Lamination Device and Method for Discharging Defective Electrode Cell Assembly of Lamination Device

Abstract

A lamination apparatus configured to manufacture an electrode cell assembly may include a lamination part configured to manufacture the electrode cell assembly through lamination, an inspection part configured to detect a defective electrode cell assembly by measuring a thickness of the manufactured electrode cell assembly, a discharge part configured to separate and discharge the defective electrode cell assembly from a normal electrode cell assembly, and a control part configured to perform control so as to calculate a time point at which the defective electrode cell assembly reaches the discharge part on the basis of distance data between a point at which the defective electrode cell assembly is detected and the discharge part and separate and discharge the defective electrode cell assembly when the defective electrode cell assembly reaches the discharge part. A method of discharging a defective electrode cell assembly by the lamination apparatus is also disclosed.

Claims

1. A lamination apparatus for manufacturing an electrode cell assembly by laminating an electrode and a separator respectively unwound from an electrode roll and a separator roll, the lamination apparatus comprising: a lamination part configured to laminate the electrode cell assembly; an inspection part configured to detect a defective electrode cell assembly by measuring a thickness of the electrode cell assembly; a discharge part configured to separate the defective electrode cell assembly from the lamination apparatus and to discharge the defective electrode cell assembly from the lamination apparatus; and a control part configured to calculate a time point at which the defective electrode cell assembly reaches the discharge part on the basis of distance data between a point at which the defective electrode cell assembly is detected and the discharge part and separate, the control part configured to discharge the defective electrode cell assembly when the defective electrode cell assembly reaches the discharge part.

2. The lamination apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a conveyor configured to receive the electrode assembly thereon, wherein the time point at which the defective electrode cell assembly reaches the discharge part is obtained by dividing the distance data by a conveying speed of a conveyor.

3. The lamination apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a conveyor driving part configured to convey the electrode cell assembly and an encoder installed at the conveyor driving part, wherein the distance data is detected by the encoder.

4. The lamination apparatus of claim 1, wherein the inspection part includes a thickness measuring part configured to measure a thickness of the electrode cell assembly and a vision inspection part configured to inspect at least one of an appearance, a shape, and dimensions of the electrode cell assembly.

5. The lamination apparatus of claim 4, wherein the thickness measuring part is installed before the vision inspection part in a conveying direction of the lamination apparatus.

6. The lamination apparatus of claim 1, wherein the lamination apparatus is configured to measure the thickness of the battery cell assembly in a non-contact manner.

7. The lamination apparatus of claim 6, further comprising a confocal thickness sensor configured to measure the thickness of the battery cell assembly.

8. The lamination apparatus of claim 7, wherein the confocal thickness sensor is installed on a stage configured to move in three dimensions.

9. The lamination apparatus of claim 7, wherein the confocal thickness sensor is an upper confocal thickness sensor, the apparatus further comprising a lower confocal thickness sensor, the upper and lower confocal thickness sensors being respectively disposed above and below a conveyor configured to receive the electrode cell assembly thereon, and the apparatus is configured to measure the thickness of the electrode cell assembly by calculating a difference of a distance between the electrode cell assembly and the upper confocal thickness sensor disposed thereabove and a distance between the electrode cell assembly and the lower confocal thickness sensor disposed therebelow.

10. The lamination apparatus of claim 9, wherein the upper and lower confocal thickness sensors are mounted on a same bracket, and the same bracket is installed on a stage configured to move in three dimensions.

11. The lamination apparatus of claim 1, wherein the control part is configured to discharge one electrode cell assembly adjacent to the defective electrode cell assembly together with the defective electrode cell assembly.

