Electrode manufacturing device

Abstract

An electrode manufacturing apparatus according to the present disclosure may comprise: a hot air supply device for supplying hot air to dry a coating material coated on a coating base material; a laser drying device that dries the coating material by irradiating the coating material that has passed through the hot air supply device with laser light; and a temperature measuring unit that measures the temperature of the coating material that has passed through the laser drying device and transmits the measured temperature data to the laser drying device. The electrode manufacturing apparatus can uniformly maintain the dryness of the electrode after the drying process.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This disclosure relates to an apparatus for manufacturing electrodes for secondary batteries. Background Technology

[0002] Unlike primary batteries, secondary batteries can be charged and discharged, and can be used in various fields such as digital cameras, mobile phones, laptops, hybrid vehicles, and electric vehicles. Research on lithium secondary batteries with high energy density and discharge voltage is actively underway.

[0003] Typically, the electrode plates of a lithium secondary battery are manufactured by coating positive or negative active materials onto aluminum or copper plates and drying the active materials.

[0004] The coating and drying processes have a significant impact on the quality of secondary batteries. However, under current circumstances, due to various reasons, the active material on the electrode plates that have completed the drying process is only partially dried.

[0005] Therefore, a drying device and method that can maintain uniform dryness is needed. Utility Model Content

[0006] Technical issues

[0007] According to one aspect of this disclosure, an electrode manufacturing apparatus for a secondary battery can be provided, which can maintain a uniform degree of dryness.

[0008] The secondary battery electrode manufacturing apparatus and method disclosed herein can be widely used in the field of secondary battery technology, such as pouch-type secondary batteries and prismatic secondary batteries.

[0009] Technical solution

[0010] The electrode manufacturing apparatus disclosed herein may include: a hot air supply device for supplying hot air to dry a coating material coated on a coating substrate; a laser drying device for drying the coating material by irradiating it with a laser after passing through the hot air supply device; and a temperature measuring unit for measuring the temperature of the coating material after passing through the laser drying device and transmitting the measured temperature data to the laser drying device.

[0011] In one embodiment, the electrode manufacturing apparatus further includes a dryness measuring unit, which measures the dryness of the coating material by capturing an image of the coating material after it has passed through the hot air supply device. The laser drying apparatus can selectively dry the coating material based on the dryness measured by the dryness measuring unit.

[0012] In one embodiment, the dryness measuring unit may include: a camera that irradiates the coating material with infrared or near-infrared light and captures an image of the coating material; and an image analysis unit that acquires dryness data of the coating material based on the image captured by the camera.

[0013] In one embodiment, the image analysis unit can divide the imaging area of ​​the coated material into multiple unit areas and acquire the dryness data for each unit area.

[0014] In one embodiment, the laser drying apparatus can set the power of the laser and perform irradiation based on the dryness data of each of the unit areas.

[0015] In one embodiment, the laser drying apparatus may include a plurality of laser irradiation units arranged in an array, each of which may irradiate any one of the unit regions with laser light.

[0016] In one embodiment, the laser drying apparatus may include a vertical-cavity surface-emitting (VCSE) laser.

[0017] In one embodiment, the laser drying apparatus can adjust the laser power according to each of the unit regions based on temperature data transmitted from the temperature measuring unit.

[0018] In one embodiment, a coating section may be further included, which is disposed at the front end of the hot air supply device to coat one or both sides of the coating substrate with the coating material in a slurry state.

[0019] Effects of the utility model

[0020] According to one embodiment of this disclosure, the dryness of the electrode after the drying process has been uniformly maintained. Attached Figure Description

[0021] Figure 1 A diagram illustrating the electrode manufacturing apparatus of an embodiment of this disclosure is provided for illustrative purposes.

[0022] Figure 2 To show in magnified form Figure 1 The diagram in part A;

[0023] Figure 3 For along Figure 2 The top view shown in direction B;

[0024] Figure 4 for Figure 3 A three-dimensional image;

[0025] Figure 5This is a flowchart of an electrode manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure;

[0026] Figure 6 for Figure 5 A detailed flowchart of step S4.

