KR20230107063A - Apparatus and metohd for manufacturing electrode assembly - Google Patents

Abstract

An apparatus for manufacturing an electrode assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention is an apparatus for manufacturing an electrode assembly by stacking unit cells including at least one electrode and at least one separator, wherein a plurality of the unit cells are stacked A transfer unit for taking out and transferring the unit cell from the loading unit, wherein the transfer unit includes an adsorption unit for adsorbing the unit cell, and a sensor unit for detecting the number of unit cells adsorbed by the adsorption unit. The sensor unit includes an inductive sensor.

Description

Electrode assembly manufacturing apparatus and manufacturing method of the electrode assembly {APPARATUS AND METOHD FOR MANUFACTURING ELECTRODE ASSEMBLY}

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for manufacturing an electrode assembly, and more specifically, to an apparatus and method for manufacturing an electrode assembly capable of minimizing the occurrence of errors when taking out a unit cell for manufacturing an electrode assembly.

Due to the rapid increase in the use of fossil fuels, the demand for the use of alternative energy and clean energy is increasing.

Currently, a secondary battery is a representative example of an electrochemical device using such electrochemical energy, and its use area is gradually expanding.

Recently, as the technology development and demand for portable devices such as portable computers, mobile phones, and cameras increase, the demand for secondary batteries as an energy source is rapidly increasing. A lot of research has been done on a lithium secondary battery with a low self-discharge rate, and it is also commercialized and widely used.

In addition, as interest in environmental issues grows, research on electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles that can replace vehicles using fossil fuels such as gasoline vehicles and diesel vehicles, which are one of the main causes of air pollution, is being conducted. there is. Nickel metal hydride secondary batteries are mainly used as a power source for electric vehicles and hybrid electric vehicles, but studies using lithium secondary batteries with high energy density and discharge voltage are being actively conducted, and some commercialization is in progress.

In such a lithium secondary battery, a cathode or an anode active material, a binder, and a conductive material are coated on a current collector in the form of a slurry and dried to form an electrode mixture layer to manufacture a cathode and a cathode, and a separator is interposed between the cathode and the anode and by embedding the laminated electrode assembly in a battery case together with the electrolyte.

The electrode assembly built into the battery case is a power generating device capable of charging and discharging with a laminated structure of anode/separator/cathode, and is a jelly-roll type coiled with a separator interposed between a long sheet-type cathode and anode coated with an active material, and a predetermined It is classified as a stack type in which a plurality of anodes and cathodes of the same size are sequentially stacked with a separator interposed therebetween.

As an electrode assembly with an advanced structure in the mixed form of the jelly-roll type and the stack type, a full cell or anode (cathode) / separator / cathode (anode) / separator / cathode / separator / cathode structure of a certain unit size A stack/folding type electrode assembly having a structure in which bicells having an anode (cathode) structure are folded using a long continuous separator film has been developed.

In addition, in order to improve the fairness of existing stacked electrode assemblies and to meet the demand for various types of battery cells, lamination/stacked electrodes have a structure in which unit cells in which electrodes and separators are alternately laminated and bonded are stacked. Assemblies were also developed.

To assemble the above-described electrode assemblies, pre-manufactured unit cells are individually taken out of the stacked loading box and transferred to a workbench for manufacturing electrode assemblies, and for this purpose, the unit cells are sequentially loaded through a take-out and transfer device. At this time, in the process of taking out the unit cell, two or more unit cells are taken out due to static electricity or the like, and there is a problem in that the take-out defect occurs. In order to remove this, an additional process such as applying vibration or blowing air through an eliminator after uniformly taking out the unit cell was carried out, but in this case, even if one unit cell was normally taken out, the same process was performed, There is a problem in that efficiency is lowered, or even if there is a unit cell that is not removed even though a process for removing an additional unit cell is not detected, a defect still occurs.

The problem to be solved by the present invention is to accurately detect even if two or more unit cells are taken out due to static electricity in the process of taking out one unit cell from the stacked unit cells and remove the additional unit cells to minimize defects. It is to provide an apparatus for manufacturing an electrode assembly and a method for manufacturing an electrode assembly.

