KR102482925B1 - Cell stack manufacturing device for secondary batteries - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention provides a cell stack manufacturing device for a secondary battery, wherein separation plates and electrode plates are alternately stacked at a high speed in a precise way. The cell stack manufacturing device of the present invention comprises: a moving transfer unit (100) arranged to supply and stack separators (1) in a zigzag form on a stacking table (110); a conveyor unit (200) arranged to transfer the electrode plates (2) to a pick-up waiting position; an aligned vision inspection unit (300) having a pair of vision cameras (320) disposed to be spaced apart from each other to detect position information on the electrode plates (2) such that two adjacent corner portions of four corner portions of the electrode plate (2) that arrives at the pick-up waiting position by means of the conveyor unit(200) is photographed; a multi-axial robot arm (400) having a pick-up clamp (410) to pick up the electrode plate (2) on the conveyor unit (200) and transfer the same between the separators (1); and a correction module (500) arranged to correct a placement error value of the electrode plate (2) calculated from the position information on the electrode plate detected by the aligned vision inspection unit (300) by controlling movement and an angular motion of the multi-axial robot arm (400). According to the present invention, the structure is improved such that the placement error value can be detected while the electrode plate placed on the conveyor unit waits for pick-up and the placement error value can be corrected while the electrode plate is picked up by the robot arm, thereby greatly saving the stacking time of the electrode plates.

Description

Cell stack manufacturing device for secondary batteries {Cell stack manufacturing device for secondary batteries}

The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing a cell stack for a secondary battery, and more specifically, to an apparatus for manufacturing a cell stack for a secondary battery capable of alternately stacking a separator plate and an electrode plate at high speed and precision.

In general, secondary batteries can be reused through repeated charging and discharging, and are widely applied to various technical fields throughout the industry. For example, secondary batteries are widely used as energy sources for advanced electronic devices such as wireless mobile devices, It is attracting attention as an energy source such as hybrid electric vehicles, which are proposed as a way to solve air pollution from existing gasoline and diesel internal combustion engines using fossil fuels.

Secondary batteries are classified into a stack type structure, a winding type (jelly roll type) structure, a stack/folding type structure, etc. according to the structure of the electrode assembly. Among them, the Z-stacking method has a separator in a zigzag pattern It forms a folded form, and is stacked in a form in which negative electrode plates and positive electrode plates are alternately inserted between separators.

Looking at this Z-stacking method, in Registered Patent No. 10-2383177, a first magazine for loading negative plates; a second magazine for loading the positive plate; a first electrode plate loading device that picks up the negative plates loaded in the first magazine and transfers them to a stack table so that alignment correction is simultaneously performed during stacking; a second electrode plate loading device that corrects the alignment of the positive electrode plates loaded in the second magazine to the stack table during transfer and stacking; a stack table on which negative plates and positive plates are alternately stacked; and a separator sweep roller unit supplying separators so that the separators are alternately stacked between the negative electrode plate and the positive electrode plate on the top of the stack table.

In addition, in Patent Registration No. 10-1956758, which is another prior art, the first and second magazines for loading the positive and negative plates, respectively, the first electrode transfer for transferring the positive and negative plates loaded in the first and second magazines, respectively, 1st align table, 2nd align table, 1st align table, 1st align table, 1st align table, 1st align table, 2nd electrode transfer, 1st align table, 2nd align table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 2nd electrode transfer, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 1st alignment table, 2nd electrode transfer The positive and negative plates on the in-table and the second align table are alternately transferred to the stacking tilting table while being repeatedly rotated at a certain angle in both directions around an axis perpendicular to the ground. The positive and negative plates are sequentially placed on the separator on the tilting table. A technology including a stacked anode transfer unit and cathode transfer unit has been pre-registered.

However, the prior art attempts to alternately stack the negative plate and the positive plate in place, but due to the nature of alternately inserting the negative plate and the positive plate, the loading structure is complicated and heavy, so high-speed operation is impossible, so there is a problem in that productivity improvement is limited. there is.

