WO2017175880A1

WO2017175880A1 - Partial plating device for bus bar for connecting secondary battery cell

Info

Publication number: WO2017175880A1
Application number: PCT/KR2016/003445
Authority: WO
Inventors: 윤희성
Original assignee: 윤희성
Priority date: 2016-04-04
Filing date: 2016-04-04
Publication date: 2017-10-12
Also published as: CN107849719A

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device for selectively plating only a part corresponding to a terminal part of a bus bar for connecting a plurality of cells arranged in a row in a secondary battery, wherein a first compartment of a plating bath is filled with an electrolyte supplied from an electrolyte circulation inducing portion, second compartments at both sides of the plating bath discharge the electrolyte overflowing from the first compartment to the electrolyte circulation inducing portion so as to maintain a constant water level of the electrolyte, and a terminal portion protruding from a jig slides through slots formed at both side ends of the first and the second compartment to be immersed in the electrolyte, thereby completing partial plating.

Description

Partial plating device of busbar for connecting secondary battery cells

The present invention relates to a partial plating apparatus of a bus bar for connecting a secondary battery cell, and more particularly, to connecting a plurality of cells in a secondary battery in which a plurality of cells are arranged in a line. The present invention relates to an apparatus for alternatively plating only portions corresponding to terminal portions of busbars.

In electric vehicles, secondary batteries that repeat charging and discharging are used. In general, secondary batteries are used as secondary battery packs for controlling capacity and power by connecting a plurality of plate cells in series or in parallel.

At this time, a bus bar is used as a part for connecting the cells of the secondary battery, and the basic structure of the bus bar includes a body part and a terminal part to be welded for connecting the cells.

Copper (Cu) and aluminum (Al) are used depending on the part of the busbar. For the mass production, the welding of the cell and the busbar is performed by laser welding. It should not be tin plated.

In addition, the terminal portion of the busbars may be corroded over time, and as a result, an increase in contact resistance may cause an abnormality such as deterioration of efficiency and shortening of lifespan.

In order to solve the above problems, the whole of the busbar is plated with nickel-tin having excellent corrosion resistance. However, the weldability between the body of the busbar and the battery cell is remarkably degraded, so that only the terminal part of the busbar is selectively plated. There is a need to do it.

As the necessity of partial plating emerges, partial plating apparatuses and methods have been introduced and implemented.In particular, in order to perform partial plating, unplated portions of the plated body are masked by taping, and then plating is performed. After the masking process, the conventional partial plating method eliminates the prolonged plating time due to the masking process. Since it is not suitable for production, and the shape of the busbar is complicated, it is impossible to cope with a general open jig, so the partial plating method applicable only to the busbar terminal part is not known.

In this regard, in the prior art Korean Patent Publication No. 10-0805362, in order to plate only a part of the workpiece (A) by placing the workpiece (A) on the hanger 200, the hanger 200 is plated tank 300 In the partial plating apparatus to be immersed in the plating, the rod 120 is made of a non-insulating material, such as a metal disposed in close contact with the portion of the coating (A) do not want to be plated, and tighten the four sides of the rod 120 The plating frame 110 is made of a non-insulating material such as a metal having a plurality of fastening bolts 113 so as to plate the plating frame 110 on the hanger 200, but the stool 120 is It has a thickness (t2) and the same thickness (t2) of the workpiece (A), each chord 120 is disclosed a partial plating device, characterized in that all made to the same width (b), Korea Patent Publication 10-0805362, the upper mold and the lower mold when the mold is used It is to prevent the physical flaw that occurs when encountering, and instead of omitting the conventional masking process, using a chock 120, it is not expected to be easy in the process, it is not suitable for mass production, it is relatively Only the terminal parts of the very small secondary battery cell busbars cannot be applied to partial plating.

In addition, Korean Laid-Open Patent Publication No. 10-2012-0132016 relating to partial plating is to be immersed inside the electrolytic cell C in a state in which it is suspended in the busbar B, and a hook-shaped conducting portion (top) of the body 5 is provided. 7) is provided, and includes a plating rack (1) protruding from the body (5) a plurality of plated support (9); The plated object support 9 is; A holder 11 which grips the plated object 100 to have a clearance and electrically conducts electricity between the current-carrying part 7 and the first plating region P1; The current-carrying part 7 is extended so that the other end thereof comes into contact with the second plating area P2 electrically isolated from the first plating area P1 by an insulator while the one end is connected to the holder 11. ) And a contactor (13) for allowing the second plating region (P2) to be electrically energized, the present invention discloses an electroplating apparatus for a plated object having an insulated plating region. .

