JP2005228533A - Method for inspecting batteries and apparatus therefor - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To provide a method for inspecting batteries and an apparatus therefor that can inspect accurately, even if electrode plates are arranged diagonally in the manufacturing process of the batteries. <P>SOLUTION: The battery 1, with a separator arranged in between a plurality of longitudinally arranged sheets of electrode plates 11, is conveyed by a conveyor. Reproduced image the battery 1 is captured, by irradiating X-rays from an X-ray generator 3 to photograph transmitted X-rays by a camera 6. An inspection deciding apparatus 8 decides that a plurality of the electrode plates are not contacted, even if at least one electrode plate is not contacted with respect to a pair of same electrode plates, from among a plurality of sheets of reproduced images, with respect to a pair of same electrode plates captured for conveyance of the battery at each predetermined distance. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2005,JPO&NCIPI

Description

  The present invention relates to a battery inspection method and apparatus suitable for inspecting batteries used in automobiles, motorcycles and the like on a production line.

  A battery used in automobiles, motorcycles, and the like has a plurality (several tens) of positive electrode plates and negative electrode plates alternately arranged in a vertical direction, and an insulating separator is disposed between the two electrode plates. The positive electrode plate is made of lead dioxide, and the negative electrode plate is made of lead. A separator is arranged between a plurality of electrode plates, accommodated in a container, sealed with a cover having an external connection terminal, and then injected with an electrolyte to constitute a battery.

  In such a battery manufacturing process, when a plurality of electrode plates are inserted into a container, the electrode plates may be bent, bent, missing, or missing (not inserted). Conventionally, a pre-shipment inspection is carried out based on the quality of electrical performance in a completed state without inspecting the battery production line for any abnormality. However, some of the products determined to be acceptable products are shipped with a low probability but just before the occurrence of an abnormality, and problems such as an internal short circuit accident may occur.

  When it is determined that the product is defective in the pre-shipment inspection, the entire finished product is discarded. However, it is necessary to disassemble the finished product and separate it into individual parts for environmental considerations. Further, the disposal process is not preferable in terms of resource saving, and it is desired to pick out defective products in the manufacturing process.

  In order to solve this problem, it is considered to perform inspection with X-rays in the battery manufacturing process. Specifically, the battery is mounted on a conveyor and conveyed, and the battery is irradiated with X-rays in the vertical direction from above, and a reproduced image of the battery is obtained and inspected with transmitted X-rays. The X-ray inspection is performed by obtaining a reproduced image for each pair of electrode plates.

  In addition, conveying a subject with a conveyor and performing X-ray inspection is described in Patent Document 1 below, for example.

Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 7-209111

  In the prior art, a battery transported by a conveyor is irradiated with X-rays in the vertical direction from the upper side, and a reproduced image is obtained for each pair of electrode plates by transmitted X-rays to inspect the battery. However, the separator has a thickness of about 1 mm, and the distance between the electrode plates is narrow. When the electrode plates are accommodated in the container obliquely, a reproduced image in a state where the electrode plates are in contact with each other is judged as a defective product.

  An object of the present invention is to provide a battery inspection method and apparatus capable of accurately inspecting even when an electrode plate is disposed obliquely in a container in a battery manufacturing process.

  A feature of the present invention is that a battery in which separators are arranged between a plurality of vertically arranged electrode plates is mounted on a conveyor and conveyed, and the battery is irradiated with X-rays from above, and the reproduced image of the battery is transmitted with transmitted X-rays. A plurality of reproduced images are created for a pair of identical electrode plates by transmission X-rays detected every time the battery is transported by a predetermined distance, and at least one of the plurality of reproduced images has a pair of identical electrode plates. This is because it is determined that the pair of electrode plates are not in contact when they are not in contact.

  In other words, the present invention creates a plurality of reproduced images for a pair of the same electrode plates by changing the irradiation angle of the X-rays irradiated to the pair of the same electrode plates as the battery is conveyed. If at least one pair of the same electrode plates is not in contact, it is determined that the pair of electrode plates are not in contact.

