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Industrial Ultrasound
Non-destructive, Sensitive, Fast
Ultrasound uses high frequency acoustic energy to conduct diagnostics and perform real-time measurements. This established technology is well suited for battery cells post-assembly, offering a detailed knowledge of their mechanical and chemical composition.
Ultrasound: Rich data in real time
Ultrasound is sensitive to physical properties beyond molecular density, most notably stiffness and acoustic impedance mismatch. In the context of battery manufacturing, this creates the ability to discern cell uniformity and detect defects:
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Lithium Plating
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Separator Tears
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Debris
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Particles
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Layer Misalignment
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Dry Zones
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Inactive Zones
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Residual Gas
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Wrinkles
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Delamination
Titan IonSight's Technological Advantage
We push the boundaries of quality inspection through industrial AI, trained on our ever improving and ever growing library of cell scan data
What can ultrasound tell us about batteries?
High resolution ultrasound is nothing less than a game changer in battery knowledge. We collect spatially resolved 3D data at the molecular level, which translates into very high accuracy internal structure mapping, as well as high precision SoC/SoH measurements.
Digital Teardown of Every Cell
An ultrasound scan capture takes only a second, instantly delivering over 500,000 data points. Ultrasound slicing allows to go deep into the cell for precise physics-based morphology evaluation.
Ultrasound is non-destructive and completely safe (unlike radioscopy-based CT). It is sensitive to defects that are much harder or impossible to detect using incumbent technologies. The resulting data is indispensable for AI-powered defect detection and uniformity determination at scale.
State-of-Charge
Sound travels through different mediums at a different velocity (water, wood, air, etc.). This works very well for determining the SoC of a battery. A fully charged battery is stiffer, the Li-ions are in the anode and the speed of sound is faster than when the battery is less charged. Through ultrasound we can measure SoC with 99% accuracy and precision at all stages of the battery’s life, regardless of the current applied, since the SoC corresponds to the volume of Li-ions physically present in the anode.
The graph below shows different SoC values which correspond to different speeds (time-of-flight) in a typical Li-ion battery matrix:
State-of-Health
Ultrasound is highly effective at detection/evaluation, dimensional measurements, material characterization, and revealing changes in materials, which is exactly what happens as a battery ages. Several chemical processes influence the physical properties of a battery, and therefore its capacity, over time. One of the dominant degradation mechanisms is the growth of the secondary solid electrolyte interface (SSEI), a plaque (long organic polymer chain) which prevents the normal flow of Li-ions from the anode to the cathode.
We see outgassing, lithium plating and dendrite growth as physical manifestations as well, which is CRITICAL for fast-charging applications.
To date, our system has been proven to deliver real-time SoC/SoH accuracy at 99% for NMC, LMO, and LFP batteries.
Using advanced signal processing and machine learning, we give insight to battery manufacturers, EV OEMs, ESS providers, enabling them to maximize the capacity, longevity and safety of their batteries and battery-powered products.