DE102011112635A1 - Method for manufacturing traction battery for e.g. electric vehicle, involves unloading first battery and charging second battery such that electrical energy from unloaded battery is partially supplied to loaded second battery - Google Patents

Abstract

The method involves loading the batteries successively in a frame after they are unloaded. The first battery (12) is unloaded and second battery (16) is charged such that the electrical energy from the unloaded battery is partially supplied to the loaded second battery. An independent claim is included for apparatus for testing functionality of battery.

Description

The invention relates in one aspect to a method for producing batteries, in which finally (ie at the end of the method, but after in the context of the method) a testing of the batteries for functionality takes place, in which the batteries are charged and discharged at least once. The invention in another aspect relates to a device for testing a plurality of batteries passing through the device for operability.

In the present case, the subject matter in particular is the production of so-called traction batteries, that is to say batteries which are used in electric vehicles or hybrid vehicles and which provide the electrical energy for operating an electric motor in such vehicles. Such traction batteries are extremely expensive to build. Because they contain hazardous chemicals for humans, careful testing is required as part of a common test procedure for each battery. The once manufactured battery is typically first charged once and then discharged again, and the whole is usually repeated. Due to certain electrical characteristics of the batteries during charging and discharging and any defects that may appear on the battery, it is possible to see if the battery is fully functional.

Previous battery testing plans have structures in which the batteries are independently passed through the device. If the batteries are charged, the necessary electrical energy is taken from a public, for example, municipal network. When discharging the batteries, the electrical energy is supplied to the municipal grid. A disadvantage of this approach is that the electrical energy to charge the battery is to pay with a price that is higher than the charge for returning the charge in the municipal grid.

Testing the batteries is therefore very expensive.

From the DE 196 52 173 B4 a method for testing the functionality of accumulators is described in a system containing at least two accumulators connected together. The energy taken from one of the accumulators during discharge testing is charged to another accumulator. The method is explicitly related to a system such as a portable telecommunication device or a portable computer or a motor vehicle. There is no connection with the production of batteries in a manufacturing environment.

The object of the present invention is to provide a method for producing batteries that is less expensive than the method provided so far.

The object is achieved in one aspect by a method having the features according to claim 1 and in another aspect by another device according to the features of claim 5.

In the method according to the invention, therefore, the discharge of a first battery is coordinated with the charging of a second battery such that the electrical energy taken from the first battery is at least partially (directly) supplied to the second battery. In this way, the detour via the municipal power grid is avoided, during the manufacture of the battery, the electrical energy obtained in the context of the examination taking place here is readily used again, preferably as largely as possible.

The invention uses the same idea as in the DE 196 52 173 B4 disclosed, with the difference that in the present case, several batteries are produced in succession and testing for the mere functioning as such takes place before the batteries are used at all, whereas it is in the DE 196 52 173 B4 The aim is to check the batteries after a period of use and to ensure their functionality, as long as they are in a system such. B. a portable communication device are installed.

When manufacturing batteries, the manufacturing process in the strict sense, so providing the batteries as such, done in a very fast timing, the subsequent testing then takes much longer. If the test period for testing the batteries is a multiple of the time that elapses on average between providing two batteries for testing, it is preferred to subject at least as many batteries to the same test as provided on average during the test period. In other words, a just-in-time method is preferably carried out, the batteries are thus supplied in average with the same timing of the test as just tested batteries leave the corresponding device (factory).

In principle, it would be possible to construct a series of test stands which subsequently pass through the batteries, each test bed being designed to work precisely within the timing of the provision of the battery and then passing on the corresponding battery to the next test stand. But are batteries produced, for example, in one-minute intervals and should the loading and Discharge each take more than a minute, z. B. two minutes, then it is in any case preferable to test the batteries in several test strands, the batteries are then fed in their manufacture alternately, typically in a repetitive order, these test strands.

