EP-4737052-A1 - WELDING PROTECTION DEVICE, WELDING SYSTEM, POSITION ADJUSTING METHOD, AND WELDING METHOD

EP4737052A1EP 4737052 A1EP4737052 A1EP 4737052A1EP-4737052-A1

Abstract

The present disclosure relates to the technical field of battery production. Disclosed are a welding protection device, a welding system, a position adjusting method, and a welding method. A housing comprises a protection main body and protection covers, the protection main body and the protection covers define a protection cavity, and the protection covers can extend and retract. Multiple protection assemblies are arranged on the housing, each protection assembly is provided with a welding area communicated with the protection cavity, the welding area penetrates through the protection assembly, and the welding area is used for allowing a tip to pass through and perform welding. A driving assembly is arranged on the protection main body, the driving assembly is used for driving the protection assemblies and/or the protection main body to move so as to enable at least one protection assembly and a corresponding protection cover to move, and the direction of extension and retraction of each protection cover is arranged in the corresponding direction of movement of the protection assembly so as to limit a welding material from being separated from the protection cavity.

Inventors

WU, KAI
ZHANG, Beining
WU, YING
WANG, WENCHONG
Xie, Wenjie
LUO, JI

Assignees

Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited

Dates

Publication Date: 20260506
Application Date: 20240109

Claims (16)

