FR2514952A1 - METHOD AND DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING THE QUALITY OF CONNECTIONS BETWEEN CELLS OF A BATTERY WITH SEVERAL CELLS - Google Patents

Abstract

THE INVENTION CONCERNS A METHOD AND A DEVICE FOR MONITORING THE QUALITY OF THE LINKS BETWEEN CELLS OF A MULTI-CELL BATTERY. A MEASURING HEAD 8 PROVIDED WITH PARTICULAR MEASURING CONTACTS FOR EACH BATTERY CELL LINKING BODY IS DROPPED BY A CONVEYOR BELT INTO A MEASURING STATION, SO THAT ALL MEASURING CONTACTS COME ON THE BINDING ORGANS OF ASSOCIATED CELLS; USING A MEASURING DEVICE AND A MEASURING POINT SWITCHING DEVICE, THE DIFFERENT CELL LINKING ORGANS ARE SUCCESSIVELY CONTROLLED IN AN AUTOMATIC MEASUREMENT PROCESS; EACH CONTROL RESULT IS COMPARED IN A COMPARATOR WITH A PREDETERMINED RANGE OF SET VALUES; DEFECTIVE CONTROL RESULTS ARE STORED IN RELATION TO THE BINDING BODY OF DEFECTIVE CELLS IN A FAULT MEMORY AND OR ARE PRINTED BY A PRINTER; DEFECTIVE BATTERIES ARE TRANSFERRED FROM THE MEASURING STATION TO A STORAGE DEVICE WHILE, ON THE OTHER HAND, CORRECT BATTERIES ARE RETURNED FROM THE MEASURING STATION TO THE CONVEYOR BELT.

Description

METHOD AND DEVICE FOR CONTROLLING THE QUALITY OF CONNECTIONS

  BETWEEN CELLS D-A BATTERY WITH SEVERAL CELLS.

  The present invention relates to a method and a device for controlling the quality of the links between cells of multi-cell batteries by means of a measurement of voltage drop between two measuring contacts placed on opposite sides of the link between cells on the cell binding member. In the case of multi-cell batteries, it is necessary to electrically interconnect the poles of the different cells.

  through so-called cell-to-cell links.

  The linkage between cells is advantageously carried out in the form of a short bond through the cell separation wall, for example by a casting process, or by a resistance welding process. The manufacture of the batteries, including the realization of the links between cells, is performed in a substantially automatic manner. When making the bonds between cells, a homogeneous bond is established, free from pores and shrinkage, because otherwise the mechanical strength of the bonds between cells as well as their

  electrical conductivity would be altered.

  For this reason, it is necessary that, during the series production of batteries, to control the correct quality of the links between cells, that is to say their homogeneous and free production.

  pores and sinkholes, to prevent the supply of batteries

  The control methods known for this purpose determine the quality of the cell-to-cell connections by means of a voltage drop measurement performed between two measuring contacts placed on opposite sides of the link between cells to be monitored, on the cell connecting member Each cell connecting member must be individually provided with a contact and must be controlled, the measuring contacts being switched from a connecting member by means of a kind of hand-held clip. such a control method is extremely time-consuming and expensive and can not be applied anyway, in the case of series production of the batteries, only to control samples, it has been found in practice that the results control are highly dependent on the care provided by the operator and are in no way

reproducible cases.

  The object of the invention is to provide an inexpensive control method

  and a control device to obtain results.

  Reproducible measurement states for series control of batteries.

  The invention is characterized in that on the batteries without covers, which come from the series production line, by means of a conveyor belt, in a measuring station, a measuring head is lowered provided with special measuring contacts for each cell connecting member of the battery so that all measuring contacts come into contact with the associated cell connecting members Then, with the aid of a

  high-precision measuring device and a communication device

  measurement zones, we successively control the different

  cell linkers in an automatic measurement process.

  Each control result is preferably electronically compared in a comparator with a predetermined range of setpoints and erroneous control results are stored in relation to the defective cell linker in a fault memory and / or are registered by a printer Simultaneously, the correct batteries are transferred from the measuring station to a storage location, while the defective batteries are brought back

  measuring station on the conveyor belt.

  The process according to the invention provides, on the one hand, the possibility

  the ability to control a complete battery with a control automaton and in an advantageous manner with respect to time and cost, so that series-produced batteries can be controlled serially This result is achieved mainly by the combined use of the measuring head or the plate carrying the measuring head, which is hooked on the entire battery and which puts in contact all the cell connecting members to be controlled by an electronically operated measuring point switching system, and with the special arrangement of a battery storage station sorted as defective, together with a fault memory or a printer which stores the results of defective control in connection with the defective cell unit Thanks to the arrangement of the storage station, which can receive, for example, five, ten or even more defective batteries, in connection with the error memory Ql'printer, a

  control automaton according to the invention can function automatically.

  without necessarily requiring the presence of an operator.

