollutants generated in the cleaning process enter a battery monomer, so that the quality of the battery monomer is lower.

In a first aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a method for cleaning a top cover, where the top cover includes a to-be-cleaned area and a liquid injection hole disposed in the to-be-cleaned area, and the method for cleaning the top cover includes:

sealing the liquid injection hole;

and cleaning the area to be cleaned.

The method for cleaning the top cover provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to the top cover comprising the to-be-cleaned area and the liquid injection hole arranged in the to-be-cleaned area, and can effectively prevent pollutants generated in the cleaning process from reaching the inner side of the top cover through the liquid injection hole when the to-be-cleaned area is cleaned under the condition of sealing the liquid injection hole, thereby being beneficial to improving the processing quality of products comprising the top cover.

In some embodiments, sealing the pour hole comprises:

the liquid filling hole is sealed by using a patch.

In this embodiment, the mode of the sealed notes liquid hole of paster is simpler, can guarantee to annotate sealing reliability and the sealing efficiency of liquid hole.

In some embodiments, sealing the liquid injection hole further comprises:

a plug is inserted into the fill port prior to sealing the fill port with the patch.

In this embodiment, before the patch is used to seal the liquid injection hole, the plug is inserted into the liquid injection hole, so that the sealing effect on the liquid injection hole can be further improved.

In some embodiments, sealing the fill port with a patch includes:

and adhering the patch to the area to be cleaned by using an adhesive so as to seal the liquid injection hole.

In this embodiment, paste the paster through the binder and wait to wash the district, operation process is simpler, can guarantee to use the sealed operating efficiency who annotates the liquid hole of paster.

In some embodiments, prior to sealing the pour hole, the method further comprises:

the area to be cleaned is purged with a gas to dry the area to be cleaned.

In this embodiment, can use gas to sweep and wait to wash the district, on the one hand, can make some remaining electrolyte leave and wait to wash the district, on the other hand also can make some remaining electrolyte of surplus weather, and then make and wait to wash the district and obtain drying, make things convenient for the sealing of follow-up sealing member to annotating the liquid hole.

In some embodiments, cleaning the area to be cleaned includes:

and cleaning the area to be cleaned by using a milling cutter.

In this embodiment, the region to be cleaned is cleaned by the milling cutter, besides cleaning the pollutant attached to the region to be cleaned, the pollutant such as the crystal, the sediment or the electrolyte immersed in the top cover can be removed by milling the top cover, so that the cleaning effect of the region to be cleaned is effectively improved.

In a second aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a top cover cleaning device, where the top cover includes a to-be-cleaned area and a liquid injection hole disposed in the to-be-cleaned area, and the top cover cleaning device includes:

the supporting mechanism is used for supporting the top cover;

the sealing mechanism is used for sealing the liquid injection hole;

and the cleaning mechanism is arranged at the downstream of the sealing mechanism and is used for cleaning the area to be cleaned.

The top cover cleaning device that this embodiment provided can be used for wasing the top cover, and the top cover can include to wait to wash the district and set up in the notes liquid hole that waits to wash the district, and top cover cleaning device can include supporting mechanism, sealing mechanism and wiper mechanism, and wherein, supporting mechanism is used for supporting the top cover, and sealing mechanism is used for sealing notes liquid hole, and wiper mechanism is used for wasing to wait to wash the district. The cleaning mechanism is arranged at the downstream of the sealing mechanism, correspondingly, the cleaning mechanism can clean the top cover sealed with the liquid injection hole, so that pollutants generated in the cleaning process can be effectively prevented from reaching the inner side of the top cover through the liquid injection hole, and further the processing quality of a product comprising the top cover is improved.

In some embodiments, the sealing mechanism comprises:

and the patch part is used for sealing the liquid injection hole through the patch.

In this embodiment, sealing mechanism includes paster portion, can realize the reliable seal to annotating the liquid hole through paster portion, effectively avoids in the cleaning process, and the pollutant gets into to the top cap inboard from annotating the liquid hole.

In some embodiments, the patch portion includes a glue portion for gluing the patch, or the area to be cleaned.

In this embodiment, paster portion includes the rubber coating portion to fix the paster through the mode of pasting in waiting to wash the district, operation process is simpler, can guarantee to use the sealed operating efficiency who annotates the liquid hole of paster.

In some embodiments, the top cover cleaning device further comprises a purging mechanism disposed upstream of the patch portion for purging the area to be cleaned to dry the area to be cleaned.

In this embodiment, the purge mechanism is disposed at an upstream of the patch portion, that is, the patch portion may seal the liquid injection hole through the patch after the area to be cleaned is dried by the purge mechanism. Thus, the connection reliability between the patch and the top cover is improved; on the other hand, the subsequent cleaning workload of the area to be cleaned can be reduced.

In some embodiments, the cleaning mechanism comprises a milling cutter.

In this embodiment, wiper mechanism includes milling cutter, through milling cutter wash wait to wash the district, except can wash the pollutant that is attached to waiting to wash the district, can also get rid of the pollutant such as electrolyte that crystallization, deposit or submerge in the top cap through the milling process to the top cap, effectively improves the cleaning performance who waits to wash the district.

In some embodiments, the milling cutter includes a first surface for cleaning the cap;

in the case where the sealing mechanism includes the patch portion, an avoidance portion for avoiding the patch is provided on the first surface.

The avoidance part used for avoiding the patch is arranged on the first surface, that is, the avoidance part can avoid the patch when the milling cutter mills the area to be cleaned, so that the patch is prevented from being milled. So, on the one hand, can reduce the washing work load, on the other hand, also can effectively avoid destroying the paster in the cleaning process to annotating the sealed effect of liquid hole.

In some embodiments, the milling cutter further comprises a second surface for cleaning the cap;

the second surface extends obliquely to the outer peripheral surface of the milling cutter in a direction away from the rotational center axis of the milling cutter toward a direction away from the top cover.

In this embodiment, the piece etc. that produces in milling process can be discharged along the clearance between second surface and the top cap, effectively avoids processing burr's production, improves the cleaning performance who treats the cleaning zone.

In a third aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides a battery cell, including:

the top cover comprises a concave part, and a liquid injection hole is formed in the bottom wall of the concave part;

The sealing nail is fixedly connected with the top cover and is enclosed with the concave part to form a containing cavity;

the sealing piece is arranged in the accommodating cavity and seals the liquid injection hole.

In this embodiment, the sealing member can be sealed to annotating the liquid hole, so, when wasing foretell connecting region, can avoid producing pollutants such as piece to enter into the free inside of battery through annotating the liquid hole, improves the free shaping quality of battery. In addition, sealing member and sealing nail can form the twice seal structure to annotating the liquid hole, help effectively promoting the sealed effect to annotating the liquid hole.

In some embodiments, the battery cell further comprises a plug;

the plug is inserted into the liquid injection hole, and the sealing piece is arranged between the plug and the sealing nail.

In this embodiment, the plug may be inserted into the liquid injection hole, which may play a role in avoiding the electrolyte from flowing out of the liquid injection hole to a certain extent, so as to further improve the sealing effect of the liquid injection hole.

In some embodiments, the seal is bonded to the recess bottom wall by a glue layer.

In this embodiment, paste the sealing member at the depressed part diapire of top cap, the operation process is simpler, can guarantee to use the sealed operating efficiency who annotates the liquid hole of paster.

In some embodiments, the seal is a patch, the difference between the diameter of the patch and the diameter of the injection port being greater than or equal to 2mm and less than or equal to 3mm;

the first area of paster is pasted in the top cap, and first area is around in the second area of paster, and the second area is the perpendicular projection area of annotating the liquid hole on the paster.

In this embodiment, the patch can cover the liquid injection hole completely, and can have sufficient bonding width between patch and the top cap, in addition, through limiting the biggest value of the diameter of patch and the diameter difference of liquid injection hole, also can prevent that follow-up welding ablation etc. from damaging the patch, and then help improving the sealing reliability of patch to liquid injection hole.

In a fourth aspect, embodiments of the present application provide a battery comprising a battery cell as shown in the third aspect.

In a fifth aspect, an embodiment of the present application provides an electrical device comprising a battery as shown in the fourth aspect.

Drawings

In order to more clearly illustrate the technical solution of the embodiments of the present application, the drawings that are needed to be used in the embodiments of the present application will be briefly described, and it is possible for a person skilled in the art to obtain other drawings according to these drawings without inventive effort.