The invention, according to which the discharge of a first battery and the charging of a second battery is coordinated, can be realized within a test string. For the realization of a transport device, in which the respective to be discharged and each to be charged battery are in the greatest possible proximity to each other, it may prove advantageous to provide the first and second battery in different test strands, d. H. to transport electrical energy between different test strands. It may be that between two test benches in a test string, the transport always takes place from one test stand to the other, if one battery is always discharged in one test bench and a battery is always charged in the other test bench. On the other hand, a bi-directional transmission of electrical energy is possible when both takes place in the test stands, charging and discharging.

The device according to the invention for testing a plurality of batteries passing through the device for their functionality comprises a first test bench in which a first battery can be discharged and a second test bench in which a second battery can be charged. According to the invention, the first and the second test bench are galvanically coupled and (in particular by control technology coupling) designed to effect a coordinated discharge of the first battery and a charging of the second battery, so that the first battery removed electrical energy at least partially and preferably so largely as possible, the second battery is supplied.

The invention, by coordinating (preferably even synchronizing) the processes of charging and discharging, ensures that the electrical energy does not have to be fed into a municipal grid or that heat is lost, so that hardly any electrical energy is available from the external grid must be made. In this way, the device according to the invention that a battery can be energy-saving tested.

In a preferred embodiment, the respective batteries are both dischargeable and loadable in both test stands. Then, a coordinated discharge of the battery in the second test stand and a charging of the battery in the first test bench is possible accordingly. Typically, at least one of the batteries will be replaced in-between so that the second battery is charged from the first and later used to charge a third battery in the first test bench.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the invention will be described with reference to the drawing, in which

1 a schematic representation of two test stands shows how they can be provided in a production environment in a test hall,

2 a schematic representation of a plurality of batteries and four Prüfstränge shows, and

3 four room units with four test lines according to 2 symbolically illustrated.

Batteries, in particular batteries provided as traction batteries for electric vehicles or hybrid vehicles, should then also be checked after their provision as part of the manufacturing process as to whether they are sufficiently functional. As part of the test, the batteries are first charged and then discharged.

The batteries pass through a plurality of test stands in the present case. In one test stand, they are loaded to be subsequently unloaded in the subsequent test stand, then they are reloaded in the next test stand, etc. 1 shows a first test bench 10 to which a first battery 12 is connected and at a second test bench 14 is a second battery 16 connected. The batteries 12 and 16 be in the traditional direction in the direction of the arrow 18 transported in succession, z. B. on a conveyor belt, which is not shown in the figure, and they are then connected by not shown in the figure also robot, so that in 1 illustrated situation is prepared for a time.

In the present case is the battery 12 at the 1 The previous test stand, not shown, has been charged and the battery 16 on the test bench 10 unloaded. The test stands 10 and 14 are now over a data line 20 coupled together, and also they are electrically coupled to each other via electrical lines. Via the data line 20 coordinate the test benches 10 and 14 , z. B. by exchange of tuning signals or in response to an externally impressed clock signal, the discharge or charging, in such a way that according to the arrow 24 the first battery 12 removed charge via the electrical connection lines 22 flows and according to the arrow 26 then the second battery 16 is fed to load them. In other words, they coordinate Test stands 10 and 14 unloading and charging so that no electrical energy or at least as little as possible is lost. In particular, the time profile during the discharge process can be controlled so that it causes such a flow of electrical charge (ie, such an electric current) with appropriate control of the time course of the charging that from the electrical lines 22 no electricity needs to be dissipated into an external network.

The situation according to 1 alone would be for a regulated process of testing batteries 12 . 16 can provide. However, in the present case, the process of testing should be included in a manufacturing process in which the finished batteries are provided and then tested. A problem here is that the period T, in which batteries are made available, that is to say provided as the input of a test device, is substantially smaller than the duration of a test procedure in one of the test stands 10 . 14 and in particular, is substantially less than the duration of the entire testing process with a plurality of loading and unloading passes.

