Device comprising cleaning roll and for cleaning protective film for preparing battery cell

Abstract

The present disclosure provides a device for cleaning a protective film to be attached to an outer surface of a laminate during a lamination process of heating and pressing the laminate of electrodes and a separator to produce an electrode assembly of a battery cell, including a feed roll configured to supply the protective film, at least one guide roll configured to guide a progress of the protective film supplied from the feed roll, a cleaning roll located between the feed roll and a winding roll and configured to remove foreign substances remaining on the protective film supplied from the feed roll, and the winding roll configured to wind the protective film from which foreign substances have been removed by the cleaning roll, wherein a nano thin film is formed on an outer surface of the cleaning roll to adsorb and remove the foreign substances remaining on the protective film.

Claims

1. A device for cleaning a protective film to be attached to an outer surface of a laminate during a lamination process of heating and pressing the laminate of electrodes and a separator to produce an electrode assembly for a battery cell, the device comprising: a feed roll configured to supply the protective film; at least one guide roll configured to guide a progress of the protective film supplied from the feed roll; a cleaning roll located between the feed roll and a winding roll and configured to remove foreign substances remaining on the protective film supplied from the feed roll; and the winding roll configured to wind the protective film from which foreign substances have been removed by the cleaning roll, wherein an outer surface of the cleaning roll is configured to have a nano thin film thereon, and the nano thin film is configured to adsorb and remove the foreign substances in the form of particles having a particle size of 2 μm or less remaining on the protective film.

2. The device of claim 1, wherein the feed roll, the guide roll, the winding roll, and the cleaning roll are positioned such that their rotation axes are parallel to each other.

3. The device of claim 1, wherein as the winding roll rotates, the protective film supplied from the feed roll is moved to the winding roll through the cleaning roll.

4. The device of claim 1, further comprising a sensor positioned between the cleaning roll and the winding roll with respect to a movement direction of the protective film and configured to check whether or not the foreign substances on the protective film have been removed.

5. The device of claim 4, wherein the sensor comprises a light source part configured to irradiate, onto the protective film, light transmitted through the protective film; and a monitor part configured to sense the light transmitted through the protective film, wherein the light source part and the monitor part are positioned in a straight line with the protective film interposed therebetween and the sensor is configured to visually check through the monitor part whether or not the foreign substances on the protective film have been removed.

6. The device of claim 5, wherein the sensor further includes a light intensity sensing part configured to measure a light intensity of the light transmitted through the protective film, and operations of the winding roll and the feed roll are stopped when the light intensity measured by the light intensity sensing part is less than a predetermined value.

7. The device of claim 6, wherein the cleaning roll is configured to be movable in a movement direction of the protective film and an opposite direction thereof, and when it is confirmed by the sensor that foreign substances have not been removed, the cleaning roll moves in the movement direction of the protective film and the opposite direction thereof to remove the foreign substances on the protective film.

8. The device of claim 4, wherein, when the sensor confirms that the foreign substances have not been removed, the protective film is moved to the winding roll as the winding roll rotates, and then the protective film wound on the winding roll is unwound and moved to the feed roll as the feed roll rotates in a reverse direction.

9. The device of claim 1, wherein the nano thin film is configured such that the particles having the particle size of h im or less are adsorbed.

10. The device of claim 1, wherein the cleaning roll includes a first cleaning roll and a second cleaning roll; nano thin films of the first cleaning roll and the second cleaning roll are configured to adsorb foreign particles having different sizes, and the first cleaning roll is configured to adsorb larger foreign particles than the second cleaning roll; and the first cleaning roll and the second cleaning roll are arranged in sequence on the basis of a movement direction of the protective film moving from the feed roll to the winding roll.

11. The device of claim 10, wherein the nano thin film on the first cleaning roll is configured so that the particles having the size of 1 μm to 2 μm are adsorbed, and the nano thin film on the second cleaning roll is configured so that the particles having the size of less than 0.5 μm are adsorbed.

