WO2021167130A1

WO2021167130A1 - Pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment

Info

Publication number: WO2021167130A1
Application number: PCT/KR2020/002438
Authority: WO
Inventors: 정한권; 김태용; 신승진; 조진석; 남희정; 이성호; 임창섭; 박동호; 손현익; 임현민
Original assignee: 엘지전자 주식회사
Priority date: 2020-02-19
Filing date: 2020-02-19
Publication date: 2021-08-26
Also published as: KR20220143670A

Abstract

The present embodiment comprises: a pouch feeder for supplying a pouch; a pouch cutter for cutting the pouch supplied from the pouch feeder; a cell feeder for loading a cell in the pouch cut by the pouch cutter; a pouch folder for folding the pouch in which the cell is mounted; a primary sealer for primarily sealing the edge of the pouch folded by the pouch folder; a secondary sealer for secondarily sealing the edge of the pouch sealed by the primary sealer; and a vision for inspecting the battery cell secondarily sealed by the secondary sealer, wherein the pouch feeder, the pouch cutter, the cell feeder, the pouch folder, the primary sealer, the secondary sealer, and the vision are arranged in a line.

Description

Pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment

The present invention relates to pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment.

A secondary battery is a device that converts electrical energy into chemical energy, stores it, and generates electricity when needed. Both charging and discharging occur at one electrode, and the anode (Anode, -pole) and cathode (Cathode, +pole) are distinguished based on the discharge response.

A secondary battery includes a positive and negative electrode plate coated with an active material on a current collector, a separator separating the positive and negative plates, an electrolyte that transfers ions through the separator, a case accommodating the positive and negative plates, the separator and the negative electrode; and a lead tab connected to the negative electrode plate and drawn out.

The secondary battery may be classified into a cylindrical type, a prismatic type, and a pouched type according to its shape.

The pouch-type secondary battery is widely used in the secondary battery industry because its shape can be relatively free, including a case such as a flexible pouch, and the manufacturing process is relatively easy and the manufacturing cost is low.

An example of the pouch-type secondary battery is a pouch-type secondary battery incorporating a thermally expansible layer disclosed in Korean Patent Publication No. 10-2018-0095982 A (published on August 29, 2018), and such a pouch-type secondary battery includes a positive electrode, an electrode current collector including a negative electrode and a separator; and a pouch surrounding the electrode current collector.

Equipment for manufacturing a pouch-type secondary battery can assemble a pouch and an electrode collector so that a pouch of a predetermined shape surrounds the electrode collector, and such equipment is a folding machine (or folder) that folds the pouch on which the electrode collector is mounted. and a sealer (or sealing device) for sealing the pouch surrounding the electrode current collector, and the like, and the pouch folded by the folding machine may be moved to the sealer and sealed by the sealer.

The present invention is to provide a pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment that is easy to maintain.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a pouch-type secondary battery packaging device with high safety of pouch sealing.

A pouch-type secondary battery packaging device according to this embodiment includes a pouch inserter for supplying a pouch; a pouch cutter for cutting the pouch inserted in the pouch inserter; a cell inserter for seating the cells in the pouch cut by the pouch cutter; a pouch folder for folding the pouch on which the cell is seated; a primary sealer for primary sealing the edge of the pouch folded in the pouch folder; a secondary sealer for secondary sealing the edge of the pouch sealed by the primary sealer; The secondary sealer includes a vision for inspecting the secondary sealed cell, and the pouch inserter and pouch cutter, the cell inserter, the pouch folder, the primary sealer, and the secondary sealer and vision may be arranged in a line.

The sealing time of the secondary sealer may be longer than that of the primary sealer.

The sealing area by the secondary sealer may be larger than the sealing area by the primary sealer.

It may further include a pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment base frame. The primary sealer and the secondary sealer may be disposed on an upper surface of the base frame.

The pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment includes: a primary sealer mover for moving the primary sealer in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the base frame; It may further include a secondary sealer mover for moving the secondary sealer in a direction orthogonal to the longitudinal direction of the base frame.

Pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment includes a base frame; It is built on a base frame and may include posts.

The cell inserter may be installed in the post.

The vision may include a vision camera installed on a post, and a vision stage disposed between the vision camera and the base frame and spaced apart from the vision camera in a vertical direction.

The post comprises a pair of vertical bars spaced apart in the longitudinal direction of the base frame,

It may include an upper bar that connects a pair of vertical bodies and is long in the longitudinal direction of the base frame.

The cell seated in the pouch by the cell inserter may include a tab and a lead connected to the tab.

