Abstract

Due to the increasing demand for lithium-ion battery cells, the cell production processes face substantial challenges to increase productivity. Among these production processes, the assembly of electrode-separator-compounds is very relevant regarding the value added towards the process chain. However, it also represents a productivity bottleneck due to the time-consuming nature of conventional stacking processes. A novel assembly process with a rotational handling unit and continuous material flow has a significant potential to decrease the influence of this bottleneck process and to enhance the overall productivity of the process chain. However, the alignment of the electrodes within the compound is challenging. This work systematically identifies alignment principles for high-speed assembly processes in general, and for the novel assembly process in particular. By transferring the selected principles to the rotational process, suitable alignment mechanisms are developed for the assembly system. Due to their modular design, the mechanisms can be adapted to the positioning requirements of the relevant process phase and the electrode type. Consequently, the positioning mechanisms are suitable for both pre-/coarse-positioning and fine positioning and can be applied for anode, cathode, as well as laminated intermediate products. An experimental validation describes the effectiveness of the developed mechanisms for the alignment within the electrode-separator-compound for different types of electrodes. Overall, the introduction of alignment mechanisms in the assembly system leads to enhanced deposition accuracy and contributes to establishing the novel stacking process in an industrial context.