VCbattery partners with leading players in the EV battery industry

Pushing innovative solutions forward.

VCbattery by VisiConsult is already today providing excellent 3D - inline solutions for the cell inspection. Together with diondo, we started the Battery-Attest project with the Fraunhofer-Einrichtung Forschungsfertigung Batteriezelle (FFB) and the Fraunhofer IMTE in 2023. Battery-Attest aims at the development of the next-level high-speed CT system for 3D inline quality assurance of battery cells and is funded by the German Federal Minstry of Education and Research as part of the federal initiative Battery 2020. The overall goal is to make battery cell production and recycling more sustainable.

New types of X-ray sources use liquid metal to dissipate the heat from the so-called focal spot and can therefore achieve a much higher output than is normally possible with standard cooled Solid target X-ray tubes. Next-generation detector technologies enable X-ray signals to be read many times faster than the next best detectors available. This has recently made it possible to take a CT scan down to one second. Previously, several minutes was a realistic figure. This high acquisition speed of three-dimensional images is helpful to ensure the integration of a CT system directly into the production line of batteries, whose production cycle is also in the range of seconds. For application-oriented testing, the demonstrator will be integrated into the FFB sample line, and measurements will be taken during operation.

https://batterie-2020.de/english/

Excillum and VCbattery by VisiConsult have entered a partnership in 2023 to commercialize the next generation inline 3D CT inspection systems for electric vehicle battery production. Using the knowledge and solutions from VCbattery on robotics, imaging, and data management together with Excillum’s high end X-ray products, the joint solution will ensure new levels of performance, safety, and cost in EV battery cell production.

The key joint activity includes the launch of a demonstrator for high-speed 3D CT inline inspection of EV battery cells. Quality control is a critical part in EV battery cell production. This groundbreaking technology has the potential to revolutionize the way defects are detected and root-caused, making EV batteries safer and production more cost-effective.

Excillum is the company behind the world’s brightest X-ray tube. The MetalJet is based on its unique metal-jet technology where the traditional solid anode of X-ray tubes is replaced with a jet of liquid metal. The Swedish company offers a growing range of the MetalJet and NanoTube X-ray sources.

The pilot system shows that with a full rotational CT scan of an EV battery cell in just one second, it’s possible to increase inspection throughput to tens of thousands of cells per inspection system per day. Thus, with our joint solution, EV battery cell manufacturers can not only significantly lower the cost per scan, but also collect more comprehensive quality control data.

New game-changing inspection demonstrator for EV batteries - Excillum

VCbattery and Excillum join forces for high-speed 3D CT-Inline inspection to EV battery cell manufacturers

Glimpse is a Massachusetts-based company building battery quality solutions for cell producers and buyers to gain tight control over their battery build quality across factories, time, and teams. Combining the latest hardware advancements in X-ray technologies with high-performance end-to-end software, Glimpse turns Computed Tomography (CT) scanning from a costly and complex tool into a scalable, collaborative, and cost-efficient battery quality monitoring platform. Founded in 2023, Glimpse is enabling battery quality at scale to support a safe and rapid transition to an electrified world.

VCbattery and Glimpse have begun a deeper technical collaboration on in-line battery applications to provide our customers, the battery cell manufacturers, with deeper insights into production quality on a global scale. For VCbattery by VisiConsult, as an unrivaled provider of the highest speed inline 3D X-ray data for area and full cell scans, insightful 3D analysis is key to increasing production yields and improving the safety of electric cars in daily driving. "Through a remarkable speed of execution and deep customer empathy, we see Glimpse emerging as a key player in the battery quality control landscape", says Bernhard Mürkens.

VCbattery has entered into a long-term partnership with GWP in the field of non-destructive material testing using computed tomography. Through this collaboration, GWP is the exclusive service partner for VCbattery and Diondo using the advanced Diondo d3 CT system.

Another exciting aspect of the collaboration is that we are working closely with GWP on further development.

GWP has established itself as a comprehensive provider of materials technology for the manufacturing industry. With over 40 years of experience, GWP supports 3,000 customers in the metal and plastics processing industries with laboratory services that ensure product and process quality. Its laboratories and workshops are central to the development of innovation and the performance of advanced failure analysis.

GWP's capabilities span critical areas such as metals, plastics, composites, inorganics, and explosives, and are backed by a rich heritage of 20,000 reports. They are accredited to DIN EN ISO 17025, ensuring robust and reliable reports. Their diverse testing methods include computed tomography, metallography, hardness testing, scanning electron microscopy (SEM), energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy (EDX), and many more specialized tests.

https://gwp.eu/