12. The device of claim 1, wherein the cleaning roll includes a pair of rolls, and the rolls are configured in a straight line in a vertical direction with the protective film interposed therebetween, and the foreign substances remaining on both sides of the protective film are removed while the protective film passes between the pair of rolls.

13. The device of claim 1, wherein the cleaning roller rotates in a winding direction of the winding roll.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 is a schematic view briefly showing a winding device for a protective film used in a conventional lamination process.

(2) FIG. 2 is a schematic view briefly showing a process of cleaning a protective film using a protective film cleaning device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

(3) FIG. 3 is a schematic view briefly showing a process of cleaning a protective film using a protective film cleaning device according to another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

(4) FIG. 4 is a schematic view briefly showing a process of stopping a movement of a protective film in its state in FIG. 3 and then removing foreign substances on the protective film as a cleaning roll moves.

(5) FIG. 5 is a schematic view briefly showing a process of cleaning a protective film using a protective film cleaning device according to another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

(6) FIG. 6 is a schematic view briefly showing a process of cleaning a protective film using a protective film cleaning device according to another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

(7) Hereinafter, embodiments of the present disclosure will be described with reference to the accompanying drawings. However, the description provided herein is for better understanding of the present disclosure, and the scope of the present disclosure is not limited thereto.

(8) FIG. 2 is a schematic view briefly showing a process of cleaning a protective film using a protective film cleaning device according to an exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

(9) Referring to FIG. 2, a cleaning device for a protective film 100 may include an air compressor 120, a feed roll (not shown), a cleaning roll 140, a winding roll 160, a support frame 130, and sensors 151 and 153.

(10) The air compressor 120 may strongly jet air to the protective film 110 according to the rotation of the winding roll 160 when the protective film 110 moves so that foreign substances 112 remaining on the protective film 110 may be primarily removed.

(11) In particular, the protective film 110 may be formed to move on the support frame 130, and the cleaning roll 140 may be rotatably fixed to an upper part of the support frame 130.

(12) The sensors 151 and 153 may be positioned between the cleaning roll 140 and the winding roll 160, and the sensor may include a light source part 151 and a monitor part 153.

(13) In particular, the light source part 151 of the sensor may irradiate, toward the protective film 110, light transmitted through the protective film 110, and the monitor part 153 may sense the light transmitted through the protective film 110.

(14) In addition, in order to sense the light transmitted through the protective film 110, the monitor part 153 may be positioned in a straight line in a direction facing the light source part 151 with the protective film 110 interposed therebetween.

(15) In particular, the monitor part 153 may be formed such that an operator can visually check the light transmitted through the protective film 110, and an operation of the winding roll 160 may be controlled by the operator.

(16) Accordingly, when the operator confirms through the monitor part 153 that the foreign substances on the protective film 110 have not been removed by the cleaning roll 140, the operator may stop the rotation of the winding roll 160 to remove the foreign substances on the protective film 110.

(17) The sensor may further include a light intensity sensing part (not shown) configured to measure light intensity of the light transmitted through the protective film 110.

(18) Specifically, the light intensity sensing part may sense the light intensity using a principle of light intensity decreasing when a large amount of particles of the foreign substances 112 remain on the protective film 110, and transmittance of the light emitted from the light source part 151 through the protective film 151 is reduced.

(19) In particular, when the light intensity is lower than a predetermined value, the rotation of the winding roll 160 may be automatically stopped by the light intensity sensing part which measures the light intensity of the light transmitted through the protective film 110, so that the efficiency of a cleaning process of the protective film 110 may be increased.

(20) FIG. 3 is a schematic view briefly showing a process of cleaning a protective film using a protective film cleaning device according to another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

(21) Referring to FIG. 3, a cleaning device for a protective film 200 includes a feed roll 221, guide rolls 225 and 227, a cleaning roll 240 having a nano thin film 242 formed on an outer surface thereof, a winding roll 260, a support frame 230, and sensors 251 and 253.

