KR102171960B1 - Apparatus for producing secondary battery - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a device for manufacturing a secondary battery by stacking cells in a so-called Z-folding method, and a supply unit for supplying a cell to be stacked, a transfer unit for receiving and transporting the cells from the supply unit, and parallel to each other. A stacking unit including a first stack base and a second stack base disposed in a row, wherein the first stack base and the second stack base alternately transfer and stack the cells from the transfer unit, In order to wrap the stacked cell stack, a pair of wrapping portions may be disposed at both ends of the linear reciprocating path of the stacked portion.

Description

Secondary battery manufacturing equipment {APPARATUS FOR PRODUCING SECONDARY BATTERY}

The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing a secondary battery, and to an apparatus for manufacturing a secondary battery by stacking cells in a so-called Z-folding method.

The secondary battery basically includes a negative electrode plate and a positive electrode plate, and a separator interposed therebetween for electrical insulation. Since a plurality of these negative and positive electrodes are required to provide a high-capacity secondary battery, it is necessary to manufacture a cell stack in which the negative and positive plates are repeatedly stacked together with a separator.

An example of a method commonly known as'z-folding' among the methods used for such lamination is disclosed in Patent No. 10-13492056. Here, the cell stack is made by repeating the process of placing a negative plate on the separator, folding the separator, and placing the positive plate on it again.

In this process, since the separator is folded in a zigzag shape or z shape in cross section, the term z-folding is established.In this method, since the speed of supplying each of the cells (cathode plate and positive plate) determines the time required for manufacturing, the cell It is important to improve the speed of their supply.

From this point of view, Patent No. 10-1730469 discloses a technology related to a tilting stage that reciprocates and rotates at an angle about a horizontal axis. However, since the tilting stage employs an exercise device that reciprocates and swings in the left and right directions, there is a limit in increasing the tilting speed as well as energy loss due to inertia.

In addition, when the cell stack is made, it must undergo a subsequent wrapping process, in which the cell stack is wound and fixed several times with a separator. However, since this separator is generally a continuum of the separator used for manufacturing the cell stack, the cells cannot be stacked while the wrapping process is in progress. Therefore, the wrapping process also greatly affects the time required to manufacture the secondary battery.

KR 10-1349205 B1 KR 10-1730469 B1

An object of the present invention is to provide a secondary battery manufacturing apparatus capable of improving the supply speed of cells in a z-folding method.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an apparatus for manufacturing a secondary battery capable of performing a process of wrapping a cell stack more quickly.

Other objects, specific advantages and novel features of the present invention will become more apparent from the following detailed description and preferred embodiments associated with the accompanying drawings.

In order to achieve the above object, the apparatus for manufacturing a secondary battery according to the present invention includes a supply unit for supplying cells to be stacked, a transfer unit for receiving and transporting the cells from the supply unit, and a first A stacking unit including a stack base and a second stack base, wherein the first stack base and the second stack base alternately transfer and stack the cells from the transfer unit, and a cell stack stacked in the stacking unit In order to wrap, it may include a pair of wrapping portions respectively disposed at both ends of the straight reciprocating path of the stacked portion.

In the secondary battery manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, the transfer unit includes a swing plate that is tilted between a first inclined state disposed inclined in one direction and a second inclined state disposed inclined in a direction opposite to the first inclined state, A first swing arm for transferring the cell from the supply unit to the swing plate, and a second swing arm for transferring the cell from the swing plate to the stacking unit may be included. Here, it may further include an alignment unit for detecting the alignment of the cells in the first inclined state or the second inclined state of the swing plate, the cell is 1 in the first inclined state or the second inclined state of the swing plate. It may further include a sensing unit for detecting whether the sheet or two or more sheets.

