Battery and storage technologies are crucial for the success of the energy and transport transition. According to a study by the Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research (Fraunhofer ISI), battery production capacity in Europe alone will quadruple by 2025 from 124 gigawatt hours in 2022 to over 500 gigawatt hours. By 2030, this figure is expected to increase tenfold to up to 1.5 terawatt hours. Given these projections, the largest German and Europewide unique competence center for developing and testing the production of battery cells – including for electrically powered vehicles – is currently being built in the Westphalian city of Münster: the Fraunhofer Research Institution for Battery Cell Production FFB (“Fraunhofer FFB”) The first phase, the “FFB PreFab”, was inaugurated with around 500 guests at the Hansa-BusinessPark in Münster at the end of April, an important step on the way to building the FFB Fab. Upon completion, the FFB Fab will offer an extra 20,000 m² dedicated to production and research, facilitating large-scale industrial research and development in the gigawatt range using plant technology in Münster. The opening marked “a significant milestone for the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft, the FFB battery cell research production, and most importantly, for sustainable and competitive battery production in Europe,” said Prof Holger Hanselka, President of the Fraunhofer- Gesellschaft, on the occasion of the inauguration.

Full-scale battery cell production With its two facilities, PreFab and Fab, Fraunhofer FFB is currently one of the largest construction projects for research in Germany and also unique globally. Research operations are now starting in the FFB PreFab with the commissioning of innovative European machine technology on 6800 m² of research space. A demonstration line for full-scale battery cell production allows the Fraunhofer FFB to assist its industrial partners in the trial and adoption of novel battery cell designs and production methods. The facility specialises in producing pouch and prismatic cells for research applications, which are utilised in electric vehicles, medical technology and smart devices. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and the state of North Rhine-Westphalia are funding the establishment of the facility as part of the “FoFeBat” project with up to €820 million altogether. The Fraunhofer Gesellschaft is gradually realising the project with several partners. These include, for example, Siemens AG, which is supporting the Fraunhofer FFB with software and hardware solutions based on the open Siemens Xcelerator platform. With their interoperable systems, the Digital Industries and Smart Infrastructure business units are contributing to the digitisation, automation, control and monitoring of the machines, processes and building.

A digital twin reflects the factory

The real production and environmental conditions in the facility are being digitally mapped along the entire value chain by connecting operational technology to information technology. Sensors in the building and throughout the production environment will provide all relevant infrastructure data in real time. Using the manufacturing execution system (MES) and the IIoT platform (industrial internet of things), Fraunhofer FFB will be able to plan, control, optimise and flexibly scale its processes, explains Siemens. The Desigo CC building management platform will determine the optimal production environment with data-based and demand-oriented processes, even in clean-rooms and drying operations. The collected data will be of central importance for Fraunhofer FFB in fulfilling its mission of researching the production of battery cells using a digital twin of the factory. The digital twin reflects the entire factory, from the technical building equipment to all production processes. This guarantees production under near-series and difficult conditions, e.g., clean room production, for a variety of industrial partners.