  The control automaton sorts the defective batteries and, in the case of a complete occupation of the storage station, it alerts, with the aid of a corresponding optical and / or acoustic signal, the operator who can then extract each defective battery sorted that has not reached, in terms of links between cells, the quality imposed in this regard Therefore, it is also possible to transfer defective batteries sorted in a repair station The use of such a control automat requires results

  This is initially ensured in a general way.

  the use of high quality measuring devices.

  The economic advantage of the process according to the invention lies inter alia in that, due to the switching between the measuring points and the automatic progress of the successive controls of the different

  cell linkers, only one device

  This high-quality measuring instrument can be ordered electronically

  nically, in which case, according to a particularly advantageous characteristic of the invention, it is

  measuring points, the control current is initially switched off.

  truncally, following which there occurs a rela switch in case of zero current, and then the control current is again restored electronically, and therefore without contact With this arrangement according to the invention, it is possible to to use without difficulty the desired high control currents, for example of an intensity of 100 amperes, in which case, despite a high frequency

  the service life of the measuring device and the

  Measurement point measurement is not reduced.

  On the other hand, the control of the different cell connecting members can also be carried out with a control current which is constant and which passes through the connecting members of cells connected in series, so that current switching is avoided. of

  control between the different cell binding members.

  The reproducible measurement results which are necessary for the use of the control automatons according to the invention are obtained especially in the case of an advantageous embodiment of the invention.

  In the invention, for use in measuring the drop in

  separate voltages and currents and the control current is electronically adjusted to a constant value Normally, the contact pressure has an influence, when the contact pin is applied to the cell connecting member, on the resistance

  contact crossing, and consequently on the measurement result.

  In the case of the aforesaid embodiment of the invention with current-current contacts which are separated and with a constant current regulation, the aforementioned drawbacks are avoided when it is established between the cell connecting member. to control and the current contact pins associated with a variation of the contact-through resistance, this variation is compensated electronically, so that the control current passing through the contact member of

  cells is kept constant, for example at an intensity of 100 amperes.

  With regard to the measurement of voltage drop via the separate voltage contact pins, a very large internal resistance is chosen for the measuring instrument, so that it can not pass a current. measurable in the measuring conductor It also means that a resistance can be connected in the measuring conductor, and therefore also in the contact transition area between the voltage contact pins and the cell connecting member. that results in an error in the

measurement of voltage drop.

  Independently of the contact-through resistances, it must naturally be ensured that all the contact pins of the measuring head come into electrical contact with the associated cell connecting members. For this purpose, it is provided, in accordance with an advantageous embodiment. of a control automaton according to the invention, that the measuring head used for each cell connecting member, respectively comprises two voltage contact pins placed inside and two intensity contact pins placed at the outside, said pins being all mounted elastically in the head of

  measuring and being provided with pointed parts or sharp edges.

  A measuring head arranged in this way can easily enter into simultaneous contact by its contact pins with all the cell connecting members of a battery, which makes it possible to compensate the

  tolerances of manufacture and assembly of the battery.

  Tolerance compensation is ensured by the elastic individual mounting of the contact pins and by their pointed parts or sharp edges, which can penetrate the gap.

  relatively soft metal of cell binding organs.

  In conclusion, thanks to the features of the invention defined above, an economic control method and a control automaton for the implementation of the method are obtained, which make it possible to obtain reproducible measurement results and which can be

  also used especially for the series control of batteries.

  Other objects and advantages of the present invention will become apparent

  on reading the following description and accompanying figures, given

  for illustrative but not limiting.

  Figure 1 is a side view of a comfort control automaton

to the invention.

  Figure 2 shows schematically the arrangement of a measuring station using the control automaton of Figure 1; and Figure 3 is a partial sectional view of the control head

  used in the control automaton of Figure 1.

  The representation of FIG. 3 shows the link 4 established between two adjacent cells 5 and 6 of a battery, which are separated from each other by the partition 7 The cell link 4 shown has been established by a opening in the partition 7 by resistance welding This is to control the quality of the

cell binding 4.

  For this purpose, the measuring head 8 (FIG. 1), of which no

  Figure 3 shows that the part associated with the linkage

  4 cells shown, descended from above on the battery.

  The intensity contact pins 9 located on the outside and the voltage contact pins 10 located therein contact the cell connecting member 4 respectively on opposite sides of the separating partition 7 Each pin contact 9, 10 is mounted individually elastically using the springs

  11, 12 so that a compensation of the tolerances

  height positioning of the cell connecting member

  and / or compensation of the thicknesses of material Another compensation

  tolerances and a sufficiently correct establishment of the electrical contacts are obtained using the pointed parts 13 or edges

bright 14 pins contact.