Meanwhile, in the secondary battery manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, the transfer unit includes a first inclined portion disposed inclined in one direction and a second inclined portion disposed inclined in a direction opposite to the first inclined portion, 2 A conveyor belt running in the direction of an inclined portion, a first swing arm for transferring the cell from the supply portion to the first inclined portion of the conveyor belt, and transferring the cell from the second inclined portion of the conveyor belt to the stacking portion It may also include a second swing arm for doing. Here, it further comprises an alignment unit for detecting the alignment state of the cells in the first inclined portion or the second inclined portion of the conveyor belt, and whether the cell is one in the first inclined portion or the second inclined portion of the conveyor belt It may further include a sensing unit for detecting whether there are two or more. In addition, the conveyor belt may further include a flat portion arranged flatly between the first inclined portion and the second inclined portion, and sensing to detect whether the number of cells is one or more in the flat portion of the conveyor belt. May contain more wealth. In addition, the conveyor belt may selectively attach the cell to the belt surface by vacuum pressure.

In the secondary battery manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention, the transfer unit includes a rotation wheel that includes at least two or more planes connected at an angle along a circumferential direction and can be rotated, and the cell is transferred from the supply unit to the rotation wheel. It may include a first swing arm for transferring to one of the planes of the plane toward the supply part, and a second swing arm for transferring the cell from one plane of the plane of the rotary wheel toward the laminated part to the laminated part. . Here, it may further include an alignment unit for detecting the alignment state of the cells in one of the planes of the rotating wheel, and a sensing unit for detecting whether the cell is one or two or more in one of the planes of the rotating wheel It may include more. In addition, each plane of the rotary wheel may selectively attach the cell to the plane by vacuum pressure.

The apparatus for manufacturing a secondary battery according to the present invention may further include another supply unit and a transfer unit arranged to be symmetrical with the supply unit and the transfer unit with the stacked unit at the center.

According to the present invention, when the conveying unit includes a conveyor belt or a rotating wheel, since it can proceed in only one direction, it is possible to improve the supply speed of cells without a mechanical problem. In addition, when the alignment unit is included, the alignment of cells can be more accurately aligned, and when the detection unit is included, the defect rate can be reduced. Furthermore, when the cells delivered to the conveying unit are not aligned, or when two or more sheets are transferred at once, the cells can be removed through the operation of these conveyor belts or rotating wheels without requiring a separate means.

In addition, according to the present invention, the stacking portion includes a pair of stack bases and the wrapping portion is also provided in pairs, thereby providing a layout capable of simultaneously stacking cells while the wrapping process is in progress, thereby reducing the time required for manufacturing a secondary battery. It can be further shortened.

1 is a plan view conceptually showing an operating state of a first embodiment of an apparatus for manufacturing a secondary battery according to the present invention.
2 is a plan view conceptually showing another operating state of the embodiment of FIG. 1.
3 is a front view conceptually showing the front of the embodiment of FIG. 1.
4 is a front view conceptually showing a transfer unit of a second embodiment of the secondary battery manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.
5 is a front view conceptually showing a transfer unit of a third embodiment of the secondary battery manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.
6 is a front view conceptually showing a transfer unit of a fourth embodiment of the secondary battery manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.
7 is a front view conceptually showing a transfer unit of a fifth embodiment of the secondary battery manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.
8 is a plan view conceptually showing an operating state of the sixth embodiment of the secondary battery manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.
9 is a plan view conceptually showing an operating state of the seventh embodiment of the secondary battery manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention.

Hereinafter, a preferred embodiment of the secondary battery manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention will be described in detail.

1 to 3 are plan and front views, respectively, conceptually showing a first embodiment of an apparatus for manufacturing a secondary battery according to the present invention. As will be described again below, the supply units (100, 100'), the transfer units (200, 210, 220, 200', 210', 220'), and the stacking units (300, 300') are shown to be spatially spaced apart. However, this is because each of the drawings is a conceptual diagram and may actually overlap or overlap. In addition, for convenience of illustration, the first swing arms 210 and 210 ′ and the second swing arms 220 and 220 ′ of the transfer unit are omitted in FIGS. 1 and 2. In FIG. 3, each wrapping part 510 , 520) is not shown. On the other hand, each supply unit and the transfer unit are arranged in the same configuration in a horizontally symmetrical manner, and reference numbers that are distinguished from each other are given by a subscript ('), but for example, the supply unit 100 on the left and the supply unit 100 ′ on the right Are symmetrically arranged as the same configuration, and unless otherwise described below, the same description applies except that even if only one configuration is described, the configuration of the other is symmetric.

