JPS63299048A - Method and equipment for covering unit cell - Google Patents

Abstract

PURPOSE:To efficiently cover a unit cell by inserting a unit cell into the opening of a flat heat shrinkable tube piece, and shrinking the tube by heating to closely cover the unit cell. CONSTITUTION:A pair of upper and lower creases and a pair of right and left creases are press-formed in the lengthy direction of a rolled flat shrinkable tube 1, and the tube 1 is cut in a specified size at either one of creases to form a flat tube piece b. The tube b is bent along a pair of creases positioned at both side ends to open it so as to have a rhombic cross section. A unit cell d is inserted into the opening c of the tube b, and the unit cell d is transferred to a heater 38. The tube b is shrunk to closely cover the outside of the unit cell. By this process, the unit cell is efficiently covered with the resin film.

Description

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION Field of Industrial Application The present invention relates to a cell coating in which a unit cell is inserted into a heat-shrinkable resin tube in the finishing process of a dry battery, and the heat-shrinkable resin tube is heat-shrinked around the outer periphery of the unit cell. The present invention relates to a method and an apparatus therefor.

Conventional technology The tube used to cover unit cells is rolled into a roll and is in a flat state with a pair of left and right creases. The tube piece must be opened and kept open.

For this reason, conventionally, a pair of vacuum chucks that are mechanically opened and closed are used. After a tube piece is supplied to the open vacuum chuck, the vacuum chuck is closed and the flat tube piece is sucked, and then the vacuum chuck The unit cell is inserted into the tube piece through the opening while opening the tube piece and holding the opening.

Problems to be Solved by the Invention However, in the conventional example described above, the tube piece cannot be opened simply by mechanically opening and closing the vacuum chuck, and vacuum equipment is required to suction the tube piece.
There is a problem that not only is the structure complicated, but the entire facility is also large-scale.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION In view of the above-mentioned problems, an object of the present invention is to provide a method for covering a unit cell and an apparatus thereof, in which a tube piece can be opened by mechanical opening and closing movements of a chuck without using vacuum equipment.

Means for Solving the Problems In order to achieve the above object, the present invention introduces a flat heat-shrinkable resin tube wound into a roll into a chuck for opening a tube piece that can be opened and closed. A pair of upper and lower creases and a pair of left and right creases are formed under pressure along the longitudinal direction of the tube, and then the tube, which is restrained in a flat state along either one pair of creases, is made into a predetermined size. Cut the tube into a flat tube piece, then feed the flat tube piece into the open tube piece opening chuck, and then close the tube piece opening chuck to place the flat tube piece on both sides of the tube piece. After opening the tube piece into a substantially diamond-shaped cross section by bending it at a pair of fold lines located therein, and then inserting the unit cell into the opening of the tube piece while holding the tube piece in the tube piece opening chuck. , provides a method for covering a unit cell, which is characterized in that the unit cell inserted into the unit cell is transported to a heating section, and the tube unit is heat-shrinked here to bring the tube unit into close contact with the outer periphery of the unit cell. be.

The present invention also provides an apparatus for carrying out the above method, including a rotary disk that rotates and is provided with a plurality of chucks for opening tube pieces at a predetermined pitch in the rotational direction, and a tube supply station that inserts heat-shrinkable resin tube pieces into the tubes of the rotary disk. A tube piece supply device that supplies the single opening chuck, a unit cell supply device that supplies the unit cells to the rotary disk at the unit cell supply station, and the assembly is held in the open state by the tube piece opening chuck at the station. A battery insertion device inserts the unit battery into the tube piece that is inserted into the tube piece, a battery ejector unit which ejects the unit battery inserted into the tube piece at the battery ejection station, and a heating device that shrinks and coats the tube piece on the outer periphery, and the tube piece feeding device transfers the flattened tube piece along a pair of upper and lower fold lines along the longitudinal direction or a pair of left and right fold lines to a rotary disk. The tube piece opening chuck consists of a pair of chuck bodies that can be opened and closed, and is in an open state when it is at the tube supply station, and the assembly from the tube supply station is carried out at the station. The flat tube piece is closed and bent while moving to a flat tube piece at a pair of creases located on both sides of the tube piece to open the tube piece with a substantially rhombic cross section, and the inner periphery of a pair of chuck bodies is closed. The present invention provides a unit cell covering device characterized in that notched recesses are formed to respectively engage four fold lines on the top, bottom, left and right of the tube piece in the state.

