Method and system for stacking battery cells

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-12224404-B2
Application number	US-202217667210-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Feb 8, 2022
Priority date	Feb 8, 2022
Publication date	Feb 11, 2025
Grant date	Feb 11, 2025

Abstract

A system including an adapter plate, a conveyor, a separator drum, and first and second electrode drums. The conveyor is configured to move the adapter plate continuously and sequentially in a predetermined path between the separator drum to receive a respective separator sheet, the first electrode drum to receive a respective first electrode sheet, the separator drum to receive a respective separator sheet, and the second electrode drum to receive a respective second electrode sheet until a stacked battery cell includes a desired number of respective separator sheets, respective first electrode sheets, and respective second electrode sheets.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. A system for stacking a battery cell, the system comprising:
an adapter plate;
a conveyor configured to move the adapter plate in a predetermined path;
a separator drum configured to rotate about a first rotational axis to pick up a respective separator sheet and release the respective separator sheet onto the adapter plate;
a first electrode drum configured to rotate about a second rotational axis to pick up a respective first electrode sheet and release the respective first electrode sheet onto the adapter plate, the first rotational axis extending non-parallel to the second rotational axis; and
a second electrode drum configured to rotate to pick up a respective second electrode sheet and release the respective second electrode sheet onto the adapter plate,
wherein the conveyor is configured to move the adapter plate continuously and sequentially in the predetermined path between the separator drum to receive a respective separator sheet, the first electrode drum to receive a respective first electrode sheet, the separator drum to receive a respective separator sheet, and the second electrode drum to receive a respective second electrode sheet until a stacked battery cell comprises a desired number of respective separator sheets, respective first electrode sheets, and respective second electrode sheets.

2. The system of claim 1 , wherein the separator drum comprises a first cutout to receive the respective separator sheet via a vacuum suction.

3. The system of claim 2 , wherein the first electrode drum comprises a second cutout to receive the first electrode sheet via a vacuum suction.

4. The system of claim 3 , wherein the second electrode drum comprises a third cutout to receive the second electrode sheet via a vacuum suction.

5. The system of claim 1 , further comprising a lift movably disposed within the adapter plate, the desired number of the respective separator sheets, the respective first electrode sheets, and the respective second electrode sheets are stacked on top of the lift within the adapter plate.

6. The system of claim 5 , further comprising a control device configured to control vertical movement of the lift within the adapter plate.

7. The system of claim 6 , wherein the control device is a servomechanism.

8. The system of claim 1 , wherein the adapter plate comprises alignment features to align the respective first electrode sheets and the respective second electrode sheets within the adapter plate.

9. The system of claim 8 , wherein the alignment features are slots formed in the adapter plate.

10. The system of claim 1 , wherein the separator drum comprises a first separator drum and a second separator drum.

11. The system of claim 1 , wherein the separator drum, the first electrode drum, and the second electrode drum are positioned directly over the conveyor.

12. The system of claim 1 , wherein the separator drum and the first and second electrode drums are inhibited from moving horizontally or vertically.

13. A system for stacking a plurality of battery cells, the system comprising:
a plurality of adapter plates;
a conveyor configured to move the adapter plates in a predetermined path;
a separator drum configured to rotate about a first rotational axis to pick up a plurality of separator sheets and release the plurality of separator sheets onto respective adapter plates;
a first electrode drum configured to rotate about a second rotational axis to pick up a plurality of first electrode sheets and release the plurality of first electrode sheets onto respective adapter plates, the first rotational axis extending non-parallel to the second rotational axis; and
a second electrode drum configured to rotate to pick up a plurality of second electrode sheets and release the plurality of second electrode sheets onto respective adapter plates,
wherein the conveyor is configured to move each of the adapter plates continuously and sequentially in the predetermined path between the separator drum to receive a respective separator sheet, the first electrode drum to receive a respective first electrode sheet, the separator drum to receive a respective separator sheet, and the second electrode drum to receive a respective second electrode sheet until each stacked battery cell comprises a desired number of respective separator sheets, respective first electrode sheets, and respective second electrode sheets.

14. The system of claim 13 , wherein the separator drum comprises a plurality of first cutouts to receive the respective separator sheets via a vacuum suction.

15. The system of claim 14 , wherein the first electrode drum comprises a plurality of second cutouts to receive the first electrode sheets via a vacuum suction.

16. The system of claim 15 , wherein the second electrode drum comprises a plurality of third cutouts to receive the second electrode sheets via a vacuum suction.

17. The system of claim 13 , wherein the separator drum comprises a first separator drum and a second separator drum.

18. The system of claim 13 , wherein the separator drum, the first electrode drum, and the second electrode drum are positioned directly over the conveyor.

19. The system of claim 13 , wherein the separator drum and the first and second electrode drums are inhibited from moving horizontally or vertically.

20. A system for stacking a battery cell, the system comprising:
an adapter plate; and
a rotary drum configured to rotate about a fixed axis and pick up respective separator sheets and respective electrode sheets from a plurality of feeding devices, the rotary drum defining at least one cutout extending along a circumference of the rotary drum such that the respective separator sheets and the respective electrode sheets extend along a circumference of the rotary drum when the rotary drum picks up the respective separator sheets and the respective electrode sheets,
wherein the rotary drum is configured to continuously and sequentially release onto the adapter plate: a respective separator sheet, a respective first electrode sheet, a respective separator sheet, and a respective second electrode sheet until a stacked battery cell comprises a desired number of respective separator sheets, respective first electrode sheets, and respective second electrode sheets.

Assignees

• Ford Global Tech Llc

Inventors

• Bever Hannah
• Sherman Andrew William
• Bojanowski Paul John
• Webber Christopher
• Chmura Carly

Classifications

• H01M10/0525

  Rocking-chair batteries, i.e. batteries with lithium insertion or intercalation in both electrodes; Lithium-ion batteries · CPC title

• B65H2701/19

  Specific article or web · CPC title

• B65H2406/345

  Rotary suction grippers · CPC title

• B65H2301/42264

  by moving the surface supporting the lowermost article of the pile, e.g. conveyor, carriage · CPC title

• B65H2301/4212

  of articles substantially horizontal · CPC title