The supply unit 100 on the left side of the drawing direction supplies a cell to be stacked, that is, a negative electrode plate or a positive electrode plate to the transfer units 200, 210, 220. The supply unit 100 may supply only one type of a negative electrode plate or a positive electrode plate, and may supply two types alternately. In FIG. 1, it is illustrated that a pair of supply units 100 and 100 ′ is provided. In this case, the supply unit 100 on the left side of the drawing direction may supply the negative plate, and the supply unit 100 ′ on the right side may supply the positive plate.

The transfer unit may include a first swing arm 210, a swing plate 200 and a second swing arm 220. The first swing arm 210 transfers the cell from the supply unit 100 to the swing plate 200 while performing a pendulum movement by an angle A. To this end, the lower end of the first swing arm 210 is provided with a chuck capable of selectively attaching and detaching a cell, such as a vacuum chuck and an electrostatic chuck illustrated in FIG. 2, or a movable jaw or a robot hand. Can be equipped. The swing plate 200 may rotate alternately in a first inclined state and a second inclined state. In the example of FIG. 2, the swing plate 200 is in an inclined state facing the supply unit 100, and if this is the first inclined state, the opposite direction, that is, an inclined state facing the stacking unit 300 (dotted line The second inclined state can be referred to as). The swing plate 200 receives and supports the cell from the first swing arm 210 in the first inclined state, and then rotates by an angle B to transmit the cell to the second swing arm 220 in the second inclined state. The second swing arm 220 is structurally equivalent to the first swing arm 210, receives a cell from the swing plate 200 in a second inclined state, moves a pendulum by an angle C, and then transmits it to the stacking unit 300 do. In this process, the first swing arm 210 and the second swing arm 220 reciprocate only by an angle A and an angle C, respectively, and the swing plate 200 rotates by an angle B. These angles A, B, and C Each value can be selected as needed within a range that the sum is 180 degrees. Of course, each angle value needs to be appropriately selected in order to minimize movement of the cell transferred to the swing plate 200 from the swing plate 200 due to gravity or inertial force due to rotation. Furthermore, the swing plate 200 may also include a chuck, a jaw, or a robot hand so as to selectively fix the cell. In this way, the rotational motion of the first swing arm 210, the swing plate 200, and the second swing arm 220 can obtain a much faster feed rate compared to transporting the cell along a straight line in a single plane.

The stacking unit 300 receives cells through the second swing arm 220 and sequentially stacks them. The stacking part 300 includes a first stack base 310 and a second stack base 320. The first stack base 310 is linearly reciprocated in a first direction that receives cells from each of the transfer units 200, 210, 220, 200', 210', 220', that is, in the direction D in the drawing, and the transfer units 200 and 210 , 220, 200', 210', 220') so that the separator can be folded in a zigzag form together with the cell. The second stack base 320 is structurally equivalent to the first stack base 310, but is disposed to be spaced apart from the first stack base 310 in a second direction perpendicular to the first direction. Meanwhile, the stacking unit 300 may be linearly reciprocated in a second direction, that is, in the direction E of the drawing, through which the first stack base 310 and the second stack base 320 are transferred to each other. , 200', 210', 220') can be transmitted alternately. In this way, the stacking unit 300 is E so that the first stack base 310 and the second stack base 320 can alternately receive cells from the transfer units 200, 210, 220, 200', 210', 220'. Since it is sufficient if it can be movable in the direction, the first stack base 310 and the second stack base 320 may be movable together along the E direction, or may be operated separately.

