Storage battery plate wrapping machine

This invention relates to a plate wrapping machine for storage batteries. It comprises an embosser for embossing a flat microporous sheet pulled from a supply reel to obtain a storage battery separator, a plate projector for separating and projecting plates one by one out of a hopper, a separator supplier for supplying the above mentioned embossed separator so as to intersect rectangularly with the projected plate and a separator sealing means for sealing the side parts of the embossed separator folded into two to wrap the plate, and wherein the respective components are operatively connected with one another in an on-line operation. The present invention has an advantage that a storage battery plate can be wrapped with an embossed separator quickly at a high efficiency by saving labor so that the cost of the product may be reduced.

BACKGROUND 
1. Field of the Invention 
2. Prior Art 
The present invention relates to storage battery manufacturing machines and 
more particularly to an improved plate wrapping machine for storage 
batteries. 
2. Prior Art 
It is already proposed, for example, in a U.S. patent application Ser. No. 
882,392 filed on Mar. 1, 1978 to obtain a wrapped plate by supplying 
separator material pulled from a supply reel so as to intersect 
rectangularly with a plate, folding the microporous separator into two to 
wrap the plate and sealing the side parts of the separator. 
However, to further improve the performance and life of a storage battery, 
an embossed separator may be used in place of the flat microporous 
separator. In such a case, it will be substantially impossible to wind up 
a long embossed separator on a winding roller in advance. That is to say, 
when it is so wound up, the concavo-convex patterns of the embossed 
separator will interfere with each other and therefore will be hard to 
wind under a low tension. Also, when it is wound up on the roller under a 
high tension, the concavo-convex patterns of the embossed separator will 
be deformed and the separator will no longer be suitable for a storage 
battery. Even if it is to be wound on a winding roller, the result is a 
bulky mass due to the thickness caused by the concavo-convex patterns and 
the length of the embossed separator will have to be very short. As a 
result, the embossed separator wound on the winding roller is unwound in a 
short time and therefore will have to be constantly replenished. Because 
of such disadvantages, in such a case, complications arise and the battery 
plate making operating efficiency will be very low. 
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION 
The present invention aims to overcome all of the above-mentioned 
disadvantages. 
A first object of the present invention is to provide a novel storage 
battery wrapping machine for automatically and quickly wrapping a storage 
battery plate with an embossed separator to obtain a storage battery 
having high performance and long life. 
A second object of the present invention is to provide a novel storage 
battery plate wrapping machine wherein respective component means are 
mechanically integrally combined to be operatively connected with one 
another in an on-line operation. 
A third object of the present invention is to provide a storage battery 
plate wrapping machine having high efficiency so that the cost of the 
product can be expected to be reduced.

