Latest Test and Measurement News

Battery Quality Testers to eliminate Battery Fires

18 March 2022 - Hioki announced that in 2022 it will launch three new measuring instruments designed to detect latent defects in quality inspections on battery production lines. The company’s goal is to increase the safety of lithium-ion batteries, for which demand is growing worldwide. Hioki plans to make more details available in April.

Initiatives centered on moving society beyond its dependence on carbon-based fuels are gathering pace as countries worldwide work to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050. Major automakers’ ongoing shift to electric vehicles, which do not emit CO2, is pushing up demand for the lithium-ion batteries (LiBs) that power them.

However, the risk of fires caused by defective batteries is rising:

• Fire risk 1: Insulation defects
• Fire risk 2: Weld defects

To address these risks, Hioki will make it possible to produce highly safe batteries by launching instruments capable of detecting the causes of defects that can lead to fires.

1. BATTERY INSULATION TESTER BT5525

The BATTERY INSULATION TESTER BT5525 can detect internal short-circuits, which can cause overheating and fire, at the LiB cell production stage. Thanks to its extremely high level of detection precision, the instrument can detect minuscule shorts caused by phenomena such as contamination with metallic material and tears in insulators, which have been difficult to detect until now.

2. DC HIPOT TESTER ST5680

The DC HIPOT TESTER ST5680 can generate pass/fail judgments based on the state of insulation in finished LiBs after packaging. Furthermore, it can display and record test results as waveforms. By helping operators analyze the causes of defects after testing, the instrument can lighten the workload of quality control personnel.

3. WELDING RESISTANCE METER RM3546

The WELDING RESISTANCE METER RM3546 can generate pass/fail judgments based on the quality of welds joining materials that make up LiBs. Thanks to the instrument’s extremely high level of measurement performance, it can detect even minuscule weld defects. In addition, correction functionality that allows new welds to be accurately measured even while still hot makes it possible to inspect parts without first waiting for them to cool.

www.hioki.com/