KR101800065B1 - Cell Alignment Methods without Touching the Cell - Google Patents

Abstract

The present invention relates to a non-contact type cell sorting method capable of preventing cell damage due to contact by performing alignment without contacting cells in the cell sorting process.
The invention comprises a loading step of loading a cell (10) on an alignment stage (20); A photographing step of photographing the loaded cell (10) with a vision; Recognizing and analyzing the relative position of the current cell with respect to the alignment position P based on the photographed image; And an alignment step of moving the alignment stage (20) in a direction in which the relative position of the cell is removed, wherein a relative position of the cell with respect to the alignment position is calculated as x, y coordinates and a tilted angle The alignment step includes a first alignment step in which the alignment stage 20 rotates in a direction to eliminate the tilted angle of the current cell with respect to the alignment position P, 20) are moved in parallel in the x and y directions, and the second alignment step is performed after the first alignment step, and the x, y coordinates, which are the relative positions of the cells with respect to the alignment position, 1 < / RTI > sorting step, the imaging step and the recognition and analysis step are performed once more.

Description

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention [0001] The present invention relates to a non-

The present invention relates to a cell alignment method, and more particularly, to a non-contact cell alignment method capable of preventing cell damage due to contact by performing alignment without contacting a cell in the alignment process.

In the process of packaging the secondary battery, the process of aligning the positions of the stacked cells is preceded and stored in a packaging material such as a pouch. Generally, a process of aligning a cell is performed by loading the cell into an alignment jig and aligning the cells by a contact type by pushing the cell until a certain repulsive force is generated by a gauge or the like.

1 is a view showing a conventional contact type alignment method. The gauge 80 is moved in the x-axis direction in a state where the cell 10 is loaded in the alignment jig 70 as shown in FIG. 1 (a) So that the left side surface of the cell 10 comes into contact with the alignment jig 70 as shown in Fig. 1 (b).

When the left side of the cell 10 comes into contact with the alignment jig, a certain level of load is applied to the gauge 80 that has moved to the left in the drawing. When the load is recognized, the gauge stops moving. This sorting process is also performed in the y-axis direction.

However, when the cell 10 is loaded with a slight inclination relative to the normal position as shown in Fig. 1 (a), the corner portion of the cell 10 and the gauge 80 are in point contact, There is a problem that the electrode is damaged or deformed.

1 (b), when the cell 10 is brought into close contact with the alignment jig 70 to the left in the x-axis direction, an impact is applied to the left side surface of the cell 10, There is a problem in that the electrode of the cell is damaged or deformed due to the recognition of the load on the gauge 80 and the response to stopping the movement of the gauge according to such recognition is not immediate.

1 (b), even when the cell 10 is aligned downward in the y-axis direction, the tab formed on the cell 10 is deformed by the impact with the gauge or the periphery thereof is damaged As shown in FIG. 1 (c), the lower portion of the cell 10 also collides against the alignment jig 70 and is damaged or deformed.

Aligning the cells by the above-mentioned contact method is advantageous in that the aligning device can be easily constructed because there is no procedure of photographing, recognition and analysis. However, as mentioned above, since the mechanical impact is transmitted to the cell while making contact with the cell There is a problem that defects occur in the alignment process.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The present invention has been made to solve the above-mentioned problems, and it is an object of the present invention to provide a method of omitting a contact type alignment process and performing alignment in a non-contact manner.

It is another object of the present invention to provide a factor that is a basis for alignment in the non-contact type alignment.

Another object of the present invention is to provide an alignment method which can easily form an algorithm in alignment in a non-contact manner.

The present invention also provides a method for aligning in a non-contact manner by minimizing the factors required for alignment and, in particular, by preventing such factors from being included in the alignment device itself from consideration, It is an object of the present invention to provide an alignment method that can be applied.

Another object of the present invention is to provide a method for recognizing the position of a cell in order to perform alignment in a non-contact manner, the most inexpensive and most accurate recognition method.

It is another object of the present invention to provide an alignment method capable of correcting the loading structure itself by correcting the pattern of the repeated loading structure as the alignment is repeated.

According to an aspect of the present invention, there is provided a method of manufacturing a semiconductor device, including: loading a cell (10) on an alignment stage (20); A photographing step of photographing the loaded cell (10) with a vision; Recognizing and analyzing the relative position of the current cell with respect to the alignment position P based on the photographed image; And an aligning step of moving the alignment stage (20) in a direction in which the relative position of the cell is removed.

Here, the relative position of the cell with respect to the alignment position is calculated by the x, y coordinates and the inclined angle [theta].