Effect: According to the cell covering method of the present invention, the flat heat-shrinkable resin tube wound into a roll has from the beginning a pair of left and right or upper and lower fold lines along its longitudinal direction. ,
By forming a pair of new creases on the top and bottom or on the left and right along the longitudinal direction, four creases can be formed on the tube.Furthermore, four creases can be formed on the tube. At this stage, as the new crease is formed under pressure, the original crease retains its slightly outwardly protruding shape and is straightened into a flattened shape, and the tube forms the new crease. It is constrained to a flat shape bent along.

A tube piece obtained by cutting a flat tube with fold lines at four places into a predetermined size is fed into a tube piece opening chuck, and when the tube piece opening chuck is closed, the upper and lower sides of the tube piece are Alternatively, a pair of left and right crease portions are pinched. At this time, the pair of left and right folding lines or the pair of upper and lower folding lines that are not subjected to the pinching pressure maintain a slightly outwardly protruding shape, so they are bent along these folding lines and separated to both sides. to open the tube piece.

The tube piece is also held in the open state by a closed tube piece opening chuck. Thus, a violet cell can be inserted into the tube piece through said opening.

Thereafter, by heating the unit cell inserted in the tube piece with the heating section, the tube piece can be contracted and the tube piece can be brought into close contact with the outer periphery of the unit cell.

Further, according to the cell coating device of the present invention, as the rotary disk rotates, the tube piece held in the open state by the tube piece opening chuck at the tube supply station is supplied to the rotary disk at the cell supply station. The assembly of the unit cell can be inserted at the station, the unit battery inserted into the tube piece can be ejected at the battery ejection station, and the tube piece can be brought into close contact with the outer periphery of the unit cell using the heating device. The above method can be carried out efficiently (in the order of steps).

In addition, the notch recess of the tube piece opening chuck locks the four creases of the tube piece and can reliably open the tube piece, so that the cell can be easily inserted into the tube piece.

Example 1 to 14 show embodiments of the invention.

First, based on FIG. 1, the process of forming a heat-shrinkable resin tube a having four creases along its longitudinal direction will be described.

1 is a flat tube a wound into a roll;
The conveyance roller 2 and the second conveyance roller 3 let out and convey in the direction of the arrow.

As shown in Fig. 6, the cross-sectional shape of tube a at stage A is flat in the left and right direction, with a pair of left and right creases mS from the beginning.
It has m.

In front of each of the first conveyance roller 2 and the second conveyance roller 3 are a pair of new upper and lower fold lines n, n on the tube a.
The first clamping part 4 and the second clamping part 4 are pressed together along the longitudinal direction.
The clamping portion 5 is composed of a pair of clamping plates 6.6 on the left and right sides, respectively. 7 is a guide roller for the tube a that is conveyed in the direction of the arrow.

In the first clamping section 4, the tube a at stage B, which has been clamped from both left and right sides, is flattened in the vertical direction to form a new pair of upper and lower creases n, n, as shown in FIG. be done.

The original crease mSm is retained on both the left and right sides.

The tube a, which has been further pinched from both the left and right sides by the first transport rollers 2, is once returned to a flat state in the left and right direction by the next group of guide rollers 7. New creases n, n are maintained on both the upper and lower sides.

This is stage C shown in FIG.

At stage D before reaching the second conveyance roller 3, the tube a
is again pinched from both left and right sides by the second pinching part 5, and the ninth
As shown in the figure, it is flattened in the vertical direction.

In this way, by repeating opening and closing around the pair of upper and lower fold lines nSn, it is possible to provide a new crease n with a reliable bending tendency.

Also, the pair of left and right creases m, m from the beginning are the first pinching part 4.
By repeating opening and closing around the crease m in the second clamping portion 5, it is possible to weaken the tendency of the fold m to close and make it easier to open.

The vertically flat tube a that has passed through the second conveyance roller 3 is cut into a predetermined size by a tube piece supply device 8, and is supplied to a coating device 9 as a tube piece. The tube piece supply device 8 includes a feed roller 10 that feeds the tube a toward the coating device 9, and a pair of left and right cutters 11 and 11 that cut the tube a into a predetermined size.

As shown in FIGS. 2 to 5, the coating device 9 is supported by a horizontal support shaft 13 protruding from the front of the base 12, and rotates in a vertical plane in the direction of the arrow via a bearing 14. It has a substantially cylindrical rotary disk 15. This turntable 15
A plurality of tube opening chucks 1 are provided on the peripheral edge of the end surface of the tube.
6 are arranged at a predetermined pitch.

