LaserScale - Scaled laser structuring and drying of lithium-ion batteries to increase performance

The research project LaserScale aims to implement an innovative production system resulting in reduced costs while simultaneously increasing product quality for the manufacture of lithium-ion batteries. To this end, flexible hardware modules for laser drying and laser structuring are built and combined. A multi-beam multis-canner module will be initially applied for laser structuring of electrodes in order to scale the ablation rates towards industrial demands. For the combination with laser drying, a flexible VCSEL-based laser module is built up, which can be used for both horizontal and vertical electrode coating. In addition, process digitization and the application of industrial machine learning with the aim of deriving optimal control parameters for the plant system will be carried out.

In the LaserScale project, the iwb primarily aims at enabling electrode structuring at various points in the electrode manufacturing process chain. In this course, different process strategies and laser beam sources are investigated. Innovative sensor technology for process monitoring is used to ensure an optimal product result. Finally, a technical-economic evaluation of the developed plant concept is carried out. The overall objective of the iwb in LaserScale is the transfer of laser structuring of battery electrodes from the laboratory scale to an industrial scale and the economic evaluation of a corresponding plant concept.

Acknowledgements

This research project is funded by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) as part of the battery competence cluster "Intelligent Battery Cell Production (InZePro)" (funding code 03XP0316B).