CN218539861U

CN218539861U - Flexible conductive piece and battery piece

Info

Publication number: CN218539861U
Application number: CN202221998281.0U
Authority: CN
Inventors: 姚宇; 李中天
Original assignee: Suzhou Taiyangjing New Energy Co ltd
Current assignee: Suzhou Taiyangjing New Energy Co ltd
Priority date: 2022-03-25
Filing date: 2022-07-29
Publication date: 2023-02-28
Anticipated expiration: 2032-07-29
Also published as: CN116837431A; CN217733298U

Abstract

The utility model discloses a flexible electrically conductive piece to and be connected with the battery piece that this flexible electrically conductive piece, flexible electrically conductive piece has the conductive layer and sets up along self thickness direction is in the conductive adhesive layer of conductive layer one side, conductive adhesive layer has at least and exposes outside and be used for the attached region that bonds. In the process of electroplating the battery piece, the flexible conductive piece is bonded to the mask opening of the battery piece, so that the battery piece is electrically connected with an external power supply, metal materials can be electroplated in the mask opening on one surface or two surfaces of the battery piece, and the problem of splintering or fragments caused by clamping the battery piece by hard conductive points in the prior art is solved.

Description

Flexible conductive piece and battery piece

Technical Field

The utility model relates to a photovoltaic cell piece and semiconductor manufacturing field, concretely relates to a flexible electrically conductive piece for battery piece electroplating process to and be connected with this flexible electrically conductive piece's battery piece.

Background

In order to further reduce the cost of the solar cell and improve the power generation efficiency of the solar cell, more and more attention and research are being paid to the manufacture of metal grid lines of the solar cell by using electroplated copper instead of screen printing silver paste. Under the trend of thinning of the cell, by referring to the PCB industry or electroplating equipment of semiconductors, the mode of clamping the cell by using hard conductive points faces more and more challenges, and marks or hidden cracks left at the clamping points also have negative influences on the appearance and the power generation efficiency of the photovoltaic cell to a certain extent. Some precedents are also given to derive horizontal electroplating equipment by taking the reference and improvement of the transmission mode of the horizontal texturing or etching equipment of the battery piece.

One of the application technologies of horizontal electroplating in the photovoltaic field is to use a conductive brush to contact one side of a cell sheet and keep the side dry, and use a light-induced electroplating mode for the other side of the cell sheet, such as CN101796222B, in which a roller is used to transport the cell sheet, and the other side of the plated side of the cell sheet is electrically connected by the conductive brush, which requires that the contact side of the conductive brush is pre-deposited with a metal layer, and thus is not suitable for a cell sheet structure with metal grid lines plated on both sides, such as a heterojunction cell or a topcon cell, or a cell sheet with metal grid lines only on one side of the cell sheet, such as a back contact cell sheet (IBC or TBC structure), and the conductive brush is liable to scratch the surface of the cell sheet.

The horizontal double-sided electroplating technology generally uses a roller as a cathode material in contact with a conductive area of a cell sheet, or uses a roller to bring a liquid into contact with the conductive area of the cell sheet, for example, CN105590987A uses an electrolyte solution as a conductive medium, so as to avoid hard contact. The difference between the two modes is that the roller is difficult to contact with the surface of the cell piece with an opening formed under a mask with a certain thickness, and the defect can be overcome by utilizing the conductive capacity of the ionic liquid. However, the ionic liquid and the surface of the cell can form a local primary cell, and the metal on the surface of the cell can be corroded under the condition of no power supply, so that the electroplating uniformity is difficult to control, and certain reliability risk is caused on the electrical property of the cell. When the roller is used as a conductive cathode in contact with a battery piece, a plating layer is also formed on the roller, so that the roller needs to be subjected to periodic plating removal treatment, and the requirement of shutdown is met for normal production, so that the equipment utilization rate and the capacity are influenced.

The above background disclosure is only provided to aid in understanding the concepts and technical solutions of the present patent application and it is not necessary for it to belong to the prior art of the present patent application, and it should not be used for evaluating the novelty and inventive step of the present application in the case that there is no clear evidence that the above content has been disclosed before the filing date of the present patent application.

Disclosure of Invention

The first objective of the present invention is to provide a flexible conductive member for electroplating a battery piece, so as to form an electrical connection between the battery piece and the flexible conductive member during the electroplating process of the battery piece.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the utility model adopts the technical scheme that: the flexible conductive piece is used for electroplating a battery piece, and is provided with a conductor layer and a conductive adhesive layer arranged on one side of the conductor layer along the thickness direction of the flexible conductive piece, wherein the conductive adhesive layer at least has an attached area which is exposed outside and is used for bonding.

Preferably, the flexible conductive member further has a first coating layer disposed on the other side of the conductor layer, the first coating layer covers the entire surface of the other side of the conductor layer, and the first coating layer is an insulating film layer or a hydrophobic film layer.

Preferably, the flexible conductive piece is further provided with a second coating layer arranged on the outer side of the conductive adhesive layer, the second coating layer is an insulating film layer or a hydrophobic film layer, the flexible conductive piece is provided with at least one attaching region, and the parts of the conductive adhesive layer except the attaching region are covered with the second coating layer.

Preferably, the conductor layer is made of a conductor material selected from one or more of copper, aluminum, nickel and stainless steel, or is a multilayer structure formed by stacking a plurality of copper, aluminum, nickel and stainless steel in the thickness direction.

Preferably, the conductive adhesive layer is a conductive pressure sensitive adhesive layer, a conductive heat sensitive adhesive layer or a non-woven conductive adhesive layer.

Preferably, the flexible conductive member is in a band shape or a linear shape, and the attachment regions are disposed at two different ends of the flexible conductive member in the length direction.

Preferably, the flexible conductive member has a first end portion and a second end portion, the conductive adhesive layers are disposed on the outer side surfaces of the conductive layers on the first end portion and the second end portion, and the attachment regions are disposed on the first end portion and the second end portion;

or, the outer side face of the conductor layer on the first end portion is provided with the conductive adhesive layer, the outer side face of the conductor layer on the second end portion is exposed, and the first end portion is provided with the attaching area.

The second objective of the present invention is to provide a battery piece connected with the above flexible conductive piece.

