Analysis of the Variety of Lithium-Ion Battery Modules and the Challenges for an Agile Automated Disassembly System

Within this paper the initial steps for the realisation of an agile automated system for battery module disassembly will be presented. The state of the art battery modules need to be analysed with regards to their structure, components and the relationship of the components to each other. In particular, the key challenges in battery module disassembly up to cell level are identified and classified in order to systematically derive the requirements for the disassembly system. The identified challenges for automated disassembly are twofold: process-related and product-related. The variety of battery modules can be seen as a product-related challenge, while non-detachable joints combined with the hazards posed by Li-ion batteries can be described as process-related challenge. An approach for capturing the variety of battery modules is done by using the methodology of a morphological box.