Battery plate cutter system and method

An apparatus for cutting plates from a continuous strip of a plurality of connected grids comprising:

• a rotatable cutter having an axis of rotation and at least two cutter blades with a cutting edge and the cutting edges of the blades equally circumferentially spaced apart and extending substantially parallel to the axis of rotation;
• an anvil rotatable about an axis of rotation parallel to the axis of rotation of the cutter;
• a conveyor for moving at least a portion of a continuous strip of a plurality of battery grids connected together toward the cutter and anvil;
• a first servo motor operably connected with the conveyor for powering the conveyor to advance the continuous strip toward the cutter and anvil;
• a second servo motor operably connected with the cutter for rotating the cutter blades in cooperation with the anvil to cut in a nip between each blade and the anvil a plate from the continuous strip of connected grids;
• a lug sensor upstream of the cutter and configured to provide an electric signal indicative of each lug of a grid of the continuous strip that is moved by the conveyor past the lug sensor;
• a blade sensor or encorder to provide a blade home electric signal indicative of the circumferential or angular location of a cutter blade;
• and
• an electronic controller including a processor, the controller using signals from the lug sensor to control the first servo motor to drive the conveyor to move at least a portion of the continuous strip received on the conveyor at essentially a predetermined longitudinal speed toward the cutter and anvil and controlling the second servo motor to rotate the cutter so that the cutting edge of each cutter blade as it moves through the nip between the cutting edge of such blade and the anvil to cut a plate from the continuous grid has a tangential speed which is essentially the same as the tangential speed of the portion of the continuous strip being moved by the conveyor past the lug sensor and toward the cutter, and the controller using the lug sensor signal and the blade home electric signal to determine whether a blade will cut a plate from the continuous strip in a desired location and if not accelerates or decelerates the second servo motor to cause the cutter blades to cut the continuous strip in essentially the desired location.