Wrapping portions 510 and 520 are disposed at both ends of the transfer section along the E direction of the stacking portion 300, respectively. In the state of FIG. 1, while the first stack base 310 receives and stacks cells from the transfer units 200, 210, 220, 200', 210', 220', the second stack base 320 is In contact with the wrapping part 520, a wrapping process for the cell stack already stacked in the second stack base 320 may be performed. As illustrated in FIG. 2, when the stacking part 300 moves downward in the drawing direction, the second stack base 320 is moved to the transfer part 200, 210, 220, 200', 210', 220'. The cells are supplied and stacked in contact with each other, and the first stack base 310 may perform a wrapping process on the already stacked cell stack in contact with the first wrapping part 510. Since the wrapping process is to follow the separator used in the stacking unit 300 as it is and wind the cell stack around it, it is necessary to be arranged in a straight line along the linear reciprocating direction (D direction) of each stack base for each stack base. It is represented in 1 and 2. In this way, since a pair of stack bases are arranged in parallel and are alternately adjacent to the transfer unit and the wrapping unit, while one stack base is stacking cells, the other stack base can be put into the wrapping process, which is required for manufacturing secondary batteries. The overall time can be reduced.

On the other hand, when the swing plate 200 is in the first inclined state, it is determined whether the position and posture of the cell transferred to the swing plate 200 is as predetermined, and the cell other than the predetermined position or posture is placed on the swing plate ( 200) An alignment unit for dropping out or aligning to a predetermined position and posture may be added. To this end, the alignment unit may include a mechanical alignment means formed on the swing plate 200 so as to physically guide the end of the cell for positioning, and a normal position using a light source and a light-receiving sensor. It may also include means for dropping or aligning the cells using detection means or vision inspection by an image from a camera. In the former case, the first swing arm 210 is physically pressed along the stop surface or the inclined surface in the process of transferring the cell to the alignment part of the swing plate 200 to be aligned, and in the latter case, position detection or vision inspection An alignment driving means for actively moving the cell according to the result of may be added to the alignment unit. When there is no alignment driving means, the cells out of the predetermined position and posture can be removed from each swing arm or swing plate, and a detaching driving means for this can be added. The alignment drive means or the drop-off drive means can be easily implemented using a conventional linear reciprocating drive device such as an air cylinder, respectively.

In some cases, two or more cells are transferred at once during the transfer process, and a detector may be additionally provided to prevent this. The detection unit mainly detects whether there is one or two or more cells loaded on the swing plate 200 or the swing arms 210, 220 of the transfer unit, and a function to determine whether other cells are defective is added. It could be. For example, the sensing unit may detect whether the number of cells is one or two by measuring the thickness of the cells loaded on the swing plate 200 using a laser. Alternatively, the detection unit may detect the number of cells by the position detection means or vision inspection mentioned above. Like the alignment unit, the detection unit detects the cells loaded on the swing plate 200 on the first slope of the swing plate 200, or avoids spatial interference with the alignment unit, and the swing plate is in a second slope for more efficient arrangement. It can be made to work in the position of 200. When it is determined by the sensing unit that, for example, two cells are loaded at once, more than one of the cells or all of the cells can be dropped out of the swing plate 200, and a drop-off driving means for this may be added. I can. This drop-off drive means may also be provided as a separate structure having the same structure as the drop-off drive means of the alignment part, but when the alignment part and the detection part are disposed in the same area, one drop-off drive means is provided by the alignment part and the detection part. You can also make it work separately.

