Patent CN215451487U - Lab Sealer with Quick-Change Die

Making a research sample is not the same job as making a production cell. A laboratory battery sealing machine works on small batches of experimental materials - often inside a glove box - and it has to adapt every time the sample changes. The specification describes the prior art candidly: the sealing devices on laboratory sealers were many and varied, and sealing a different kind of battery meant detaching and re-installing the matching die sealing groove, an operation it calls inconvenient and troublesome.

CN215451487U removes that chore. The upper sealing die is held by a threaded tenon locked with a pin, so it can be unscrewed and swapped in moments; the lower-die holder rides on a sliding plate and pulls out along rails for installation and cleaning; and a support device protects the sliding plate when the press works at high force.

Patent Information

The Production Problem This Patent Solves

Every sample type brings its own die. A laboratory sealer is used to make research and development samples of battery materials. Different battery types need different die sealing grooves, so a machine that cannot change dies quickly spends most of its time being re-tooled instead of sealing.

Changeover and cleaning are fiddly. The die groove must be detached and re-installed by hand, and a sealing die that cannot be pulled out of the machine is hard to clean properly between runs.

Laboratory presses must survive real pressing forces. Sealing samples still requires force, and the specification warns that excessive pressure can damage a sliding plate or even crack it. The patent answers all three points: quick die change, a slide-out lower-die station, and a support device that takes up the load.

How the Mechanism Works

The machine is built as a small press on a machine base, with the die station on a slide in front of the ram and the pressure controls on the body below. Figure 1 shows the overall structure; Figure 2 enlarges part A of the press area; Figure 3 shows the support device; Figures 4 and 5 show how the upper and lower dies are mounted.

Press frame and ram

A support column is fixed above the machine base, and a stamping workbench is movably connected on top of the column through a bolt. A stamping column hangs from the bottom of the workbench and carries the upper sealing die. Below the base sits the machine body: its front face carries the pressure gauge and the pressure regulating valve, and its right side carries the press switch seat with the press lever. A drawer with a handle is fitted to the body for storing sealing dies.

Quick-change upper sealing die

The lower end of the stamping column has a cylindrical hole with an internal thread. The upper sealing die carries a cylindrical protrusion with an external thread on its top. The die is screwed into the column, and both parts have aligned round holes through which a cylindrical pin is inserted. The pin locks the thread joint against loosening or turning during pressing. To change the die, the operator withdraws the pin and unscrews the die - the specification states that this is what makes the upper sealing die replaceable and easy to disassemble.

Slide-out lower-die station

Above the machine base sits the support device; on top of it runs a sliding plate mounted on rails, and the rails are carried by a support frame that passes through the support column and shares part of the pressing load. The lower die fixing device - a circular protrusion with a ring groove that receives the hollow cylinder on the underside of the lower sealing die - is mounted on the sliding plate. A slide-block bolt on the support frame travels in a small groove to limit and locate the sliding plate. Because the whole lower-die holder sits on a slide, it can be pulled out along the plate for die installation and cleaning.

Support device under the slide

The support device is made of a support plate and four support columns whose lower ends are embedded in the machine base. Together with the support frame that passes through the support column, it takes up part of the pressing force. The specification attributes to this arrangement the prevention of slide plate damage or cracking under excessive pressure.

Operation sequence as published

The experimenter watches the pressure gauge and adjusts the regulating valve to the pressure prescribed by the experiment. The hollow cylinder of the lower sealing die is seated into the ring groove of the circular protrusion on the sliding plate, and the upper sealing die is screwed onto the stamping column and locked with the cylindrical pin. The battery material to be sealed is placed on the lower die, and pressing down the press lever completes the seal.

Claimed Benefits

How It Compares with Fixed-Die Laboratory Sealers

Different battery sample types need different sealing dies. A sealer whose die cannot be changed quickly spends most of its time being re-tooled instead of sealing - the exact problem this patent removes.

Where This Technology Is Used Today

This patent covers the quick-change die architecture of TOB's laboratory battery sealing equipment - the same workstation family used to crimp and seal research coin cells and sample cells with dies that swap in seconds.

• Laboratory battery sealing / crimping machines
• Glove-box and dry-room lab equipment

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Frequently Asked Questions

Full specification and drawings: CN215451487U on Google Patents