Movable Segment Drum for Solid-State Battery Web Division
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Solution Overview
Problem
The mass production of solid-state batteries is hindered by the fragility and high cost of thin, long webs used in their construction, which are difficult to handle and align accurately due to their layered structure and stringent tolerances.
Innovation Solution
A drum with movable segments that expand to increase tension in the web, allowing it to be divided into discrete stacks without cutting, thereby minimizing damage and ensuring accurate alignment, while also enabling simultaneous formation of multiple stacks.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If the web is cut to form discrete stacks, then the web can be divided into individual units, but the coating layers are damaged and cracked, impairing product quality
Solution Approach 1:
The drum is designed with movable segments that can dynamically change the circumference of the web-receiving loop. By expanding the loop circumference, tension in the reeled web increases, causing the web to break at predetermined weak points rather than requiring mechanical cutting. This dynamic adjustment allows division of the web into discrete stacks while preserving coating layer integrity.
2Productivity
If the web is made extremely thin to minimize resistivity, then energy density is maximized, but the web becomes fragile and difficult to handle
Solution Approach 1:
The drum segments are movable to enable dynamic expansion of the web-receiving loop, which increases tension in the thin web during the reeling process. This controlled tension prevents the fragile web from sagging or tangling while being wound onto the drum, enabling reliable handling of extremely thin webs without compromising their integrity.
Solution Approach 2:
The drum is divided into multiple movable segments that can independently adjust. This segmentation allows precise control over the expansion of the web-receiving loop, enabling gradual increase in tension to handle the fragile thin web without sudden stress that could cause damage.
3Productivity
If the number of layers in an SSB stack is increased to improve capacity, then alignment tolerances become smaller, making edge alignment more difficult
Solution Approach 1:
By dynamically expanding the drum circumference during reeling, uniform tension is maintained across all layers as they are wound onto the drum. This prevents layer shifting and ensures that edges remain aligned even as the number of layers increases, maintaining manufacturing precision despite higher stack capacity.
Solution Approach 2:
Multiple layers are reeled onto the drum simultaneously in a single operation, with the movable segments ensuring all layers experience equal tension. This combines the alignment function across all layers, ensuring consistent edge alignment throughout the entire stack without requiring separate alignment processes for each layer.
4Productivity
If the web-receiving loop is expanded to increase tension and divide the web, then discrete stacks are formed, but the drum structure must be complex and movable
Solution Approach 1:
The drum is segmented into multiple independent movable sections, each capable of radial movement. This segmentation simplifies the overall structure compared to a fully movable drum, as each segment can be controlled independently to achieve the desired expansion of the web-receiving loop, reducing mechanical complexity while maintaining functionality.
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This method facilitates cost-effective and efficient production of solid-state devices by reducing web damage, ensuring accurate alignment, and allowing for high-speed fabrication of multiple stacks, thus overcoming the challenges of handling and aligning thin, long webs.
Implementation Method 1
The drum segments are movable to enable the web-receiving loop to expand to increase tension in a web reeled onto the web-receiving loop to divide the elongate web into discrete stacks
Data Source
AI summary
A drum arranged for reeling and dividing an elongate web of sheet material to produce discrete stacks of web portions is provided. The drum includes a series of faces forming a web-receiving loop that extends around a central axis of the drum, each face of the drum being defined by a respective drum segment that is configured to support a respective stack of web portions of a web reeled onto the web-receiving loop. The drum segments are movable to enable the web-receiving loop to expand to increase tension in a web reeled onto the web-receiving loop to divide the elongate web into discrete stacks.