However, the problems to be solved by the embodiments of the present invention are not limited to the above problems and can be variously extended within the scope of the technical idea included in the present invention.

An apparatus for manufacturing an electrode assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention is an apparatus for manufacturing an electrode assembly by stacking unit cells including at least one electrode and at least one separator, wherein a plurality of the unit cells are stacked A transfer unit for taking out and transferring the unit cell from the loading unit, wherein the transfer unit includes an adsorption unit for adsorbing the unit cell, and a sensor unit for detecting the number of unit cells adsorbed by the adsorption unit. The sensor unit includes an inductive sensor.

The inductive sensor may include a detection coil, an oscillation circuit, a detection circuit, and an output circuit.

The transfer unit may further include a separation support configured to apply vibration to the unit cell through the adsorption unit when two or more unit cells are adsorbed while supporting the adsorption unit.

The transfer unit may further include a vertical movement unit connected to the separation support unit and configured to vertically move the adsorption unit in a vertical direction.

The unit cell may be a monocell in which a separator, an anode, a separator, and a cathode are sequentially stacked.

The unit cell may be a half cell in which a separator, an anode or a cathode, and a separator are sequentially stacked.

The inductive sensor may determine the number of unit cells by detecting an amount of induced current generated by a metal component included in the unit cell adsorbed to the adsorption unit.

A method for manufacturing an electrode assembly according to another embodiment of the present invention is a method for manufacturing an electrode assembly by stacking unit cells including at least one electrode and at least one separator, wherein the unit cell is adsorbed by vacuum. A step of taking out the unit cell from a loading section in which a plurality of the unit cells are stacked by a unit, and a step of detecting whether only one unit cell is adsorbed by a sensor unit including an inductive sensor.

The inductive sensor may include a detection coil, an oscillation circuit, a detection circuit, and an output circuit.

In the detecting step, a high-frequency magnetic field is generated from the detection coil, and a resistance change occurring in the detection coil is detected by the detection circuit according to the amount of induced current generated when the unit cell approaches the magnetic field. , and outputting it by the output circuit.

In the detecting step, when it is determined that two or more unit cells are adsorbed, applying vibration to the adsorption unit and the unit cell to remove the remaining unit cells so that only one unit cell remains can do.

After the step of removing the unit cell, a step of detecting again whether only one unit cell is adsorbed by the sensor unit may be further included.

According to the embodiments of the present invention, even if two or more unit cells are taken out due to static electricity or the like in the process of taking out one unit cell from the stacked unit cells, it is accurately detected and the additional unit cells are reliably removed, resulting in defects. occurrence can be prevented.

The effects of the present invention are not limited to the effects mentioned above, and other effects not mentioned will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art from the description of the claims.

1 is a view showing an apparatus for manufacturing an electrode assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention.
FIG. 2 is a diagram illustrating a model of a sensor unit in the manufacturing apparatus of FIG. 1 .
3A and 3B are diagrams respectively showing examples of unit cells to be taken out in FIG. 1 .
4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of manufacturing an electrode assembly according to another embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those skilled in the art can easily carry out the present invention. This invention may be embodied in many different forms and is not limited to the embodiments set forth herein.

In order to clearly describe the present invention, parts irrelevant to the description are omitted, and the same reference numerals are assigned to the same or similar components throughout the specification.

In addition, since the size and thickness of each component shown in the drawings are arbitrarily shown for convenience of explanation, the present invention is not necessarily limited to the shown bar. In the drawings, the thickness is shown enlarged to clearly express the various layers and regions. And in the drawings, for convenience of explanation, the thicknesses of some layers and regions are exaggerated.

In addition, when a part such as a layer, film, region, plate, etc. is said to be "on" or "on" another part, this includes not only the case where it is "directly on" the other part, but also the case where there is another part in the middle. . Conversely, when a part is said to be "directly on" another part, it means that there is no other part in between. In addition, to be "on" or "on" a reference part means to be located above or below the reference part, and to necessarily be located "on" or "on" in the opposite direction of gravity does not mean no.

