Battery Manufacturing – Energy for Tomorrow
The energy sector is in transition. While the automotive industry is shifting towards CO2-neutral transportation, battery storage systems for renewable energies and portable electronic devices are also becoming more and more important.
Our WAGO I/O System Field products are the solution for holistically automating the manufacturing process of the battery cell. The latest WAGO Pro 2 Series Power Supplies have a distinctive communication interface to monitor and evaluate the production process individually and to configure battery manufacturing as efficiently as possible, thus reducing production costs.
Mixing
The manufacturing of a battery begins with the slurry preparation. The two separate raw materials are each combined to form a slurry. Conductive additives, solvents and binders are required for the preparation. Temperature plays a decisive role in this. The WAGO I/O System Field Controller and the WAGO PFC200 control the temperature of the liquids, which must range between 20 and 40 degrees Celsius. Our MID meters monitor energy consumption. Since the entire process takes place in the cleanroom, the slurry is transported further to a subsequent “coating” process step via pipelines or in atmospherically sealed storage tanks.
Coating and Drying
In the coating process, a carrier foil is coated with a slip by an application tool to produce a film. This carrier foil consists of materials such as aluminum or copper foil. Depending on the cell design, the layer thicknesses vary between 10 μm and 25 μm.
Depending on the system, the top and bottom sides of the foil are coated either sequentially or simultaneously. To maintain high quality standards during battery production, our WAGO I/O System Field and WAGO I/O System 750 systems are ideal for monitoring layer thicknesses.
Once the coating process is completed, drying is performed. The aluminum or copper foil is fed into a dryer. This float dryer is used for simultaneous coating on both sides. The dryer length is crucial for the throughput speed. The dryer is divided into different temperature zones to implement an individual temperature profile. The WAGO I/O System Field in combination with the WAGO PFC200 is the perfect solution for precise temperature maintenance and monitoring.
Calendering
During calendering, also called rolling, the copper or aluminum foil coated on both sides is compacted by one or more rotating roller pairs. The foil is compacted by the top and bottom rollers. The line pressure determines the porosity of the coated substrate. If the line pressure is set too high, this can cause crushing or damage to the substrate material. The rolling process is designed to compensate for the slightest irregularities. Due to the robustness, the WAGO I/O System Field and the WAGO I/O System 750 can also be ideal for monitoring the rolling process.
Slitting
Slitting is a separation process in which a wide electrode strip (a mother coil) is divided into several smaller strips (daughter coils). Slitting can be performed thermally (laser cutting) or mechanically (knife cutting with a rolling knife). Cleanliness of the electrode strips is crucial since impurities or residues can impair the quality of the daughter coils and, ultimately, battery cell performance. The electrode strips are cleaned by suction and/or a brush to ensure smooth operation and quality assurance during manufacturing. The cutting widths of the daughter coils can vary depending on the cell design and are, in many applications, between 100 mm and 300 mm.
Cell Assembly
The cutting process step is required for producing the pouch cell and relates separating the anode, cathode and separator plates from the roll material – the daughter coil. The cutting process is performed either with a scissors cut (punching tool) or thermally (laser cut). The uncoated edge region of the battery cell plate is used in a later step for welding the contact lug.
Electrolyte Filling and Formation
Electrolyte filling is the final step in battery manufacturing and occurs after the cell stack has been placed in the packaging. The openings are sealed by a sealing method or by using a mandrel insert with a welded closure cap. In the round and prismatic cell, pre-aging is then performed to prevent deformation due to gas formation.
