Lithium-ion batteries (LiB) are widely employed as power source of electric vehicles (as substitutes of gasoline engines) or as batteries for smartphones and tablet terminals. 

X-ray inspection, aimed at ensuring the quality of LiBs, is becoming more critical due to the increasing demand for LiBs.

In recent years, we have seen that main players in batteries manufacturing are shifting from the conventional wound-type batteries to stacked LiBs from. 

This change of shape requires new inspection systems. In the traditional wound type LiBs, x-ray image intensifiers were mostly used. Nowadays, because of the bigger dimensions, the field of view is not sufficient. Time delay integration (TDI) cameras can overcome this issue: with an x-ray sensitive area up to 293.4 mm you can inspect any kind of battery, from the smallest to the biggest ones.

Time Delay Integration is a scanning technology in which a frame transfer device produces a continuous video image of a moving object by means of a stack of linear arrays aligned with and synchronized to the motion of the object to be imaged. Based on this, as the image moves from one line to the next, the integrated charge moves along with it, providing higher resolution at lower light levels compared to linear scan camera. 

The C12300 series enables high-definition inline inspection due to its high resolution of 48 µm/pixel and its capability to acquire distortion-free images without stopping moving objects. It can acquire images at a maximum scanning speed of 50 kHz, resulting ideal for high-speed inspection of cylindrical LiBs where many objects are carried in continuously.

High-resolution and high-speed inspection can be achieved by combining an X-ray TDI camera with a microfocus X-ray source.