Public Funding for Mev Limited

The decarbonisation of the transport sector in the UK, will see the migration from solely internal combustion powered vehicles to electric or hybrid vehicles only, as early as 2030\. This will result in the exponential growth of spent Electric Vehicle (EV) batteries stockpiled, as they must be replaced every 7-10 years. After this period, the EV batteries may still hold as much as 80% of their capacity, which often can be used in other applications. Our consortium is developing a fast automated process, **Batt2TheFuture** to enable fast sorting of battery cells to rebuild high quality and consistent second-generation battery packs. **Batt2TheFuture** is an automated process that uses disruptive ultrasound technology, machine vision and AI algorithms to inspect and grade spent battery cells. The process inspects each cell from a battery pack/module and then grades them according to their respective State of Health (SoH) and State of Charge (SoC). The technology combination enables in-depth inspection, increased speed of cell assessment and processing capacity scalability -- these have been missing in current spent battery inspection solutions on the market. Based on the results of the assessment, the cells are sorted and refurbished in preparation for their second-life . The repurposed battery packs are then deployed to applications whose power requirements align with their SoH and SoC values. This will extend the life cycle of the spent EV batteries, thereby drastically reducing battery waste and the lifetime cost of the battery. Therefore, **Batt2TheFuture** will facilitate the utilisation of the full value of spent EV batteries as well as contributing towards ensuring that the decarbonisation of the transport sector will not just be a transfer of carbon emissions from the vehicles themselves to battery raw material extraction.

Since 2003 MEV, in collaboration with Belltech have developed a small range of conventional Ultrasonic NDT systems that are among the most accurate and compact systems in the world. We achieved this by applying the latest technology and expertise in custom logic design, embedded software, analogue and digital electronics. We aim to grow from being a niche, specialist supplier to a major international supplier. Ultrasonic NDT systems have been in existence for over twenty-five years. They use ultrasound signals to inspect the interior structure of objects made of Metal and other materials. This can detect defects in service before they cause problems and identify faulty parts before installation. We supply a vast number of systems that are adapted to work underwater, for instance in nuclear installations and to inspect subsea oil pipelines and communication cables. In this application, the system is generally enclosed in a remotely operated vessel (ROV). Small size (to reduce size, complexity and cost of ROV) is critical. Fast processing (to reduce time needed for specialist ROV operation) is also essential to keep NDT inspections cost-effective. Phased Array Ultrasonic NDT (PAUT) systems have been in existence approximately a decade. They use more signals from multiple probes, ‘fired’ sequentially to produce images in real time. The use of multiple probes allows the field of view of the system to be steered without moving the probe assembly. The increasing use of composite materials needs the higher testing performance of PAUT systems. The aim of the proposed project is to develop a PAUT system that is systematically superior to existing systems. We will employ new techniques and components to simplify the signal chain. This will improve accuracy, reduce size (two fold improvement) and speed up operation (eight fold improvement).