In addition, throughout the specification, when a certain component is said to "include", it means that it may further include other components without excluding other components unless otherwise stated.

In addition, throughout the specification, when it is referred to as "planar image", it means when the target part is viewed from above, and when it is referred to as "cross-sectional image", it means when a cross section of the target part cut vertically is viewed from the side.

Hereinafter, an apparatus for manufacturing an electrode assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention will be described with reference to FIGS. 1, 2, 3A and 3B.

1 is a view showing an apparatus for manufacturing an electrode assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention, FIG. 2 is a view schematically illustrating a sensor unit in the manufacturing apparatus of FIG. 1, and FIGS. 3A and 3B are taken out from FIG. It is a diagram showing examples of unit cells to be targeted.

Referring to FIG. 1, an apparatus for manufacturing an electrode assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention includes a loading unit 200 in which a plurality of unit cells 10 are stacked, and one unit cell from the loading unit 200 ( 10) and a transfer unit 100 for taking out and transferring the unit cell 10 by the transfer unit and a work table 300 for performing subsequent processes.

The transfer unit 100 supports the adsorption unit 110 that adsorbs the unit cell 10 by vacuum, and the separation that operates to separate the plurality of unit cells 10 by vibration or the like when taking out the unit cell 10 while supporting the adsorption unit 110. It is installed on one side of the support unit 120 and the separation support unit 120 and is connected to the sensor unit 130 for detecting the number of units cells 10 taken out and the separation support unit 120, and moves the adsorption unit 110 up and down. It includes a vertical moving unit 140 configured to be movable.

The unit cell 10 taken out by the transfer unit 100 includes at least one electrode 13 and at least one internal separator 14 . At this time, the unit cell 10 may be a mono cell or a half cell. That is, for example, as shown in FIG. 3A, when the unit cell 10 is a mono cell, the unit cell 10 includes an internal separator 14, a cathode 12, an internal separator 14, and an anode ( 11) may have a sequentially stacked structure. Alternatively, as shown in FIG. 3B, when the unit cell 10' is a half cell, the unit cell 10' includes an internal separator 14, an electrode 13 of either a cathode or an anode, and an internal separator ( 14) may have a sequentially stacked structure. The unit cell 10 may be any case of a mono cell and a half cell, and may be appropriately applied depending on what configuration is required in the process. At this time, each electrode 13 may include an electrode mixture layer obtained by coating and drying a mixture of an active material, a binder, and a conductive material in the form of a slurry on a metal thin film such as a current collector.

Such a unit cell 10 may be manufactured in large quantities through a separate process and applied to a subsequent process while being loaded in the loading unit 200 . In order to take out one unit cell 10 from the unit cell 10 in a loaded state, the transfer unit 100 includes an adsorption unit 110 . The adsorption unit 110 adsorbs the unit cell 10 by applying a vacuum while in contact with the unit cell 10 . The adsorption unit 110 is supported by the separation support unit 120, and the up and down movement unit 140 is connected to the opposite side of the separation support unit 120, and the adsorption unit 110 is moved up and down by the up and down movement unit 140. It is configured to be movable with That is, after the adsorption unit 110 descends and adsorbs the unit cell 10, it is vertically raised to move to the next process, that is, the work table 300, and then vertically descends to be placed on the work table 300. In the workbench 300, the electrode assembly may be completed by repeatedly stacking the moved unit cells 10 with additional separators 20 interposed therebetween. However, it is not limited thereto, and an additional separator 20 may be interposed by stacking and folding, and unit cells 10 ′, which are half cells, may be disposed at the bottom and top of the electrode assembly.

A sensor unit 130 for detecting the number of removed unit cells 10 is provided on one surface of the separation support 120 facing the unit cells 10 . In this embodiment, the sensor unit 130 is described as being provided on the separation support unit 120, but it is not limited thereto, and any position where it is possible to apply a high frequency for sensing to the unit cell 10 is possible, It may be provided separately from the transfer unit 100.

