Second cell, second module
Battery cell compatibility & changeover are two halves of one answer: compatibility is stated as an envelope, and moving inside it is a changeover. Both halves are printed here — the range edges for the two tiers, the tooling each station changes, and the hours the line stands still.
Module length envelopeMillimetres, both tiers on one axis
The two tiers differ at both ends rather than by a margin: a 350 mm module clears BLP-P8 and misses the BLP-P8S floor; a 1,150 mm module clears BLP-P8S and sits above the BLP-P8 ceiling.
Envelope
Battery cell compatibility & changeover both start from this table. Compatibility is stated per tier, in two columns, and a second type has to clear every axis that applies to the tier on order.
BLP-P8 is quoted against one set of ranges; BLP-P8S and BLP-P15 share the other. The tier decides which column binds you, which is why tier choice and compatibility are answered together rather than in sequence.
| Axis | BLP-P8 | BLP-P8S / BLP-P15 |
|---|---|---|
| Cell envelopePrismatic | Stated against your cell drawing | Width 100–220 / height 100–220 / thickness 20–80 mm |
| Module envelopeThe binding axis | Length 300–1000 × width 150–370 × height 100–240 mm | Length 400–1200 × width 100–300 × height 100–250 mm |
| Pack envelopeEnclosure | Length 600–1200 × width 300–800 × height 100–250 mm | Stated against your enclosure drawing |
Tier rates, footprint and headcount are on the pack line capacity planning page; the blueprint cell, module and pack the ranges are built around are on the energy storage pack line page.
Two drawings resolve the two columns into one line for your case.
What inside the envelope means
Order of work
Five things happen on a changeover day, always in this order, each waiting on the one before it. The red band is what the line is producing while they happen.
Work in progress leaves before anything is unbolted, so the first hour belongs to your scheduling rather than to the equipment.
Station by station, a set of changes rather than one event. The count comes from your configuration.
Locating fixtures are bolted and zeroed; vision stations are taught to the new pattern.
Parts are built and judged against the criteria for the new type before anything counts as production.
At the same takt as before, because takt is a property of the line and is counted at cell loading.
Standstill
These are the hours we work to and quote against, for both kinds of change. The left column is a type your line has already qualified. The right column is the first time that type is seen.
| Station | Change within the range, to a qualified type | First introduction of a new type |
|---|---|---|
| Cell loading and sortingBLP-UL / BLP-CSRobot grippers cut to the cell face, tray program, sorting criteria table. | ≤30minGripper and tray program switchover. | 1shift (8 h)Gripper tooling plus a signed sorting criteria table. |
| Stacking, pressing and bandingBLP-SPPlatens, locating fixture, banding stops, and one stored press recipe. | ≤2hPlatens, locating fixture and banding stops. | 1shiftTooling, recipe and a first-article pressed-length qualification. |
| Terminal addressingBLP-ADVision taught to the terminal pattern; no hardware in most cases. | ≤30minProgram recall. | ≤4hVision teach and program. |
| Busbar weldingBLP-W6A recipe keyed to the part number; single-row and double-row modules run on the same station. | ≤1hRecipe recall and a first-article sampling check. | 1shiftOff-line first-article recipe with a coupon pull test at 1000 N or more. |
| Pack entry and fixing toolingPack segmentEntry fixture, module carriers, taught glue path, leak criteria. | ≤2hTooling change. | 1shiftTooling, glue path and leak criteria. |
| Whole line, within the rangeEmptied to runningStations changed in parallel by the shift crew while the line is empty. | 1shiftChanged over and back in production. | 3–5daysFirst-article qualification and criteria sign-off counted in. |
The whole-line rows are not the sum of the station rows.
The stations are changed in parallel by the shift crew while the line is empty, which is what puts the whole change inside one shift.
The stations queue behind each other, because the first article at one station is the input to the next. That queue, not the fitting, is what fills three to five working days.
What sets each figure
What caps each row is visible in the row itself: a recall, a hand job, or a signature.
A stored program or a stored recipe is selected and the station runs it. Nothing is unbolted.
Platens, locating fixtures, banding stops and entry tooling come off, go on and are zeroed. The hand time is what it is.
A first article carries a judgement made against criteria rather than a task carried out against a clock. That part cannot be compressed.
Within the range the stations change in parallel. On a first introduction they queue, because one station's first article is the next one's input.
Changed over and back in production inside one shift
Within the range, to a type already qualified on your line.
Two states of knowledge
The two columns of the table describe the same physical work under two different states of knowledge.
A selection job
A qualification job
Not because anyone got faster with practice. That is the whole of battery cell compatibility & changeover on a qualified type: the first changeover leaves three things behind, and every later change to that type consumes them.
