Apparatus for measuring thickness of battery materials

Abstract

The present invention provides an apparatus for measuring thickness of thin materials used for batteries such as an electrode and a separator, the apparatus including an inductive sensor for measuring a length displacement, wherein the sensor comprises a sensor tip having a spherical surface that is retracted by vacuum; a bottom tip disposed on an opposite side of the sensor tip with respect to a sample to support the sample and having a spherical surface; a decompression unit includes a pump to apply a reduced pressure to retract the sensor tip, a motor, a power source, and a control unit; a body including a top surface on which the sample is placed, at a center of which the bottom tip is disposed; and a fixing unit disposed on the body, wherein the sensor is fixed to the fixing unit.

Claims

1. An apparatus for measuring thickness of materials including an electrode and a separator that are used for batteries, the apparatus comprising: an inductive sensor for measuring a length displacement, wherein the sensor comprises a sensor tip having a spherical surface that is retracted by vacuum; a bottom tip disposed on an opposite side of the sensor tip with respect to a sample to support the sample, wherein the bottom tip includes a spherical surface; a decompression unit comprising a pump capable of applying a predetermined reduced pressure to retract the sensor tip, a motor, a power source, and a controller; a body including a top surface on which the sample is placed, wherein the bottom tip is disposed at a center of the body; and a fixing unit disposed on the body, wherein the sensor is fixed to the fixing unit for measuring a thickness of the sample.

2. The apparatus for measuring thickness according to claim 1, further comprising: a display for displaying values measured by the sensor; and an output unit for outputting the measured values to be displayed on the display.

3. The apparatus for measuring thickness according to claim 1, wherein the bottom tip and the sensor tip are made of a resin or a metal.

4. The apparatus for measuring thickness according to claim 1, wherein the controller includes a mode capable of providing the predetermined reduced pressure, either manually or periodically and automatically.

5. The apparatus for measuring thickness according to claim 4, wherein the reduced pressure is determined to allow measurement error due to decompression of the decompression unit to be equal to or less than ±0.1 μm.

6. A method for measuring thickness of thin materials used for batteries using the apparatus for measuring thickness according to claim 1.

7. A method for discriminating defects of thin materials used for batteries, comprising the steps of: 1) Measuring thickness of a thin material used for batteries with the apparatus for measuring thickness according to claim 1; and 2) Comparing the value measured at the step 1) with a predetermined reference value to determine whether the material is defective.

8. The apparatus for measuring thickness according to claim 1, wherein the sensor includes a maximum distance of measurement displacement of 4 mm, a maximum measurement error of equal to or less than 0.01% of the measurement displacement and equal to or less than 0.4 μm, a measurement force of 0.75 N, and a measurement force increment per distance increment of 0.08 N/mm.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

(1) FIG. 1 shows the thickness measurement results of standard gauge blocks (100, 150, 200, 500, 1000, and 1500 μm) using a conventional apparatus for measuring thickness (Non-Patent Literature 1).

(2) FIG. 2 shows the thickness measurement results of standard gauge blocks (100, 150, 200, 500, 1000 and 1500 μm) using the apparatus for measuring thickness according to the present invention.

(3) FIG. 3 is a schematic view explaining a measurement error due to the shape of the probe and the surface plate.

(4) FIG. 4 shows the results of the measurement value variation in relation to the reduced pressure.

(5) FIG. 5 is a perspective view of the measurement apparatus according to the present invention; and

(6) FIG. 6 and FIG. 7 show the photographs thereof.

BEST MODE

(7) Hereinafter, the present invention will be described in detail. Prior to the description, it should be understood that the terms used in the specification and the appended claims should not be construed as limited to general and dictionary meanings, but interpreted based on the meanings and concepts that comply with the technical idea of the present disclosure on the basis of the principle that the inventor is allowed to define terms appropriately for the best explanation. Therefore, the embodiments disclosed in the present specification are merely the most preferred embodiments of the present disclosure, and they do not represent the entire technical idea of the present disclosure, and thus it should be understood that there may be various equivalents and modified examples that could substitute them at the time of filing the present application.

(8) The present invention provides an apparatus for measuring thickness, which is capable of measuring the thickness of thin materials used for batteries such as an electrode and a separator, and the apparatus includes an inductive sensor for measuring a length displacement, wherein the maximum displacement of measurement distance is 4 mm, the maximum measurement error is equal to or less than 0.01% of the measurement displacement and is equal to or less than a maximum of 0.4 μm, the measurement force is 0.75N, the measurement force increment per distance is 0.08 N/mm, and the sensor comprises a sensor tip having a spherical surface and configured to be retracted by vacuum; a bottom tip, which is located on the opposite side of the sensor tip with respect to a sample in order to support the sample, and which has a spherical surface; a decompression unit, which consists of a pump capable of applying a predetermined reduced pressure to retract the sensor tip, a motor, a power source, and a control unit; a body, which has a top surface on which the sample can be placed, and at the center of which the bottom tip is located; and a fixing unit, which is located on a side surface of the body and to which the sensor is fixed to measure the thickness of the sample.

