Patent Description:
The following disclosure relates to an ultra-dispersion mixer, and more particularly to an ultra-dispersion mixer for realizing various stirring characteristics in one mixer device to easily and effectively disperse elements of a slurry for a secondary battery, supplied into a mixer during a procedure of preparing the slurry of a secondary battery produced by performing mixing procedures multiple times.

A slurry for a secondary battery is configured by mixing powders included in a positive electrode or a negative electrode, an adhesive (hereinafter, a binder) for fixing the powders to an electrode plate, a conductive agent for improving the electrical conductivity between the powders, and so on. When the slurry for a secondary battery is prepared, the powder, the binder powder, the conductive agent powder, and a binder solution may be put and stirred at one time, but in this case it is very difficult to stir the elements in a mixer due to aggregation, electrostatic attraction, and so on of each unit element and it is difficult to produce a slurry for a secondary battery having high marketability. Accordingly, in general, a slurry for a secondary battery is prepared by preparing a solution in advance by melting binder powders in a specific solvent, adding a positive electrode material, a negative electrode material powder, or the like to the prepared binder solution, and then stirring the resulting material. Here, when the binder solution is prepared, different binder solutions are used for a positive electrode and a negative electrode, respectively. In general, it is easy, in terms of the time and cost for preparing the slurry for a secondary battery, to sequentially perform mixing for preparing a binder solution and subsequent mixing for preparing the slurry for a secondary battery in a single mixing device. A conventional mixer device for preparing a slurry for a secondary battery is used to prepare the slurry for a secondary battery using a method of improving the dispersion of mixed materials by positioning a high-speed stirring body and a low-speed stirring body in a mixer, as disclosed in <CIT>). However, as described above, in a procedure of preparing the slurry for a secondary battery, a mixer requires stirring characteristics whereby binder powders are rapidly melted in a solution when the binder solution is prepared, and requires stirring characteristics whereby positive electrode powders or negative electrode powders, which is not dissolved in a binder solution having high viscosity, are evenly dispersed when the slurry for a secondary battery is prepared by mixing polar powders in the prepared binder solution, but the features disclosed in the cited reference have a problem in that all stirring characteristics appropriate for the procedure of preparing the slurry for a secondary battery are not satisfied. In addition, due to the recently increasing demand for battery packs of electric vehicles, there is also a problem in that the production of secondary battery slurries does not keep up with the demand, resulting in disruption in battery production. Accordingly, in order to prepare a slurry for a secondary battery, there is a need for an ultra-dispersion mixer for reducing the preparing time of the slurry for a secondary battery while maintaining high quality by containing various stirring characteristics in one mixer and effectively mixing elements of the slurry for a secondary battery. <CIT> discloses an ultra-dispersion mixer comprising a low-speed blade and a high speed blade having a plurality of blade parts of different sizes. <CIT> discloses an agitator reactor for viscous media, which includes a turbine stirrer arranged at the end of a shaft and a propeller stirrer arranged above on the same shaft. <CIT> discloses a mixing apparatus comprising a shaft that carries counter-rotating stirrers and agitating members. <CIT> discloses a combined mixing and homogenizing device including inner mixing blades, which convey upwards by inclination, and outer mixing blades inclined in the opposite direction. <CIT> discloses a reaction kettle including a main agitator being installed on a main agitating shaft and comprising an upper layer agitator, which is a pitched agitator, and a lower layer agitator, which is an impeller agitator.

An embodiment of the present disclosure is directed to providing an ultra-dispersion mixer for preparing a slurry for a secondary battery having high dispersion by realizing required stirring characteristics in one mixer depending on the powder and solution input during a procedure of preparing the slurry for a secondary battery, and increasing a feed rate of the slurry for a secondary battery by reducing the stirring time.