  The present invention creates a plurality of reproduced images for a pair of the same electrode plates by changing the irradiation angle of the X-rays irradiated to the pair of the same electrode plates with the conveyance of the battery, and at least of the plurality of reproduced images When at least one pair of the same electrode plates is not in contact, it is determined that the pair of electrode plates are not in contact. Since the irradiation angle of the X-rays irradiated to the same pair of electrode plates changes as the battery is transported, it can be accurately inspected without misjudging it as a defective product even if the electrode plates are arranged obliquely.

  The battery is configured by placing a separator made of an insulating material between a plurality of vertically arranged electrode plates and storing the separator in a container. The battery is mounted on a conveyor such that a plurality of vertically arranged electrode plates are substantially perpendicular to the transport direction. The X-ray generator is provided on the upper side of the conveyor and irradiates the battery with X-rays. The area sensor type X-ray detector is provided on the lower side of the conveyor and detects X-rays transmitted through the battery and outputs a reproduced image. The image processing means processes the reproduced image output from the area sensor type X-ray detector. The inspection judging means inputs the reproduced image processed by the image processing means every time the battery is transported by a predetermined distance, and when at least one of the plurality of reproduced images is not in contact with a pair of the same electrode plates, An inspection for determining that the electrode plates are not in contact is performed between a plurality of electrode plates.

  FIG. 1 shows an embodiment of the present invention.

  In FIG. 1, a battery 1 for automobiles and motorcycles is mounted on a conveyor 2 in the manufacturing process and conveyed at a constant speed. As shown in FIG. 2, the battery 1 has a plurality of (several tens) positive electrode plates 11a and negative electrode plates 11b arranged alternately in a vertical array, and an insulating separator between the electrode plates 11 (11a, 11b). 12 is arranged. The thickness of the separator 12 is about 1 mm. The plus electrode plate 11a is made of lead dioxide, and the minus electrode plate 11b is made of lead.

  A separator 12 is disposed between a plurality of electrode plates 11 and accommodated in a synthetic resin container 13 and sealed with a cover 14 having external connection terminals, and then an electrolyte is injected. The inspection of the manufacturing process of the battery 1 is performed in a state where the separator 12 is disposed between the plurality of electrode plates 11 and accommodated in the container 13 as shown in FIG. The battery 1 is mounted on the conveyor 2 such that a plurality of vertically arranged electrode plates 11 are substantially perpendicular to the transport direction.

  The X-ray generator 3 is provided on the upper side of the conveyor 2 and irradiates the battery 1 with X-rays 3X. An area sensor type X-ray detector 4 that detects X-rays transmitted through the battery 1 is provided below the conveyor 2. The X-ray detector 4 has a detection surface 5 for detecting transmitted X-rays and outputs a reproduced image.

  The reproduced image of the gradation digital signal output from the X-ray detector 4 is added to the image processing device 7.

  The image processing device 7 binarizes and edits the reproduced image and inputs it to the examination determination device 8. The inspection determination device 8 determines that the pair of electrode plates 11 is not in contact when at least one of a plurality of reproduced images is not in contact with the same pair of electrode plates 11. The inspection determination device 8 inspects between a plurality of electrode plates 11 constituting the battery 1 to determine whether or not it is acceptable and displays the result on the display device 9.

  In this configuration, the battery 1 is mounted on the conveyor 2 and conveyed, and the positional relationship with the X-ray generator 3 is as shown in FIGS. 3A, 3B, and 3C. X-rays are difficult to transmit metals such as lead, but non-metals such as insulators are easily transmitted. In the reproduced image output from the X-ray detector 4, the electrode plate 11 is displayed in black, and the separator 12 and the container 13 are displayed in white.

  Now, it is assumed that a plurality of electrode plates 11 are disposed in the container 13 obliquely as shown in FIG. 4 in the manufacturing process of the battery 1. 4 shows a battery 1 having nine electrode plates 11, and the areas of the separator 12 between the electrode plates 11 are denoted by A, B.

