JP2019202311A - Stirring device - Google Patents

Abstract

To provide a method that can solve the problem and the like that processing efficiency remarkably deteriorates in performing a method in which all constituents included in a stirring object are directly put into a high-speed stirring machine.SOLUTION: The stirring device comprises a container and a rotating member that rotates at high speed just inside an inner wall surface of the container, and stirs a stirring object positioned in a film shape between the rotating member and the inner wall surface by centrifugal force generated by the rotating member. The container has a first input port into which powder components constituting the stirring object are put, a second input port into which components including liquid constituting the stirring object are put, and a discharge port through which the stirring object having the powder components and the components including liquid mixed. To the first input port is connected a cylindrical first passage arranged at a center of the container and penetrated from a top plate part of the container toward the inside of the container, and to the second input port is connected a cylindrical second passage arranged adjacent to an outer periphery of the first passage and penetrated from the outside of the container toward the inside of the container.SELECTED DRAWING: Figure 1

Description

  The present invention relates to a stirring device for performing a dispersion treatment, for example, a device used for manufacturing a paint including a battery electrode material.

In addition to power supplies for portable electronic devices, battery demands such as lithium-ion secondary batteries and fuel cells, such as power sources for electric vehicles and the accumulation of power generated by wind and solar power generation facilities, will increase in the future. is expected. Further, there is a demand not only for further improvement of characteristics such as miniaturization, weight reduction, and safety of the battery itself, but also for efficient and low-cost production of batteries having these characteristics.

As an effective means for solving this problem, the inventor of the present application has proposed a method for producing a battery electrode paint or the like using the stirring device system disclosed in Patent Document 1.
The high-speed stirrer included in this stirrer system continuously supplies a stirring object to a high-speed stirrer having a container and a rotating member that rotates at a high speed slightly inside the inner wall surface of the container, and the centrifugal force generated by the rotating member In this state, continuous stirring is performed in a state where a film is present between the rotating member and the inner wall surface.
When the battery electrode coating material is manufactured using this stirring device system, the electrode coating material suitable for improving the performance of the battery can be efficiently manufactured while maintaining high safety of the battery.

However, in the stirrer system, since the stirring target supplied to the high-speed stirrer needs to stir the entire material in advance to average the mixed state, a preliminary stirring step is provided as a previous step.
In the preliminary stirring step, for example, when manufacturing an electrode paint for a lithium ion secondary battery, a stirring object including a plurality of components such as powder, solvent, binder, etc. as an active material is mixed, and the mixed state of the whole material Therefore, it is necessary to perform processing over time using a relatively expensive large apparatus.
For this reason, the method of manufacturing the coating material for battery electrodes using the agitator system has a problem in cost.

As a method for solving this problem, it is effective to adopt a method in which the powder component contained in the object to be stirred is directly put into a high-speed stirrer without going through the preliminary stirring step, and to simplify the apparatus configuration.

International Publication No. WO2012 / 018771

However, when using a method in which all the components contained in the stirring target are directly charged into the high-speed stirrer, the constituents of the stirring target charged in the high-speed stirrer stay in the charging path or in the stirring vessel. There arises a problem that a dama-like lump is generated and the continuous supply of the stirring object is hindered, and the processing efficiency is significantly lowered.
In order to solve this problem, the inventors of the present invention diligently studied and found that the above-mentioned problems can be solved by reviewing the shape and arrangement of the inlets to be stirred by the high-speed stirrer.

Specifically, the stirring device of the present invention includes a container and a rotating member that rotates at a high speed slightly inside the inner wall surface of the container, and the rotating member and the inner wall surface are separated by centrifugal force generated by the rotating member. An agitation apparatus for agitating a stirring object that is present in the form of a film, wherein the container includes a first charging port for charging a powder component that constitutes the stirring object, and a liquid that constitutes the stirring object A second charging port for charging the components, and a discharging port for discharging the stirring target mixed with the powder component and the liquid component; the first charging port is disposed at the center of the container; A cylindrical first path penetrating from the outside toward the inside of the container is connected, and the second charging port is disposed adjacent to the outer periphery of the first path and penetrates from the outside of the container toward the inside of the container. A cylindrical second path is connected (Claim 1).