FIG. 1 is a schematic view of a partial structure of a vehicle according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 2 is an exploded view of a battery pack according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 3 is a partial schematic structure of a battery according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 4 is an exploded view of a battery cell according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 5 is a schematic view of the structure of the top cover according to the embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 6 is a schematic flow chart of a method for cleaning a top cover according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 7 is a schematic view of the structure of the top cover after sealing the filling hole according to the embodiment of the application;

FIG. 8 is a schematic diagram of another embodiment of the present application after the top cover is sealed;

fig. 9 is a schematic structural view of a top cover cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present application;

fig. 10 is a schematic view of another structure of a top cover cleaning device according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of another embodiment of a top cover cleaning apparatus according to the present application;

FIG. 12 is a schematic view of the purge mechanism and collection cassette drying around the fill port;

FIG. 13 is a schematic view of the vacuum cleaning mechanism mated with the milling cutter to clean the top cover;

FIG. 14 is a schematic view showing the structure of a milling cutter according to an embodiment of the present application;

FIG. 15 is a schematic view of a milling cutter being cleaned in a cleaning tank;

fig. 16 is a schematic structural view of a battery cell according to an embodiment of the present application.

The figure shows: 1-vehicle, 1 a-motor, 1 b-controller, 10-battery, 11-bottom shell, 12-top shell, 20-battery module, 30-battery cell, 32-housing, 33-battery cell assembly, 35-receiving cavity, 100-top cap, 110-area to be cleaned, 120-fill opening, 130-recess, 200-seal, 210-patch, 220-plug, 300-cleaning mechanism, 310-milling cutter, 311-first surface, 312-second surface, 313-relief, 400-support mechanism, 500-sealing mechanism, 510-plug insert, 520-patch, 521-glue applicator, 610-purge mechanism, 620-collection box, 700-negative pressure suction mechanism, 710-sealing conduit, 720-negative pressure conduit, 730-compressed air conduit, 740-seal ring, 800-seal pin, 900-cleaning tank.

Detailed Description

Embodiments of the technical scheme of the present application will be described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings. The following examples are only for more clearly illustrating the technical aspects of the present application, and thus are merely examples, and are not intended to limit the scope of the present application.

Unless defined otherwise, all technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this application belongs; the terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the application; the terms "comprising" and "having" and any variations thereof in the description of the application and the claims and the description of the drawings above are intended to cover a non-exclusive inclusion.

In the description of embodiments of the present application, the technical terms "first," "second," and the like are used merely to distinguish between different objects and are not to be construed as indicating or implying a relative importance or implicitly indicating the number of technical features indicated, a particular order or a primary or secondary relationship. In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the meaning of "plurality" is two or more unless explicitly defined otherwise.

Reference herein to "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure, or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment may be included in at least one embodiment of the application. The appearances of such phrases in various places in the specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, nor are separate or alternative embodiments mutually exclusive of other embodiments. Those of skill in the art will explicitly and implicitly appreciate that the embodiments described herein may be combined with other embodiments.

In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the term "and/or" is merely an association relationship describing an association object, and indicates that three relationships may exist, for example, a and/or B may indicate: a exists alone, A and B exist together, and B exists alone. In addition, the character "/" herein generally indicates that the front and rear associated objects are an "or" relationship.

In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the term "plurality" means two or more (including two), and similarly, "plural sets" means two or more (including two), and "plural sheets" means two or more (including two).

In the description of the embodiments of the present application, the orientation or positional relationship indicated by the technical terms "center", "longitudinal", "transverse", "length", "width", "thickness", "upper", "lower", "front", "rear", "left", "right", "vertical", "horizontal", "top", "bottom", "inner", "outer", "clockwise", "counterclockwise", "axial", "radial", "circumferential", etc. are based on the orientation or positional relationship shown in the drawings, and are merely for convenience of description and simplification of the description, and do not indicate or imply that the apparatus or element referred to must have a specific orientation, be configured and operated in a specific orientation, and therefore should not be construed as limiting the embodiments of the present application.

In the description of the embodiments of the present application, unless explicitly specified and limited otherwise, the terms "mounted," "connected," "secured" and the like should be construed broadly and may be, for example, fixedly connected, detachably connected, or integrally formed; or may be mechanically or electrically connected; can be directly connected or indirectly connected through an intermediate medium, and can be communicated with the inside of two elements or the interaction relationship of the two elements. The specific meaning of the above terms in the embodiments of the present application will be understood by those of ordinary skill in the art according to specific circumstances.

Some functional liquid injection is often required in many types of products. For example, injection of lubricant is required in the gearbox. Alternatively, the coolant is injected into the heat exchange device. Alternatively, electrolyte injection or the like is required in the battery or supercapacitor.

For example, a lithium battery may require injection of an electrolyte comprising ethylene carbonate, propylene carbonate, or other components. And the lead-acid battery may require injection of an electrolyte or the like including sulfuric acid or the like.

Of course, the type of battery requiring electrolyte injection is not limited to the above lithium battery and lead-acid battery, but may be a lithium-sulfur battery, a sodium ion battery, a magnesium ion battery, or the like. Also, as shown above, the functional liquid may be not limited to the electrolytic solution, but may be, for example, a lubricant or a coolant, etc., or a product to be injected with the functional liquid may be not limited to a battery, but may be, for example, a gear box or a heat exchange device, etc. For simplicity of description, the application of the electrolyte injection in the battery will be mainly described hereinafter.

In general, a battery is required to have a filling hole for filling electrolyte into the battery. For example, the battery may include a top cover on which a filling hole for filling the electrolyte is provided.

After the injection of the electrolyte is completed, the injection hole is generally required to be reliably sealed, for example, a sealing structure such as a sealing nail is fixed on the top cover by welding or other connection methods so as to seal the injection hole.

In order to ensure the fixing reliability of the sealing structure such as the sealing nail and the top cover, the connection area between the sealing nail and the top cover is required to have enough cleanliness. After the electrolyte is injected into the injection hole, residual electrolyte may exist, which affects the cleanliness of the connection area.

The related art uses ultrasonic cleaning or laser cleaning to clean the liquid injection hole and the vicinity thereof (hereinafter referred to as the area to be cleaned) so as to remove residual electrolyte or other impurities affecting the cleanliness of the connection area.

The inventor notes that in the process of cleaning the area to be cleaned, metal or nonmetal pollutants on the surface layer of the liquid injection hole may reach the inside of the battery through the liquid injection hole, so that the defects of micro short circuit and the like in the battery are caused, and further, the quality problem is brought to the battery.

In some application scenarios, although a plug may be inserted into the liquid injection hole during the assembly process of the battery, the plug may only play a role in blocking large-particle objects, and may not completely ensure the sealing of the liquid injection hole, so that contaminants in the cleaning process may still reach the inside of the battery through the liquid injection hole.

In order to solve the problems in the related art, the applicant improves the cleaning method and device of the top cover with the liquid filling hole and the structure of the battery cell with the top cover, and the technical scheme described in the embodiment of the application is suitable for the battery cell, the battery containing the battery cell and the electric device using the battery.

The electric device may be a vehicle, a mobile phone, a portable device, a notebook computer, a ship, a spacecraft, an electric toy, an electric tool, or the like. The vehicle can be a fuel oil vehicle, a fuel gas vehicle or a new energy vehicle, and the new energy vehicle can be a pure electric vehicle, a hybrid electric vehicle or a range-extended vehicle; spacecraft including airplanes, rockets, space planes, spacecraft, and the like; the electric toy includes fixed or mobile electric toys, such as a game machine, an electric car toy, an electric ship toy, and an electric airplane toy; power tools include metal cutting power tools, grinding power tools, assembly power tools, and railroad power tools, such as electric drills, electric grinders, electric wrenches, electric screwdrivers, electric hammers, impact drills, concrete shakers, and electric planers, among others. The embodiment of the application does not limit the electric equipment in particular.

For convenience of explanation, the following examples will be described taking an electric device as an example of a vehicle.

As shown in fig. 1, a battery 10 is provided inside a vehicle 1. The battery 10 may be provided at the bottom or the head or the tail of the vehicle 1. The battery 10 may be used for power supply of the vehicle 1, for example, the battery 10 may serve as an operating power source of the vehicle 1.

The vehicle 1 may further include a controller 1b and a motor 1a. The controller 1b is used to control the battery 10 to supply power to the motor 1a, for example, for operating power requirements at start-up, navigation and travel of the vehicle 1.

In some embodiments of the application, the battery 10 may not only serve as an operating power source for the vehicle 1, but also as a driving power source for the vehicle 1, instead of or in part instead of fuel oil or natural gas, to provide driving power for the vehicle 1.

As shown in fig. 2 and 3, the battery 10 includes a battery cell 30 (not shown in fig. 2). The battery 10 may further include a case for accommodating the battery cells 30.

The case is used to accommodate the battery cells 30, and the case may have various structural forms.

In some embodiments, the case may include a bottom case 11 and a top case 12. The bottom case 11 and the top case 12 are covered with each other. The bottom case 11 and the top case 12 together define an accommodating space for accommodating the battery cell 30. The bottom case 11 and the top case 12 may be hollow structures each having one side opened. The open side cover of the bottom case 11 is closed to the open side of the top case 12, and a case having an accommodation space is formed. A seal may also be provided between the bottom shell 11 and the top shell 12 to achieve a sealed connection of the bottom shell 11 and the top shell 12.

