Development Of A Battery Sorting System Using Multiple Diamond Robots

This dissertation deals with some issues in the development of a rechargeable battery sorting system using multiple Diamond robots. The project comes from the demand of a battery industry and sponsored by the National 863 high-tech development program. The following achievements have been obtained.On the basis of a thorough investigation into the technical process of rechargeable battery production, the idea to build a battery sorting system using multiple Diamond robots is proposed. This idea takes the full advantage of reconfigurability of the modularized Diamond robot in conjunction with the use of network and database technology at system management level.The possible configurations for the use of multiple Diamond robots to build the sorting system are investigated by taking into account productivity, reliability and manufacturing cost. The advantages and disadvantages of parallel, serial and hybrid layouts are quantitatively analyzed and compared using a mathematical model, resulting in the optimized system configuration that allows to meet the required productivity with lower cost.Based upon the concept of distributed control system (DCS), the hardware of the control system for battery sorting is build using PXI platform plus two programmable motion controllers. In software development, the programming techniques that enable to implement high-speed and coordinative control of 4 Diamond robots are also proposed. The practical results show that the control system is friendly interfaced, highly integrated and cost effective. It also shows that up to 6m/s and 60 m/s2 can be achieved with the sorting productivity of 220 p/min.The outcome of this work not only setups a successful example for the use of the Diamond robot but also provides a good reference for its even wider applications in other related industries.