Periodic Reporting for period 1 - FOCALSPEC (Solving the Root Cause of Battery Short Circuits:FocalSpec high-speed 3D imaging sensors revolutionise industrial quality control)
Reporting period: 2019-10-01 to 2020-09-30
PROBLEM: With the market appetite for electric cars and consumer electronics increasing globally, battery manufacturers need to pack higher capacities into ever-smaller battery sizes. This sets extreme demands on manufacturing precision to ensure battery safety.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR SOCIETY: Failing to do so caused for example the global Samsung smartphone recall in 2016 – microscopic imperfections in electrodes were too small to detect. Those imperfections led the batteries to short circuits, putting consumers in direct danger. While this might sound like a small issue concerning high-end smartphones – imagine if similar incidents happen in electric cars. Manufacturers need to pack more power into batteries to achieve a longer range so that more consumers would switch to electric, while over time the batteries also need to get thinner to reduce the weight of the cars. However, higher energy density comes with a higher risk of a short circuit, which can only be mitigated with extremely precise quality control at the level of battery cell manufacturing. It is clear that traditional technologies used in Li-ion battery manufacturing and quality control systems, such as laser scanners, are simply not sufficient to detect defects in new high-density battery cells.
OVERALL OBJECTIVES:
We will achieve TRL 9 during the Phase 2 project by increasing the speed of our sensors from 4 000 3D profile measurements per second to over 100 000 profiles per second. Based on this, we will introduce the next generation on-line sensors for quality control in high precision, high-speed manufacturing in the Li-ion battery and 3D cover glass industries. The EU grant will enable us to simultaneously ramp up commercialization efforts, particularly in the automotive battery sector targeting the European market.
WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR SOCIETY: Failing to do so caused for example the global Samsung smartphone recall in 2016 – microscopic imperfections in electrodes were too small to detect. Those imperfections led the batteries to short circuits, putting consumers in direct danger. While this might sound like a small issue concerning high-end smartphones – imagine if similar incidents happen in electric cars. Manufacturers need to pack more power into batteries to achieve a longer range so that more consumers would switch to electric, while over time the batteries also need to get thinner to reduce the weight of the cars. However, higher energy density comes with a higher risk of a short circuit, which can only be mitigated with extremely precise quality control at the level of battery cell manufacturing. It is clear that traditional technologies used in Li-ion battery manufacturing and quality control systems, such as laser scanners, are simply not sufficient to detect defects in new high-density battery cells.
OVERALL OBJECTIVES:
We will achieve TRL 9 during the Phase 2 project by increasing the speed of our sensors from 4 000 3D profile measurements per second to over 100 000 profiles per second. Based on this, we will introduce the next generation on-line sensors for quality control in high precision, high-speed manufacturing in the Li-ion battery and 3D cover glass industries. The EU grant will enable us to simultaneously ramp up commercialization efforts, particularly in the automotive battery sector targeting the European market.
A prototype of a new type of super high speed confocal 3D sensor has been designed, constructed and preliminarily tested. The prototype comprises the optics, mechanics and also the electronics of the sensor but no signal processing firmware. The new sensor has the capability to increase the line speed up to 150 000 lines/s that is the necessary requirement for the high-speed burr detection in lithium battery manufacturing. The current line confocal imaging products of the company can only reach the line speed up to 10 000 ...16 000 lines/s ( ten times slower) and only with very limited non-practical range for the height position of the measured surface. In that sense the increase of the performance specification with the new sensor is remarkable. The preliminary tests reported in the prototype evaluation report have verified that the planned specifications of the speed and 3D measurement resolution could be reached with this new technology.
At the moment there are not any commercial products in the market that could go to that speed and still provide submicron 3D resolution. The patenting of the new method has been started.
Work was started to adapt the sensor design to 3D glass manufacturing by focusing on building an optical simulation platform and using that platform to produce simulation results to describe sensor optical performance, size and cost estimations. The conclusion of this work indicated that the design was feasible, but that success would be highly dependent on the ability of manufacturers to meet specifications on key optical components. Additionally, two potential optical component manufacturers were contacted to produce initial components for our evaluation. That work was not completed prior to closing the project.
Business development, commercialization and communication activities have been focused on preparing the company for a successful market launch and scaling. Studies have been made to identify opportunities and growth areas in lithium-ion battery business and glass manufacturing. In addition, the commercialization team was briefed and received training on the line confocal sensors, the updated roadmap, and were instructed to begin work on contacting key customers to establish relationships for when the product began moving towards pre-production.
At the moment there are not any commercial products in the market that could go to that speed and still provide submicron 3D resolution. The patenting of the new method has been started.
Work was started to adapt the sensor design to 3D glass manufacturing by focusing on building an optical simulation platform and using that platform to produce simulation results to describe sensor optical performance, size and cost estimations. The conclusion of this work indicated that the design was feasible, but that success would be highly dependent on the ability of manufacturers to meet specifications on key optical components. Additionally, two potential optical component manufacturers were contacted to produce initial components for our evaluation. That work was not completed prior to closing the project.
Business development, commercialization and communication activities have been focused on preparing the company for a successful market launch and scaling. Studies have been made to identify opportunities and growth areas in lithium-ion battery business and glass manufacturing. In addition, the commercialization team was briefed and received training on the line confocal sensors, the updated roadmap, and were instructed to begin work on contacting key customers to establish relationships for when the product began moving towards pre-production.
Due to the premature termination of the project, insufficient work was completed to claim achievements beyond state of the art. While progress on the super high-speed sensor is looking very promising, we are still in the early stages of proving this technology. In addition, it is much too early to state the potential impacts of this technology on both applications and industry.