Automated dismantling system for variant-flexible battery recycling

Due to the steadily increasing number of end-of-life batteries, efficient recycling strategies are becoming increasingly necessary. In industrial practice, recycling is currently carried out in two stages by dismantling the battery systems and then shredding them. However, due to the current lack of standards, the battery systems have a high degree of variance, so that the dismantling processes are characterised by time-consuming manual work. This work is not only questionable from a safety point of view, but also cannot cope with future recycling volumes. In our poster we present the development of a process for the automated and variant-flexible disassembly of battery systems down to the cell level. The separation of numerous different joints required in the course of disassembly is realised by a laser cutting process. This works in interaction with a universal gripping system, which securely clamps the components during the cutting process, handles separated components and removes them. In order to enable a target-oriented cooperation of the end effectors, 3D image processing methods based on machine learning are developed and used for the automated robot-based process control of the separation and gripping procedure. The first step is to clearly identify, classify and categorise the battery system and separated components. Based on this information, the system independently plans adaptive disassembly sequences and trajectories with dynamic collision avoidance in a second step. By integrating these process modules into an overall demonstrator, we plan to evaluate the achievable quality of the dismantled components, the safety, economic efficiency, industrial scalability and the achievable work and process safety. From an economic point of view, the recovery of expensive elements such as lithium and cobalt is essential. It enables value-creating companies to access an innovative circular economy, making German companies competitive with Asian production locations.