    Preferably, the rotating member has a cylindrical portion located through a slight gap with respect to the inner wall surface of the container, and has a horizontal portion that rotates horizontally inside the cylindrical portion ( Claim 2). Further, the tip of the first path is closer to the horizontal portion than the tip of the second path (Claim 3). Furthermore, the cylindrical part has a plurality of holes penetrating inward and outward.

In the stirring object to be charged into the stirring device of the present invention, the component containing the liquid preferably contains a solute component, and the average particle size of the solute component is preferably smaller than the average particle size of the powder component.

As described above, the first charging port is disposed at the center of the container, and is connected to the cylindrical first path that penetrates from the top plate portion of the container toward the inside of the container. Is arranged adjacent to the outer periphery of the first path, and when a cylindrical second path that penetrates from the outside of the container to the inside of the container is connected, a component that includes a powder component and a liquid that constitute the stirring object While being divided, it becomes possible to put in a specific place in the stirring vessel at a pinpoint.
This not only solves the problem that the constituent components of the stirring object stay in the charging path and the formation of a lumpy lump in the stirring container, but also the rotating member and the inner wall surface by the centrifugal force of the rotating member. The effect of stirring performed in the state of being present in the form of a film between the two can be further enhanced.

Further, as described above, the rotating member has a cylindrical portion that is positioned with a slight gap with respect to the inner wall surface of the container, and has a horizontal portion that rotates horizontally inside the cylindrical portion. In this case, the powder component put into the stirring vessel is scattered in the horizontal direction by the rotation of the horizontal part before coming into contact with the component containing the liquid, so the mixing of the powder component and the component containing the liquid is in an ideal state. It can be carried out in a state where it is present in the form of a film between the rotating member and the inner wall surface due to the effect of suppressing the retention in the charging path and the generation of a lumpy lump or the centrifugal force of the rotating member The effect of stirring can be further enhanced.

Furthermore, when the tip of the first path is closer to the horizontal part than the tip of the second path, most of the components including the liquid discharged from the tip of the second path are brought into contact with the horizontal part due to contact with the horizontal part. Immediately transferred to the vicinity of the cylindrical portion of the rotating member without scattering in the radial direction (horizontal direction).
Thereby, it becomes possible to further enhance the effect of stirring performed in a state where the stirring target exists in the form of a film between the rotating member and the inner wall surface by the centrifugal force of the rotating member.

Furthermore, since the cylindrical part of the rotating member has a plurality of holes penetrating inward and outward, the mixed stirring object is separated from the inner side of the cylindrical part by the action of centrifugal force by the rotating member. It can be sent directly between the inner wall surface. As a result, the agitation processing is performed in a state where the agitation object is immediately sent between the rotating member and the inner wall surface and the agitation object is present in the form of a film with the powder component and the liquid component introduced as described above. Thus, it is possible to further enhance the effect of the agitation performed in a state where the object to be agitated exists in a film shape between the rotating member and the inner wall surface.

In addition, when the component containing the liquid includes a solute component and the average particle size of the solute component is smaller than the average particle size of the powder component, if the stirring target object including these is processed with a high-speed stirrer, The effect of stirring performed in a state where the stirring target exists in the form of a film between the rotating member and the inner wall surface becomes more prominent.

  Other features and advantages of the present invention will become more apparent from the detailed description given below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

It is a block diagram which shows the stirring apparatus which concerns on this invention. It is a block diagram of the conventional coating material manufacturing apparatus.

Hereinafter, preferred embodiments of the present invention will be specifically described with reference to the drawings.
FIG. 1 is a schematic view showing the internal structure of the stirring device of the present invention. As shown in FIG. 1, the stirring device 1 of the present invention includes a container 2 and a rotating member 7 that rotates at a high speed around a rotating shaft 6 that extends in the vertical direction about the center of the container 2.
The container 2 has a cylindrical inner wall surface 21 and defines a cylindrical space having a predetermined length in the vertical direction. The rotating shaft 6 is rotated at a high speed by a high torque motor (not shown) connected thereto, and the rotating member 7 is also rotated at a high speed.
The rotating member 7 has a cylindrical portion 8 that faces the inner wall surface 21 of the container 2 with a slight gap of about 1 to 10 mm.
A horizontal portion 9 that rotates horizontally is disposed inside the tubular portion 8. The shape of the horizontal portion 9 is a disc shape and is integrally configured so as to be concentric with the cylindrical portion 8. A rotating shaft is connected to the lower surface side of the horizontal portion, and the horizontal portion 9 rotates with the rotating member 7 around the rotating shaft 6 at a high speed.