The sensor unit 130 may be composed of an inductive sensor, and for example, as shown in FIG. 2, the detection coil 131, the oscillation circuit 132, the detection circuit 133 and the output circuit 134 are included. It may be an inductive sensor including Such an inductive sensor generates a high-frequency magnetic field from a detection coil 131 connected to an oscillation circuit 132, and induction generated by electromagnetic induction when a detection object (unit cell 10) approaches this magnetic field. A resistance change of the detection coil 131 occurs according to the amount of current, which is detected by the detection circuit 133 and configured to operate the output circuit 134.

In particular, depending on the number of unit cells 10 as detectors, the amount of metal components (eg, current collectors, etc.) included in the unit cells 10, that is, components capable of generating electromagnetic induction, varies. Therefore, the resistance change amount is changed, and based on this, it is possible to sense the number of unit cells 10 . At this time, the sensing target may be the weight or thickness of the unit cell 10, but since the weight and thickness of the unit cell 10 are generally small, even if two sheets are taken out, the difference is not large, increasing the sensitivity of the sensor. There is a problem that accurate sensing is difficult unless it is greatly increased. However, in the present embodiment, since an inductive sensor is used for sensing the number of unit cells 10, accurate sensing can be performed with simple equipment.

Depending on the result obtained by the sensor unit 130, a separation operation for separating the extra unit cells 10 may be additionally performed. To this end, the separation support 120 may be configured to perform an operation for separation of the surplus unit cells 10 . For example, by applying vibration to the adsorption unit 110, the unit cell 10 other than the unit cell 10 in contact with the adsorption unit 110 may be removed. Alternatively, it may be configured to apply wind for removal, but is not particularly limited.

In this way, according to the manufacturing apparatus of the electrode assembly according to an embodiment of the present invention, it is possible to detect whether additional unit cells 10 are taken out when the unit cells 10 are taken out by simple facilities and processes, In the case where there is no unit cell 10, the process efficiency can be increased by performing the next process immediately, and since the state in which two or more unit cells 10 are taken out can be easily detected even after the separation operation, the occurrence of defects is minimized. can do.

Next, with further reference to FIG. 4 , a method of manufacturing an electrode assembly according to another embodiment of the present invention will be described.

4 is a flowchart illustrating a method of manufacturing an electrode assembly according to another embodiment of the present invention.

As shown in FIG. 4 , first, the adsorption unit 110 of the transfer unit 100 is lowered from the loading unit 200 to adsorb the unit cell 10 .

At this time, the adsorption unit 110 may be vertically lowered by the vertical movement unit 140 and may adsorb the unit cell 10 by applying a vacuum.

Next, the number of unit cells 10 adsorbed to the adsorption unit 110 is detected by the sensor unit 130 .

That is, a high-frequency magnetic field is generated from the detection coil 131 included in the inductive sensor of the sensor unit 130 to bring it close to the unit cell 10, and the detection coil 131 ) is detected by the detection circuit 133 to operate the output circuit 134. For example, the result is transmitted to a controller (not shown, for example, a PLC) connected to the output circuit 134, and whether or not to proceed to the next step is determined according to the result. Here, the reading of the transmitted result may be performed by inputting a sensing range according to the number of unit cells 10 through repeated teaching and comparing with the input sensing range. For example, when two or more unit cells 10 are adsorbed, the amount of metal components adjacent to the detection coil 131 increases, and thus the change in resistance of the detection coil 131 according to the induced current becomes larger, so that one sheet Since it is different from the sensing value when the unit cell 10 of is adsorbed, it can be determined whether only one unit cell 10 is normally adsorbed.

Next, when the detection result indicates that one sheet of unit cell 10 is adsorbed, it moves to the next process, that is, the work table 300, and is put into the completion process of the electrode assembly through repeated stacking.

However, at this time, when the detection result is two or more, a separation operation is performed as shown in FIG. 4 .

