Fraunhofer Research Institution for Battery Cell Production FFB
Fraunhofer Research Institution for Battery Cell Production FFB

Autobot

Long title

 

»Automated battery cell characterization before, after, and through aging tests to monitor long-term effects of production changes.«

 

Brief description:

 

In this project, the Center for Ageing, Reliability and Lifetime Prediction of Electrochemical and Power Electronic Systems (CARL) at RWTH Aachen University will set up and commission a highly automated test bench for comprehensive cell characterization before and after aging tests of battery cells. This will be combined with an automatically controlled cyclization test bench, which allows individual loading and measurement of the cells during aging tests at defined temperatures.

The aim is the regular, comparable and detailed characterization of battery cells. This will allow the effects of material and process changes in cell production to be investigated, quantified and fed back. For this purpose, a standardized and automated measurement procedure is to be used to collect data from other measurements in addition to the classic parameters such as weight, voltage and 1 kHz resistance.These are complete measurements of the electrochemical impedance (EIS) from the electrical measurements in addition to the cell capacitance and heat and expansion information additionally recorded optically during the measurement cycle.

© Fraunhofer FFB
© Fraunhofer FFB

Project schedule

The work plan is divided into four work packages:

  1. The first work package deals with the »procurement, commissioning and test runs of the individual components«. 
  2. In the second work package, »Linking the components to an automated test system«, the test stand is built up step by step in a bottom-up principle. 
  3. Work package 3, »Linking the test system to the interfaces of CARL and FFB and other partners«, focuses primarily on the digital interface for data exchange. 
  4. In the fourth work package, the entire test stand is put into operation and validated.

 

Utilization of results

The prospects of success for the project described are based on the one hand on the medium- and long-term economic usability of the research results achieved for the German mechanical engineering industry and related sectors through newly emerging collaborations and industrial orders: The production of battery cells in prototypes and small series as well as the analysis of the manufactured battery cells by the test setup created in the AutoBot project. On the other hand, participation in industrial property rights and patent applications holds out the prospect of economic exploitation of the research results in the long term. The enormous increase in the test length, the scope of the tests as well as the test time complements the scope of the tests integrated into the research production of battery cells in Münster many times over. The direct connection via the physical interface represents a significant step towards integrating the AutoBot test system into the FFB process chain. The demonstration of the automation and the large scale of the measurements help to increase the visibility of the new FFB research platform and thus also support the project in economic terms. The findings from the aging tests provide a great deal of insight into the influence of the process parameters of battery cell production and, in particular, their variation on the quality of the cells produced in each case. In addition, the developed automatic handling system can also be used at the Fraunhofer FFB site in Münster in the future and adapted for further research projects. It is expected that the planned test bench and the experience associated with its construction will expand the knowledge of all project participants in the field of battery cell production, which is of particular scientific interest for the long-term work of the battery cell research production.