12. A method of discharging a defective electrode cell assembly using a lamination apparatus, the method comprising: detecting the defective electrode cell assembly by measuring a thickness of the defective electrode cell assembly after the electrode and the separator are laminated to form the defective electrode cell assembly; calculating a time point at which the defective electrode cell assembly reaches a discharge part of the lamination apparatus on the basis of distance data between a point at which the defective electrode cell assembly is detected and the discharge part; and separating and discharging the defective electrode cell assembly from a normal electrode cell assembly at the time point at which the defective electrode cell assembly reaches the discharge part.

13. The method of claim 12, wherein the time point at which the defective electrode cell assembly reaches the discharge part is obtained by dividing the distance data by a conveying speed of a conveyor of the lamination apparatus.

14. The method of claim 12, wherein the distance data is detected by an encoder installed at a conveyor driving part of the lamination apparatus configured to convey the defective electrode cell assembly.

15. The method of claim 12, wherein the thickness of the defective electrode cell assembly is measured in a non-contact manner.

16. The method of claim 15, wherein the thickness of the defective electrode cell assembly is measured by a confocal thickness sensor.

17. The method of claim 16, wherein the confocal thickness sensor is movable in at least one of a vertical direction and a horizontal direction.

18. The method of claim 17, wherein the confocal thickness sensor is an upper confocal thickness sensor, the lamination apparatus has a lower confocal thickness sensor, and the upper and lower confocal thickness sensors are respectively disposed above and below the electrode cell assembly, and the thickness of the electrode cell assembly is measured by a difference of a distance between the defective electrode cell assembly and the upper confocal thickness sensor disposed thereabove and a distance between the defective electrode cell assembly and the lower confocal thickness sensor disposed therebelow.

19. The method of claim 12, wherein the normal electrode cell assembly adjacent to the defective electrode cell assembly is discharged together with the defective electrode cell assembly.

Description

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

[0038] FIG. 1 is a diagram illustrating an example of a conventional lamination apparatus.

[0039] FIG. 2 is an overall schematic diagram of a lamination apparatus of the present invention.

[0040] FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating details related to the measurement of a thickness of an electrode cell assembly and the control of discharging a defective electrode cell assembly by the lamination apparatus of the present invention.

[0041] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating another embodiment of the lamination apparatus of the present invention.

[0042] FIG. 5 is a side view illustrating an actual example of the lamination apparatus to which the present invention is applied.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

[0043] Hereinafter, the detailed configuration of the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the accompanying drawings and various embodiments. The embodiments described below are exemplarily illustrated for understanding of the invention, and the accompanying drawings are not shown to actual scale to aid in understanding the invention, and dimensions of some components may be illustrated as being exaggerated.

[0044] While the present invention is susceptible to various modifications and alternative forms, specific embodiments thereof are shown by way of example in the drawings and will be described in detail herein. It should be understood, however, that there is no intent to limit the present invention to the particular forms disclosed, but on the contrary, the present invention is to cover all modifications, equivalents, and alternatives falling within the spirit and scope of the present invention.

[0045] The present invention is related to a lamination apparatus configured to manufacture an electrode cell assembly by laminating an electrode and a separator respectively unwound from an electrode roll and a separator roll, and the lamination apparatus includes a lamination part configured to manufacture the electrode cell assembly through lamination, an inspection part configured to detect a defective electrode cell assembly by measuring a thickness of the manufactured electrode cell assembly, a discharge part configured to separate and discharge the defective electrode cell assembly from a normal electrode cell assembly, and a control part configured to perform control so as to calculate a time point at which the defective electrode cell assembly reaches the discharge part on the basis of distance data between a point at which the defective electrode cell assembly is detected and the discharge part and separate and discharge the defective electrode cell assembly when the defective electrode cell assembly reaches the discharge part.