In order to achieve the above purpose, the utility model adopts the technical scheme that:

the battery piece is connected with the flexible conductive piece, a mask opening is formed in the plated surface of the battery piece, and one end part of the flexible conductive piece is fixedly adhered to the mask opening and is electrically connected with the battery piece.

In some embodiments, the mask opening includes a mask opening node, and the flexible conductive member is fixedly bonded to the mask opening node and forms an electrical connection with the cell sheet at the mask opening node.

In some embodiments, the plated surface is provided with a plurality of mask openings, and the flexible conductive members are respectively adhered to any one or more of the mask openings.

In some embodiments, the battery piece is horizontally disposed, the battery piece has an upward front surface and a downward back surface, the front surface and/or the back surface are the plated surfaces, and each plated surface is provided with the mask opening and connected to the flexible conductive member.

In some embodiments, the front surface and the back surface are both the plated surfaces, a mask opening node is disposed at the mask opening, and the flexible conductive member is fixedly bonded at the mask opening node and electrically connected to the battery piece at the mask opening node, wherein the mask opening node on the front surface of the battery piece is actually connected to a first mask opening node of the flexible conductive member, the mask opening node on the back surface of the battery piece is actually connected to a second mask opening node of the flexible conductive member, the first mask opening node and the second mask opening node are disposed near the same side of the battery piece, and the same side extends along the transmission direction of the battery piece; or the first mask opening node and the second mask opening node are respectively close to two opposite sides of the battery piece, and the two opposite sides extend along the transmission direction of the battery piece.

In some embodiments, the first mask opening node and the second mask opening node are arranged at a distance from an orthogonal projection of the first mask opening node on the front side of the battery piece, or the first mask opening node and the second mask opening node are arranged at a distance from an orthogonal projection of the second mask opening node on the back side of the battery piece.

In some embodiments, the sum of the number of the first mask opening nodes and the number of the second mask opening nodes is greater than 3, the number of the first mask opening nodes and the number of the second mask opening nodes are both greater than 0, and the orthographic projections of the first mask opening nodes and the orthographic projections of the second mask opening nodes on the front surface of the battery piece are arranged in a staggered manner.

In some embodiments, the flexible conductive member has a first end portion and a second end portion, the flexible conductive member is bent, the second end portion is higher than the first end portion in the vertical direction, and the first end portion is fixedly adhered to the mask opening.

Because of above-mentioned technical scheme's application, compared with the prior art, the utility model have the following advantage: in the battery piece electroplating process, adopt the utility model discloses a flexible electrically conductive piece bonds to the mask opening of battery piece on, realizes the electricity between battery piece and the external power supply and is connected to can realize electroplating metallic material in the mask opening of the one side of battery piece or two sides, this lobe of a leaf or the piece problem of having avoided among the prior art stereoplasm conducting point centre gripping battery piece to lead to. After the electroplating is finished, the preset acting force is applied to enable the flexible conductive piece to be separated from the battery piece, and the flexible conductive piece does not need to be subjected to deplating treatment after the electroplating, so that deplating time is saved, and the production efficiency of the electroplating device is improved.

Drawings

Fig. 1 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a flexible conductive member according to a first embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 2 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a flexible conductive member according to a second embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 3 is a schematic cross-sectional view of a flexible conductive member according to a third embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 4 is a schematic diagram of a flexible conductive member of a third embodiment cut along the length direction;

fig. 5 is a schematic view illustrating a flexible conductive member attached to a plurality of mask openings on a plated surface of one side of a battery piece according to a fourth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 6 is a schematic view illustrating a flexible conductive member attached to the plated surfaces on both sides of a battery piece according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 7 is a schematic view illustrating the flexible conductive member being attached to the plated surfaces of both sides of the battery piece according to the fifth embodiment of the present invention;

fig. 8 is a schematic diagram of the flexible conductive member after being bent based on fig. 7;

FIG. 9 is a schematic view of the battery plate supported on the roller mechanism shown in FIG. 8;

fig. 10 is a schematic view of a flexible conductive member attached to the plated surfaces on both sides of a battery piece in another manner and supported on a lower roller;

FIG. 11 is a schematic view of the arrangement of mask openings and mask opening nodes on the plated surface of a cell in one embodiment;

fig. 12 is a schematic cross-sectional structure diagram of a cell in one embodiment;

FIG. 13 is an enlarged view of portion A of FIG. 12;

fig. 14 is a schematic view of the attachment direction of the flexible conductive member attached to the battery piece;

FIG. 15 is a schematic view showing the direction of force applied when the flexible conductive member is separated from the battery piece after the plating;

FIG. 16 is a schematic structural view of an electroplating apparatus according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 17 is a schematic view of a plating tank according to a fifth embodiment of the present invention;

wherein: 1. a flexible conductive member; 11. a conductor layer; 12. a conductive adhesive layer; 13. a first coating layer; 14. a second coating layer; 12a, a first attaching area; 12b, a second attaching area; 1A, a first end portion; 1B, a second end portion; 2. a battery piece; 21. a cell body; 210. a semiconductor structure layer; 211. a layer of conductive material; 211a, an ITO layer; 211b, a seed layer; 22. a mask layer; 23. opening a mask; 231. 232, mask opening node, mask opening bottom; 233. a mask opening sidewall; 234. the edge of the mask opening; 3. an external power supply; 4. an electroplating bath; 41. Electroplating a reaction tank; 42. a circulating liquid supplementing tank; 43. a first circulation pipe; 44. a first circulation pump; 45. a second circulation pipe; 46. a second circulation pump; 47. a third circulation pipe; 4a, a buffer tank; 4b, cell piece channels; 5. electroplating an anode; 6. a conductive connection member; 7. a roller mechanism; 71. a lower roller; 72. an upper roller; 8. a transfer track; 9. a conductor bus strip.

Detailed Description

The technical solution of the present invention will be further explained with reference to the accompanying drawings and specific embodiments.