KR 10-2383177 B1 (2022.04.01.) KR 10-1956758 B1 (2019.03.05.)

In the present invention, a new technology has been invented to solve all the problems of the prior art, and a placement error value is detected during the process of preparing for pick-up of the electrode plate transported on the conveyor unit, and the electrode plate is placed during the process of being picked up by the robot arm. It is an object to be solved by the present invention to provide a cell stack manufacturing apparatus for a secondary battery capable of high-speed operation by improving the structure so that the error value is corrected and greatly reducing the alignment pick-up time of the electrode plate to within 0.5 seconds.

In addition, although not separately described, other objects within the scope that can be inferred in view of the specific contents and claims for carrying out the invention below are also included in the overall task of the present invention.

As a specific means for solving the above problems of the present invention, in the present invention, a cell stack manufacturing apparatus for a secondary battery is configured, but a moving transfer unit provided to stack and supply the separator 1 in a zigzag form on the stacking table 110 ( 100); Conveyor units 200 disposed on both sides of the stacking table 110 and intermittently transporting the electrode plate 2 to a pick-up preparation position; Vision cameras are formed on both sides of the conveyor unit 200 and are spaced apart as a pair to photograph two adjacent corner areas among the four corners of the electrode plate 2 that have reached the pick-up preparation position by the conveyor unit 200. an alignment vision inspection unit 300 provided with 320 to detect positional information of the electrode plate 2; A multi-axis robot arm 400 equipped with a pick-up clamp 410 for vacuum adsorbing the electrode plate 2 to pick up the electrode plate 2 on the conveyor unit 200 and transfer it between the separators 1; and correcting the placement error value of the electrode plate 2 calculated through the positional information of the electrode plate detected by the alignment vision inspection unit 300 in a manner of controlling the movement and angular motion of the multi-axis robot arm 400. It is characterized in that it comprises a; correction module 500.

In addition, the multi-axis robot arm 400 angularly moves around two or more transverse axes, and the transverse axis connected to the pick-up clamp 410 moves in the vertical (Z-axis) direction to move the pick-up clamp 410 in the vertical direction It is characterized in that it is configured to.

In addition, the correction module 500 aligns the pick-up clamp 410 to have the same twist angle as the electrode plate 2 right before the pick-up clamp 410 picks up the electrode plate 2, and the pick-up clamp 410 ) is characterized in that it is provided so that the electrode plate 2 moves to the stacking table 110 by angular movement around a horizontal axis connected to the pickup clamp 410 and returns to the original position.

The alignment vision inspection unit 300 further includes a light output unit 310 disposed on the opposite side of the vision camera 320 with respect to the conveyor unit 200 and outputting a light source toward the vision camera 320, The transfer belt of the conveyor unit 200 is formed to be narrower than the width of the electrode plate 2 so that the end portion of the electrode plate 2 in the width direction is exposed to the outside of the conveyor unit 200.

According to the specific means for solving the above problems, the present invention detects a placement error value during the process of preparing for pick-up of the electrode plate transported on the conveyor unit, and arranges the arrangement of the electrode plate during the process of picking up the electrode plate by the robot arm. Due to the improved structure, there is an advantage in that high-speed operation is possible while the alignment pick-up time of the electrode plate is greatly reduced to within 0.5 seconds.

Therefore, a separate alignment configuration for correcting an electrode plate placement error is omitted, thereby significantly reducing manufacturing cost and miniaturizing the device.

1 is an overall perspective view showing a preferred embodiment of an apparatus for manufacturing a cell stack for a secondary battery provided by the present invention.
2 is an enlarged longitudinal cross-sectional view of a main part of an apparatus for manufacturing a cell stack for a secondary battery according to an embodiment of the present invention.
3 is an enlarged perspective view illustrating a main part of a cell stack manufacturing apparatus for a secondary battery;
4 is a configuration diagram showing a state in which an electrode plate pick-up position is corrected by a correction module of a cell stack manufacturing apparatus for a secondary battery;
5 is a configuration diagram showing an operating state of a moving transfer unit of a cell stack manufacturing apparatus for a secondary battery;
6 is a photograph showing a state in which a separator plate and an electrode plate are laminated using a cell stack manufacturing apparatus for a secondary battery in stages.
7 is a configuration diagram schematically illustrating a state in which a separator plate and an electrode plate are laminated using a cell stack manufacturing apparatus for a secondary battery;