[0027] Explanation of reference numerals in the attached figures

[0028] 10: Unwinding machine

[0029] 20: Rewinding machine

[0030] 30: Coating section

[0031] 40: First Drying Section

[0032] 50: Second Drying Section

[0033] 60: Dryness Measurement Section

[0034] 70: Laser drying device

[0035] 80: Temperature Measurement Department Detailed Implementation

[0036] The present disclosure will now be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, this is merely illustrative and the present disclosure is not limited to the specific embodiments described herein.

[0037] Figure 1 For the purpose of briefly illustrating the electrode manufacturing apparatus of an embodiment of this disclosure, Figure 2 To show in magnified form Figure 1 The diagram in part A of the image. Figure 3 For along Figure 2 The top view shown in direction B. Figure 4 for Figure 3 A three-dimensional image.

[0038] like Figure 1 As shown, a secondary battery electrode manufacturing apparatus according to an embodiment of the present disclosure may include: a dewinding machine 10 for unwinding and supplying a coated substrate 5; a coating section 30 for coating a coating material 6 onto a coating area of ​​the coated substrate 5; a first drying section 40 for drying the coating material 6; a second drying section 50 for further drying of insufficiently dried portions; and a rewinding machine 20 for rewinding the coated substrate 5.

[0039] In this embodiment, the coating substrate 5 can be formed into a thin strip shape with a predetermined width, which can refer to a metal thin film used to manufacture the electrode of a secondary battery. For example, when manufacturing the positive electrode, an aluminum thin film can be used as the coating substrate 5, and when manufacturing the negative electrode, a copper thin film can be used as the coating substrate 5.

[0040] For the coating substrate 5, the coating material 6 can be supplied by the unwinding machine 10 and coated by the coating section 30. The coating material 6 is dried in sequence through the first drying section 40 and the second drying section 50, and then rewound by the rewinding machine 20. For this purpose, the electrode manufacturing apparatus of this embodiment may include a transfer device for transporting the coating substrate 5 in the above sequence. For example, the transfer device may include a plurality of rollers R that support the coating substrate 5 and rotate it.

[0041] The unwinding machine 10 can unwind the coating substrate 5 that has been wound into a roll and supply it to the coating section 30. As described above, the coating substrate 5 supplied from the unwinding machine 10 can be a metal film such as an aluminum film or a copper film.

[0042] The coating section 30 can coat the coating substrate 5 supplied from the unwinding machine 10 with the coating material 6. For this purpose, the coating section 30 may have a slit coating machine 32, but is not limited to this.

[0043] The coating material 6 can be an active material in slurry form, and both the positive and negative electrodes can be coated in the same manner. In this embodiment, the coating material 6 is coated only on one side of the coating substrate 5, but if necessary, the coating material 6 can also be coated on both sides of the coating substrate 5.

[0044] The first drying section 40 may have at least one chamber through which the coating substrate 5 passes, and may heat the coating material 6 passing through the chamber to remove moisture from the coating material 6. For this purpose, the first drying section 40 may have at least one of a variety of heat sources 42. For example, the first drying section 40 may include a heater that applies radiant heat to the coating material 6, such as a near-infrared lamp, or a hot air supply device that supplies hot air at a set temperature to the coating material 6. Furthermore, it may be configured to directly irradiate the coating material 6 with a laser to dry the coating material 6. In this way, the first drying section 40 of this embodiment can use various known drying methods as long as it can effectively dry the coating material 6.

[0045] The heat source of the first drying section 40 can heat the coating material 6 disposed inside the chamber as a whole. Therefore, the coating material 6 disposed inside the chamber can be dried to a certain level, but some moisture may remain in areas with relatively high moisture content instead of being completely removed.

[0046] The second drying section 50 can selectively dry at least a portion of the coating material 6 in the coating substrate 5 that has passed through the first drying section 40. For example, the second drying section 50 can analyze the state of the coating material 6 after passing through the first drying section 40, and if there are portions with residual moisture, i.e., portions where the degree of dryness is below a reference value set by the operator, then the coating material 6 can be selectively / locally dried only in those portions. The reference value is a value preset by the operator and can represent a specific PPM (parts per million). As an embodiment, the second drying section 50 can define the PPM at which the coating material 6 is sufficiently dried as the reference PPM, and further dry only portions exceeding the reference PPM. Moreover, as an embodiment, the second drying section 50 can define the coating material 6 in a slurry state provided by the coating section 30 as having a dryness of 0%, and the coating material 6 in a state with 0 PPM of moisture as having a dryness of 100%, and based on this, define the effective dryness percentage (e.g., 90%) for electrode manufacturing as the reference value.