In FIGS. 1 and 2, symbol A indicates an embossing means formed of a supply 
reel 1, an embossing roll 2 and elastic roll 3 pressed into contact with 
each other by a pressurizing device 4 and cooling rolls 5 and 5'. Also a 
guide roll 6, nipping rolls 7 and 7' and a guide roll 8 are provided in 
respective proper positions. A long flat thin microporous sheet S of a 
thickness less then 0.5 mm. made of a synthetic resin is wound up on the 
supply reel 1. The embossing roll 2 is made of metal, is provided with 
about 50 to 200 projections 2' per 100 square cm on the surface and is 
heated by a heater. A more enlarged view of the embossing roll is shown in 
FIG. 5. The elastic roll 3 has a flat surface, is made of synthetic rubber 
such as neoprene and is of a hardness of about 42 to 90 degrees or 
preferably about 65 degrees (Shore-A scale). The embossing roll 2 and 
elastic roll 3 are held under a fixed pressure by the pressurizing device 
4. The pressurizing device 4 presses both of the above mentioned rolls 
into contact with each other under a proper pressure by means of an air 
cylinder or oil pressure cylinder and a solenoid valve operating to open 
and close. A more enlarged view of these components is shown in FIG. 3. 
The cooling rolls 5 and 5' are respectively made of stainless steel drums 
or chromium-plated steel pipes, each being provided therein with a hollow 
bearing axle 5a or 5'a and supporting axle 5b or 5'b. The cooling rolls 
are so formed that cooling water may flow into the cooling rolls through 
the hollow bearing shafts 5a and 5'a from outside and then may be 
discharged. A plate separating projector B is formed of a hopper 9, 
projecting plate 10 and rocking lever 11, as shown in FIG. 1. Many plates 
P are stacked in the hopper 9. The projecting plate 10 having two stepped 
surfaces is provided below the hopper 9, and is reciprocated by the 
rocking lever 11. Reference numeral 12 indicates a stopping element for 
stopping the entire apparatus in case no plate P is separated and 
projected out of the plate projection. It can be, for example, a limit 
switch, proximity switch, photo-switch or air sensor. 
Symbol C indicates a separator supplying means formed of a pair of 
supplying rolls 13 and 13' for supplying an embossed separator S' in the 
vertical direction and a pair of roll cutters 14 and 14'. More preferably, 
a plurality of pairs of air feeders (not illustrated) utilizing compressed 
air may be provided in positions adjacent to the embossed separator S' 
before and after the feeding rolls 13 and 13' and roll cutters 14 and 14'. 
In such case, they will be effective to prevent the embossed separator S' 
which is in the course of supply from being wrinkled or shrunk. The roll 
cutter 14 has a cutting edge 14a for making incisions at predetermimed 
intervals on the embossed separator S'. The embossed separator S' is thus 
easily separated through the incision and is folded into two parts by the 
plate P advancing in the horizontal direction so that the plate P may be 
wrapped with the separator S' in the form of a bag. 
Symbol D indicates an embossed separator sealing means consisting of a pair 
of heating elements 15 and 15', each containing therein a cartridge heater 
so as to be used to entirely or partly seal by fusing, for example the 
side parts of the embossed separator S' covering the plate P. Further, the 
heating elements 15 and 15' may have their temperatures freely adjusted in 
response to such variations as may exist in the material of the separator 
S' to be used and the production speed. Thus, a wrapped plate P' covered 
with the embossed separator S' as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8 is obtained. The 
wrapped plates P' are stacked with plates of different poles to form a 
plate unit as is well known, and thereafter a battery plate group is 
formed of a plurality of thus formed plate units. 
The above described embossing means A, plate projecting means B, separator 
supplying means C and separator sealing means D are operated in 
conjunction one another by using such well known driving means as, for 
example, motors 16 and 16' and a chain 17 or a well known controlling 
means. 
Now, it is also important to provide a proper sag for the embossed 
separator S' transferred from the embossing means to the separator 
supplying means. Otherwise, the embossed separator S' sometimes will be 
pulled by the separator supplying means so that the embossments may be 
strained or deformed or the separator itself may be broken. However, if 
there is more sag than required, such sag will result in a disadvantageous 
occupation of large space. Therefore, in order to freely set and detect 
the upper limit and lower limit of the sag, detecting elements 18 and 18' 
are provided in proper positions between the nipping rolls 7 and 7' and 
the guiding roll 8. The sag detecting elements are, for example, 
photoelectric cells connected to an alternating current source through a 
control box 19, as shown in FIG. 9. 
The above mentioned respective means are interconnected with the sag 
detecting elements so that, in case the sag become more than the upper 
level limit, the actuation of the separator supplying means may be 
suspended and, in case it becomes less than the lower level limit, the 
actuation of the embossing means may be suspended. When the embossing 
means stops, the embossing roll and elastic roll will be released from 
pressed contact with each other and the microporous sheet will be 
disengaged from the embossing roll. As a result, while the heated 
embossing roll stops, the microporous sheet and elastic roll will be able 
to be prevented from being damaged by heat. 
The operation of the apparatus of the present invention is as follows. 
First of all, when the apparatus is started, the flat thin microporous 
sheet S made of a synethetic resin and wound up on supply reel 1 will be 
pulled out, will pass between the embossing roll 2 and elastic roll 3 
pressed into contact with each other by the pressurizing device 4 through 
the guiding roll 6 and will be pressed while being heated to have many 
embossments E as are shown in FIG. 7 formed on the surface to obtain an 
embossed separator S'. When a microporous sheet 0.15 m/m thick is pressed 
against the embossing roll, the embossed separator can have a thickness of 
0.3 to 1.0 m/m in the embossed areas depending on the pressing force to be 
applied thereon and can also have an embossed thickness of 2.0 m/m by 
changing the pattern of the embossing roll. The embossed pattern of the 
present invention is not limited to that as shown in the drawing and may 
be varied with different orientations of embossments, of larger 
embossments or of corrugations. When this embossed separator S' is passed 
under a low tension through the cooling rolls 5 and 5' so as to be cooled, 
the embossments E will be stabilized without being deformed. Further, this 
embossed separator S' will pass through the nipping roll 7 and 7' led in 
the vertical direction through the guide roll 8 and lowered through the 
supplying rolls 13 and 13' and roll cutters 14 and 14'. On the other hand, 
the plates P will be separated one by one by the rocking lever 11 and 
projecting plate 10 from below the hopper 9 containing many plates P and 
will be projected forward. In case the plate is not separated, the 
stopping element 12 will operate to automatically stop the operation of 
the entire apparatus. The embossed separator S' fed by the supplying rolls 
13 and 13' from above so as to intersect rectangularly with the plate P 
will be folded into two during further projection of the plate P from the 
stopping element 12 and will simultaneously be easily separated through 
the incision made by the roll cutters 14 and 14' and the plate P will be 
covered on both surfaces and the bottom surface with the embossed 
separator S'. Further, the side parts of this embossed separator S' will 
be fused and sealed with each other by the heating elements 15 and 15' of 
the separator jointing means D to obtain a wrapped plate P'. 
If the embossed separator is in advance wound around the supply reel, it 
will usually be distorted due to the rolled tension due to uneven 
thickness of the separator. If such a distorted embossed separator is 
used, it will form a wrong wrapping resulting in an impairment of cell 
performance. Furthermore, the embossed separator wound around the supply 
reel becomes bulky due to the thick embossed thickness such that when an 
embossed separator of 300 m length is rolled, the diameter of the roll 
will be about 500 m/m. On the other hand, in case of the flat microporous 
sheet, in order to form a roll having about 500 m/m diameter a sheet of 
1,500 m length can be wound. Therefore, the flat microporous sheet wound 
around the supply reel does not require frequent supplement or exchange. 
Thus the above described machine of the present invention can be automated 
to wrap a plate with an embossed separator to obtain storage batteries of 
a high performance and long life and can be operated at a high efficiency 
so that the cost of the product may be reduced. 
We have shown an embodiment of the present invention. However, it is 
obvious that various modifications can be also made within a range and 
scope not deviating from the spirit of the invention. For example, in case 
there is a sufficient distance between the embossing means and separator 
feeding means, the cooling rolls may be omitted and the embossed separator 
may be air-cooled. Further, a dancing roll may be arranged so that the sag 
of the embossed separator transferred from the embossing means to the 
separator supplying means be made more positive.