PEM Enables More Efficient Battery Production through “InForm” Project
Together with three other national institutes, the Chair of Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components (PEM) of RWTH Aachen University has successfully completed the “InForm” project funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research. During the three-and-a-half-year joint project, the scientific partners developed AI-supported processes that allow for a significantly earlier optimization and assessment of battery cell properties than before.
PEM Director Professor Achim Kampker, says :
With the help of digitalization and artificial intelligence, the production of lithium-ion batteries can be accelerated with process costs decreasing and quality increasing,
Using AI and physicochemical models, the project partners had purposefully intervened in the formation sub-step to achieve positive long-term effects and ensure a safe process. The process time was initially reduced by around 50 percent using a pulse formation protocol and then by a further 20 percent with the support of AI. According to the researchers, this has shown that it is possible to form customized batteries with improved electrical properties or lifespan, for example, and to accelerate the development of needs-based procedures while also reducing process times.
Kampker says,
Being able to manufacture batteries individually and with automated quality assessment is going to be a key factor in competitive battery production,
Predetermination of battery quality without process interruption
“Forming” is the final production step, which significantly determines the subsequent performance, safety, and longevity of a lithium-ion battery. During formation, the assembled battery cells are charged and discharged for the first time. In the course of this procedure, the Solid Electrolyte Interphase (SEI) layer, which is crucial for the cell’s subsequent performance, forms at the electrodes. The researchers had observed the resistance of the SEI during formation using electrochemical impedance spectroscopy.
PEM’s project manager Tobias Robben, says :
This allows us to draw conclusions about the correct formation of the SEI and the resulting lithium consumption – a quality criterion for both the discharge capacity after formation and for long-term behavior,
“Instead of only being able to assess production success with the end-of-line test, we can determine battery quality beforehand without any interruption to the process.”
This way, Robben says, rejects can be identified much earlier, thus saving a considerable amount of time and money.
Partners from Ulm, Stuttgart and Braunschweig
“InForm” was a companion project of the “Intelligent Battery Cell Production” (InZePro) competence cluster funded by the German government. PEM’s partners included the Helmholtz Institute Ulm (HIU) for Electrochemical Energy Storage of the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology, the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW) and the Institute for High Voltage Technology and Power Systems (elenia) at TU Braunschweig.
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PEM Enables More Efficient Battery Production through “InForm” Project, source
