How Fast Can a 21700 Cell Sorting Machine Sort Batteries?

Sorting and testing lithium-ion batteries, especially the popular 21700 form factor, needs to be done quickly and accurately. Used in applications from electric cars to battery storage, the 21700 battery must be sorted electronically to ensure they are defect free and presorted for the best performance. How fast can a 21700 cell sorting machine sort batteries and what factors affect its speed?Machine typeAutomatic 21700 battery sorting machines are faster than semi auto counterpart. Being automatic their sorting action is fully electronic and less time is needed to place the wrong cell in a separate storage bin. Semi-automatic machines are likely just loading cells into the machine.Photoelectric or IR sensor and sorting mechanismThe sorting mechanism itself will affect the speed of the machine; machines using high tech infrared (IR) sensors will quickly identify battery types and defect. This fast detection speeds up sorting by involving fewer idle moments as the machine detects and electrically sorts the cell.Sorted battery size and capacityThe bigger the battery, the longer it is likely to take to sort and place into appropriate storage areas. Larger high speed machines will sort thousands of IR checked cells per hour while smaller machines may only sort a few hundred per hour.The sorting speed reflects how quickly a machine can process batteries without sacrificing accuracy.
Batch Size and Sorting Criteria
The size of the batch being sorted and the criteria for sorting can affect sorting speed. Machines that programmers use to sort according to several properties such as voltage, capacity, and internal resistance tend to take a little longer to check each cell, and vice versa. Some of them may be faster simply by sorting on fewer criteria.
Maintenance and Calibration
A well-maintained machine sifts the batteries automatically and produces less noise because it has no issues. A correctly calibrated and clean machine will run at a higher speed than one that requires maintenance. Cleaning/maintenance will save time since there would be less stoppage from failing machines.
Sorting Speed in Practice
A good quality machine capable of sorting accurately can usually sort 2000 – 5000 cells per hour. If it has a higher throughput and good sophisticated sensors and suchlike, that might go up considerably above such a figure. Some may therefore sort a lower number of cells per hour due to such functions, or due to its being based on sorting small batches as above.
Why Speed Matters
The speed of sorting also means that speedy battery production will take less time to sort out so there is less cost, and so costs of production are lower. If the battery cells are faster to test, they are less likely to find faults since they will weed them out. Weeds are low product quality and people do want good products, not defective batteries.
Conclusion
It seems a tradeoff between being fast and being accurate in battery-sorting, but they tend to find the right balance more with modern machines. On average, a 21700 battery sorting machine should sort somewhere between 2000 – 5000 cells an hour.
The rate will depend on factors one to do with the flux, type, type of use etc. A well accustomed type might be generally near the full range of 5000cph, but others may allow less.
Battery production and sorting by speed means the product should be able to guarantee itself and be cheaper and better quality than other types.