The utility model discloses a flexible electrically conductive piece 1 for the electroplating process of battery piece specifically is for being used for at the in-process of battery piece 2 electroplating process, with flexible electrically conductive piece 1a tip fixedly attached to battery piece 2 receive the mask opening 23 that the face of plating seted up in advance on, thereby make in the electroplating process, through this flexible electrically conductive piece 1 and battery piece 2 between form the electricity and be connected. The flexible conductive member 1 is fixedly attached to the mask opening 23, and the fixed connection can be realized by means of adhesion, magnetic attraction, clamping and the like. The bonding method is preferably adopted in the present application, so as to facilitate the flexible conductive member 1 to be quickly connected or disconnected on the mask opening 23 of the cell 2. The plated surface refers to a surface of the battery piece 2 on which a metal grid line needs to be formed through an electroplating process, and any one of the two side surfaces of the battery piece 2 in the thickness direction may be the plated surface.

Referring to fig. 12 to 13, the mask opening 23 includes a mask opening bottom 232, a mask opening sidewall 233 and a mask opening edge 234, and the flexible conductive member 1 is fixedly attached to the mask opening 23, which means that the flexible conductive member 1 is fixedly attached to the mask opening bottom 232, the mask opening sidewall 233 or the mask opening edge 234, or the flexible conductive member 1 is fixedly attached to any two or three of the mask opening bottom 232, the mask opening sidewall 233 and the mask opening edge 234.

Specifically, referring to fig. 12, the battery piece 2 includes a battery piece body 21, where the battery piece body 21 includes a semiconductor structure layer 210 and a conductive material layer 211 disposed on a surface of the semiconductor structure layer 210, the conductive material layer 211 includes at least an ITO (Indium Tin Oxide) layer 211a, in some embodiments, the conductive material layer 211 further includes a seed layer 211b covering the ITO layer 211a, the seed layer 211b is a conductive structure layer that is disposed in advance for manufacturing a gate line, and after the gate line is manufactured, a portion of the seed layer 211b except a portion below the gate line needs to be removed to expose the ITO layer 211a.

The seed layer 211b and the ITO layer 211a are both capable of conducting electricity, the mask layer 22 covers the conductive material layer 211, the conductive material layer 211 is exposed from the mask opening 23, the exposed portion forms a mask opening bottom 232, and the flexible conductive member 1 is fixedly attached to the mask opening 23, so that the flexible conductive member 1 is directly contacted with the conductive material layer 211 to form an electrical connection, or forms an electrical connection through a plating solution after being immersed in the plating solution.

In this embodiment, the flexible conductive member 1 is directly contacted with the conductive material layer 211 to form an electrical connection when being fixedly attached to the mask opening 23, so as to ensure that the current after being electrified is not too small to increase the electroplating time. Specifically, referring to fig. 11, the mask opening 23 includes a mask opening node 231, and the flexible conductive member 1 is fixedly attached to the mask opening node 231, so as to be directly contacted with the conductive material layer 211, and thus, to form an electrical connection with the battery piece 2.

In other embodiments, when flexible conductive device 1 is fixedly attached to mask opening 23, flexible conductive device 1 may be connected to mask opening edge 234, and flexible conductive device 1 and mask layer 22 are immersed in the plating solution, so that the flexible conductive device 1 and mask opening bottom 232 are electrically connected through the conduction of the plating solution. When the size of the flexible conductive member 1 is small, the flexible conductive member 1 may be connected to the mask opening bottom 232 or the mask opening sidewall 233. In these solutions, the mask opening node 231 is not required to be additionally disposed, so that the structure of the mask opening 23 is simpler.

Note that the mask opening node 231 is a region for fixedly attaching and connecting the flexible conductive device 1, and has a certain cross-sectional area. The shape of the flexible conductive member 1 is not limited in this application, and it may be a strip or a line, a strip or a block, a regular shape, or an irregular shape. The flexible conductive member 1 has a first end 1A and a second end 1B. Referring to fig. 16, when the battery piece 2 is subjected to electroplating, the mask opening 23 of the battery piece 2 is immersed in the electroplating solution, the electroplating anode 5 is in contact with or immersed in the electroplating solution, the first end portion 1A of the flexible conductive member 1 is fixedly attached to the mask opening 23 of the plated surface of the battery piece 2, the second end portion 1B of the flexible conductive member 1 is electrically connected to the negative electrode of the external power supply 3, and the positive electrode of the external power supply 3 is electrically connected to the electroplating anode 5. Specifically, the negative electrode of the external power source 3 is electrically connected to the conductive connecting member 6, and the second end portion 1B of the flexible conductive member 1 is fixedly disposed on the conductive connecting member 6 and electrically connected to the conductive connecting member 6, so that the flexible conductive member 1 is electrically connected to the negative electrode of the external power source 3. Therefore, the flexible conductive piece 1 is adopted to realize the electric connection between the cathode of the external power supply 3 and the battery piece 2, and the problem of hidden crack possibly caused by clamping the battery piece by hard conductive points in the prior art is avoided. After electroplating is finished, a preset acting force is applied to tear off the flexible conductive piece 1 fixedly attached to the opening of the mask of the cell, so that the flexible conductive piece 1 and the cell 2 can be separated, and the flexible conductive piece 1 is not required to be subjected to deplating treatment after electroplating, so that deplating time is saved, and the production efficiency of an electroplating device is improved. The positions of the flexible conductive parts 1 connected with the battery pieces 2 can be electroplated, but the flexible conductive parts 1 are low in cost and can be used as consumables, and the torn flexible conductive parts 1 are directly treated as waste materials without deplating.

It should be noted that flexibility in this application, which may also be interpreted as flexibility, is a property of an object in terms of relative rigidity. Flexibility refers to a physical property that an object deforms after being stressed, and the original shape of the object cannot be recovered after the acting force is lost. And after the rigid object is stressed, the shape of the rigid object can be regarded as unchanged in a macroscopic view. For example, in the present application, in order to facilitate the connection of the flexible conductive member 1 to the battery cell 2, the first end portion 1A of the flexible conductive member 1 is bent by an external force to form a bent portion, and the shape of the flexible conductive member 1 is changed; if no external force is applied, the shape of the flexible conductive piece 1 can not be recovered, and the bending part can not disappear.

The embodiment of the utility model provides an in, flexible conductive piece 1 fixedly bond the mask opening 23 department on the face of plating of battery piece 2 and with battery piece 2 between form the electricity and be connected to and fixedly bond on electrically conductive connecting piece 6 and with electrically conductive connecting piece 6 between form the electricity and be connected and further realize the electricity with external power supply 3's negative pole and be connected. That is, the conductive connecting member 6 is embodied as an attaching frame, and the flexible conductive member 1 is fixed to the mask opening 23 of the battery piece 2 by means of adhesion and attached to the conductive connecting member 6.

