KR20240065676A - Device and method for intercepting pickup of multiple electrodes - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to secondary batteries, and more specifically, to electrodes of secondary batteries. According to some embodiments of the present invention, a holding portion configured to hold the disposed electrode with a first force; and a transfer device configured to hold and transfer the electrode held by the holding unit with a second force, wherein the first force is smaller than the second force, and the first force and the second force act in opposite directions.

Description

Device and method for preventing double layer pick-up of electrodes {DEVICE AND METHOD FOR INTERCEPTING PICKUP OF MULTIPLE ELECTRODES}

The present invention relates to secondary batteries, and more specifically, to electrodes of secondary batteries.

Secondary batteries are rechargeable batteries, and their use has recently been expanding in electronic devices, electric vehicles, and energy storage systems. Among secondary batteries, lithium-ion batteries are the most widely used type.

The unit cell of a lithium ion battery is manufactured by sealing an electrode assembly consisting of a positive electrode, a negative electrode, and a separator with an exterior material such as a square, pouch, or cylindrical shape. The electrode assembly can be manufactured as shown in Figure 1. First, a positive electrode (820) and a negative electrode (840) cut to have a certain area are prepared, and the separator 860 is continuously folded to have a zigzag shape. Then, an electrode assembly can be manufactured by alternately inserting the anode 820 and the cathode 840 between the folded separators 860. The electrode assembly manufactured in this way is inserted into the exterior material through a pressurization process, and the subsequent cell manufacturing process proceeds.

The anode 820 and the cathode 840 are taken out from the anode stack 830 and the cathode stack 850, respectively, and supplied to the separator 860 through, for example, vacuum adsorption. These electrodes 820 and 840 ) is taken out and transported by each transfer device (not shown), and each electrode must be picked up.

However, due to the degree of vacuum of the transfer device, the electrostatic force between the electrode surfaces, etc., there are cases where two or more electrodes stacked adjacent to each other are stuck and picked up.

Republic of Korea Patent No. 10-2336427 (Registration Date: 2021.12.02)

The present invention was devised to solve the above-mentioned problems,

The object of the present invention is to provide a device and method for preventing double sheet extraction of electrodes that can reliably prevent double sheet extraction of electrodes when manufacturing an electrode assembly.

The purpose of the present invention is not limited to the purposes mentioned above, and other purposes not mentioned above will be clearly understood by those skilled in the art (hereinafter referred to as 'ordinary skilled in the art') from the description below. It could be.

In order to achieve the purpose of the present invention as described above and perform the characteristic functions of the present invention described later, the features of the present invention are as follows.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, a holding portion configured to hold the disposed electrode with a first force; and a transfer device configured to hold and transfer the electrode held by the holding unit with a second force, wherein the first force is smaller than the second force, and the first force and the second force act in opposite directions.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, a method for preventing double sheet extraction of an electrode includes the step of having a transfer device take out a first electrode from an electrode magazine and place it on a table, wherein the electrode magazine includes a plurality of electrodes including the first electrode. Laminated-; causing the holding part of the table to hold the first electrode disposed on the table with a first force; A step of holding and transferring the first electrode held by the holding unit with a second force by the transfer device, wherein the first force is smaller than the second force, and the first force and the second force are in opposite directions. It works.

An apparatus for preventing double sheets of electrodes according to some embodiments of the present invention is an electrode magazine in which a plurality of electrodes are stacked, each electrode including an identifier, and the electrode magazine includes stacking order information of the electrodes based on the identifier. An electrode magazine in which the stored order information code is displayed; Jaegi Lee, configured to sequentially remove electrodes stacked in the electrode magazine and transport them to a destination; an identifier scanner configured to obtain identifier information by scanning the identifier of the extracted electrode; an order information code scanner configured to obtain stacking order information by scanning the order information code; and a controller configured to communicate with the identifier scanner and the order information code scanner, and configured to determine whether an electrode matching the stacking order information has been taken out based on a comparison between the identifier information and the stacking order information of the electrode to be taken out. .

According to the present invention, an apparatus and method for preventing double sheets of electrodes are proposed, which can reliably prevent double sheets of electrodes from being taken out when manufacturing an electrode assembly.

According to the present invention, an apparatus and method for preventing double sheet extraction of an electrode are provided, which can reduce costs related to defective cells due to double sheet extraction of an electrode.

