Automated coin cell battery manufacturing system
An automated coin cell battery manufacturing system can include a holding arrangement, an electrolyte dispensing component, a case providing component, a pick and place component, and a crimping component. The holding arrangement can hold multiple partially assembled coin cells that can each include electrode(s) and a spacer within a coin cell cap. The electrolyte dispensing component can automatically dispense electrolyte material into the partially assembled coin cells, and the electrolyte material can be different for different coin cells. The case providing component can store multiple coin cell cases and automatically provide the stored coin cell cases. The pick and place component can automatically pick the coin cell cases from the case providing component and can automatically place the coin cell cases on the multiple partially assembled coin cells to form fully assembled coin cells within the holding arrangement. The crimping component can automatically crimp the fully assembled coin cells.
1 . An automated coin cell battery manufacturing system, the system comprising:
a holding arrangement configured to hold multiple partially assembled coin cells therewithin, wherein each of the multiple partially assembled coin cells includes at least one electrode and at least one spacer placed within a coin cell cap;
an electrolyte dispensing component configured to automatically dispense electrolyte material into the multiple partially assembled coin cells within the holding arrangement, wherein the automatically dispensed electrolyte material is different for different coin cells within the multiple partially assembled coin cells;
a case providing component configured to store multiple coin cell cases and configured to automatically provide the stored coin cell cases, wherein the case providing component includes a tower component having an internal vertically oriented column forming a case storage region configured to hold a column of coin cell cases and a rotating component located beneath the tower component, the rotating component including a case recess that is sized and shaped to fit a single coin cell case therein;
a pick and place component configured to automatically pick the coin cell cases from the case providing component and to automatically place the coin cell cases on the multiple partially assembled coin cells to form fully assembled coin cells within the holding arrangement, wherein rotation of the rotating component results in moving a single coin cell case in the case recess from the column of coin cell cases to a case receiving position for the pick and place component; and
a crimping component configured to automatically crimp the fully assembled coin cells.
2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the pick and place component is further configured to automatically pick the fully assembled coin cells from the holding arrangement, to automatically place the fully assembled coin cells into the crimping component, to automatically pick the crimped coin cells from the crimping component, and to automatically place the crimped coin cells to a final location.
3 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a partial assembly component configured to facilitate the automated formation of the multiple partially assembled coin cells within the holding arrangement.
4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the pick and place component is further configured to automatically pick the electrodes and the spacers from the partial assembly component and to automatically place the electrodes and the spacers within the coin cell caps within the holding arrangement.
5 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the holding arrangement includes a bottom plate with bottom wells configured to hold the multiple partially assembled coin cells and a top plate with top wells configured to hold the fully assembled coin cells, and wherein the top plate fits atop the bottom plate such that each top well combines with a bottom well to form a combined well.
6 . The system of claim 5 , further comprising:
a flipping component configured to automatically place the top plate on top of the bottom plate while the fully assembled coin cells are within the bottom plate, to automatically flip over the bottom plate and top plate together such that all fully assembled coin cells are flipped over within their respective combined wells, and to automatically remove the bottom plate from the top plate such that the fully assembled coin cells remain within the top plate.
7 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the tower component of the case providing component further includes a second internal vertically oriented column forming a cap storage region configured to hold a column of coin cell caps and the rotating component further includes a cap recess separate from the case recess that is sized and shaped to fit a single coin cell cap therein, and wherein further rotation of the rotating component results in moving a single coin cell cap in the cap recess from the column of coin cell caps to a cap receiving position for the pick and place component.
8 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the pick and place component includes a robotic arm and an end effector configured to pick and place the coin cell cases.
9 . The system of claim 8 , wherein the end effector includes a suction component and a vacuum conduit coupled to the suction component, wherein the vacuum conduit is configured to be coupled to a vacuum source to provide a vacuum to the suction component.
10 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
a positioning component configured to position the holding arrangement; wherein the positioning component is configured to automatically move the holding arrangement to multiple different locations to facilitate automated activities of at least the electrolyte dispensing component and the pick and place component.
11 . The system of claim 1 , further comprising:
one or more processors in communication with and configured to control the automated functions of the electrolyte dispensing component, the case providing component, the pick and place component, and the crimping component.
12 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the rotating component of the case providing component is disk shaped and is configured to be driven in clockwise and counterclockwise directions to move the case recess back and forth between the column of coin cell cases and the case receiving position.