Fig. 1 to 3 show schematic structural views of different embodiments of the flexible conductive member 1, specifically:

referring to fig. 1, which is a schematic structural diagram of a flexible conductive device 1 according to the first embodiment, the flexible conductive device 1 has a conductive layer 11 and a conductive adhesive layer 12 disposed on one side of the conductive layer 11 along a thickness direction, the conductive layer 11 and the conductive adhesive layer 12 are both conductors, and a surface of the conductive adhesive layer 12 facing away from the conductive layer 11 has viscosity and can be fixedly adhered to a mask opening 23. The conductive adhesive layer 12 is fixedly adhered to the mask opening 23 of the cell 2, so that the electrical connection with the cell 2 is realized. The conductor material of the conductor layer 11 is an alloy material composed of one or more of copper, aluminum, nickel and stainless steel, or a multilayer structure formed by overlapping a plurality of copper, aluminum, nickel and stainless steel along the thickness direction; the conductive adhesive layer 12 is a conductive pressure sensitive adhesive layer or a conductive heat sensitive adhesive layer or a non-woven conductive adhesive layer, and the conductive adhesive layer 12 is used for providing the conductive capability at least from the conductive layer 11 to the conductive adhesive layer 12. When the flexible conductive member 1 is electrically connected with the battery piece 2 and the conductive connecting member 6, the conductive adhesive layer 12 of the flexible conductive member 1 can be directly bonded on the battery piece 2 and the conductive connecting member 6, and the bonding operation is simple.

Referring to fig. 2, which is a schematic structural diagram of a flexible conductive device 1 in a second embodiment, the flexible conductive device 1 further includes a first coating layer 13 disposed on the other side of the conductive layer 11, where the first coating layer 13 is an insulating film layer or a hydrophobic film layer, and is used for insulating or isolating the side of the conductive layer 11 from a plating solution that the flexible conductive device 1 may contact, so as to reduce a plating area and prevent the surface of the conductive layer 11 from being plated. Specifically, the dimensions and shapes of the surfaces of the first coating layer 13 and the flexible conductive member 1 that are fitted to each other are the same, so that the conductor layer 11 is entirely covered with the first coating layer 13 on the other surface.

Referring to fig. 3, which is a schematic structural diagram of a flexible conductive device 1 according to a third embodiment, in addition to the second embodiment, the flexible conductive device 1 further includes a second coating layer 14 disposed on an outer side surface of the conductive adhesive layer 12, where the second coating layer 14 is also an insulating film layer or a hydrophobic film layer, and is used for insulating or isolating the outer side surface of the conductive adhesive layer 12 from a plating solution that the flexible conductive device 1 may contact, so as to reduce a plating area. This also makes the entire surface of the flexible conductive member 1 corrosion resistant and the inside can provide a better conductive capability. The outer side of the layer of conductive glue 12 is not completely covered by the second coating layer 14, so that the layer of conductive glue 12 is exposed at least at the first end 1A for adhesion to the mask opening 23. As shown in fig. 3a, in this embodiment, the second coating layer 14 covers the middle portion of the conductive adhesive layer 12, and two end portions of the conductive adhesive layer 12 are exposed to form a first attaching region 12a and a second attaching region 12b, respectively. As shown in fig. 3B, the conductive adhesive layer 12 is exposed only at the first end portion 1A, and the conductive adhesive layer 12 does not cover the second end portion 1B, and the second end portion 1B of the flexible conductive member 1 is electrically connected to the conductive connecting member 6 through the conductive layer 11. Note that the surface of the conductive adhesive layer 12 that is connected to the conductive layer 11 is the inner side surface of the conductive adhesive layer 12, and the surface opposite to the inner side surface of the conductive adhesive layer 12 is the outer side surface.

Preferably, the flexible conductive device 1 has a thickness not less than 5 μm, and the length may be a prefabricated length cut by sections, or a continuous structure arranged in a roll (called flexible conductive device roll) capable of being wound on a reel. When the flexible conductive member is used in the electroplating process, the flexible conductive member can be unreeled according to a required length, then cut in the manner shown in fig. 4, and then bonded to the mask opening 23 of the cell 2. In the cutting process, a vision system can be matched to distinguish the cutting position and carry out error correction treatment, so that the platable area from the conductive adhesive layer 12 can be better reduced, and the reserved conductive adhesive layer forms a first attaching area 12a and a second attaching area 12b so as to be respectively bonded with the battery piece 2 and the conductive connecting piece 6 to form electric connection. When shearing dislocation occurs, the vision system can correct the cutting position, and the two ends of the flexible conductive piece 1, which are connected with the battery piece 2 and the conductive connecting piece 6, are prevented from being too short.

During electroplating, the cell 2 is horizontally arranged, the flexible conductive member 1 is bent along the length direction, so that the second end portion 1B is higher than the first end portion 1A along the vertical direction, and the second end portion 1B is located above the liquid level of the electroplating solution and is adhered to the conductive connecting member 6.

In other embodiments, the conductive connector 6 is embodied as a jaw by which the second end 1B is fixedly clamped and forms an electrical connection with the jaw. That is, the first end portion 1A is adhered to the mask opening 23 of the battery piece 2 through the first adhesion region 12a to form an electrical connection with the battery piece 2, and the second end portion 1B is clamped by the clamping jaw, and the electrical connection between the flexible conductive member 1 and the clamping jaw is realized through the contact of the second adhesion region 12B with the clamping jaw. In another embodiment, the second end portion 1B is not provided with the second attachment region 12B, and the clamp is directly clamped to the conductor layer 11. By the clamping of the clamping jaw, more stable connection can be formed, and the probability that the flexible conductive piece 1 falls off from the conductive connecting piece 6 is reduced. Of course, the specific form of the conductive connecting member 6 is not limited to the above-listed attaching frame or the clamping jaw.

When the electroplating process is carried out, the battery piece 2 is horizontally placed, the upward surface of the battery piece 2 is a front surface, the downward surface of the battery piece 2 is a back surface, one or both of the front surface and the back surface are plated surfaces, and each plated surface is provided with a mask opening 23.

