Rapid Innovation and Increased Production Capacity: 3D Printing Technology Empowers CATL to Achieve Innovation and Intelligent Manufacturing of Battery Cell Fixtures

CATL Headquarter (source: https://nai500.com/)

Traditional Manufacturing Methods Bring Innovative Challenges

As one of the world’s largest power battery manufacturers and an innovative pioneer in the field of new energy batteries, CATL has always been committed to technological breakthroughs in power batteries and energy storage systems.

CATL production scene (source: https://www.catl.com/news/846.html)

CATL production scene, highly automated PACK wire drawing (source: https://www.catl.com/news/6733.html)

Although CATL has a lot of innovation needs, in the battery cell assembly process, the traditional tooling and prototype verification production model cannot save costs while ensuring large-scale and rapid innovation iterations.

The traditional manufacturing model has the following limitations in terms of innovation in the battery cell production line:

• Slow response speed: Traditional CNC processing has a long delivery cycle, usually requiring 2-4 weeks to deliver, which seriously restricts the speed of product iteration.
• Limited design innovation: Manufacturing complex structures through traditional methods often involves many difficulties, such as tool customization and material limitations.
• Insufficient flexible production capacity: It is difficult to respond quickly to demands for multiple varieties and small batches.
• Long technology verification cycle: Low efficiency of fixture adaptation during new product development.

This model can no longer meet CATL’s rapid innovation needs. Therefore, how to break through the manufacturing bottleneck, optimize the manufacturing of fixtures and prototypes, and build a more flexible production system, has become a key issue for CATL’s technology upgrade.

Faced with these challenges, CATL urgently needs to establish an agile tooling and prototype manufacturing system that can support continuous innovation.

CATL production scene (source: https://www.catl.com/news/8247.html)

3D Printing Technology Brings Flexible Manufacturing Solutions

After in-depth technical evaluation, CATL chose to enter into a strategic partnership with Raise3D, a leading industrial 3D printing company, to build an independent and controllable agile manufacturing system. This decision was based on the three core values of Raise3D:

• One-stop solution to meet diverse needs: Through the combination of additive and subtractive manufacturing, dual processes are used to ensure product quality. At the same time, from pre-sales consultation to after-sales service, a one-stop service system is provided.

• DfAM service, in-depth cooperation from design to manufacturing: Through DfAM, based on the capabilities of additive manufacturing technology, design optimization is carried out to reduce the number of parts, simplify the assembly process, optimize the product structure, achieve cost reduction and improve product performance, and shorten the development cycle.

• Large-scale production to ensure efficient delivery: Relying on the high printing accuracy and stability of Raise3D printers to ensure the consistency of mass-produced products. Through mass production, the unit production cost is reduced while ensuring fast delivery.

Raise3D tailored a set of fixture and prototype production models for CATL, based on its actual production characteristics. Raise3D’s professional team worked with CATL to ensure fast and high-quality delivery of printed parts, starting from material matching, to design, templates, process optimization, and finally, batch printing.

In terms of printers, Raise3D, with its years of experience in 3D printing, has provided CATL with a variety of models using FFF, DLP, SLS and other processes, with a total of hundreds of devices deployed. Raise3D’s equipment has always been known for its high precision and high stability. At the same time, with Raise3D’s rich proprietary materials and OMP (Open Material Program) materials, it fully meets CATL’s different production scenario requirements.

Raise3D’s 3D printers

At the same time, Raise3D’s self-developed RaiseCloud enterprise-level cloud platform, relying on its powerful features such as multi-task management, team printer management and remote monitoring, realizes the intelligent scheduling and remote monitoring of CATL’s cross-regional equipment clusters, and builds a full-link digital flexible manufacturing system from equipment to management. As a network-based 3D printing cloud platform, in CATL’s actual production, RaiseCloud helps CATL reduce the number of equipment operators and release printing capacity with its reliable data security, flexible and personalized operation interface, and powerful remote management functions, thereby improving overall efficiency.

CATL’s customized RaiseCloud interface (for reference purpose only)