However, the invention disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-0805362 applies only to an annular plated body used in a humidifier or the like, and this annular plated body is used when both the insulating portion and the energizing portion exist. The present invention relates to partial plating, and is mainly characterized by a jig of an unusual shape that can be used only in this type of plated body, and thus the scope of the technical idea of the present invention is very different.

In order to solve the technical problems of the prior art as described above, the present invention provides a partial plating apparatus capable of selectively plating only the terminal portion to prevent corrosion of the terminal portion while the secondary battery busbar secures weldability with various cells. For the purpose of

In addition, the present invention is to provide a plating apparatus capable of maintaining a good quality of plating by maintaining a constant level of the plating electrolyte when the terminal portion requiring plating is immersed in the plating electrolyte, and a rapid process and large volume Another object is to provide a plating apparatus that enables production.

The partial plating device of the secondary battery cell connection busbar according to the present invention to solve the problems of the prior art as described above and to manufacture a partial plating device specialized for partial plating only the terminal portion of the secondary battery busbar, the secondary battery cell In the partial plating apparatus for nickel-tin plating only the terminal portion of the bus bar consisting of a body portion for connecting them and a terminal portion extending from the body portion for connecting the terminals of the battery cells, slots at both ends A plating bath partitioned into three formed compartments, a middle first compartment in which an electrolyte to which a positive electrode is applied is filled, and second compartments on both sides into which an electrolyte overflowed from the first compartment is introduced; A rail unit provided in an upper portion of the plating bath in the longitudinal direction of the plating bath and to which a negative electrode is always applied; A plate-shaped jig coupled to the rail part and having a plurality of body parts of the bus bar attached to one surface thereof such that the terminal part protrudes downward; A conveying part which conveys the rail part up and down by a predetermined length and is conveyed at a predetermined speed in a horizontal direction; And an electrolyte circulating induction part for collecting and supplying the electrolyte discharged from the plating bath again. Including, The plating tank, The first compartment is filled with the electrolyte supplied from the electrolyte circulation induction portion, In the second compartment on both sides so that the electrolyte overflowed from the first compartment is discharged to the electrolyte circulation induction portion It is configured to maintain a constant level of the electrolyte, and the terminal portion protruding from the jig is partially plated by being immersed in the electrolyte while sliding the slide through the slots formed on both side ends of the first compartment and the second compartment. It is characterized by.

In addition, an upper stopper on which one top surface of each of the busbars is supported is provided on one surface of the jig, and is bent from the other surface of the jig to contact the upper surface of the body of the busbar to fix the location of the busbar. And a lower stopper for forming a contact point for energizing the jig.

Here, the lower stopper preferably supports two or more wires extending from the other surface of the jig symmetrically about the center of the busbar.

In addition, it is characterized in that the pretreatment step and the post-treatment step are also continuously performed before and after being immersed in the plating bath.

According to the partial plating apparatus of the secondary battery cell connecting busbar according to the present invention as described above, the busbar may selectively plate only the terminal portion to prevent corrosion of the terminal portion while ensuring weldability with various cells of the secondary battery. Will be.

In addition, when the terminal portion to be plated is immersed in the plating electrolyte, by maintaining the level of the plating electrolyte constant, it is possible to maintain the quality of the plating satisfactorily, and there is an effect that mass production is possible while the process is performed quickly.

1 is a schematic view showing an entire system of a partial plating device of a bus bar for connecting a secondary battery cell according to an embodiment of the present invention;

Figure 2 is a perspective view showing one side of the bus bar coupled to the jig according to an embodiment of the present invention,

3 is a perspective view showing the back of FIG. 2,

4 is a schematic diagram of a partial plating apparatus of the present invention performing a pretreatment step, a plating step and a post-treatment step,

5 to 9 is a schematic diagram showing a process of performing a plating process of the present invention.