In one general aspect, an ultra-dispersion mixer includes a chamber configured to accommodate a mixed material therein, a blade drum formed as a cylinder having a space formed therein and disposed to rotate at an upper portion of an internal side of the chamber, a low-speed blade having one end connected to a lower surface of the blade drum and a remaining end that extends along an internal wall of the chamber and rotates together with the blade drum along the internal wall of the chamber, and at least one high-speed blade having one end connected to the blade drum and a remaining end that extends towards an internal side of the chamber and rotating on the blade drum, wherein the high-speed blade has a plurality of blade parts having different stirring characteristics and arranged on one shaft.

Here, the blades include a saw blade that has a sawtooth protruding outside a circular plate and rotates, and a star blade that has a plurality of rods vertically extending outside a circular plate and rotates.

Here, the low-speed blade may include a rod portion extending along an internal surface of the chamber, a bottom portion extending along a bottom surface of the chamber, and a plurality of protrusions that protrude towards the internal side of the chamber from the rod portion and are spaced apart from each other, wherein the blade parts may be arranged between the plurality of protrusions that are spaced apart from each other.

Here, the ultra-dispersion mixer may further include a power distributor insertion-installed to penetrate an upper portion of the chamber and a center of the blade drum and configured to distribute one or more powers transferred from a plurality of power sources to the blade drum or the high-speed blade, wherein the power distributor may include a first distributor configured to distribute any one of powers transferred from the plurality of power sources to the blade drum, and a second distributor formed as a rotation shaft penetrating a center of the first distributor and configured to distribute remaining power of the powers transferred from the plurality of power sources to the high-speed blade, and the low-speed blade may rotate together with the blade drum, and the high-speed blade may rotate on the blade drum.

Furthermore, the high-speed blade may rotate at a higher speed than a revolution speed of the low-speed blade.

Here, the ultra-dispersion mixer may further include an opening and closing device connected to opposite sides of the chamber and configured to raise and lower the chamber on a support on which the chamber is disposed.

Here, the ultra-dispersion mixer may further include a powder feeder configured to supply powders to the chamber, a solution feeder configured to supply a solution to the chamber, and a heat exchanger configured to adjust a temperature of the solution supplied to the solution feeder.

Here, the ultra-dispersion mixer may further include a high-shear disperser configured to supply high-shear dispersion force to a mixed material introduced from the chamber using rotation force of an impeller included in the ultra-dispersion mixer, wherein an inlet and an outlet that are formed in a lower portion of the chamber may be connected to the high-shear disperser.

In this case, the inlet and the outlet may include timing valves formed thereon, which are opened and closed after the mixed material is stirred in the chamber during a user set time or greater.

Hereinafter, the present disclosure will be described in detail through explaining exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure with reference to the accompanying drawings.

The accompanying drawings illustrate merely an example for more clearly understanding the features of the present disclosure and thus the features of the present disclosure should not be limited by the accompanying drawings.

As shown in <FIG>, an ultra-dispersion mixer <NUM> according to the present disclosure may include a chamber <NUM>, a blade drum <NUM>, a low-speed blade <NUM>, a high-speed blade <NUM>, and an opening and closing device <NUM>. The components will be described below in detail.

The chamber <NUM> may have a space formed therein and may accommodate a mixed material, that is, powders and a binder solution for preparing a secondary battery slurry. The chamber <NUM> may stir the powders and the binder solutions to form a slurry for an electrode of a secondary battery, and in some embodiments, the completely stirred slurry for an electrode of a secondary battery may be discharged by opening and closing an upper or lower portion of the chamber <NUM> through the opening and closing device <NUM> or may be moved to the outside through a discharger formed on the chamber <NUM> and connected to the outside.

The blade drum <NUM> may be disposed in an upper portion of an internal side of the chamber <NUM> and may perform a function of distributing at least one power transferred from the outside of the ultra-dispersion mixer <NUM> to the low-speed blade <NUM> and the high-speed blade <NUM> and may perform a function of rotating in the upper portion of the internal side of the chamber <NUM> for an operation of the low-speed blade <NUM> connected to the blade drum <NUM>.

