Prototype development for intelligent robotic sorting and taping of button cell batteries

各种形状和大小的碱性电池在许多应用中使用，占每年销售到加拿大市场的所有电池的78%。碱性(不可充电)和锂离子(可充电)电池**含有锌和稀土金属，如锂、镉和镍。如果以负责任的方式**回收这些电池，它们将为农田提供新的肥沃来源，节省能源和资源，保护**环境，并将垃圾从垃圾填埋场分流。**然而，考虑到废旧电池的数量和种类，自动化系统需要**按化学方法对这些电池进行分类**，以确保适当的回收。分类可以更好地控制**环境结果，因为分离的电池类型可以由最好的专业回收商使用**为回收特定电池化学物质而设计的**技术进行处理。**本项目的目标是开发一个工作原型系统，将纽扣电池**自动分类为可充电和不可充电的电池，并出于安全原因将可充电电池胶带。**自动化过程预计将显著增加产量，导致与当前的手动过程相比，效率和**生产率都有所提高。

Alkaline batteries in all shapes and sizes are used in many applications and comprise 78% of all batteries sold**into the Canadian market every year. Alkaline (non-rechargeable) and Lithium-Ion (rechargeable) batteries**contain Zinc and rare Earth metals such as Lithium, Cadmium, and Nickel. If these batteries are recycled**responsibly, they will provide new sources for fertilizing agricultural fields, save energy and resources, protect**the environment, and divert waste from landfills.**However, considering the volume and variety of waste batteries, automated systems require the ability to sort**these batteries by chemistry in order to ensure proper recycling. Sorting results in better control over**environmental outcomes as separated battery types can be processed by the best specialty recyclers using**technology designed for recycling specific battery chemistries.**The objective in this project is to develop a working prototype system to automatically sort the button cell**batteries into rechargeable and non-rechargeable streams and tape the rechargeable batteries for safety reasons.**The automated process is expected to considerably increase the throughput, causing increased efficiency and**productivity rates, compared to the current manual process.