A first charging port 3 and a second charging port 4 are respectively provided above the top plate of the container 2.
The first input port 3 is disposed on the central axis of the container 2, and the first input port 3 has a cylindrical first path 31 that penetrates from the top of the container 2 toward the lower side of the container 2. Is connected.
The second charging port 4 is disposed adjacent to the outer periphery of the first path 31, and the second charging port 4 penetrates from the top of the container 2 toward the bottom of the container 2. 41.
In the lower part of the container 2, a discharge port 5 for discharging the processed stirring object is provided.

The stirring object 1 is charged into the stirring device 1 separately for a powder component not containing a liquid and a component containing a liquid.
The charging of the powder component not containing the liquid is performed via the first charging port 3, and the charged powder component descends in the first path 31. The tip of the first path 31 extends to the vicinity of the horizontal portion 9 of the rotating member 7 in the container 2, and the charged powder component is located near the center of the horizontal portion 9 of the rotating member 7 from the tip opening of the first path 31. It is discharged towards.
The powder component discharged from the tip of the first path 31 comes into contact with the horizontal portion 9 that rotates at high speed, and is scattered in the radial direction (horizontal direction) of the rotating shaft 6 by its action.

The introduction of the component containing the liquid is performed via the second introduction port 4, and the introduced liquid component descends in the second path 41.
The second path 4 is shorter than the first path 3, and the tip opening inside the container 2 is arranged at a relatively high position in the container 2. Further, immediately below the tip opening inside the container 2 is close to the inner peripheral surface 82 of the cylindrical portion 8 of the rotating member 7.
Thereby, most of the components including the liquid discharged from the front end opening inside the container 2 do not scatter in the radial direction (horizontal direction) of the rotating shaft 6 due to the contact with the horizontal portion 9, and immediately the cylinder of the rotating member 7. It is transferred to the vicinity of the inner peripheral surface 82 of the shaped portion 8.

The components including the powder component and the liquid that have reached the vicinity of the inner peripheral surface 82 of the cylindrical portion 8 of the rotating member 7 are generated by the centrifugal force applied by the cylindrical portion 8 of the rotating member 7 that rotates at high speed. It is transferred to a slight gap between the inner wall surface 21 of the container 2 and the cylindrical portion 8 of the rotating member 7 via a plurality of holes (not shown) penetrating inward and outward.
In a slight gap between the inner wall surface 21 of the container 2 and the outer peripheral surface 81 of the rotating member 7, the stirring target is pressed against the inner wall surface 21 of the container 2 by the action of centrifugal force by the rotating member 7. In the gap between the inner wall surface of the container 2 and a film shape. Furthermore, the stirring object that has been formed into a film turns in the container 2 at a high speed as the rotating member 7 rotates.
At this time, the film-like stirring object continues to receive a strong shearing force between the outer peripheral surface 81 of the rotating rotating member 7 and the inner wall surface of the stationary container 2, and the high level of energy is obtained by the strong energy. Dispersion at is given.
The stirring object processed as described above sequentially descends toward the lower space of the container 2 and is discharged out of the container 2 from the discharge port 5.

Next, the example which applied the stirring apparatus of this invention and the stirring apparatus of the comparative example to manufacture of the coating material for electrodes of a lithium ion secondary battery is demonstrated.

(Example)
In this example, the stirring device of the present invention shown in FIG. 1 was used, and a positive electrode active material for lithium secondary battery (Ni-Co-Mn (NCM)) powder (average particle size 10.5 μm) was used as a powder component. 1 A charging material slurry is charged from the charging port, and a conductive material slurry containing a conductive material (carbon black) and a binder (PVDF) as components containing liquid is charged from the second charging port. It processed, rotating at 25 m / sec.
(Comparative example)
In this comparative example, a stirring device equivalent to Patent Document 1 shown in FIG. 2 was used.
The stirrer of this comparative example has a preliminary stirring tank 100 for mixing a stirring target object to some extent before processing with the high-speed stirrer 300.
The preliminary stirring tank 100 includes a small-diameter stirring blade 102 that rotates at high speed around a vertical rotation shaft 101 and a large-diameter stirring blade 104 that rotates at a low speed around a vertical rotation shaft 103. The material thrown in from 120 and 130 is accumulated, and both stirring blades 102 and 104 are rotated to preliminarily stir the stirring object.
The stirring target object is mixed by rotating the small-diameter stirring blade 102 at a high speed, and the mixing state of the stirring target object is averaged by rotating the large-diameter stirring blade 104.
Next, the stirring object whose mixing state is averaged is transferred to the high-speed stirrer 300 and processed.

