Optimizing the Cell Finishing Process: An Overview of Steps, Technologies, and Trends

The cell finishing process is the final stage in the production of a battery cell. Almost one third of the production costs of a battery cell are related to this part of the production. It includes a series of steps and technologies aimed at optimizing the battery cell’s performance, quality, and sa...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Achim Kampker, Heiner Heimes, Christian Offermanns, Sarah Wennemar, Tobias Robben, Nikolaus Lackner
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2023-04-01
Series:World Electric Vehicle Journal
Subjects:
Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2032-6653/14/4/96
Description
Summary:The cell finishing process is the final stage in the production of a battery cell. Almost one third of the production costs of a battery cell are related to this part of the production. It includes a series of steps and technologies aimed at optimizing the battery cell’s performance, quality, and safety. The process is divided into three categories: pre-treatment, formation procedure, and quality testing. The order of the processes and the time required for each step can vary depending on the manufacturer and the cell format. Recent trends in optimizing the cell finishing process include the integration of a second filling process for larger prismatic cells and the optimization of the formation protocol or Electrochemical Impedance Spectroscopy (EIS) as possible methods for quality inspection. Efforts are also being made to reduce the pre-treatment time and improve the degassing process to ensure cell performance, quality, and safety. In this paper, all process steps of the cell finishing process are presented, and their function and technological implementation in the industry are explained. Future innovations are analyzed in terms of time to market and the potential to optimize the process in terms of quality, time, and cost.
ISSN:2032-6653