Battery cell production 4.0 – Processes, products and their interactions (Thursday, 9.11.2023)

Gain in-depth knowledge of the battery production process chain. The seminar covers all steps from mixing to cell finishing with a focus on production technology and process monitoring.

Scope

A profound know-how of product-process interactions and their influence on cell performance and overall costs is crucial to make well-founded decisions in battery production industry. The goal is therefore to realize an efficient production chain with online monitored production parameters to increase the economic efficiency and decrease the environmental impact. This knowledge allows to set up sustainable battery production lines with high flexibility regarding the specific cell requirements and applications.

The seminar will focus on production processes, production parameters and resulting products. The application of industry 4.0 solutions in that context will be demonstrated. According battery cell production the objective to design advanced and application specific charge transfer structures of electrodes, their production processes and subsequent cell assembly processes will be discussed. Data on single processes, their interaction and quality parameters involved will be presented to understand the impact of materials and especially processes on physical electrode properties of mechanical, structural and electrical nature. Regarding process-structure-property relationships these physical electrode characteristics will be correlated with cell performance. New monitoring technologies for essential and sensitive production steps to maximize production efficiency will be discussed. To complete the talk future trends in electrode and cell production will be to give cutting-edge insight and future prospects in battery production.

TimeTopicSpeaker
09:15-11:00Introduction, material overview & electrode productionProf. Dr.-Ing. Arno Kwade
11:00Coffee Break
11:15-12:00Introduction, material overview & electrode productionProf. Dr.-Ing. Arno Kwade
12:00-12:45Automated Cell AssemblyDo Minh Nguyen
12:45-13:30DigitalizationGabriela Ventura Silva
13:30Lunch 

Introduction, material overview & electrode production

Professor Arno Kwade will go into detail about the intricate role of proper slurry mixing and dispersing of conductive additives as well as electrode coating, drying and calendering on the porous electrode structure and by extend to the electrodes properties.

Process control in electrode production

Gain insights into the utilization of advanced inline sensors in the different electrode production processes for maintaining quality and precise process control. In-line detection of intermediate product parameters during slurry mixing, electrode coating and calendering offers exciting advantages for a scaled and sustainable battery production.

Automated cell assembly

When scaling battery production to industry standards, process automation is mandatory. During cell assembly, industry-scale robotics along with cutting edge process control are key for achieving high throughputs along with adequate quality. The interplay between different grippers, transport devices, as well as camera and sensor technology ensures sufficient process stability and reproducibility.

Digitalization in battery production

Battery cell production is characterized by a large number of parameter interdependencies. Variations on a process level affect the electrode structure and, consequently, the battery cell performance. Digitization tools such as tracking and tracing and data mining enable the extraction of information from production and knowledge-based decision support. This leads to improvements in production and higher product quality, reducing scrap and resource waste.