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in more detail according to specific embodiments of the accompanying drawings. Technical terms used in this specification are terms selected in consideration of functions in embodiments, and the meanings of the terms may vary depending on specific embodiments of the invention. And throughout the specification, when a part is said to be "connected" to another part, this includes not only the case of being "directly connected" but also the case of being "indirectly connected" with another member interposed therebetween. do.

In addition, expressions indicating directions such as "up, down, front, back" used in the following description are defined based on the drawings, and the shape and position of each component are not limited by these terms.

1 is an overall perspective view showing a preferred embodiment of an apparatus for manufacturing a cell stack for a secondary battery provided by the present invention, and FIG. 2 is an enlarged view of a main part of a manufacturing apparatus for a cell stack for a secondary battery according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a longitudinal section.

The present invention relates to a cell stack manufacturing apparatus for a secondary battery capable of high-speed operation while significantly reducing the time for sorting and picking up electrode plates, in which a placement error value is detected while an electrode plate is being prepared for pick-up on a conveyor, and the electrode plate is a robot arm. The structure is improved so that the placement error value is corrected during the process of being picked up by, and as shown, the moving transfer unit 100, the conveyor unit 200, the alignment vision inspection unit 300, the multi-axis robot arm 400, and the correction It consists of a main component including the module 500.

First, the moving transfer unit 100 according to the present invention is provided to stack and supply the separator 1 on the stacking table 110 in a zigzag form.

On the stacking table 110, positive and negative materials are alternately stacked, and at this time, the separator 1 is supplied between the positive and negative materials in a zigzag form to form a cell stack with a predetermined height.

The moving transfer unit 100 is disposed on both sides of the z-axis driving unit 120 for controlling the vertical movement of the stacking table 110 and the stacking table 110, and is moved in the vertical and horizontal directions by the driving unit to stack the table ( The stacking clamp 130 for alternately clamping both ends of the separation membrane 1 stacked on the 110) and the stacking table 110 are installed on top of each other, and the separation membrane 1 is stacked and supplied in a zigzag form while linearly reciprocating in the transverse direction. It includes a moving transfer 140 equipped with a feeding roller 141 and a feeding guide 142 to do so.

At this time, the height of the stacking table 110 is adjusted in the vertical direction by the z-axis driving unit 120 installed at the bottom as shown in FIG. 2 . For example, the height at which the electrode plate 2 is seated may be maintained constant while being intermittently moved downward by the z-axis driving unit 120 in association with the number of layers of the separator 1 and the electrode plate 2 stacked.

Further, in the stacking table 110, after the separator 1 and the electrode plate 2 are stacked in a set number of layers and transported upward after manufacturing the cell stack for secondary batteries is completed, cells for secondary batteries are separated by a separate unloading unit. The stack is provided to be discharged.

The moving transfer 140 is linearly reciprocated in the transverse direction by the driving unit, and the separation membrane 1 is forcibly supplied through the feeding roller 141, and the separation membrane 1 supplied in this way is moved between a pair of feeding guides 142. It is stacked in a zigzag direction on the upper surface of the stacking table 110 via.

The stacking clamps 130 are spaced apart from each other on both sides of the stacking table 110 and alternately pressurize the edge regions of the separators 1 stacked in a zigzag pattern so that the separators 1 are precisely folded to a certain width.

That is, the stacking clamp 130 is provided to press the separator 1 when the moving transfer 140 linearly reciprocates in the horizontal direction and changes direction.

Conveyor units 200 according to the present invention are disposed on both sides of the stacking table 110 and are provided to intermittently transfer the electrode plates 2 one by one to a pick-up preparation position.