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

1 shows a method of manufacturing an exemplary electrode assembly;
2 shows the operation of a device for preventing double-sheet electrode take-out according to some embodiments of the present invention;
3 shows the operation of a device for preventing double-sheet electrode take-out according to some embodiments of the present invention;
Figure 4 shows a double-fold prevention table according to an embodiment of the present invention;
5 and 6 show prevention of double sheet take-out by the double sheet take-out prevention table according to the present invention;
Figure 7 is a perspective view of a double-fold prevention table according to an embodiment of the present invention;
8 shows an electrode alignment table according to an embodiment of the present invention;
9 to 10 show prevention of double sheet extraction by the electrode alignment table according to the present invention;
11 is a perspective view of an electrode alignment table according to an embodiment of the present invention;
12 shows a device for preventing double sheet take-out of an electrode according to some embodiments of the present invention;
13 shows an electrode for a double-sheet electrode take-out prevention device according to some embodiments of the present invention.

The specific structural or functional descriptions presented in the embodiments of the present invention are merely illustrative for the purpose of explaining the embodiments according to the concept of the present invention, and the embodiments according to the concept of the present invention may be implemented in various forms. In addition, it should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments described in this specification, and should be understood to include all changes, equivalents, and substitutes included in the spirit and technical scope of the present invention.

Meanwhile, in the present invention, terms such as first and/or second may be used to describe various components, but the components are not limited to the above terms. The above terms are used only for the purpose of distinguishing one component from other components, for example, within the scope of the rights according to the concept of the present invention, the first component may be named the second component, Similarly, the second component may also be referred to as the first component.

When a component is said to be “connected” or “connected” to another component, it should be understood that it may be directly connected or connected to the other component, but that other components may exist in between. something to do. On the other hand, when it is mentioned that a component is “directly connected” or “in direct contact” with another component, it should be understood that there are no other components in between. Other expressions to describe the relationship between components, such as “between” and “immediately between” or “adjacent to” and “directly adjacent to”, should be interpreted similarly.

Like reference numerals refer to like elements throughout the specification. Meanwhile, the terms used in this specification are for describing embodiments and are not intended to limit the present invention. In this specification, singular forms also include plural forms unless specifically stated in the context. As used in the specification, “comprises” and/or “comprising” means that a referenced component, step, operation and/or element is present in one or more other components, steps, operations and/or elements. or does not rule out addition.

As described above, during the manufacture of an electrode assembly, double sheet removal, in which two or more adjacent electrode sheets are attached to each other in an electrode stack and taken out by a transfer machine, occasionally occurs. When double-sheet ejection occurs, cells with reduced performance or defective cells may be ejected, so related costs inevitably increase.

Therefore, in order to prevent double-layer removal of the electrode when removing the electrode from the electrode stack through vacuum adsorption, vision inspection is used or a method of physically pressing the end of the electrode is used. However, these existing methods do not completely prevent double sheet extraction, so technology that can more reliably prevent double sheet extraction is required.

Accordingly, the present invention seeks to provide a device and method for preventing double sheet extraction of an electrode, which can more reliably and completely prevent double sheet extraction of an electrode.

Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the attached drawings.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, double sheet extraction of the electrode can be prevented by varying the force for adsorbing the electrode. Specifically, this embodiment will be described with reference to FIGS. 2 to 7 .

As shown in FIG. 2, the electrode 100 assembled in the electrode assembly includes an anode 102 and a cathode 104. The positive electrode 102 includes a positive electrode active material and a positive electrode current collector, and the negative electrode 104 includes a negative electrode active material and a negative electrode current collector.

To manufacture the electrode assembly, the anode 102 and the cathode 104 are each taken out, and the taken out anode 102 and cathode 104 are alternately assembled into the separator. The anode 102 and cathode 104 cut to a preset size are stacked in the anode magazine 112 and the cathode magazine 114, respectively.

The device for preventing double-layer electrode extraction according to the present invention can be applied to either the positive or negative electrode 100 of a battery cell. Hereinafter, the term electrode 100 will be used collectively for the positive electrode 102 and the negative electrode 104. Let me explain. That is, the electrode 100 may be an anode 102 or a cathode 104.

As shown in FIG. 3, the electrode magazine 110 stacks the electrodes 100 to be taken out, and is a device capable of raising the electrode 100 each time the electrode 100 is taken out from the electrode magazine 110. may include.