That is, by applying vibration to the adsorption unit 110 by the separation support unit 120, the unit cell 10 other than the unit cell 10 in contact with the adsorption unit 110 may be removed. . Alternatively, it may be configured to apply wind for removal, but is not particularly limited.

Thereafter, the number of unit cells 10 after the separation operation is additionally detected by the sensor unit 130 . Conventionally, since the sensor unit is not provided, it is put into the subsequent process immediately after the separation operation without such an operation, but in some cases, the unit cell 10 is not separated despite the separation operation, so additional unit cells 10 are added Defects often occurred. However, according to the present embodiment, after the separation operation, after detecting the number of unit cells 10 again, it is confirmed that only one sheet is adsorbed, and then the unit cells 10 are added to the subsequent process, so defects occur due to the additional supply of unit cells 10. can certainly be prevented.

As described above, according to the manufacturing method of the electrode assembly and the manufacturing method of the electrode assembly according to the embodiment of the present invention, since it is possible to accurately check the number of times the unit cell 10 is taken out by simple equipment and processes, the unit cell 10 ) It is possible to prevent the occurrence of defects due to additional supply.

Although the preferred embodiments of the present invention have been described in detail above, the scope of the present invention is not limited thereto, and various modifications and improvements of those skilled in the art using the basic concept of the present invention defined in the following claims are also made according to the present invention. falls within the scope of the rights of

10: unit cell
100: transfer unit
200: loading part
300: work unit
110: adsorption unit
120: separation support
130: sensor unit

Claims (12)

An apparatus for manufacturing an electrode assembly by stacking unit cells including at least one electrode and at least one separator,
A transfer unit for taking out and transporting the unit cells from a loading unit in which a plurality of the unit cells are stacked,
The transfer part,
An adsorption unit adsorbing the unit cell, and
A sensor unit for detecting the number of unit cells adsorbed by the adsorption unit,
The sensor unit manufacturing apparatus of an electrode assembly including an inductive sensor. In paragraph 1,
The inductive sensor is a manufacturing apparatus of an electrode assembly including a detection coil, an oscillation circuit, a detection circuit and an output circuit. In paragraph 1,
The transfer unit further comprises a separation support configured to apply vibration to the unit cell through the adsorption unit when two or more unit cells are adsorbed while supporting the adsorption unit. In paragraph 3,
The transfer unit further includes a vertical movement unit connected to the separation support unit and configured to move the adsorption unit up and down in a vertical direction. In paragraph 1,
The unit cell is a monocell in which a separator, an anode, a separator, and a cathode are sequentially stacked. In paragraph 1,
The unit cell is a half cell in which a separator, an anode or a cathode, and a separator are sequentially stacked. In paragraph 1,
The inductive sensor detects an amount of induced current generated by a metal component included in a unit cell adsorbed to the adsorption unit to determine the number of unit cells. As a method for manufacturing an electrode assembly by stacking unit cells including at least one electrode and at least one separator,
Taking out the unit cell from a loading unit in which a plurality of the unit cells are stacked by an adsorption unit adsorbing the unit cell by vacuum, and
A method of manufacturing an electrode assembly comprising the step of detecting whether only one unit cell is adsorbed by a sensor unit including an inductive sensor. In paragraph 8,
The method of manufacturing an electrode assembly, wherein the inductive sensor includes a detection coil, an oscillation circuit, a detection circuit, and an output circuit. In paragraph 9,
In the detecting step, a high-frequency magnetic field is generated from the detection coil, and a resistance change occurring in the detection coil is detected by the detection circuit according to the amount of induced current generated when the unit cell approaches the magnetic field. , A method of manufacturing an electrode assembly comprising the step of outputting it by the output circuit. In paragraph 8,
In the detecting step, when it is determined that two or more unit cells are adsorbed, applying vibration to the adsorption unit and the unit cell to remove the remaining unit cells so that only one unit cell remains A manufacturing method of an electrode assembly to be. In paragraph 11,
The method of manufacturing an electrode assembly further comprising the step of detecting again whether only one unit cell is adsorbed by the sensor unit after the step of removing the unit cell.

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