Here, the pick-up preparation position means that when the conveyor unit 200 is temporarily stopped, the electrode plate 2 on the front side of the conveyor unit 200 is in the correct position within the operation area of the multi-axis robot arm 400 to be described later for pickup. means that there is

The conveyor unit 200 is intermittently transported by a servo motor or is provided to stop the electrode plate 2 at a pick-up preparation position in a manner in which the electrode plate 2 is sensed by a sensor.

3 is an enlarged perspective view showing a main part of a cell stack manufacturing apparatus for a secondary battery. The alignment vision inspection unit 300 according to the present invention is formed on both sides of the conveyor unit 200, and based on the coordinates of the two corners of the electrode plate 2 that has reached the pick-up preparation position by riding the conveyor unit 200 This is a configuration for detecting the positional information of the electrode plate 2.

To this end, the alignment vision inspection unit 300 detects the position value of the electrode plate 2 by photographing two corner areas at the top or bottom of the electrode plate 2 that has reached the pick-up preparation position by riding the conveyor unit 200. It includes a vision camera 320 and a light output unit 310 that is disposed on the opposite side of the vision camera 320 with respect to the conveyor unit 200 and outputs a light source toward the vision camera 320.

Here, the vision camera 320 is spaced apart as a pair in order to photograph two adjacent corner areas among the four corners of the electrode plate 2, and the electrodes stand by at the pick-up preparation position using the coordinate values of the two photographed corners. Positional information of the plate 2 is detected.

In order to photograph the edge of the electrode plate 2 with the vision camera 320, the conveyor belt of the conveyor unit 200 must be formed in a narrow size compared to the width of the electrode plate 2, and thus the end of the electrode plate 2 in the width direction. is exposed to the outside of the conveyor unit 200.

In addition, a transparent plate containing glass is installed at a position corresponding vertically to the end of the electrode plate 2 exposed to the outside of the conveyor unit 200, and the optical output unit 310 and the vision camera ( 320) is placed. Accordingly, the electrode plate 2 is provided so that the two corner areas can be photographed by the vision camera 320 without a separate position movement while being seated on the conveyor unit 200 .

In addition, the corner coordinates detected through the alignment vision inspection unit 300 are transmitted to a correction module 500 to be described later to correct an error in the arrangement (arrangement) of the electrode plate 2, which will be described in detail later. See the description of the correction module 500.

The multi-axis robot arm 400 according to the present invention performs angular motion around two or more transverse axes, picks up the electrode plate 2 on the conveyor unit 200, and transfers the electrode plate 2 between the separators 1 A pickup clamp 410 for vacuum adsorption is provided.

Referring to the enlarged view of FIG. 1, the robot arm 400 makes an angular motion around three horizontal axes (①, ②, ③ axes), and the ③ axis connected to the pick-up clamp 410 is the pick-up clamp 410 ) angular movement and additional movement in the vertical (Z-axis) direction to control the pickup clamp 410 to be movable in the vertical direction.

The pickup clamp 410 is provided with a flat suction plate 412 whose thickness is reduced toward the inner end, and a plurality of fine air holes are formed at the bottom to clamp the upper surface of the electrode plate 2 in a vacuum suction method. .

In addition, the suction plate 412 has a clamping groove 414 formed at an inner end corresponding to the stacking clamp 130 .

As shown in the enlarged view of FIG. 5(b) showing the operating state of the moving transfer unit, the clamping groove 414 is a stacking clamp ( 130) is a configuration for firmly clamping the separator 1 and the electrode plate 2 without interfering with the suction plate 412 by entering the stacking clamp 130 between the clamping grooves 414 when the clamping operation is performed.

4 is a configuration diagram showing a state in which the electrode plate pick-up position is corrected by a correction module of a cell stack manufacturing apparatus for a secondary battery, and the correction module 500 according to the present invention is an error value calculated by the alignment vision inspection unit 300. Equipped to correct the placement error value of the electrode plate 2 by controlling the movement and angular movement of the multi-axis robot arm 400 using do. Here, the correction module 500 may be included in a controller (server, control box).

The arrangement error value may mean a twist angle of one side of the electrode plate from a reference line (x-axis or y-axis).

