Battery Cell Laser Welding
Vision-guided laser welding for EV battery modules
At Lucid Motors, I lead cross-functional initiatives across design, manufacturing, controls, software, data, and operations to develop and deploy advanced battery manufacturing processes.
- Laser Welding
- Machine Vision
- Process Development
- Automation
Challenge
A battery module is built from hundreds of cylindrical cells, and every one of them has to be laser welded to a substrate to create a high voltage module. Each weld is both an electrical and a mechanical joint, so the process has to produce consistent welds at production volume while catching any part that could lead to a bad connection.
Approach
Buckets of cells are located are palletized and conveyed into a laser welding machine, a vision system identifies cell position, gantry-mounted work holding creates intimate contact between the cell and substrate, a laser creates a bond between the cell and substrate to ultimately create an EV ready battery.
Engineering Decisions
I lead root cause analysis with our design, process, data and build teams to systemically eliminate all issues and inefficiencies. I took over 500 images to provide feedback to teams leading to improved part quality, product redesigns, process refinements, controls updates, and data routing. I personally oversaw the development of our controls scheme, MES, cell vision program, and post weld detection program.
Prototyping Process
I personally developed our welding process before creating work instructions and training machine operators. I utilized numerous prototype parts ordered from vendors and fabricated in house by our machine shop.
Manufacturing Considerations
Weld quality depends on everything upstream of the laser. I trace defects back to their root cause, from incoming part quality and packaging that contaminates weld surfaces to tooling wear and damage, and work with suppliers and operations to eliminate them at the source.
Results
Within six months I improved our first pass yield from 0% to over 90%. Throughput was improved from 1 module per day to over 8.
- Weld placement
- Vision-guided
- Defect investigation
- Root Cause
- Current project
- In Progress
Next project
Organ-on-a-Chip Microfluidic System