Granted Patent B2

US 12,298,273 · App. 18/270,811 · Granted May 13, 2025

Inventors: Min Choon Park (Daejeon, KR); Dong Hee Kim (Daejeon, KR); Sang Su Ahn (Daejeon, KR)

Assignee: LG ENERGY SOLUTION, LTD.

G01N27/61G01R31/52

Abstract

Claims (30)

1. An apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell, comprising:

a first measurement electrode and a second measurement electrode disposed respectively on a positive electrode and a negative electrode of the battery cell to measure a leakage current;

a current measuring device configured to measure a leakage current; and

a data processor configured to process a measured leakage current data,

wherein the first and second measurement electrodes each have a structure in which a plurality of unit electrodes to which coordinate information is assigned are collected,

wherein the current measuring device is configured to measure a leakage current flowing through the unit electrode of the first measurement electrode and the unit electrode of the second measurement electrode that have the same coordinate information and are electrically connected, and

wherein the data processing part is configured to check the location of a foreign material from a leakage current data through a coordinate information of a unit electrode having a large leakage current.

2. The apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell of claim 1 , further comprising, a first jig and a second jig, wherein the first and second jigs are configured to press a laminate of the first and second measurement electrodes and the battery cell to be evaluated from both sides with the laminate being interposed between the first and second jigs.

3. The apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell of claim 1 , wherein the battery cell is a monocell in which a low-voltage defect has been confirmed, and is a monocell having a positive electrode/a separator/a negative electrode structure.

4. The apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell of claim 1 , wherein the unit electrodes are arranged in a matrix in horizontal and vertical directions, having a coordinate information according to the matrix.

5. The apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell of claim 1 , wherein the unit electrodes each have a same volume and shape, and each have a rectangular parallelepiped or a regular hexahedron shape.

6. The apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell of claim 1 , wherein the unit electrode of the first measurement electrode and the unit electrode of the second measurement electrode having the same coordinate information constitute a single current circuit, and

wherein the current measuring device is configured to simultaneously measure each leakage current of current circuits corresponding to the number of the coordinate information.

7. The apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell of claim 6 , further comprising a printed circuit board (PCB) including a plurality of current circuits corresponding to the number of the coordinate information.

8. The apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell of claim 7 , wherein the printed circuit board includes a flexible printed circuit board (FPCB).

9. The apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell of claim 1 , further comprising an amplifier for amplifying a leakage current.

10. The apparatus for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell of claim 1 , further comprising a power source configured to apply an external power source to a current circuit formed by the unit electrode of the first measurement electrode and the unit electrode of the second measurement electrode.

11. A method for detecting the location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell comprising:

screening a low-voltage monocell causing a low-voltage in a battery cell including a plurality of monocells; and

specifying the location of a foreign material using the apparatus for detecting according to claim 1 by measuring a leakage current of the screened low-voltage monocell.

12. The method for detecting a location of a foreign material of a low-voltage battery cell of claim 11 , wherein the screening a low-voltage monocell comprises:

opening a negative electrode portion of the low-voltage battery cell, cutting a negative electrode tab welding part,

inserting an insulating film between each negative electrode;

measuring an initial open circuit voltage (OCV 1 ) of each negative electrode;

pressurizing the low-voltage battery cell; and

screening of a low-voltage monocell by monitoring an open circuit voltage of each negative electrode over time.

13. A method for analyzing a foreign material of a low-voltage defective battery cell, comprising:

screening a low-voltage monocell causing a low-voltage in a battery cell including a plurality of monocells;

specifying the location of a foreign material using the apparatus for detecting according to claim 1 by measuring a leakage current of the screened low-voltage monocell; and

analyzing the type of the foreign material by sampling the vicinity of the location of the specified foreign material.

Assignments (1)

Priority Claims (1)

Continuity (1)

References Cited (23)