The increasing demand from the Electric Vehicles (EV) battery industry for electric cars has changed the high-volume production battery arrays test.
To meet the most complex technical needs, Seica has designed and developed the PILOT BT flying probe, the latest addition to the NEXT> Series, which is a validated, verified and completely automated system to test full-size EV lithium ion battery packs.
The EV battery manufacturers produce many types of battery families with different physical shapes and electrical characteristics. The PILOT BT is designed to guarantee a maximum testing area of 1050 mm x 865 mm (41.33 ’’ x 34.05’’) in order to accommodate all types of battery packs through a Seica’s conveyor system or a custom system designed or chosen by the customer.
Direct measurements on the four flying heads
The system features up to 4 independent test heads driven with synchronous brushless motors (XYZ), to provide a high-level dynamic response. Each one of the four heads features a mini fixture to test up to four individual cells in a single movement in either an X or Y axis orientation.
Flying mini-fixture: 4-wire kelvin test
The aim of the tester is to measure one of the most important parameters of the battery: the bonding resistance.
Each one of the four mini-fixtures is equipped with:
• Four thermally stabilized and insulated resistance meters, which enable the measurement of the bonding resistance of a single battery cell to the common plate. It is possible to discriminate mΩ resistor values with 1 μΩ resolution and high accuracy.
• A 200 MHz Digital Signal Processor (DSP) for processing the analog measurements to ensure fast and efficient data processing through a 1 Gigabit Ethernet connection with the system PC.
VIVA>NEXT> Software and MES integration Option
Like any other Seica solution, the PILOT BT NEXT> test system, uses the VIVA>NEXT>platform, which provides two authentication methods managed through the Seica proprietary graphic editor MY VIEW:
1. The standard Windows authentication
2. The new ‘VIVA User Authentication’ through which the customer can select the user with different privileges.
Since the customer manages the production and material flow through the MES software, the Seica PILOT BT NEXT> can be connected to the customer MES (Manufacturing Execution System). Through its proprietary Adapter, Seica can integrate all customer MES platforms.
Industrial Monitoring & Industry 4.0
The Information and technology needed to collect and analyze data, is key to the successful digitalization of the manufacturing process, which is at the heart of the Industry 4.0 concept. Special attention needs to be given to energy savings and predictive monitoring of events. Canavisia, a Seica Company, introduces ShoeBox, a noninvasive control unit that allows to control energy consumption and to reduce costs and wastes through Monitoring of consumption, Data analysis, Intervention planning.