As based on 2 is apparent is a plurality of test strands 28 . 30 . 32 . 34 one after the other, an electric battery is supplied. The batteries are charged several times in each test string (see arrow on the top right) and unloaded (see arrow on the bottom right). The horizontal axis in 2 represents individual test benches according to the type of test benches 12 . 14 in discrete stages. Each stage in this case corresponds to a duration t _n required by the load or a time period t _{n + 1} required for the unloading, said to be ensured in the present case that t _{n is} equal to t _{n + 1,} so that loading and unloading take the same length. It can thus be seen that the last supplied battery P1 in the test train 28 is charged first, with the number below "-1" for the energy balance is: it must be a full charge of the battery P _{1 is} supplied. A test stand on the same battery P _{1 is} discharged, and it is the battery P ₂ loaded, located in the second Prüfstrang 30 located. The total energy balance is "0", since exactly one battery is discharged and the other is charged. In the next stage, the battery P _{3 is} charged and the battery P _{2 is} discharged and the further battery P _{4 is} charged. Since two batteries are charged and one discharged, the energy balance is "-1". In intermediate stages, two batteries are always charged and two discharged, so that the energy balance is then "0". At the end of the device more batteries are discharged in case of doubt than charged, so that the energy balance can be "+1", z. B. when discharging the batteries P ₁₇ and P ₁₈ and charging the battery P ₁₉ , By appropriate routing this energy balance can be compensated at the end of the device with the negative energy balance at the beginning of the device. In the present case, the energy balances were chosen across the test bench. This can only be meant virtually, in a modification of the representation according to 1 However, test rigs of different test strands can also be galvanically coupled to one another in terms of data, so that the unloading in one test string can cause a loading in the other test string.

To expand the example according to 2 is following in 3 shown: The test strands 28 . 30 . 32 and 34 are present part of a test room 36 , and there are also test rooms 38 . 40 and 42 , Overall, we are dealing with 16 test lanes, in each of which loading and unloading takes place alternately. If the period at which new batteries are supplied in total, t _T , z. , Two seconds, further takes a charging process, the duration t _n = 4 s and the charging and discharging exactly twice thereof, t _p = t _n + t _{n + 1} = 2t _n = 8 s, the entire testing process takes 32 seconds , Since exactly 16 test strings are provided and batteries are supplied at two-second intervals, a battery is fully tested every two seconds due to the simultaneous testing of 16 batteries and can leave the tester.

The invention is relevant in these aspects, above all because the individual test rooms must not be entered by human operating personnel during the test. The batteries are fed via locks and contacted automatically in the test sections. For example, the arrangement in the example given ensures that no time is lost to test the batteries, but all test strings are used efficiently. In this way, a just-in-time principle is realized.

QUOTES INCLUDE IN THE DESCRIPTION

This list of the documents listed by the applicant has been generated automatically and is included solely for the better information of the reader. The list is not part of the German patent or utility model application. The DPMA assumes no liability for any errors or omissions.

Cited patent literature

• DE 19652173 B4 [0005, 0009, 0009]

Claims (6)

Method for producing batteries ( 12 . 16 ; P ₁ , P ₂ , P ₃ ,...), In which finally a check of the batteries for functionality takes place, in the framework of which the batteries are charged and discharged at least once, characterized in that the discharging of a first battery ( 12 ) and charging a second battery ( 16 ) is coordinated in such a way that the first battery ( 12 ) removed electrical energy at least partially the second battery ( 16 ) is supplied. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that all batteries are subjected to the same test procedure, wherein the test duration for the entire test process is a multiple of the time that elapses on average between providing two batteries for testing, wherein at least as many batteries simultaneously the same test procedure be provided during the test period on average. A method according to claim 2, characterized in that the batteries in several test strands ( 28 . 30 . 32 . 34 ) being checked. A method according to claim 3, characterized in that the first and the second battery are tested in different test strands. Device for testing a plurality of functional batteries passing through the device, with a first test bench ( 10 ), in which a first battery ( 12 ) and with a second test bench ( 14 ), in which a second battery ( 16 ), characterized in that the first test bench ( 10 ) and the second test bench ( 14 ) galvanic ( 22 ) are coupled together and a coordinated discharge ( 24 ) of the first battery ( 12 ) and loading ( 26 ) of the second battery ( 16 ) are designed so that the first battery ( 12 ) removed electrical energy at least partially the second battery ( 16 ) is supplied. A method according to claim 5, characterized in that in both test stands, the respective battery is dischargeable and chargeable.

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