Qu, M.; Pham, D.T.; Altumi, F.; Gbadebo, A.; Hartono, N.; Jiang, K.; Kerin, M.; Lan, F.; Micheli, M.; Xu, S.; Wang, Y. Robotic Disassembly Platform for Disassembly of a Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle Battery: A Case Study. Automation2024, 5, 50-67.
Qu, M.; Pham, D.T.; Altumi, F.; Gbadebo, A.; Hartono, N.; Jiang, K.; Kerin, M.; Lan, F.; Micheli, M.; Xu, S.; Wang, Y. Robotic Disassembly Platform for Disassembly of a Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle Battery: A Case Study. Automation 2024, 5, 50-67.
Qu, M.; Pham, D.T.; Altumi, F.; Gbadebo, A.; Hartono, N.; Jiang, K.; Kerin, M.; Lan, F.; Micheli, M.; Xu, S.; Wang, Y. Robotic Disassembly Platform for Disassembly of a Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle Battery: A Case Study. Automation2024, 5, 50-67.
Qu, M.; Pham, D.T.; Altumi, F.; Gbadebo, A.; Hartono, N.; Jiang, K.; Kerin, M.; Lan, F.; Micheli, M.; Xu, S.; Wang, Y. Robotic Disassembly Platform for Disassembly of a Plug-In Hybrid Electric Vehicle Battery: A Case Study. Automation 2024, 5, 50-67.
Abstract
Efficient processing of end-of-life lithium-ion batteries of electric vehicles is important and a pressing challenge for a circular economy. Regardless of whether the processing strategy is recycling, repurposing or remanufacturing, the first processing step would usually involve disassembly. As battery disassembly is a dangerous task, efforts have been made to robotise it. In this paper, a robotic disassembly platform using four industrial robots is proposed to automate the non-destructive disassembly of a plug-in hybrid electric vehicle battery pack into modules. The work was conducted as a case study to demonstrate the concept of autonomous disassembly of an electric vehicle battery pack. A two-step object localisation method based on visual information is used to overcome positional uncertainties from different sources and is validated by experiments. Also, the unscrewing system is highlighted, and its functions, such as handling untightened fasteners, loosening jammed screws, and changing the nutrunner adapters with square drives, are detailed. Furthermore, the time required for each operation is compared with that taken by human operators. Finally, the limitations of the platform are reported and future research directions are suggested.
Keywords
robotic disassembly; circular economy; electric vehicle battery; unscrewing; computer vision; automation system
Subject
Engineering, Industrial and Manufacturing Engineering
Copyright:
This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.