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Here at IVS our vision system solutions are utilised for the inspection of electric vehicle battery production. We thought it would be interesting in this post to drill down a little more of how machine vision is used in this fast-developing industry sector.

How are electric vehicle batteries made?

Carbon or graphite, a metal oxide, and lithium salt are all used to make lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles. Positive and negative electrodes are made up of these elements, which when mixed with electrolyte form an electric current that allows the battery to work to power a car. It’s also the same type of battery that’s used in common devices like cell phones and computers, but on a far larger scale.

The materials used to make EV batteries come from many different countries and sources. Subterranean ponds are the most common source of lithium. The ponds liquid is drained out and left to dry in the sun. The Andes Mountains, which span through Chile, Argentina, and Bolivia, provides a large portion of the lithium used in electric car batteries. There are additional rock-mined deposits in China and the United States. The cobalt used in electric vehicle battery production mostly comes from mines in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Nickel is largely gathered in Indonesia and the Philippines. Lithium is converted to lithium carbonate, which is subsequently processed at a battery plant. The batteries are assembled at the production factory and then installed in an electric vehicle with zero emissions.

EV’s employ a pack, which is made up of thousands of separate Li-ion cells that work together, rather than a single battery like a phone. Electricity is utilised to make chemical changes inside the car’s batteries while it is charging. These adjustments are reversed when it’s on the road to generate electricity.

So how is machine vision used in a battery plant?

Machine vision is used in the complete electric vehicle (ev) manufacturing cycle, providing quality and consistency to the production across all areas. But getting the quality right on battery production for electric vehicles is critical for safety, life cycle and achieving greater energy density – and to prevent degradation and to minimise waste. Therefore, machine vision provides the eyes on quality in electrical vehicle manufacturing, providing 100% inspection, around the clock. From work we have done we can drill down on the 11 critical areas that machine vision is used in electric vehicle battery production for in-line quality control.

1. Coating quality inspection. During the initial coating process, linescan vision inspection is used to check for defects such as scratches, dents, dints, craters, bubbles, inclusions and holes on electrode sheets.

2. End face profile measurements. The end profiles can be continually monitored to quality assess the black electrode coating process and raise alarms in case of faults identified.

3. Coating width measurement. The anode and cathode coating has to be extremely consistent and to measurement specification. Therefore, surface inspection combined with gauging width and edge profiles helps to build up an inspection profile for the continuous coated product.

4. Electrode tab position and surface verification. During vacuum drying, a separator and electrode are brought together in cell construction. Cathode and anode cells are wrapped, rolled, or stacked together. The folded cells have lead tabs attached to them. When the cells have been loaded with electrolytes, vacuum-sealed, and dried, the procedure is complete. This process is monitored by vision inspection for anomalies and out of tolerance product. Critical to quality (CTQ) parameters are assessed in real-time.

5. Battery module defect detection. Each battery module will generally contain a number of cells (typically twelves). The modules are joined together and a cooling fluid pipe is attached. Checks for verification for module integrity, assembly characteristics and component verification are all completed using machine vision.

6. Stacking alignment and height. As modules and battery slices are built up into a complete battery pack, vision sensors measure the profile of the slice displacement and positioning to provide accurate feedback control for precision stacking.

7. Tab inspection. The tabs on the edge of each slice and subsequent modules are checked for debris, chips and cracks. Any small burr, edge deviation or dent can cause issues for the final assembled battery unit.

8. Connector Inspection. The main entry and exit to the battery module is via a high-voltage connector. The battery is charged through this connection, and electricity is delivered to the electric motor. Inspection of the main characteristics of the connector assembly are critical to provide a final check for edge deviations, male/female connector profiles and no cracks or dents in the connector profile.

9. Pouch surface inspection. Automated cosmetic inspection for inclusions, surface debris, scratches, dents and dints ensures that the lithium-ion cells are checked prior to becoming an EV battery.

10. Code reading. Codes on the battery modules need to be read for traceability and to track each element through the production process, allowing the manufacturing to trace where an EV cell is finally installed, from the individual production plant, down to the individual vehicle.

11. Final assembly verification. The final battery pack is checked for completeness to specification, all necessary assembly parts are available and verification of optical character recognition of codes for full traceability of the pack when sent to the customer for installation into the electric vehicle (EV).

For further details on IVS automotive industry solutions see: https://www.industrialvision.co.uk/industries/automotive

For today’s post we thought we’d take you back to the beginning. Not all customers have used machine vision or vision systems in their production process before, many will be new to machine vision. So it’s important to understand the basics of a vision inspection system and what the fundamentals of the overall system look like. This helps to understand how a vision inspection machine operates at a rudimentary level.

The components of a vision system include the following basic seven elements. Although each of these components serves its own individual function and can be found in many other systems, when working together they each have a distinct role to play. To work reliably and generate repeatable results it is important that these critical components interact effectively.

• The machine vision process starts with the part or product being inspected.
• When the part is in the correct place a sensor will trigger the acquisition of the digital image.
• Structured lighting is used to ensure that the image captured is of optimum quality.
• The optical lens focuses the image onto the camera sensor.
• Depending on capabilities this digitizing sensor may perform some pre-processing to ensure the correct image features stand out
• The image is then sent to the processor for analysis against the set of pre-programmed rules.
• Communication devices are then used to report and trigger automatic events such as part acceptance or rejection.

It all starts with the part or product being inspected. This is because it is the part size, specified tolerances and other parameters which will help to inform the required machine vision solution. To achieve desired results the system will need to be designed so that part placement and orientation is consistent and repeatable.

A sensor, which is often optical or magnetic, is used to detect the part and trigger:

• the light source to highlight key features and
• the camera to capture the image

This part of the process may also include what is often referred to as ‘staging’. Imagine a theatre and this is the equivalent of putting the actor centre stage in the best possible place for the audience to see. Staging is often mechanical and is required to:

• Ensure the correct part surface is facing the camera. This may require rotation if several surfaces need inspecting
• Hold the part still for the moment that the camera or lens captures the image
• Consistently put the part in the same place within the overall image ‘scene’ to make it easy for the processor to analyse.

Lighting is critical because it enables the camera to see necessary details. In fact poor lighting is one of the major causes of failure. For every application there are common lighting goals:

• Maximising feature contrast of the part or object to be inspected
• Minimising contrast on features not of interest
• Removing distractions and variations to achieve consistency

In this respect the positioning and type of lighting is key to maximise contrast of features being inspected and minimise everything else.

Of course, an integrated inspection machine will have all of these aspects already designed and taken care of within the scope of the quality inspection unit, but these are some just some of the basic elements which make up the guts of a machine vision system.