In practical use, the bottom case 11 may be covered on top of the top case 12. The bottom shell 11 may also be referred to as an upper case, and the top shell 12 may also be referred to as a lower case.

The bottom case 11 and the top case 12 may be various shapes, for example, a cylinder, a rectangular parallelepiped, etc. In fig. 2, the bottom case 11 and the top case 12 are each of a rectangular parallelepiped structure, for example.

In the battery 10, the number of the battery cells 30 may be one or more. If there are a plurality of battery cells 30, the plurality of battery cells 30 may be connected in series, parallel or series-parallel. Series-parallel connection refers to both series connection and parallel connection of the plurality of battery cells 30. The plurality of battery cells 30 can be directly connected in series or in parallel or in series-parallel, and then the whole body formed by the plurality of battery cells 30 is accommodated in the box body, or the plurality of battery cells 30 can be connected in series or in parallel or in series-parallel to form the battery module 20. The plurality of battery modules 20 are then connected in series or parallel or a series-parallel combination to form a unit and are accommodated in a case.

In some embodiments, as shown in fig. 3, in the battery 10, the battery cells 30 are plural. The plurality of battery cells 30 are first connected in series or parallel or a series-parallel combination to form the battery module 20. The plurality of battery modules 20 are then connected in series or parallel or a series-parallel combination to form a unit and are accommodated in a case.

In some embodiments, electrical connection between the plurality of battery cells 30 in the battery module 20 may be achieved through a bus bar component to achieve parallel or serial or parallel-serial connection of the plurality of battery cells 30 in the battery module 20.

Referring to fig. 4, fig. 4 is an exploded view of a battery cell 30 according to some embodiments of the present application. The battery cell 30 refers to the smallest unit constituting the battery. As shown in fig. 4, the battery cell 30 includes a top cover 100, a housing 32, a cell assembly 33, and other functional components.

The top cap 100 refers to a member that is covered at the opening of the case 32 to isolate the inner environment of the battery cell 30 from the outer environment. Without limitation, the shape of the top cover 100 may be adapted to the shape of the housing 32 to fit the housing 32. Alternatively, the top cover 100 may be made of a material (such as an aluminum alloy) with a certain hardness and strength, so that the top cover 100 is not easy to deform when being extruded and collided, so that the battery cell 30 can have a higher structural strength, and the safety performance can be improved. The top cover 100 may be provided with functional parts such as a filling hole 120, and the filling hole 120 communicates with the inside of the case 32 so as to fill the inside of the case 32 with electrolyte through the filling hole 120. In some embodiments, the top cover 100 may further be provided with a pressure release mechanism for releasing the internal pressure when the internal pressure or temperature of the battery cell 30 reaches a threshold value, a tab for electrically connecting with the battery cell assembly, and the like. The material of the top cover 100 may be various, such as copper, iron, aluminum, stainless steel, aluminum alloy, plastic, etc., which is not particularly limited in the embodiment of the present application. In some embodiments, insulation may also be provided on the inside of the top cover 100, which may be used to isolate electrical connection components within the housing 32 from the top cover 100 to reduce the risk of short circuits. By way of example, the insulation may be plastic, rubber, or the like.

The housing 32 is an assembly for mating with the top cover 100 to form the internal environment of the battery cell 30, where the formed internal environment may be used to house the cell assembly 33, electrolyte, and other components. The housing 32 and the top cover 100 may be separate components, and an opening may be provided in the housing 32, and the opening may be covered by the top cover 100 to form an internal environment of the battery cell 30. However, the top cover 100 and the housing 32 may be integrated, and specifically, the top cover 100 and the housing 32 may form a common connection surface before other components are put into the housing, and when the interior of the housing 32 needs to be sealed, the top cover 100 is covered with the housing 32. The housing 32 may be of various shapes and sizes, such as rectangular parallelepiped, cylindrical, hexagonal prism, etc. Specifically, the shape of the housing 32 may be determined according to the specific shape and size of the cell assembly 33. The material of the housing 32 may be various, such as copper, iron, aluminum, stainless steel, aluminum alloy, plastic, etc., which is not particularly limited in the embodiment of the present application.

The cell assembly 33 is a component in which electrochemical reactions occur in the battery cell 100. One or more battery cell assemblies 33 may be contained within the housing 32. The cell assembly 33 is mainly formed by winding or stacking a positive electrode sheet and a negative electrode sheet, and a separator is generally provided between the positive electrode sheet and the negative electrode sheet. The parts of the positive electrode plate and the negative electrode plate with active substances form the main body part of the battery cell assembly, and the parts of the positive electrode plate and the negative electrode plate without active substances form the electrode lugs respectively. The positive electrode tab and the negative electrode tab may be located at one end of the main body portion together or located at two ends of the main body portion respectively. During charge and discharge of the battery, the positive electrode active material and the negative electrode active material react with the electrolyte, and the tab is connected with the electrode terminal to form a current loop.

According to some embodiments of the present application, as shown in fig. 5 and 6, the top cover 100 may include a region 110 to be cleaned and a liquid injection hole 120 provided at the region 110 to be cleaned.

The top cover cleaning method may include steps S201 to S202.

Step S201, the liquid injection hole 120 is sealed. In step S202, the area to be cleaned 110 is cleaned.

In this embodiment, the top cover 100 may be a top cover 100 for products requiring injection of functional liquid, such as a battery, a gear box, or a heat exchange device, etc., which is not illustrated herein. For simplicity of description, the embodiment of the present application will be mainly described below by taking the top cover 100 of the battery as an example.

The top cover 100 may be a metal material, or an organic material having a certain strength and rigidity, etc., which is not particularly limited herein.

The top cover 100 may include a region to be cleaned 110 and a liquid injection hole 120 provided at the region to be cleaned 110, and in the case where the top cover 100 is the top cover 100 of the battery, an electrolyte may be injected into the inside of the battery through the liquid injection hole 120.

In connection with some examples, during the injection of the electrolyte, a portion of the electrolyte may remain around the injection hole 120. The region 110 to be cleaned may be a region of the top cover 100 where the filling hole 120 is provided, and a region where electrolyte residue may occur at the time of filling.

In connection with other examples, the vicinity of the filling opening 120 in the top cover 100 may be required to be connected to a relevant component, such as a sealing pin, etc., and the area 110 to be cleaned may correspondingly include the area of the top cover 100 for connection with the relevant component.

In step S201, the manner of sealing the liquid injection hole 120 may be manual sealing, automatic sealing using a pre-configured sealing mechanism, or the like, and is not particularly limited herein.

By way of example, a patch having an area greater than the area of the fill opening 120 may be placed over the fill opening 120 and at least one bead of adhesive applied around the fill opening 120 to adhere the patch to the top cover 100 and form a reliable seal against the fill opening 120.

For another example, the above-mentioned injection hole 120 may be provided with an internal thread, and in step S201, a plug with an external thread may be screwed into the injection hole 120, so that the injection hole 120 is reliably sealed by the thread sealing structure.

For another example, the liquid injection hole 120 is of a counter bore structure, in step S201, a preset end cap may be placed in the liquid injection hole 120, and glue is applied in a gap between the periphery of the end cap and the inner wall of the liquid injection hole 120, so as to achieve reliable sealing of the liquid injection hole 120, and so on.

For simplicity of explanation, the manner in which the liquid injection hole 120 is sealed in step S201 is not exhaustive here. In this embodiment, the sealing of the liquid injection hole 120 may be different from the sealing of the liquid injection hole 120 in the related art, and may be different from the sealing of the liquid injection hole 120 in the related art, in which it is difficult to ensure reliable sealing. In general, in the present embodiment, the sealing of the liquid injection hole 120 can effectively block various contaminants from entering the inner side of the top cover 100 from the liquid injection hole 120.

In step S202, the region to be cleaned 110 may be cleaned while the liquid injection hole 120 is sealed.

In connection with some examples, the manner in which the region 110 to be cleaned is cleaned may be, but is not limited to, a purge clean, a flush clean, an ultrasonic clean, a laser clean, a milling cutter clean, or the like.

During the cleaning of the region 110 to be cleaned, contaminants such as residual electrolyte, particles detached from the top cover 100, and environmental impurities attached to the top cover 100 may be removed from the region 110 to be cleaned. Since the pour hole 120 has been sealed in step S201, these removed contaminants generally do not pass through the pour hole 120 to the inside of the top cover 100, for example, to the inside of the battery.

The method for cleaning the top cover provided by the embodiment of the application can be applied to the top cover 100 comprising the to-be-cleaned area 110 and the liquid injection hole 120 arranged in the to-be-cleaned area 110, and the method cleans the to-be-cleaned area 110 under the condition of sealing the liquid injection hole 120, so that pollutants generated in the cleaning process can be effectively prevented from reaching the inner side of the top cover 100 through the liquid injection hole 120, and further the processing quality of a product comprising the top cover 100 is improved.

Optionally, referring to fig. 5 and 7, sealing the liquid injection hole 120 includes: the pour hole 120 is sealed with a patch 210.