Referring to fig. 11, a plurality of mask openings 23 are arranged side by side on the plated surface of the battery piece 2, and all or part of the mask openings 23 penetrate each other to form one or more communicated patterns. The bottom of each mask opening 23 is a conductive material layer 211, and the conductive material layer 211 is specifically a seed layer 211b or an ITO layer 211a capable of conducting electricity. Even if the mask openings 23 do not penetrate each other, the mask openings 23 can be electrically connected through the bottom conductive material layer 211, that is, only the bottom conductive material layer 211 of one mask opening 23 needs to be electrically conductive, and the other mask openings 23 can also be electrically conductive. At least one flexible conductive member 1 is attached to a plated surface of the battery piece 2 to form grid lines by electroplating a metal material in the plurality of mask openings 23. In order to increase the plating speed, all or part of the mask openings 23 are respectively connected with the flexible conductive members 1. Preferably, when there are a plurality of flexible conductive members 1, the connection points between the flexible conductive members 1 and the mask openings 23 are arranged at equal intervals, so that the plated surface of the battery piece 2 is uniformly conductive, and the plating uniformity of the plated surface of the battery piece 2 is improved.

Referring to fig. 11, the mask opening 23 is divided into a vertical opening, a horizontal opening and an annular opening, the mask opening node 231 is located at the intersection point of the vertical opening or the horizontal opening and the annular opening, and the area of the mask opening node 231 is enlarged to facilitate connection of the flexible conductive strip 1 and bonding of the flexible conductive strip by machine vision guidance. After the area of the mask opening node 231 is enlarged, the flexible conductive member 1 can be directly connected to the conductive material layer 211 at the bottom of the mask opening node 231, so that the electrical connection with large-area contact is realized, the electroplating current is improved, and the electroplating efficiency can be improved.

Referring to fig. 5, when one of the front and back surfaces of the battery piece 2 is a plated surface, at least 2 of all mask openings 23 on the plated surface are respectively connected with flexible conductive members 1, the flexible conductive members 1 are arranged side by side and can be connected by a conductor bus bar 9, and the conductor bus bar 9 is fixedly connected to the conductive connecting member 6. Of course, the flexible conductive member 1 may be directly connected to the conductive connecting member 6. In some embodiments, it is also possible to provide the conductor bus strips 9 integrally with the electrically conductive connection 6.

When the front surface and the back surface of the battery piece 2 are plated surfaces, at least 2 of all the mask openings 23 on the front surface of the battery piece 2 are respectively connected with the flexible conductive pieces 1, at least 2 of all the mask openings 23 on the back surface of the battery piece 2 are respectively connected with the flexible conductive pieces 1, and the flexible conductive pieces 1 are connected with the conductor bus bar 9 or directly connected with the conductive connecting piece 6.

Preferably, the mask opening node 231 on the front surface of the battery piece 2 is actually connected with the flexible conductive member 1, which is called a first mask opening node; the mask opening node 231 on the back surface of the battery piece 2 is actually connected with the flexible conductive member 1, and is called a second mask opening node. More preferably, the first mask opening node and the second mask opening node are disposed near the same side of the battery piece 2, which extends along the conveying direction of the battery piece, as shown in fig. 6 and 9.

More preferably, the first mask opening node and the second mask opening node are spaced apart from each other in the orthographic projection of the front surface of the battery piece 2, or the first mask opening node and the second mask opening node are spaced apart from each other in the orthographic projection of the rear surface of the battery piece 2, and when the flexible conductive member 1 connected to the second mask opening node is bent and then extends to the front surface of the battery piece 2, the flexible conductive member 1 connected to the first mask opening node does not interfere with the flexible conductive member 1 connected to the second mask opening node, thereby facilitating the connection of the entire flexible conductive member 1 to the conductor bus bar 9 or the conductive connecting member 6. More preferably, the sum of the number of the first mask opening nodes and the number of the second mask opening nodes is greater than 3, and the number of the first mask opening nodes and the number of the second mask opening nodes are not both 0, the first mask opening nodes and the second mask opening nodes are arranged in a staggered and spaced manner in the front projection direction of the battery piece 2, when the flexible conductive piece 1 connected with the second mask opening nodes is bent and then extends to the front side of the battery piece 2, the flexible conductive piece 1 connected with the first mask opening nodes cannot interfere with the flexible conductive piece 1 connected with the second mask opening nodes, so that all the flexible conductive pieces 1 are conveniently connected to the conductor bus bar 9 or the conductive connecting piece 6, meanwhile, the first mask opening nodes can be arranged in a spaced manner when being multiple, the second mask opening nodes can be arranged in a spaced manner when being multiple, and the electroplating uniformity of the battery piece 2 is improved.

In other embodiments, as shown in fig. 10, the first mask opening node and the second mask opening node may be disposed near two opposite sides of the battery plate 2, which both extend along the conveying direction of the battery plate 2, as shown in fig. 10.

In the electroplating process, the battery piece 2 is conveyed to sequentially pass through the surface treatment tank, the electroplating tank, the water washing tank and the blow-drying tank to perform corresponding process treatment, in the process that the battery piece 2 is conveyed to pass through the electroplating tank, the flexible conductive piece 1 is always connected between the battery piece 2 and the conductive connecting piece 6, and the flexible conductive piece 1, the conductive connecting piece 6 and the battery piece 2 are consistent in moving direction and same in speed. Wherein: the surface treatment tank is a pickling tank and is mainly used for removing impurities on the surface of the cell 2 for subsequent electroplating; the plating bath is used to plate metal at the mask openings 23 of the cell plate 2. Preferably, the electroplating bath includes a copper plating bath and a tin plating bath, and the battery piece 2 is firstly electroplated in the copper plating bath to form a copper grid line, and then electroplated in the tin plating bath to form a tin plating layer on the surface of the copper grid line. Therefore, after copper plating is finished, tin plating is immediately carried out on the surface of the copper grid line, so that the problem that the copper grid line is easy to oxidize is avoided, and the copper grid line is protected; the rinsing bath is used for cleaning the battery piece 2 to remove impurities and residual electroplating solution on the surface of the battery piece 2, and can adopt a spray rinsing or immersion rinsing mode; the blow-drying groove is used for blowing air to the surface of the battery piece 2, so that the liquid carrying amount of the battery piece 2 is reduced. The blow-drying tank is arranged at the downstream of the electroplating tank. Preferably, the blow-drying groove comprises an air knife mechanism which can blow air to the battery piece 2 so as to reduce the liquid carrying amount on the surface of the battery piece 2.