The transfer device 120 is configured to hold and extract the electrode 100 from the electrode magazine 110. As a non-limiting example, the transfer device 120 may hold the electrode 100 through vacuum adsorption of the electrode 100. For this purpose, the transfer device 120 includes a plurality of adsorption units 122. The transfer device 120 is configured to adsorb the electrode 100 with a predetermined adsorption force through the adsorption unit 122, and the adsorption force of the transfer device 120 can be adjusted.

The transfer device 120 is configured to be movable. The transfer device 120 is configured to hold the electrode 100 in the electrode magazine 110 and transfer it to the next stage of electrode assembly manufacturing.

The transfer device 120 is configured to transport the held electrode 100 to the double-layer prevention table 130 and seat the held electrode 100 on the double-layer prevention table 130 . According to the present invention, the double sheet take-out prevention device includes a double sheet prevention table 130 before assembling the electrode 100 to the separator and can serve to block the double sheet take-out of the electrode 100.

Referring to Figures 4 and 7, the double-fold prevention table 130 includes a holding portion 140. The holding unit 140 is configured to pull the electrode 100 placed on the double layer prevention table 130 with a certain force (eg, vacuum pressure). In one implementation, the holding part 140 can pull the electrode 100 through vacuum adsorption.

While the holding unit 140 is vacuum adsorbing the electrode 100, the transfer device 120 is configured to vacuum adsorb the electrode 100 placed on the double-layer prevention table 130. At this time, the holding unit 140 is configured to pull the electrode 100 placed on the double-layer prevention table 130 with a force smaller than the force with which the transfer device 120 holds the electrode 100. That is, the first force applied by the holding unit 140 to the electrode 100 may be smaller than the second force applied by the transfer device 120 to the electrode 100. Additionally, the first force of the holding unit 140 and the second force of the transfer device 120 act in opposite directions.

3 and 5, in a state in which a certain amount of vacuum pressure or a first force is applied to the electrode 100 placed on the double-layer prevention table 130 by the holding part 140, the electrode 100 is moved to the next stage. Lee Jae-gi (120b) descends to transport. Although reference numeral 120b is used for the descending transfer machine in the drawing, the same transfer machine with reference numeral 120a may be used, or a transfer machine different from the transfer machine with reference numeral 120a may be used. For clarity of understanding only, reference numeral 120b is used for the descending Lee Jae-gi.

The transfer device 120b is configured to extract the electrode 100 by applying a certain amount of vacuum pressure or a second force to the electrode 100. At this time, since the vacuum pressure of the transfer device 120 is greater than the vacuum pressure of the holding part 140, the vacuum pressure or first force between the holding part 140 and the electrode 100 may be canceled and the formed vacuum may be broken. there is. The electrode 100 adsorbed by the transfer device 120 moves to the next stage.

Figure 6 shows a case where double sheet extraction occurs. The first electrode 100a is adsorbed by the transfer device 120 to which a second force greater than the first force of the holding unit 140 is applied and moves to the next stage. On the other hand, the second electrode 100b is pulled by the first force of the holding unit 140 when the transfer device 120 rises, and is not adsorbed by the transfer device 120 and remains on the double-layer prevention table 130. At this time, since the vacuum of the holding part 140 and the electrode 100b is not broken, the double sheet extraction can be detected. The fact that the vacuum in the holding unit 140 is maintained is transmitted to the double sheet extraction prevention device. At this time, the electrode assembly manufacturing process is stopped, and the double sheet pull-out prevention device emits audio and visual signals such as lights and alarms to inform workers so that they can take appropriate action.

Referring back to FIG. 3 , the electrode 100 for which it has been determined whether double sheets are taken out through the double sheet prevention table 130 is moved to the electrode alignment table 150. The electrode alignment table 150 is configured to flatten the electrode 100 before being assembled into an electrode assembly. In one implementation, the electrode alignment table 150 includes a flattening portion 152 that provides vacuum pressure to flatten the surface of the electrode 100.

The flattened electrode 100 is sent to the electrode stack table 160 by the transfer device 120c to be assembled into an electrode assembly. The transfer device 120c is configured to rotate, and the electrode stack table 160 also rotates to receive the anode 102 and the cathode 104 and place them on the folded separator to manufacture an electrode assembly in a zigzag shape.