4 is a plan view conceptually showing a transfer unit of a second embodiment of the secondary battery manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention. In this example, the configuration of the conveying part is different from that of the first embodiment, in particular, the swing plate 200 of the conveying part is replaced with a conveyor belt 201. The conveyor belt 201 includes a first inclined portion inclined toward the supply unit 100 and a second inclined portion inclined toward the stacking portion 300 in the opposite direction. It can be easily understood that these first and second inclined portions correspond to the first inclined state and the second inclined state of the swing plate 200 of the first embodiment, respectively. Accordingly, the alignment unit or the sensing unit of the previous example may be disposed on the first slope or the second slope, respectively, or may be disposed together on one slope in this embodiment. In the case of the swing plate 200, in general, the driving means must alternately rotate forward and backward, which may lead to structural limitations such as inertia control or a reduction in service life. On the other hand, since the conveyor belt 201 only needs to intermittently move in the direction of the arrow shown in FIG. 4, it is not necessary for the driving means to alternately perform forward and reverse rotation. In addition, the conveyor belt 201 is also preferably a vacuum conveyor belt to selectively fix the cell. That is, a vacuum pressure may be selectively applied to the belt surface so that the cell delivered from the supply unit 100 can be attached to the belt surface. On the other hand, when the conveyor belt 201 of this type replaces the swing plate 200, the cell determined to be removed from the alignment unit or the sensing unit is, for example, the second swing arm 220 at the second slope. If it is left as it is without being transferred, since the cell is separated from the end of the conveyor belt 201 due to the geometrical structure, there is no need to separately provide a drop-off driving means. The characteristics of the conveyor belt 201 may be commonly applied to other embodiments below.

5 is a front view conceptually showing a transfer unit of a third embodiment of the secondary battery manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention. This example differs from the previous second embodiment in that the conveyor belt 202 has a triangular shape when viewed from the front. In this case, each hypotenuse of the triangle corresponds to the first slope and the second slope of the second embodiment.

6 is a front view conceptually showing a transfer unit of a fourth embodiment of the secondary battery manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention. In this example, the conveyor belt 203 differs from the previous embodiments in that it has a trapezoidal shape when viewed from the front. In this form, in addition to having the first inclined portion and the second inclined portion, as in the previous second embodiment, a flat portion disposed between the first inclined portion and the second inclined portion so as to transfer the cell in a flat direction is further included. Are doing. This flat portion can mitigate a sudden change in posture of the cell being conveyed along the conveyor belt 203, and at the same time, can give more margin to the hardware arrangement for realization of the alignment portion or the sensing portion described above. In particular, the alignment portion may be disposed on the first inclined portion and the sensing portion may be disposed on the flat portion.

7 is a front view conceptually showing a transfer unit of a fifth embodiment of the secondary battery manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention. In this example, there is a difference in that the swing plate 200 of the first embodiment is replaced with a rotating wheel 204. The rotating wheel 204 may have a wheel shape including at least two planes arranged at an angle to each other along a circumferential surface. 7 illustrates a shape of a regular hexagon, but it may be transformed into a shape in which a regular polygon of more than a regular triangle or a part of the regular polygon is replaced with an arc. In the state illustrated in FIG. 7, the upper left plane of the rotating wheel 204 corresponds to the first inclined state or the first inclined part of the preceding embodiments, and the upper right plane is the second inclined state or the second inclined part. It is easy to recognize that it corresponds to. In addition, the uppermost plane is shown to be flat, which may correspond to the flat portion of the fourth embodiment. It is apparent that an alignment unit or a sensing unit may be allocated to each plane, and when the number of planes is large, hardware for performing a necessary process or function in addition to the alignment unit or sensing unit may be correspondingly disposed. As in the case of a conveyor belt, the cell that is determined to be removed by the alignment unit or the detection unit will naturally come off while passing through the lower half of the rotary wheel 204, so that the dropping driving means is not required. As in the case of a vacuum conveyor belt, vacuum pressure may be applied to selectively attach each planar cell of the rotary wheel 204.