[0046] The main feature of the present invention is that the defective electrode cell assembly is detected by measuring the thickness of the electrode cell assembly excluding the conventional method of using a connection tape of an electrode or a separator by using a color sensor. Since the conventional method of detecting the connection tape by measuring colors of the electrode or the separator may not be applied after an electrode/separator is cut and laminated, color sensors 20 and 20′ are inevitably disposed before the electrode or the separator is cut (see FIG. 1). However, the method of detecting the defective electrode cell assembly, which includes the connection tape, by measuring the thickness of the electrode cell assembly may be applied even after the electrode/separator is cut and laminated, and thus there is no limitation as in the conventional method. The connection tape included in the electrode or the separator has a thickness greater than that of the electrode or the separator, which is a base material, and thus the electrode cell assembly including the connection tape is thicker than the normal electrode cell assembly. Thus, when the thickness of the electrode cell assembly is measured, the defective electrode cell assembly may be detected. For example, there may be an electrode-separator-electrode laminated cell assembly and an electrode-separator-electrode-separator-electrode laminated cell assembly, and among them, when the electrode or the separator included in the cell assembly has a thickness different from a predetermined set thickness, a thickness of the entire cell assembly is also different from a set thickness of the normal cell assembly. The present invention is completely different from the related art in that the defective electrode cell assembly is detected in a cell assembly state by measuring the thickness of the battery cell assembly. As will be described below, the detection of the thickness of the electrode cell assembly may be performed by a confocal thickness sensor.

[0047] As described above, in the present invention, since the defective electrode cell assembly is detected by the thickness detection in the electrode cell assembly stage, a distance between a point at which the defective electrode cell assembly is recognized (detected) and the discharge part is very short. In addition, as will be described below, the distance is easily measured by an encoder installed at a conveyor configured to convey the electrode cell assembly. Thus, a time point at which the defective electrode cell assembly reaches the discharge part may be easily calculated on the basis of the distance data. Since a distance (2 to 3 m) between the defect detection point and the discharge part is much shorter than a distance (15 to 20 m) in the conventional method using the color sensor, the calculation of the arrival time point using the distance data is very accurate, and an error is not large. Furthermore, in the present invention, since the defective electrode cell assembly is detected at the stage in which the electrode cell assembly is manufactured, the defective electrode cell assembly may be detected and discharged without being affected by an impact received by the conveyor caused by electrode cutting, electrode/separator bonding, heating and rolling, separator cutting, and the like. Even when the impact is applied on the conveyor during a short-distance movement between the defect detection point and the discharge part, as will be described below, the defective electrode cell assembly may be accurately detected by using the specific confocal thickness sensor of the present invention.

[0048] The lamination apparatus and a method of discharging a defective electrode cell assembly by the same of the present invention will be described in more detail with reference to the following embodiments and the accompanying drawings.

Modes of the Invention

First Embodiment

[0049] FIG. 2 is an overall schematic diagram of a lamination apparatus 2000 of the present invention, and FIG. 3 is a schematic diagram illustrating details related to the measurement of a thickness of an electrode cell assembly and the control of discharging a defective electrode cell assembly by the lamination apparatus 2000 of the present invention.

[0050] In the present embodiment, the same components as those of the conventional lamination apparatus are denoted by the same reference numerals, and detailed descriptions thereof will be omitted.

[0051] As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, electrodes 1 and separators 2 are respectively unwound from an electrode unwinder roll 10 and a separator unwinder roll 11 in an unwinder part. Thereafter, the electrodes 1 are sequentially cut and conveyed on a first conveyor C1, conveyed to a second conveyor C2, and placed on the separators 2. In a bonding part 40, the electrode 1 is positionally matched and bonded to the separator 2. Another electrode 1′ (lower electrode) is conveyed to a lower portion of a conveying line for the separator 2 and bonded to the (upper) electrode 1 and the separator 2 in the bonding part 40. For convenience of illustration, an illustration of a conveying line of the lower electrode 1′ is omitted.

[0052] Although the electrode cell assembly in which the electrode, the separator, and the electrode are laminated is illustrated as an example in the present embodiment, lamination of an electrode cell assembly having a bi-cell type, for example, an electrode-separator-electrode-separator-electrode assembly, or other laminated structures is also possible. For example, the present invention is applicable to any form of a cell assembly as long as it is capable of measuring a thickness of an assembly and discharging a defective electrode cell assembly no matter what type of electrode cell assembly is laminated.