Looking at the process of aligning the electrode plate 2 by the correction module 500, as shown in FIG. 4 (a), the position value of the electrode plate 2 detected through the alignment vision inspection unit 300 is calculated with the reference value. Therefore, when the error value is -2°, the pickup clamp 410 is moved to the upper part of the electrode plate 2 as shown in FIG. 4 (b).

And right before clamping, the pickup clamp 410 is aligned to have the same arrangement or direction as the electrode plate, and as shown in FIG. It is calibrated at the same arrangement angle as (2), and the electrode plate 2 is clamped in this state. Thereafter, while the electrode plate 2 is moved to the stacking table 110, the pick-up clamp 410 returns +2° around the axis ③ to correct the twisted angle of the electrode plate 2 to the correct position, and the electrode plate ( 2) is unclamped and stacked.

That is, immediately before picking up the warped electrode plate 2, the pickup clamp 410 is aligned to have the same twist angle as the electrode plate, and then vacuum adsorption is performed.

Accordingly, the alignment pick-up time of the electrode plate 2 is greatly reduced to within 0.5 seconds, enabling high-speed operation, and a separate alignment configuration for correcting the placement error of the electrode plate 2 is omitted, thereby significantly reducing manufacturing costs. In addition, there is an advantage that compactness of the device can be promoted.

On the other hand, the alignment of the electrode plate 2 by the correction module 500 is not limited to twist angle correction, and the alignment vision inspection unit 300 recognizes the position of the electrode plate 2 as coordinate values to obtain x, y A configuration for correcting the axial position is also possible.

6 and 7 are photographs and drawings showing a state in which a separator plate and an electrode plate are stacked step by step using the cell stack manufacturing apparatus for a secondary battery, through which the electrode plate 2 by the multi-axis robot arm 400 Describe pickup operation status.

As shown in FIGS. 6 (a) and 7 (a), after the moving transfer 140 is transferred to one side and the separator 1 is loaded in the horizontal direction on the stacking table 110, FIGS. 6 (b) to As shown in FIG. 7 (b), when the electrode plate 2 is stacked on the upper surface of the separator 1 by the pick-up clamp 410 on one side, the direction of the moving transfer 140 is changed to the other side as shown in FIG. 7 (c) After moving by a predetermined distance, the stacking clamp 130 on one side of the stacking table 110 clamps the separator 1 and the electrode plate 2 in the area corresponding to the clamping groove 414, and the moving transfer ( 140) is moved and the separator 1 is stacked on the electrode plate 2 as shown in FIGS. 6 (c) and 7 (d), and this operation is repeatedly performed to form a multi-layer separator It is provided so as to be continuously laminated.

A stack vision inspection unit 600 is provided above the stacking table 110 to monitor whether the stacking state of the separator 1 and the electrode plate 2 is stacked within a set error range through the above process.

In addition, the stack vision inspection unit 600 photographs the stacking table 110 by a vision camera and analyzes the photographed image to separate the separator 1 and the electrode plate 2 at each timing when the separator 1 and the electrode plate 2 are stacked. ) and the electrode plate 2 may be detected to detect stacking defects.

In the cell stack manufacturing apparatus for a secondary battery configured as described above, the operation process of the conveyor unit and the multi-axis robot arm on either side is summarized in the following order.

1) The conveyor part transfers the electrode plate to the pick-up preparation position and then pauses

2) Detecting the location information of the electrode plate by recognizing the coordinates of the two corners of the electrode plate with a vision camera

3) Transmit corner coordinates to correction module

4) After the pickup clamp of the multi-axis robot arm moves to the top of the electrode plate, the correction module aligns the pickup clamp in the same arrangement as the electrode plate.

5) Pick up the electrode plate with the pick-up clamp

6) While the pick-up clamp is moving on the stacking table, align the pick-up clamp in place

7) Unloading the electrode plate on the stacking table and operating the conveyor

After the operation of step 7 is completed, the same operation is performed on the opposite side, and the left and right cycles are alternately and repeatedly performed to manufacture a cell stack for a secondary battery.