A welding protection device, comprising: a housing, comprising a protection body and a shield, wherein the protection body and the shield define a protection cavity in an enclosing manner, and the shield is capable of extending and retracting; a protection assembly, disposed on the housing, wherein a plurality of protection assemblies are provided, each protection assembly having a welding zone in communication with the protection cavity, wherein the welding zone penetrates through the protection assembly and is configured for a welding nozzle to pass therethrough for welding; and a drive assembly, disposed on the protection body, wherein the drive assembly is configured to drive the protection assemblies and/or the protection body to move, such that at least one of the protection assemblies and the shield move, and an extending and retracting direction of each shield is arranged along a movement direction corresponding to the protection assembly, so as to restrict welding materials from escaping from the protection cavity.
The welding protection device according to claim 1, wherein the shield comprises: a supporting body, disposed on the corresponding protection body and/or the corresponding protection assembly, a plurality of supporting bodies being provided, and the plurality of supporting bodies being sequentially spaced apart from each other; and a folding member, disposed on the supporting body, wherein the folding member is disposed between each two adjacent supporting bodies, and the folding member and the corresponding supporting bodies are capable of being folded relative to each other, such that the two adjacent supporting bodies move closer to or away from each other.
The welding protection device according to claim 2, wherein the folding member of the shield comprises two interconnected folding plates capable of being folded relative to each other, wherein: each of the folding plates is connected to a corresponding supporting body of two adjacent supporting bodies; and the folding plates and the corresponding supporting bodies are capable of being folded relative to each other, and positions at which the folding plates and the corresponding supporting bodies are folded relative to each other are target positions, wherein an arrangement direction of a plurality of target positions is consistent with an arrangement direction of a plurality of corresponding supporting bodies.
The welding protection device according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein: the drive assembly comprises a first drive component disposed on the protection body; at least one of the protection assemblies is a first protection assembly, and two opposite sides of the first protection assembly are each provided with the shield, an arrangement direction of the shields on the two sides being a first direction; the first drive component drives the first protection assembly to move along the first direction; and extending and retracting directions of the shields on the two sides are arranged along the first direction.
The welding protection device according to claim 4, wherein: the protection body is provided with a guide groove and an auxiliary groove spaced apart from each other, wherein an arrangement direction of the guide groove and the auxiliary groove is a second direction, the second direction being arranged to intersect with the first direction; and the protection assembly comprises: a base, disposed on the housing, wherein the base is provided with positioning portions spaced apart from each other along the second direction, wherein the corresponding positioning portion is located in the guide groove, such that the corresponding positioning portion is in positioning contact with the protection body along the second direction; a protection nozzle, at least partially located on a side of the base facing away from the protection cavity, wherein: the welding zone penetrates through the base and the protection nozzle; the protection nozzle is provided with a mounting portion connected to the base, wherein the corresponding mounting portion is located between two of the positioning portions along the second direction, and two opposite sides of the corresponding mounting portion along the first direction are each provided with the shield located in the guide groove; and the first drive component is configured to drive the base and/or the protection nozzle to move along the first direction; and an air pipe, extending from a side of the housing facing the protection cavity to a side of the housing facing away from the protection cavity, wherein the corresponding air pipe is disposed in the auxiliary groove in a penetrating manner, and two opposite sides of the corresponding air pipe along the first direction are each provided with the shield located in the auxiliary groove, wherein an end of the air pipe facing away from the protection cavity is connected to the protection nozzle, to provide protective gas to the welding zone and/or to evacuate the welding zone to a negative pressure.
The welding protection device according to claim 4, wherein at least one of the protection assemblies is a second protection assembly, wherein: the second protection assembly and the first protection assembly are spaced apart from each other along the first direction; the second protection assembly is connected to the protection body; and in the shields on the two sides, the shield on one side is connected between the first protection assembly and the second protection assembly, and the shield on the other side is connected between the first protection assembly and the protection body.
The welding protection device according to any one of claims 1 to 6, wherein the drive assembly comprises a second drive component disposed on the protection body, and two protection bodies are provided, a direction in which the two protection bodies being spaced apart from each other is a third direction, wherein: the shield is correspondingly connected between the two protection bodies, wherein the extending and retracting direction of the shield between the two protection bodies is arranged along the third direction; and the two protection bodies are both disposed on the second drive component, and the second drive component drives the two protection bodies to move along the third direction, such that protection assemblies corresponding to the two protection bodies move closer to or away from each other along the third direction.
The welding protection device according to any one of claims 1 to 4 or claim 6 or 7, wherein the protection assembly comprises: a base, disposed on the housing, wherein the base comprises a base body and a plurality of mounting members disposed on the base body, wherein at least two of the mounting members are arranged opposite to each other, and the mounting members are capable of extending and retracting; and a protection nozzle, connected to the base body of the base, wherein: the welding zone penetrates through the protection nozzle and the base body of the base, the mounting member is capable of being at least partially located in the protection nozzle in an extended state, such that the protection nozzle is mounted between two mounting members arranged opposite to each other; the mounting members are capable of being switched from the extended state to a retracted state under an action of an external force, such that the protection nozzle is detached from the mounting member; and the drive assembly is configured to drive at least one of the protection body, the protection nozzle, and the base body of the base to move.
The welding protection device according to claim 8, wherein the mounting member comprises: a housing sleeve, connected to the base body, wherein the housing sleeve has a cavity for telescopic movement; a bearing member, located in the cavity for telescopic movement; an elastic member, located in the cavity for telescopic movement, wherein the elastic member is in contact with both the bearing member and the housing sleeve; an auxiliary ball, located in the cavity for telescopic movement, wherein the auxiliary ball is located on a side of the bearing member facing away from the elastic member, wherein a plurality of auxiliary balls are provided, and the plurality of auxiliary balls are spaced apart from each other along a circumferential direction of the housing sleeve; and a main ball, located on a side of the auxiliary ball facing away from the bearing member, wherein: when the mounting member is in the extended state, a side of the main ball facing the elastic member abuts against the auxiliary ball, a side of the main ball facing away from the elastic member abuts against the housing sleeve to restrict the main ball from being detached from the cavity for telescopic movement, and the side of the main ball facing away from the elastic member partially protrudes from the housing sleeve to enable the main ball to be partially located in the protection nozzle; and when the mounting member is in the retracted state, the main ball is retracted into the cavity for telescopic movement, and the protection nozzle is capable of being removed from between the two mounting members.