In this embodiment, the patch 210 may have a sheet-like structure, which may have a large surface area so as to cover the liquid injection hole 120, and at the same time, may have a small thickness, so that excessive weight increase of the top cover 100 due to the placement of the patch 210 is avoided. Of course, the dimensional relationships referred to herein are a description of possible shapes of the patch 210 and do not constitute a specific limitation on the dimensions of the patch 210.

In addition, the patch 210 may have a structure with a certain strength to avoid breakage during the cleaning process or to prevent the liquid injection hole 120 from being exposed due to deformation. In some examples, patch 210 may be a metallic material, plastic, ceramic, or the like, without limitation.

The patch 210 may be sealingly connected to the cap 100 to seal the pour spout 120.

By way of example, patch 210 may be secured to top cover 100 with an adhesive that surrounds fill port 120 at least one revolution to form a seal with fill port 120 at various angular positions in the circumferential direction of fill port 120.

In other examples, the patch 210 may be connected to the top cover 100 by a magnetic structure, and the patch 210 may have a gasket thereon, where the gasket may form a seal with the injection hole 120 at various angular positions in the circumferential direction of the injection hole 120 when the patch 210 is magnetically attracted to the top cover 100.

In still other examples, the fill port 120 may be machined into a counterbore structure, and the patch 210 may be pressed into the top of the counterbore structure by a transition fit or an interference fit to seal the fill port 120.

The specific implementation of sealing the pour hole 120 using the patch 210 is not described in detail herein. In general, in the present embodiment, the manner of sealing the liquid injection hole 120 by the patch 210 is relatively simple, so that the sealing reliability and sealing efficiency of the liquid injection hole 120 can be ensured.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 5 and 8, the sealing liquid injection hole 120 further includes: before the patch 210 is used to seal the pour hole 120, a plug 220 is inserted into the pour hole 120.

In this embodiment, the stopper 220 may be a stopper having a deformability, such as a rubber stopper or the like. The stopper 220 may be inserted into the injection hole 120 by deformation and may press the inner wall of the injection hole 120, thereby generating a static friction force between the stopper 220 and the inner wall of the injection hole 120, so that the stopper 220 may be reliably stopped in the injection hole 120.

In this embodiment, the step of sealing the pour hole 120 may include two sub-steps of inserting the stopper 220 and sealing the patch 210.

The stopper 220 may be wholly or partially inserted into the pour spout 120. When the stopper 220 is integrally inserted into the pouring spout 120, the region 110 to be cleaned of the top cover 100 may be free from protrusions caused by the insertion of the stopper 220, and thus the pouring spout 120 may be further sealed using the patch 210 having a relatively flat surface. When the plug 220 is partially inserted into the injection hole 120, the plug 220 may generate a protrusion in the area 110 to be cleaned, and at this time, the shape of the patch 210 may be adaptively modified, so that the patch 210 avoids the protrusion generated by the plug 220 while sealing the injection hole 120.

It can be seen that when sealing the filling hole 120, the plug 220 is inserted into the filling hole 120 first, and further placement of the patch 210 may be unaffected or less affected.

The plug 220 may be configured to form a substantially seal with the fill port 120. In combination with the scenario in which the top cover 100 is applied to the battery, after the electrolyte is injected into the battery, it may be necessary to inject helium or the like into the battery for subsequent tightness test (for example, tightness test after welding sealing nails on the top cover 100, etc.). To reduce leakage of helium prior to the tightness test, the fill port 120 may be sealed with a plug 220 after filling with helium.

However, the sealing of the stopper 220 to the pour spout 120 may not be reliable. Therefore, patch 210 may be further used to reliably seal the fill port 120 prior to cleaning of the cap 100, thereby preventing contaminants generated during the cleaning process from entering the fill port 120.

It can be seen that, in the present embodiment, the plug 220 is inserted into the liquid injection hole 120 before the liquid injection hole 120 is sealed by the patch 210, so that the sealing effect on the liquid injection hole 120 can be further improved.

Optionally, sealing the pour hole 120 using the patch 210 includes: adhesive is used to adhere the patch 210 to the area 110 to be cleaned to seal the liquid injection hole 120.

The adhesive may be a polyurethane adhesive, a silicone adhesive, a phenolic resin adhesive, an acryl adhesive, or the like, and is not particularly limited herein, and may be selected accordingly according to the materials of the top cover 100 and the patch 210.

In some examples, one side surface of the patch 210 may be completely coated with an adhesive in advance, and the patch 210 may be directly adhered to the area 110 to be cleaned when the liquid injection hole 120 is sealed, so that the patch 210 completely covers the liquid injection hole 120.

In other examples, at least one ring of adhesive may be applied to one side surface of the patch 210, and after the patch 210 is adhered to the area 110 to be cleaned, the at least one ring of adhesive may be allowed to surround the liquid injection hole 120, so that the patch 210 may form a seal with the liquid injection hole 120 at various angular positions in the circumferential direction of the liquid injection hole 120.

In still other examples, at least one ring of adhesive may be applied to the area 110 to be cleaned, where the at least one ring of adhesive may surround the liquid injection hole 120, and the patch 210 may be adhered to the top cover 100 by the at least one ring of adhesive when the patch 210 is disposed in the area 110 to be cleaned.

The above are some examples of the implementation manner of adhering the patch 210 to the area 110 to be cleaned by using an adhesive, and in practical applications, the patch 210 can reliably seal the liquid injection hole 120 based on the use of the adhesive. In this embodiment, the patch 210 is adhered to the area 110 to be cleaned by using the adhesive, so that the operation process is relatively simple, and the operation efficiency of sealing the liquid injection hole 120 by using the patch 210 can be ensured.

Optionally, the difference between the diameter of the patch 210 and the diameter of the injection hole 120 is within a preset diameter difference.

The application of the patch 210 to the area 110 to be cleaned using an adhesive includes: the adhesive is used to adhere a first area of the patch 210 to the area 110 to be cleaned, the first area surrounds a second area of the patch 210, and the second area is a vertical projection area of the liquid injection hole 120 on the patch 210.

The preset diameter difference range may include at least one of an upper diameter difference limit and a lower diameter difference limit, which may be collectively referred to as a diameter threshold, which may be set as desired. In some embodiments, the preset diameter difference range includes a diameter threshold value that is a lower diameter difference limit, which may be 2mm, 2.5mm, or other value. For another example, the lower limit of the diameter difference may be determined based on the bonding ability of the adhesive or the diameter of the filling port 120, etc.

As shown in fig. 7 and 8, in this embodiment, an adhesive may be used to adhere a first area (an area shown in a) of the patch 210 to the area to be cleaned 110, where the first area surrounds a second area (an area shown in B) of the patch 210, and the second area is a vertical projection area of the liquid injection hole 120 on the patch 210.

In combination with an example where the orifice 120 has a diameter of 3mm and the lower limit of the difference in diameter may be 2mm, the patch 210 may have a diameter of 5mm. In the case where the liquid injection hole 120 is arranged concentrically with the patch 210, the vertical projection area of the liquid injection hole 120 on the patch 210 may be a circular area having a diameter of 3mm with the center of the patch 210 as the center, and the vertical projection area may be the above-described second area.

While the first region surrounds the second region of patch 210, and accordingly, the first region may be an annular region having an outside diameter of 5mm and an inside diameter of 3mm (denoted as the first annular region). Alternatively, the first region may be a partial region in the first annular region, for example, the first region may be an annular region having an outside diameter of 5mm and an inside diameter of 3.2 mm.

Of course, the above are some examples of the first region and the second region. In practice, the patch 210 and the pour hole 120 may not be concentrically arranged due to assembly errors. In general, however, the present embodiment sets the diameter of the patch 210 to be greater than or equal to the sum of the diameter of the liquid injection hole 120 and the diameter threshold, and the first area of the patch 210 for adhering to the area 110 to be cleaned can surround the second area.

In other embodiments, the predetermined range of diameter differences may include a threshold diameter value that is an upper limit of the diameter difference, that is, the maximum diameter of patch 210 may be constrained by the predetermined range of diameter differences. For example, the upper limit of the diameter difference may be 3mm or 2.8 mm.

In combination with some application scenarios, after the cleaning of the area to be cleaned 110 is completed, the area to be cleaned 110 may need to be cleaned by using a milling cutter, and by setting the upper limit of the diameter difference, the patch 210 can be prevented from being damaged by the milling cutter due to the oversized diameter.

Alternatively, further welding of the seal structure may be required on the area 110 to be cleaned, and by constraining the maximum diameter of the patch 210 by the upper limit of the diameter difference, the patch 210 may be prevented from reaching the welding area, thereby preventing ablation of the patch 210 during subsequent welding.

In still other embodiments, the predetermined diameter difference range may include an upper diameter difference limit and a lower diameter difference limit, the upper diameter difference limit may be 3mm and the lower diameter difference limit may be 2mm. I.e., the difference between the diameter of the patch 210 and the diameter of the pour hole 120 may be greater than or equal to 2mm and less than or equal to 3mm.

