A tension self-balancing device for lithium battery coating process

Abstract

The utility model discloses a tension self -balancing device for lithium battery coating process belongs to lithium battery coating technical field, the device includes: support spare, balance roller, it includes contact part and sets up in the movable part of contact part axis direction two sides, movable part stretches into the support spare, worm wheel subassembly, it includes setting in the balance roller axis direction two sides two worm wheel groups, worm wheel subassembly includes worm wheel and worm, worm wheel is set up on movable part, and worm is fixed mounting in the support spare and is located worm wheel one side, and worm wheel is engaged with worm. The utility model carries out the foil surface tension automatic balance through the device to eliminate the wrinkle, the skidding, the deviation, the loose edge, the winding disorder, the winding loose inconsistency and so on a series of problems of lithium battery coating process because of foil tension uneven.

Description

Technical Field

[0001] This utility model relates to the field of lithium battery coating technology, specifically to a tension self-balancing device for lithium battery coating process. Background Technology

[0002] Lithium-ion batteries, as an emerging energy storage technology, are widely used globally in fields such as mobile communications and electric vehicles, and have become a major focus in the international energy sector. With the continued expansion of the new energy vehicle market, power-type lithium-ion batteries are gradually becoming the mainstream lithium-ion battery product.

[0003] In the field of new energy vehicles, the energy density of lithium batteries has always been a focus of attention. A series of new energy vehicle manufacturers are making great efforts to improve the energy density of batteries in order to increase the driving range of new energy vehicles. Under the pressure of increasing energy density, the thickness of the metal current collector copper foil or aluminum foil in the lithium battery electrode is becoming thinner and thinner. For example, for every 1μm reduction in the thickness of the negative electrode copper foil, the battery energy density can be increased by 2.56Wh / kg.

[0004] The use of increasingly thinner aluminum and copper foils has led to higher energy densities in lithium batteries. However, this also necessitates increasingly sophisticated lithium battery coating processes. For example, when coating lithium battery aluminum foil, the foil passes through a series of guide rollers after being fed from the feeding rack. If there is a large deviation in the parallelism between the rollers or if the substrate itself has uneven tension, it will result in uneven tension of the material within the same area. Uneven foil tension can cause wrinkling during coating, leading to production failure and waste.

[0005] The existing methods for coating wrinkling in the lithium battery industry mainly include the following:

[0006] Method 1: Improve the overall installation accuracy of the equipment, such as improving the parallelism installation accuracy between the rollers.

[0007] Improving the overall installation accuracy of the equipment is a prerequisite for the lithium battery foil coating process. The higher the overall installation accuracy, the smaller the deviation of the foil after passing through each roller, and the smaller the tension change, thereby reducing foil wrinkling.

[0008] Disadvantages: It cannot handle wrinkling caused by uneven tension of the roll material itself; improving the overall machining precision will incur significant costs.

[0009] Method 2: Optimization and Adjustment of the Tension System

[0010] In the lithium battery manufacturing process, the speed of the traction roller is greater than that of the preceding rollers to traction the substrate. If the speed of the traction roller fluctuates or is improperly set, it will cause wrinkling of the substrate. Therefore, the lithium battery coating process adds tension control systems to each section of the substrate coating process to reduce tension fluctuations and reduce wrinkling.

[0011] Disadvantages: Electrical sensors have time delay; the traction roller can only increase or decrease the tension as a whole, and cannot handle wrinkling problems caused by uneven lateral tension of the roll material itself.

[0012] Method 3: Use an arc-shaped rubber flattening roller to address wrinkling issues.

[0013] The rubber flattening roller has an arc-shaped mandrel with spherical bearings at both ends. During operation, the mandrel remains stationary, and the rubber arc-shaped roller surface makes lateral inclined contact with the film. The inclination angle can be adjusted by twisting the mandrel.

