Automated Leak Testing for Cylindrical Cell Automotive Battery Modules: Enabling Data Visibility using Industry 4.0

Abstract

Automating testing within production can have many benefits in terms of productivity, accuracy and visibility of performance. Particularly in the case for air leak testing for small volumes, such as the application of cooling systems for battery modules in packs for automotive use. Accuracy of the test is key in identifying good parts from bad parts. With this volume and application, the external factors must be heavily controlled in order to maintain consistency, so automation becomes an attractive method to control this. Not only this, but using Industry 4.0 technology such as Industrial Internet of Things, IIoT, the operator and engineer can be empowered with data, not only from the results, but of the test equipment and environment itself. This creates opportunities for the data to be fed back into the process upstream and downstream. This paper explores the automation of this application, and how the visibility of the data can inform downstream and support processes, recommending a model to implement that could be scaled to similar applications.