By constraining the diameter of the patch 210, the patch 210 may be made to completely cover the liquid injection hole 120, and a sufficient bonding width may be provided between the patch 210 and the top cover 100, or the patch 210 may be prevented from being damaged by cleaning or welding later, thereby helping to improve the sealing reliability of the patch 210 to the liquid injection hole 120.

Optionally, cleaning the area to be cleaned 110 includes: the third area of the area to be cleaned 110 is cleaned, the third area surrounds the fourth area of the area to be cleaned 110, and the fourth area is a vertical projection area of the patch 210 on the area to be cleaned 110.

As shown in fig. 7 and 8, the fourth area (the area shown as D in the drawing) is a vertical projection area of the patch 210 on the area to be cleaned 110, and from another point of view, the fourth area may be considered as an area covered by the patch 210 in the area to be cleaned 110. The third area (the area shown as C) surrounds the fourth area, that is, the third area may be an area of the area to be cleaned 110 outside the coverage area of the patch 210.

Accordingly, in the present embodiment, the third area of the cleaning area 110 may be an area of the cleaning area 110 except for the coverage area of the patch 210.

In some examples, the third region may be cleaned by, but not limited to, purge cleaning, rinse cleaning, ultrasonic cleaning, laser cleaning, or milling 310 cleaning.

In this embodiment, the area of the area 110 to be cleaned except the area covered by the patch 210 is cleaned, so that on one hand, the cleaning workload can be reduced, and on the other hand, the sealing effect of the patch 210 on the liquid injection hole 120 can be effectively prevented from being damaged in the cleaning process.

Optionally, the top cover 100 cleaning method includes: in cleaning the area 110 to be cleaned, suction is applied.

In this embodiment, the cleaning manner of the area to be cleaned 110 may be purge cleaning, flushing cleaning, ultrasonic cleaning, laser cleaning, or milling cutter 310 cleaning.

In order to avoid re-adhesion of the contaminants to the cleaned area or other areas of the top cover 100, in this embodiment, negative pressure dust collection may be used when cleaning the area 110 to be cleaned.

In some examples, suction may be performed by using a suction duct, for example, in a relatively open cleaning space, extending a duct communicating with a suction source to the vicinity of the area 110 to be cleaned, so as to suck out the generated contaminants.

In other examples, a sealing sleeve may be attached around the area 110 to be cleaned, such that the area 110 to be cleaned is located in a relatively sealed space. The tool for cleaning the area to be cleaned 110 may extend into the sealing sleeve for cleaning the area to be cleaned 110. A negative pressure pipe may be connected to the sealing sleeve to suck contaminants generated inside the sealing sleeve.

Of course, the above is an illustration of some implementations of vacuum cleaning, and in practical applications, the implementation of vacuum cleaning may be selected as desired. In this embodiment, when cleaning the area to be cleaned 110, negative pressure is used to collect dust, which is helpful to timely suck the splashed pollutants during cleaning, so as to improve the cleaning effect of the area to be cleaned 110.

Optionally, before sealing the pour spout 120, the method further comprises: the region 110 to be cleaned is purged with gas to dry the region 110 to be cleaned.

Taking the application scenario of the battery as an example, in general, after the electrolyte is injected into the battery through the injection hole 120, a part of the liquid electrolyte may remain in the to-be-cleaned area 110. Such residual liquid electrolyte may adversely affect the sealing of the pour hole 120.

In this embodiment, the area 110 to be cleaned may be purged by using gas, so that, on one hand, a part of residual electrolyte leaves the area 110 to be cleaned, and on the other hand, a part of residual electrolyte is also blown dry, so that the area 110 to be cleaned is dried, and the sealing of the subsequent sealing element to the liquid injection hole is facilitated.

By purging the region 110 to be cleaned with gas so that the region 110 to be cleaned is dried, preliminary cleaning of the region 110 to be cleaned can be achieved, and in addition, the sealing effect of the sealing structure such as the patch 210 on the liquid injection hole 120 can be improved.

Optionally, cleaning the area to be cleaned 110 includes: the region to be cleaned 110 is cleaned using a milling cutter.

The milling cutter may be a tool for milling, which may be used for machining a plane or a step surface, etc. The shape of the milling cutter may be set according to the distribution of the areas 110 to be cleaned on the top cover 100.

For example, when the area 110 to be cleaned is a plane, the milling cutter can be shaped to meet the milling requirement of the plane; when the region 110 to be cleaned is a stepped surface, the milling cutter may include a plurality of surfaces for milling, and the relative positions of the surfaces may be matched to the shape of the stepped surface of the region 110 to be cleaned.

In this embodiment, the region 110 to be cleaned is cleaned by the milling cutter, and besides the contaminants adhered to the region 110 to be cleaned, the contaminants such as crystals, deposition or electrolyte immersed in the top cover 100 can be removed by milling the top cover 100, so that the cleaning effect of the region 110 to be cleaned is effectively improved.

In addition, on the basis of sealing the liquid injection hole 120 through the patch 210, impurities such as scraps generated when the milling cutter is used for cleaning the to-be-cleaned area 110 can be effectively prevented from entering the liquid injection hole 120, and the processing quality of a product comprising the top cover can be effectively ensured while the cleaning effect is improved.

Optionally, before the cleaning of the area to be cleaned 110 using the milling cutter, the method further comprises: and cleaning the milling cutter.

By way of example, while the mill may be used to clean the electrolyte in the area 110 to be cleaned, the mill may be cleaned with a dimethyl carbonate (Dimethyl carbonate, DMC) liquid to remove electrolyte that may remain on the mill for solvent cleaning.

In other examples, the liquid used to clean the milling cutter may also be selected based on the type of contaminants that the cutter may contact during the milling process.

In yet other examples, the milling cutter may be cleaned by, for example, wiping or gas purging.

In this embodiment, the milling cutter is cleaned before the region 110 to be cleaned is cleaned by using the milling cutter, so that the residual contaminants on the milling cutter can be prevented from reaching the region 110 to be cleaned of the top cover 100, and the cleaning effect of the region 110 to be cleaned by the milling cutter is improved.

The embodiment of the present application further provides a top cover cleaning device, as shown in fig. 5 and 9, the top cover 100 includes a to-be-cleaned area 110 and a liquid injection hole 120 disposed in the to-be-cleaned area 110, and the top cover cleaning device includes: support mechanism 400, sealing mechanism 500, and cleaning mechanism 300.

The support mechanism 400 is used to support the top cover 100. The sealing mechanism 500 is used to seal the pour hole 120. The cleaning mechanism 300 is disposed downstream of the sealing mechanism 500 for cleaning the area 110 to be cleaned.

The support mechanism 400 may be a structure having a certain load-bearing capacity that may provide a processing station for the top cover 100.

In some examples, the support mechanism 400 may be a fixed support structure, with the movement of the top cover 100 into and out of the processing station being accomplished by a separate transport structure, such as a robotic arm.

In other examples, the support mechanism 400 may include, for example, a belt conveyor or other type of conveyor mechanism to convey the caps 100 between the various processing stations.

The sealing mechanism 500 may correspond to a processing station on the support mechanism 400, and when the top cover 100 reaches the processing station corresponding to the sealing mechanism 500, the sealing mechanism 500 may seal the liquid injection hole 120.

In some examples, the sealing mechanism 500 may be pressed into or screwed into the pouring spout 120, or the sealing mechanism 500 may be attached to the region 110 to be cleaned with a patch 210 or the like for sealing the pouring spout 120.

The cleaning mechanism 300 may also have a processing position corresponding to the supporting mechanism 400, and when the top cover 100 is located at the processing position corresponding to the cleaning mechanism 300, the cleaning mechanism 300 may clean the area 110 to be cleaned of the top cover 100.

The cleaning mechanism 300 may be a purge cleaning mechanism, a rinse cleaning mechanism, an ultrasonic cleaning mechanism, a laser cleaning mechanism, a milling cutter cleaning mechanism, or the like, and is not particularly limited herein, and may be used to clean the area 110 to be cleaned on the top cover 100.

Since the cleaning mechanism 300 is disposed downstream of the sealing mechanism 500, the sealing mechanism 500 can seal the pour hole 120 first, and the cleaning mechanism 300 can clean the top cap 100 with the pour hole 120 sealed. As regards the switching of the caps 100 between the different processing stations, this can be achieved by means of relative conveying mechanisms or by means of manual transport by the user.

