Battery Cell Reconditioning via Laser Bus Bar Separation
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for conditioning batteries are inefficient and often damage battery cells, leading to high disposal rates and negative ecological impacts, with few cost-effective and sustainable solutions available for reusing batteries with reduced performance.
Innovation Solution
A method involving the detachment of battery cells from a connecting unit using a detaching manufacturing process, replacement of underperforming cells with new or used cells, and electrical reconnection using available tools, allowing for reproducible and cost-effective battery reconditioning without specific attention to cell characteristics.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Ease of manufacture
If conventional mechanical force is applied to remove bus bars from battery cells, then battery cells can be separated, but the battery cells are damaged or poles become non-reusable
Solution Approach 1:
The patent replaces conventional mechanical force-based bus bar removal with laser-based methods. The laser beam selectively removes the contact connections between bus bars and battery cell poles without applying mechanical stress to the cells themselves, thus preventing cell damage while achieving separation.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent introduces laser energy as an intermediary between the bus bar and battery cell. Instead of directly applying mechanical force to the cell, the laser acts as a mediator that vaporizes or melts the contact connection material, enabling separation while preserving the battery cell structure.
2Reliability
If laser-based methods are used to separate battery cells from bus bars, then satisfactory separation results are achieved, but the process takes up to several days
Solution Approach 1:
The patent optimizes laser processing parameters including power output, pulse duration, frequency, and focal point positioning to achieve rapid and precise removal of contact connections. By adjusting these parameters, the process time is reduced from several days to minutes or seconds while maintaining high separation quality.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent employs pulsed laser operation rather than continuous irradiation. The periodic on-off cycling of the laser allows for controlled material removal with heat dissipation between pulses, preventing excessive thermal damage while accelerating the overall separation process through high-frequency pulsing.
3Reliability
If batteries with less than 80% performance are removed from vehicles, then vehicle safety is ensured, but these batteries are generally not reused and must be disposed of
Solution Approach 1:
The patent enables recovery and reuse of battery cells that would otherwise be discarded. By providing a gentle separation method that preserves cell integrity, batteries with less than 80% performance can be extracted, reconditioned, and deployed in secondary applications such as energy storage systems or less demanding vehicle applications, thereby reducing waste and disposal costs.
Solution Approach 2:
The patent facilitates performance parameter reassessment of extracted batteries. Through careful separation without damage, the actual state of charge, capacity, and health of each cell can be accurately measured and categorized, enabling optimized allocation to appropriate reuse applications based on their remaining performance characteristics.
Data Source
AI summary
The invention relates to a method for conditioning a battery (1) comprising at least two battery cells (2-10) which are electrically connected to a first connecting unit (12, 14), and to a battery (1) having a battery cell (2-10) and a replacement battery cell (30). In particular, the invention relates to a method for conditioning a battery (1) having at least two battery cells (2-10) which are electrically connected to a first connecting unit (12, 14), wherein electrically conductive contact connections (16) act between the first connecting unit (12, 14) and the battery cells (2-10), comprising the steps of: detaching the first connecting unit (12, 14) from the battery cells (2-10) by removing the contact connections (16); replacing at least one battery cell (2-10) of the battery (1) with a replacement battery cell (30); and electrically contacting the battery cell (2-10) or the battery cells (2-10) and the at least one replacement battery cell (30), removing the contact connections (16) using a detaching manufacturing process.