Vision can inspect the leads.

According to an embodiment of the present invention, since the pouch inserter, the pouch cutter, the cell inserter, the pouch folder, the primary sealer, the secondary sealer, and the vision are arranged in a line, maintenance is easy.

In addition, it is easy to replace the pouch inserter, the pouch cutter, the cell inserter, the pouch folder, the primary sealer, the secondary sealer, and the vision.

In addition, when one sealer seals the pouch for a long time, the total time for producing a plurality of pouch-type secondary batteries may be shortened.

In addition, since the pouch sealed by the primary sealer is sealed again by the secondary sealer, the sealing reliability is high and the defect rate can be minimized.

1 is a view showing a pouch-type secondary battery manufactured by the pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention;

2 is a view showing a process of manufacturing a pouch-type secondary battery by the pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention;

3 is a plan view of a pouch-type secondary battery packaging device according to an embodiment of the present invention;

4 is a side view of a pouch-type secondary battery packaging device according to an embodiment of the present invention.

Hereinafter, specific embodiments of the present invention will be described in detail with drawings.

1 is a diagram illustrating a pouch-type secondary battery manufactured by a pouch-type secondary battery packaging device according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 2 is a pouch-type secondary battery packaging device according to an embodiment of the present invention. It is a diagram showing a manufacturing process of a secondary battery, FIG. 3 is a plan view of pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention, and FIG. 4 is a side view of pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment according to an embodiment of the present invention am.

The pouch-type secondary battery may include a pouch 2 and a cell 3 surrounded by the pouch 2 , and the cell 3 may be protected by the pouch 2 .

An example of the pouch 2 may include an aluminum pouch 2A and a bonding layer 2A formed on one surface of the aluminum pouch 2A.

The pouch 2 may be introduced into the pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment 1 shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 in a state wound on a pouch roll (not shown), and the pouch 2 may be introduced into the pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment ( As shown in (c) of FIG. 2 in 1), it may be cut into a unit pouch having a rectangular shape. Hereinafter, the unit pouch will be referred to as the pouch 2 and will be described.

The cell 3 may include an electrode plate assembly (or stacked cell) in which a plurality of electrode plates are stacked such that a separator (ie, a separator) is positioned between a pair of adjacent electrode plates, and such an electrode plate assembly As shown in (a) of FIG. 2 , a positive electrode tab 4 and a negative electrode tab 5 connected to different electrode plates may be provided.

As shown in (b) of FIG. 2 , the cell 3 may be bonded to the positive electrode 6 by welding or the like to the positive electrode tab 4 , and the negative electrode 7 may be welded to the negative electrode tab 5 . and the like.

The cell 3 is a pouch-type secondary battery packaging shown in FIGS. 3 and 4 in a state in which the positive electrode 6 is bonded to the positive electrode tab 4 and the negative electrode 7 is bonded to the negative electrode tab 5 . It may be provided as the device 1, and the cell 3 may be placed on the bonding layer 2B of the pouch 2 as shown in FIG. 2(d) in the pouch-type secondary battery packaging device 1 And, the pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment 1 may fold the pouch 2 so that the pouch 2 covers both sides of the cell 3 as shown in FIG. 2(e) .

3 and 4, the pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment 1 includes a pouch inserter 10 for supplying the pouch 2; It may include a pouch cutter 20 for cutting the pouch 2 inserted in the pouch inserter 10 .

The pouch inserter 10 may hold the pouch 2 wound around the pouch roll and provide the pouch to the first pouch shuttle 12 . An example of the pouch inserter 10 may be a pouch supply robot capable of holding the pouch 2 and placing the pouch 2 on the first pouch shuttle 12 .

The first pouch shuttle 12 may transfer the pouch 2 input from the pouch inserter 10 to the pouch cutter 20 .

The first pouch shuttle 12 may include a shuttle on which the pouch 2 is disposed, a drive source such as a motor, and a power transmission member such as a gear that connects the drive source and the shuttle and transmits the driving force of the drive source to the shuttle, When the driving source is driven, the shuttle may transfer the pouch 2 to the pouch cutter 20 .

The pouch cutter 20 may cut the pouch transferred by the first pouch shuttle 12 into a unit pouch 2 having a rectangular shape as shown in FIG. 2C .

The pouch cutter 20 may include an upper cutter disposed on the transport path of the unit pouch 2 and a lower cutter disposed below the transport path of the unit pouch 2 . The pouch cutter may include a cutter driving mechanism for elevating at least one of the upper cutter and the lower cutter.

