Patent Publication Number: US-2022227037-A1

Title: Terrace folding system of secondary battery cell

Description:
TECHNICAL FIELD 
     The present disclosure relates to a terrace folding system of a secondary battery cell, and more specifically, to a terrace folding system of a secondary battery cell which uses a folding unit which operates temporally separately from a transfer unit which transports a secondary battery cell to reduce a tack time of a terrace folding process and increase a folding process time to improve a folding failure. 
     BACKGROUND ART 
     This section provides background information related to the present disclosure which is not necessarily prior art. 
     For a general terrace folding process of folding a terrace formed on an outer circumference of a secondary battery cell, a folding unit configured by a plurality of folding rollers is used. 
     As a folding roller having a predetermined angle passes by the terrace along a length direction, a terrace is formed. 
     In the meantime, during a secondary battery cell manufacturing process including the terrace folding process, the secondary battery cell is transported by a transfer unit operated by a conveyer system. 
     Accordingly, in the terrace folding process of the related art, the folding process is performed by allowing a terrace of the secondary battery cell which is transported by the transfer unit to pass through a fixed folding unit. 
     However, in the terrace folding process of the related art, a time taken to transport the secondary battery cell is dependent on a time taken to perform the folding process so that a tact time and a cycle time may be increased. 
     Further, since the time taken to perform the folding process cannot be shortened, even though a product manufacturing time is increased, the folding failure may not be reduced. 
     SUMMARY 
     Technical Problem 
     An object of the present disclosure is to provide a terrace folding system of a secondary battery cell which may reduce a tact time of a terrace folding process and improve a folding failure by increasing a time taken to perform the folding process. 
     Technical Solution 
     This section provides a general summary of the disclosure and is not a comprehensive disclosure of its full scope or all of its features. 
     In order to solve the above-described problems, an aspect among various aspects of the present disclosure provides a terrace folding system of a secondary battery cell, including: a transfer unit which transports a secondary battery cell; and a folding unit which is disposed along the transfer unit and is temporally separated from the transfer unit to fold a terrace of the secondary battery cell. 
     In the terrace folding system of a secondary battery cell according to an aspect of the present disclosure, the folding unit may further include: a folding roller which forms the terrace at a specific angle; and a roller moving unit which moves the folding roller to any one direction along a length direction of the terrace. 
     In the terrace folding system of a secondary battery cell according to an aspect of the present disclosure, the folding unit may further include: a sensing unit which senses whether an operation of the transfer unit ends; and a movement controller which moves the roller moving unit to one direction when the operation of the transfer unit ends. 
     In the terrace folding system of a secondary battery cell according to an aspect of the present disclosure, when a folding operation of the folding roller to fold the terrace ends, the movement controller may move the roller moving unit to the other direction. 
     In the terrace folding system of a secondary battery cell according to an aspect of the present disclosure, when the roller moving unit moves to the other direction, the folding roller may be disposed in a terrace folding beginning point of the secondary battery cell. 
     Advantageous Effects 
     According to the present disclosure, the folding unit which operates to be temporally separated from a transfer unit which transports the secondary battery cell is used to reduce a terrace folding tact time and cycle time of the secondary battery cell. 
     According to the present disclosure, a terrace folding quality of the secondary battery cell may be improved. 
    
    
     
       BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS 
         FIG. 1  is a view for explaining a terrace folding system of a secondary battery cell of the related art. 
         FIG. 2  is a view for explaining a tact time and a cycle time in a terrace folding system of a secondary battery cell of the related art of  FIG. 1 . 
         FIG. 3  is a view for explaining an exemplary embodiment of a terrace folding system of a secondary battery cell according to the present disclosure. 
         FIG. 4  is a view for explaining a tact time and a cycle time in a terrace folding system of a secondary battery cell according to the present disclosure of  FIG. 2 . 
     
    
    