Station by station
Five places on the line carry part-specific tooling. Each one changes as hardware, as a recipe, or as both.
The rest of the thirty-two stations convey, clean, tape, tighten and inspect, and do not notice that the cell changed.
Grippers are cut to the cell face and the tray program is written for the tray the new cell arrives in.
Platens, locating fixture and banding stops are cut for a module family. The recipe holding target force, dwell, target length and banding passes is stored per module type, and operators select it rather than edit it.
Addressing usually changes without hardware: the vision is taught to the terminal pattern of the new module and the program is stored under that type.
Welding changes as a recipe keyed to the part number, because what the station welds is a busbar geometry rather than a cell. Single-row and double-row modules share the station.
Entry and fixing change as a set: the fixture that seats the module into the enclosure, the carriers that present it, the glue path taught for the new cooling plate and floor, and the leak criteria the enclosure is judged against.
Two drawings
Against the cell you run and the one you expect to run, the table above resolves into a station list, a datum answer and a tooling quotation for your case.
Send both drawingsWhere a new recipe comes from
Welding recipes are stored per part number and written once. The route a new one travels is what keeps a busbar change down to an hour on changeover day.
01
A new busbar geometry gets its first recipe on the off-line gantry machine, so recipe development and production never compete for the same station.
02
The recipe is judged on coupons, not on a parameter screen.
03
When the coupon passes, the recipe moves into the in-line BLP-W6 unchanged.
Three things follow from that for your line.
After restart
Takt does not move with the cell. The rate is counted as cells entering the module segment at loading, and it belongs to the line configuration rather than to the type running on it.
A changeover returns you to the rate you had, not to a rate discounted for the new type. The tier figures behind that are on the pack line capacity planning page.
Large format
Today's qualified boundary is the envelope table above: prismatic cells inside those ranges, on the tier you buy. Large-format 587 Ah cells are a roadmap item for the BLP-P8 tier — we are working toward them rather than quoting a line against them today.
If your programme is heading there, send the cell drawing now and have it assessed as a first introduction rather than as a compatibility question.
Worth having while the first fixture set is still a drawing: a fixture designed with a second envelope in view is the same job with better information.
How tooling is quoted
Tooling is quoted as its own item, keyed to the part number, station by station. What you receive is a list rather than a lump.
Folded into a line total it becomes a number nobody can take apart, and the question of what the second type takes only reappears on the day it arrives.
Three views of the same type rather than three separate records — which is also what makes the left column of the hours table repeatable: the tooling that comes back on is the tooling the recipe was written against.
Named before handover
When a second type is named while the line is still being built, four things change in how we build it. All four are cheaper as decisions than as retrofits.
Datum scheme
Fixtures are designed to a shared datum scheme wherever both envelopes allow it, so the second changeover is a teach rather than a re-engineering job.
Tooling
It is cut knowing the second envelope exists, which is the same work with the second drawing on the desk rather than a second job later.
Criteria
Written and signed during acceptance rather than afterwards, so the second type arrives already carrying the document its first articles will be judged against.
Recipes
Stored under their part numbers before the line ships, so the second type is a selection on the operator panel from day one.
| Item | Second type named during the project | Second type named after handover |
|---|---|---|
| Datum scheme | Shared where both envelopes allow it; the second changeover is a teach | Second fixture set designed to a datum it was never drawn against |
| Tooling set | First set cut with the second drawing on the desk | Second set cut as a fresh job while the line is already running |
| Criteria tables | Both signed at acceptance, in the same set | Second table written and signed on its own visit |
| Recipes | Both stored under their part numbers before shipment | Second recipe written off-line later, then moved in |
| Hours on the day the second type arrives | ≤1 shift a change within the range | 3–5 days a first introduction |
Who holds what
Training runs on your own line during site acceptance, on both types named in the project. At handover the three roles hold the same three lists: the recipe list operators select from, the criteria set process engineers judge against, and the spares list maintenance orders from.
Before the quotation
Five items, and a sentence about when the second type is expected. A fixture designed against a second envelope in view is a different fixture from one designed against silence.
Before deciding
Send the cell drawings, the module and pack configuration and the target takt ahead of a visit, and one of the three pre-assembly bays is set to your configuration and powered up when you arrive.
Your enquiry, ready to send
If your email client opened, it is already in the message. If nothing opened, use one of the two routes below.
Start a project
More than 40 line segments have been built for plants in 12 countries — whole lines, single stations and segment retrofits — and the same compatibility and changeover documents come with all three. The company holds ISO 9001, CE and RoHS. Send both cell drawings and your configuration and the reply covers the station list, the datum answer and the tooling quotation within 24 hours. You can also start on the contact page.