Fraunhofer AHEAD Project

Cell testing and analytics are essential components of battery development. Currently, these two steps are performed sequentially and often at different locations by different service providers. This requires the battery cell to be removed from the test bench, sometimes to be transported as dangerous goods, and then analyzed. This sequential process is problematic for three reasons: 

1. Transportation and downtime between the two steps take time and extend the time to market. 
2. Transport and downtime between the two steps affect the electrochemical state of the battery cell and can skew analysis results. 
3. The analysis is often not performed until an anomaly has been detected during testing. The origin of degradation mechanisms or damage often occurs much earlier, but is not directly visible in the measurement results. In some cases, the event that initiated the damage remains unclear even after analysis. 

The goal of our project is to solve this problem. Therefore, we will combine testing and analysis procedures on a single test bench so that they can be carried out in one location and at the same time. 

This opens up new possibilities for the analysis of battery cells: root cause analyses are accelerated, our customers’ time to market can be shortened by several months, and development costs can be reduced by several hundred thousand euros.