Material Flow of an Agile Battery Cell Production System Based on Diffusion-Tight Transport Boxes and Driverless Transport Systems

The growing demand for lithium-ion battery cells, driven by increasing electrification in daily life, is currently met by inflexible mass production plants using rigidly linked manufacturing lines. These are set up in large dry rooms to protect moisture-sensitive battery materials. Since up to 30% of the total energy demand is caused by the operation of these dry rooms, the agile and customized battery cell production is based on compact local dry rooms, also called microenvironments. This publication presents the development and validation of a diffusion-tight transport box that enables the transportation of moisture-sensitive intermediate products between these microenvironments. The flexible and configurable material flow can incorporate alternative process routes. Furthermore, a modular expansion of the production system is enabled. By combining reusable diffusion-tight, automatically handled transport boxes and driverless transport systems, this approach enables an agile material flow in battery cell production.