8 is a plan view conceptually showing an operating state of the sixth embodiment of the secondary battery manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention. The apparatus for manufacturing a secondary battery according to the first embodiment described above is shown, in which the stacking part 300 moves downward so that the first stack base 310 comes into contact with the first wrapping part 510 and the wrapping process proceeds. At the same time, the second stack base 320 is shown as being stacked by receiving cells from the transfer units 200, 210, 220, 200', 210', 220'. At this time, since the second wrapping unit 520 enters the idle mode, it cannot temporarily contribute to the manufacturing process of the secondary battery. Therefore, the supply unit (100, 100'), the transfer unit (200, 210, 220, 200', 210', 220'), another set of secondary battery manufacturing apparatuses 101, 201, having the same configuration as the stacking unit 300, 301, 101', 201') are arranged in parallel with the existing secondary battery manufacturing apparatuses 100, 200, 300, 100', 200', and the stacked portion 301 of the other set of secondary battery manufacturing apparatuses The first stack base 311 may contact the second wrapping portion 520 of the conventional arch battery manufacturing apparatus to perform a wrapping process. At the same time, the second stack base 321 of the stacking unit 301 of the other set of secondary battery manufacturing apparatuses may receive cells from the transfer units 201 and 201 ′ to perform stacking. In short, when several sets of the secondary battery manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention are installed in parallel together, a pair of adjacent sets may share one wrapping part.

9 is a plan view conceptually showing an operating state of the seventh embodiment of the secondary battery manufacturing apparatus according to the present invention. In this example, each of the stack bases 310 and 320 of the stacking unit 300 stacks cells while linearly reciprocating in a direction perpendicular to the direction in which cells are received from the transfer units 200 and 200', that is, in the D direction of the drawing. Are doing. In addition, the entire stacked portion 300 is movable along the E direction parallel to or coincident with the D direction, and wrapping portions 510 and 520 are disposed at both ends of the transport direction along the E direction. That is, in the first embodiment, the first and second directions that are orthogonal to each other with respect to the transport direction between the stacking unit 300 and each of the stack bases 310 and 320 are parallel or coincident in this embodiment. That's it. It is necessary to recall that the wrapping portions 510 and 520 are arranged in a straight line along the direction in which each stack base 310 and 320 is transported to fold the separator (D direction), which is the same principle as the first embodiment. There is. Since each stack base linearly reciprocates in the D direction, the supply unit 100 and the transfer unit 200 on the left and the supply unit 100 ′ and the transfer unit 200 ′ on the right are in the D direction of each stack base 310 and 320 It is also noted that it is offset by the transport distance along the line. It can be seen that such a layout is longer in the vertical direction in the drawing direction than in the first embodiment, but shorter in the left and right direction. Users can select an appropriate layout according to the shape or characteristics of the installation site.

Embodiments of the present invention described above and illustrated in the drawings should not be construed as limiting the technical idea of the present invention. The protection scope of the present invention is limited only by the matters described in the claims, and those of ordinary skill in the technical field of the present invention can improve and change the technical idea of the present invention in various forms. Therefore, such improvements and changes will fall within the scope of the present invention as long as it is apparent to those of ordinary skill in the art.

Claims (15)

A supply unit for supplying cells to be stacked,
A transfer unit for receiving and transferring the cell from the supply unit,
A stacking unit including a first stack base and a second stack base disposed in parallel with each other, wherein the first stack base and the second stack base alternately transfer and stack the cells from the transfer unit;
In order to wrap the cell stack stacked in the stacked portion, a pair of wrapping portions respectively disposed at both ends of the straight reciprocating path of the stacking portion,
The transfer unit,
A rotating wheel that can rotate and includes at least two planes connected at an angle to each other along the circumferential direction,
A first swing arm for transferring the cell from the supply unit to one of the planes of the rotary wheel toward the supply unit,
Secondary battery manufacturing apparatus comprising a second swing arm for transferring the cell from one of the planes of the rotation wheel toward the stacked portion to the stacked portion. The method of claim 1,
Secondary battery manufacturing apparatus further comprising an alignment unit for detecting an alignment state of the cell in one of the planes of the rotating wheel. The method of claim 1,
Secondary battery manufacturing apparatus further comprising a sensing unit for detecting whether the cell is one or two or more in one of the planes of the rotating wheel. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 3,
Secondary battery manufacturing apparatus capable of selectively attaching the cell to the plane by vacuum pressure on each plane of the rotating wheel. The method of claim 1,
Secondary battery manufacturing apparatus further comprising another supply unit and a transfer unit arranged to be symmetrical with the supply unit and the transfer unit with the stacked portion at the center. delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete delete

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