(22) The feed roll 221 of FIG. 3 may have a type which supplies the protective film 210 from one side without the protective film 210 being wound, but is not limited thereto, and the protective film 210 may be wound around the feed roll 221.

(23) A lower side of the feed roll 221 may be connected to the guide rolls 225 and 227 in order to change a movement direction of the protective film 210 to be vertical.

(24) As the guide rolls 225 and 227 are formed as described above, the movement direction of the protective film 210 may be changed. While being changed the movement direction of the protective film 210, large particles of the foreign substances may be unforcedly removed.

(25) In order to move the protective film 210 along an upper surface of the support frame 230, the movement direction of the protective film 210 must be changed again toward the support frame 230, and the guide roll 227 may thus be formed.

(26) FIG. 4 is a schematic view briefly showing a process of stopping a movement of a protective film in the state in FIG. 3 and then removing foreign substances on the protective film as a cleaning roll moves.

(27) Referring to FIGS. 3 and 4, when the operator confirms that the foreign substances on the protective film 210 have not been removed by the cleaning roll 240 through the monitor part 253 and stops the rotation of the winding roll 260, the foreign substances remaining on the protective film 210 may be removed by being adsorbed by the nano thin film 242 of the cleaning roll 240.

(28) In particular, the feed roll 221 or the winding roll 260 may not rotate in a direction opposite to a direction in which the protective film 210 is wound by the winding roll 260, which is an original movement direction of the protective film 210. The rotation of the feed roll 221 and the winding roll 260 may be stopped and only the cleaning roll 240 may be reciprocally rotated so that the foreign substances remaining on the protective film 210 may be adsorbed.

(29) FIG. 3 shows the cleaning roll 240 in its regular position, and FIG. 4 shows the cleaning roll 240 rotating and moving along the upper surface of the protective film 210, and the cleaning roll 240 moves again to the regular position shown in FIG. 3.

(30) The number of times the cleaning roll 240 reciprocally rotates and moves is freely controllable in accordance with the operator's choice or a removal state of the foreign substances.

(31) FIG. 5 is a schematic view briefly showing a process of cleaning a protective film using a protective film cleaning device according to another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

(32) Referring to FIG. 5, a cleaning device for a protective film 300 may be constructed in the same manner as in the above-described embodiments, with exception for the cleaning roll 340.

(33) A plurality of cleaning rolls 340 may be fixed to a support frame 330, and while rotating in a fixed state, foreign substances may be adsorbed by nano thin films on outer surfaces of cleaning rolls 341 and 342.

(34) In particular, different nano thin films are formed on the cleaning rolls 341 and 342 so that foreign substances having different sizes are adsorbed.

(35) Specifically, a first cleaning roll 341 and a second cleaning roll 342 are disposed in sequence with respect to the movement direction of of the protective film 310 moving from a feed roll 321 to a winding roll 360.

(36) In particular, a size of the foreign substances adsorbed on the nano thin film of the first cleaning roll 341 may be larger than a size of the foreign substances adsorbed on the nano thin film of the second cleaning roll 342.

(37) As described above, by providing the first cleaning roll 341 and the second cleaning roll 342 having nano thin films for adsorbing foreign particles of different sizes, coarse and large particles are first adsorbed by the first cleaning roll 341 and smaller particles are adsorbed by the second cleaning roll 342, thereby increasing cleaning efficiency.

(38) FIG. 6 is a schematic view briefly showing a process of cleaning a protective film using a protective film cleaning device according to another exemplary embodiment of the present disclosure.

(39) Referring to FIG. 6, cleaning rolls 440 may be formed in a straight line in a vertical direction with a protective film 410 interposed therebetween. When the protective film 410 passes between the pair of rolls 440, foreign substances remaining on both surfaces of the protective film 410 may be removed.

(40) Since the foreign substances remaining on both surfaces of the protective film 410 are removed using the pair of cleaning rolls 440, time required for the cleaning process of the protective film 410 may be shortened.

(41) It should be understood by those skilled in the art that various changes may be made without departing from the spirit and scope of the present disclosure.