The low-speed blade <NUM> may stir the mixed material agglomerated on an internal wall of the chamber <NUM> to the center of the chamber <NUM>. The low-speed blade <NUM> may have one end connected to at least one region of the blade drum <NUM> and the other end that extends along the internal wall of the chamber <NUM>. Thus, the low-speed blade <NUM> may be disposed adjacent to the internal wall of the chamber <NUM> and may be disposed to prevent from interfering with the chamber <NUM> while the blade drum <NUM> rotates. Furthermore, the low-speed blade <NUM> may rotate inside the chamber <NUM> along with rotation of the blade drum <NUM>, and thus may have the shape for improving the stirring efficiency together with the high-speed blade <NUM> disposed at the blade drum <NUM> and the shape and arrangement for preventing from interfering with the high-speed blade <NUM>. A detailed description of the aforementioned shape of the low-speed blade <NUM> and the arrangement of the low-speed blade <NUM> for preventing from interfering with the high-speed blade <NUM> will be given with reference to <FIG>.

The high-speed blade <NUM> may be disposed on the blade drum <NUM> and may shaft-rotate at high speed, and thereby may stir the mixed material accommodated in the chamber <NUM> to supply dispersion force to agglomerated particles of the accommodated mixed material and to tear each particle using a plurality of blade parts having different stirring characteristics and arranged on one shaft of the high-speed blade <NUM>. A detailed description of the blade parts having different stirring characteristics and an arrangement method of the high-speed blade <NUM> will be given below with reference to <FIG> and <FIG>.

The opening and closing device <NUM> may be disposed at opposite sides of the chamber <NUM> and may perform a function of rotating the chamber <NUM> and a function of raising and lowering the chamber <NUM> on a support on which the chamber <NUM> is disposed.

As shown in <FIG>, a power distributor <NUM> for distributing one or more powers transferred from a plurality of power sources 10a 10b may be insertion-installed to penetrate the upper portion of the chamber <NUM> and the center of the blade drum <NUM> to allow the blade drum <NUM> to rotate inside the chamber <NUM> of the ultra-dispersion mixer <NUM> according to the present disclosure. In this case, the low-speed blade <NUM> and the high-speed blade <NUM> that are disposed at the blade drum <NUM> will be described in detail below.

The low-speed blade <NUM> has one end connected to a lower surface of the blade drum <NUM> and the other end that extends along the internal wall of the chamber <NUM> and rotates along the internal wall of the chamber <NUM> together with the blade drum <NUM>. In this case, the low-speed blade <NUM> may include a rod portion <NUM>, a bottom portion <NUM>, and a protrusion <NUM>.

The rod portion <NUM> may extend along the internal wall of the chamber <NUM> from the blade drum <NUM> and may stir the mixed material agglomerated on the internal wall of the chamber <NUM> to the center of the chamber <NUM>.

The bottom portion <NUM> may extend along a bottom surface of the chamber <NUM> from an end of the rod portion <NUM> and may stir the mixed material agglomerated on the bottom surface of the chamber.

As shown in <FIG>, the protrusion <NUM> may protrude in a direction towards an internal side of the chamber <NUM> from the rod portion <NUM> and may perform a function of evenly transferring the mixed material oriented toward the high-speed blade <NUM> in the chamber <NUM> to the high-speed blade <NUM>.

The high-speed blade <NUM> may be arranged at a plurality of positions on the blade drum <NUM>, in which case at least one high-speed blade may be arranged before and behind the low-speed blade <NUM>. In this case, the high-speed blade <NUM> may be arranged in a region to prevent a plurality of blade parts having different stirring characteristics arranged on the high-speed blade <NUM> from interfering with the low-speed blade <NUM> during shaft rotation. Furthermore, the blade parts arranged on the high-speed blade <NUM> may be disposed between the protrusions <NUM> and may evenly supply the mixed material towards the high-speed blade <NUM> through rotation of the blade drum <NUM>.