     DETAILED DESCRIPTION 
     Hereinafter, an exemplary embodiment of implementing a terrace folding system of a secondary battery cell according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings. 
     However, it should be noted that the intrinsic technical spirit of the present disclosure is not limited by the following exemplary embodiment, and the following exemplary embodiment may easily be substituted or altered by those skilled in the art based on the intrinsic technical spirit of the present disclosure. 
     In addition, the terms used herein are selected for convenience of description and should be appropriately interpreted as a meaning that conforms to the technical spirit of the present disclosure without being limited to a dictionary meaning when recognizing the intrinsic technical spirit of the present disclosure. 
       FIG. 1  is a view for explaining a terrace folding system of a secondary battery cell of the related art and  FIG. 2  is a view for explaining a tact time and a cycle time in a terrace folding system of a secondary battery cell of the related art of  FIG. 1 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , in a terrace folding system of a secondary battery cell of the related art, when the secondary battery cell  10  is transported by a transfer unit  100 , a terrace  11  is formed by a folding roller  210 . 
     According to a method of folding the terrace  11  using the folding roller  210 , any one of the folding unit  200  or the secondary battery cell  10  moves along a length direction of the terrace  11  so that the terrace  11  is formed to have a shape of the folding roller included in the folding unit  200 . 
     Referring to  FIG. 1 , in a terrace folding system of a secondary battery cell of the related art, when the secondary battery cell  10  is transported by the transfer unit  100 , the folding unit  200  forms the terrace  11 . 
     That is, when the folding unit  200  or a position of the folding roller including the folding unit  200  is fixed and the secondary battery cell  10  is transported by the transfer unit  100 , the terrace  11  is formed. 
     Accordingly, the terrace folding system of the secondary battery cell of the related art does not require a separate moving unit to move the folding unit  200  along a length direction of the terrace  11 . 
     Further, referring to  FIG. 2 , a time  100   a  taken to transport the secondary battery cell  10  and a time  200   a  taken to fold and form the terrace  11  overlap. 
     At this time, the time  100   a  that the secondary battery cell  10  is transported is unnecessarily increased so that the tact time and the cycle time are undesirably increased. 
     Generally, the longer the terrace folding time  200   a  of the secondary battery cell, the more stable formation is possible. In contrast, a shorter transport time  100   a  is more desirable. 
     As illustrated in  FIG. 2 , when the time  200   a  taken to fold and form the terrace is longer than the time  100   a  taken to transport the secondary battery cell  10 , a time allocated to transport the secondary battery cell  10  is equal to the time  200   a  taken to fold and form the terrace. 
     That is, a time required to move the secondary battery cell  10  is dependent on the time  200   a  taken to fold and form the terrace  11 . 
     Therefore, the tact time T is a sum of the time  200   a  taken to fold and form the terrace and an operating time  300   a  of a unit process unit  300  which performs other unit processes other than the folding unit  200 . 
       FIG. 3  is a view for explaining an exemplary embodiment of a terrace folding system of a secondary battery cell according to the present disclosure and  FIG. 4  is a view for explaining a tact time and a cycle time in a terrace folding system of a secondary battery cell according to the present disclosure of  FIG. 2 . 
     Referring to  FIGS. 3 and 4 , a terrace folding system of a secondary battery cell according to the present exemplary embodiment includes a transfer unit  100  and a folding unit  200 . 
     The transfer unit  100  transports the secondary battery cell  10 . 
     The folding unit  200  is disposed along the transfer unit  100  and folds the terrace  11  of the secondary battery cell  10 , but folds the terrace  11  of the secondary battery cell  10  to be temporally separated from the transfer unit  100 . 
     Accordingly, the terrace folding system of the secondary battery cell of the present disclosure may minimize a time  100   a  that the transfer unit  100  transports the secondary battery cell  10 . 
     As a result, the tact time and the cycle time may be reduced. 
     Further, the time  200   a  that the folding unit  200  folds the terrace  11  may extend in accordance with a time  300   a  that the unit process unit  300  which performs another secondary battery manufacturing unit process operates. 
     For example, when a time that the unit process unit  300  performs each process is longer than the time that the folding unit  200  folds the terrace  11 , the terrace  11  folding time may be extended. 
     However, the secondary battery cell  10  may not be moved while the unit process unit  300  operates, so that the terrace folding time  200   a  may be extended. 
     In contrast, when the terrace ( 11 ) folding time  200   a  is extended, the folding is stably formed to reduce the failure. 
     In the terrace folding system of the secondary battery cell according to the present exemplary embodiment, the folding unit  200  may further include a folding roller  210  and a roller moving unit  220 . 
     The folding roller  210  is in contact with the terrace  11  to form the terrace  11  at a specific angle. 
     The roller moving unit  220  moves the folding roller  210  along the length direction of the terrace  11  to any one direction. 
     At this time, a direction  200   b  in which the folding roller  210  moves may be the same as the direction  10   a  that the transfer unit  100  moves the secondary battery cell  10 , or an opposite direction. 
     Further, the transfer unit  100  moves the secondary battery unit  10  from the unit process unit  300  to the folding unit  200  at a high speed and then stops the secondary battery cell  10 . 
     The folding unit  200  forms the terrace  11  in the length direction while moving at a constant speed. 
     Further, in the terrace folding system of the secondary battery cell according to the present exemplary embodiment, the folding unit  200  may further include a sensing unit (not illustrated) and a movement controller (not illustrated). 
     The sensing unit (not illustrated) senses whether the operation of the transfer unit  100  ends. 
     When the sensing unit (not illustrated) senses that the operation of the transfer unit  100  ends, the movement controller (not illustrated) moves the roller moving unit  220  to one direction to fold the terrace  11 . 
     In a state in which the transfer unit  100  operates, when the roller moving unit  220  starts the movement and then the operation of the transfer unit  100  ends, a speed at which the folding roller moves along the terrace  11  varies in the terrace of one second battery cell. 
     Therefore, the folding quality is not uniform so that the failure possibility may be increased. 
     Further, in the terrace folding system of the secondary battery cell according to the present embodiment, when the folding operation of the folding roller  210  to fold the terrace  11  ends, the movement controller (not illustrated) moves the roller moving unit  220  to the other direction. 
     Further, in the terrace folding system of the secondary battery cell according to the present embodiment, when the roller moving unit  220  moves to the other direction, the folding roller  210  is disposed at a folding beginning point of the terrace  11  of the secondary battery cell  10 . 
     The folding beginning point may be both ends of the terrace  11  in a direction that the folding roller  210  moves. 
     Accordingly, as soon as the transportation of the secondary battery cell  10  by the transfer unit  100  ends, the terrace folding process by the folding unit  200  may be stably performed.