The high-speed stirrer 300 includes a container 310 and a rotating member 330 that rotates at a high speed around a rotating shaft 350 that extends in the vertical direction about the center of the container 310.
The container 310 has a substantially cylindrical inner wall surface 311 and defines a cylindrical space having a predetermined length in the vertical direction. The rotating shaft 350 is rotated at a high speed by a high torque motor 351 mounted on the top of the container 310. A material supply port 314 connected to the lower space is provided at the bottom of the container 310, and a stirring object whose mixing state is averaged is supplied from the material supply port 314. A discharge port 315 connected to the upper space is provided in the upper part of the container 310, and the slurry-like stirred material is discharged to the outside.
In this comparative example, after Ni-Co-Mn-based (NCM) active material powder, conductive material (carbon black) and binder (PVDF) used in the examples were pre-stirred at the same blending ratio as in the examples, The process by the high-speed stirring 300 was performed at the same peripheral speed 25m / sec as the Example.

When the coating materials for the electrodes of the lithium ion secondary batteries of the examples and comparative examples produced as described above were compared, the coating materials of the examples suppressed the formation of conductive material aggregates compared to the coating materials of the comparative example. It was confirmed that re-aggregation of the conductive material can be suppressed for a long period of time, and an electrode coating material suitable for a battery that requires extremely high safety can be produced.

  In the above example, the positive electrode active material for lithium secondary battery (Ni-Co-Mn (NCM)) powder is included as a powder component, and the conductive material (carbon black) and binder (PVDF) are included as components including a liquid. Although the conductive material slurry is used, not only these materials but also other active materials and additives can obtain the same effect.

  The stirring device according to the present invention is not limited to the above-described embodiment. The specific configuration of each part of the stirring device according to the present invention can be varied in design in various ways.

DESCRIPTION OF SYMBOLS 1 Stirring apparatus 2 Container 3 1st insertion port 4 2nd insertion port 5 Discharge port 6 Rotating shaft 7 Rotating member 8 Cylindrical part 9 Horizontal part 10 Mechanical seal 21 Inner wall surface 31 1st path | route 41 2nd path | route 81 Outer surface 82 Inside Peripheral surface 100 Pre-stirring tank 101, 103 Rotating shaft 102, 104 Stirring blade 110 Jacket 120, 130 Material hopper 140 Discharge port 150 Pump 200 Storage tank 201 Rotating shaft 202 Stirring blade 210 Jacket 220 Pump 300 High-speed stirrer 310 Container 311 Inner wall surface 314 Material supply port 315 Discharge port 330 Rotating member 350 Rotating shaft 351 High torque motor 410 Discharge path 411 Cooling pipe

Claims (5)

A container and a rotating member that rotates at a high speed slightly inside the inner wall surface of the container, and agitates the stirring target that exists in a film shape between the rotating member and the inner wall surface by centrifugal force generated by the rotating member. A stirring device for
The container includes a first charging port for charging a powder component constituting the stirring target, a second charging port for charging a component including a liquid constituting the stirring target, and a component including the powder component and the liquid. It has a discharge port for discharging the mixed stirring object,
The first charging port is connected to a cylindrical first path that is arranged at the center of the container and penetrates from the outside of the container toward the inside of the container.
A stirrer characterized in that a cylindrical second path that is disposed adjacent to the outer periphery of the first path and penetrates from the outside of the container toward the inside of the container is connected to the second charging port. The rotating member has a cylindrical portion located through a slight gap with respect to the inner wall surface of the container,
The stirring device according to claim 1, further comprising a horizontal portion that rotates horizontally inside the cylindrical portion. The stirrer according to claim 1, wherein a tip end of the first path is closer to the horizontal portion than a tip end of the second path. The stirrer according to any one of claims 1 to 3, wherein the cylindrical part has a plurality of holes penetrating inward and outward. The liquid-containing component includes a solute component,
The stirring device according to any one of claims 1 to 4, wherein an average particle size of the solute component is smaller than an average particle size of the powder component.