Tailored Digitalization in Electrode Manufacturing: The Backbone of Smart Lithium‐Ion Battery Cell Production

Abstract

Following the introduction of Industry 4.0 and the development of information technologies, manufacturing companies have been undergoing a profound transformation. This transformation envisions the realization of the smart factory as a fully connected, flexible production system regulated by data. Digitalization and collection of the critical parameters are the vital prerequisites for this vision. Electrode manufacturing is regarded as the core phase in the battery cell production, having most of the properties determining the electrochemical performance of the battery cell established in this phase. There are a high number of parameters involved in electrode manufacturing. The digitalization of these parameters is associated with a considerable amount of effort and costs. Introducing a tailored digitalization concept provides the first step toward smart battery cell production. The tailored digitalization concept is based on the importance of the parameters from the quality management perspective and their complexity with regard to digitalization. The prioritization of parameters enables a successive quality‐oriented digitalization strategy. The concept is built on a two‐step literature‐based and expert‐based approach. The results include a comprehensive list of parameters and their prioritization for digitalization and integration in a tracking and tracing concept.

Machine Learning in Lithium‐Ion Battery Cell Production: A Comprehensive Mapping Study

“…While some detailed analyses have been carried out on intermediate products and cell characteristics using supervised ML, some aspects have not yet been thoroughly investigated or remain unaddressed. Considering the quality-relevant parameters in electrode manufacturing, [67] in the mixing process, the majority of the existing studies focus only on the product parameters of the slurry, leaving out the relevant process parameters, such as revolution speed. Rohkohl et al [53] confirmed that experts identified 15 process parameters influencing the quality of the produced slurry in the extrusion process.…”

Measuring Instruments for Characterization of Intermediate Products in Electrode Manufacturing of Lithium‐Ion Batteries

“…This distribution demonstrates the underlying need for further technology development regarding inline measuring solutions, particularly for the parameters deemed highly relevant from the quality management point of view. [21] The inline solutions require a capital investment higher than EUR 20 000 per measuring instrument. The highest investment categories include merely offline solutions such as SEM Importance: highly important parameter; less important parameter b) The reference value for a working distance of approx.…”

“…[ 25 ] The requirements should reflect the context of the studied use case. The relevant product parameters for the characterization of intermediate products are adopted from Haghi et al [ 21 ] The production system's boundary conditions are decisive in selecting and evaluating measuring instruments. In this article, the boundary conditions are aligned with those defined in the previous work [ 21 ] and are briefly outlined in the following.…”

“…The relevant product parameters for the characterization of intermediate products are adopted from Haghi et al [ 21 ] The production system's boundary conditions are decisive in selecting and evaluating measuring instruments. In this article, the boundary conditions are aligned with those defined in the previous work [ 21 ] and are briefly outlined in the following. The manufacturing readiness level (MRL) can be used as an indicator to describe the maturity of a production system and its processes.…”

“…[20] A tailored digitalization concept was introduced in a previous publication to prioritize parameters based on their relevance from the quality management perspective. [21] The result included a literature-based list of parameters, their relevance, and the complexity and effort involved in their digitalization. Following the previous work, this article evaluates possible measuring instruments that can be adopted to characterize intermediate products in electrode manufacturing.…”