Cross-Directional Modelling and Control of Slot-Die Battery Electrode Coating

Abstract: As global battery demand increases, real-time process control becomes increasingly important for battery electrode manufacturing, yet slot-die lines are still mostly manually operated in open loop. This paper develops a physics-based modelling-and-control pipeline for film-thickness regulation. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations provide the data from which a low-order cross-directional model is identified and calibrated. Numerical simulations demonstrate close agreement between the CFD and the cross-directional model, which is used to design a controller that can be used in both real-time, automated feedback operation and manual feedforward operation during line commissioning.