The cutter driving mechanism may include a drive source 22 such as a motor, and a power transmission member such as a gear that connects one of the upper cutter and the lower cutter to the drive source and transmits the driving force of the drive source, and when the drive source is driven, the upper cutter Alternatively, the lower cutter may cut the pouch while ascending and descending in the vertical direction (Z). The cutter driving mechanism may be provided for each upper cutter and the lower cutter. In this case, the pouch cutter 20 may include an upper coater driving mechanism for elevating the upper cutter and a lower cutter driving mechanism for raising and lowering the lower cutter. .

The pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment 1 may include a cell inserter 30 for seating the cell 3 in the unit pouch 2 cut by the pouch cutter 20 .

The cell inserter 30 includes a cell input body 31 that grabs and releases the cell 3 , a cell lifting robot 32 that lifts the cell input body 31 , and a cell supply that moves the cell lifting robot 32 . It may include a robot 33 .

The cell inserter 30 may further include a cell seating body in which the externally supplied cell 3 is placed, and the cell supply robot 33 moves the cell elevating robot 32 in the movement direction (X) of the pouch 2 . It can be moved in the direction (Y) orthogonal to

The moving direction X of the pouch 2 may be defined as a longitudinal direction of the base frame 80 to be described later.

The pouch 2 cut by the pouch cutter 20 may be placed on the second pouch shuttle 42 that can be moved downward of the cell inserter 30 by the first pouch shuttle 12 or the like, and the cut pouch (2) may wait for the cell inserter 30 on the second pouch shuttle 42.

As shown in (d) of FIG. 2, on the pouch 2 placed on the second pouch shuttle 42 after the cell inserter 30 grabs the waiting cell 3 around the cell inserter 30, the cell ( 3) can be installed.

The pouch 2 on which the cell 3 is seated may be transferred together with the cell 3 by the second pouch shuttle 42 , and may be transferred to a pouch folder 40 to be described later.

The second pouch shuttle 42 may include a shuttle on which the pouch 2 is disposed, a drive source such as a motor, and a power transmission member such as a gear that connects the drive source and the shuttle and transmits the driving force of the drive source to the shuttle, When the driving source is driven, the shuttle may transfer the pouch 2 on which the cell 3 is seated to the pouch folder 40 .

The pouch-type secondary battery packaging device 1 may include a pouch folder 40 for folding the pouch 2 on which the cell 3 is seated.

The pouch folder 40 may include a folding knife for folding the pouch 2 so that the pouch 2 transferred by the second pouch shuttle 42 covers the upper surface of the cell 3 .

The pouch folder 40 may include a knife driving mechanism for rotating or moving the folding knife. The knife driving mechanism may include a driving source such as a motor. The knife driving mechanism may include a power transmission member such as a gear that connects the folding knife and the driving source and transmits the driving force of the driving source to the folding knife.

The folding knife of the pouch folder 40 may be moved to the folding line of the pouch 2 , and in the pouch folder 40 , the peripheral portion of the portion on which the cell 3 is placed among the pouches 2 is the cell 3 . The pouch 2 may be folded to cover the top surface.

The pouch folder 40 may include a folding body for folding the pouch 2 so that a part of the pouch 2 is rotated based on the folding line, and a folding body rotating mechanism for rotating the folding body.

The pouch-type secondary battery packaging device 1 includes a primary sealer 50 for primary sealing the edge 2C of the pouch 2 folded in the pouch folder 40 ; A secondary sealer 60 for secondary sealing of the rim 2C of the pouch 2 sealed by the primary sealer 50 may be further included.

The edge 2C of the pouch 2 may be defined as a portion positioned around the outer line of the pouch 2 when it is in a folded state.

The pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment (1) is a third pouch shuttle that transports the pouch (2) folded by the pouch folder (40) to the primary sealer (50) and the secondary sealer (60) together with the cell (3). (52) may be further included.

The third pouch shuttle 52 may include a shuttle on which the pouch 2 is disposed, a drive source such as a motor, and a power transmission member such as a gear that connects the drive source and the shuttle and transmits the driving force of the drive source to the shuttle, When the driving source is driven, the shuttle may transfer the pouch 2 on which the cell 3 is seated to the primary sealer 50 and the secondary sealer 60 .

A plurality of third pouch shuttles 52 may be provided, and the plurality of third pouch shuttles 52 may sequentially transport the pouches 2 on which the cells 3 are seated.

