Coating apparatus – With heat exchange – drying – or non-coating gas or vapor...
Patent
1995-09-19
1997-05-13
Czaja, Donald E.
Coating apparatus
With heat exchange, drying, or non-coating gas or vapor...
118 63, 239311, B05C 1100, B05C 1300, B05C 1302
Patent
active
056288255
DESCRIPTION:
BRIEF SUMMARY
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
This invention relates to an apparatus for heating the lugs of battery plates and in particular, but not exclusively, to an apparatus for carrying out this heating step when the plates are arranged in groups prior to having straps cast on them.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
It is known that, particularly when certain fluxes are used, the porosity of the joint between a battery lug and its cast-on strap can be considerably reduced if the temperature of the lug is raised significantly and preferably to over 150.degree. C. The heating normally takes place using hot air and the air temperature is typically 350.degree.-400.degree. C. For the most part this method has been limited to certain specialized batteries, such as computer stand-by batteries, because the hot air from the nozzle tends to degrade the separators which are used between the plates in most common form of batteries, e.g. automotive or truck batteries.
Where the separators are individual sheets between the plates at least one manufacturer has attempted to push physically the separators away from the hot air stream but without any significant success. Such an approach is in any case impractical when, as is quite common, the separators are in the form of an envelope in which the battery plates sit.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
From one aspect the invention consists of an apparatus for heating a lug of a battery plate, including means for defining a treatment position for the plate with its lug projecting into a lug position, a nozzle connectable to a source of hot gas and having an outlet directed at the lug position, and means defining a surface extending from the outlet and diverging from the direction of the outlet away from the treatment position where hot gas passing through the nozzle will have been entrained into a gas stream passing through the lug position and along the surface.
In a preferred embodiment the surface defining means comprise a generally flat plate and it is particularly preferred that there is a step between the outlet and the surface to define partially the lug position.
In most cases it will be convenient to use the apparatus with an assembled group of plates and separators in which case the outlet and the surface may extend at least substantially along the width of the group. There may be a pair of oppositely facing nozzles and surface defining assemblies; one for each set of lugs on the group.
The treatment position defining means may include a guard for preventing contact between the groups and the nozzle, in which case the lugs may project through openings in the guard.
Although the invention has been defined above, it is to be understood that it includes any inventive combination of the features set out above or in the following description.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWING
The invention may be performed in various ways and a specific embodiment will now be described, by way of example, with reference to the accompanying drawing.
The FIGURE is a schematic cross-sectional view of a double nozzle with battery group shown in outline.
DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT
Lug heating apparatus is generally indicated at 10 and includes a hot air duct 11 which communicates with a nozzle 12 having a head 13 generally in the form of a pair of wings. Each wing 14 defines a nozzle outlet 15 from which extends a generally flat and divergent plate 16, which extends to the inlet of an exhaust duct 17.
As can be seen in the FIGURE, when an inverted and gripped battery group 18 is positioned over the nozzle 12 its lugs 19 lie immediately adjacent respective outlets 15 of the head 13. The hot air passing out of the outlet 15 heats the lugs 19 to the desired temperature.
However, in the absence of the plates 16 the hot air would extend in a diverging stream which would impinge on the separators 20 and, if they are in envelope form, actually enter inside the envelopes 20. This would cause immediate degradation of the separator material and almost inevitably lead to short-circuits within the battery.
Sur
REFERENCES:
patent: 1971789 (1934-08-01), Lester
patent: 3415220 (1968-12-01), Sabatino et al.
patent: 3673982 (1972-07-01), Rutledge et al.
patent: 3705457 (1972-12-01), Tardoskegyi
patent: 3803723 (1974-04-01), Lamm et al.
patent: 4157903 (1979-06-01), Kanda et al.
Colaianni Michael Philip
Czaja Donald E.
TBS Engineering Limited
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