As shown in <FIG>, blade parts are arranged on the high-speed blade <NUM> of the ultra-dispersion mixer <NUM> according to the present disclosure, and the blade parts will be described with reference to <FIG>. As shown in <FIG>, the high-speed blade <NUM> uses together a saw blade <NUM> and a star blade <NUM> having different stirring characteristics. Thus, the saw blade <NUM> may stir and tear powder agglomerates formed while the powders and the binder solution are mixed in the chamber <NUM>, and the star blade <NUM> may stir the overall mixed material inside the chamber <NUM> in order to prevent the mixed material inside the chamber <NUM> from being fixed. As shown in <FIG>, the saw blade <NUM> has saw blade parts <NUM> formed on an end of a circular plate and may supply dispersion force to tear a particle of the mixed material or the powder agglomerates inside the chamber <NUM>. Furthermore, the star blade <NUM> has rods <NUM> formed at ends of bodies that are formed like a circular plate or are radially arranged and may supply dispersion force to mix the overall mixed material flowing inside the chamber <NUM>. Needless to say, the saw blade <NUM> and the star blade <NUM> may have other shapes for achieving the same effect as the shapes shown in <FIG>.

As shown in <FIG>, the ultra-dispersion mixer <NUM> according to the present disclosure may distribute a plurality of powers transferred from the outside to the low-speed blade <NUM> and the high-speed blade <NUM> through the power distributor <NUM> insertion-installed into the blade drum <NUM>. Hereinafter, a detailed shape of the blade drum <NUM> and a method of distributing power will be described.

The power distributor <NUM> may be insertion-installed to penetrate the upper portion of the chamber <NUM> and the center of the blade drum <NUM> and may distribute a plurality of powers transferred from the outside to the blade drum <NUM> or the high-speed blade <NUM>. In detail, the power distributor <NUM> may include a first distributor <NUM> and a second distributor <NUM>. The first distributor <NUM> may be formed with a hollow center and may distribute any one of a plurality of supplied powers to the blade drum. The second distributor <NUM> may be formed as a rotation shaft penetrating the center of the first distributor <NUM> and may distribute the other power of the supplied powers to one or more high-speed blades <NUM>.

As shown in <FIG>, the ultra-dispersion mixer <NUM> according to the present disclosure may include a high-shear disperser <NUM>. Hereinafter, the configuration of the ultra-dispersion mixer <NUM> including the high-shear disperser <NUM> will be described.

The high-shear disperser <NUM> may stir the mixed material introduced from the chamber <NUM> by supplying high-shear dispersion force to the mixed material using rotation force of an impeller included therein and supplying shear force to particles of the mixed material, which are not dispersed in the low-speed blade <NUM> and the high-speed blade <NUM>. Accordingly, an inlet and an outlet through which the mixed material flows may be formed in a lower portion of the chamber <NUM>, and thus a predetermined amount of the mixed material stirred in the chamber <NUM> may be stirred in the high-shear disperser <NUM> and may then circulate again in the chamber <NUM>, thereby rapidly producing a high-quality slurry for a secondary battery. Furthermore, at the beginning of stirring in which a powder and a solution are mixed as a mixed material, it may be difficult to operate the high-shear disperser <NUM> due to the powder agglomerates, and accordingly the mixed material inside the chamber <NUM> may achieve dispersion within a range for operating the high-shear disperser <NUM> and may then circulate in the chamber <NUM> and the high-shear disperser <NUM>, thereby preparing a slurry for a secondary battery having high dispersion. In addition, a timing valve may be disposed at the inlet and the outlet to which the high-shear disperser <NUM> and the chamber <NUM> are connected and may also control supply of the mixed material.

As shown in <FIG>, the ultra-dispersion mixer <NUM> according to the present disclosure may include a heat exchanger <NUM> to adjust the temperature of a solution supplied thereto. Hereinafter, the configuration of the ultra-dispersion mixer <NUM> including the heat exchanger <NUM> will be described.

