Battwin flexible and scalable digital twin platform for enhanced production efficiency and yield in battery cell production lines

Context: Li-ion batteries are fundamental components of the European ecosystem’s energy transition. Currently, Europe lags behind Asia in the manufacture of Li-ion battery cells, with more than 90% of global production taking place in China, Korea, and Japan. To remedy this situation, an ambitious ramp-up plan calls for the creation of 25 new Gigafactories in Europe, with an estimated value of €35 billion by 2030. However, during this ramp-up phase, massive production defects are expected, between 15% and 30%. These new European Gigafactories will also generate demand for €150 billion worth of battery manufacturing equipment. To meet this demand, the European production equipment industry must bridge its knowledge gap and become more competitive with Asian suppliers by building on its global leadership in cutting-edge green technologies, reinforced by Industry 4.0 digital solutions and leveraging the European zero-defect manufacturing paradigm.

Objective: BATTwin’s objective is to support this scenario by developing a new multi-level digital twin platform for zero-defect manufacturing in battery production, thereby reducing defect rates on production lines. The solution integrates four pillars: (i) a multi-sensor data acquisition and management layer, supported by data semantics via a “digital battery passport” data model, (ii) process-level digital twins, modeling critical steps in electrode manufacturing, cell assembly, and packaging through data-driven, hybrid, multiphysics approaches; (iii) system-level digital twins, based on simulation and analytical modeling; (iv) user-centered, goal-oriented digital twin workflows, improving the explainability of digital twins and guiding the user in system design and control. The approach will be tested on two industrial pilots producing different battery chemistries and geometries, thus validating the flexibility and scalability of the approach towards zero-defect European Gigafactories.

Role of CESI LINEACT: Primarily involved in work packages WP4 and WP5, the CESI LINEACT team is working in collaboration with the ENSAM Lille team on the use of digital twins of battery production lines to control a reconfigurable and sustainable manufacturing system. The digital twin will combine simulation, optimization, and artificial intelligence to solve scheduling, line balancing, and contingency management problems in real time, while adapting to changes in the market and processes. This project further strengthens our expertise in industrial digital twins and in the fields of digital and energy transitions.