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Why introduce SWIR sensors into Electric Vehicle Battery Production Monitoring and Quality Control Testing?
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To ensure that electric vehicle batteries meet the strict safety,performance,or quality requirements,it is crucial to conduct quality control testing on them. Leak detection is slow and inaccurate at the moment. Even small leaks can reduce battery life,affect performance and increase warranty costs. Even worse,leaking can shortcircuit electrical systems,set fires,or cause damage to battery components.
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Non-destructive testing of batteries can identify any defects before they leave the production facility. Automated Xray inspection can reveal defects in cells before they leave the factory. This prevents the manufacture of defective cells into battery modules. The cell structure can also impact quality control methods. Rolled cells can be examined in 2D. Stacked cells,however,require 3D computer tomography. This is more difficult than interpreting a transmissive radiograph image.
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Engineers evaluate the battery’s health during manufacturing by measuring its charge and discharge. Engineers also check the condition and function of the battery’s Busbar. This is a long conductor,isolated from ground,that distributes current throughout the battery. Testing the busbar is an important part of the process because the weld impedance of batteries is an important metric. Any resistance that is too low can lead to excessive heat and early failures. Engineers can quickly remove defective modules by measuring resistance before a battery becomes operational.
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It is crucial to determine a battery pack’s life expectancy by using SoC information. A battery pack’s usable lifespan can be greatly reduced by either overcharging or undercharging. This information is also used by the battery management system (BMS) to maintain the cells within their safe operating limits. BMS must also include a precise charge estimator to calculate SoC.
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SoC is more difficult than temperature and voltage. It must be calculated using proprietary parameters.
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Adapting SWIR into the Lithium-Ion Battery Testing Process
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High resolution,wide field of view,extended SWIR cameras and high resolution can all be used to solve important inspection issues in lithium-ion batteries. This will allow them to meet increasing quality and performance requirements.
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SWIR Vision’s Acuros SWIR cameras,for example,can provide imaging through the Li:Ion separator using SWIR wavelengths. These cameras – or sensors – provide the necessary alignment accuracy of inter-layer electrodes leading directly to more available energy storage capacity and longer battery lifetimes.
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Because of the ability to see through objects and feed back high-resolution imaging at a rapid-fire rate,these sensors can be adapted as a quality control feature throughout the production process. We anticipate rapid adoption of SWIR cameras to test batteries.
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