  The positional relationship between the battery 1 and the X-ray generator 3 is changed as shown in (a), (b), and (c) of FIG. The position of the battery 1 and the X-ray generator 3 changes to change the X-ray irradiation angle applied to the space areas A, B... H between the X-ray generator 3 and the electrode plate 11. For this reason, at least one of the reproduced images output from the X-ray detector 4 is displayed in white in areas A, B. For example, the X-ray detector 4 outputs seven reproduced images for a pair of electrode plates 11 on both sides of the interval area A. Seven reproduced images are binarized by the image processing device 7, edited, and input to the inspection determination device 8.

  The inspection determination device 8 inputs seven reproduced images for each of the interval areas A, B... H, and makes the determination as follows. This will be described with reference to FIGS. FIG. 5 shows a defective product determination result, and FIG. 6 shows a non-defective product determination result.

  If the electrode plate 11 is disposed obliquely as shown in FIG. 4, even if the electrode plate 11 is not actually in contact, it is determined that the image is in contact with the reproduced image.

  For example, in FIG. 5, a pair of electrode plates 11 show a contact state (short circuit “1”) in a reproduction image of shooting number 1 in the interval area A, and a non-contact state (normal “0”) in a reproduction image of shooting number 2. Show. For the other interval areas B to H, if there is “1” as a result of multiplying the respective states by the reproduced images of sequential shooting numbers 1 to 7, it is determined that the electrode plates are in contact with each other. Even if all the electrode plates are “0”, it is judged as a defective product. Further, if all the interval areas A to H are “0” as shown in FIG.

  Such a determination by the inspection determination device 8 is performed by software processing. The interval areas A to H are shifted for each X-ray transmission image, but it is determined as normal if there is no contact in any of the reproduced images in the imaging numbers 1 to 7 of the same interval area A to H. This can be realized by a simple logical expression. For example, in the normal case, 0 (zero) is multiplied. The determination result of the inspection determination device 8 is displayed on the display device 9.

  In the determination of the presence or absence of contact between the electrode plates 11, by setting a threshold value of “with contact” below the distance that is determined to be dangerous immediately before contact, contamination of conductive foreign matter or partial bending of the electrode plate You can also check for defects.

In this way, the battery is inspected, and a plurality of reproduced images are created for the same pair of electrode plates by changing the irradiation angle of the X-rays irradiated to the same pair of electrode plates as the battery is transported. When at least one of a plurality of reproduced images is not in contact with a pair of the same electrode plates, it is determined that the pair of electrode plates are not in contact. Since the irradiation angle of the X-rays irradiated to the same pair of electrode plates changes as the battery is transported, the electrodes can be accurately inspected without misjudging them even if the electrode plates are arranged obliquely. Although the case where the plate 11 is arranged obliquely has been described, it can be similarly determined for normal arrangement and other abnormalities.

  FIG. 7A shows a case where the electrode plate 11 and the separator 12 are normally arranged. FIG. 7 shows an example in which there are four electrode plates 11. In this state, the reproduced image obtained from the X-ray fluoroscopic image by the X-ray detector 4 is an image as if the inside of the battery 1 was seen from the bottom surface of the container 13 as shown in FIG.

  FIG. 7B shows a case where a gap is generated at one end due to the absence of the separator 12 and the pair of electrode plates 11 are in contact with each other and short-circuited. In this case, the reproduced image shown in FIG. 8B is obtained. Therefore, it can be determined from this reproduced image that the separator 12 is missing and that the electrode plate 11 is short-circuited.

  FIG. 7C shows a case where a part of the electrode plate 11 is bent and bites into the separator 12, and the reproduced image shown in FIG. 8C is obtained. Therefore, it can be determined from this reproduced image that the electrode plate 11 is defective.

