Advanced digital twins for battery cell production lines (Batt4EU Partnership)
European Comission
ExpectedOutcome :
Projects are expected to contribute to all of the following outcomes:
- The understanding of digital twins as systems with automated data acquisition, connected digital models and value-adding applications.
- The capacity to go beyond single process consideration with potential perspective on the process chain.
- The implementation and the transfer of digital twins into existing and future battery cell production plants.
- Safety and security, scalability, explainability, computational speed as well as contributions to sustainability of battery cell production.
- Optimise product quality, improving the resource efficiency and, consequently, the production time and cost of battery cells in the manufacturing process at the targeted scale. Scope :
The battery production chain consists of diverse multi-disciplinary, rather novel processes with numerous influencing factors and interdependencies. Digital twins, as a core element of the accelerating digitisation in manufacturing, bear the potential to improve planning and operation of current and future battery production system. With their connection of advanced digital models and most up-to-date data, decision support or even autonomous control of battery production processes and process chains is enabled. First applications can be found in research and partly also in industrial practice – however, those still tend to be rather specific, covering just selected aspects of digital twins (e.g. just specific models) and are often hardly transferable between production stages and between different battery configurations in terms of the underlying IT architectures and models. Proposals are expected to address all following points:
- Developing digital twins of battery cell manufacturing routes at pilot line level that incorporate appropriate models but also their connection to real manufacturing plants, e.g. to support process development and operation, battery cells optimisation, accelerate the set-up of effective manufacturing processes for the next generation battery cells or to demonstrate the capability for predictive maintenance.
- Design robust digital tools integrating multi-physics, data-driven models and hybrid modelling.
- Flexible Digital Twins capable to evolve to different battery chemistries, new disruptive materials as well as new manufacturing processes (the model would be chemistry neutral so easily adaptable to new disruptive materials and chemistries).
- Verify the transferability from pilot to production plant level.
- Propose applications that will enable to overcome single process considerations towards process chain perspectives.
- Implementation of the sensorisation of the manufacturing plant and automatisation of the data acquisition.
- Ensuring greater interoperability, by implementing available data standards[1], e. g., Modelling-Data (MODA) and Characterisation Data (CHADA), as well as, a common semantic framework, like The European Materials Modelling Ontology (EMMO) and the battery interface ontology (BattINFO).
- Promote the control and decision making of the manufacturing chain.
- Aspects like safety and security, explainability of models as well as contributions to sustainability of battery production will be addressed.
This call topic addresses the need of increasing the level of autonomy to the whole battery cell value chain (with special emphasis in the manufacturing). Plans for the exploitation and dissemination of results for proposals submitted under this topic should include a strong business case and sound exploitation strategy, as outlined in the introduction to this Destination. The exploitation plans should include preliminary plans for scalability, commercialisation, and deployment (feasibility study, business plan).
This topic is building upon the BATTERY 2030+ Roadmap[2] and will build upon the shared data infrastructure, standards and protocols developed within this initiative, and in particular the BIG-MAP[3] project. Projects are expected to collaborate and contribute to the activities of the Coordination and Support Action defined under the topic HORIZON-CL5-2022-D2-01-08. The proposal will cover the contribution and collaboration to the Coordination and Support Action.”
This topic implements the co-programmed European Partnership on Batteries (Batt4EU). As such, projects resulting from this topic will be expected to report on the results to the European Partnership on Batteries (Batt4EU) in support of the monitoring of its KPIs.
Specific Topic Conditions :
Activities are expected to achieve TRL 4-5 by the end of the project – see General Annex B.
General conditions
- Admissibility conditions: described in Annex A and Annex E of the Horizon Europe Work Programme General Annexes
Proposal page limits and layout: described in Part B of the Application Form available in the Submission System
- Eligible countries: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
A number of non-EU/non-Associated Countries that are not automatically eligible for funding have made specific provisions for making funding available for their participants in Horizon Europe projects. See the information in the Horizon Europe Programme Guide .
- Other eligibility conditions: described in Annex B of the Work Programme General Annexes
If projects use satellite-based earth observation, positioning, navigation and/or related timing data and services, beneficiaries must make use of Copernicus and/or Galileo/EGNOS (other data and services may additionally be used).
Financial and operational capacity and exclusion: described in Annex C of the Work Programme General Annexes
Evaluation and award:
Award criteria, scoring and thresholds are described in Annex D of the Work Programme General Annexes
Submission and evaluation processes are described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes and the Online Manual
Indicative timeline for evaluation and grant agreement: described in Annex F of the Work Programme General Annexes
- Legal and financial set-up of the grants: described in Annex G of the Work Programme General Annexes
Specific conditions
- Specific conditions: described in the [specific topic of the Work Programme]
Documents
Call documents:
Standard application form — call-specific application form is available in the Submission System
Standard application form (HE RIA, IA)
Standard evaluation form — will be used with the necessary adaptations
Standard evaluation form (HE RIA, IA)
MGA
Additional documents:
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 1. General Introduction
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 8. Climate, Energy and Mobility
HE Main Work Programme 2023–2024 – 13. General Annexes
HE Framework Programme and Rules for Participation Regulation 2021/695
HE Specific Programme Decision 2021/764
Rules for Legal Entity Validation, LEAR Appointment and Financial Capacity Assessment
EU Grants AGA — Annotated Model Grant Agreement
Funding & Tenders Portal Online Manual