During the electroplating process, the cell 2 and the conductive connecting piece 6 are synchronously conveyed by a conveying mechanism, specifically, the conveying mechanism comprises a conveying rail 8 for conveying the cell 2 and a roller mechanism 7 for conveying the cell 2, and the conductive connecting piece 6 is fixedly arranged on the conveying rail 8 and conveyed by the conveying rail 8. When the device works, the driving part drives the transmission track 8 to move, so that the conductive connecting part 6 and the flexible conductive part 1 connected with the conductive connecting part are driven to move along the conveying direction of the battery piece 2, and the flexible conductive part 1 and the battery piece 2 connected with the flexible conductive part 1 move in the same direction at the same speed. In some embodiments, the roller mechanism 7 only includes the lower roller 71, as shown in fig. 10, the lower roller 71 provides the battery piece 2 for supporting during the transportation, and the battery piece 2 advances under the pulling action of the flexible conductive member 1. In other embodiments, the roller mechanism 7 includes an upper roller 72 and a lower roller 71 which are engaged with each other, as shown in fig. 9 and 16, the upper roller 72 and the lower roller 71 are engaged with each other and perform transportation of the battery piece 2, in such a manner that the lower roller 71 is completely immersed in the plating solution, and the upper roller 72 is partially immersed in the plating solution, so that the battery piece 2 is completely immersed. The electroplating anodes 5 are positioned between the two adjacent groups of upper rollers 72 and/or between the two adjacent groups of lower rollers 71 and are arranged opposite to the plated surfaces of the battery pieces 2, so that the electroplating anodes 5 are at least partially immersed in the electroplating solution to realize the electroplating function. In other embodiments, only the back surface of the cell piece 2 is plated, the lower roller 71 is completely immersed in the plating solution, and the upper roller 72 may not be immersed in the plating solution, so long as the back surface of the cell piece 2 is completely immersed.

After the electroplating is finished, the flexible conductive piece 1 is separated from the battery piece 2 and the conductive connecting piece 6, which can be implemented by the following steps: the flexible conductive member 1 is cut off, the flexible conductive member 1 is divided into a first portion (the first end portion 1A is located at the first portion) connected to the battery piece 2 and a second portion (the second end portion 1B is located at the second portion) connected to the conductive connecting member 6, and then the first portion is separated from the battery piece 2 and the second portion is separated from the conductive connecting member 6. Wherein when the first portion is separated from the cell piece 2, the cell piece 2 is preferably vacuum-sucked and applied in a direction opposite to the direction in which the flexible conductive member 1 is adhered to the mask opening 23, as shown in fig. 15, so that the first portion is separated from the cell piece 2; when the second part is separated from the conductive connecting piece 6, the second part can be separated from the conductive connecting piece 6 by adopting a brush wiping mode or a chemical stripping mode, wherein the brush wiping mode is that a brush is adopted to wipe the joint of the second part and the conductive connecting piece 6 for multiple times so that the second part is separated from the conductive connecting piece 6; after the second portion is separated from the conductive connecting member 6, the brush can be used to continuously wipe the connecting portion on the conductive connecting member 6 to wipe off the adhered residue. The chemical peeling is to soak the joint of the second portion and the conductive connecting member 6 with an adhesive remover or an alkali solution so that the second portion is peeled off from the conductive connecting member 6 while removing the residue adhered to the electrical connecting member 6.

In other embodiments, when the conductive connecting member 6 is a clamping jaw, the second end portion 1B of the flexible conductive member 1 is clamped by the clamping jaw, and the clamping jaw releases the second end portion 1B after the plating is completed, so that the flexible conductive member 1 does not need to be cut, and at this time, after the clamping jaw releases the second end portion 1B, the first end portion 1A is separated from the battery piece 2.

Referring to fig. 16, the electroplating apparatus for horizontal electroplating further includes an electroplating tank 4 for containing electroplating solution, an electroplating anode 5 and a roller mechanism 7 are disposed in the electroplating tank 4, a conductive connecting member 6 is disposed above the electroplating tank 4, and an external power supply 3 is disposed outside the electroplating tank 4. A cell passage 4b is formed on the electroplating bath 4 for allowing the cell 2 to enter the electroplating bath 4 along the transmission direction, buffer grooves 4a are formed at the upstream and the downstream of the electroplating bath 4, and the liquid in the electroplating bath 4 can overflow into the buffer grooves 4 a; the electroplating device further comprises an electroplating solution spraying system (not shown in the figure), the electroplating solution spraying system at least comprises a spray pipe, a liquid outlet of the spray pipe is positioned above the electroplating bath 4, and the electroplating solution spraying system can spray electroplating solution in the electroplating bath 4 to achieve the purpose of liquid supplement in the electroplating processing process. Through overflow and the fluid infusion of spraying, guaranteed the concentration of plating solution in the plating bath 4, increased the flow of plating solution in the plating bath 4 simultaneously for the concentration of plating solution is more even in the plating bath 4, and then is favorable to the even electroplating of battery piece 2.

Referring to fig. 17, the plating apparatus further includes a circulation mechanism disposed on the plating tank 4 and configured to circulate the plating solution in the plating tank 4, the circulation mechanism including a second circulation assembly configured to circulate the plating solution in the lower portion of the plating tank 4 to the upper portion of the plating tank 4, and/or a third circulation assembly configured to circulate the plating solution in the upper portion of the plating tank 4 to the lower portion of the plating tank 4, and/or a first circulation assembly configured to circulate the plating solution in the lower portion of the plating tank 4.