Wherein the aligning step comprises a first aligning step in which the aligning stage (20) is rotated in a direction to eliminate the tilted angle (?) Of the current cell with respect to the aligning position (P) And a second aligning step in which the substrate 20 moves in parallel in the x and y directions.

After the first alignment step, the second alignment step is performed.

Here, the x, y coordinates, which are the relative positions of the cells with respect to the alignment position, are grasped after the imaging step and the recognition and analysis step once more after the first alignment step.

Wherein the vision includes illumination illuminating a cell and a camera imaging the cell in a visible light region.

In the recognition and analysis step, a plurality of the coordinates (13, 15) of the edges (13, 15) of the electrode tabs (12, 14) are recognized in the image of the photographed cell to correspond to the corner coordinates of the electrode tab (P) of the current cell.

In the recognition and analysis step, a plurality of coordinates of the edges (16, 18) of the separation membrane are recognized in the image of the captured cell and correspond to the edge coordinates of the separation membrane at the alignment position (P) To analyze the relative position.

Here, the corner coordinates of the separation membrane are analyzed based on a virtual point where both sides of the separation membrane meet except for a rounding (R) site formed at the edge of the separation membrane.

In this case, if the relative position of the cell with respect to the alignment position is repeated more than a predetermined level for every alignment process of the loaded cell, the cell's loading structure itself is corrected.

According to the present invention, it is possible to arrange the cells in a non-contact manner, thereby preventing defective cells from being generated during the alignment process.

According to the present invention, alignment can be performed with a simple algorithm by minimizing the alignment factor when aligning cells in a non-contact manner.

In addition, according to the present invention, alignment can be performed using the same algorithm regardless of the characteristics of the alignment apparatus when aligning the cells in a non-contact manner, so that general utilization is possible.

In addition, according to the present invention, it is possible to accurately recognize the position of the cell at the lowest cost, and to easily increase the alignment accuracy.

According to the present invention, since the repeated alignment pattern is recognized and corrected in the cell loading process, as the cell alignment process is repeated, the cell is more accurately loaded, thereby minimizing the time and the amount of time required for the contactless alignment have.

The above and other objects, features and advantages of the present invention will be more apparent from the following detailed description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in which: FIG.

1 is a view showing a conventional contact type alignment method,
2 illustrates a non-contact alignment method according to the present invention,
3 is a view of an image of a cell photographed by vision (when an electrode tab is present)
FIG. 4 is a view showing a state of recognizing the edge of the electrode tab in the image of the cell of FIG. 3;
5 shows an image of a cell photographed with vision (in the absence of an electrode tab), and
FIG. 6 is a view showing a state of recognizing the edges of the separator in the image of the cell of FIG. 5;

Hereinafter, embodiments according to the present invention will be described in detail with reference to the drawings.

2 is a view illustrating a non-contact sorting method according to the present invention.

The method for aligning a non-contact type cell according to the present invention includes a loading step of loading a cell 10 on an alignment stage 20, a shooting step of photographing the loaded cell 10 with a vision, The recognition and analysis step of grasping the relative position of the current cell with respect to the reference point P and the alignment step of moving the alignment stage 20 in a direction in which the relative position of the cell is eliminated.

Here, the alignment stage 20 is not only rotatable but also translationally movable in the x-axis and y-axis directions. The method of loading the cells on the alignment stage can be implemented by various methods such as a loading method by gripping the robot arm, a suction and an adsorption releasing method, and the like.

The vision may include illumination (not shown) illuminating the cell and a camera (not shown) imaging the cell in the visible light region.

The alignment position P means a position at which the cell must be aligned before entering a subsequent process, for example, the position shown in FIG. 1 (c) in the prior art.

When the cell 10 is loaded and placed on the alignment stage 20, the cell is photographed by the vision to grasp the position of the current cell. In order to grasp the position of the cell, it is necessary to determine how far the cell is deviated in the x- and y-axis direction compared to the alignment position P and how much it is inclined ([theta]). This is based on how far the position of the cell in the image photographed by the camera deviates from the ideal position (P).

The setting of the ideal position P is performed by setting the position where the cell appears in the image obtained by placing the cell at the ideal position P in the state after the camera is fixed to the aligning device to the ideal position P . ≪ / RTI >

When the cell to be aligned is loaded on the alignment stage 20, the camera is retaken while the camera is fixed at the same position to acquire an image, and the position of the cell obtained from the image is set at a predetermined ideal position P, (See Figure 2 (a)).

When the relative position of the current cell with respect to the alignment position P is grasped, the alignment stage 20 is moved to match the alignment position P by moving the current cell position.