Hereinafter, a partial plating apparatus of a bus bar for connecting a secondary battery cell of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings.

1 is a schematic diagram showing a partial plating apparatus of a bus bar for connecting a secondary battery cell according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Plating tank 100 according to the present embodiment is composed of three compartments, the middle compartment of the first compartment, two compartments arranged on both sides of the first compartment is the second compartment.

The first compartment is filled with an electrolyte solution to which a positive electrode (not shown) is applied, and the second compartment is a space into which the electrolyte that overflows from the first compartment flows, and is always lower than the electrolyte level in the first compartment. Keeping up.

As such, the overflow of the electrolyte solution in the first compartment is to maintain a constant level of the electrolyte solution at all times. If a certain amount of electrolyte is used from the beginning, the amount of the electrolyte decreases as the plating is performed, and the amount of the electrolyte decreases even after evaporation, and thus the level of the electrolyte changes. Because there is.

The plating process is performed in the first compartment, and the second compartment serves to continuously circulate the electrolyte by discharging the overflowed electrolyte from the first compartment.

Since the plating bath according to the present embodiment always performs plating while overflowing the electrolyte, the level of the electrolyte filled in the first compartment is always constant.

That is, if the hourly mass of the electrolyte flowing into the first compartment of the plating tank 100 from the circulation induction unit to be described later is dm / dt, the mass per hour flowing out of each of the second compartments is dm / 2dt, thereby maintaining a steady flow steady state. .

In the center portion of the partition wall forming the first compartment and each of the second compartments, a slot 150 cut in a predetermined width downward from an upper surface of the partition wall is formed.

Since the slot 150 has a very small width compared to the partition wall, the slot 150 does not affect the level of the electrolyte.

The slot 150 is a passage for the terminal portion 12 to be plated during the slide movement of the rail unit 200, which will be described later, enters the plating bath 100 and passes therethrough.

The width of the slot 150 is sufficient if the width of the terminal portion 12 can pass, and the length below the slot 150 is independent of the level of the electrolyte and is independent of the immersion depth of the terminal portion 12. It is sufficient if the terminal portion 12 can pass through as well.

The inflow and outflow paths of the electrolyte are in communication with the first compartment, the second compartment, and a separate circulation tank, respectively, so that the electrolyte is circulated.

In FIG. 1, a configuration in which electrolyte is introduced, discharged, collected, and flowed back into the first compartment is called an electrolyte circulation induction part 500.

The rail part 200 is provided in the upper part of the plating bath 100 in the longitudinal direction (the left-right direction in the figure) of the plating bath 100.

Four bus bars 10 are attached to one side of the rail part 200, and the plate-shaped jig 300 is formed to protrude downward by the conductive wires.

The rail unit 200 is electrically connected to the transfer unit 400, and moves up, down, left, and right according to driving and stop signals of the control unit 410 in the transfer unit 400.

Here, the vertical movement of the rail portion 200 moves only to a length set in accordance with the level of the electrolyte and the length of the plating portion of the terminal portion 12.

Until the jig 300 enters the plating bath 100 and completely exits the plating bath 100, the rail part 200 only slides in the horizontal direction.

Movement of the rail unit 200 in the horizontal direction is moved at a predetermined speed in consideration of the electrolyte immersion time necessary to exhibit a good plating state.

It goes without saying that the horizontal and vertical movements described above are driven by the transfer unit 400 according to the drive signal of the controller 410.

In addition, a negative electrode for performing plating is always applied to the rail unit 200. Since only the negative electrode is applied, no current flows until it is electrically connected to the positive electrode.

That is, plating does not occur until the electrolyte is filled in the first compartment of the plating bath 100 and the positive electrode is applied, and current flows and plating occurs from the moment when the terminal part 12 is immersed in the electrolyte.

In FIG. 1, the rail unit 200 is illustrated as a thin line, but any shape may be used as long as it is a member capable of general transport such as an L / M guide.

The jig 300 is suspended on the rail portion 200 until the state immediately before entering the plating bath 100, and then the horizontal movement is started, and each side end of each compartment of the plating bath 100 Entering the plating bath 100 while passing through the slot 150 is provided.

