Development of fb Battery Manufacturing Technologies Joint EC / European Green Cars Initiative Workshop 2011 Bruxelles 7 December 2011 December 7, 2011 1
Corporate Statistics Headquarters: Simpsonville, SC Manufacturing: 23 facilities worldwide Square feet: 3 million Employees: 10,000000 Revenue: ~$1 billion Kemet Electronics Italia /Arcotronics (Machinery) Statistics Headquarters: Sasso Marconi, Italy Manufacturing: Sasso Marconi, Italy Square feet: 200,000000 Employees: ~100 2
3
EQUIPMENT KEY FACTORS High Flexibility for different cell foot print and thickness Six Sigma process with In-line process control and data collection Yield optimisation Ultimate state of the technology Each machine is provided with the following main features: Ethernet connection for remote control / data collection and batch handling with bar code reader from a supervisor Host Maintenance counters for each wearing movable part for preventive maintenance Large and movable HMI color pannel for easy operation Process parameters recipe handling to facilitate size changeover 4
TYPICAL AUTOMOTIVE POUCH CELL PRODUCT RANGE Min (mm) Max (mm) Cell Lenght (without tabs) 115 250 Cell Width 70 150 Cell Thickness 3 13 Tab 6 20 extension Tab config Axial Radial
ASSEMBLY PROCESS FLOW MONOCELL ASSEMBLING LAMINATION & FOLDING TABS TRIMMING & CURRENT COLLECTORS WELDING SOFT PACK HALF-SHELLS FORMING ELECTRODE NOTCHING GENERAL LAYOUT CELL INSERTION & SOFT PACK SEALING SOFT PACK DEGASSING AND FINAL SEALING ELECTROLYTE FILLING & SEALING NEXT 6
ELECTRODE NOTCHING In line SPC Quality data Overall performances Notching Dust collection Rewinding Electrode unwinding Protection film 7
MONOCELL ASSEMBLY AND FOLDING Quality data Overall performances In line SPC Winding Upper cathode cutting and feeding Lamination Cell extraction and sealing Monocell assembly Anode electrode cutting and feeding Lower cathode cutting and feeding 8
TAB TRIMMING & WELDING Quality data Overall performances Cell loading Tab Tape protection Tab trimming Electrical test 1 Anode Tab Welding Cathode Tab Welding
SOFT PACK FORMING and SEALING MACHINE Quality data Overall performances Cell unloading Inkjet printing Tab side Half shell trimming Cell trimming Cold forming unit Lateral side sealing Cell insertion Multilayer material unwinding Tab side and bottom side sealing
ELECTROLYTE FILLING MACHINE Quality data Overall performances Clll Cell loading from trays Cell Unloading in trays Post weight & bar code reading Cell pre-weight Vacuum chamber Filling cycle
CELL DEGASSING AND FINAL SEALING Quality data Overall performances Cell loading Cell Unloading Degassing chamber Degassing cycle Final sealing and trimming Electrical ca test - + v Vacuum
ASSEMBLY PROCESS FLOW ELECTRODE NOTCHING From reel to reel From reel to magazine for notched an cutted electrodes Electrodes vacuum cleaning after cutting Flexible notching tool In line SPC Incoming material Bar Code reader DIE CUTTING TECHNOLOGY - BURS CONTROL <10 µm 13
ASSEMBLY PROCESS FLOW MONOCELL ASSEMBLY LAMINATION & FOLDING Flexible assembly process (for different foor print and thickness) High electrode placement accuracy (Cpk > 2) Maximised i Process yield In Line SPC Stack wound assembly process Minimum size parts required Incoming material Bar Code reader NEXT 14
ASSEMBLY PROCESS FLOW Target of our Wound Stack assembly process Laminate lithium battery electrodes to standard separators utilizing surface activation treatments (SAT) on the separators. Value Enable implementation of wound stack assembly process with standard separators providing higher precision, higher throughput assembly capabilities compared to a standard stack or z-folding assembly. NEXT 15
WOUND STACK / LAMINATED ADVANTAGES GREATER PERFORMANCE Creates a strong bond between the active materials in the cell. This intimate connection between anode and cathode maximizes cycling efficiency and reduces fade. The strong bonding maintains a constant ESR with less degradation due to cycling. The higher surface tension of the PVDF coating can assist in wetting the cell with electrolyte. GREATER OUTPUT The wound stack process provide a troughput at least2 times faster than any traditional stack process Continuous product flow vs the intermittent flow will provide more stable and capable output GREATER SAFETY The physical bonding of the electrodes ensure a fixing of their relative position over the lifetime of the cell. Constant expansion and contraction of the electrode due to the Li shuttle will not cause the electrodes to shift, thereby eliminating potential shorts. Since the melting temperature of PVDF coating is greater then that of the polyethylene membrane, there is an added structural integrity of the separator during a thermal shutdown situation. Stress releaving of the electrodes over time is dimensionally contained Separator shrinkage in the feeding direction is intrinsecally overcome by the cell design. 16