The top cover cleaning device provided in this embodiment may be used for cleaning the top cover 100, the top cover 100 may include a to-be-cleaned area 110 and a liquid injection hole 120 disposed in the to-be-cleaned area 110, and the top cover cleaning device may include a supporting mechanism 400, a sealing mechanism 500 and a cleaning mechanism 300, wherein the supporting mechanism 400 is used for supporting the top cover 100, the sealing mechanism 500 is used for sealing the liquid injection hole 120, and the cleaning mechanism 300 is used for cleaning the to-be-cleaned area 110. The cleaning mechanism 300 is disposed downstream of the sealing mechanism 500, and accordingly, the cleaning mechanism 300 can clean the top cover 100 sealed with the liquid injection hole 120, so that contaminants generated in the cleaning process can be effectively prevented from reaching the inner side of the top cover 100 through the liquid injection hole 120, and further, the processing quality of a product including the top cover 100 can be improved.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 5, 7 and 10, the sealing mechanism 500 may further include: the patch part 520 seals the pouring hole 120 by the patch 210.

In connection with one example, the patch portion 520 may include a structure that enables pick-up of the patch 210, which patch 210 may be of a single-sided adhesive construction, and the patch portion 520 may move the driven patch 210 toward the top cover 100 to adhere the patch 210 to the top cover 100 and cause the patch 210 to seal the pour hole 120.

Of course, some examples of the construction of the patch part 520 are provided herein, and in practical applications, the patch part 520 may be used to seal the liquid injection hole 120 through the patch 210, and the specific construction thereof may not be limited.

In this embodiment, the sealing mechanism 500 includes the patch portion 520, and reliable sealing of the liquid injection hole 120 can be achieved through the patch portion 520, so that contaminants are effectively prevented from entering the inner side of the top cover 100 from the liquid injection hole 120 during the cleaning process.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 5, 7, 8 and 10, the sealing mechanism 500 may further include: a stopper insertion portion 510, the stopper insertion portion 510 being for inserting the stopper 220 into the pouring hole 120.

In connection with one example, the stopper insertion portion 510 may include a structure capable of picking up the stopper 220, which may drive the stopper 220 to move in the axial direction of the pour hole 120, and insert the stopper 220 into the pour hole 120 by pressing or rotating the stopper 220.

In one embodiment, the plug-insertion portion 510 may be disposed upstream of the patch portion 520. That is, in this embodiment, the plug-inserting portion 510 may first insert the plug 220 into the pour hole 120, and on this basis, the patch portion 520 may further provide the patch 210 on the top cover 100 to reliably seal the pour hole 120.

Of course, the above is some examples of the structures of the plug insertion portion 510 and the patch portion 520, and in practical applications, the plug insertion portion 510 and the patch portion 520 may be used to insert the plug 220 into the injection hole 120 and seal the injection hole 120 by the patch 210, and the specific structures of the two may not be limited.

In this embodiment, the sealing mechanism 500 includes the plug insertion portion 510 and the patch portion 520, and the sealing mechanism 500 can reliably seal the liquid injection hole 120, so as to effectively prevent contaminants from entering the top cover 100 from the liquid injection hole 120 during the cleaning process.

In some possible embodiments, the plug-in portion may also be present independently of the cap cleaning device. In other words, the stopper 220 has been inserted in advance by the stopper insertion portion in the pouring hole 120 before the top cover 100 reaches the supporting mechanism 400.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 5, 7 and 10, the patch part 520 includes a glue spreading part 521, and the glue spreading part 521 is used to glue the patch 210 or glue the area 110 to be cleaned.

By way of example, the glue application 521 may be used to hold an adhesive and apply the adhesive to the patch 210 or the area 110 to be cleaned. The process of applying the adhesive to the patch 210 or the area to be cleaned 110 may be regarded as a process of applying the adhesive to the patch 210 or the area to be cleaned 110.

Taking the glue application portion 521 as an example for applying glue to the area 110 to be cleaned, the glue application portion 521 may move relative to the top cover 100 and apply at least one circle of adhesive around the liquid injection hole 120 before the patch 210 is placed on the area 110 to be cleaned. On this basis, the mechanism for delivering the patch 210 in the patch part 520 may press-bond the patch 210 to the adhesive-coated area, thereby sealing the liquid injection hole 120 by the patch 210.

For another example, the adhesive coating portion 521 may be used to apply adhesive to the patch 210, and the mechanism for conveying the patch 210 in the adhesive coating portion 521 may be used to convey the patch 210 to the vicinity of the adhesive coating portion 521 so that the adhesive coating portion 521 applies adhesive to the patch 210. After the glue is applied, the mechanism for conveying the patch 210 may further press the patch 210 against the area 110 to be cleaned, so as to seal the liquid injection hole 120 by the patch 210.

The foregoing is illustrative of some of the possible configurations of the glue section 521, and in practice, the glue section 521 may be used to glue the patch 210 or the area 110 to be cleaned. In this embodiment, the patch part 520 includes a glue coating part 521, so that the patch 210 is fixed in the to-be-cleaned area 110 by means of adhesion, and the operation process is relatively simple, so that the operation efficiency of sealing the liquid injection hole 120 by using the patch 210 can be ensured.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 5, 7, 8, 10 and 11, the top cover cleaning device further includes a purging mechanism 610, where the purging mechanism 610 is disposed upstream of the patch portion 520 and is used for purging the to-be-cleaned area 110 to dry the to-be-cleaned area 110.

The purging mechanism 610 may purge the to-be-cleaned area 110 with gas, so that, on one hand, a part of the residual electrolyte leaves the to-be-cleaned area 110, and on the other hand, a part of the residual electrolyte is dried, so that the to-be-cleaned area 110 is dried.

In this embodiment, the purging mechanism 610 is disposed upstream of the patch portion 520, that is, the patch portion 520 may seal the liquid injection hole 120 through the patch 210 after the area 110 to be cleaned is dried by the purging mechanism 610. As such, the reliability of the connection between the patch 210 and the top cover 100 is facilitated to be improved; on the other hand, the subsequent cleaning work of the area 110 to be cleaned can be reduced.

In one embodiment, as shown in fig. 11 and 12, the top cover cleaning apparatus may further include a collection box 620, and the collection box 620 may be disposed at one side of the purge mechanism 610 so as to collect the liquid such as the electrolyte blown out from the area 110 to be cleaned.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 5, 7, 8 and 10, the top cover cleaning apparatus further includes a negative pressure dust suction mechanism 700, and the negative pressure dust suction mechanism 700 is used for negative pressure dust suction when the cleaning mechanism 300 cleans the area 110 to be cleaned.

In some examples, the negative pressure suction mechanism 700 may include a negative pressure conduit 720, and the negative pressure suction mechanism 700 may operate in a relatively open cleaning space, and the negative pressure conduit 720 may extend into the vicinity of the area 110 to be cleaned in order to suck out the generated contaminants.

In other examples, as shown in fig. 13, the negative pressure suction mechanism 700 may include a sealed conduit 710 and a negative pressure conduit 720. One end of the sealing pipe 710 may be connected to the top cover 100 through a sealing ring 740, and the sealing pipe 710 and the top cover 100 may be enclosed to form a relatively closed cleaning space in which the cleaning mechanism 300 may clean the area 110 to be cleaned. The negative pressure pipe 720 may be connected to the sealing pipe 710, and the negative pressure pipe 720 may be connected to a negative pressure source so as to suck contaminants generated inside the sealing pipe 710.

The foregoing is illustrative of some of the specific configurations of the negative pressure suction mechanism 700, and in practice, the negative pressure suction mechanism 700 may be structurally designed as desired. By arranging the negative pressure dust suction mechanism 700 and sucking dust at the negative pressure when the cleaning mechanism 300 cleans the area 110 to be cleaned, the cleaning effect of the area 110 to be cleaned is improved by helping to timely suck the splashed pollutants during cleaning.

As shown in fig. 13, in one embodiment, the negative pressure suction mechanism 700 may include a sealing duct 710, a negative pressure duct 720, and a compressed air duct 730, and the configurations of the sealing duct 710 and the negative pressure duct 720 may be described with reference to the above example. The compressed air pipe 730 is communicated with the cleaning space in the sealed pipe 710, so that high-pressure air is blown into the cleaning space, various scraps generated in the cleaning process can be sucked from the negative pressure pipe 720, and other areas on the top cover 100 are prevented from being polluted.

In one example, the sealed conduit 710, the negative pressure conduit 720, and the compressed air conduit 730 described above may be inherited on a set of upgrade mechanisms, reducing the design and assembly difficulty of the negative pressure suction mechanism 700.

In another example, the inner diameter of the negative pressure conduit 720 is less than a first inner diameter threshold and the inner diameter of the compressed gas conduit 730 is less than a second inner diameter threshold. That is, the diameters of the negative pressure pipe 720 and the compressed air pipe 730 are not excessively large, so that the suction effect of pollutants such as chips is not affected by insufficient pressure.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 10 and 11, the cleaning mechanism 300 includes a milling cutter 310.

In this embodiment, the cleaning mechanism 300 includes a milling cutter 310, and the region 110 to be cleaned is cleaned by the milling cutter 310, so that not only can the contaminants adhered to the region 110 to be cleaned, but also the contaminants such as crystals, deposition or electrolyte immersed in the top cover 100 can be removed by milling the top cover 100, thereby effectively improving the cleaning effect of the region 110 to be cleaned.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 13 and 14, the milling cutter 310 includes a first surface 311 for cleaning the top cap 100. In the case where the sealing mechanism 500 includes the patch portion 520, the first surface 311 is provided with the escape portion 313 for escaping the patch 210.