[0053] The bonded electrode/separator is heated in a heating part 50 and is closely bonded in a rolling part 60. Thereafter, the separators 2 are cut and laminated to be manufactured in the form of an electrode cell assembly E in a separator cutting part 70. From the unwinder part to an electrode cutting part may be referred to as a lamination part 100, and thereafter, the electrode cell assembly E is discharged toward a subsequent process by a discharge part 300 after being subjected to a predetermined inspection in an inspection part 200 (see FIG. 3).

[0054] The order of cutting, bonding, heating, and rolling in the lamination part 100 may be changed according to the lamination type or order of the cell assembly to be manufactured. Since the above lamination process is a process performed in a typical lamination apparatus, a detailed description thereof will be omitted.

[0055] As shown in FIG. 3, in the inspection operation after the lamination process, a short-circuit inspection for inspecting whether a current flows when the current runs through the electrode cell assembly is performed by a short-circuit inspection part 210. In addition, after the short-circuit inspection, a vision inspection for inspecting an appearance defect, a dimension/width defect, and the like may be performed by a vision inspection part 230 in which a charge coupled device (CCD) camera and the like are installed.

[0056] The main feature of the present invention is that the defective electrode cell assembly including the connection tape is detected after the electrode cell assembly E is manufactured in the lamination process.

[0057] In the present invention, since the defective electrode cell assembly may be detected by measuring the thickness of the electrode cell assembly, a thickness measuring part 220 may be disposed in the inspection part 200 after the electrode cell assembly E is manufactured. The defective electrode cell assembly is thicker than the normal electrode cell assembly because the connection tape is included in the electrode or separator. Thus, when the thickness measuring part 220 is installed in the inspection part 200, the defective electrode cell assembly is able to be detected. In one embodiment, the thickness measuring part 220 may be disposed in front of the vision inspection part 230 configured to inspect the appearance, shape, dimensions, and the like of the electrode cell assembly E, but the arrangement order of the thickness measuring part 220 is not limited thereto.

[0058] It is preferable that the thickness measurement of the electrode cell assembly E is able to be performed in a state of not coming into contact with the electrode cell assembly E in order to operate a manufacturing line continuously without stopping the manufacturing line. For example, as a non-contact thickness measurement sensor, an ultrasonic sensor, a displacement sensor, a laser sensor, a confocal thickness sensor, and the like may be applied. However, in the present invention, rather than a displacement sensor or the like suitable for measuring a thickness of a coating film, a confocal thickness sensor 80 configured to calculate a distance (thickness) by analyzing a wavelength of reflected light is preferable in that the sensor is for measuring a total thickness of the electrode cell assembly E. The confocal thickness sensor 80 may be installed to be movable in at least one of a vertical direction and a horizontal direction in order to adjust a focus or a distance between the confocal thickness sensor and the electrode cell assembly. In order to move the confocal thickness sensor 80, the sensor may be installed on an XYZ stage. Since the XYZ stage is a well-known member used for linear movement in the vertical direction and the horizontal direction (a left-right direction and a front-rear direction), a description thereof will be omitted.

[0059] When the defective electrode cell assembly is detected by the confocal thickness sensor 80, as shown in FIG. 3, data (thickness data) related thereto is transmitted to a control part 400. For example, when a measured thickness value is increased by more than a specific value in comparison with the normal cell assembly and maintained for a specific period of time, the control part 400 determines the electrode cell assembly to be a defective electrode cell assembly including a connection tape. Meanwhile, the control part 400 may transmit a control signal to the confocal thickness sensor 80 in order to change a distance control application mode of the confocal thickness sensor 80.