The tube piece opening chuck 16 consists of a pair of fixed chuck bodies (chuck bodies) 17 and movable chuck bodies (chuck bodies) 18. The fixed chuck body 17 is fixed to the rotary disk 15, and the movable chuck body 18 is fixed to the fixed chuck body 17.
The chuck body 17 can be opened and closed with respect to the fixed chuck body 17. A tension spring 19 is interposed between the movable chuck body 18 and the rotary disk 15 to bias the movable chuck body 18 in the closing direction. Further, a plate cam 21 is fixed to the end surface of the support shaft 12, which engages with the base end roller 20 of the movable chuck body 18 and restrains the movable chuck body 18 in the opening direction according to the rotation of the rotary disk 15. There is.

The tube piece opening chuck 16 is in an open state in which it can receive the tube piece at the tube supply station where the tube piece is supplied from the tube piece supply device 8, and the tube piece opening chuck 16 is in an open state capable of receiving the tube piece from the tube supply station E. It is closed while moving to the assembly station H via the battery supply station F and the opening diameter expansion station G. The tube piece opening chuck 16 is in an open state at the battery discharge station I, and returns to the tube supply station after discharging the unit cell C inserted into the tube piece.

Further, on the inner periphery of the tube piece opening chuck 16, cutout recesses 22 are formed which respectively engage the upper and lower pair of fold lines n, n and the left and right pair of fold lines m, m of the tube piece in the closed state. ing.

At the tube feeding station, as shown in FIG. 10, the tube piece is fed into the tube piece opening chuck 16 in a flat posture in the vertical direction. On the other hand, the movable chuck body 18 is closed to the fixed chuck body 17 from above. As a result, the tube piece is compressed from the pair of upper and lower creases n and n in response to the closing movement of the movable chuck body 18.

At this time, a pair of left and right creases m, which have been corrected to a flat state,
Since m maintains a slightly outwardly protruding shape, these creases m and m are separated outwardly by the pinching pressure. On the other hand, since the pair of upper and lower creases n, n are provided with a tendency to open in the previous process, these creases n, n approach inward under the above-mentioned pinching pressure, and as a result, the cross section of the tube piece is The opening can be formed into a substantially diamond shape.

In addition, these four creases m and n get stuck in the cutout recess 22 of the tube piece opening chuck 13 and are worn out.
Until the assembly reaches station H, the tube piece can be held in the open state as shown in FIG.

While the supplied tube piece is opened and held in the open state, the unit cell d is supplied to the battery insertion device 24 of the rotary disk 15 by the unit cell supply device 23 at the unit battery supply station F. .

As shown in FIGS. 3 to 5, the battery insertion device 24 has a holding section 25 that holds the supplied unit cells d.

This holding portion 25 includes a holding groove 26 for holding the unit cell d on the axis of the tube piece, and an insertion guide tube 28 formed by disposing a plurality of leaf spring pieces 27 in an annular shape around the axis. There is.

The holding portion 25 is fixed to the tip of a guide rod 29 that penetrates the rotary disk 15 and is slidable in the direction of the support shaft 13 .

The guide rod 29 is urged by a compression spring 30 in a direction to separate from the tube piece opening chuck 16. The guide rod 29 also has a guide roller 3 attached to its base end.
1, the end face cam 32 is fixed to the front surface of the base 12 concentrically with the support shaft 13, and as the rotary disk 15 rotates, it is pushed in a direction approaching the tube piece opening chuck 16.

Coaxially rearward of the holding groove 26 is an insertion rod 33 for pushing the cell d held in the holding groove 26 from the rear.
is disposed so as to penetrate through the rotary disk 15 and to be slidable in the direction of the support shaft 13. This insertion rod 33 is
An auxiliary rod 34 protrudes outward in the radial direction of the rotary disk 15 at the center thereof, and a guide roller 35 is provided at the tip of the auxiliary rod 34. The guide roller 35 engages with a cam groove 37 of a cylindrical cam 36 fixed to the front of the base 12 concentrically with the support shaft 13, and slides the insertion rod 33 as the rotary disk 15 rotates.

The insertion guide tube 28 has four leaf spring pieces 27 arranged in a substantially square pyramid shape, with a small diameter at the distal end facing the tube opening chuck 16 and a large diameter at the proximal end facing the holding groove 26. h, it is fixed to the holding part 25 on the proximal end side.

Below the turntable 15 is a battery ejection station! A battery discharging device 39 is provided for discharging the unit cell d inserted into the tube piece released from the tube piece opening chuck 16 and transporting it to a heat shrinking furnace (heating device) 38.

The operation of the coating device 9 configured as above will be explained.