The heat exchanger <NUM> may perform a function of controlling the temperature of the solution supplied to the chamber <NUM>. In detail, the mixed material including the powders and solution supplied to the chamber <NUM> may be agglomerated rather than being rapidly stirred due to high viscosity and low temperature at the beginning of stirring, and thus the heat exchanger <NUM> may be operated to increase the temperature of the solution until stirring inside the chamber <NUM> is continuously performed for a predetermined time and the mixed material is maintained at a temperature equal to or greater than a predetermined temperature for easy stirring.

As shown in <FIG> and <FIG>, according to an embodiment, the ultra-dispersion mixer <NUM> according to the present disclosure may further include the high-shear disperser <NUM> and the heat exchanger <NUM> other than the components of the chamber <NUM> in which the mixed material is stirred, and a high-quality slurry for an electrode of a secondary battery may be prepared by rapidly stirring the mixed material, and to this end, valves V1, V2, V3, and V4 may be arranged on flow channels of the high-shear disperser <NUM> and the heat exchanger <NUM> which are connected to the chamber <NUM> to control a feed rate.

The ultra-dispersion mixer <NUM> may further include a powder feeder <NUM> configured to supply powders to the chamber <NUM>, a solution feeder <NUM> configured to supply a solution to the chamber <NUM>, and the heat exchanger <NUM> configured to adjust a temperature of the solution supplied to the solution feeder <NUM>.

Since the ultra-dispersion mixer according to the present disclosure as configured above includes a plurality of stirring devices having various stirring characteristics, the ultra-dispersion mixer may change a stirring environment inside the mixer depending on the type of a material supplied to the mixer and a stirring degree of a mixed material during a procedure of preparing a slurry for a secondary battery, and accordingly the mixed material may be stirred to prepare the slurry for a secondary battery having high dispersion, thereby producing a high-quality slurry for a secondary battery for reducing the preparing costs and stirring time.

Exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure can be variously changed and embodied in various forms, in which illustrative embodiments of the present disclosure are shown. However, exemplary embodiments of the present disclosure should not be construed as being limited to the embodiments set forth herein.

It will be understood that when an element is referred to as being "connected to", or "coupled to" another element, it may be directly o0n, connected to, or coupled to the other element, or intervening elements may be present.

Unless otherwise defined, all terms including technical and scientific terms used herein have the same meaning as commonly understood by one of ordinary skill in the art to which this present disclosure belongs.

It will be further understood that terms, such as those defined in commonly used dictionaries, should be interpreted as having meanings that are consistent with their meanings in the context of the relevant art and will not be interpreted in an idealized or overly formal sense unless expressly so defined herein.

Claim 1:
An ultra-dispersion mixer (<NUM>) comprising:
a chamber (<NUM>) configured to accommodate a mixed material therein;
a blade drum (<NUM>) formed as a cylinder having a space formed therein and disposed to rotate at an upper portion of an internal side of the chamber (<NUM>);
a low-speed blade (<NUM>) having one end connected to a lower surface of the blade drum (<NUM>) and a remaining end that extends along an internal wall of the chamber (<NUM>) and rotates together with the blade drum (<NUM>) along the internal wall of the chamber (<NUM>); and
at least one high-speed blade (<NUM>) having one end connected to the blade drum (<NUM>) and a remaining end that extends towards an internal side of the chamber (<NUM>) and rotating on the blade drum (<NUM>),
wherein the high-speed blade (<NUM>) has a plurality of blade parts having different stirring characteristics and arranged on one shaft, characterized in that the blade parts include:
a saw blade (<NUM>) that has a sawtooth (<NUM>) protruding outside a circular plate and is configured to rotate, and
a star blade (<NUM>) that has a plurality of rods (<NUM>) vertically extending outside a circular plate and is configured to rotate.