Referring to FIG. 17, in the present embodiment, the first circulation assembly includes a first circulation pipe 43 and a first circulation pump 44 disposed on the first circulation pipe 43, both ends of the first circulation pipe 43 are respectively connected to the bottom wall of the plating vessel 4 or the lower side wall of the plating vessel 4, and both ends of the first circulation pipe 43 are connected to the bottom wall of the plating vessel 4 and communicate with the vessel cavity of the plating vessel 4. In other embodiments, both ends of the first circulation pipe 4 may be connected to the lower sidewall of the plating vessel 4, and both ends of the first circulation pipe 43 may be connected to the bottom wall of the plating vessel 4 and the lower sidewall of the plating vessel 4, respectively. When the first circulation pump 44 is operated, the plating solution in the lower portion of the plating tank 4 can be circulated through the first circulation pipe 43, and the plating solution in the lower portion of the plating tank 4 is stirred, so that the plating solution is uniformly distributed, and particularly, the plating solution in the lower portion of the plating tank 4 is uniformly distributed.

In this embodiment, the second circulation assembly includes a second circulation pipe 45 and a second circulation pump 46, one end of the second circulation pipe 45 is connected to the bottom wall of the plating tank 4 or the lower side wall of the plating tank 4, and the other end of the second circulation pipe 45 is connected to the upper side wall of the plating tank 4 or located above the notch of the plating tank 4, specifically, the lower end of the second circulation pipe 45 is connected to the bottom wall of the plating tank 4, and the upper end of the second circulation pipe 45 is connected to the upper side wall of the plating tank 4. The second circulation pump 46 is for driving the plating solution to flow from below to above along the second circulation pipe 45, thereby pumping the plating solution in the lower portion of the plating tank 4 into the upper portion of the plating tank 4. In this way, circulation of the plating solution in the upper portion of the plating tank 4 and the plating solution in the lower portion of the plating tank 4 can be achieved, and further stirring of the plating solution in the entire plating tank 4 is achieved, so that the plating solution in the entire plating tank 4 is uniformly distributed.

In this embodiment, the electroplating tank 4 includes an electroplating reaction tank 41 and a circulation liquid-replenishing tank 42, the electroplating reaction tank 41 is disposed above the circulation liquid-replenishing tank 42, an inner cavity of the electroplating reaction tank 41 corresponds to an upper portion of the electroplating tank 4, an inner cavity of the circulation liquid-replenishing tank 42 corresponds to a lower portion of the electroplating tank 4, the battery piece 2 is electroplated in the inner cavity of the electroplating reaction tank 41, and the electroplating reaction tank 41 and the circulation liquid-replenishing tank 42 are not communicated with each other. The third circulation means includes a third circulation line 47 connected between the plating reaction tank 41 and the circulation replenishment tank 42, and one end of the third circulation line 47 is connected to the upper part of the plating reaction tank 41, and the other end thereof is connected to the upper part of the circulation replenishment tank 42. Under the action of gravity, the plating solution in the upper part of the plating reaction tank 41 can enter the circulating solution replenishing tank 42, and the plating solution in the plating reaction tank 41 can be uniformly distributed by continuously replenishing the plating solution into the plating reaction tank 41. In other embodiments, the third circulation unit may further include a third circulation pump for pumping the processing liquid in the upper portion of the plating reaction tank 41 into the circulation replenishment liquid tank 42. In other embodiments, when the plating reaction tank 41 and the circulation solution-replenishing tank 42 arranged in the vertical direction are communicated with each other, the plating solution in the upper part of the plating reaction tank 41 may be pumped into the circulation solution-replenishing tank 42 by providing a third circulation pump.

In other embodiments, when the cavity of the electroplating reaction tank 41 is not communicated with the cavity of the circulation solution-supplementing tank 42, the electroplating reaction tank 41 and the circulation solution-supplementing tank 42 may not be arranged in the vertical direction, and the first circulation module, the second circulation module and the third circulation module respectively realize the corresponding circulation flow of the treatment solution through the first circulation pump 44, the second circulation pump 46 and the third circulation pump.

In other embodiments, the third circulation assembly is not provided, the plating reaction tank 41 and the circulation fluid-replenishing tank 42 of the plating tank 4 are stacked on top of each other, and the plating reaction tank 41 can be arranged to overflow the circulation fluid-replenishing tank 42 in a unidirectional manner, so that the plating solution in the upper portion of the plating reaction tank 41 continuously replenishes into the plating reaction tank 41 and overflows into the circulation fluid-replenishing tank 42, which also enables the plating solution in the plating reaction tank 41 to achieve dynamic balance and uniform distribution.

The following describes, with reference to the schematic structural diagram of the horizontal electroplating apparatus shown in fig. 16, the specific implementation steps of the electroplating method according to this embodiment by performing horizontal electroplating processing on the battery piece 2 whose front surface and back surface are both plated surfaces:

(1) The mask layers 22 on the front and back surfaces of the battery piece 2 are patterned to form openings, and mask openings 23 are formed on the plated surfaces on both sides. The patterning opening processing is to form a mask opening 23 on the mask layer 22 of the battery piece 2, and form the mask layer 22 with the mask opening 23 into a preset pattern.

(2) Respectively bonding the first end parts 1A of the flexible conductive members 1 at the mask openings 23 of the plated surfaces at two sides, wherein the parts or all of the mask openings 23 on the plated surface at the same side are connected with the flexible conductive members 1; bonding the second end part 1B of the flexible conductive piece 1 to the conductive connecting piece 6 and forming electrical connection with the conductive connecting piece 6; the negative pole of the external power supply 3 is electrically connected to the conductive connecting piece 6, the positive pole of the external power supply 3 is electrically connected with the two electroplating anodes 5 respectively, the upper rollers 72 and the lower rollers 71 of the roller mechanism 7 are matched with each other and used for transmitting the battery piece 2, the roller mechanism 7 is positioned in the electroplating bath 4, the lower rollers 71 are completely immersed in the electroplating solution, more than half of the height of the upper rollers 72 is immersed in the electroplating solution, one electroplating anode 5 is positioned between the two adjacent lower rollers 71, the electroplating working face of the electroplating anode 5 is opposite to the back face of the battery piece 2, the other electroplating anode 5 is positioned between the two adjacent upper rollers 72, and the electroplating working face of the electroplating anode 5 is opposite to the front face of the battery piece 2. The two plating anodes 5 are immersed in or in contact with the plating solution.

(3) The conveying mechanism conveys the battery pieces 2, the conductive connecting pieces 6 and the flexible conductive pieces 1 in the same speed and direction, so that the battery pieces 2 sequentially pass through the surface treatment tank, the electroplating tank, the water washing tank and the blow-drying tank to be subjected to corresponding process treatment.

