Stacking-Folding Electrode Assembly Manufacturing
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Solution Overview
Problem
Conventional electrode assemblies, such as jelly-roll and stacking types, face issues with stress accumulation, non-uniform gaps, and low productivity due to complex manufacturing processes, leading to performance deterioration and increased costs, especially in the context of producing small-sized batteries for mobile devices.
Innovation Solution
A method for manufacturing a stacking/folding type electrode assembly involves continuously supplying electrode and separator sheets, arranging unit cells on a separator sheet, and winding them to locate anodes at the outermost electrodes, with electrode tabs of the same polarity grouped together, and supplying odd-numbered electrodes from two sheets and even-numbered electrodes from one sheet to prevent electrode loss and enhance production efficiency.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Quantity of substance
If the jelly-roll type electrode assembly is manufactured by densely winding long-sheet type cathodes and anodes, then the energy density is improved, but stress accumulates in the electrode assembly during charge and discharge, causing deformation and nonuniform gaps between electrodes
Solution Approach 1:
The electrode assembly is divided into multiple unit cells, each containing a subset of electrodes arranged in a manageable configuration. This segmentation allows stress to be distributed across multiple smaller units rather than accumulating in a single large wound structure, preventing deformation while maintaining high energy density through efficient packing of multiple unit cells.
2Reliability
If the stacking type electrode assembly is manufactured by sequentially stacking unit cathodes and anodes, then the electrode assembly stability is improved, but additional transfer processes are required and productivity is lowered
Solution Approach 1:
Electrodes are pre-assembled into unit cells with proper alignment and configuration before being integrated into the final electrode assembly. This preliminary action eliminates the need for complex transfer processes during sequential stacking, as pre-formed unit cells can be directly positioned and connected, significantly improving manufacturing efficiency while maintaining structural stability.
3Ease of manufacture
If electrodes are supplied from a single electrode sheet, then the manufacturing process is simplified, but electrode loss occurs when the number of electrodes is odd, increasing manufacturing costs
Solution Approach 1:
Multiple electrode sheets are merged and supplied together in a coordinated manner, allowing the system to handle both odd and even numbers of electrodes efficiently. By combining the supply of multiple sheets, the manufacturing process can accommodate any electrode count without waste, as electrodes from different sheets can be complementary rather than requiring perfect pairing from a single sheet.
Data Source
AI summary
Disclosed herein is a method of locating a plurality of full cells constructed in a cathode/separator/anode structure, as basic units, on a separator sheet having a continuous length, further locating a unit electrode or a bi-cell on the separator sheet, and winding the full cells and unit electrode or the bi-cell to continuously manufacture a stacking/folding type electrode assembly constructed in a structure in which anodes are located at the outermost electrodes forming the outside of the electrode assembly, respectively, wherein the method including a step of continuously supplying a cathode sheet, an anode sheet, a first separator sheet, and a second separator sheet, to manufacture the unit cells, successively arranging the unit cells on the second separator sheet from a first stage to an nth stage, and winding the unit cells, a step of arranging cathode tabs and anode tabs at the respective stages, while the cathode tabs and the anode tabs are opposite to each other, and arranging electrode tabs having the same polarity between the neighboring stages, while the electrode tabs are opposite to each other, such that the electrode tabs having the same polarity are located all together at predetermined positions of the wound electrode assembly, and a step of supplying electrodes the number of which is odd from two electrode sheets and electrodes the number of which is even from one electrode sheet.