As described above, the most preferred embodiment of the present invention has been described in the detailed description of the present invention, but various modifications may be made within a range that does not depart from the technical scope of the present invention. Therefore, the scope of protection of the present invention should not be limited to the above embodiments, but the scope of protection should be recognized from the techniques of the claims to be described later and from these techniques to equivalent technical means.

1: separator 2: electrode plate
100: moving transfer unit
110: stacking table 120: z-axis drive unit
130: stacking clamp 140: moving transfer
141: feeding roller 142: feeding guide
200: conveyor unit
300: alignment vision inspection unit
310: optical output unit 320: vision camera
400: multi-axis robot arm
410: pickup clamp 412: suction plate 414: clamping groove
500: correction module 600: stack vision inspection unit

Claims (6)

a moving transfer unit 100 provided to stack and supply the separator 1 on the stacking table 110 in a zigzag pattern;
Conveyor units 200 disposed on both sides of the stacking table 110 and intermittently transporting the electrode plate 2 to a pick-up preparation position;
Vision cameras are formed on both sides of the conveyor unit 200 and are spaced apart as a pair to photograph two adjacent corner areas among the four corners of the electrode plate 2 that have reached the pick-up preparation position by the conveyor unit 200. an alignment vision inspection unit 300 provided with 320 and detecting positional information of the electrode plate 2;
The pickup clamp 410 for vacuum adsorbing the electrode plate 2 to pick up the electrode plate 2 on the conveyor unit 200 and transfer it between the separators 1 multi-axis robot arm 400 having an angular movement around the horizontal axis ); and
Equipped to correct the placement error value of the electrode plate 2 calculated through the position information of the electrode plate detected by the alignment vision inspection unit 300 by controlling the movement and angular motion of the multi-axis robot arm 400 Including; correction module 500;
The correction module 500 aligns the pick-up clamp 410 to have the same twist angle as the electrode plate 2 right before the pick-up clamp 410 picks up the electrode plate 2,
The pick-up clamp 410 is provided so that the electrode plate 2 moves to the stacking table 110 by angular movement around a transverse axis connected to the pick-up clamp 410 and returns to the original position. Secondary, characterized in that Cell stack manufacturing equipment for batteries.
According to claim 1,
The moving transfer unit 100,
A z-axis driving unit 120 for controlling vertical movement of the stacking table 110;
Stacking clamps 130 disposed on both sides of the stacking table 110 and alternately clamping ends of both sides of the separator 1 stacked on the stacking table 110 while being moved vertically and horizontally by a driving unit;
A moving transfer 140 equipped with a feeding roller 141 and a feeding guide 142 is installed on the stacking table 110 to stack and supply the separator 1 in a zigzag form while linearly reciprocating in the transverse direction. A cell stack manufacturing apparatus for a secondary battery, characterized in that for.
According to claim 1,
The multi-axis robot arm 400 angularly moves around two or more horizontal axes, and the horizontal axis connected to the pickup clamp 410 moves in the vertical (Z-axis) direction to move the pickup clamp 410 in the vertical direction. Cell stack manufacturing apparatus for a secondary battery, characterized in that.
According to claim 1,
The alignment vision inspection unit 300,
Further comprising a light output unit 310 disposed on the opposite side of the vision camera 320 based on the conveyor unit 200 and outputting a light source toward the vision camera 320,
The conveyor belt of the conveyor unit 200 is formed in a narrow size compared to the width of the electrode plate 2, so that the end of the electrode plate 2 in the width direction is exposed to the outside of the conveyor unit 200, characterized in that the cell stack for a secondary battery manufacturing device.
According to claim 2,
The pick-up clamp 410 of the multi-axis robot arm 400 has a reduced thickness toward one end, and a suction plate 412 having a plurality of fine air holes is formed at the bottom thereof, and the upper surface of the electrode plate 2 is vacuum-adsorbed. clamped with
The suction plate 412 is a cell stack manufacturing apparatus for a secondary battery, characterized in that a clamping groove 414 is formed at an inner end corresponding to the stacking clamp 130.
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