The global energy storage industry is rapidly advancing into a new phase of terawatt-hour (TWh) large-scale development. Upscaling cell capacity and enlarging cell dimensions have become the mainstream evolutionary trends across the sector. From 314Ah standard prismatic cells to ultra-large energy storage cells with a capacity of kiloampere-hour level, the leapfrog upgrade in product specifications has placed unprecedented demands on manufacturing equipment in terms of process adaptability, operational stability and overall line efficiency. As the core link in energy storage battery manufacturing, the technical competence of cell assembly directly determines the consistency of product quality, comprehensive production costs and large-scale delivery capacity. It serves as the core bottleneck to realize mass production and commercial application of high-capacity energy storage batteries.

The mass production of high-capacity energy storage batteries across the industry is currently confronted with four major core bottlenecks:

First, difficulties in quality control during heavy-load assembly. Conventional horizontal casing insertion tends to squeeze cells, resulting in shell deformation and separator scratching. There is an inherent contradiction in core stacking processes: rotary core stacking with connecting tabs may tear tabs and damage cells, while the tab-free stacking method fails to meet the requirements of multi-layer electrodes for high-capacity batteries.

Second, an imbalance between efficiency and cost in core processes. The traditional full-chamber helium injection and leak detection process consumes excessive helium and carries hidden risks of missed inspection on rubber plug sealing. Top cover welding requires an additional pre-spot welding procedure, which comes with high commissioning difficulty and limited compatibility with various cell formats, dragging down line tact time and flexible production capacity.

Third, insufficient overall line uptime efficiency and excessive labor consumption. Frequent line shutdowns are caused by manual first-article inspection and fixed-point sampling tests. Material replenishment and software fault troubleshooting rely heavily on on-site operators, leading to high labor costs and delayed responses. Insufficient production buffer easily causes capacity mismatch between upstream and downstream processes, reducing the overall efficiency of the entire production line.

Fourth, inadequate flexible adaptability to full-scenario production. Energy storage cells cover an extremely wide capacity range with multiple coexisting technical routes. Conventional equipment requires numerous replacement parts for model changeover and incurs high modification costs, making it incompatible with simultaneous production of multiple specifications and hindering enterprises from diversifying their product portfolios.

Heavy-Duty Precision Intelligent Manufacturing | Restructuring the Technical System for High-Capacity Cell Assembly

To address the universal pain points plaguing the industry, Lyric draws on its accumulated experience in full-stack independent R&D of lithium battery intelligent manufacturing and launches a dedicated assembly line solution for large-scale energy storage cells. Centered on the assembly scenarios of kiloampere-hour (kAh)-grade cells, it systematically resolves bottlenecks in high-capacity mass production through breakthroughs in heavy-duty processes, intelligent operation and highly flexible design.

This production line is fully compatible with ultra-high-capacity cells ranging from 587Ah to 1175Ah, with a maximum throughput of 32 PPM, placing its core performance indicators among the industry’s top tier. To tackle load stability challenges posed by heavyweight cells, the line adopts upgraded vertical casing loading and core stacking processes. With multi-stage compression and micron-level precision positioning control, it safeguards cell structural integrity and separator protection throughout the entire process, eliminating quality risks such as shell deformation and separator scratches at the source. Equipped with a high-speed maglev conveying system, the line delivers drastically improved operational stability via non-contact material transport and reduced mechanical wear, laying a solid hardware foundation for high-takt and long-term stable mass production.

To address the welding challenges of multi-layer tabs in large-capacity battery cells, the equipment is equipped with high-specification cutting and high-power ultrasonic welding units. The maximum trimming capacity for electrode tabs reaches 200 layers. The ultrasonic welder adopts a fully wavelength welding head with dual supports, enabling one-pass welding of 120 layers of copper foil. With a large welding mark of 62×12 mm and a peak power of 8150 W, it delivers even amplitude and outstanding welding consistency. The equipment achieves a production yield of 99.5% with a failure rate ≤ 2% and a stable OEE above 80%, forming a mature assembly solution for kAh-level energy storage cells.

The entire production line is equipped with a comprehensive intelligent manufacturing system. Multiple mechanisms including expanded buffering capacity, automatic inspection and non-stop sampling inspection are deployed to boost line utilization. The expanded buffer function increases production output by 9.4% within a 10-minute cycle, while fully automatic inspection cuts daily downtime by 180 minutes. LEIP remote operation & maintenance and AMR automatic material feeding enable low-manpower operation for each workshop section, well suited to dark factory deployment. Systematic optimization slashes model changeover costs by 30% and supports rapid switching between multiple cell specifications. Prior to factory delivery, the equipment undergoes rigorous verification covering 6 major categories and 28 individual items to guarantee long-term stable performance under mass production conditions.

The large-scale development of new energy storage is inseparable from the underlying support of high-end manufacturing equipment. Lyric’s energy storage cell assembly line tackles quality challenges via process innovation, improves production efficiency through intelligent operation, and accommodates full-scenario demands with flexible design. It delivers core assembly support for mass production of energy storage cells with diverse capacities and technical routes, and injects core driving force from the equipment side to advance cost reduction, efficiency improvement and high-quality development of China’s energy storage industry.