JPH05101816A - Method and apparatus for cleaning conducting piece of electrode plate after filling of active material paste - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE: To easily and efficiently purify a current-carrying ear contaminated with an active material paste at the time of filling voids of an electrode plate of a battery with the active material paste following the filling process. CONSTITUTION: In a filling process of an active material paste, at least a part of a current-carrying ear 1 is also coated with the active material paste. The active material paste adhering to the current-carrying ear 1 and still wet is diluted by a cleaning liquid 2 sent to the current-carrying ear and the resultant paste as a paste slurry is removed from the current-carrying ear 1 by a capillary nozzle 7 and at the same time by a suction nozzle 9 brought into contact with the current-carrying ear 1 and led along the ear 1.

Description

Detailed Description of the Invention

[0001]

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to a method of filling an excess amount of active material paste, which is still moist, after the active material paste is filled in the vacant space of the electrode plate for a storage battery, and which is attached to the current carrying ear attached to the electrode plate. Flushing liquid directed to live ears, mechanical work and method of removing flushing liquid from live ears using pneumatic aids, and to live ears mounted on plates filled with active material paste It has a nozzle for directing and applying the washing liquid, and a nozzle for removing and collecting a suspension or paste slurry of the formation-forming active material and the washing liquid and collecting an excessively wet active material paste. Related to the equipment to be excluded from.

[0002] Such a method and device are known from DE 3817982 A1, in which the plates are filled or coated with a pasty electrochemically active material to form a battery. Needed. The current-carrying ear is an electrochemically effective current-carrying path to the electrode surface, and is usually constructed as a strip welded to the electrode body.

The attachment of the current carrying ears to the carrier of the electrode skeleton, ie the electrochemically active material, is advantageously carried out before the filling or coating of this active material. This is because the subsequent welding of the live ears causes problems with the busbar connection, and for many active materials the handling of coated or filled electrodes is a health hazard. In addition, the current carrying ear offers the possibility of handling during the filling or coating process.

Whether it is a catalyst electrode, an electrode for a storage battery, an electrode for a fuel cell, a primary battery or a secondary battery, regardless of the type of the electrode, each current-carrying ear is used for the subsequent bus bar connection and the construction of the electrode plate laminate. Must be as free of adhering active material or paste residues as possible. Although this sticking active material is not fixedly stuck, the incorporation of such an electrode plate with dirty current carrying ears into a battery can be a source of short circuit or depolarization.

Particularly in a nickel-hydrogen battery (a so-called pineapple slice configuration) having a circular electrode for connecting a bus bar in the center of a center hole (a so-called pineapple slice configuration), an electrode plate having a current carrying ear perpendicular to the electrode surface is Contamination during paste coating is not always avoidable. Since the whole electrode is immersed in the paste because of the paste coating, the current carrying ear is always soiled by at least a few mm.

Published German patent application No. 3942
A method for cleaning the current carrying ears of the electrode plate of the lead storage battery is known from specification No. 680, and the active material adhering thereto is scraped off from both sides of the current carrying ears by a cleaning brush. In the device described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,461,839, the cylindrical brushes clean the current carrying ears of the plates. Also from DE 3817982 is known a method and a device for cleaning the current carrying ears on the plates after filling with the pasty active material. According to this, the electrode plate filled with the active material is covered with a slitted shield wall. The current-carrying ear protrudes through this shielding wall and can be isolated and cleaned accordingly. A flush liquid and a brush are used as a cleaning mechanism. Fluid purification based on pressure flushing with a mixture of water and air is preferred. Overall, cleaning the current carrying ears of the plates is a costly and complicated device.

[0007]

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Therefore, the problem underlying the present invention is to completely and easily and effectively remove a current carrying ear that is attached to an electrode plate and is contaminated with the active material paste when the active material paste is filled. It is an object of the present invention to provide a method and a device that can be cleaned.

[0008]

In order to solve this problem, according to the invention with respect to a method, according to the invention, the flushing liquid is applied cautiously and wet from a capillary nozzle which is guided along and close to the current carrying ear. By doing so, the active material paste that adheres to the current carrying ear and is moist is diluted, and the paste slurry thus formed is sucked into the collecting container together with the capillary nozzle by the suction nozzle guided in contact with the current carrying ear.

In the device for carrying out this method, a flushing liquid application nozzle, which is designed as a capillary nozzle, is guided along the current carrying ear together with a suction nozzle which is provided in close proximity and sucks the suspension or paste slurry. It is structurally organized into a tool unit.

[0010]

[Embodiment] In order to prevent the active material paste from being removed from the electrode plate by flushing in the process of cleaning the current carrying ear,
It should be ensured that excess rinse liquid does not reach the plates. Therefore, only the same amount of liquid as the amount of liquid to be sucked is supplied to the energized ear to be purified per unit time.