The welding protection device according to any one of claims 1 to 9, wherein the protection body and a plurality of shields jointly define one protection cavity in an enclosing manner.
A welding system, comprising: the welding protection device according to any one of claims 1 to 10; a conveying device, configured to convey a battery unit to be welded to a welding position, wherein the welding protection device is configured to move to a position corresponding to a battery cell located at the welding position, such that each welding zone is located at a position at which a corresponding terminal post of the battery cell in the battery unit is located; and a welding device, having a welding nozzle, wherein the welding nozzle is configured to pass through the welding zone to weld a conductor to the terminal post.
A position adjustment method, comprising: driving a protection assembly and/or a protection body to move by a drive assembly such that at least one protection assembly and a corresponding shield move.
The position adjustment method according to claim 12, wherein said driving the protection assembly and/or the protection body to move by the drive assembly such that at least one protection assembly and the corresponding shield move comprises: driving a first protection assembly to move along a first direction by a first drive component, to drive corresponding shields on two sides to move along the first direction.
The position adjustment method according to claim 12 or 13, wherein said driving the protection assembly and/or the protection body to move by the drive assembly such that at least one protection assembly and the corresponding shield move comprises: driving two protection bodies to move closer to or away from each other along a third direction by a second drive component, to drive a shield between the two protection bodies to move along the third direction.
A welding method, comprising: driving a protection assembly and/or a protection body to move by a drive assembly, such that at least one protection assembly and a corresponding shield move, wherein the protection assembly that moves is configured to adjust a spacing between welding zones of a plurality of protection assemblies to adapt to welding of terminal posts with varying spacings therebetween; and sequentially extending a welding nozzle of a welding device into each welding zone, to weld a conductor to the terminal post corresponding to each welding zone.
The welding method according to claim 15, further comprising: providing protective gas to the welding zone through an air pipe; and extracting welding materials generated during a welding process from the welding zone through the air pipe.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION The present disclosure is presented based on Chinese Patent Application No. 202311289831.0, filed on October 8, 2023 and entitled "WELDING PROTECTION DEVICE, WELDING SYSTEM, POSITION ADJUSTMENT METHOD, AND WELDING METHOD", and claims the priority to the Chinese Patent Application, the content of which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety. TECHNICAL FIELD The present disclosure relates to the technical field of battery production, and in particular, to a welding protection device, a welding system, a position adjustment method, and a welding method. BACKGROUND New energy batteries are increasingly applied in life and industry. For example, new energy vehicles equipped with batteries have been widely used. In addition, batteries are also increasingly used in energy storage and other fields. In the related art, welding protection devices are difficult to accommodate the welding of terminal posts with varying spacings therebetween while providing protection. SUMMARY To address the above technical problem, the present disclosure provides a welding protection device, a welding system, a position adjustment method, and a welding method to accommodate the welding of terminal posts with varying spacings therebetween while providing protection. The present disclosure is implemented by the following technical solutions. A first aspect of embodiments of the present disclosure provides a welding protection device. The welding protection device includes: a housing, including a protection body and a shield, where the protection body and the shield define a protection cavity in an enclosing manner, and the shield is capable of extending and retracting;a protection assembly, disposed on the housing, where a plurality of protection assemblies are provided, the protection assembly has a welding zone in communication with the protection cavity, the welding zone penetrates through the protection assembly, and the welding zone is configured for a welding nozzle to pass therethrough for welding; anda drive assembly, disposed on the protection body, where the drive assembly is configured to drive the protection assembly and/or the protection body to move, such that at least one of the protection assemblies and the shield move, and an extending and retracting direction of each shield is arranged along a movement direction corresponding to the protection assembly, so as to restrict welding materials from escaping from the protection cavity. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the protection assembly and/or the protection body is driven to move by the drive assembly, such that at least one of the protection assemblies and the shield move. The protection assembly moves to adapt to the welding of terminal posts with varying spacings therebetween, and the shield moves to extend and retract to adapt to changes in the space of the housing during the movement of the protection assembly, thereby facilitating protection of the battery unit during the welding process. In an embodiment, the shield includes: a supporting body, disposed on the corresponding protection body and/or the corresponding protection assembly, a plurality of supporting bodies being provided, and the plurality of supporting bodies being sequentially spaced apart from each other; anda folding member, disposed on the supporting body, where the folding member is disposed between each two adjacent supporting bodies, and the folding member and the corresponding supporting body are capable of being folded relative to each other, such that the two adjacent supporting bodies move closer to or away from each other. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the shield is extended and retracted through mutual folding and unfolding between the folding member and the supporting body. In an embodiment, the folding member of the shield includes two interconnected folding plates. The two folding plates are capable of being folded relative to each other, each of the folding plates is connected to a corresponding supporting body of two adjacent supporting bodies, the folding plates and the corresponding supporting bodies are capable of being folded relative to each other, a position at which the folding plates and the corresponding supporting bodies are folded relative to each other is a target position, and an arrangement direction of a plurality of target positions is consistent with an arrangement direction of a plurality of corresponding supporting bodies. In the embodiments of the present disclosure, the arrangement direction of the plurality of target positions is consistent with the arrangement direction of the plurality of corresponding supporting bodies, such that the supporting bodies can be kept as orderly as possible during the movement, and the possibility of misalignment of the supporting bodies is reduced. In an embodiment, the drive assembly includes a first drive component disposed on the protection body,