Apparatus for manufacturing electrode for lithium ion secondary battery

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-9960409-B2
Application number	US-201514972472-A
Country	US
Kind code	B2
Filing date	Dec 17, 2015
Priority date	Dec 19, 2014
Publication date	May 1, 2018
Grant date	May 1, 2018

Abstract

Provided is an apparatus for manufacturing an electrode for a lithium ion secondary battery that makes it possible to form a more uniform active material layer by using granulated particles. The manufacturing apparatus includes: a conveying mechanism, a supply unit, a squeegee, an adjustment unit, and rolling rolls. The conveying mechanism conveys a collector. The supply unit supplies granulated particles, including active material particles and a binder, onto the surface of the conveyed collector. The squeegee levels the supplied granulated particles. The adjustment unit is disposed upstream of the squeegee. The adjustment unit controls the accumulation height of the granulated particles accumulated upstream of the squeegee. The rolling rolls roll the leveled granulated particles and form the active material layer.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1. An apparatus for manufacturing an electrode for a lithium ion secondary battery, comprising:
a conveying mechanism for conveying a collector in a transport direction;
a supply unit for supplying granulated particles in the state of powder onto a surface of the conveyed collector, the granulated particles including active material particles and a binder;
a squeegee for leveling the supplied granulated particles;
an adjustment unit provided with a horizontal lower surface at a position spaced above the conveyed collector and disposed upstream of the squeegee in the transport direction and arranged side by side to the squeegee, the adjustment unit facing the granulated particles accumulated upstream of the squeegee and controlling an accumulation height of the accumulated particles; and
rolling rolls for rolling the leveled granulated particles and forming an active material layer,
wherein the accumulation height of the accumulated particles is taken as a distance from the surface of the conveyed collector to the upper surface of the accumulated granulated particles.

2. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising:
a height sensor disposed upstream of the adjustment unit and for measuring a height of the supplied granulated particles; and
a control unit for controlling a supply amount of the granulated particles supplied from the supply unit, on the basis of a measurement result of the height sensor.

3. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising, upstream of the supply unit:
a liquid binder supply unit that supplies a liquid binder including a binder onto the surface of the conveyed collector.

4. The apparatus according to claim 1 , further comprising a guide unit, wherein:
the supply unit is provided with a discharge port for discharging the granulated particles;
a supply position is set in the vicinity of the collector surface which is the closest to a lower end of the squeegee, and upstream of the closest position; and
the guide unit extends from below the discharge port toward the supply position and supplies the granulated particles discharged from the discharge port to the collector, in the vicinity of the supply position.

5. The apparatus according to claim 1 , wherein
the squeegee is a squeegee roll of a cylindrical shape; and
the adjustment unit is disposed at a height of 1/12×r (inclusive) to 5/12×r (inclusive) from a lower end portion of the squeegee roll, where r is a radius of the squeegee roll.

6. The apparatus according to claim 4 , wherein
the guide unit is constituted by polytetrafluoroethylene.

Assignees

• Toyota Motor Co Ltd

Inventors

• Tanihara Koichi
• Sakashita Yasuhiro
• HASAMA Naohiro
• Hosono Yuto

Classifications

• B05C19/00

  Apparatus specially adapted for applying particulate materials to surfaces · CPC title

• H01M4/0435

  Rolling or calendering · CPC title

• H01M4/0409 Primary

  by a doctor blade method, slip-casting or roller coating · CPC title

• H01M10/0525

  Rocking-chair batteries, i.e. batteries with lithium insertion or intercalation in both electrodes; Lithium-ion batteries · CPC title

• H01M4/139 Primary

  Processes of manufacture · CPC title