Safe Handling and Deep-discharging of End-of-Life Battery Modules during Battery Disassembly

Abstract

Achieving a circular economy for batteries requires further technological advances to handle the volumes and diversity of returned batteries. A key challenge is considering the safety of handling these batteries in the disassembly process and their partial reuse in second-life applications. In the case of the secondary use of battery systems, fast and safe electrical diagnosis of returned batteries during the disassembly process is necessary. When selectively reusing cells in a module, the damaged or aged cells must be deactivated. For possible recycling of the complete module, the batteries must be deep-discharged, which can potentially lead to a dangerous reversal of cell polarity if different cell conditions exist within the module. In this work, a contacting unit is proposed to enable fast diagnosis, safe discharge of single cells in the module, and deep discharge of the complete module. This technology represents an essential building block for the economic disassembly as part of a circular economy for batteries.