KR-20260066827-A - Apparatus for manufacturing electrode assembly and method for manufacturing electrode assembly

KR20260066827AKR 20260066827 AKR20260066827 AKR 20260066827AKR-20260066827-A

Abstract

The present invention relates to an apparatus and method for manufacturing an electrode assembly by stacking unit cells. The electrode assembly manufacturing apparatus of the present invention comprises: a transfer unit for transporting unit cells; at least one pre-measurement vision unit provided to measure the anode alignment position and the cathode alignment position of the unit cells; an alignment vision unit provided to measure the anode alignment position of the unit cells when stacking the unit cells; a control unit provided to calculate anode and cathode gap data using anode alignment position data and cathode alignment position data measured from the pre-measurement vision unit, and to calculate cathode alignment position data using the gap data and anode alignment position data measured from the alignment vision unit; and a stacking unit provided to stack the unit cells using the calculated cathode alignment position data.

Inventors

박현재
이승환
김태희
윤재철
안지훈

Assignees

주식회사 엘지에너지솔루션

Dates

Publication Date: 20260512
Application Date: 20241105

Claims (18)

In an electrode assembly manufacturing device by stacking unit cells, A transfer unit that transfers unit cells; At least one pre-measurement vision unit configured to measure the positive alignment position and the negative alignment position of the unit cell; An alignment vision unit provided to measure the positive alignment position of the unit cells when the unit cells are stacked; A control unit configured to calculate anode and cathode gap data using anode alignment position data and cathode alignment position data measured from the above-mentioned pre-measurement vision unit, and to calculate cathode alignment position data using the gap data and anode alignment position data measured from the above-mentioned alignment vision unit; and An electrode assembly manufacturing apparatus characterized by including a stacking section provided to stack the unit cells using the above-determined cathode alignment position data.
In paragraph 1, The above-mentioned pre-measurement vision unit is, A first vision unit that measures at least two coordinates on the cathode side at the bottom of the unit cell; and An electrode assembly manufacturing apparatus characterized by including a second vision unit that measures at least two coordinates on the sides of the cathode and anode, respectively, at the top of the unit cell.
In paragraph 2, The above control unit is, Calculate first interval data by comparing the position of at least the negative side measured by the first vision unit with the position of the positive side measured by the second vision unit, and The position of the negative side and the position of the positive side measured by the second vision unit are compared to calculate the second interval data, An electrode assembly manufacturing apparatus characterized by being configured to select one interval data by comparing the accuracy of the first interval data and the second interval data.
In paragraph 3, The above control unit is, An electrode assembly manufacturing apparatus characterized by being configured to calculate cathode alignment position data using positive alignment position data measured by the above alignment vision unit and the above selected interval data.
In paragraph 2, The above electrode assembly manufacturing device further includes a stacking vision unit configured to measure the anode alignment position of a stacked unit cell, and The above control unit is, Calculate the cathode alignment position data of the stacked unit cell using the anode alignment position data measured by the above stacked vision unit and the above gap data, and An electrode assembly manufacturing apparatus characterized by being configured to perform an anode-cathode overhang inspection by comparing the measured anode alignment position data and the calculated cathode alignment position data of each of the stacked unit cells.
In paragraph 1, An electrode assembly manufacturing device characterized by the above-described control unit being configured to transmit the interval data through a PMAC (Programmable Multi-Axis Controller).
In paragraph 1, The above transfer unit is, It includes a conveyor belt configured to suck up the upper part of the unit cell through an adsorption part and transport it in an attached state, and An electrode assembly manufacturing device characterized in that the adsorption portion has an area smaller than the anode of the unit cell.
In paragraph 1, It further includes an alignment part provided to align the center of the negative electrode of the unit cell with the center of the stacking table, and The above alignment unit is, The above stacking table is configured to move in the X-axis and Y-axis directions and horizontally, and An electrode assembly manufacturing device characterized in that the above unit cell is configured to be movable only in the X-axis direction by the above transfer unit.
In paragraph 1, The above control unit is, The accuracy of the interval data is determined by analyzing the upper and lower images of the unit cell measured by the above-mentioned pre-measurement vision unit, and An electrode assembly manufacturing apparatus characterized by being configured to perform the selection of the interval data according to the above judgment result.
In a method for manufacturing an electrode assembly by stacking unit cells, A preliminary measurement step of measuring the positive alignment position and the negative alignment position of the unit cell using at least one vision unit; A gap data calculation step in which a control unit calculates gap data between an anode and a cathode based on the measured data of the anode alignment position and the cathode alignment position; A re-measurement step in which an alignment vision unit measures the positive alignment position of the unit cell; A cathode alignment position data calculation step in which the control unit calculates cathode alignment position data using the calculated interval data and the anode alignment position data measured in the re-measurement step; and A method for manufacturing an electrode assembly characterized by including a stacking step in which a stacking portion stacks the unit cells using the calculated cathode alignment position data.
In Paragraph 10, The above preliminary measurement step is, A first vision unit measuring the coordinates of at least two points on the cathode side at the bottom of the unit cell; and A method for manufacturing an electrode assembly characterized by including the step of a second vision unit measuring the coordinates of at least two points on the sides of the cathode and anode, respectively, at the top of the unit cell.
In Paragraph 11, The above interval data calculation step is, The control unit calculates first interval data by comparing the position of at least the negative side measured by the first vision unit with the position of the positive side measured by the second vision unit; The control unit calculates second interval data by comparing the position of the negative side and the position of the positive side measured by the second vision unit; and A method for manufacturing an electrode assembly characterized by including the step of the control unit comparing the accuracy of the first interval data and the second interval data to select one interval data.
In Paragraph 12, The above re-measurement step is, A step in which an alignment vision unit measures the coordinates of at least two points on the positive side of the unit cell; and The method includes a step of calculating position data of the positive side by connecting the coordinates of at least two points measured above; The above step of calculating cathode alignment position data is, A method for manufacturing an electrode assembly characterized by including a step in which the control unit calculates cathode alignment position data using the position data of the positive side measured by the alignment vision unit and the selected interval data.
In Paragraph 10, A step of measuring the anode alignment position of a stacked unit cell using a stacked vision unit; and A method for manufacturing an electrode assembly, further comprising the step of performing an anode-cathode overhang inspection by comparing the measured anode alignment position data and the calculated cathode alignment position data of each of the stacked unit cells with the control unit.
In Paragraph 14, The above anode-cathode overhang inspection is, A method for manufacturing an electrode assembly characterized by the control unit comparing the cathode alignment position data calculated using the anode alignment position data and the spacing data of each of the stacked plurality of unit cells with the anode alignment position data to determine whether there is a part where the anode protrudes more than the cathode.
In Paragraph 10, A method for manufacturing an electrode assembly characterized in that the above-described control unit is configured to transmit the interval data through a PMAC (Programmable Multi-Axis Controller).
In Paragraph 10, It further includes an alignment step of aligning the center of the negative electrode of the unit cell with the center of the stacking table, and The above alignment step is, The step of moving the stacking table in the X-axis and Y-axis directions and horizontally rotated, A method for manufacturing an electrode assembly characterized in that the above unit cell moves only in the X-axis direction.
In Paragraph 10, A step in which the control unit analyzes the upper image and lower image of the unit cell measured in the preliminary measurement step to determine the accuracy of the interval data; and A method for manufacturing an electrode assembly characterized by further including the step of performing the selection of the interval data according to the above judgment result.

