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

各种形状和尺寸的碱性电池在许多应用中使用，每年占加拿大市场上销售的所有电池的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。如果这些电池被负责任地回收利用，它们将为农田施肥提供新的来源，节省能源和资源，保护环境，并从垃圾填埋场转移废物。然而，考虑到废电池的数量和种类，自动化系统需要能够通过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过度环境的后果，因为分离的电池类型可以由最好的专业回收商处理，使用专为回收特定电池化学物质而设计的技术。该项目的目标是开发一个工作原型系统，自动将纽扣电池分为可充电和不可充电两类，并出于安全考虑将可充电电池贴在胶带上。与目前的人工流程相比，自动化流程预计将大大提高吞吐量，从而提高效率和生产率。

Alkaline batteries in all shapes and sizes are used in many applications and comprise 78% of all batteries soldinto the Canadian market every year. Alkaline (non-rechargeable) and Lithium-Ion (rechargeable) batteriescontain Zinc and rare Earth metals such as Lithium, Cadmium, and Nickel. If these batteries are recycledresponsibly, they will provide new sources for fertilizing agricultural fields, save energy and resources, protectthe environment, and divert waste from landfills.However, considering the volume and variety of waste batteries, automated systems require the ability to sortthese batteries by chemistry in order to ensure proper recycling. Sorting results in better control overenvironmental outcomes as separated battery types can be processed by the best specialty recyclers usingtechnology designed for recycling specific battery chemistries.The objective in this project is to develop a working prototype system to automatically sort the button cellbatteries 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 andproductivity rates, compared to the current manual process.