Image processing and detection of discontinuities in battery cells

Patent metadata

Field	Value
Publication number	US-2023251212-A1
Application number	US-202217665829-A
Country	US
Kind code	A1
Filing date	Feb 7, 2022
Priority date	Feb 7, 2022
Publication date	Aug 10, 2023
Grant date	—

Abstract

A system for evaluating a battery cell includes an imaging device configured to take an image of at least part of the battery cell, and a processor. The processor is configured to perform: determining a region of interest in the acquired image, reducing a sharpness of the acquired image to generate a reference image, comparing the acquired image and the reference image, and identifying a discontinuity of the battery cell based on a difference between the acquired image and the reference image.

First claim

What is claimed is:

1 . A system for evaluating a battery cell, comprising:
an imaging device configured to take an image of at least part of the battery cell; and a processor configured to acquire the image and perform: determining a region of interest in the acquired image; reducing a sharpness of the acquired image to generate a reference image; comparing the acquired image and the reference image; and identifying a discontinuity of the battery cell based on a difference between the acquired image and the reference image.

2 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the acquired image is acquired using direct x-ray radiography.

3 . The system of claim 1 , wherein the comparing includes subtracting an image attribute of the reference image from an image attribute of the acquired image to generate a subtracted image, the subtracted image providing an enhanced view of the discontinuity.

4 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the image attribute is selected from at least one of a brightness, a contrast and a gray scale.

5 . The system of claim 3 , wherein the comparing includes at least one of applying a derivative in a selected direction on the subtracted image, and applying a filter to the subtracted image.

6 . The system of claim 1 , wherein determining the region of interest is based on at least one of:
a rule-based algorithm configured to identify the region of interest based on a rule that specifies a location of a section of the image that includes one or more features of interest, and/or an image attribute threshold associated with the one or more features of interest; and a machine learning algorithm configured to identify the region of interest based on training images of the battery cell and/or one or more similar battery cells.

7 . The system of claim 2 , wherein the imaging device is configured to automatically take images in conjunction with a battery cell manufacturing process, the imaging device including an x-ray source and an x-ray detector mounted on a support structure, the support structure disposed on at least one of a battery cell manufacturing station and a battery cell inspection station.

8 . A method of evaluating a battery cell, comprising:
acquiring an image of at least part of the battery cell; determining a region of interest in the acquired image; reducing a sharpness of the acquired image to generate a reference image; comparing the acquired image and the reference image; and identifying a discontinuity of the battery cell based on a difference between the acquired image and the reference image.

9 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the acquired image is acquired using direct x-ray radiography.

10 . The method of claim 8 , wherein the comparing includes subtracting an image attribute of the reference image from an image attribute of the acquired image to generate a subtracted image, the subtracted image providing an enhanced view of the discontinuity.

11 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the image attribute is selected from at least one of a brightness, a contrast and a gray scale.

12 . The method of claim 10 , wherein the comparing includes at least one of: applying a derivative in a selected direction on the subtracted image, and applying a filter to the subtracted image.

13 . The method of claim 8 , wherein determining the region of interest is based on a rule-based algorithm configured to identify the region of interest based on a rule that specifies a location of a section of the image that includes one or more features of interest, and/or an image attribute threshold associated with the one or more features of interest

14 . The method of claim 8 , wherein determining the region of interest is based on a machine learning algorithm configured to identify the region of interest based on training images of at least one of: the battery cell and one or more similar battery cells.

15 . The method of claim 8 , wherein acquiring the acquired image is performed in-line during a process of manufacturing the battery cell.

16 . A system for evaluating a battery cell, comprising:
an imaging device configured to automatically take one or more images of at least part of the battery cell in conjunction with a process of manufacturing the battery cell, the imaging device including an x-ray source and an x-ray detector mounted on a support structure, the support structure disposed on at least one of a battery cell manufacturing station and a battery cell inspection station; and a processor configured to acquire the image and process the image to identify a discontinuity of the battery cell.

17 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the processor is configured to perform:
acquiring an image of at least part of the battery cell; determining a region of interest in the acquired image; reducing a sharpness of the acquired image to generate a reference image; comparing the acquired image and the reference image; and identifying the discontinuity of the battery cell based on a difference between the acquired image and the reference image.

18 . The system of claim 17 , wherein the comparing includes subtracting an image attribute of the reference image from an image attribute of the acquired image to generate a subtracted image, the subtracted image providing an enhanced view of the discontinuity.

19 . The system of claim 18 , wherein the comparing includes at least one of: applying a derivative in a selected direction on the subtracted image, and applying a filter to the subtracted image.

20 . The system of claim 16 , wherein the imaging device is configured to automatically take the one or more images in-line during the process of manufacturing the battery cell.

Assignees

• Gm Global Tech Operations Llc

Inventors

• Wagner Sean Robert
• Mcgovern Megan E
• Bruder Dmitriy
• Kukreja Ratandeep Singh
• Balogh Michael P
• Sekol Ryan Curtis

Classifications

• G06T5/50 Primary

  using two or more images, e.g. averaging or subtraction · CPC title

• G06T7/0002

  Inspection of images, e.g. flaw detection · CPC title

• G06T2207/20104

  Interactive definition of region of interest [ROI] · CPC title

• G06T2207/20224

  Image subtraction · CPC title

• G06T7/001

  using an image reference approach · CPC title