[0060] In addition, an encoder 410 installed at the third conveyor C3, for example, the encoder 410 installed at a motor driving part of the conveyor transmits data on a location of the conveyor to the control part 400 in real time as the conveyor moves. The control part 400 is connected to the encoder 410 and communicates therewith for power line communication (PLC) control, and thus even a point (location) b at which the defective electrode cell assembly is detected may be identified by the encoder 410. In addition, since a discharge port c of the defective electrode cell assembly in the discharge part 300 is determined, when the point b at which the defective electrode cell assembly is detected is determined, the encoder 410 may also detect a distance C from the defective electrode cell assembly to the discharge port. Accordingly, the control part 400 may receive the thickness data from the thickness measuring part 220 (e.g., the confocal thickness sensor 80) to confirm the defective electrode cell assembly, and receive the location b at that time and data on the distance C to the discharge port c from the encoder 410 to calculate a time point at which the defective electrode cell assembly reaches the discharge port c. That is, when the distance data is divided by a conveying speed of the conveyor, the time point at which the defective electrode cell assembly reaches the discharge part (the discharge port c) is obtained. This may be performed by predetermined software built into the control part 400. In this case, since the defective electrode cell assembly is detected by the thickness measuring part 220 installed in the inspection part 200, the distance C between the detection point b and the discharge port c is very short, about 2 to 3 m, and there is no need to preserve measurement data for a long period of time. In addition, since the distance may be detected by a single encoder installed at the conveyor (the third conveyor C3 in FIG. 2), the above calculation process is not complicated. Thus, according to the present invention, a time point at which the defective electrode cell assembly is discharged may be very accurately obtained without a large measurement error. That is, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 3, the discharge time point calculation process of the present invention is much simpler and has the advantage of high measurement accuracy as compared with the related art of calculating the time point at which the defective electrode cell assembly is discharged by including all of a conveying distance on a plurality of conveyors from a color sensor installation part a of an unwinder to a bonding part or a conveying distance A for a separator and a conveying distance B on another conveyor from a heating part to a discharge port c.

[0061] The control part 400 identifies the defective electrode cell assembly from the data on the thickness of the electrode cell assembly measured by the thickness measuring part 220, calculates a time point at which the defective electrode cell assembly reaches the discharge port c of the discharge part 300, and controls the discharge member 90 to separate and discharge the defective electrode cell assembly at the time point at which the defective electrode cell assembly reaches the discharge port c. That is, the discharge member 90, which receives a predetermined control signal for discharging the defective electrode cell assembly from the control part 400, may adsorb the defective electrode cell assembly and remove the defective electrode cell assembly from a conveyor line for the normal electrode cell assembly. To this end, the discharge member 90 includes an adsorbing member 92 capable of adsorbing the electrode cell assembly and a moving member 91 capable of moving the adsorbing member 92 from the conveyor line. Alternatively, the conveyor may be configured such that a conveyor line for the defective electrode cell assembly is branched at a point of the discharge port c of the conveyor line for the normal electrode cell assembly. In this case, a pusher (not shown) configured to push the defective electrode cell assembly to the branched conveyor line may be used as the discharge member 90 that discharges the defective electrode cell assembly according to the control signal of the control part 400.

[0062] According to the lamination apparatus 2000 of the present invention, since only the defective electrode cell assembly may be accurately separated and discharged, there is no need to also discharge spare normal electrode cell assemblies as in the related art.

Second Embodiment

[0063] FIG. 4 is a schematic diagram illustrating another embodiment of the lamination apparatus of the present invention.

[0064] The second embodiment has a form in which, as the thickness measuring part 220, two confocal thickness sensors are disposed above and below an electrode cell assembly.

