Welding battery Tabs to battery Terminals
From a welding perspective, the important aspects of tab welding are the thickness and material of both the tab and the terminal.
Resistance welding is suited to welding nickel tab material up to 0.4 mm thickness, and nickel or steel clad copper tab material to around 0.3 mm thickness to a wide variety of terminal materials.
Laser welding is able to weld both thin and thick tab materials, with a capability of welding copper based or bi-metal tab material above and beyond 1.5 mm thickness
Although able to weld both thin and thick tab materials, laser welding is particularly well suited to addressing the needs of high power battery welding. The tab material used in the development of high power cells must be able to accommodate the associated higher capacities and power levels. In order to provide effcient energy transfer, a tab thickness of minimum 0.3 mm or greater is required, as is the use of more conductive materials. For high power lithium ion cells, the terminal material for certain battery manufacturers is different. Therefore the need for bi-metal and smart terminal design solutions is required. Defining the optimal tab material may require some development work both on the welding and material costing. In these cases, the laser is an invaluable tool that offers outstanding welding performance and flexibility.
Battery Pack Manufacturing Solutions
When planning an automated or semi automated solution based on our Wobble cube, the primary factors to consider are loading/unloading, motion and tooling that fit the planned production flow and production rate.
Loading and unloading can range from manual to conveyer or pick-and-place, motion options center around whether the laser head or the part will be moved, with options including XYZ tables and gantry’s or robotic manipulators. For tooling, the laser is non contact, so tooling of the parts can be achieved either by using a fixture that the batteries and tabs are loaded into, or using actuated tooling that is deployed prior to the welding process.
The most suitable technology and process for battery pack manufacture relates to a number of factors including the pack size, thickness and material of the tab itself, and the necessary production rate. Laser welding processes enable high quality volume production, and, of the two joining technologies today used, spot welding and laser welding, the selection is usually made based on the specific requirements in each situation, but laser welding is taking over very fast from the spot welding, especially with the excelent wobble laser welding technology.