Screws Smart Tools And Tracking Increase Safety

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Assembly processes in battery manufacturing for e-vehicles are safety-critical and extremely complex. Even small errors can cause significant property damage or endanger lives. AR projection, smart tools, and tracking can enhance safety in this context.

Error-free battery production and careful quality assurance are essential for vehicle safety and business success. Numerous challenges must be overcome in the process. Since batteries consist of hundreds of individual cells, companies need to ensure that each cell is properly cooled, thousands of electrical contacts are flawlessly and permanently stable, and any short circuits in the production process are eliminated. Additionally, the manufacturing process must always adapt to new developments and available resources and scale flexibly.

What is needed are connected, intelligent assembly support and quality assurance solutions that can be seamlessly integrated into high-performance processes. This is precisely what the combination of dynamic laser and video projection, intelligent tools, and tool tracking enables. Together, these innovative solutions can optimize and enhance the safety of the battery assembly process through data-driven approaches.

Challenge: Precise Screwing

One of the greatest challenges along the process chain is precise screwdriving technology. Each screw must be tightened exactly at the intended location with the correct torque to ensure the safety and proper functioning of the battery. While many steps are already carried out by robots, manual screwdriving often remains indispensable—for example, in hard-to-reach places or when automation is not worthwhile due to the variety of variants. There is a distinction between forced-order screwdriving processes, where the sequence of screws is precisely predetermined, and free-order processes, where the worker can flexibly decide where to start.

To make manual tasks efficient and minimize errors, digital worker guidance with dynamic laser and video projection is a suitable solution. It visualizes precisely and spatially correct on the workpiece where the screwing needs to occur, even while the component is moving. This allows the worker to operate quickly and error-free without needing to consult a manual or wear an inconvenient VR headset. The projection significantly speeds up manual assembly and ensures no step is missed. It intuitively guides the employee through the entire process and gives clear instructions on what to do next, and can visualize additional information for the process step.

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Tool Tracking Detects Problems in Real-Time

Another safety-critical process in battery production is welding the anodes and cathodes to the battery. To ensure the battery functions flawlessly, these welds must remain stable against vibrations and significant temperature fluctuations, meaning they must not have any "loose connections." By using smart tools and tool tracking, issues can be identified in real-time during mass production. Devices can draw conclusions about whether the welding was done correctly based on the welding current and the color of the flame. An image recognition software then re-examines the battery and, if necessary, directs it to a rework station.

There, dynamic laser and video projection assist the worker in quickly and accurately correcting the error. It precisely indicates the row and column of the battery where the affected weld seam is located. Without this digital support, it would be very difficult and time-consuming to locate the correct spot among several thousand weld seams.

Documentation And Data Analysis Monitor Every Work Step

The combination of worker guidance, smart tools, and tool tracking enables a bidirectional bridge between the digital and analog worlds. While AR projection software displays data to optimize manual processes, tool tracking subsequently transfers information from manual production back into the digital model. Every step and important process parameter can be seamlessly monitored in real-time and documented for quality assurance. Companies can later prove that battery production was carried out properly at all stages.

Safety-critical processes in battery production pose high demands on production and quality assurance and therefore benefit from intelligent, connected solutions. Through the interplay of digital worker guidance, smart tools, and precise tracking, errors can be reduced, resources saved, and risks minimized. Furthermore, systematic data collection and analysis offer great potential for continuous optimization. Companies that opt for an integrated solution not only gain a competitive advantage but also improve their sustainability and actively promote the safety of batteries for electric vehicles. A holistic partner for augmented reality solutions, covering the entire battery manufacturing process, ensures seamless interaction of all technologies—minimizing the complexity arising from isolated solutions and numerous interfaces.

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