Die Coater Shim Layout for Separate Battery Coating Paths
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing die coater technologies face inefficiencies in simultaneously coating electrode slurry and insulating coating liquid on current collectors for secondary batteries, often resulting in solution mixing and poor quality due to separate application processes.
Innovation Solution
A die coater shim with physically separated electrode slurry and insulating coating liquid discharge paths, where the shim includes a base with step portions forming distinct discharge paths for each solution, preventing mixing even if leakage occurs.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If separate processes are used to apply electrode slurry and insulating coating liquid, then solution mixing is prevented, but production efficiency deteriorates
Solution Approach 1:
The patent combines the application of electrode slurry and insulating coating liquid into a single die coater process. The die coater is equipped with multiple nozzles that can simultaneously discharge both types of coating liquids, eliminating the need for separate application processes and thereby improving production efficiency while maintaining solution separation through physical isolation of discharge paths.
Solution Approach 2:
The die coater employs segmented discharge paths with physically isolated nozzles for electrode slurry and insulating coating liquid. Each nozzle type has its dedicated discharge channel, preventing mixing while enabling simultaneous application. The die coater structure is divided into separate zones for different coating liquids, allowing independent control and discharge.
2Productivity
If independent slits are formed in a single die coater shim for both solutions, then simultaneous coating is enabled, but solution mixing occurs when leakage happens
Solution Approach 1:
The die coater uses multiple independent nozzles with separate discharge paths for electrode slurry and insulating coating liquid. Each nozzle is independently positioned and connected to its own supply channel, creating physical isolation that prevents solution mixing even if leakage occurs. The segmentation extends to the internal fluid channels that deliver each coating liquid to its designated nozzle.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces separate fluid channels and nozzle structures as intermediary elements between the coating liquid supplies and the discharge point. These intermediaries maintain physical separation of the two solutions throughout the discharge process, ensuring that even under leakage conditions, the solutions remain isolated until they reach their respective application zones on the substrate.
3Device complexity
If a single slit discharges both electrode slurry and insulating coating liquid, then device complexity is reduced, but manufacturing precision deteriorates due to solution mixing
Solution Approach 1:
Instead of a single shared slit, the die coater employs multiple independent nozzles, each dedicated to a specific coating liquid type. This segmentation of discharge structures maintains manufacturing precision by preventing solution mixing at the discharge point, while the overall device complexity is managed through a modular nozzle arrangement that can be systematically organized.
Data Source
AI summary
A die coater shim and die coater for simultaneously coating an electrode slurry and an insulating coating liquid. The die coater shim includes: a base that extends in a width direction; first and second guides that protrude and extend from both ends of the base; an electrode slurry slit that includes a step portion that extends from the base in the width direction between the first and second guides, wherein a thickness of the step portion is smaller than a thickness of the base, and a stepped space that the step portion forms relative to one surface of the base to form an electrode slurry discharge path; and first and second insulating coating liquid slits which include a groove on a surface of each of the first and second guides, wherein one end of the groove forms an insulating coating liquid discharge path.