Referring to FIGS. 8 to 11, according to some embodiments of the present invention, the separately provided double-fold prevention table 130 may be omitted, and the double-blind prevention table 130 may be integrated into the electrode alignment table 150. . That is, in this embodiment, the double sheet prevention table 130 in FIG. 2 may be omitted.

Referring to Figures 8 and 11, the electrode alignment table 150 includes a holding portion 154. The flat portion 152 operates separately, but the holding portion 154 may operate similarly to the holding portion 140 of the double-layer prevention table 130. As shown in FIG. 11, both a flat portion 152 and a holding portion 154 are provided at the electrode seating portion 156 where the electrode 100 is mounted on the electrode alignment table 150. When the flat part 152 and the holding part 154 operate in a vacuum adsorption method, the vacuum provided to the flat part 152 and the holding part 154 may be delivered from different vacuum sources. Alternatively, it can be controlled so that different vacuum pressures are formed. That is, the vacuum pressure formation of the flat part 152 and the holding part 154 may be operated simultaneously or may be operated separately.

As shown in FIG. 9 , when no double layer occurs, the electrode 100 transported to the electrode alignment table 150 is configured to be transported to the next stage by the transfer device 120. At this time, the transfer device 120 is adsorbing the electrode 100 with a second force, and the holding unit 154 is adsorbing the electrode 100 with a first force. The force between the holding part 154 and the electrode 100 is canceled out or the vacuum is broken by the second force that is greater than the first force. When the vacuum is broken in this way, the controller 270 determines that there is no double sheet extraction and that it is in a normal state.

On the other hand, as shown in FIG. 10, when a double layer occurs, the transfer device 120, which transports the electrode 100 on the electrode alignment table 150 to the next stage, lifts only the first electrode 100a. And the vacuum remains between the second electrode 100b and the holding part 154 without being broken. The fact that the vacuum has not been released can be transmitted to the controller 270, and the controller 270 can determine that the double sheet has been extracted based on this.

According to some embodiments of the present invention, whether the electrode 100 is taken out of a double sheet from the electrode magazine 110 is determined by comparing the stacking order information of the electrodes 100 stacked in the electrode magazine 110 and the electrode 100 to be taken out. can be judged.

FIG. 12 generally shows the process before the electrode 100 is stacked on the electrode magazine 110.

The electrode 100 is continuously wound around the electrode roll 200, and the electrode 100 wound around the electrode roll 200 is guided by a plurality of guide rollers 210 and is directed to the notching machine 220. The guide roller 210 can adjust the tension of the electrode 100 and guide the direction of movement. The notching machine 220 forms an electrode tab 101 on the electrode 100. The electrode 100 on which the electrode tab 101 is formed continues to be guided to the cutter 230. The cutter 230 is configured to cut the continuously supplied electrodes 100 to the size of the electrodes 100 stacked in the electrode magazine 110.

As shown in FIG. 13, an identifier 242 that can identify each electrode 100 is printed on each electrode 100 to be cut by an identifier printer 240. As a non-limiting example, the identifier 242 may be a serial number indicating the order of each electrode 100, and the identifier printer 240 may be a barcode containing information on the identifier 242.

Before the electrodes 100 provided with the identifiers 242 are stacked in the electrode magazine 110, the identifiers 242 of the electrodes 100 are read by the identifier scanner 260 in the order in which they are stacked. And the read stacking order information is transmitted to the controller 270. The controller 270 is configured to code this into an order information code 252 and display it on the electrode magazine 110.

The order information code 252 can be read by the order information code scanner 250. The order information code 252 serves as the basis for the controller 270 to determine whether or not to take out a double purchase.

The controller 270 determines whether the identifier 242 of the electrode 100 extracted from the electrode magazine 110 by the transfer device 120 matches the stacking order information of the electrode magazine 110. If the order of the identifiers 242 of the electrodes 100 taken out according to the stacking order information matches, it can be determined that the electrode assembly is normally manufactured without taking out the double layer of the electrode 100. Conversely, if the order of the stacking order information and the identifier 242 of the extracted electrode 100 is different, the controller 270 determines that double sheet extraction of the electrode 100 has occurred.

When double sheet extraction of the electrode 100 occurs, the controller 270 is configured to notify the operator visually and audibly, such as an indicator light or an alarm.

