Material-adapted Gripping and Handling of PEO-based Cell Components for
All-Solid State Battery Cell Stacking
Abstract
Lithium-ion batteries (LIBs) immensely contribute to the
electromobility’s success for achieving climate change goals. As LIBs
are forecasted to succumb to optimization limits in the coming decade,
next generation battery technologies, such as all-solid-state batteries
(ASSBs), gain noteworthy attention for meeting ever-increasing cell
performance requirements. By deploying solid electrolytes (SEs),
compared to liquid electrolytes in current LIBs, ASSBs benefit from
enhanced safety against flammability and allow for the usage of lithium
metal anodes for higher energy densities. Here, polymer solid
electrolytes, such Polyethylene oxide (PEO), are widely used for their
high flexibility and hence beneficial processability properties compared
other SEs. However, their adhesive behavior poses challenges when
conducting handling and stacking processes with conventional grippers
during cell assembly. In this research, we present a parameter study on
ASSB handling and stacking with PEO-based cell components aiming to
promote process understanding and point out optimization potentials. An
experimental design for testing different grippers is devised by which
deposition accuracy was systematically assessed in relation to the
holding force, gripper speed, and placement distance. Within this
evaluation, the electrostatic gripper with PTFE dielectric provides
adequate position and orientation accuracies in almost all experiments
while showing improved accuracies with higher holding forces. Parameter
settings achieving higher overall deposition accuracies for all tested
grippers are identified. This research provides insights into the
establishment of stacking processes for realizing an industry-scale ASSB
production.