[0065] For example, it is possible to measure a thickness of the electrode cell assembly in a non-contact manner even when one confocal thickness sensor is installed above or below the electrode cell assembly. However, as described above, in the lamination apparatus, processes of applying a predetermined impact to electrodes and separators such as cutting of the electrodes, cutting of the separators, heating, rolling, and the like are performed, and thus the electrodes or the separators on the conveyor and the conveyor subjected to such an impact are subjected to vibrations. Such an impact or vibration is also transmitted in the electrode cell assembly stage after laminating electrode/separator. The confocal thickness sensor measures the thickness of the electrode cell assembly by measuring a distance from the sensor to the electrode cell assembly, and thus, when the electrode cell assembly is subjected to vibrations, such as slightly bouncing on the conveyor due to vibrations, in some cases, the thickness of the electrode cell assembly may not be accurately measured.

[0066] In the second embodiment, two confocal thickness sensors 81 and 82 are respectively disposed above and below the cell assembly so that the thickness of the electrode cell assembly may be accurately measured even in the above case. In the present embodiment, as shown in FIG. 4, a thickness of an electrode cell assembly E is measured by a difference between a distance x between the electrode cell assembly E and the confocal thickness sensor 81 disposed thereabove and a distance y between the electrode cell assembly E and the confocal thickness sensor 82 disposed therebelow. Thus, even when the electrode cell assembly E receives an impact caused by the vibration of the conveyor, since an absolute value of a distance difference x-y (i.e., the thickness of the electrode cell assembly E) is always constant, the thickness of the electrode cell assembly E may be accurately measured.

[0067] Meanwhile, the upper and lower confocal thickness sensors 81 and 82 are firmly fixed by one bracket 83. The bracket 83 is designed in a “C” shape to minimize the vibration of the confocal thickness sensor, and the confocal thickness sensors 81 and 82 are mounted vertically on both front end parts 83a and 83b of the bracket 83, respectively. The bracket 83 is installed on an XYZ stage and is movable in a vertical or horizontal direction. Reference numeral 84 denotes a connection member 84 for installing the bracket 83 on the XYZ stage.

[0068] According to the present embodiment, since the thickness of the electrode cell assembly may be accurately measured even when an impact or vibration is inevitably generated in the lamination apparatus 2000, a defective electrode cell assembly including a connection tape may be extracted and only the defective electrode cell assembly may be discharged from the discharge part 300.

[0069] Meanwhile, when FIG. 3 is related to an embodiment in which the control part 400 directly controls the confocal thickness sensor, dedicated controllers 85 and 86 configured to control the confocal thickness sensor 80 may be provided in FIG. 4. The controllers 85 and 86 may serve to control a focus or the like of each of the upper and lower confocal thickness sensors 81 and 82 and simultaneously serve to transmit thickness data measured from the confocal thickness sensor to the control part 400. The control part 400 identifies the defective electrode cell assembly from the thickness measurement data transmitted from the controllers 85 and 86, and at the same time, receives a distance between the point b at which the defective electrode cell assembly is detected and (the discharge port c of) the discharge part from the encoder 410 to calculate a time point at which the defective electrode cell assembly reaches the discharge port. The control part 400 sends data on the arrival time point of the defective electrode cell assembly and an operation signal to the discharge member 90 installed in the discharge port c to control the discharge member 90 to remove the defective electrode cell assembly from the conveyor.

[0070] FIG. 5 is a side view illustrating an actual example of the lamination apparatus 2000 to which the present invention is applied.

[0071] As illustrated in the drawing, as compared with to the case in which the color sensor is installed in the related art, according to the present invention, it can be seen that the defective electrode cell assembly may be removed from the discharge port c with little or no measurement error because a distance between the point b at which the defective electrode cell assembly is recognized and the discharge port c of the discharge part is very short.

