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EP-4362211-B1 - ELECTRODE ASSEMBLY AND MANUFACTURING METHOD OF THE SAME, BATTERY CELL INCLUDING THE SAME

EP4362211B1EP 4362211 B1EP4362211 B1EP 4362211B1EP-4362211-B1

Inventors

  • BAN, Jeongjin

Dates

Publication Date
20260506
Application Date
20221004

Claims (11)

  1. An electrode assembly (100) comprising: a cathode (110), an anode (120), and a separator (130) interposed between the cathode (110) and the anode (120), wherein an electrode tab extending from the cathode (110) or the anode (120) includes a tab gathering part (114) in which a plurality of electrode tabs are pressed and gathered at one point, wherein a lower surface of the tab gathering part (114) has a first height (h1) with respect to one surface of the electrode assembly (100) based on the stacking direction of the electrode assembly (100), wherein the first height (h1) is a difference value between a thickness (h0) of the electrode assembly (100) and a first distance, and wherein the first distance is a value having a difference of within 1 mm from the sum of the thickness of the tab gathering part and the thickness of the half-cell located at the outermost part of the electrode assembly, and wherein the electrode tab extends from an electrode having a polarity opposite to that of the electrode included in the half-cell located at the outermost part.
  2. The electrode assembly (100) according to claim 1, wherein: the electrode tab is a tab extending from either the cathode (110) or the anode (120), and the half-cell located at the outermost part includes another electrode of the cathode (110) or the anode (120).
  3. The electrode assembly according to claim 1, wherein: the electrode tab is a cathode tab connected to the cathode.
  4. The electrode assembly according to claim 1, wherein: the first height is greater than 6.2 mm and less than 8.2 mm.
  5. The electrode assembly according to claim 1, wherein: the first height is 6.3 mm or more and 8.1 mm or less.
  6. A manufacturing method of an electrode assembly which is performed by an electrode assembly manufacturing apparatus including a tab guide, the manufacturing method comprising: adjusting a centering position of a tab guide to a first height, pressing electrode tabs of the electrode assembly by the tab guide to form a tab gathering portion, and coupling the electrode tabs which are densely gathered to form a tab coupling part, wherein the first height is a difference value between a thickness of the electrode assembly and a first distance, and wherein the first distance is a value having a difference of within 1 mm from the sum of the thickness of the tab gathering part and the thickness of a half-cell located at the outermost part of the electrode assembly, wherein the electrode tab extends from an electrode having a polarity opposite to that of an electrode included in the half cell located at the outermost part.
  7. The manufacturing method according to claim 6, wherein: the electrode tab is a tab extending from either the cathode or the anode, and the half-cell located at the outermost part includes another electrode of the cathode or the anode.
  8. The manufacturing method according to claim 6, wherein: prior to the step of adjusting the centering position to the first height, the method further comprises calculating the first height.
  9. The manufacturing method according to claim 6, wherein: prior to the step of adjusting the centering position to the first height, the method further comprises: calculating the first distance, and calculating the first height based on the calculated first distance.
  10. A battery cell comprising the electrode assembly as set forth in claim 1.
  11. A pouch-type battery cell comprising the electrode assembly as set forth in claim 1.

Description

[TECHNICAL FIELD] The present disclosure relates to an electrode assembly, a manufacturing method of the same and a battery cell including the same, and more particularly to an electrode assembly that prevents disconnection of electrode tabs and a battery cell including the same. [BACKGROUND] In modern society, as portable devices such as a mobile phone, a notebook computer, a camcorder and a digital camera has been daily used, the development of technologies in the fields related to mobile devices as described above has been activated. In addition, chargeable/dischargeable secondary batteries are used as a power source for an electric vehicle (EV), a hybrid electric vehicle (HEV), a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle (P-HEV) and the like, in an attempt to solve air pollution and the like caused by existing gasoline vehicles using fossil fuel. Therefore, the demand for development of the secondary battery is growing. Currently commercialized secondary batteries include a nickel cadmium battery, a nickel hydrogen battery, a nickel zinc battery, and a lithium secondary battery. Among them, the lithium secondary battery has come into the spotlight because they have advantages, for example, being freely charged and discharged, and having very low self-discharge rate and high energy density. The secondary battery may be classified based on the shape of a battery case into a cylindrical or prismatic battery wherein an electrode assembly is built into a cylindrical or prismatic metal can, and a pouch-type battery in which the electrode assembly is built into a pouch-shaped case made of a stacked aluminum sheet. Further, the secondary battery may be classified based on the structure of an electrode assembly having a structure in which a cathode and an anode are stacked with a separator being interposed between the cathode and the anode. Typically, there may be mentioned a jelly-roll (wound) type structure in which long sheet type cathodes and long sheet type anodes are rolled with a separator being interposed between the cathode and the anode, a stacked (laminated) type structure in which pluralities of cathodes and anodes, cut into predetermined unit sizes, are sequentially stacked with separators being interposed between the cathodes and the anodes, or the like. Meanwhile, in manufacturing a stacked electrode assembly built into in a pouch-type battery, the electrode tab portions coupled with the electrode leads are pressed together by tab guides and then pre-welded. Here, the tab guide may allow the electrode tabs to densely gather in the center so that the electrode tabs have a symmetrical shape, and the electrode tabs can densely gather on one side to have an asymmetrical shape. However, when the electrode tab is formed in an asymmetrical shape, there is a problem that the tension acting on each tab is different, and disconnection of the electrode tabs frequently occurs. Document KR 102234993 B1 discloses a battery cell and a method for manufacturing the same, in which a dead space of the welding portion of the electrode tabs is reduced. [DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE INVENTION] [Technical Problem] It is an object of the present disclosure to provide an electrode assembly that prevents disconnection of electrode tabs and a battery cell including the same. However, the problem to be solved by embodiments of the present disclosure is not limited to the above-described problems, and can be variously expanded within the scope of the technical idea included in the present disclosure. [Technical Solution] To solve this problem, the invention relates to an electrode assembly according to claim 1. The electrode assembly after the invention may present one or more feature(s) of dependent claims 2 to 5, in any combination allowed by the claims. The invention also relates to a manufacturing method according to claim 6. The manufacturing method after the invention may present one of more feature(s) of dependent claims 7 to 9, in any combination allowed by the claims. The invention further relates to a battery cell according to claim 10 and a pouch-type battery cell according to claim 11. [Advantageous Effects] According to the embodiments, the electrode assembly of the present disclosure, a manufacturing method of the same, and a battery cell including the same can adjust the shape of the electrode tabs, thereby avoiding the tension acting on each tab from reaching a prescribed level or over. [BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS] Fig. 1 is a cross-sectional view showing a process of preparing the tab shape of the electrode assembly;Fig. 2 is a cross-sectional view of an electrode assembly according to one embodiment of the present disclosure; andFig. 3 shows a cross section of an electrode assembly and a battery cell according to a tab shape. [DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE EMBODIMENTS] Hereinafter, various embodiments of the present disclosure will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings so that those sk