In this way, the battery is inspected, and a plurality of reproduced images are created for the same pair of electrode plates by changing the irradiation angle of the X-rays irradiated to the same pair of electrode plates as the battery is transported. When at least one of a plurality of reproduced images is not in contact with a pair of the same electrode plates, it is determined that the pair of electrode plates are not in contact. Since the irradiation angle of the X-rays irradiated to the same pair of electrode plates changes as the battery is transported, it can be accurately inspected without misjudging it as a defective product even if the electrode plates are arranged obliquely. In this manufacturing process, since it is possible to inspect at the stage before injection of the electrolyte, the yield of the product can be improved.

  In the above-described embodiment, the reproduced image is obtained by the area sensor type X-ray detector. However, it is obvious that the analog reproduced image taken by the X-ray detector can be converted into a digital image. That is.

It is a block diagram which shows one Example of this invention. It is a disassembled perspective view which shows an example of a battery. It is explanatory drawing of this invention. It is a state explanatory view of a battery. It is explanatory drawing of the test | inspection determination of a battery. It is explanatory drawing of the test | inspection determination of a battery. It is explanatory drawing of the test | inspection determination of a battery. It is explanatory drawing of the reproduction | regeneration image by X-ray fluoroscopy of a battery.

Explanation of symbols

  DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 ... Battery, 2 ... Conveyor, 3 ... X-ray generator, 4 ... Area sensor type | mold X-ray detector, 5 ... Detection surface, 7 ... Image processing apparatus, 8 ... Test | inspection determination apparatus. DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 9 ... Display apparatus, 11 ... Electrode plate, 12 ... Separator, 13 ... Container, 14 ... Cover.

Claims (4)

  A battery in which separators are arranged between a plurality of vertically arranged electrode plates is mounted on a conveyor and transported. The battery is irradiated with X-rays from above, and a reproduced image of the battery is obtained by transmitted X-rays. A plurality of reproduced images are created with respect to a pair of the same electrode plates by the transmitted X-rays detected every predetermined distance of conveyance, and at least one of the plurality of reproduced images is in contact with the pair of the same electrode plates. If not, it is determined that the pair of electrode plates are not in contact with each other.   A separator made of an insulating material is arranged between a plurality of electrode plates that are vertically arranged substantially perpendicular to the transport direction, and a battery accommodated in a container is mounted on a conveyor for transport, and the battery is irradiated with X-rays from above. The transmission X-ray is area-detected, and a plurality of reproduced images are created for a pair of the same electrode plates by the transmitted X-rays every time the battery is transported for a predetermined distance, and at least one of the plurality of reproduced images is the pair A battery inspection method, wherein an inspection for determining that the pair of electrode plates are not in contact when the same electrode plates are not in contact is performed between the plurality of electrode plates.   A battery in which separators are arranged between a plurality of vertically arranged electrode plates; a conveyor that carries and transports the battery; an X-ray generator that is provided above the conveyor and that emits X-rays to the battery; and An X-ray detector that is provided below the conveyor and outputs a reproduced image by X-rays transmitted through the battery, and at least one of a plurality of the reproduced images for a pair of the same electrode plates for each predetermined distance of transporting the battery. A battery inspection apparatus comprising: an inspection determination unit that determines that the pair of electrode plates are not in contact when the pair of the same electrode plates are not in contact with each other.   A battery in which a separator made of an insulating material is disposed between a plurality of electrode plates vertically arranged substantially perpendicular to the transport direction and accommodated in a container, a conveyor carrying the battery and transporting the battery, and an upper side of the conveyor An X-ray generator for irradiating the battery with X-rays, an area sensor type X-ray detector provided under the conveyor for detecting X-rays transmitted through the battery and outputting a reproduced image; and the area An image processing means for processing a reproduced image output from the sensor-type X-ray detector, and the reproduced image processed by the image processing means every time the battery is transported by a predetermined distance, and a plurality of sheets for a pair of the same electrode plates If at least one of the reproduced images is not in contact with the pair of identical electrode plates, an inspection is performed to determine that the pair of electrode plates are not in contact with each other. Battery test apparatus characterized by comprising an inspection determination means for performing the plates.

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