In practice, it has proved to be advantageous to place the flushing pipe for the flushing liquid and the suction pipe for the paste slurry in close proximity to one another in a tool that is easy to handle. This is especially a few mm between where the flush liquid exits the flush pipe and where it enters the suction pipe.
The distance is required to move, that is, the paste slurry formed by the cleaning process is immediately absorbed from the current carrying ear.

In order to mechanically promote the purifying action and to eliminate the unevenness caused by uneven application of the active material paste on the current carrying ear, the suction tube opening as a suction nozzle is provided with a mouth piece made of soft rubber, It has been found to be advantageous to apply this piece of mouth to a live ear. The elastic mouthpiece can have an oval or rectangular configuration.

The suction tube opening serves as a capillary nozzle in order to avoid the unavoidable fluctuation of the supply amount of the flushing liquid and to ensure the rapid extraction of the paste slurry, thereby avoiding the retention of the liquid in front of the suction tube opening. It has a larger cross section than the flush tube opening. The flush tube opening usually has the width of the cleaning ear which is used for cleaning. With a wider current carrying ear, the suction tube opening should be configured as a slit. Even if the flush pipe opening is configured in a slit shape, the flushing of the surface of the current carrying ear to be washed by the flush pipe opening is no longer sufficiently uniform, as occurs especially when the width of the current carrying ear is wide. If not,
Multiple openings can be provided at the end of the flush tube. This can be done by fitting a nozzle with multiple openings for the flush liquid onto the end of the flush tube.

Normally, the surface of the current carrying ear to be cleaned is larger than the surface which is constantly cleaned by washing and sucking liquid.
Therefore, the electrode plate to which the current carrying ear is welded is guided along the tool having the flushing and sucking device, or conversely, the tool having the flushing and sucking device is brought close to the current carrying ear and the root of the current carrying ear is reached. Be led up to. In principle, it is possible to purify both sides of the current carrying ear at the same time, or to purify both sides of the current carrying ear sequentially. In the first case, the flushing and suction device is preferably designed in the form of a rectangular slit, which simultaneously surrounds both sides of the current carrying ear.

The supply of flush liquid is carried out by gravity when the quantity is simple.

Of course, the flush liquid is also supplied by a pump, and a valve is provided which is operated by hand or by a sensor to open and close the flush liquid supply conduit. The opening and closing of the supply conduit takes place in relation to the open and closed state of the suction conduit, which can be done mechanically or electrically.

The mixture of flushing liquid and paste slurry is introduced via a suction tube and a suction conduit into a collecting container, where the removed paste slurry precipitates. In practice, the collecting container is filled with water before the cleaning of the current carrying ear and the suction conduit for the paste slurry is submerged below the prescribed water level as in a washing bottle. In some cases, a second empty container or a case containing a fiber filter is inserted between the collecting container and the vacuum pump in order to collect the droplets entrained from the collecting container.

[0018]

The present invention is described below in terms of method embodiments and apparatus embodiments.

Example 1 To produce a nickel-hydrogen battery, a circular electrode with current carrying ears welded was filled with nickel hydroxide paste in a paste bath. At that time, the current carrying ear was immersed in the paste bath by a depth of 3 cm. After removing the excess paste from the plates, the 1 cm wide current carrying ears were soiled with nickel hydroxide paste to a height of 2 to 3 cm. To clean the energized ear, a device was used in which a flush tube and a suction tube were held together in a grip. A curved suction tube is used, the opening of which is surrounded by a rim of soft rubber and whose width is 1 cm and 1.
It had a height of 5 mm. A flush tube consisting of a circular hose with an opening diameter of 1.5 mm was attached in contact with the suction tube. The surface of the suction tube opening formed an angle of 30 ° with the axis of the suction tube. Water as a flush liquid was supplied to the energized ear by gravity via a solenoid valve. The solenoid valve was operated by a foot switch that simultaneously operated the suction pump. The suction pump was stopped only 0.5 seconds after the solenoid valve was closed. As a result, the liquid that dripped onto the current carrying ear later was completely removed. A washing bottle was used as a collecting container for the liquid to be sucked from the current carrying ear and was filled with water so that the suction pipe was immersed into the water by 4 cm. 22 l / for sucking
A membrane pump with min suction capacity was used.

Example 2 10 cm square negative electrode for nickel-cadmium battery
An almost wedge-shaped conducting ear extending over the entire upper edge width of the sample and having a height of 4 cm at the highest point was filled with cadmium oxide residue after filling the electrode with cadmium oxide. For cleaning, the current carrying ear together with the electrode being welded has a height of 42 mm by elastically surrounding the current carrying ear in parallel with the upper edge of the electrode in the direction in which it greatly extends, up to the shoulder of the electrode body. Was pulled through the wash slit with.

Two 5 mm plastic hoses, which are closed to the electrodes and have openings on the side of the current carrying ears, are used as flushing liquid supply conduits, from which flushing water exits these openings under a slight positive pressure. Immediately following these openings or plastic hoses are two suction slits with a height of 42 mm, the silicone rubber sealing piece at the trailing edge of these slits contacting the live ear. The paste residue on the current-carrying ears is suspended in the washing water in the washing area by the purifying device and immediately sucked out, so that the washing water does not reach the electrode body.