If it continues to move in the horizontal direction, the terminal portion 12 is immersed in the electrolyte filled in the first compartment of the plating bath 100, thereby performing a partial plating operation on the terminal portion 12.

In the present invention, the bus bar 100 is a part in which the body part 11 is coupled to the secondary battery cell through laser welding, and the terminal part 12 is a part requiring nickel-tin plating to maximize the corrosion protection effect. .

If the body portion 11 is also nickel-tin plated, the laser weldability is very deteriorated to cause a defect of the whole product. Therefore, it is most important that only the terminal portion 12 requiring plating is immersed in the electrolyte to perform plating.

Therefore, in order to maintain a constant depth of the terminal portion 12 to be immersed, accurate control of the horizontal and vertical movement of the rail portion 200 is required.

2 is a perspective view showing one surface of a jig 300 having four busbars 10 mounted thereon, and FIG. 3 is a perspective view showing a rear surface of the jig 300.

As can be seen from Figures 2 and 3, the jig 300 according to the present embodiment is a material of a plate-shaped rectangular shape and excellent in electrical conductivity.

A plurality of busbars 10 are coupled to and mounted on one surface of the jig 300.

One surface of the jig 300 is provided with an upper stopper 310 for fixing the position of the busbar 10 by supporting the upper surface of the busbar 10, and is a member protruding to the front such as a bolt or rivet and has a special shape. Although not limited thereto, a metal material having excellent electrical conductivity is sufficient.

Since the current must flow to the busbar 10 by the electrode applied to the rail part 200, the jig 300, the upper stopper 310, and the lower stopper 320 to be described later should all be made of excellent electrical conductivity.

Although the number of busbars 10 mounted on the jig 300 is illustrated as four, the number of busbars 10 may be much greater or less.

The upper surface of the busbar 100 is supported by the upper stopper 310, but the lower surface should also be supported.

Thus, it is necessary to support the lower surface, the bus bar 10 for connecting the secondary battery cell is the lower end of the body portion 11 because there is a terminal portion 12 protruding from the central portion of the body portion 11 Should be supported.

Therefore, as shown in FIG. 3, since the lower end of the body portion 11 also needs to be mounted to protrude downwardly from the jig 300, the wire extending from the other surface (rear) of the jig 300 is U-shaped. The lower stopper 320 is formed to support the lower end of the body portion (11).

In addition, since the lower stopper 320 preferably supports the position of the body portion 11 stably, the lower stopper 320 is installed symmetrically with respect to the center line of the body portion 11 so that when the plating process is performed, By preventing the flow, the immersion depth of the terminal portion 12 can be kept constant.

4 is a schematic view showing an apparatus for performing various pre-treatment and post-treatment processes required for plating before and after the plated body is immersed in the plating bath 100.

There is a need for a pretreatment step and a posttreatment step for etching and / or cleaning and / or drying, etc. before and after performing a full-scale plating.

These pretreatment steps and post-treatment steps are carried out by a chemical method without applying an electrode.

Since the type and order of the pretreatment process and the post-treatment process performed before and after the plating are conventional processes, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

In the present invention, since the bath used in the pretreatment and post-treatment processes is not by an electrical method but by a chemical method, the electrode is not applied to the first compartment in the structure of the plating bath 100 and is filled. Except that the material is not an electrolyte is the same structure as the plating bath 100.

However, although the negative electrode is always applied to the rail unit 200, since there is no electrolyte applied to the positive electrode in the bath used in the after-treatment process, it is natural that no current flows.

Next, a process of partial plating of the terminal portion 12 of the busbar 10 including the movement of the rail portion 200 will be described with reference to FIGS. 5 to 9.

5 shows a state before the jig 300 moves to the plating bath 100 as it is suspended from the rail unit 200.

At this time, the rail unit 200 is electrically connected to the transfer unit 400 that controls the driving and transmits a driving signal and a stop signal, and a negative electrode is applied.

Both ends of the rail unit 200 are connected to a roller (not shown) for performing horizontal movement, and a guide rail (not shown) for lifting and lowering.

In addition, the busbar 10 is attached to the plate-shaped jig 300 in a state where a part of the body portion 11 and the terminal portion 12 protrude, and are suspended from the rail portion 200 by two wires.