(9) A statistical means that is usually used in measuring thicknesses and verifying their reliability is to perform same measurements a plurality of times under given conditions and check the repeatability and reproducibility thereof (Gage R&R).

(10) According to the guidelines of Automated Industry Action Group (AIAG) (2010), Measurement Systems Analysis Reference Manual, 4th edition, a measurement system variation is acceptable when the variation is less than 10% of the process variation (tolerance). The criteria are summarized below in Table 3.

(11) TABLE-US-00003 TABLE 3 Classification % Contribution % Tolerance Discrimination index Acceptable Less than 1% Less than 10% 10 or more Conditionally 1-10% 10-30% 4-9 acceptable Not applicable 10% or more 30% or more Less than 4

(12) As shown in the Description of the Related Art section, the technology of Non-Patent Literature 1 has a tolerance of 43.66%, which is not suitable for use for the current thin electrode materials. In order to solve the problem, the inventor of the present invention used the probe Millimar 1340 for film thickness measurement, which is manufactured by Mahr based in Germany, among the sensors for measuring thickness. The probe has a maximum measurement displacement of 4 mm, a maximum measurement error equal to or less than 0.01% of the measurement displacement and equal to or less than a maximum of 0.4 μm, a measurement force of 0.75N, and a measurement force increment per distance increment of 0.08 N/mm. The probe includes a sensor tip configured to be retracted by vacuum.

(13) Using the above sensor as supplied, nine measurements were made using standard samples with standard thicknesses of 100, 150, 200, 500, 1000, and 1500 μm, and the following gage bias and gage linearity were obtained (Table 4). The related measurement results are shown in FIG. 2.

(14) TABLE-US-00004 TABLE 4 Gage linearity Gage bias Slope 100 μm 150 μm 200 μm 500 μm 1000 μm 1500 μm coefficient 0.033 −0.022 −0.022 0.011 0.022 0.033 0.000026

(15) Deviations of up to 0.033 μm occurred depending on the measurement object. Thus, the accuracy and linearity were found to be excellent. Analysis of the Gage R&R results showed that the output was less than 10%, which is acceptable (Table 5). Thus, the apparatus was confirmed to be acceptable.

(16) TABLE-US-00005 TABLE 5 Item Acceptable level Gauge R&R result % Study variation ≤30% 9.70% % Tolerance ≤30% 14.27% Number of distinct categories ≥4 14 % Contribution — 0.94% % Repeatability — 0.83% % Reproducibility — 0.11%

(17) Meanwhile, Millimar C1240M of Mahr GmBH was used as the apparatus for displaying the signals generated from the probe, to indicate the measurement results.

(18) The probe measures thickness based on a method in which the sensor tip is retracted using a manual vacuum lifter, a sample to be measured is placed, and the lifter is opened so that the sensor tip is lowered to measure thickness.

(19) The present inventor initially tried to apply the method of retracting the sensor tip using the vacuum lifter supplied together with the sensor. However, it was found that unexpected errors occurred in the measurement results due to a difference in the measurer and the process. In particular, the sensor tip driven by air had problems that not only the pressure of air that retreats the sensor tip varies depending on the measurer but also an error occurs in actual measurement values due to this variation. Thus, the inventor of the present invention invented an additional component to solve these problems.

(20) The decompression unit of the present invention consists of a pump capable of applying a predetermined reduced pressure to retract the sensor tip, a power source, and a control unit. Specifically, the decompression unit consists of a geared motor, a speed adjuster capable of adjusting the speed of the motor, a power supply for supplying power, a piston for reducing pressure to retract the sensor tip, and a programmable logic controller (PLC) capable of controlling the movement of the piston based on the selection of an external switch.

(21) Use of these components enabled to minimize the errors due to a difference in the measurer and the measurement environment that may occur when the supplied sensor is applied in the field.

(22) Meanwhile, the inventor of the present invention recognized that most of the electrode materials measured by the present invention had a certain degree of elasticity, and thus that an error might occur even when the sensor supplied by default was applied to a surface plate (plane) (see FIG. 3).

(23) In the case of measurement using the method of contacting the probe (plane) and the surface plate (plane) (left case in FIG. 3), the thickness of a film is calculated by measuring the displacement value of the probe with respect to the surface plate itself as a base. In this case, a film-shaped sample may be deformed, which may cause the surface of the surface plate not to be in close contact with the probe, causing the measured value larger than the actual value. In addition, since the degree of bending of the film varies depending on the pressing force of the probe, a measurement error due to this may also occur. In other words, the measurement errors for a sample include an error due to the position of the surface plate itself, an error due to sample lift, and an error due to a distortion resulting from the pressing force of the probe. In order to achieve high precision and high accuracy as sought by the present invention, these matters need to be improved.

(24) In order to solve the above problems, the present inventor changed the method for measuring a sample to a method shown at the right side of FIG. 3. In this method, a probe (spherical surface) is contacted with a surface plate (spherical surface). This method allows to minimize the deformation of a film-shaped sample by using the top/bottom spherical surfaces and enables to bring the spherical surfaces into contact with the sample as close as possible during the measurement.