[0014] Disadvantages: It requires manual adjustment based on the substrate tension, which wastes manpower; it cannot be adjusted quickly and in real time; and the repeatability and reproducibility are poor because different operators will have different adjustment effects. Utility Model Content

[0015] The purpose of this invention is to provide a tension self-balancing device for lithium battery coating process, which automatically balances the surface tension of foil material passing through the device, thereby eliminating a series of problems caused by uneven foil tension during lithium battery coating process, such as wrinkling, slippage, deviation, loose edges, uneven winding, and inconsistent winding tension.

[0016] To solve the above-mentioned technical problems, this utility model provides a tension self-balancing device for lithium battery coating process, comprising:

[0017] Support components;

[0018] A balancing roller includes a contact portion and movable portions disposed on both sides of the contact portion along its axial direction, the movable portions extending into a support member;

[0019] A worm gear assembly includes two worm gear groups disposed on both sides of the axis of the balance roller; each worm gear group includes a worm wheel and a worm, the worm wheel is sleeved on the movable part, the worm is fixedly installed in the support and located on one side of the worm wheel, and the worm wheel meshes with the worm.

[0020] in:

[0021] The worm of the worm gear set on one side of the balance roller is located in front of the corresponding worm wheel, and the worm of the worm gear set on the other side of the balance roller is located behind the corresponding worm wheel. The thread directions of the two worms are the same.

[0022] Preferably, the worm gear and the worm are in clearance fit.

[0023] Preferably, it also includes bearings;

[0024] The inner ring of the bearing is fitted onto the outside of the movable part.

[0025] Preferably, bearing guide rods are installed on both the front and rear sides of the bearing;

[0026] The bearing lead rod is fixedly installed inside the support.

[0027] Preferably, both the bearing lead rod and the worm gear are vertically arranged.

[0028] Preferably, the distance between two adjacent bearing leads is greater than the diameter of the bearing.

[0029] Compared with the prior art, the beneficial effects of this utility model are as follows:

[0030] This utility model adopts a fully mechanical structure, which can automatically balance the deviation of the lateral tension of the foil.

[0031] This invention has no electrical hysteresis delay, fast response speed, no need for manual adjustment, and low cost;

[0032] This invention features a high sensitivity by eliminating any springback structure. Attached Figure Description

[0033] The specific embodiments of this utility model will be further described in detail below with reference to the accompanying drawings.

[0034] Figure 1 This is a three-dimensional structural diagram of a tension self-balancing device for lithium battery coating process according to the present invention.

[0035] Figure 2 This is a schematic diagram of the worm gear box structure;

[0036] Figure 3 This is a simplified front view of a tension self-balancing device used in lithium battery coating processes.

[0037] Figure 4 This is a schematic diagram of the internal structure of the worm gear assembly;

[0038] Figure 5 This is a schematic diagram of the tension self-balancing principle;

[0039] In the picture:

[0040] 1-Support component; 2-Balance roller; 21-Contact part; 22-Moving part; 3-Worm gear assembly; 31-Worm gear; 32-Worm; 4-Bearing; 41-Bearing guide rod. Detailed Implementation

[0041] Many specific details are set forth in the following description to provide a full understanding of the present invention. However, the present invention can be implemented in many other ways different from those described herein, and those skilled in the art can make similar extensions without departing from the spirit of the present invention. Therefore, the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments disclosed below.

[0042] The terminology used in one or more embodiments of this specification is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the one or more embodiments of this specification. The singular forms “a,” “described,” and “the” as used in one or more embodiments of this specification and the appended claims are also intended to include the plural forms unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It should also be understood that the term “and / or” as used in one or more embodiments of this specification refers to and includes any or all possible combinations of one or more associated listed items.

[0043] It should be understood that although the terms first, second, etc., may be used to describe various information in one or more embodiments of this specification, such information should not be limited to these terms. These terms are only used to distinguish information of the same type from one another. For example, first may also be referred to as second without departing from the scope of one or more embodiments of this specification, and similarly, second may also be referred to as first. Depending on the context, the word "if" as used herein may be interpreted as "when," "when," or "in response to a determination."