This alignment process is similar to the first alignment step in which the alignment stage 20 rotates in the direction of eliminating the tilted angle &thetas; of the current cell with respect to the alignment position P, P in parallel with the x and y coordinates of the current cell with reference to (c) and (d) of FIG. 2.

Careful consideration here is the coordinate of the rotation axis when the alignment stage rotates in the direction of eliminating the tilted angle. When the alignment stage is rotated, the position where the x and y coordinates of the current cell are changed varies according to the position of the rotation axis. Therefore, in moving the current cell position to the alignment position P, You must also consider.

The first stage in which the alignment stage 20 rotates in the direction of removing the tilt angle? Of the current cell with respect to the alignment position P after grasping the position (x, y, The x and y coordinates of the cell are varied when the alignment step is performed. Therefore, the angle (?) Inclined about the rotation axis of the alignment stage 20 from the position (x, y) After the alignment stage 20 rotates in the direction of removal, it is necessary to calculate how the x, y coordinates of the cell have changed.

When the alignment stage 20 is moved in parallel to the x and y directions according to the x and y coordinates calculated by the rotation, the cells placed on the alignment stage are positioned at the alignment position P.

In this process, it is convenient that the second alignment step is performed after the first alignment step is performed, because the algorithm can be easily configured. If the movement for x and y is performed first in the step of aligning after recognizing the position after the initial photographing, the x and y coordinates are changed in the process of correcting the inclined angle, There is a need.

Accordingly, in the present invention, a method of first correcting an inclined angle among coordinates (x, y,?) Detected in an image of a captured cell, and then correcting the position by parallel movement in accordance with the changed x and y coordinates is applied.

As a result, if the position (x, y, θ) of the cell after photographing is obtained with respect to the position of the first cell and the coordinates of the rotation axis of the alignment stage 20 are utilized, the tilted angle is corrected The alignment can be completed only by the second alignment step of translating the alignment stage 20 based on the first alignment step and the changed x, y coordinates after the first alignment.

Further, the present invention can further simplify the second alignment without calculating the changed x, y coordinates after the first alignment. In the above-described alignment method, when calculating the changed x, y coordinates after the first alignment, the coordinate values of the rotation axis of the alignment stage 20 are essentially required. If the coordinate values of the rotation axis of the alignment stage 20 itself If so, errors may accumulate when calculating the modified x, y coordinates based on this.

Therefore, in view of this point, the present invention can precisely make the second alignment without information on the coordinates of the axis of rotation of the alignment stage 20.

To this end, the present invention solves the tilting of the cell to be aligned with respect to the alignment position P through the first alignment, and then photographs the cell again. 2 (b), the cell 10 is displaced only in the x and y directions without any difference in the slope. As a result, the position of the cell obtained from the image is shifted to the predetermined ideal position P) in the x and y directions.

Thus, the alignment device can thus move the alignment stage 20 in an amount that is out of the x, y direction so that the cell is correctly positioned at the alignment position P.

According to this method, the contactless alignment can be performed without any information about the coordinates of the rotation axis of the alignment stage 20. Therefore, even when the alignment process is performed in each of the plurality of alignment stages, the alignment can be easily performed using the same algorithm , It is possible to prevent accumulation of errors occurring in each stage in the alignment process.

Furthermore, the present invention also provides a method of eliminating a factor of position error in another configuration other than the alignment stage.

For example, when a cell loading arrangement on an alignment stage continuously loads cells on an alignment stage with the same position error, the alignment apparatus of the present invention can grasp this and correct the loading process itself.

If an error within a similar range over a predetermined number of times (for example, 10 times) is recognized and recognized in the recognition and analysis step of grasping the relative position of the current cell with respect to the alignment position P based on the photographed image, This error value can be provided to the operator as information.

When this information is provided, the equipment operator can correct the positional deviation occurring in the loading process by correcting the position where the cell 10 is loaded on the alignment stage 20 through alignment of the loading device. Therefore, if this process is repeated, loading close to the alignment position can be performed in advance during the loading process, so that the amount of non-contact alignment can be gradually reduced, and the apparatus operation can be more efficiently performed.

Next, a method of recognizing the position of the cell in the image of the photographed cell will be described.

FIG. 3 is a view showing an image of a cell photographed by vision (when an electrode tab is present), and FIG. 4 is a view showing a state of recognizing an edge of an electrode tab in an image of the cell of FIG.

,)을 찾고, 그 패턴 내에서 모서리(16,18)을 찾는다.When the image of the photographed cell has an electrode tab, as shown in FIG. 3, a pattern corresponding to the corner of the cell (for example,

, ), And finds the edges (16, 18) in the pattern.