(4) Shearing the flexible conductive piece 1 at a position between the first end part 1A and the second end part 1B, then vacuum-absorbing the battery piece 2, and applying force to the flexible conductive piece 1 on the battery piece 2 in the opposite direction of being bonded to the battery piece 2, so that the flexible conductive piece 1 is separated from the battery piece 2; and soaking the joint of the second part and the conductive connecting piece 6 by using a glue removing agent or an alkali solution, so that the flexible conductive piece 1 is separated from the conductive connecting piece 6, and simultaneously removing residues adhered to the conductive connecting piece 6.

In the electroplating process, the flexible conductive piece 1 provides electric connection between the battery piece 2 and the conductive connecting piece 6 and the negative electrode of the external power supply 3, metal materials can be electroplated in the mask opening 23 of the battery piece 2, no hard clamping point exists at the connecting position, the problem of splintering or fragments caused by clamping the battery piece by the hard conductive point in the prior art is solved, after electroplating is completed, a preset acting force is applied to the flexible conductive piece 1 bonded at the mask opening 23 of the battery piece 2, the separation of the flexible conductive piece 1 and the battery piece 2 can be completed, deplating treatment is not needed, and the electroplating process is efficient and convenient.

The above embodiments are only for illustrating the technical concept and features of the present invention, and the purpose of the embodiments is to enable people skilled in the art to understand the contents of the present invention and to implement the present invention, which cannot limit the protection scope of the present invention. All equivalent changes and modifications made according to the spirit of the present invention should be covered in the protection scope of the present invention.

Claims

1. A flexible conductive piece is used for electroplating processing of a battery piece, and is characterized in that: the flexible conductive piece is provided with a conductor layer and a conductive adhesive layer arranged on one side of the conductor layer along the thickness direction of the flexible conductive piece, and the conductive adhesive layer at least has an attaching area which is exposed outside and is used for bonding.

2. The flexible conductive member of claim 1, wherein: the flexible conductive piece is also provided with a first film coating layer arranged on the other side of the conductor layer, the first film coating layer covers the whole surface of the other side of the conductor layer, and the first film coating layer is an insulating film layer or a hydrophobic film layer.

3. The flexible conductive member of claim 1, wherein: the flexible conductive piece is also provided with a second film coating layer arranged on the outer side of the conductive adhesive layer, the second film coating layer is an insulating film layer or a hydrophobic film layer, the flexible conductive piece is provided with at least one attaching area, and the parts of the conductive adhesive layer except the attaching area are covered with the second film coating layer.

4. The flexible conductive member of claim 1, wherein: the conductor layer is made of one of copper, aluminum, nickel and stainless steel, or the conductor layer is of a multilayer structure formed by overlapping a plurality of copper, aluminum, nickel and stainless steel along the thickness direction.

5. The flexible conductive member of claim 1, wherein: the conductive adhesive layer is a conductive pressure-sensitive adhesive layer, a conductive heat-sensitive adhesive layer or a non-woven fabric conductive adhesive layer.

6. The flexible conductive member of claim 1, wherein: the flexible conductive piece is in a strip shape or a linear shape, and the attaching areas are arranged at two different ends of the flexible conductive piece in the length direction.

7. The flexible conductive member of claim 1, wherein: the flexible conductive piece is provided with a first end part and a second end part, the outer side surfaces of the conductor layers positioned on the first end part and the second end part are respectively provided with the conductive adhesive layer, and the first end part and the second end part are respectively provided with the attaching area;

or, be located on the first end the lateral surface of conductor layer is provided with conductive adhesive layer, on the second end the lateral surface of conductor layer exposes, be provided with on the first end attached region.

8. A battery cell having a flexible conductive member according to any one of claims 1 to 7 attached thereto, wherein: and a mask opening is arranged on the plated surface of the battery piece, and one end part of the flexible conductive piece is fixedly adhered to the mask opening and is electrically connected with the battery piece.

9. The battery piece of claim 8, wherein: the mask opening comprises a mask opening node, and the flexible conductive member is fixedly bonded to the mask opening node and forms an electrical connection with the battery piece at the mask opening node.

10. The battery piece of claim 8, wherein: the plated surface is provided with a plurality of mask openings, and any one or more of the mask openings are respectively bonded with the flexible conductive piece.

11. The battery piece of claim 8, wherein: the battery piece is horizontally placed, the battery piece is provided with an upward front surface and a downward back surface, the front surface and/or the back surface are/is the plated surfaces, and each plated surface is provided with the mask opening and is connected with the flexible conductive piece.

12. The battery piece of claim 11, wherein: the front surface and the back surface are both the plated surfaces, a mask opening node is arranged on the mask opening, the flexible conductive member is fixedly bonded at the mask opening node and is electrically connected with the battery piece on the mask opening node, wherein the mask opening node on the front surface of the battery piece is actually connected with a first mask opening node of the flexible conductive member, the mask opening node on the back surface of the battery piece is actually connected with a second mask opening node of the flexible conductive member, the first mask opening node and the second mask opening node are arranged close to the same side of the battery piece, and the same side extends along the transmission direction of the battery piece; or the first mask opening node and the second mask opening node are respectively close to two opposite sides of the battery piece, and the two opposite sides extend along the transmission direction of the battery piece.

13. The battery piece of claim 12, wherein: the first mask opening node and the second mask opening node are arranged at an interval on the front side of the battery piece in an orthographic projection manner, or the first mask opening node and the second mask opening node are arranged at an interval on the back side of the battery piece in an orthographic projection manner.

14. The battery piece of claim 12, wherein: the sum of the number of the first mask opening nodes and the number of the second mask opening nodes is greater than 3, the number of the first mask opening nodes and the number of the second mask opening nodes are both greater than 0, and the orthographic projections of the first mask opening nodes and the orthographic projections of the second mask opening nodes on the front surface of the battery piece are arranged in a staggered mode.

15. The battery piece of claim 8, wherein: the flexible conductive piece is provided with a first end part and a second end part, the flexible conductive piece is bent, the second end part is higher than the first end part in the vertical direction, and the first end part is fixedly adhered to the mask opening.