Photonics, Lidar, key to increasing safety and efficiency of future mobility

European Photonics Industry Consortium (EPIC) recently organized a conference on photonics for mobility of the future, in co-operation with the Association of Industrial Laser Users (AILU).

Photonics will be key to increasing the safety and efficiency of future mobility, as well as supporting the driver in making decisions about the different events that may be encountered. Vehicles increasingly incorporate infrared technologies, LiDar, displays and other types of sensors related to autonomous driving and driver support. Advent of electric mobility is also a strong driver for laser welding and assembly.

Winfried Reeb, Head of Business Unit Active Components, Laser Components, Germany, presented an overview of Lidar. There is a measurement principle involved in time of flight (ToF). We are looking at apps outside the car. Use cases, such as speed control, traffic monitoring, and ACC or adaptive cruise control exist. Market segment for automotive Lidar includes 3D automotive laser scanners. Automotive in the car includes components such as head-up display, anti-fatigue driving detection system, and laser headlight. Other apps include air quality monitoring system, laser indicator, and the Rolls Royce Star roof. Photonics plays an important role in automotive and mobility for safety inside and outside the car.

Raul Bravo, President and Co-Founder, Outsight, France, discussed plug-and-play spatial intelligence. 3D Lidar will unleash the spatial intelligence market. Complexity of lidar inhibits adoption. 3D data is sparse and requires rare experts. Early customers and auto R&D fuelled the initial steps. Hardware is now commoditizing. A single version of Outright software handles the heterogenous hardware sources and provides actionable data, regardless of the intended end-user app. You can make also cities smarter using Lidar. We have strategic partnerships with most Lidar manufacturers. We have integrated 80 percent of global market.

Tomonori Nakamura, Senior Chief Engineer, Scivax Corp., Japan, presented on sensing optics for DMS/Lidar. Scivax currently offers two solutions — Platanus hybrid diffuser for DMS, and Ardisia hybrid dot projector for Lidar. Future plans include long-range DMS, longer range flash lidar, etc.

Christian Dini, GM, Civan Lasers, Israel, talked about dynamic beam laser welding in e-mobility apps. Dynamic beam laser (DBL) leads to dynamic beam shaping, control shape frequency, shape sequence, and focus steering. You can now design new beam shapes with software. Beam shape can eliminate transverse cracking in dissimilar metals welding. Apps for automotive include battery assembly, battery cooler, power electronics, power train, wheels, body, etc. Inter-metallic mixing is prone to cracks. DBL enables new level of control over the melt pool, including thermal gradient and flow dynamics.

Ms. Paola De Bono, Section Manager, TWI Ltd, UK and Italy, spoke about the laser apps addressing joining challenges for electrification. Welding/joining challenges for electrification include production of battery packs, thermal cooling, and light weigting. Laser welding is said to be suitable for process capabilities, materials compatibility, and low heat input. There are process variants for busbar to terminal joints, and battery cases, such as concentrated IR beams and less concentrated visible beams, etc. Thicker materials (1-5mm) are involved.

We also need to look at temperature testing, fixture design, and offline simulation that can help with design, and subsequent programming, etc. We should keep in-process monitoring in mind so the process is robust. This includes keyhole depth monitoring and image monitoring. BMW-TWI have collaborated within the Advanced Propulsion Center (APC) funded program. We also have Albatross — development of an integrated approach based on smart batteries, combined with lightweight designs. We need to further develop infrastructure and safety procedures for work with live cells and modules.

Phil Carr, Director, Carrs Welding, England, presented high-power laser welding, battery interconnections, and busbar systems. Copper welding and its difficulties are well known. Copper’s absorptibvity increases with decrease of laser wavelength, which gives visible band layers an advantage. We have developed the oscillating laser beam welding in 2021 that has greater tolerance for process variables, allows improved welding of dissimilar materials, etc. There is the enhanced weld quality and consistency. He showed examples of laser welds in module interconnects.

2022 saw the advent of the Innovate UK Soni-Laser project. It introduces non-contact power ultrasonic vibration treatment subsystem that assists laser welding process of EV batteries, and enhances the integrity and quality of the welds. It increases laser welding speed by at least 50 percent, prevents and minimizes formation of the bulk intermetallics by 30 percent, reduces residual stress, etc.