EXAMPLES

Comparative Example

[0072] As in the related art, a color sensor was installed between an unwinder part and an electrode cutting part of a lamination apparatus, and cell assemblies (a specific cell assembly and electrode cell assemblies before and after the specific cell assembly), which were presumed to be defective electrode cell assemblies, were removed from a discharge port to ensure the discharge of the defective electrode cell assembly. [0073] Total number of electrode cell assemblies manufactured: 29,546 [0074] Number of discharged cell assemblies considered as defective electrode cell assemblies: 110 (0.372%) [0075] Number of actual defective electrode cell assemblies: 35

[0076] As described above, a total of 110 cell assemblies were discharged as a result of discharging the defective electrode cell assemblies by the lamination apparatus of Comparative Example. As a result of inspecting the discharged cell assemblies again, the number of actual defective electrode cell assemblies was 35.

EXAMPLE

[0077] When a confocal thickness sensor of the present invention was installed in an inspection part, the number of discharged defective electrode cell assemblies was 35 (0.118%).

[0078] Accordingly, according to the present invention, it can be seen that manufacturing yield can be improved by about 0.254%.

[0079] The method of discharging the defective electrode cell assembly by the lamination apparatus according to the present invention may be summarized again as follows.

[0080] First, after electrodes and separators are laminated to form an electrode cell assembly E, a thickness of the electrode cell assembly is measured to detect a defective electrode cell assembly.

[0081] Further, a time point at which the defective electrode cell assembly reaches a discharge part (more precisely, a discharge port c of the discharge part at which the defective electrode cell assembly is separated and discharged from a normal electrode cell assembly) is calculated on the basis of distance data (e.g., distance data extracted from an encoder of a conveyor) between a point b at which the defective electrode cell assembly is recognized (detected) and the discharge part.

[0082] Thereafter, the defective electrode cell assembly may be separated from the normal electrode cell assembly and discharged at the time point at which the defective electrode cell assembly reaches the discharge part.

[0083] Meanwhile, according to the present invention, only the defective electrode cell assembly may be accurately detected, but a distance between a thickness measuring part and the discharge part may be further increased as the apparatus becomes larger. Alternatively, a slight error may occur in a process of calculating the arrival time point of the defective electrode cell assembly due to an impact in a lamination process. In this case, in order to ensure the discharge of the defective electrode cell assembly, one electrode cell assembly adjacent to the defective electrode cell assembly may be discharged together with the defective electrode cell assembly. However, even in the case of the discharge of spare cell assemblies, there is no large measurement error to the extent that up to four or five cell assemblies when there as many as two or three cell assemblies before and after the cell assembly, which are estimated to be a defective electrode cell assembly, as in the related art, are discharged. The reason is that, by measuring the thickness, the defective electrode cell assembly is detected after the electrode cell assembly is manufactured, and accordingly, the defective electrode cell assembly is accurately discharged due to the control of the distance/defect discharge time point.

[0084] In the above, the present invention has been described in more detail with reference to the drawings and embodiments. However, since the configuration described in the drawings or embodiments described herein is merely one embodiment of the present invention and do not represent the overall technical spirit of the invention, it should be understood that the invention covers various equivalents, modifications, and substitutions at the time of filing of this application.

DESCRIPTION OF REFERENCE NUMERALS

[0085] 1 and 1′: electrodes [0086] 2: separator [0087] 10: electrode unwinder roll [0088] 11: separator unwinder roll [0089] 20: color sensor [0090] 30: electrode cutting part [0091] 40: bonding part [0092] 50: heating part [0093] 60: rolling part [0094] 70: separator cutting part [0095] 80: confocal thickness sensor [0096] 90: discharge member [0097] 91: moving member [0098] 92: adsorbing member [0099] 100: lamination part [0100] 200: inspection part [0101] 210: short-circuit inspection part [0102] 220: thickness measuring part [0103] 230: vision inspection part [0104] 300: discharge part [0105] 400: control part [0106] 410: encoder [0107] C1: first conveyor [0108] C2: second conveyor [0109] C3: third conveyor [0110] E: electrode cell assembly [0111] a: color sensor installation part [0112] b: defective electrode cell assembly recognition point [0113] c: discharge port [0114] 2000: lamination apparatus