Tab welding is the throat of the cell's current path; once burrs or cold welds escape, they can pierce the separator or overheat in use, triggering thermal runaway. DaoAI's AI-AOI automated quality gate intercepts these defects right at the station.
The tab is the channel through which current converges inside the cell, and the weld quality between tab, electrode and cover directly affects current-density distribution and long-term reliability. Weld burrs can pierce the separator to form internal short circuits, tab misalignment alters the current path and creates localized overheating, and cold welds gradually worsen over cycling — all high-risk triggers on the thermal-runaway chain. The cell maker's existing welding line lacked stable inline judgment, relying mainly on spot checks and manual review, which could not meet the customer's zero-escape requirement.
The challenge: the customer did not want to heavily rebuild the existing line, the weld surface is highly reflective metal, burrs are small, and cold-weld signatures are subtle — conventional vision was prone to both false alarms and misses.
DaoAI Solution
DaoAI embedded a compact AI-AOI inspection unit into the original station, designing multi-angle illumination and imaging for highly reflective metal welds and using a deep-learning model to classify burrs, misalignment and cold welds, with APDT positive-sample learning adapting to the weld morphology of different tab models. Every cell passing the station triggers an automated judgment, forming a 100% automated quality gate that diverts rejects in real time.
- Illumination and imaging optimized for highly reflective metal welds, suppressing glare-induced false judgments
- Deep learning classifies key thermal-runaway-related defects: burrs, misalignment and cold welds
- APDT positive-sample learning adapts to multiple tab models for fast changeover
- Per-unit automated judgment forms a 100% automated quality gate with real-time diversion
The quality gate asks one question: would you dare put this cell into a pack.
The system integrated into the existing line with minimal modification, delivering 100% automated judgment on every cell. Detection of key defects approaches the zero-escape goal, upgrading the previously manual spot-check into a per-unit full-inspection gate and lowering thermal-runaway-related safety risk at the source.