5 is a natural state after performing the pretreatment process, as shown in FIG.

6 is a state in which the rail unit 200 receives the signal of the movement of the transfer unit 400 to move to the outer adjacent point of the plating bath 100, Figure 7 is the rail unit 200 is horizontal to the transfer unit 400 Receiving the signal of the movement (at a predetermined speed) and moving in the horizontal direction (right in the drawing) shows that the two terminal portions 12 are immersed in the electrolyte filled in the first compartment, plating is performed.

Then, FIG. 8 is finished plating the bus bar 10 attached to the jig 300 according to the continuous horizontal movement (right in the drawing) of the rail unit 200 to completely leave the plating tank 100 Shows the state just before.

9 shows a state in which the jig 300 is completely detached from the upper portion of the plating bath 100 according to the continuous horizontal movement of the rail part 200.

After leaving the plating bath 100, the rail unit 200 may be moved up and down and / or horizontally as necessary to perform a post-treatment process for washing and / or drying.

As described above, it is possible to plate several busbars 100 at a time, so that mass production is possible, and in particular, a masking operation for partial plating is not required, thereby simplifying the process, and Only the terminal part 12 can be reliably partially plated.

Although the partial plating apparatus of the secondary battery cell connection busbar according to the accompanying drawings has been described through the preferred embodiment, this is intended to help the understanding of the present invention, but the technical scope of the present invention is not limited thereto.

In addition, various modifications or variations may be made without departing from the scope of the technical spirit of the present invention.

For example, the shape of the jig 300 may vary, the number of bus bars 10 mounted on the jig, the specific shape of the bus bar 10, the change of the driving method of the rail unit 200, the slot ( Naturally, the size, length, and the like of the width 150 are within the scope of the technical idea of the present invention.

Claims

The terminal portion of the bus bar (10) consisting of a body portion 11 for connecting the secondary battery cells and a terminal portion 12 extending from the body portion 11 for connecting the terminals of the battery cells ( 12) In the partial plating apparatus for nickel-tin plating only

The compartments are divided into three compartments in which slots 150 are formed at both ends, and the first compartment in which the electrolyte is applied to the positive electrode is filled, and the second compartments in which the electrolyte overflows from the first compartment are introduced. The plating bath 100 is provided;

A rail unit 200 installed in the longitudinal direction of the plating bath 100 at an upper portion of the plating bath 100 and having a negative electrode applied thereto;

A plate-shaped jig 300 coupled to the rail part 200 and formed such that a plurality of the body parts 11 of the busbars 10 are attached to one surface thereof so that the terminal part 12 protrudes downward;

A conveying part 400 for conveying the rail part 200 up and down by a predetermined length, and at a predetermined speed in a horizontal direction; And

An electrolyte circulating induction part 500 which collects and supplies the electrolyte discharged from the plating bath 100 again; Including,

The plating bath 100 is filled with the electrolyte supplied from the electrolyte circulation induction part 500 to the first compartment, and the electrolyte overflowed from the first compartment in the second compartment on both sides of the electrolyte solution circulation induction part. By being discharged to 500 to maintain a constant level of the electrolyte solution,

One surface of the jig 300 is provided with an upper stopper 310 on which the top surface of each of the busbars 10 is supported, and extends bent from the other surface of the jig 300 so that the By contacting the upper surface of the body portion 11 is provided with a lower stopper 320 to fix the position of the bus bar 10 and to form a contact point for energizing the jig 300,

The terminal portion 12 protruding from the jig 300 is partially plated while slidingly moved through the slots formed at both end portions of the first compartment and the second compartment in the state of being immersed in the electrolyte. Partial plating device for busbar for connecting secondary battery cells.
The method of claim 1,

The lower stopper 320 is a bus bar for secondary battery cell connection, characterized in that two or more wires extending from the other surface of the jig 300 are symmetrically contacted with respect to the center of the bus bar 10. Partial Plating Device.
The method according to claim 1 or 2,

Partial plating apparatus for the secondary battery cell connection busbar, characterized in that the pre-treatment process and the post-treatment process is also continuously performed before and after the immersion in the plating bath (100).