[0047] Therefore, the second drying unit 50 may include a dryness measuring unit 60, a laser drying device 70, and a temperature measuring unit 80.

[0048] The dryness measuring unit 60 can continuously measure the dryness of the coating material 6 on the coating substrate 5 after passing through the first drying unit 40. For this purpose, the dryness measuring unit 60 can repeatedly perform the process of measuring the dryness of the coating material 6 in the area MA (hereinafter referred to as the shooting area) located at the lower part of the dryness measuring unit 60 and transmitting the measured results to the laser drying apparatus 70.

[0049] The shooting area MA can be specified as the area that the dryness measuring unit 60 can capture in one shot.

[0050] In this embodiment, the dryness measuring unit 60 can be positioned at a certain distance from the coating material 6, and the dryness of the coating material 6 can be measured by capturing an image of the coating material 6.

[0051] For example, the dryness measuring unit 60 may include an imaging device 61 and an image analysis unit 62. The imaging device 61 can capture images, and then the image analysis unit 62 can analyze the captured images to measure the dryness and select areas with low dryness based on this.

[0052] In this embodiment, the imaging device 61 may include a camera that illuminates infrared or near-infrared light. In this case, the camera can illuminate the coating material 6 with infrared light in a wavelength range with high water absorption characteristics and photograph the coating material 6, thereby acquiring images of areas divided according to dryness. However, this disclosure is not limited to this; a common camera may also be used as the imaging device 61 to capture images, and the dryness can be analyzed based on the color differences in the captured images.

[0053] The image analysis unit 62 can acquire dryness data of the captured area MA based on the image acquired from the imaging device 61 and transmit it to the laser drying device 70. For example, the image analysis unit 62 can divide the captured area MA into multiple unit areas UA and calculate the dryness of each unit area UA to create dryness data.

[0054] The laser drying apparatus 70 can irradiate the coating material 6 with laser light based on the dryness data of each unit area measured by the dryness measuring unit 60, according to the power set for each unit area UA. Therefore, the laser drying apparatus 70 can selectively / locally dry the coating material 6.

[0055] The laser drying apparatus 70 may include a plurality of laser irradiation units 72. The plurality of laser irradiation units 72 may be arranged in a one-dimensional or two-dimensional array, and each laser irradiation unit 72 is configured to face the coating material 6, capable of irradiating any one of the units in a unit area UA with laser light. For example, the laser drying apparatus 70 of this embodiment may include a vertical-cavity surface-emitting (VCSE) laser for laser irradiation.

[0056] In the laser drying apparatus 70 of this embodiment configured as described above, each laser irradiation unit 72 can irradiate with laser independently, and can irradiate with laser at different powers. Therefore, the power can be increased to irradiate the unit area UA with a slightly lower measured dryness, while the power can be reduced or the laser can be not irradiated for the unit area UA with a dryness of a reference value or higher.

[0057] The laser drying apparatus 70 of this embodiment can simultaneously irradiate the entire imaging area MA with laser. However, it is not limited to this; it can also irradiate with laser multiple times or locally as needed.

[0058] The temperature measuring unit 80 can be configured at the rear end of the laser drying device 70.

[0059] When using a laser to remove moisture from the coating material 6, the surface temperature of the coating material 6 increases proportionally to the heat applied to the coating material 6 by the laser. Therefore, the surface temperature of the coating material 6 can be measured to confirm whether the required heat has been supplied from the laser to a specific area of ​​the coating material 6.

[0060] In this embodiment, the temperature measuring unit 80 can measure the temperature of the coating material 6 after passing through the laser drying apparatus 70 and transmit the measured temperature data to the laser drying apparatus 70. The laser drying apparatus 70 can adjust the laser power based on the temperature data transmitted from the temperature measuring unit 80.

[0061] Furthermore, if the temperature of the coating material 6 is raised above the required level, the properties of the coating material 6 or the coating substrate 5 may change. Therefore, the temperature measuring unit 80 can continuously confirm whether the temperature of the coating material 6 is maintained within the normal range.