(25) In the present invention, the measurement errors due to the degree of compression and the degree of sphericity of the probe and the surface plate, which are the problems of the supplied sensor, were specifically measured. The precision was measured using a standard gauge block 150 μm. The measurement was performed using conventional cathode materials, followed by Gage R&R analysis (ANOVA). The accuracy measurement results are shown below.

(26) TABLE-US-00006 TABLE 6 Test method De- OP 1 OP 2 OP 3 Whole Classifi- Tip scent (aver- (aver- (aver- (aver- cation shape speed age) age) age) age) Test 1 Top: Fast 150.0 150.0 150.0 150.0 Spherical/ Bottom: Spherical Test 2 Top: Slow 150.0 150.1 150.0 150.0 Spherical/ Bottom: Spherical Test 3 Top: Fast 150.4 150.4 150.4 150.4 Spherical/ Bottom: Flat Test 4 Top: Slow 150.4 150.3 150.4 150.3 Spherical/ Bottom: Flat Test 5 Top: Fast 150.5 150.5 150.6 150.5 Flat/ Bottom: Flat Test 6 Top: Slow 150.6 150.5 150.5 150.6 Flat/ Bottom: Flat

(27) According to the above accuracy analysis, Test 1 and Test 2 obtained the most excellent results. Thus, it was confirmed that the most accurate result can be obtained when selecting a spherical surface as the surfaces of the top and bottom tips.

(28) The results of Gage R&R analysis for precision measurement are as shown below.

(29) TABLE-US-00007 TABLE 7 Gage R&R Test method % Dis- De- % % Study crimi- Classifi- Tip scent Contri- Toler- varia- nation cation shape speed bution ance tion index Result Test 1 Top: Fast 1.31 11.45 13.67 12 Condi- Spherical/ tionally Bottom: accept- Spherical able Test 2 Top: Slow 0.44 6.61 7.54 21 Accept- Spherical/ able Bottom: Spherical Test 3 Top: Fast 3.04 17.43 21.24 7 Condi- Spherical/ tionally Bottom: accept- Flat able Test 4 Top: Slow 5.03 22.42 23.4 6 Condi- Spherical/ tionally Bottom: accept- Flat able Test 5 Top: Fast 3.67 19.17 21.77 7 Condi- Flat/ tionally Bottom: accept- Flat able Test 6 Top: Slow 3.56 18.87 23 7 Condi- Flat/ tionally Bottom: accept- Flat able

(30) The above results show that the highest precision was obtained when the top and bottom tips had a spherical surface and when the descent speed was slow.

(31) In order to establish sound standards for the descent speed (degree of decompression), the present inventor investigated the variation of the measured value in relation to the descent speed. FIG. 4 shows the results. The x-axis in FIG. 4 represents the degree of decompression in relation to the decompression condition, which is represented as the rotational speed of the motor. The higher the rotational speed is, the higher the degree of decompression is. The y-axis in FIG. 4 represents the range of the error value for standard sample measurement. As shown in FIG. 4, when the sensor according to the present invention is manually operated, a measurement error may occur depending on the degree of decompression. Thus, it is not possible to increase the accuracy simply by slowing the descent speed. It can be seen that it is necessary to determine the decompression condition that does not cause a measurement error, prior to using the apparatus. The specifications of the sensor used in the present invention states that it achieves very high precision and accuracy. However, a high level of separate refinement operations as in the present invention are required to perform high precision and high accuracy measurement for discrimination of defects.

(32) In the embodiment according to the present invention, an error did not occur when the decompression condition (motor rpm) was 644 to 805. The set value was input to the control PLC of the decompression unit in advance. Based on this, the present invention obtained very precise and consistent values regardless of the measurer.

(33) Meanwhile, the apparatus 500 for measurement according to the present invention is provided with a body 510, which has a top surface 511 on which a sample can be placed, at the center of which the bottom tip 520 is located, and which includes a decompression unit within the body 510, and a fixing unit 530, which is positioned at a side surface of the body 510 and to which the sensor 540 having a sensor tip 541 is fixed to measure thickness. FIG. 5 shows the perspective view thereof. Actual photographs of the top surface 511 and the fixing unit 530 of the finished apparatus 500 are shown in FIG. 6 and FIG. 7.

(34) As described above, the present inventor found a means to reduce errors and deviations in application of a commercially available sensor to the thickness of electrode materials, by using various methods, in order to meet the current demand for high precision and high accuracy due to the thickness reduction. Accordingly, the present inventor developed an apparatus for measurement of thickness which minimizes errors and deviations, by improving the tip and the decompression unit, and the like. The apparatus has almost no variation depending on the operator. It enabled to significantly increase the precision of thickness measurement in the current processes. In addition, it enabled to apply strict standards for defective products, resulting in significant improvement of the manufacturing processes for batteries using electrode materials.

INDUSTRIAL APPLICABILITY

(35) The present invention provides a method for measuring the thickness of electrode materials, which has a reduced thickness, with high precision and high accuracy. It achieves the deviation between measurements of up to a maximum of 0.04 μm and a tolerance of 9.0% or less.