EB-Bat - Electron Beam Battery Welding

汽车制造业对英国经济至关重要，营业额为820亿英镑，直接雇用16.9万人。英国汽车生产厂在2018年生产了271万台内燃机（ICE），在欧洲排名第四，雇用了11，500名员工，营业额为85亿英镑。然而，汽车行业正面临着挑战，由于零尾气排放的要求，消费者需求和政府监管，ICE生产将在未来十年内下降，因为它们将被电动汽车取代。在电动汽车中，电池组是车辆中最昂贵和最难大规模可靠制造的部件。许多汽车制造商正在转向使用圆柱形电池（通常直径为22 mm，长为70 mm），而不是袋状或棱柱形电池。圆柱形电池具有高能量密度的优势，可提供更大的车辆行驶里程、更高的损伤容限和安全性，以及更快的充电速率。一辆典型的电动汽车将在电池和母线之间包含约12，000个接头，通常每30秒一辆汽车将从工厂的生产线上下线。这提出了独特的制造和生产率挑战。传统焊接（通常是引线键合、电阻点焊、微型TIG/脉冲电弧）可以制造这些接头，但速度很慢，因为需要多个平行站，增加了资金和运营成本。最近，激光焊接已经使用检流镜光束偏转（扫描）和重新聚焦来部署;提供更高的生产率，尽管用于母线的材料（铜和铝合金）由于反射性而固有地难以激光焊接，并且扫描速度受到光学器件可以机械调节的速度的限制。在这种情况下，一个单一的故障可能会影响电池组的寿命性能，体积激光焊接方法的废品率很高，这已经导致了几次备受瞩目的产品召回。EB-Bat项目将展示使用一种比激光焊接快20倍的工艺制造电池组。电子束可以比激光束更快地偏转和重新聚焦，因为这是使用磁场实现的，在焊接时没有移动部件。此外，EBs不会受到铜和铝的反射性影响，焊接更加一致和可靠。EB-Bat项目将为汽车制造业提供工艺性能、生产率、质量和经济性的有力证明，旨在获得投入生产的资金。

The automotive manufacturing sector is important to the UK economy, with a turnover of £82 billion, directly employing 169,000 people. UK automotive production plants produced 2.71 million internal combustion engines (ICE) in 2018, 4th in Europe, employing 11,500 with £8.5 billion turnover. However, the automotive industry is facing the challenges that ICE production is set to decline over the next decade as they are replaced by EVs due to requirement for zero-tailpipe emission, consumer demand and government regulation.In EVs, battery packs are the most expensive and difficult part of the vehicle to reliably manufacture at scale. Many car manufacturers are moving towards using cylindrical cells (typically 22mm diameter and 70mm long) rather than pouch or prism cells. Cylindrical cells offer the advantage of high energy density, giving greater vehicle range, greater damage tolerance and safety, and faster charge rates.A typical EV will contain some 12,000 joints between cells and bus bars, and typically a vehicle will roll off a plant's production line every 30 seconds. This presents a unique manufacturing and production rate challenge. Conventional welding (typically wire bonding, resistance spot, mini-tig/pulsed arc) can make these joints, but only at a slow rate, as such multiple parallel stations are needed, adding to capital and operational costs. More recently, laser welding has been deployed using galvanometer mirror beam deflection (scanning) and refocussing; offering higher production rates, although the materials used for bus bars (copper and aluminium alloys) are inherently difficult to laser weld due to reflectivity, and the speed of scanning is limited by the speed with which the optics can be mechanically adjusted. In the scenario where a single failure can compromise the lifetime performance of the battery pack, high rejection rates have been experienced with volume laser welding approaches, which has caused several high-profile product recalls.The EB-Bat project will demonstrate battery pack manufacture using a process shown to be potentially x20 times faster than laser welding. EBs can be deflected and refocussed much more rapidly than laser beams, as this is achieved using magnetic fields, without moving parts as the welds are made. In addition, EBs do not suffer from reflectivity from copper and aluminium, making more consistent and reliable welds.The EB-Bat project will provide a compelling demonstration of the process performance, productivity, quality and economics to the automotive manufacturing sector with an aim to secure funding to take it into production.