As shown in fig. 5, 13 and 14, the surface of the milling cutter 310 for cleaning may be matched to the shape of the region 110 to be cleaned. For example, if the milling cutter 310 needs to clean the area around the injection hole 120, the milling cutter 310 may have a surface for cleaning the plane of the injection hole 120, and the surface may correspond to the first surface 311.

In this embodiment, the first surface 311 is provided with the avoiding portion 313 for avoiding the patch 210, that is, when the milling cutter 310 performs milling processing on the area 110 to be cleaned, the avoiding portion 313 may avoid the patch 210, so as to avoid milling the patch 210. In this way, on the one hand, the cleaning workload can be reduced, and on the other hand, the sealing effect of the patch 210 on the liquid injection hole 120 can be effectively prevented from being damaged in the cleaning process.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 14, the milling cutter 310 further comprises a second surface 312 for cleaning the top cover 100. The second surface 312 extends obliquely to the outer peripheral surface of the milling cutter 310 in a direction away from the center axis of rotation of the milling cutter 310 in a direction away from the top cover 100.

The milling cutter 310 may include a second surface 312 that may also be used to clean the top cover 100. In some examples, the second surface 312 may be directly connected with the first surface 311; in other examples, a transition surface may exist between the second surface 312 and the first surface 311 such that the second surface 312 forms a generally stepped surface with the first surface 311 to accommodate cleaning requirements for different profiles of the top cover 100.

As shown in fig. 14, in the present embodiment, the second surface 312 extends obliquely to the outer peripheral surface of the milling cutter 310 in a direction away from the center axis of rotation of the milling cutter 310 in a direction away from the top cover 100.

Typically, the milling cutter 310 may be rotated to effect cleaning, and thus, the milling cutter may have a central axis of rotation.

In this embodiment, the second surface 312 may be gradually separated from the top cover 100 from inside to outside, and directly reach the outer peripheral surface of the milling cutter 310, so that the chips generated during the milling process can be discharged along the gap between the second surface 312 and the top cover 100, thereby effectively avoiding the generation of processing burrs and improving the cleaning effect of the region 110 to be cleaned.

The cleaning process of the top cover 100 by the top cover cleaning apparatus according to the embodiment of the present application will be described below with reference to a specific application example. In this particular application, the top cover 100 may be used in a battery.

As shown in fig. 11, the support mechanism 400 in the top cover cleaning apparatus may be a flow line, and the battery is suspended from the flow line through a designated first working position, where the purge mechanism 610 and the collection box 620 are preset, the purge mechanism 610 is aligned with the area 110 to be cleaned to dry the wet electrolyte, and the collection box 620 collects the electrolyte.

The blowing mechanism 610 includes a high-pressure air pipe, the inner diameter of which can be larger than the diameter of the area 110 to be cleaned, and the air pressure in the high-pressure air pipe is larger than the air pressure threshold, so that the wet electrolyte can be blown dry, the next pasting procedure can be ensured to be effectively pasted, and meanwhile, the milling cutter 310 is prevented from being pasted by the wet electrolyte. The high-pressure air switch arranged on the high-pressure air pipe can be an electromagnetic valve, the electromagnetic valve is opened when the battery reaches the first working position, the air blowing time is set, and the electromagnetic valve is closed after the battery leaves the first working position.

The width of the collection box 620 may be greater than or equal to the width of the battery, ensuring that electrolyte is blown into the interior of the collection box 620.

As shown in fig. 10, the top cover cleaning device includes a sealing mechanism 500, the sealing mechanism 500 includes a patch part 520, the patch part 520 has a corresponding second working position, and when the battery is suspended from the flow line through the second working position, the patch part 520 can paste the patch 210 over the liquid injection hole 120, the patch 210 entirely covers the liquid injection hole 120, and has a sufficient paste width with the top cover 100 around the liquid injection hole 120. In addition, the patch 210 should avoid interference with the milling cutter 310 during subsequent cleaning. The adhesive of the patch 210 is suitable to ensure that debris and the like generated during the cleaning process do not enter the battery through the liquid injection hole 120.

As shown in fig. 11, the top cover cleaning device includes a cleaning mechanism 300, and the cleaning mechanism 300 may be a milling cutter 310 and has a corresponding third working position, and when the battery is suspended from the assembly line flowing through the third working position, the milling cutter 310 is lowered by high-speed rotation after centering and height, so as to mechanically clean the periphery of the liquid injection hole 120.

As shown in fig. 10, 11 and 13, the top cover cleaning device may further include a negative pressure dust suction mechanism 700, and during the cleaning process, the milling cutter 310 may avoid the patch 210, and meanwhile, the negative pressure dust suction mechanism 700 may blow in high pressure air to suck away generated metal scraps and the like through negative pressure.

As shown in fig. 13, the negative pressure suction mechanism 700 may include a sealed conduit 710, a negative pressure conduit 720, and a compressed air conduit 730, wherein the negative pressure conduit 720 and the compressed air conduit 730 may be integrated on a set of lifting mechanisms. Before the milling cutter 310 is cleaned, the sealing pipeline 710 can be attached to the top cover 100 through the sealing ring 740, so that chips generated in the cleaning process are sucked away, and other areas are prevented from being polluted.

The apertures of the negative pressure pipeline 720 and the compressed air pipeline 730 are not excessively large, so that the phenomenon that the debris absorbing effect is influenced by insufficient pressure is avoided. In addition, the negative pressure dust suction mechanism 700 is lifted up after the milling cutter 310 is withdrawn for a preset time interval, so that the chips generated by cleaning are thoroughly sucked.

The region 110 to be cleaned can be cleaned by a milling cutter 310, so that the crystallization and wetting electrolyte at the welding position of the sealing nail 800 around the liquid injection hole 120 can be effectively removed.

The milling cutter 310 may simulate the shape of the region 110 to be cleaned, for example, the region 110 to be cleaned may include a stepped surface to meet the welding requirements of the seal pin 800. At this time, as shown in fig. 14, the milling cutter 310 may include a first surface 311, a second surface 312, and a transition surface therebetween, where the first surface 311 and the second surface 312 are arranged in a step manner to meet the cleaning requirement of the step surface. Wherein the second surface 312 may be beveled to facilitate the removal of burrs on the top cover 100 during milling.

As shown in fig. 11 and 15, before the cleaning of the area 110 to be cleaned, the milling cutter 310 may extend into the cleaning tank 900 filled with the DMC cleaning solution, and the metal scraps and the electrolyte adhered on the milling cutter 310 are peeled off and cleaned by high-speed rotation, so that the milling cutter 310 is clean and free of electrolyte pollution, and secondary pollution to the cleaning area is not guaranteed to be brought by the milling cutter 310.

As shown in fig. 4, 5 and 16, the embodiment of the present application further provides a battery cell 30 including a top cap 100, a sealing nail 800, and a sealing member 200.

The top cover 100 comprises a concave portion 130, and a bottom wall of the concave portion 130 is provided with a liquid injection hole 120. The sealing nail 800 is fixedly connected with the top cover 100, and the sealing nail 800 and the concave part 130 are enclosed to form the accommodating cavity 35. The seal 200 is disposed in the receiving chamber 35, and the patch 210 seals the pour hole 120.

The battery cell 30 provided by the embodiment of the application can be used in electric devices such as vehicles, ships or aircrafts, but is not limited to the above. The battery cell 30 may be a secondary battery or a primary battery; but not limited to, lithium sulfur batteries, sodium ion batteries, or magnesium ion batteries. The battery cell 30 may be in the shape of a cylinder, a flat body, a rectangular parallelepiped, or other shapes, etc.

The top cover 100 may include a recess 130, and the recess 130 may be a portion recessed with respect to an outer surface of the top cover 100, for example, may be a groove or the like opened on the surface of the top cover 100.

The bottom wall of the recess 130 is provided with a liquid injection hole 120, and a substance such as an electrolyte can be injected into the battery cell 30 through the liquid injection hole 120. After the injection of the electrolyte is completed, the injection hole 120 is usually sealed, which is more preferable than avoiding leakage of the electrolyte.

The sealing pin 800 may be a structure having a certain strength, which may be fixed to the top cover 100 by welding, cementing or other manners, and in general, the sealing pin 800 may enclose a sealed accommodating cavity 35 with the recess 130, so as to avoid leakage of electrolyte.

There may be various ways of enclosing the sealing nail 800 and the recess 130 to form the accommodating cavity 35, for example, the recess 130 may be a groove on the top cover 100, and the sealing nail 800 may be connected to a peripheral edge of the groove in a sealing manner, and form the accommodating cavity 35. For another example, the sealing pin 800 may be formed in an arch shape, and after being fixed to the top cover 100, the receiving chamber 35 is formed as described above, or the like.