ASSEMBLY PROCESS FLOW TABS TRIMMING & CURRENT COLLECTORS WELDING Flexible assembly process (for different foor print and thickness) High cell placement accuracy (Cpk > 2) Robots & visual inspection features for cell alignment Ultrasonic welding process for tab to current collector welding Machine designed uptime = 100% In Line espc Incoming material Bar Code reader
ASSEMBLY PROCESS FLOW SOFT PACK HALF-SHELLS FORMING, CELL INSERTION AND SOFT PACK SEALING Flexible assembly process (for different foor print and thickness) High cell placement accuracy (Cpk > 2) Robots & visual inspection features for cell alignment Deep Drawing Cold forming process Soft pack sealing based on Fixed Gap sealing process In Line SPC Bar code printing Incoming material Bar Code reader 18
ASSEMBLY PROCESS FLOW ELECTROLYTE FILLING & SEALING Electrolyte filling in vacuum chamber Different dispensing cycles available for customisation (recipes for process aparameters recording) Multiple cell filling station Pre-post filling cell weight control Different e cell handling (from trays, in-line, ) In Line SPC Bar code reader for data traceability & Batch control 19
ASSEMBLY PROCESS FLOW SOFT PACK DEGASSING AND FINAL SEALING Degassing in vacuum chamber Multiple cell degassing station Sealing process based on fixed Gap method Different cell handling (from trays, in-line, ) In Line SPC Bar code reader for data traceability ty & Batch control o
ELECTRODE NOTCHING ELECTRODE UNWINDING Electrode unwinding from reel with adjustable tension control Maximum reel weight of 100 Kg Electrode edge alignment Manual electrodes splicing i Splicing detection & flag detection system Electrode unwinding BACK 21
ELECTRODE NOTCHING NOTCHING TOOL Single side notching die and single rewinding Recipe storing system for anode / cathode handling on single machine Easy tool changeover Flexibility of the electrode notching process. No tool changeover is required for settled product range Notching tool stroke setteable on the HMI, no manual adjustment Lubricant system for Aluminum foil cutting available Notching BACK 22
Anode electrode cutting and feeding During anode insertion is automatically ti generated dthe increased gap between consecutive monocells. 23
Upper cathode cutting and feeding External electrodes are placed on the inner electrode. High resolution encoders are used to control the placement accuracy 24
Monocell assembly The increase gap lenght is controlled during the central electrode introduction, and can be set from the HMI 25
Lamination Parameters can be adjusted: - Temperature - Pressure -Gap 26
In line SPC A5 A2 A3 Gap2 For each monocell different parameters are measured All the measured value are stored into an Excel file Image saving option available (to save the scrap product images) If one parameter fail, the strip is sorted out A1 W Cathode W Anode Gap1 A4 27
Winding Strip alignment based on Vision System inspection and servo driven frictioned roller 28
A KEMET Company Electronics Italia Progressive Gaps Process Data LSL 2,60000 Target * U SL 3,20000 Sample Mean 2,87874 Sample N 419 StDev (Between) 0,06756 StDev (Within) 0,00000 StDev (B/W) 0,06756 StDev (O v erall) 0,06584 Process Capability of Monocell Gap LSL USL B/W Overall B/W C apability C p 1,48 CPL 1,38 CPU 1,58 Cpk 1,38 C C pk 1,48 O v erall C apability Pp 1,52 PPL 1,41 PPU 1,63 Ppk 1,41 Cpm * Single Gap Progressive Gaps O bserv ed Performance PPM < LSL 0,00 PPM > USL 0,00 PPM Total 0,00 2,64 2,72 Exp. B/W Performance PPM < LSL 18,50 PPM > USL 0,99 PPM Total 19,49 2,80 2,88 2,96 Exp. Overall Performance PPM < LSL 11,51 PPM > USL 0,53 PPM Total 12,05 3,04 3,12 3,20 5,0 4,5 4,0 3,5 Progressive Gaps mm 3,0 2,5 2,0 1,5 1,0 0,5 Gap 1 Gap 2 Gap 3 Gap 4 Gap 5 Gap 6 Gap 729 Gap 8
A KEMET Company Electronics Italia TAB TRIMMING & WELDING Rbt Robot Back
A KEMET Company Electronics Italia SOFT PACK FORMING and SEALING MACHINE Cell trimming Side Sealing Ink Jet Printing (Bar code) Cell Unloading in trays
KEMET Electronics Italia S.r.l. A Kemet Company Via San Lorenzo, 19 I - 40037 Sasso Marconi (BO) Italy Phone (+39) 051 939111 Fax (+39) 051 842890 Claudio Lanciotti R&D Product Manager claudiolanciotti@kemet.com Phone (+39) 051 939460 www.kemet.com 32