Method of manufacturing electrode assembly

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2016149254-A1
Application number	US-201414901662-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Sep 15, 2014
Priority date	Sep 26, 2013
Publication date	May 26, 2016
Grant date	—

Abstract

Provided is a method of manufacturing an electrode assembly by using a magazine. The method includes manufacturing radical units in which electrodes and separators are alternately stacked (operation S 10 ), loading and aligning the radical units in an aligning magazine for accommodating the radical units (operation S 20 ), inspecting a dimension of the radical units aligned in operation S 20 (operation S 30 ), and transferring radical units considered to have a normal dimension in operation S 30 , to a stacking magazine to align and stack the radical units, thereby forming an electrode assembly (operation S 40 ).

First claim

1 . An electrode assembly manufacturing method comprising:
manufacturing radical units in which electrodes and separators are alternately stacked (operation S 10 ); loading and aligning the radical units in an aligning magazine for accommodating the radical units (operation S 20 ); inspecting a dimension of the radical units aligned in operation S 20 (operation S 30 ); and transferring radical units considered to have a normal dimension in operation S 30 , to a stacking magazine to align and stack the radical units, thereby forming an electrode assembly (operation S 40 ).

2 . The method of claim 1 , wherein operation S 40 is performed without a separate dimension inspection on the radical units.

3 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the radical unit is transferred from the aligning magazine to the stacking magazine by a robot arm after operation S 30 .

4 . The method of claim 3 , wherein the radical units are precisely aligned in operation S 20 , and the robot arm transfers the radical units precisely aligned in operation S 20 , to the stacking magazine over a predetermined displacement.

5 . The method of claim 3 , wherein operation S 20 is performed by a clamp that fixes the radical units in a flat state to the aligning magazine.

6 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the robot arm holds the radical units when the radical units are fixed by the clamp.

7 . The method of claim 6 , wherein after the robot arm holds the radical units, the clamp unclamps the radical units.

8 . The method of claim 6 , wherein the robot arm uses a negative pressure holding method to hold the radical units.

9 . The method of claim 5 , wherein the radical units are clamped and unclamped one by one in the aligning magazine by the clamp and are transferred to the stacking magazine by the robot arm.

10 . The method of claim 1 , wherein operation S 30 comprises measuring a width of the radical units and an angle between neighboring sides thereof.

11 . The method of claim 1 , wherein the radical unit comprises a stacked structure formed by sequentially stacking a first electrode, a first separator, a second electrode, and a second separator.

12 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the radical unit has a structure in which the stacked structure is repeated a plurality of times.

13 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the radical unit is formed by adhering the first electrode, the first separator, the second electrode, and the second separator to one another.

14 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the first electrode, the first separator, the second electrode, and the second separator are adhered to one another by pressing, or pressing and heating the first electrode, the first separator, the second electrode, and the second separator.

15 . The method of claim 13 , wherein the radical unit is formed by laminating the first electrode, the first separator, the second electrode, and the second separator.

16 . The method of claim 13 , wherein a surface of the first and second separators is coated with a coating material having adhesive force.

17 . The method of claim 16 , wherein the coating material comprises a mixture of inorganic particles and a binder polymer.

18 . The method of claim 16 , wherein both surfaces of the first separator facing the first electrode and the second electrode are coated with the coating material, and only a surface of the second separator facing the second electrode is coated with the coating material.

19 . The method of claim 16 , wherein both surfaces of the first separator facing the first electrode and the second electrode are coated with the coating material, and a surface of the second separator facing the second electrode, and a surface thereof opposite to the first surface are coated with the coating material, and
the radical units of the electrode assembly are adhered to each other by the coating material of the second separator.

20 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the electrode assembly further comprises a first auxiliary unit disposed as a layer on a first distal end electrode as the first electrode disposed on the uppermost or lowermost side of the electrode assembly, and
when the first electrode is a cathode, and the second electrode is an anode, the first auxiliary unit is formed by sequentially stacking a separator, an anode, a separator, and a cathode from the first distal end electrode, and when the first electrode is an anode, and the second electrode is a cathode, the first auxiliary unit is formed by sequentially stacking a separator and a cathode from the first distal end electrode.

21 . The method of claim 20 , wherein the cathode of the first auxiliary unit comprises:
a collector; and a cathode active material applied to only one of both surfaces of the collector, the one surface facing the radical units.

22 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the electrode assembly further comprises a first auxiliary unit disposed as a layer on a first distal end electrode as the first electrode disposed on the uppermost or lowermost side of the electrode assembly, and
when the first electrode is a cathode, and the second electrode is an anode, the first auxiliary unit is formed by sequentially stacking a separator, an anode, and a separator from the first distal end electrode.

23 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the electrode assembly further comprises a second auxiliary unit disposed as a layer on a second distal end separator as the second separator disposed on the uppermost or lowermost side of the electrode assembly, and
when the first electrode is a cathode, and the second electrode is an anode, the second auxiliary unit is formed as a cathode, and when the first electrode is an anode, and the second electrode is a cathode, the second auxiliary unit is formed by sequentially stacking an anode, a separator, and a cathode from the second distal end separator.

24 . The method of claim 23 , wherein the cathode of the second auxiliary unit comprises:
a collector; and a cathode active material applied to only one of both surfaces of the collector, the one surface facing the radical units.

25 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the electrode assembly further comprises a second auxiliary unit disposed as a layer on a second distal end separator as the second separator disposed on the uppermost or lowermost side of the electrode assembly, and
when the first electrode is a cathode, and the second electrode is an anode, the second auxiliary unit is formed by sequentially stacking a first cathode, a separator, an anode, a separator, and a second cathode from the second distal end separator, and the second cathode of the second auxiliary unit comprises a collector and a cathode active material applied to only one of both surfaces of the collector, the one surface facing the radical units.

26 . The method of claim 11 , wherein the electrode assembly further comprises a second auxiliary unit disposed as a layer on a second distal end separator as the second separator disposed on the uppermost or lowermost side of the electrode assembly, and
when the first electrode is an anode, and the second electrode is a cathode, the second auxiliary unit is formed by sequentially stacking an anode, a separator, a cathode, a separator, and an anode from the second distal end separator.

Assignees

• Lg Chemical Ltd

Inventors

• Ban Jin Ho
• Park Ji Won
• Ko Myung Hoon
• Na Seung Ho
• Yang Young Joo

Classifications

• H01M10/0585

  of accumulators having only flat construction elements, i.e. flat positive electrodes, flat negative electrodes and flat separators · CPC title

• H01M10/0404

  Machines for assembling batteries · CPC title

• H01M10/0413 Primary

  Large-sized flat cells or batteries for motive or stationary systems with plate-like electrodes · CPC title

• H01M2220/20

  Batteries in motive systems, e.g. vehicle, ship, plane · CPC title

• H01M10/0436

  Small-sized flat cells or batteries for portable equipment · CPC title