[0062] The temperature measuring unit 80 can be configured to face the coating material 6 at a position spaced a certain distance from it, and may include multiple temperature sensors for measuring the temperature of the coating material 6. The multiple temperature sensors can be evenly distributed across the entire area of ​​the temperature measuring unit 80 facing the coating material 6. For example, the temperature measuring unit 80 may be configured such that one infrared temperature sensor corresponds to one unit area, and thus the multiple temperature sensors can be configured to sense the temperature of different unit areas respectively. However, this embodiment is not limited to this.

[0063] The rewinding machine 20 can rewind the coated substrate 5, which has passed through the second drying section 50, into a roll. As long as the rewinding machine 20 can rewind the coated substrate 5 stably, various known devices can be used for the rewinding machine 20.

[0064] On the other hand, if the dried coating substrate 5 is immediately put into subsequent processes, the rewinding machine 20 can be omitted.

[0065] Next, regarding the use Figure 1 The manufacturing method of the secondary battery electrode manufacturing apparatus shown will be explained.

[0066] Figure 5 This is a flowchart of an electrode manufacturing method according to an embodiment of the present disclosure. Figure 6 for Figure 5 A detailed flowchart of step S4 in the process.

[0067] Reference Figure 5 and Figure 6 In the secondary battery electrode manufacturing method of this embodiment, the coating substrate 5, which is wound into a roll, is first unwound by the unwinding machine 10 and supplied to the coating section 30 (S1). As described above, a metal film can be used as the coating substrate 5.

[0068] The coating section 30 can coat the coating substrate 5 supplied from the unwinding machine 10 with the coating material 6 (S2). The coating material 6 can be an active substance in slurry form, and can be coated on one or both sides of the coating substrate 5. When the coating section 30 completes the coating of the coating material 6, the first drying section 40 performs the first drying of the coating material 6 (S3). Furthermore, the coating substrate 5 that has passed through the first drying section 40 can enter the second drying section 50.

[0069] A second drying process is performed in the second drying section 50, that is, the second drying section 50 selectively dries the portions of the coating material 6 that were not dried sufficiently after the first drying (S4).

[0070] First, the imaging device 61 of the dryness measurement unit 60 captures an image of the coating material 6 located in the imaging area MA. Furthermore, the image analysis unit 62 can divide the imaging area MA into multiple unit areas UA based on the image acquired from the imaging device 61, and calculate the dryness of each unit area UA to create dryness data (S41).

[0071] Then, the image analysis unit 62 can transmit the dryness data of the shooting area MA to the laser drying device.

[0072] This process can be repeated as the coated substrate 5 moves.

[0073] Next, the laser drying device 70 performs a second drying of the coating material 6 by irradiating each unit area UA with a laser.

[0074] The laser drying apparatus 70 can set the laser power according to each unit area UA based on the information transmitted from the dryness measuring unit 60, namely the dryness data of each unit area UA (S42). Moreover, when the coated substrate 5 moves so that the imaging area MA of the dryness measuring unit 60 is within the laser irradiation range, each laser irradiation unit 72 can irradiate the corresponding unit area UA with laser at the set power to remove the moisture from each unit area UA (S43).

[0075] The laser drying apparatus 70 of this embodiment can be configured such that one laser irradiation unit 72 is responsible for one unit area UA, or multiple laser irradiation units 72 can be grouped according to each unit area UA so that each unit area UA is responsible for its corresponding unit area UA. This can be changed accordingly based on the size of the unit area UA or the irradiable area of ​​each laser irradiation unit 72.

[0076] In this step, the laser drying apparatus 70 can irradiate the unit area UA with a relatively high power when the measured dryness is low, and irradiate the unit area UA with a relatively high dryness when the measured dryness is high. Furthermore, for unit areas UA determined to be completely dry, laser irradiation may not be necessary. For example, in this step, when the aforementioned baseline value is a dryness of 90%, laser irradiation may not be necessary for unit areas UA with a dryness of 90% or higher, but 50% of the maximum laser power may be used to irradiate unit areas UA with a dryness of 50%, and 20% of the maximum laser power may be used to irradiate unit areas UA with a dryness of 80%.

[0077] The coating material 6 that has passed through the laser drying device 70 can pass through the temperature measuring unit 80 located at the rear end of the laser drying device 70.