[0044] The present invention will now be described in further detail with reference to the accompanying drawings:

[0045] Terminology Explanation:

[0046] Lithium-ion batteries: Lithium-ion batteries are a type of rechargeable battery that primarily functions by the movement of lithium ions between the positive and negative electrodes. Lithium-ion batteries are generally named after the material used in their positive electrode, such as lithium iron phosphate batteries (where the positive electrode is lithium iron phosphate) and ternary lithium batteries (where the positive electrode is lithium cobalt manganese oxide (NCM) or lithium nickel cobalt aluminum oxide (NCA), etc.).

[0047] Lithium-ion battery components: battery cell (power source) + control and protection board (brain).

[0048] Lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing process: electrode preparation, cell assembly, and formation testing.

[0049] Coating process in electrode preparation: The coating process of lithium battery refers to coating active materials onto the positive and negative electrode materials of lithium battery (usually copper foil or aluminum foil) to form a coating.

[0050] This utility model provides a tension self-balancing device for lithium battery coating process, comprising:

[0051] Support component 1;

[0052] The balance roller 2 includes a contact portion 21 and movable portions 22 disposed on both sides of the contact portion 21 along the axial direction, wherein the movable portions 22 extend into the support member 1;

[0053] The worm gear assembly 3 includes two worm gear groups disposed on both sides of the axis of the balance roller 2; the worm gear group includes a worm gear 31 and a worm 32, the worm gear 31 is rotatably sleeved on the movable part 22, the worm 32 is fixedly installed in the support member 1 and located on one side of the worm gear 31, and the worm gear 31 meshes with the worm 32;

[0054] in:

[0055] The worm 32 of the worm gear set on one side of the balance roller 2 is located in front of the corresponding worm gear 31, and the worm 32 of the worm gear set on the other side of the balance roller 2 is located behind the corresponding worm gear 31. The thread directions of the two worms 32 are the same.

[0056] Preferably, the worm wheel 31 and the worm 32 are in clearance fit, wherein the clearance fit between the worm wheel 31 and the worm 32 ensures that the balance roller 2 can oscillate when subjected to foil tension.

[0057] Preferably, it also includes a bearing 4;

[0058] The inner ring of the bearing 4 is fitted onto the outer side of the movable part 22.

[0059] Preferably, bearing guide rods 41 are installed on the front and rear sides of the bearing 4 respectively;

[0060] The bearing lead rod 41 is fixedly installed inside the support member 1.

[0061] Preferably, both the bearing lead rod 41 and the worm gear 32 are vertically arranged.

[0062] Preferably, the distance between two adjacent bearing guide rods 41 is slightly larger than the diameter of the bearing 4, to ensure that the bearing 4 and the movable part 22 can only move up and down and cannot swing back and forth.

[0063] To better illustrate the technical effects of this utility model, the present utility model provides the following specific embodiments to explain the above technical process:

[0064] Example 1: A tension self-balancing device for lithium battery coating process. This device is a purely mechanical, autonomous, and flexible tension self-balancing structure. By adjusting the lateral tension deviation of the substrate through a purely mechanical structure, it absolutely avoids the hysteresis of electrical adjustment and prevents erroneous adjustments. The precise worm gear box structure can compensate for the lateral tension of the substrate with high sensitivity and accuracy.

[0065] This structure mainly consists of a left-right bouncing balance roller 2 and precision worm gear boxes at both ends.

[0066] Worm gearbox structure as follows Figure 2 As shown:

[0067] The worm gear box mainly consists of a worm gear assembly 3, a bearing 4, and a bearing guide rod 41. The bearing 4 and the bearing guide rod 41 work together to restrict the movement of the balance roller 2 to linear motion. The worm gear assembly 3 ensures that the balance roller 2 can perform self-balancing motion when subjected to small fluctuations in foil tension.

[0068] Working principle of tension self-balancing device:

[0069] The balance roller 2, supported by worm gear boxes at both ends, is a seesaw-like mechanism with different center points and the two ends can swing.

