E-Mobility Engineering | January/February 2024 73 Some suppliers of battery inspection services Canada Teledyne DALSA +1 519 886 6000 www.teledynedalsa.com Germany Baker Hughes Waygate Technologies +49 2233 6010 www.bakerhughes.com/waygate-technologies Basler +49 4102 463 0 www.baslerweb.com Hitachi High-Tech +49 2151 643 50 www.hitachi-hightech.com InfraTec +49 351 828760 www.infratec.eu VCbattery +49 451 290 2860 www.vcbattery.com Japan Keyence +81 6 6379 2211 www.keyence.com UK Solartron Metrology +44 1243 833333 www.solartronmetrology.com USA ZEISS Industrial Quality Solutions +1 800 327 9735 www.zeiss.com/metrology Cognex +1 508 650 3000 www.cognex.com Nikon Industrial Metrology +1 810 220 4360 industry.nikon.com Nordson Technologies +1 440 892 1580 www.nordson.com Thermo Fisher Scientific +1 781 622 1000 www.thermosfisher.com Battery inspection | Focus image clarity when scanning large, dense objects such as batteries. This company has also introduced a new 450kV CT system coupled with proprietary X-ray software optimised for nondestructive inspection of cylindrical and pouch cell batteries. The company works to fine tune its systems with as many interconnected technologies, including optical inspection systems, as possible. In infrared inspection systems, cameras with higher spatial resolution allow for wider monitoring areas to be covered by a single camera without losing the ability to resolve small details. In thermographic cameras, higher thermal resolution means the ability to distinguish smaller differences and changes in temperature, which translates into early detection of developing problems such as thermal runaway. Contact image sensor (CIS) technology is of increasing importance in visual inspection. Simple, low cost examples of these cameras are widely used in office scanning and copying machines, but our camera-based inspection system provider recently introduced high-speed, high-resolution versions coupled with advanced machine vision software. CIS cameras also have telecentric lenses, which means that the images they generate contain no distortion. This makes them very good in metrology applications, including margin inspection in which the edges of components are measured to ensure they have the correct dimensions. Bigger components, higher resolutions Near term improvements in these inspection technologies centre on the ability to handle bigger components, higher resolution and through-life condition assessment. The camerabased inspection technology provider plans to develop more advanced linescan and CIS cameras in the next few years. Anticipating the growing importance of cell- and module-level inspections, our 3D inline CT provider is working to develop more detailed, accurate, and comprehensive evaluations of individual cells and assembled modules during manufacture. Additionally, in response to the need to support sustainability and circular economy goals, the company has committed itself to advancing inspection technologies to assess batteries scheduled for second-use applications and recycling, gauging their condition, quality, and viability at various stages of their lifecycles. Future directions Applications of other technologies are emerging. For example optical and Raman spectroscopy provide insights into the chemical composition of battery materials, while nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) spectroscopy is used to analyse the structure and performance of solid-state electrolytes for a potential new generation of batteries. Also, imaging with electromagnetic wavelengths in the terahertz band is being explored for battery inspection, offering high-resolution imaging and analysis of internal components. Acknowledgements The author would like to thank the following for their help with this article: Dipl.-Ing. Steffen Sturm, Project Manager Thermography Solutions, InfraTec GmbH Infrarotsensorik und Messtechnik, Dr Xing-Fei He, Senior Product Manager, Teledyne Imaging Inc, Dana Begun, Shannon Bollin, Herminso Gomez Villarraga, Trevor Campbell, Kyle Crosby, Kevin Legacy, and David Wick from ZEISS Industrial Quality Solutions, and experts from Baker Hughes Waygate Technologies and VCbattery.
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