[0078] The temperature measuring unit 80 can measure the temperature of the coating material 6 after passing through the laser drying apparatus 70 and transmit the measured temperature data to the laser drying apparatus 70 (S44). Therefore, the laser drying apparatus 70 can adjust the laser power for each unit area UA based on the temperature data transmitted from the temperature measuring unit 80 (S45). For example, if a specific temperature in a particular unit area UA is higher than a preset reference temperature, the laser drying apparatus 70 can reduce the laser power irradiating that unit area UA.

[0079] When the coating material 6 is completely dried through the above process, the coating substrate 5 can be rewound into a roll by the rewinding machine 20 (S5).

[0080] In the electrode manufacturing apparatus for a secondary battery configured as described above, even if there are insufficiently dried portions in the first drying section 40, the corresponding portions can be further dried in the second drying section 50. Therefore, the dryness of the electrodes can be maintained uniformly, and battery defects caused by insufficient drying can be prevented.

[0081] Furthermore, since the first drying unit 40 is used in the existing device, the system of this embodiment can be realized simply by adding a second drying unit 50 between the first drying unit 40 and the rewinding machine 20 without replacing the first drying unit 40, thus minimizing equipment replacement costs.

[0082] On the other hand, the shooting device 61 of this embodiment uses a camera to shoot the coated substrate 5, and can also grasp the width of the coating material 6 coated on the coated substrate 5 and the coating state of the coating material 6 based on the shot image.

[0083] Furthermore, although this embodiment exemplifies the case where the dryness measuring unit 60 is located at the front end of the laser drying apparatus 70, it is also possible to arrange the dryness measuring unit 60 at the rear end of the laser drying apparatus 70 as needed. For example, when the dryness measuring unit 60 is located at the rear end of the laser drying apparatus 70, the dryness measuring unit 60 can determine the dryness of the coating material 6 that has passed through the laser drying apparatus 70 and transmit the dryness data to the laser drying apparatus 70, based on which the laser drying apparatus 70 can adjust its power.

[0084] The above description is merely an example of applying the principles of this disclosure, and other structures may be included without departing from the scope of this disclosure. For example, the above embodiments illustrate the case where the coating material is coated only on one side of the coating substrate. However, this disclosure is not limited to this; the coating material may also be coated on both sides of the coating substrate. In this case, a dryness measuring unit and a laser drying device may be provided on both sides of the coating substrate.

Claims

1. An electrode manufacturing apparatus, characterized in that, include: A hot air supply device supplies hot air to dry the coating material applied to the coating substrate; A laser drying apparatus dries a coating material by irradiating it with a laser after it has passed through a hot air supply device. as well as The temperature measuring unit measures the temperature of the coated material after passing through the laser drying device and transmits the measured temperature data to the laser drying device.

2. The electrode manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, Also includes: The dryness measurement unit measures the dryness of the coated material by capturing images of the coated material after it has passed through the hot air supply device. The laser drying apparatus selectively dries the coated material based on the dryness measured by the dryness measuring unit.

3. The electrode manufacturing apparatus according to claim 2, characterized in that, The dryness measuring unit includes: A camera illuminates the coating material with infrared or near-infrared light and captures an image of the coating material; and The image analysis unit acquires the dryness data of the coating material based on the images captured by the camera.

4. The electrode manufacturing apparatus according to claim 3, characterized in that, The image analysis unit divides the imaging area of ​​the coated material into multiple unit areas and acquires the dryness data for each unit area.

5. The electrode manufacturing apparatus according to claim 4, characterized in that, The laser drying device sets the power of the laser based on the dryness data of each unit area and then performs irradiation.

6. The electrode manufacturing apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that: The laser drying device includes multiple laser irradiation units arranged in an array. Each of the laser irradiation units irradiates a laser onto any one of the units in the unit region.

7. The electrode manufacturing apparatus according to claim 6, characterized in that, The laser drying device includes a vertical cavity surface-emitting laser.

8. The electrode manufacturing apparatus according to claim 5, characterized in that, The laser drying device adjusts the laser power according to each unit area based on the temperature data transmitted from the temperature measuring unit.

9. The electrode manufacturing apparatus according to claim 1, characterized in that, Also includes: The coating section is located at the front end of the hot air supply device and coats the coating material in a slurry state on one or both sides of the coating substrate.

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