A Process Model for the Electrolyte Filling of Lithium-ion Batteries

Filling a lithium-ion battery with electrolyte liquid is a core process in battery manufacturing. Better understanding of this process will reduce costs while enabling high product quality. Nonetheless, the process has not been sufficiently examined by science yet. This work aims at a process model systematically depicting empirical knowledge about electrolyte filling. The model is supposed to analyze the inner structure and behavior of the process. It focuses on a graphical and qualitative description of knowledge. A concept for the process model is developed by combining and complementing different modeling approaches and applied to the electrolyte filling. The resulting hierarchical model organizes existing knowledge by illustrating the correlations between the battery structure, cell materials, filling apparatus, filling procedure, process phenomena as well as the product and process quality. It is demonstrated how the process model can be refined and guide the design of filling process and machinery.