In this way, the device for preventing double sheets of electrodes according to the present invention can prevent double sheets of electrodes from being taken out more accurately and reliably.

In addition, it is advantageous in terms of cost because it is possible to prevent the occurrence of related costs in the event of double take-out in advance.

The present invention described above is not limited to the above-described embodiments and the accompanying drawings, and various substitutions, modifications, and changes are possible without departing from the technical spirit of the present invention. It will be clear to those skilled in the art that combination is possible.

100: electrode 101: electrode tab
102: anode 104: cathode
110: electrode magazine 112: anode magazine
114: Cathode Magazine 120: Jae-gi Lee
122: Adsorption unit 130: Double layer prevention table
140: holding part 150: electrode alignment table
152: Flat part 154: Holding part
156: Electrode seating portion 160: Electrode stack table
200: electrode roll 210: guide roller
220: Notching machine 230: Cutter
240: Identifier printer 242: Identifier
250: Order information code scanner 252: Order information code
260: Identifier scanner 270: Controller

Claims (15)

a holding portion configured to hold the disposed electrode with a first force; and
A transfer device configured to hold and transfer the electrode held by the holding unit with a second force,
The first force is smaller than the second force, and the first force and the second force act in opposite directions. The device according to claim 1, wherein the holding part and the transfer device are configured to hold the electrode by vacuum suction. The device according to claim 2, wherein the first force is a first vacuum pressure, and the second force is a second vacuum pressure. A step of having Jaegi Lee take out a first electrode from an electrode magazine and place it on a table - a plurality of electrodes including the first electrode are stacked in the electrode magazine -;
causing a holding part of the table to apply a first force to the first electrode disposed on the table;
Comprising the step of holding and transferring the first electrode held by the holding unit with a second force by the transfer device,
A method for preventing double sheet take-out of an electrode, wherein the first force is smaller than the second force, and the first force and the second force act in opposite directions. The method of claim 4, wherein the holding part and the transfer device are configured to hold the electrode by vacuum suction. The method according to claim 4, wherein the table is a double sheet prevention table adjacent to the electrode magazine. The method according to claim 6, further comprising: placing the first electrode transferred from the double layer prevention table by a transfer machine on an electrode alignment table, wherein the electrode alignment table is configured to flatten the first electrode;
A method for preventing double sheet extraction of an electrode further comprising: The method according to claim 7, further comprising: placing the first electrode on the electrode alignment table on the folded separator on the electrode stack table by the transfer device;
A method for preventing double sheet extraction of an electrode further comprising: The method according to claim 4, further comprising: determining whether the first force is canceled by application of the second force; and
When it is determined that the first force is not canceled, determining that double sheet extraction has occurred in the electrode magazine;
A method for preventing double sheet extraction of an electrode comprising a. The method of claim 9, further comprising: issuing a notification when it is determined that the first force is not canceled out;
A method for preventing double sheet extraction of an electrode further comprising: The method of claim 4, wherein the table is configured to flatten the first electrode and is an electrode alignment table adjacent to the electrode magazine. The method of claim 11, wherein the electrode alignment table is:
A method for preventing a double sheet take-out of an electrode, including a flattening portion configured to flatten the first electrode using a vacuum suction method, and the holding portion being configured to hold the first electrode with the first force through a vacuum suction method. The method of claim 12, wherein the flat part and the holding part are configured to apply vacuum pressure to the first electrode separately from each other. The method according to claim 11, further comprising: placing the first electrode on the electrode alignment table on the folded separator on the electrode stack table by the transfer device;
A method for preventing double sheet extraction of an electrode further comprising: An electrode magazine in which a plurality of electrodes are stacked, each electrode including an identifier, and the electrode magazine displays an order information code storing stacking order information of the electrodes based on the identifier;
Lee Jae-gi, configured to sequentially remove electrodes stacked in the electrode magazine and transport them to a destination;
an identifier scanner configured to obtain identifier information by scanning the identifier of the extracted electrode;
an order information code scanner configured to obtain stacking order information by scanning the order information code; and
a controller configured to communicate with the identifier scanner and the order information code scanner, and configured to determine whether an electrode matching the stacking order information has been taken out based on a comparison between the identifier information and the stacking order information of the electrode to be taken out;
A device for preventing double sheet extraction of an electrode comprising a.

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