Traceability in Battery Production

Digitalization in battery production, as well as the increase and stabilization of product quality of lithium-ion battery cells, require the elimination of information gaps between processes to enable the traceability of components and process steps to the finished product. In lithium-ion battery cell manufacturing, using a traceability system is considered a promising approach to reduce scrap rates and enable more efficient production. Today, traceability is possible from the assembled cell onwards. However, with a view to the new EU battery regulation, complete traceability down to the material needs to be ensured. One of the challenges in this context is to ensure both, traceability in continuous electrode production and cell-specific identification within the production chain. This paper presents an approach for identifying individual electrode segments without identification markers, using the individual microstructure of the electrode surface. The Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation IPA and the Fraunhofer Institute for Physical Measurement Techniques IPM are further developing and testing an identification technique known as Track & Trace Fingerprint. This technique is dedicated to serialization within battery production as part of the joint project DigiBattPro 4.0 and to be implemented at the Center for Digitalized Battery Cell Manufacturing (ZDB) of Fraunhofer IPA.