[0070] The worms 32 on both sides of the balance roller 2 are located in front and behind the corresponding worm wheels 31, respectively, and the thread direction of the two worms 32 is the same. When the balance roller 2 is stationary without force, the worm wheels 31 on both sides want to rotate on the worms 32 in opposite directions due to gravity (one is clockwise and the other is counterclockwise). At this time, the forces on both sides are balanced, and the balance roller remains horizontal.

[0071] When the foil passes through the balancing roller 2 of the tension self-balancing device at a certain wrap angle, if the lateral tension distribution of the foil is uneven, the foil will be loose on one side and tight on the other. The pressure of the foil on the balancing roller 2 will also be uneven. At this time, the foil will drive the balancing roller 2 to a position outside the center of the roller (i.e., one end of the balancing roller 2 is subjected to a downward force and the other end is subjected to an upward force). Under this force, the balancing roller 2 will be displaced and deflected. The balancing roller 2 will rotate clockwise or counterclockwise, causing one side to move downward and the other side to move upward. The balancing roller 2 drives the foil to swing its position to reach a new equilibrium point, thereby balancing the problem of uneven lateral tension of the foil.

[0072] This invention eliminates the self-rebound device, removing the resistance generated by the rebound device and ensuring the sensitivity of the balance roller 2. It can achieve tension balance even under very small tension deviations. This invention also eliminates the elastic adjustment element, which requires the tension difference of the material to exceed the elastic force of the element before the roller moves. This invention, however, can self-balance as long as there is a tension difference, improving sensitivity by approximately 30%.

[0073] This utility model has the following advantages:

[0074] 1) Using a worm gear assembly and bearing 4, and bearing guide rod 41, a tension self-balancing device is formed where the center point is stationary and both ends can swing with the change of foil tension.

[0075] 2) There is no self-rebound structure, thus eliminating the resistance of the rebound structure itself, which can ensure that even a small fluctuation in foil tension can cause the roller to swing to balance the tension.

[0076] The above description is merely a specific embodiment of this utility model, but the protection scope of this utility model is not limited thereto. Any changes or substitutions within the technical scope disclosed in this utility model should be included within the protection scope of this utility model. Therefore, the protection scope of this utility model should be determined by the protection scope of the claims.

Claims

1. A tension self-balancing device for lithium battery coating process, characterized in that, include: Support component (1); The balancing roller (2) includes a contact portion (21) and movable portions (22) disposed on both sides of the contact portion (21) in the axial direction, the movable portions (22) extending into the support member (1); The worm gear assembly (3) includes two worm gear groups disposed on both sides of the axial direction of the balance roller (2); the worm gear group includes a worm wheel (31) and a worm (32), the worm wheel (31) is sleeved on the movable part (22), the worm (32) is fixedly installed in the support member (1) and located on one side of the worm wheel (31), and the worm wheel (31) meshes with the worm (32); in: The worm (32) of the worm gear set on one side of the balance roller (2) is located in front of the corresponding worm gear (31), and the worm (32) of the worm gear set on the other side of the balance roller (2) is located behind the corresponding worm gear (31). The thread directions of the two worms (32) are the same.

2. The tension self-balancing device for lithium battery coating process according to claim 1, characterized in that: The worm gear (31) and the worm (32) are in clearance fit.

3. The tension self-balancing device for lithium battery coating process according to claim 2, characterized in that, It also includes bearings (4); The inner ring of the bearing (4) is fitted onto the outside of the movable part (22).

4. The tension self-balancing device for lithium battery coating process according to claim 3, characterized in that: The bearing (4) is equipped with bearing guide rods (41) on its front and rear sides respectively; The bearing lead rod (41) is fixedly installed inside the support member (1).

5. The tension self-balancing device for lithium battery coating process according to claim 4, characterized in that: Both the bearing lead rod (41) and the worm gear (32) are vertically arranged.

6. The tension self-balancing device for lithium battery coating process according to claim 5, characterized in that: The distance between two adjacent bearing leads (41) is greater than the diameter of the bearing (4).

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