,

)을 찾은 후, 그 패턴 내에서 모서리(13,15)를 찾는다.And the pattern of the portion where the negative electrode tab 12 and the positive electrode tab 14 are connected to the cell on a hypothetical line connecting the two corners

,

) And finds the corners (13, 15) in the pattern.

Confirming the coordinates (x, y, [theta]) of the coordinates of the recognized edges 13 and 15 with respect to the coordinates of the corresponding edges of the alignment position P, The relative position of the cell can be grasped.
The coordinates of the edges 13 and 15 of the electrode tabs 12 and 14 may be, for example, a point where the outline of the electrode tab meets the outline of the separator.

Fig. 5 is a view showing an image of a cell photographed by vision (in the absence of an electrode tab), and Fig. 6 is a view showing a state of recognizing the edges of the separator in the image of the cell of Fig.

,

)을 찾고, 그 패턴 내에서 모서리(16,18)을 찾는다.If there is no electrode tab in the image of the photographed cell, a pattern corresponding to the edge of the separator in the image of the cell 10

,

), And finds the edges (16, 18) in the pattern.

It is preferable that the pattern having the largest area in the stacked cells becomes a separation membrane, and therefore, it is preferable to grasp the pattern on the basis of the separation membrane.

Confirming the coordinates (x, y, [theta]) of the coordinates of the recognized edges 13 and 15 with respect to the coordinates of the corresponding edges of the alignment position P, The relative position of the cell can be grasped.

On the other hand, the end portion of the separation membrane is mostly subjected to rounding (R) treatment. When the rounding process is performed, it is difficult to set one point along the rounded portion and it is difficult to keep the standard constant. Therefore, in the present invention, the corner coordinates are determined based on a virtual point where both sides forming the edges of the separation membrane meet, except for the rounded portion (R) formed at the edge of the separation membrane. This is also applicable to the alignment position P as well.

When the position of the cell is grasped in this manner and the positional deviation of the current cell with respect to the alignment position P is grasped, alignment can be performed by the movement of the alignment stage as described above.

It is to be understood that the invention is not limited to the disclosed exemplary embodiments, but is capable of modifications within the technical scope of the invention described in the claims.

10: Cell
12: Negative electrode tab
13: cathode tab edge
14:
15: Positive tab edge
16: cell first corner
18: cell second corner
20: Alignment stage
70: alignment jig
80: Gauge
P: alignment position
R: Rounding

Claims (11)

Loading a cell (10) on an alignment stage (20);
A photographing step of photographing the loaded cell (10) with a vision;
Recognizing and analyzing the relative position of the current cell with respect to the alignment position P based on the photographed image; And
And moving the alignment stage (20) in a direction in which the relative position of the cell is removed,
The recognizing and analyzing step recognizes a plurality of the coordinates of the edges 16,18 of the separated cell in the image of the captured cell and associates it with the corner coordinates of the separating film at the aligning position P, Analyze relative position,
Wherein the edge coordinates of the separation membrane are obtained by analyzing edge coordinates based on a virtual point at which both sides of the separation membrane meet except for a rounded portion formed at an edge of the separation membrane. The method according to claim 1,
Wherein the relative position of the cell with respect to the alignment position is calculated as x, y coordinates and a tilted angle (?). The method of claim 2,
The alignment step includes a first alignment step in which the alignment stage 20 rotates in a direction to eliminate the tilted angle of the current cell with respect to the alignment position P, 20) are moved in parallel in the x and y directions. The method of claim 3,
Wherein the second alignment step is performed after the first alignment step. The method of claim 4,
Wherein the x, y coordinates, which are relative positions of the cell with respect to the alignment position, are grasped through the imaging step and the recognition and analysis step once more after the first alignment step. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
Wherein the vision comprises illumination illuminating a cell and a camera imaging the cell in a visible light region. The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
The recognizing and analyzing step recognizes a plurality of the coordinates (13, 15) of the edges (13, 15) of the electrode tabs (12, 14) in the image of the photographed cell and associates them with the corner coordinates of the electrode tabs at the alignment position P) of the current cell is analyzed. The method of claim 7,
Wherein the coordinates of the edges (13, 15) of the electrode tabs (12, 14) are the points where the outline of the electrode tab and the outline of the separation membrane meet. delete delete The method according to any one of claims 1 to 5,
When the relative positional deviation of the cell with respect to the alignment position is recognized to be repeated a predetermined level or more in every alignment process of the loaded cell, the positional deviation occurring in the loading step is corrected by correcting the position of the cell to be loaded Contactless cell alignment method.

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