CellLab Project to Advance Digitalized Battery Production
In the new “CellLab” research project, the Chair of Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components (PEM) of RWTH Aachen University is developing an elaborate analytics infrastructure to investigate the complex correlations between the production and the performance of batteries. The project funded by the state government of North Rhine-Westphalia aims to create a laboratory that allows the reproducible and safe operation of all the necessary measuring instruments.
The facility is to be integrated into the Chair’s existing “CellFab,” a prototype production line for battery cells with an industrial design that covers all processes from electrode production and cell assembly to cell finalization. During the project, modern analytical instruments are to be added – both as in-process modules integrated into the systems and as post-process components for subsequent quality testing. The PEM facility is already recording production data and generating large volumes of data for digitalization projects.
PEM Director Professor Achim Kampker, says:
Small and medium-sized industrial companies often lack the resources to set up their own analytics infrastructure for battery production research, which prevents innovations where they would be perfectly possible,
Therefore, SMEs without sufficient capital for their own analytics are also intended to benefit from the project’s results.
With the analytical instruments, it will be possible to identify previously hidden characteristics of starting materials, intermediate products, and battery cells without external environmental influences.
In an accompanying research and development project, the integration of laboratory data for the optimization of production parameters will be investigated. The background to this is that pure production data are not sufficient for the development of comprehensive models – as is the case with the calendering process.
PEM Management Member Professor Heiner Heimes, says:
With the help of laboratory data, however, we will be able to make precise predictions, identify sources of error in the product, and optimize quality assurance,
“With the analytical instruments, it will be possible to identify previously hidden characteristics of starting materials, intermediate products, and battery cells without external environmental influences.” The combination of real-time data analysis with advanced models is expected to lead to a significant increase in battery production efficiency. Furthermore, the CellLab is built to enable scientists to gain significantly more extensive research findings in future projects.
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CellLab Project to Advance Digitalized Battery Production, source
