RFID product application solutions for power battery manufacturing industry

Under the background of global energy transformation, the new energy vehicle industry is booming. As its core component, the performance and quality of power batteries are crucial. However, hundreds of domestic power battery manufacturers currently have many deficiencies in automation and informatization, which seriously restricts the development of the industry. It has become a top priority to realize the intelligent manufacturing of power batteries, break the information island, and improve production efficiency and product quality.

1. Information needs of the power battery manufacturing industry

(I) Production efficiency bottleneck caused by low degree of automation

Many domestic power battery companies still rely on a large number of manual operations, and the application of automated equipment is insufficient. For example, in certain links of battery cell manufacturing, such as coating and rolling, manual operations are prone to errors, resulting in low production efficiency, and the output per unit time cannot meet market demand.

(II) The impact of information islands on product yield

In the production process of power batteries, from the front-end process of the battery cell to the middle process, and then to the module and system assembly, there is a lack of effective information interaction between the manufacturing equipment in each link, which makes it impossible to share and trace the quality data in the production process in a timely manner. Once a product quality problem occurs, it is difficult to quickly locate the root cause, thereby affecting the product yield.

(III) Constraints of operational information islands on overall performance

The ERP system, MES system and other software within the enterprise have not been effectively integrated, resulting in data disconnection in production planning, material management, quality control and other links, which not only increases management costs, but also makes it difficult for enterprises to quickly adjust production strategies according to market demand, affecting the overall performance and market competitiveness of power batteries.

2. Problems in intelligent manufacturing of power batteries

(I) Information islandization of manufacturing equipment in the front-end process of battery cells

In the front-end processes such as electrolyte storage, coating machine, roller pressing, slitting, and pole piece die-cutting machine, each device operates independently, and production parameters and status information cannot be shared in real time, making it difficult to optimize the production process and ensure the consistency of different batches of products.

(II) Information islandization of manufacturing equipment in the middle process of battery cells

In the equipment in the middle process, such as sleeve handling, loading and unloading, slitting and winding, data transmission is not smooth, and it is impossible to achieve seamless connection with the upper-level MES system, resulting in a lack of accurate data support for production scheduling and quality control, affecting production efficiency and product quality.

(III) Information islandization of battery module and system assembly process

In the battery module and system assembly process, traditional manual work and single-machine automation methods are difficult to meet the needs of large-scale production. There is a lack of effective information coordination between various automated Library-borrowing-machine-touch-query-intelligent-terminal-all-in-one-machine.html target='_blank'>workstations, loading and unloading mechanisms, transmission mechanisms and robots, resulting in poor controllability and traceability of the production process.

III. Solutions based on industrial RFID products

(I) RFID application in electrolyte storage

1. When the electrolyte supplier ships from the warehouse, the RFID handheld terminal is used to change the information on the RFID tag on the electrolyte plastic barrel. The RFID tag has the characteristics of large-capacity storage and high-speed reading and writing, and can accurately record various detailed parameter information of the current electrolyte product, such as chemical composition, concentration, production date, etc.

2. After receiving the goods, the warehouse staff of the battery manufacturer quickly reads the RFID tag information on the plastic barrel through the RFID handheld terminal equipped with the same equipment, and uploads the data to the backend management system center in real time through the wireless network.

3. Based on the received electrolyte parameter information, the backend management system center uses intelligent algorithms to quickly issue accurate electrolyte cache tank location information. Each cache tank is pre-installed with a high-frequency RFID tag with strong anti-interference ability, and a high-frequency RFID Reader with high sensitivity is installed above the cache tank.

4. The backend system continuously monitors key data such as the liquid level height, internal electrolyte specification parameters and location information of each cache tank through real-time connection with the liquid level sensor. Through real-time data analysis and early warning mechanisms, the stable supply and controllable quality of the electrolyte are ensured. After adopting this solution, the electrolyte allocation error rate has been reduced by more than 90%, and the inventory management efficiency has been improved by 70%, greatly reducing production delays and product quality problems caused by electrolyte problems.

(II) RFID application in front-end processes such as coating machines, roller pressing, slitting, and pole piece die-cutting machines

1. As a key link in the production of power batteries, the front-end process plays a decisive role in product quality consistency and performance stability. In order to solve the problem of information transmission isolation between various devices, flexible RFID tags are installed on the sleeves used between various devices.

2. These tags can withstand extreme production environments, such as high temperature, high humidity, and strong vibration. At the same time, they have strong data storage capabilities and can write detailed information about the film products on the sleeves, including materials, specifications, batches, etc.

3. RFID readers are installed inside various types of equipment to ensure that the tag information can be read in real time and accurately during the loading and unloading and operation of the sleeves.

4. The reader uploads data to the MES system and the customer's back-end manufacturing management system through a stable industrial network to achieve real-time monitoring of the installation correctness and working status of each sleeve. After applying this solution, the equipment failure rate of the front-end process has been reduced by 40%, and the product consistency has been improved by 30%, effectively improving production efficiency and product quality.

(III) RFID application in the assembly of battery cell modules and systems

1. In the assembly of battery cell modules and systems, RFID identification technology is introduced to realize unmanned, automatic and real-time identification of battery cell bins on the power battery production line.

2. RFID readers that can quickly read a large number of tags are used to collect key data such as bin information and bin information in real time, and the data is transmitted to the MES system through a private communication protocol.

3. Based on the collected real-time data, the MES system realizes precise control of automatic testing equipment, efficient transmission of battery cell parameters, accurate binning of battery cell voltage, real-time push of process guidance, strict verification of encapsulation process and seamless connection with various automation equipment.

4. After adopting this solution, the production efficiency of the assembly link has increased by 50%, the error rate has decreased by 80%, and the intelligent level of the production process and product quality have been significantly improved.

IV. Technical advantages of RFID solutions

(I) Anti-interference ability

The RFID system can work stably in a complex electromagnetic environment without interference from other equipment, ensuring accurate reading and transmission of data.

(II) Long-distance and high-speed reading

Long-distance (up to several meters or even tens of meters) and high-speed (hundreds of tags per second) reading are achieved, greatly improving the data collection efficiency on the production line.

(III) High reliability and durability

RFID tags and RFID readers have the characteristics of waterproof, dustproof, high temperature resistance, wear resistance, etc., which can adapt to the harsh environment in the production process of power batteries and ensure long-term stable operation.

(IV) Data encryption and security

The encryption algorithm encrypts the data in the tag to ensure the security and confidentiality of production data and prevent data leakage and tampering.

(V) Intelligent data analysis

Through the combination with big data analysis technology, the massive production data collected is deeply mined and analyzed to provide enterprises with intelligent decision-making support in production optimization, quality prediction, equipment maintenance and other aspects.

V. Benefit evaluation of the implementation of the plan

1. Improved production efficiency

By breaking the information island and realizing the collaborative operation of each process, the production efficiency is significantly improved, the overall production cycle is shortened by more than 30%, and the output per unit time is greatly increased.

2. Improved product yield

Precise production process control and quality traceability have increased product yield by more than 20%, reduced defective and scrap rates, and reduced resource waste.

3. Reduced costs

Optimized inventory management, reduced equipment failures and maintenance costs, and improved production efficiency have jointly reduced the company's production costs by about 15%.

4. Management optimization

Real-time and accurate production data provides strong support for enterprise management, allowing management to make more scientific decisions and improve the company's operational management level.