In the tube supply station E, the tube piece of a predetermined size supplied from the tube piece supply device W8 to the rotary disk 15 is opened by the tube piece opening chuck 16, as shown in FIG. It is transported to the opening diameter enlarging station G with the opening maintained. In parallel with this, at the unit cell supply station F, the unit cells d supplied from the unit cell supply device 23 to the rotary disk 15 are held in the holding grooves 26 of the holding part 24.

At the opening diameter expansion station G, as the rotary disk 15 rotates, the guide rod 29 is pushed by the end cam 32 via the guide roller 31, and the holding part 25 is pushed against the biasing force of the compression spring 30. The chuck 16 for opening the tube piece is approached.

The insertion guide cylinder 28 located at the tip of the holding part 25 connects the tip side of the leaf spring piece 27 to the chuck 16 for opening the tube piece.
Opening C of the tube piece held open inside
Insert inside.

At this time, the tube piece has four creases m on the top, bottom, left and right.
, is held open along the direction n with a substantially rhombic cross section, but the first
As shown in Figure 1, adjacent fold lines m at the opening C
, n is slightly curved inward. On the other hand, since the leaf spring pieces 27 are disposed at positions where they abut on the respective portions, the portions of the opening C between the creases m and n are pushed outward and expanded.

At the cell supply station F, the cell d is inserted into the tube piece through its opening C.

That is, as the rotary disk 15 rotates, the guide roller 35 of the insertion rod 33 is pushed by the cam groove 37 of the cylindrical cam 36, causing the insertion rod 33 to slide in the direction of the tube piece opening chuck 16. The insertion rod 33 pushes the cell d held in the holding groove 26 toward the insertion guide tube 28 . Accordingly, the diameter of each leaf spring piece 27 of the insertion guide cylinder 28 is expanded at the tip side by the unit cell d, and the unit cell d is reliably guided into the tube piece. The insertion guide cylinder 28 is formed of leaf spring pieces 27 and expands in diameter elastically, so that the unit cell d can be inserted smoothly, and the tip side of each leaf spring piece 27 is inserted into the opening C of the tube piece. Even if the opening C is not sufficiently opened, the temporary spring piece 27 can expand the diameter of the opening C when the unit cell d is inserted, as shown in FIG. , the unit cell d can be inserted reliably.

After inserting the unit cell d into the tube piece, the holding portion 25 separates rearward from the tube piece opening chuck 16 as the guide rod 29 is guided by the end cam 32.

As a result, the tube piece b and the unit cell d inserted into this tube piece become in the state shown in FIG. 14.

Chuck 1 for opening the tube at the battery ejection station■
6, the movable chuck body 18 is pushed in the opening direction by the fixed cam 20, opens as shown by the imaginary line in FIG.
Release at 9. The battery discharging device 39 transports this to the heat shrinking furnace 38. In the heat shrinking furnace 38, the tube piece is heated and shrunk to bring it into close contact with the outer periphery of the unit cell d.

In this way, the unit cell d can be covered with the tube piece.

In addition to the embodiments described above, the present invention can be configured in various ways.For example, the shape and number of chucks for opening the tube piece, the opening/closing mechanism thereof, the shape of each part of the unit cell insertion device, the operating mechanism thereof, etc. is not limited to what is shown in the above embodiments, and can be arbitrarily designed.

Effects of the Invention Since the cell covering method of the present invention has the above-described structure and operation, the tube piece can be reliably formed into a diamond shape by the mechanical opening and closing movement of the chuck for opening the tube piece, without using any bagier equipment. As a result of being able to open the opening, it is possible to contribute to cost reduction in battery manufacturing.

Furthermore, since the unit cell coating device of the present invention has the above-described structure and function, the unit cells can be efficiently coated in the order of steps, and the unit cells can be easily inserted into the tube pieces.

[Brief explanation of the drawing]