The primary sealer 50 and the secondary sealer 60 may have the same structure, and the pouch 2 may be sequentially sealed. The pouch 2 may be first sealed by the primary sealer 50 and then sealed again by the secondary sealer 60 .

Each of the primary sealer 50 and the secondary sealer 60 vertically moves the lower body of the pouch 2 on which the cell 3 is placed and the upper body of the pouch 2 placed on the cell 3 in the vertical direction. It can be configured to pressurize.

The lower body of the pouch 2 may be defined as a body placed under the cell 3 , and the upper body of the pouch 2 may be defined as a body placed on top of the cell 3 .

Each of the primary sealer 50 and the secondary sealer 60 may include a sealing tool for pressing the pouch 2 in the vertical direction, and a heater for heating the sealing tool. Each of the primary sealer 50 and the secondary sealer 60 includes an upper sealing tool that presses the upper body of the pouch 2 in the downward direction and a lower sealing tool that presses the lower body of the pouch 2 upward. may include

When the upper sealing tool and the lower sealing tool come close to each other, the upper sealing tool and the lower sealing tool can press the upper body and the lower body of the pouch 2 with the upper body and the lower body of the pouch 2 interposed therebetween. , the heat of the upper sealing tool and the heat of the lower sealing tool can be transferred to the pouch 2 , the bonding layer 2B located on the lower surface of the upper body of the pouch 2 , and the upper surface of the lower body of the pouch 2 . The bonding layer 2B positioned on the . can bond the upper body of the pouch 2 and the lower body of the pouch 2 while melting.

The primary sealer 50 and the secondary sealer 60 may determine the sealing ability of the pouch 2 by the time the sealing tool presses the pouch 2 and the area at which the sealing tool presses the pouch 2 . .

The pouch-type secondary battery packaging device 1 may heat/pressurize the pouch 2 in multiple stages by the primary sealer 50 and the secondary sealer 60 .

The sealing time of the secondary sealer 60 may be longer than that of the primary sealer 50 .

The sealing area by the secondary sealer 60 may be larger than the sealing area by the primary sealer 50 .

In the comparative example compared to this embodiment, the primary sealer 50 and the secondary sealer 60 do not seal the pouch 2 in multiple stages, and one sealer (not shown) seals the pouch 2 once. it may be the case

When the present embodiment and the comparative example secure the same sealing ability, the sealer of the comparative example can press and heat the pouch 2 at 200° C. for 1.8 seconds, whereas the present embodiment has the primary sealer 50 at 180° C. The pouch 2 may be pressurized and heated at °C or 200 °C for 1 second, and the pouch 2 may be pressurized and heated from 200 °C to 200 °C in the secondary sealer 60 for 1.6 seconds.

In this embodiment, since the secondary sealer 60 can pressurize and heat the pouch 2 while the pouch 2 is sufficiently heated by the primary sealer 50, the secondary sealer 60 is compared In the case of an example, it is possible to pressurize and heat the pouch 2 for a shorter period of time.

In this embodiment, while the secondary sealer 60 seals the pouch 2 sealed in the primary sealer 50, the primary sealer 50 can seal the pouch 2 that is newly entered, In this embodiment, the total time for pouch sealing can be shortened than in the case of the comparative example.

That is, the factor determining the sealing time of the pouch 2 may be determined by the secondary sealer 60 sealing the pouch 2 for a relatively long time, and the secondary sealer 60 sealing the pouch 2 If the time is shorter than the time for sealing the pouch 2 in the comparative example, the overall manufacturing time in which the pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment 1 sequentially manufactures a plurality of pouch-type secondary batteries can be shortened.

The pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment 1 may include a vision 70 for inspecting the secondary sealed cell 3 in the secondary sealer 60 .

The pouch inserter 10, the pouch cutter 20, the cell inserter 30, the pouch folder 40, the primary sealer 50, the secondary sealer 60, and the vision 70 are shown in FIG. As shown, they may be arranged in a row.

The pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment 1 may include a base frame 80 .

The base frame 80 may be elongated in the transport direction of the pouch 2 .

The pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment 1 may further include a post 90 erected on the base frame 80 .

The post 90 connects a pair of

vertical bars

92 and 94 spaced apart in the longitudinal direction (X) of the base frame 80 and a pair of

vertical bars

92 and 94 and connects the base frame 80 may include an upper bar 96 long in the longitudinal direction (X) of the .

The pouch cutter 20 may be disposed on the base frame 80 .

The cell inserter 30 may be installed on the post 90 . The cell inserter 30 may be installed on any one 92 of the pair of

vertical bars

92 and 94 .