13 . An automated coin cell battery manufacturing system, the system comprising:
a holding arrangement configured to hold multiple partially assembled coin cells therewithin, each of the multiple partially assembled coin cells including at least one electrode and at least one spacer placed within a coin cell cap, wherein the holding arrangement includes a bottom plate with bottom wells configured to hold the multiple partially assembled coin cells during coin cell assembly and a top plate with top wells configured to hold multiple fully assembled coin cells from the multiple partially assembled coin cells after coin cell assembly, and wherein the top plate fits atop the bottom plate such that each top well combines with a bottom well to form a combined well configured to hold a fully assembled coin cell therewithin;
an electrolyte dispensing component configured to automatically dispense electrolyte material into the multiple partially assembled coin cells within the holding arrangement, wherein the automatically dispensed electrolyte material is different for different coin cells within the multiple partially assembled coin cells;
a cap and case providing component configured to automatically store and provide multiple coin cell caps and coin cell cases, the cap and case providing component having a tower component and a rotating component, wherein the tower component includes a first internal vertically oriented column forming a case storage region configured to hold a column of coin cell cases and a second internal vertically oriented column forming a cap storage region configured to hold a column of coin cell caps, wherein the rotating component is located directly beneath the tower component and includes a case recess sized and shaped to fit a single coin cell case therein and a cap recess separate from the case recess and sized and shaped to fit a single coin cell cap therein, and wherein the rotating component is disk shaped and is configured to be driven in clockwise and counterclockwise directions to move the case recess back and forth between the column of coin cell cases and the case receiving position;
a pick and place component configured to automatically pick the coin cell cases from the case providing component and to automatically place the coin cell cases on the multiple partially assembled coin cells to form fully assembled coin cells within the holding arrangement, wherein a first rotation of the rotating component results in moving a single coin cell case in the case recess from the column of coin cell cases to a case receiving position for the pick and place component, and wherein a second rotation of the rotating component results in moving a single coin cell cap in the cap recess from the column of coin cell caps to a cap receiving position for the pick and place component;
a flipping component configured to automatically place the top plate on top of the bottom plate while the fully assembled coin cells are within the bottom plate, to automatically flip over the bottom plate and top plate together such that all fully assembled coin cells are flipped over within their respective combined wells, and to automatically remove the bottom plate from the top plate such that the fully assembled coin cells remain within the top plate; and
a crimping component configured to automatically crimp the fully assembled coin cells.
14 . A method of manufacturing coin cell batteries, the method comprising:
dispensing automatically electrolyte material into multiple partially assembled coin cells within a holding arrangement, each of the multiple partially assembled coin cells including at least one electrode and at least one spacer placed within a coin cell cap, wherein the automatically dispensed electrolyte material is different for different coin cells within the multiple partially assembled coin cells;
providing automatically multiple coin cell cases from a case providing component, wherein the case providing component includes a tower component having an internal vertically oriented column forming a case storage region configured to hold a column of coin cell cases and a rotating component located beneath the tower component, the rotating component including a recess sized and shaped to fit a single coin cell case therein, wherein rotation of the rotating component results in moving a single coin cell case in the recess from the column of coin cell cases to a case receiving position for a pick and place component;
picking automatically the multiple coin cell cases from the case providing component;
placing automatically the multiple coin cell cases onto the multiple partially assembled coin cells to form fully assembled coin cells within the holding arrangement; and
crimping automatically the fully assembled coin cells with a crimping component.
15 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
forming automatically the multiple partially assembled coin cells within the holding arrangement.
16 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
picking automatically the fully assembled coin cells from the holding arrangement;
placing automatically the fully assembled coin cells into the crimping component;
picking automatically the crimped coin cells from the crimping component; and
placing automatically the crimped coin cells to a final location.
17 . The method of claim 14 , wherein the holding arrangement includes a bottom plate configured to hold the multiple partially assembled coin cells and a top plate configured to hold the multiple fully assembled coin cells, and wherein the top plate fits atop the bottom plate.
18 . The method of claim 17 , further comprising:
placing automatically the top plate on top of the bottom plate while the multiple fully assembled coin cells are within the bottom plate;
flipping over automatically the bottom plate and top plate together; and
removing automatically the bottom plate from the top plate such that the multiple fully assembled coin cells remain within the top plate.
19 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
rotating automatically the rotating component to move a single case from the bottom of the column of cases to a receiving position to be picked from the case providing component.
20 . The method of claim 14 , further comprising:
moving automatically the holding arrangement to multiple different locations to facilitate the dispensing, the picking, and the placing.