In battery cell production, cell finishing is considered to be particularly time consuming and cost intensive due to high energy consumption along the cell finishing production chain. The current trend in cell development towards large format cells has a direct impact on the cell finishing process, as cell development and production development are closely interrelated. Due to the increased cell dimension and capacity, production requirements need to be adapted. For cell finishing, higher charging and discharging currents during formation and a second electrolyte filling process are examples of immediate changes affected. Such adaptations in cell finishing again increase the energy consumption and process time especially in large-scale production. Regarding future flexible production development, the process chain needs to be continuously adapted for potential optimization in parallel with cell development.
For this purpose, this paper assesses current technological innovation and evaluates the possible process innovation in cell finishing production from a research perspective. The research is carried out on process-related or metrological technologies with the key evaluation criteria of energy consumption, process time and quality. Based on both scientific literature and industrial knowledge, innovative technologies often lead to process adaptation or possible innovative concepts. Compared to a reference line based on the state of the art, this paper contributes to a holistic view of innovative cell finishing process concepts derived from innovative technologies.
This work contributes to the project FoFeBat 2 – Battery Cell Research Factory Germany. It is funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Funding codes 03XP0416C, 03XP0416A).