An apparatus for carrying out the method according to the invention is shown in FIG. 1, the current carrying ear to be cleaned is indicated by 1, and the plate itself is E.
Indicated by. The flush liquid 2 is in a storage container 3, controlled by a solenoid valve 4, and via a supply conduit 5 a flush pipe 6
Is supplied to. The washing liquid is applied to the current carrying ear 1 to be purified through the washing pipe opening 7 as a capillary nozzle. The suction pipe 8 having an opening as the suction nozzle 9 is structurally integrated with the flush pipe 6 and is integrated into a tool that is easy to handle. The tool consisting of the flush tube 6 and the suction tube 8 contacts the dirty current carrying ear 1 and is guided along the same in the direction of the root range of the current carrying ear 1. The active material paste that has adhered to the current-carrying ear 1 and is still moistened is diluted with the washing liquid and is sucked out through the opening 9 of the suction pipe 8. The opening 9 of the suction tube 8 is surrounded by the elastic mouthpiece 10 made of soft rubber, and the mouthpiece 10 contacts the current carrying ear 1, so that the suction action is promoted. The liquid sucked out is supplied to the collecting container 12 via the suction pipe 8 and the suction pipe. The collecting container 12 is filled with a liquid before the start of the electric ear cleaning, and the suction conduit 11 is immersed below the liquid surface like a washing bottle. Collecting container 1
From 2 a line 13 and a flexible conduit 14 lead to a vacuum pump 15. A fiber filter 1 is provided between the conduit 13 and the conduit 14.
4 are provided to possibly retain the droplets entrained from the collecting container 12 via the line 13.

2 to 4 are sectional views II and I of FIG.
Different embodiments of the soft rubber mouthpieces 10 in II, IV are shown, the suction nozzle can be provided with these mouthpieces.

FIG. 2 shows a mouthpiece 10 with an oval cross section, with an opening 7 in the flush tube provided directly above it.

FIG. 3 shows a side opening 17 for drawing in additional air.
A mouthpiece 10 of oval cross-section with is shown with the flushing pipe opening 7 provided immediately above it.

FIG. 4 shows a mouthpiece 10 of rectangular cross section with an opening 7 in the flush tube provided directly above it.

[Brief description of drawings]

FIG. 1 is a side view of an energization ear cleaning device according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a sectional view taken along line II-II of FIG.

3 is a sectional view taken along the line III-III in FIG.

FIG. 4 is a sectional view taken along line IV-IV of FIG.

[Explanation of symbols]

 E Electrode 1 Conductive ear 7 Capillary nozzle (washing pipe opening) 9 Suction nozzle (suction pipe opening)

Claims (10)

[Claims] 1. A method of filling an empty space of an electrode plate for a storage battery with an active material paste, and then washing excess moist active material paste adhering to a current carrying ear attached to the electrode plate to a current carrying ear. A method for removing flushing liquid, mechanical work and pneumatic auxiliary means for removing flushing liquid from a live ear;
The washing liquid is carefully and wetly applied from a capillary nozzle guided close to the current carrying ear to dilute the active material paste that is still adhering to the current carrying ear, thus forming The paste slurry is sucked into a collecting container by a suction nozzle that is guided in contact with a current carrying ear together with a capillary nozzle. 2. A method according to claim 1, characterized in that the application of the flushing liquid and the suction of the paste slurry formed are carried out simultaneously. 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the amount of liquid applied to the current carrying ear per unit time is made equal to the amount of liquid sucked from the current carrying ear per unit time. 4. Method according to claim 1, characterized in that the flushing liquid is supplied by gravity to the energized ears to be cleaned. 5. Deionized water is supplied as flushing liquid to the energizing ear to be purified.
The method according to one of 1. 6. A nozzle for directing and applying a washing liquid to an energization ear attached to an electrode plate filled with an active material paste, and a suspension or paste slurry of the formed active material and the washing liquid. And a nozzle for removing and collecting the excess wetted active material paste from the electrode plate, a flushing liquid application nozzle configured as a capillary nozzle (7) is provided in close proximity. A post-filling electrode of the active material paste, characterized in that it is structurally integrated into a tool unit guided along the current carrying ear (1) together with a suction nozzle (9) for sucking the suspension or paste slurry. A device that purifies the current carrying ears of a board. 7. Device according to claim 7, characterized in that the opening of the suction nozzle (9) is surrounded by a mouthpiece (10) of soft rubber. 8. Device according to claim 7, characterized in that the mouthpiece (10) made of soft rubber has an oval or rectangular cross section. 9. The mouthpiece (10) made of soft rubber has a side opening (17) for sucking additional air near the mounting surface of the suction nozzle (9). The device according to claim 7 or 8. 10. Device according to one of claims 7 to 9, characterized in that the diameter of the opening of the suction nozzle (9) is equal to the width of the conducting ear (1) to be cleaned.