Driven by the "dual carbon" strategic goal, the new energy industry has developed rapidly. Emerging fields such as wind power, photovoltaics, lithium batteries, hydrogen energy and new energy vehicles are becoming important pillars for promoting economic transformation and upgrading. Correspondingly, the manufacturing links of these industries are also facing the need for transformation from "quantity" to "quality". How to improve the level of production automation, intelligence and flexibility has become a key path for new energy manufacturing to move towards high-quality development.
Against this background, "flexible force control technology" has gradually entered people's field of vision as an important component of the new generation of intelligent manufacturing technology. It not only solves the bottleneck problem that traditional rigid automation is difficult to adapt to complex processes, but also plays an increasingly prominent role in multiple key processes of new energy manufacturing with the technical advantage of "softness with control", becoming an important force to promote industrial upgrading.
1. What is flexible force control technology?
Flexible force control technology is a comprehensive technology that integrates force perception, motion control, intelligent algorithms and flexible actuators. It enables robots or automated equipment to perceive changes in external forces during the execution of tasks, and to achieve fine adjustment of the applied force through control strategies, so as to adapt to various complex, precise and highly sensitive operating scenarios.
Compared with traditional position control methods, flexible force control does not only pursue path accuracy, but also emphasizes the intelligent adjustment and feedback control of "contact force" during processing, assembly, grinding, and handling. For example, in the new energy battery PACK line, the use of force control technology can ensure that the clamping force is moderate during module stacking to avoid extrusion deformation or inadequate assembly.
2. The manufacturing process of the new energy industry generally has the following characteristics:
Product form changes: Different types of battery modules, photovoltaic modules or electric drive system structures are diverse, and the fixture and path need to be adjusted frequently during the manufacturing process.
High assembly accuracy requirements: Especially in the assembly of precision components such as lithium batteries and fuel cells, even small force deviations may affect product consistency.
Material sensitivity is strong: For example, thin-film batteries and soft-pack batteries are very sensitive to compression and friction, and excessive or uneven forces may cause damage.
The trend of high-frequency switching and small-batch multi-variety production is obvious: manufacturing equipment is required to have high flexibility and adaptability.
Traditional rigid automation often faces problems such as low efficiency, low yield, and long equipment debugging cycle under the above working conditions. However, flexible force control technology realizes real-time judgment and adjustment of the workpiece status in dynamic operation through "force + position" dual closed-loop control, which effectively improves the flexibility of the production process.
3. Application scenarios of flexible force control technology in new energy manufacturing
Battery module assembly and PACK line
In the assembly process of new energy vehicle battery modules, processes such as battery cell stacking, pole piece pressing, electrolyte injection, and module pressing have strict requirements on "force application". The flexible force control system can detect pressure changes in real time during the assembly process, and automatically adjust or stop the action when there is an offset or abnormal resistance, so as to avoid excessive assembly stress causing damage to the battery cell and improve the assembly yield.
Photovoltaic module welding and lamination process
Flexible force control technology can dynamically adjust the pressing force during the lamination process of solar photovoltaic modules to ensure that the bonding force between different batches of EVA film, glass, and solar cells is uniform. At the same time, during the welding stage, force control can also help deal with the slight errors between the welding needle and the battery cell, avoid welding breakpoints, false welding or cold welding, and improve the electrical performance stability of the components.
Gear press-fitting and motor assembly of electric drive system
In the electric drive system of new energy vehicles, key components such as motors and reducers need to be precisely assembled. The use of flexible force control technology can adjust the force size and direction in real time during the assembly process to avoid tilting, jamming or overloading of gears or bearings during press-fitting, thereby improving the operating stability and service life of the powertrain system.
Intelligent detection and maintenance of energy storage system
In large-scale energy storage systems, the inspection and plug-in operations between components involve a large number of contact operations. When using robots with integrated flexible force control for plugging, unplugging, connecting or wiring, it can ensure that the connectors or connectors will not be damaged due to uneven force, thereby improving the safety of system operation.
4. How does flexible force control improve the competitiveness of new energy manufacturing?
Reduce the defective rate and improve the yield rate
Through precise force control strategies, the flexible force control system can effectively avoid workpiece damage or quality defects caused by excessive force and assembly errors, and reduce the defective rate from the source.
Improve equipment adaptability and reuse rate
Compared with the one-time design of traditional mechanical structures, flexible force control equipment can cope with workpieces of different models and structures through software parameter adjustment, greatly improving the versatility and life cycle of equipment.
Reducing manual dependence and realizing intelligent manufacturing
In the context of high labor costs and scarcity of skilled workers faced by current manufacturing enterprises, the introduction of flexible force control systems can not only replace high-risk and repetitive operations, but also realize the "experience digitization" of some processes, helping enterprises to build replicable intelligent processes.
Assisting green manufacturing and controlling energy consumption and resource waste
By precisely controlling the applied force, flexible force control has outstanding performance in reducing equipment wear, workpiece scrapping and material waste, which is in line with the environmental protection and sustainable development strategy of new energy enterprises.
In the process of new energy manufacturing from "manufacturing" to "intelligent manufacturing", flexible force control technology is playing an increasingly important role. From battery assembly to powertrain assembly, from photovoltaic module manufacturing to energy storage system testing, flexible force control ubiquitously helps enterprises improve product quality, process efficiency and operational flexibility.
With the rapid development of the new energy vehicle industry and energy storage market, improving battery production technology and automation level has become a core issue in the industry. With its technological innovation and practical experience in the field of robot battery assembly and anti-collision detection, Dapkon will work with global battery manufacturers to promote industrial upgrading and create a green energy future.
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Shanghai Dapkon Technology Co., Ltd.