The cell 3 seated on the pouch 2 by the cell inserter 30 may include

tabs

4 and 5 and leads 6 and 7 connected to the

tabs

4 and 5 .

The pouch folder 40 may be disposed on the base frame 80 .

The primary sealer 50 and the secondary sealer 60 may be disposed on the upper surface of the base frame 80 . The primary sealer 50 and the secondary sealer 60 may be movably disposed on the upper surface of the base frame 80 .

The pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment 1 includes: a primary sealer mover 82 for moving the primary sealer 50 in a direction (Y) perpendicular to the longitudinal direction (X) of the base frame 80; A secondary sealer mover 84 for moving the secondary sealer 60 in a direction Y perpendicular to the longitudinal direction X of the base frame 80 may be further included.

The primary sealer mover 82 and the secondary sealer mover 84 may be installed on the upper surface of the base frame 80 , and are disposed on the upper surface of the base frame 80 in the longitudinal direction (X) of the vape frame 80 . They may be spaced apart from each other.

Vision 70 may be a lead vision system arranged to inspect

leads

6 and 7 .

The vision 70 includes a vision camera 72 installed on the post 90, a vision stage disposed between the vision camera 72 and the base frame 80 and spaced apart from the vision camera 72 in the vertical direction (Z). 74) may be included.

The vision camera 72 may be mounted on the other 94 of the pair of

vertical bars

92 , 94 .

The pouch-type secondary battery packaging method according to the present embodiment includes: a pouch supply step in which the pouch inserter 10 supplies the pouch 2 to the pouch cutter 20; a pouch cutting step in which the pouch supplied by the pouch cutter is cut into unit pouches; a cell seating step in which the cut unit pouch is moved to the cell inserter 30 and the cell 3 is seated on the unit pouch; A pouch folding step of folding the pouch (2) on which the cell (3) is seated by the pouch folder (40); a first sealing step of first sealing the rim 2c of the pouch 2 with a primary sealer 50; The secondary sealing step in which the rim 2c of the pouch 2 sealed by the primary sealer 50 is secondary sealed by the secondary sealer 60, and the secondary sealed cell by the secondary sealer 60 (70) may include the step of checking the cell.

The above description is merely illustrative of the technical spirit of the present invention, and various modifications and variations will be possible without departing from the essential characteristics of the present invention by those skilled in the art to which the present invention pertains.

Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present invention are not intended to limit the technical spirit of the present invention, but to explain, and the scope of the technical spirit of the present invention is not limited by these embodiments.

The protection scope of the present invention should be construed by the following claims, and all technical ideas within the equivalent range should be construed as being included in the scope of the present invention.

Claims

a pouch inserter for supplying a pouch;

a pouch cutter for cutting the pouch inserted from the pouch inserter;

a cell inserter for seating the cells in the pouch cut by the pouch cutter;

a pouch folder for folding the pouch on which the cell is seated;

a primary sealer for primary sealing the edge of the pouch folded in the pouch folder;

a secondary sealer for secondary sealing the edge of the pouch sealed by the primary sealer;

Including a vision for inspecting the secondary sealed cell in the secondary sealer,

The pouch inserter, pouch cutter, cell inserter, pouch folder, primary sealer and secondary sealer and vision are arranged in a line.

Pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment.
The method of claim 1,

The sealing time of the secondary sealer is longer than the sealing time of the primary sealer.
The method of claim 1,

The sealing area by the secondary sealer is larger than the sealing area by the primary sealer.
3. The method of claim 2,

further comprising a base frame,

The primary sealer and the secondary sealer are pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment disposed on the upper surface of the base frame.
The method of claim 1,

a primary sealer mover for moving the primary sealer in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the base frame;

Pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment further comprising a secondary sealer mover for moving the secondary sealer in a direction perpendicular to the longitudinal direction of the base frame.
4. The method of claim 3,

a base frame;

erected on the base frame and comprising a post;

The cell inserter is a pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment installed on the post.
4. The method of claim 3,

the vision is

a vision camera installed on the post;

Pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment including a vision stage disposed between the vision camera and the base frame and spaced apart from the vision camera in a vertical direction.
7. The method of claim 6,

the post is

A pair of vertical bars spaced apart in the longitudinal direction of the base frame,

Pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment including an upper bar connecting the pair of vertical bodies and extending in the longitudinal direction of the base frame.
The method of claim 1,

The cell seated in the pouch by the cell inserter may include a tab and a lead connected to the tab.

The vision is a pouch-type secondary battery packaging equipment for inspecting the lead.