Machine Vision Accelerates Battery Production

Oct 25, 2024

The company Laserax has developed a new system in which the welding of battery cells is significantly accelerated using machine vision. With the “Battery Welding Machine”, Laserax from Quebec, Canada has developed a system that significantly speeds up the process of welding the current collector and busbar to the battery module.

The company, which was founded in 2010 and specializes in laser solutions, has thus developed an efficient welding solution for a critical production step. As a result, battery modules can now be produced significantly faster and with less waste. The solution is suitable for batteries used in the automotive industry, for automated guided vehicles (AGVs) in logistics, e-bikes, and also for power tools.

“We are in close contact with our customers from the battery industry. We have realized that they are specifically looking for a solution to weld the current collector and the busbar to the battery module. Although there were already other methods for connecting, these could not offer the necessary speed and quality. That’s why we developed our own system for this process, based on laser welding,” says Keven Tremblay, Product Line Manager at Laserax.

The result is the “Battery Welding Machine”. Inside the housing, four SCARA robots sequentially clamp and connect the contacts of battery modules using a laser welding process. And they do so at very high speed and with minimal waste. The new process is made possible by Laserax’s ingenious engineering and machine vision technology. The MVTec HALCON machine vision software used is able to localize the cells of the battery module with micron precision, so that the robots can carry out the clamping and laser welding work with absolute precision.

The challenge for the system: High speed, precision, and 100 percent objective

The production of batteries is more complex compared to almost every other product. In addition, the high demand for different types of batteries means that new production processes have to be developed. There are three main challenges here: First, in order to achieve the necessary productivity, the processes must be very fast. Second, quality must not suffer as a result. As the materials and raw materials for the batteries are very expensive, work must be as flawless as possible. Costs for wastage therefore quickly become a factor. In addition, high quality in production is important to ensure that the battery achieves the required performance and longevity. And finally, the traceability of components and production steps is very important.