The battery cell 30 may further include a sealing member 200, the sealing member 200 being disposed in the receiving chamber 35, and the sealing member 200 sealing the liquid injection hole 120.

The sealing member 200 may be constructed to have a certain strength to prevent breakage during cleaning or to prevent the injection hole 120 from being exposed due to deformation. In some examples, the seal 200 may be a metallic material, plastic, ceramic, or the like, without limitation.

By way of example, the seal 200 may be a patch secured to the cap 100 with an adhesive that surrounds the fill port 120 at least one revolution to form a seal against the fill port 120 at various angular positions in the circumferential direction of the fill port 120.

In other examples, the sealing member 200 may be a cover body with a magnetic attraction structure, the sealing member 200 may be connected to the top cover 100 with a magnetic attraction structure, and the sealing member 200 may have a sealing gasket thereon, where the sealing gasket may form a seal with the injection hole 120 at various angular positions in the circumferential direction of the injection hole 120 when the sealing member 200 is attracted to the top cover 100 by magnetic force.

In still other examples, the fill port 120 may be machined into a counterbore structure, and the seal 200 may also be sheet metal and pressed into the top of the counterbore structure by a transition fit or interference fit to seal the fill port 120.

Generally, in order to ensure the connection reliability of the sealing pin 800 and the top cap 100, it is often necessary to clean the connection area of the two to remove the residual electrolyte or other types of impurities. In this embodiment, the sealing member 200 can seal the liquid injection hole 120, so that when the above-mentioned connection area is cleaned, the generated pollutants such as chips can be prevented from entering the battery cell 30 through the liquid injection hole 120, and the molding quality of the battery cell 30 is improved. In addition, the sealing member 200 and the sealing nail 800 may form two sealing structures for the liquid injection hole 120, which helps to effectively improve the sealing effect for the liquid injection hole 120.

Optionally, as shown in fig. 16, the battery cell 30 further includes a plug 220. The stopper 220 is inserted into the pouring orifice 120, and the seal 200 is disposed between the stopper 220 and the seal pin 800.

In this embodiment, the plug 220 may be inserted into the injection hole 120, which may play a role in preventing the electrolyte from flowing out of the injection hole 120 to a certain extent, so as to further improve the sealing effect of the injection hole 120.

The sealing member 200 is disposed between the stopper 220 and the sealing spike 800, that is, after the stopper 220 is inserted into the injection hole 120, the sealing member 200 can be coupled around the injection hole 120 by a relatively simple process operation to seal the injection hole 120.

In combination with some application scenarios, after the injection of the electrolyte is completed in the battery cell 30, a gas such as helium is generally required to be injected for the tightness test of the battery cell 30, so that the plug 220 is inserted into the injection hole 120, which is helpful to reduce the overflow of relevant gas before the tightness test and improve the reliability of the subsequent tightness test result.

Optionally, the seal 200 is bonded to the bottom wall of the recess 130 by a glue layer.

The seal 200 may be bonded to the top cap 100 by an adhesive. The adhesive may be a polyurethane adhesive, a silicone adhesive, a phenolic resin adhesive, an acryl adhesive, or the like, and is not particularly limited herein, and may be selected accordingly according to the materials of the top cover 100 and the sealing member 200. With the adhesive cured, a glue line may be formed, thereby allowing the seal 200 to adhere to the bottom wall of the recess 130 through the glue line.

In this embodiment, the sealing member 200 is adhered to the bottom wall of the recess 130 of the top cover 100, so that the operation process is relatively simple, and the operation efficiency of sealing the liquid injection hole 120 by using the sealing member 200 can be ensured.

Alternatively, as shown in fig. 7 or 8, the sealing member 200 is a patch 210, and the difference between the diameter of the patch 210 and the diameter of the injection hole 120 is greater than or equal to 2mm and less than or equal to 3mm. The first area of the patch 210 is adhered to the top cover 100, and the first area surrounds the second area of the patch 210, where the second area is a vertical projection area of the injection hole 120 on the patch 210.

In connection with one example, where the diameter of the fill port 120 is 3mm, the difference between the diameter of the patch 210 and the diameter of the fill port 120 may be 2mm, the diameter of the patch 210 may be 5mm. In the case where the liquid injection hole 120 is arranged concentrically with the patch 210, the vertical projection area of the liquid injection hole 120 on the patch 210 may be a circular area having a diameter of 3mm with the center of the patch 210 as the center, and the vertical projection area may be the above-described second area.

Of course, the above are some examples of the first region and the second region. In practice, the patch 210 and the pour hole 120 may not be concentrically arranged due to assembly errors. However, in general, the present embodiment will have a patch 210 with a diameter greater than the diameter of the filling opening 120, and a first area of the patch 210 for attachment to the cap 100 can surround a second area. In this way, the patch 210 may completely cover the liquid injection hole 120, and a sufficient bonding width may be provided between the patch 210 and the top cover 100, thereby helping to improve the sealing reliability of the patch 210 to the liquid injection hole 120.

Of course, the difference between the diameter of the patch 210 and the diameter of the injection hole 120 is not too large, and in this embodiment, the difference between the diameter of the patch 210 and the diameter of the injection hole 120 may be less than or equal to 3mm. .

In combination with some application scenarios, the sealing nail 800 may be fixed on the top cover 100 by welding, and by restricting the maximum diameter of the patch 210, the patch 210 can be prevented from reaching the welding area of the sealing nail 800, thereby avoiding ablation of the patch 210 in the welding process.

Alternatively, the area around the patch 210 may need to be cleaned using a milling cutter before the seal 800 is welded to the cap 100, and damage to the patch 210 by the milling cutter may be avoided by the maximum diameter of the patch 210.

It can be seen that the difference between the diameter of the patch 210 and the diameter of the injection hole 120 may be less than or equal to 3mm, so that the patch 210 may be prevented from being damaged due to cleaning or welding, thereby ensuring the sealing effect of the patch 210 on the injection hole 120.

These examples are not intended to be exhaustive or to limit the application to the precise forms disclosed. Obviously, many modifications and variations are possible in light of the above teaching. The embodiments were chosen and described in order to best explain the principles of the application and the practical application, to thereby enable others skilled in the art to best utilize the application and various modifications as are suited to the particular use contemplated. The application is limited only by the claims and the full scope and equivalents thereof.

Claims

1. The top cover cleaning method comprises a to-be-cleaned area and a liquid injection hole arranged in the to-be-cleaned area, and is characterized by comprising the following steps:

sealing the liquid injection hole;

and cleaning the area to be cleaned.

2. The method of claim 1, wherein the sealing the pour hole comprises:

the liquid injection hole is sealed by using a patch.

3. The method of claim 2, wherein the sealing the pour hole further comprises:

a plug is inserted into the fill port prior to sealing the fill port with a patch.

4. The method of claim 2, wherein sealing the pour hole with a patch comprises:

5. The method of claim 1, wherein prior to sealing the pour hole, the method further comprises:

and purging the area to be cleaned by using gas so as to dry the area to be cleaned.

6. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5, wherein the washing the area to be washed comprises:

and cleaning the area to be cleaned by using a milling cutter.

7. The utility model provides a top cap belt cleaning device, the top cap includes to wait to wash the district and sets up in the notes liquid hole of waiting to wash the district, its characterized in that, top cap belt cleaning device includes:

the supporting mechanism is used for supporting the top cover;

the sealing mechanism is used for sealing the liquid injection hole;

8. The roof cleaning apparatus of claim 7, wherein the sealing mechanism comprises:

9. The roof cleaning device of claim 8, wherein the patch portion includes a glue portion for gluing the patch or the area to be cleaned.

10. The top cover cleaning apparatus of claim 8, further comprising a purging mechanism disposed upstream of the patch portion for purging the area to be cleaned to dry the area to be cleaned.

11. The roof cleaning apparatus of any one of claims 7 to 10, wherein the cleaning mechanism comprises a milling cutter.

12. The roof cleaning apparatus of claim 11, wherein the milling cutter includes a first surface for cleaning the roof;

and when the sealing mechanism comprises a patch part, an avoiding part for avoiding the patch is arranged on the first surface.

13. The roof cleaning apparatus of claim 12, wherein the milling cutter further comprises a second surface for cleaning the roof;

14. A battery cell, comprising:

the sealing nail is fixedly connected with the top cover, and the sealing nail and the concave part are enclosed to form a containing cavity;

15. The battery cell of claim 14, wherein the battery cell further comprises a plug;

16. The battery cell of claim 15, wherein the seal is bonded to the recess bottom wall by a glue layer.

17. The battery cell of claim 16, wherein the seal is a patch having a diameter that differs from the diameter of the fill hole by greater than or equal to 2mm and less than or equal to 3mm;

the first area of the patch is adhered to the top cover, the first area surrounds the second area of the patch, and the second area is a vertical projection area of the liquid injection hole on the patch.

18. A battery comprising a cell according to any one of claims 14 to 17.

19. An electrical device comprising the battery of claim 18.