Description

Apparatus for manufacturing electrode assembly and method for manufacturing electrode assembly The present invention relates to an apparatus for manufacturing an electrode assembly and a method for manufacturing an electrode assembly, and more specifically, to an apparatus for manufacturing an electrode assembly and a method for manufacturing an electrode assembly capable of manufacturing an electrode assembly with improved energy density by accurately stacking unit cells through a vision system and precise control. The importance of the secondary battery industry is growing day by day alongside the rapid growth of electric vehicles and energy storage systems (ESS). Particularly in fields requiring high capacity and high output characteristics, large-capacity battery cell assemblies consisting of tens to hundreds of cells are being applied; as a result, manufacturing technology for electrode assemblies is emerging as a key factor determining the performance and quality of secondary batteries. FIG. 1 is a plan view schematically showing the structure of a conventional unit cell. FIG. 2 is a side view schematically showing a stack of conventional unit cells. Referring to FIGS. 1 and 2, in a general secondary battery manufacturing process, a stacking method is mainly used to manufacture an electrode assembly by stacking unit cells based on a positive electrode. Here, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2, a unit cell (1) is formed by sequentially stacking a first separator (4), a negative electrode (3) equipped with a negative electrode tab (3a), a second separator (5), and a positive electrode (2) equipped with a positive electrode tab. Conventionally, the alignment position of the positive electrode (2) located at the top of the unit cell (1) is measured, and the unit cells (1) are sequentially stacked based on the measured alignment position of the positive electrode (2) to manufacture an electrode assembly. FIG. 3 is a side view schematically showing the configuration of a conventional electrode assembly manufacturing device (10). Referring to FIG. 3, a conventional electrode assembly manufacturing device (10) includes a conveyor belt (30) for transporting a holding unit (80) that adsorbs a unit cell (1), an alignment vision unit (40) for measuring the anode alignment position of the unit cell (1), a stacking vision unit (50) for checking the stacking state of the stacked unit cells (1), lighting units (71, 72) provided to illuminate the unit cell (1), and a stacking table (60) on which the unit cell (1) is stacked. Referring again to FIG. 1, the unit cell (1) includes an anode (2), a cathode (3), and a first separator (5) located between them. Several unit cells (1) are sequentially stacked based on the anode alignment position to form an electrode assembly of a predetermined width (W1). However, this stacking method based on the anode alignment position has several limitations. First, when forming an electrode assembly by stacking multiple unit cells based on the alignment position of an anode with a smaller area than the cathode, there is a limit to effectively reducing the overall width (W1) of the formed electrode assembly. This poses a constraint on increasing the energy density of the electrode assembly. Second, since cathode-anode overhang inspections are performed using a sampling method via a CT (computed tomography) imaging system to check whether the anode protrudes beyond the cathode, it is difficult to conduct a 100% inspection of the produced electrode assemblies. This raises the possibility of defective products entering subsequent processes, which can have a serious impact on product quality and safety. Third, since the alignment vision unit (40) mainly checks only the alignment state of the anode and the stacking vision unit (50) also checks only the alignment state of the anode after stacking, it is not possible to determine the position where the cathode is aligned, making it difficult to determine in real time whether the anode has protruded beyond the cathode. Due to these problems, there is an urgent need to develop new technologies that can improve the energy density of electrode assemblies and control quality more precisely. Figure 1 is a schematic plan view showing the structure of a conventional unit cell. FIG. 2 is a schematic side view showing a stack of conventional unit cells. FIG. 3 is a schematic side view showing the configurations of a conventional electrode assembly manufacturing device. FIG. 4 is a conceptual block diagram showing the configuration of an electrode assembly manufacturing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 5 is a schematic diagram showing the configurations of an electrode assembly manufacturing apparatus according to one embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 6 is a schematic plan view showing the appearance of a unit cell manufactured by an electrode assembly manufacturing device according to one embodiment of the present invent