EV Battery Leak Testing

Lithium-ion Battery Testing Equipment and Systems for Automotive Applications.

Global lithium-ion battery-cell production is expected to increase from 280 GWh today to 2,600 GWh in 2030. This aggressive growth prediction puts added pressure on EV battery manufacturers to produce at higher volumes without sacrificing quality or safety. In addition to high production requirements, manufacturers face the challenge of performing quality testing without industry standard guidelines. The lack of EV battery leak testing standards has left many manufacturers struggling to find viable testing solutions.

Uson is excited to be at the forefront of this emerging industry and applying over 55 years of experience serving automotive manufacturers around the globe. Our leak testing experts are working with both manufacturers and system integrators to develop testing standards for electronic vehicle battery testing processes to support the industry in delivering the highest level of quality and safety to consumers.

EV Battery Testing Applications:

In many cases, leak rates are not standardized across manufacturer’s. Uson’s application team can assist in your development of leak rate definition for EV battery component testing applications including:

Battery Covers & Trays

These can present challenges with flexing due to thermal and environmental changes. Uson’s experience with how a material’s composition responds to variations in temperature or atmospheric conditions can help you navigate these challenges.

Cooling Modules & Assemblies

Larger cooling circuits and the number of connections on electrical vehicles can lead to increased cycle times. Our experts can determine the most effective equipment and test method combination to achieve acceptable cycle times without sacrificing quality or safety.

Battery Packs

Large volumes make obtaining repeatable results within cycle time difficult. Luckily, Uson’s state-of-the-art technology provides the most reliable and repeatable results in the industry. Our innovations coupled with over 50 years of experience allows us to identify solutions and systems that meet both cycle time and quality requirements.

Electric Drive Unit

EV cars consist of an electric motor, power module, and transmission, and each has individual testing requirements. Uson has worked with the largest automotive manufacturers in the world to provide leak testing solutions for powertrain applications and we have the footprint to support the largest and most sophisticated operations.

Challenges Leak Testing EV Batteries:

Billions of lithium-ion battery cells are manufactured every year for use in electric, hybrid-electric, autonomous vehicles, medical devices, and a variety of consumer electronics products. Most quality issues occur during battery-cell production, battery-module assembly, or battery-pack assembly and include:

leaks allowing humidity or water into the cell
leaks allowing electrolytes out of the cell
modules and housing integrity

Historically, pressure and visual test methods have been used for soft-pouch, cylindrical and prismatic cells, however, these methods can be slow, unreliable, and may miss small lithium-ion leaks that, if left undetected, can create big quality and safety problems.

Helium leak testing systems are also commonly used in the automotive manufacturing industry. While helium testing is an effective solution in some applications, using helium requires substantial investments in tooling, gas recovery equipment, and the ongoing expense of buying the gas itself. Through application studies and testing, our experts have been successful in identifying opportunities where air leak testing was an effective leak testing option. By using our extensive automotive application experience, we are able to assist EV battery manufacturers with application studies and feasibility testing to determine if air leak testing can be an effective alternative and allow them to meet and exceed cycle time, quality, and production requirements.

Leak Testing Solutions for Lithium-ion Batteries Used in Electric Vehicles

Uson has a variety of leak testers and test methods for reliable and non-destructive testing of battery cells, housing, and assemblies. Our experts can work with your application requirements to make equipment and test method recommendations that will offer the shortest cycle times and highest throughput while ensuring safety and quality standards are satisfied.