EB-Bat - Electron Beam Battery Welding

EB-Bat - 电子束电池焊接

• 批准号: 10048905
• 金额: $ 114.74万
• 依托单位: AQUASIUM TECHNOLOGY LIMITED
• 依托单位国家: 英国
• 项目类别: Collaborative R&D
• 财政年份: 2023
• 资助国家: 英国
• 起止时间: 2023 至 无数据
• 项目状态: 未结题
• 来源: https://gtr.ukri.org/projects?ref=10048905
• 关键词: EB; Bat; Electron; Beam; Battery

The automotive manufacturing sector is important to the UK economy, with a turnover of £82 billion, directly employing 169,000 people. UK automotive production plants produced 2.71 million internal combustion engines (ICE) in 2018, 4th in Europe, employing 11,500 with £8.5 billion turnover. However, the automotive industry is facing the challenges that ICE production is set to decline over the next decade as they are replaced by EVs due to requirement for zero-tailpipe emission, consumer demand and government regulation.In EVs, battery packs are the most expensive and difficult part of the vehicle to reliably manufacture at scale. Many car manufacturers are moving towards using cylindrical cells (typically 22mm diameter and 70mm long) rather than pouch or prism cells. Cylindrical cells offer the advantage of high energy density, giving greater vehicle range, greater damage tolerance and safety, and faster charge rates.A typical EV will contain some 12,000 joints between cells and bus bars, and typically a vehicle will roll off a plant's production line every 30 seconds. This presents a unique manufacturing and production rate challenge. Conventional welding (typically wire bonding, resistance spot, mini-tig/pulsed arc) can make these joints, but only at a slow rate, as such multiple parallel stations are needed, adding to capital and operational costs. More recently, laser welding has been deployed using galvanometer mirror beam deflection (scanning) and refocussing; offering higher production rates, although the materials used for bus bars (copper and aluminium alloys) are inherently difficult to laser weld due to reflectivity, and the speed of scanning is limited by the speed with which the optics can be mechanically adjusted. In the scenario where a single failure can compromise the lifetime performance of the battery pack, high rejection rates have been experienced with volume laser welding approaches, which has caused several high-profile product recalls.The EB-Bat project will demonstrate battery pack manufacture using a process shown to be potentially x20 times faster than laser welding. EBs can be deflected and refocussed much more rapidly than laser beams, as this is achieved using magnetic fields, without moving parts as the welds are made. In addition, EBs do not suffer from reflectivity from copper and aluminium, making more consistent and reliable welds.The EB-Bat project will provide a compelling demonstration of the process performance, productivity, quality and economics to the automotive manufacturing sector with an aim to secure funding to take it into production.

汽车制造业对英国经济很重要，营业额为820亿英镑，直接雇用了169,000名员工。2018年，英国汽车生产工厂生产了271万台内燃机（ICE），在欧洲排名第四，雇用了11,500名员工，营业额为85亿英镑。然而，汽车行业面临的挑战是，由于零尾气排放要求，内燃机产量将在未来十年内被电动汽车取代。在电动汽车中，电池组是车辆中最昂贵且最难大规模可靠制造的部分，许多汽车制造商正在转向使用圆柱形电池（通常直径为 22 毫米，长为 70 毫米），而不是袋装电池或电池组。圆柱形电池具有能量密度高的优点，可提供更大的车辆续航里程、更高的耐损伤性和安全性以及更快的充电速度。典型的电动汽车在电池和总线之间包含约 12,000 个接头。通常，车辆每 30 秒就会从工厂的生产线上滚下，这对制造和生产率提出了独特的挑战，传统焊接（典型的引线键合、电阻点焊、微型氩弧焊/脉冲电弧）可以实现这些接头。速度较慢，因为需要多个并行站，这增加了资本和运营成本。最近，使用检流计镜光束偏转（扫描）和重新聚焦来部署激光焊接，但生产率更高；用于母线的材料（铜和铝合金）由于反射率本身就很难进行激光焊接，并且扫描速度受到光学器件机械调整速度的限制，在单一故障可能会造成影响的情况下。由于电池组的寿命性能，体积激光焊接方法的废品率很高，这导致了多次引人注目的产品召回。EB-Bat 项目将展示电池组的制造过程，该过程被证明可能会快 20 倍比激光电子束焊接可以比激光束更快地偏转和重新聚焦，因为这是通过磁场实现的，焊接时无需移动部件。此外，电子束不会受到铜和铝的反射影响，从而更加一致和可靠。可靠的焊接。EB-Bat 项目将为汽车制造行业提供令人信服的工艺性能、生产率、质量和经济性演示，旨在确保资金投入生产。