Fig. 1 is a perspective view showing the process of forming a pair of upper and lower creases and a pair of left and right creases by pressure on a heat-shrinkable resin tube according to an embodiment of the present invention, and Fig. 2 shows a unit cell attached to the tube piece. A front view showing how far to insert the tube piece, Figure 3 is a vertical cross-sectional view of the main part showing the state where the tube piece is supplied into the tube piece opening chuck, and Figure 4 is a diagram showing the diameter of the opening of the tube piece being enlarged. FIG. 5 is a vertical sectional view of the main part showing a state in which the cell is inserted into the tube piece through the opening, and FIGS. 6 to 14 are the tube or tube piece. Fig. 6 is a front view showing stage A in Fig. 1, Fig. 7 is a front view showing stage B in Fig. 1, and Fig. 8 is a front view showing stage C in Fig. 1. 9 is a front view showing stage D in FIG. 1, and FIG. 10 is a front view showing stage E in FIG. 2.
Fig. 11 is a front view showing the F stage in Fig. 2, Fig. 12 is a front view showing the A C stage in Fig. 2, Fig. 13 is a front view showing the stages.
14 is a front view showing the H stage in FIG. 2, and FIG. 14 is a front view showing the first stage in FIG. 2. E--1・--・-1----------・・-・--Tube supply station F-----
1-・・・Battery supply station H-・-・−・−
・−・−・−−−1−−Assembly is done at station■・−・−
−−−・−・−・−・−・−−−11 Battery discharge station 8−−−−−−・−−−−−・−−1−−−−−−
---Tube piece supply device 15------・------111----------Rotary plate 16--・-------
------1111--Chuck 17 for opening tube piece
．． 18.-----1----------Chuck body 22--
・Notch recess 23−・−−−−−°−−−−・−−−1−
−−・−・Battery supply device 24−・−1−−−−・−−
−1−−−−−−−−Battery insertion device 38−・−・−・
...--------Heating device 39----------
---m=-----Battery discharge device a-----
−1−−−−−−−−−−−−−−−Tube b・−
・−−−−−・−−−−−−−−1−−−−−−Tube piece c−−−・−1−−−・−・−−−−−−−−−・
−Opening d・---−−−−−−−−−−−−
---Single cell m, m・--・-------------Pair of left and right creases n, n ----------------------
---A pair of fold lines, one above the other. Agent Patent attorney Toshio Nakatashi and 1 other person Figure 1 8 ---・--・---Cheve piece A co-supplied v device a・--
-------Tube m, m--One pair of left and right folding lines n%n-Five and one pair of lower folding lines ε--Tube co-supplied stay scene 15-----Rotating plate
(・-・Poke discharge earthquake 116-・・・・Chuck for opening tube piece b...Tube piece 17.18
-=Chuck body C・-・Opening part 2
3.------ Single cell battery supply device
Do “work! Pond 38--・-1---Caro hot water device Fig. 3 Fig. 4

Claims (2)

[Claims] (1) While guiding a flat heat-shrinkable resin tube wound into a roll into an openable/closable tube piece opening chuck, the tube has a pair of upper and lower creases along its longitudinal direction and one pair of left and right creases. After forming the pair of creases under pressure, the tube restrained in a flat state along either one of the pair of creases is cut into a predetermined size to obtain a flat tube piece. After feeding the tube into the open chuck for opening the tube piece, the chuck for opening the tube piece is moved to close and the flat tube piece is bent at a pair of creases located on both sides of the tube to form a tube with a substantially rhombic cross section. After opening the piece and then inserting a cell into the opening of the tube piece while holding the tube piece in a tube piece opening chuck, transporting the cell inserted into the tube piece to the heating section, A method for covering a unit cell, characterized in that the tube piece is heat-shrinked to bring the tube piece into close contact with the outer periphery of the unit cell. (2) A rotary disk provided with a plurality of chucks for opening tube pieces at a predetermined pitch in the rotational direction and rotating, and a tube piece that supplies heat-shrinkable resin tube pieces to the chucks for opening tube pieces on the rotary disk at a tube supply station. a supply device, a unit cell supply device for supplying the unit cells to the rotary disk at the unit cell supply station, and a battery for inserting the unit cells into the tube piece held in an open state by the tube piece opening chuck at the assembly station. An insertion device, a battery ejection device that ejects the unit cell inserted into the tube piece at a battery ejection station, and a heating device that applies heat to the unit cell into which the tube piece is inserted and shrink-covers the outer periphery of the unit cell with the tube piece. and the tube piece feeding device supplies the flattened tube piece along a pair of upper and lower fold lines in the longitudinal direction or a pair of left and right fold lines to a chuck for opening the tube piece of a rotary disk. , the tube piece opening chuck consists of a pair of chuck bodies that can be opened and closed, and is open when it is at the tube supply station, and closed to open the flat tube piece while moving from the tube supply station to the assembly station. The tube piece is bent at a pair of creases located on both side edges to open the tube piece into a substantially diamond-shaped cross section, and the inner periphery of the pair of chuck bodies is bent at four creases at the top, bottom, left and right of the tube piece in the closed state. 1. A device for covering unit cells, characterized in that cutout recesses are formed for engagement with each other.