TRUMPF leads development of laser-driven X-ray sources for EV battery inspection

Under the leadership of TRUMPF, the XProLas development partnership has started to develop compact, laser-driven X-ray sources for inspecting electric vehicle batteries. These systems will be used to monitor the charging and discharging of EV batteries in real time or determine impurities in them. Those findings can then be incorporated into the development of new batteries. The first demonstration systems are to be built by 2026.

Until now, companies have only been able to carry out such investigations on large particle accelerators over 100 m long. Research stations at these large-scale research facilities are rare. The laser-driven X-ray sources are only about the size of a mobile home and, as such, are cheaper to manufacture and suitable for use in industry.

TRUMPF is contributing its expertise in the manufacture of lasers for industrial use to the partnership. BASF and Cellforce are providing battery materials and components for the tests. Ushio Germany and Excillum are contributing their expertise in the field of beam sources. Bruker and Viscom are responsible for the construction of the systems. On the academic side, the University of Hanover and the Fraunhofer Institutes in Aachen and Jena, Germany, are the driving forces. the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding the project with a research budget of $16.2 million.

The XProLas development project also aims to create a compact, high-brilliance X-ray source for analyzing the exact composition of the cathode material in EV batteries, which is of central importance to battery performance and reliability. The laser-driven variants also can replace large-scale research facilities in this field of application, helping manufacturers of cathode material speed up their development work.