  The control method according to the invention will now be described with reference to FIGS. 1 and 2. The batteries to be controlled

  (not shown) are brought into the measuring station 16 by the

  intermediate of a driven roller track 15; they are detected by a photocell device 17 which actuates a

  stop 18 to prevent a simultaneous introduction of several

  In this measuring station 16, the batteries are immobilized by means of the stop 19, so that

  the measuring head 8 can be lowered on the battery without cover.

  Then, the automatic measuring process proceeds in the manner described, whereby the different cell connecting members are successively monitored by means of a high quality measuring device and a measuring point switching device. A practical example of carrying out the measurements can be carried out as follows: After the measuring head 8 has been lowered on the battery, a safety period of about 2 seconds elapses. Then, the first measurement operation is started and the measuring point for the connecting element No.1 is selected Approximately 0.5 seconds later, the control current is switched on The most favorable measuring time must be between 1 and 4 seconds The measured value is indicated by means of a digital indicator and is stored in a measured value memory After the measuring current has been switched off, the stored measured value is compared to the measured value. of an integrated comparator with preselected setpoints

"min" and "max".

  When the measured value falls within the predetermined range

  setpoint values, there is then a switching of the

  measuring point on the cell binding member No 2 and the operation

  next measurement is started When the measured value is greater than the predetermined setpoint "max", a fault indication LED is energized before the measuring point switching system passes over the link 2 When the measured value is lower than the predetermined setpoint "min", a light diode indicating

  a "system fault" is excited and an operator is warned

  and / or optically that there is no contact between the measuring head and the sample, so that no current flows

control.

14952

  It is essential that the measured values indicated when exceeding the preselected "max" setpoint are stored in an error memory, which can for example be performed by an error memory with distributed LEDs. in lines corresponding to the number of liaison

  of cells of a battery Each line thus characterizes a

  Faulty earth, which is introduced by means of the ejector 20 into the storage station 21 When emptying the storage station 21, it is possible to determine for each ejected battery, by reading E of the diode array luminous, the number and position of defective cell linkers The lines of the diode array

  at the same time correspond to the maximum capacity of

  ception of the storage station In case of complete occupation of the storage station, the installation stops the transfer of the batteries until

  emptying of the storage station by an operator.

  Correct batteries leave the measurement station 20 past the photocell device 22 at the output, so that the measurement station is released for a new battery, as long as the storage device still has locations.

free receivers.

  Of course, the present invention is not limited to the embodiments described and shown; she is likely to

  numerous variants accessible to those skilled in the art, according to the

  envisaged and without departing from the spirit of the

Claims (5)

  A method for controlling the quality of cell linkages in a multi-cell battery by measuring a voltage drop between two measuring contacts applied to opposite sides of the cell link on the link member of cells, characterized in that a measuring head (8) having special measuring contacts (9, 10) is lowered onto a battery without a cover introduced by a conveyor belt (15) into a measuring station (16). for each cell connecting member (4) of the battery, so that all measuring contacts come into contact with the associated cell connecting members, in that by means of a measuring device and   of a measuring point switching device, it is possible to control   terminally the different cell connecting members in an automatic measurement process, in that each control result is compared in a comparator with a predetermined range of values   in that faulty control results are   in connection with the defective cell connecting member in a fault memory and / or are printed by a printer, and in that the defective batteries are transferred from the measuring station to a storage device (21) while, on the other hand, batteries   Correct values are brought from the measuring station to the conveyor belt.   Method according to Claim 1, characterized in that separate voltage and current contacts (9, 10) are used for the voltage drop measurement and that the control current is   is set electronically at a constant value.   Method according to Claim 1 or 2, characterized in that, for switching between measuring points, the control current is initially cut off electronically and then a switching occurs.   relay and then the control current is switched on electronically.   4 automaton for carrying out the method according to any one of   Claims 1 to 3, characterized in that it comprises a head of   measuring (8), clinging to all the cell connecting members (4) of a battery and provided with contact pins (9, 10), in particular for each cell connecting member, and a device which can be brought successively, with the help of a   measuring point switching device on the contact pins   tact of the different cell binding members.   5. Automaton according to claim 4, characterized in that the measuring head (8) of each cell connecting member (4) comprises   respectively two voltage contact pins (10) placed in the   inner and two intensity contact pins (9) placed on the outside in that all the contact pins are resiliently mounted in the direction of application in the measuring head and in that the contact pins are provided with pointed parts (13) or edges bright (14).