Laser cleaning is hailed as "the most promising green cleaning technology of the 21st century." It can alter the grain structure and orientation of a substrate surface and control surface roughness without damaging the substrate, thereby improving the overall performance of the substrate. With accelerated industrialization and the advancement of "dual carbon" goals, laser cleaning is gradually replacing traditional cleaning processes in many fields, becoming a key equipment manufacturing technology in high-end manufacturing sectors such as industry, military, shipbuilding, and aerospace.

The concept of laser cleaning originated in the mid-1980s. Its principle is based on the characteristics of laser beams, such as high energy density, controllable direction, and strong focusing ability. The laser interacts with contaminants such as oil, rust, dust, and coatings on the workpiece substrate, causing the contaminants to separate from the workpiece substrate through instantaneous thermal expansion, melting, and volatilization.

The laser cleaning process mainly includes laser vaporization decomposition, laser separation, thermal expansion of contaminant particles, substrate surface vibration, and contaminant detachment. Currently, methods such as laser ablation cleaning, liquid film-assisted laser cleaning, and laser shockwave cleaning exist, which can stably and effectively clean the surfaces of regular substrates such as metals, alloys, glass, and various composite materials.

Laser cleaning has become the mainstream method for battery surface treatment, widely used in the three main power battery production processes: electrode manufacturing, cell fabrication, and battery assembly. Computer-integrated control of the laser, cleaning head, and control software significantly improves battery manufacturing processes.

In current collector laser cleaning, the metal foil strips need to be cleaned when coating electrode materials on the positive and negative current collectors. Common positive current collectors are aluminum foil, and negative current collectors are copper foil, requiring a purity exceeding 98% to ensure internal battery stability. Compared to traditional wet ethanol cleaning, which can easily damage other components of lithium batteries, laser cleaning of metal foil is more efficient, more resource-saving, and allows for real-time monitoring and quantitative judgment of cleaning data, improving the consistency of electrode batch production.

Regarding laser cleaning before battery welding, laser welding has become standard practice on power battery production lines, used for welding tabs, sealing nails, etc. Surface treatment of various parts before welding removes contaminants, effectively improving welding quality and reducing costs. Laser cleaning can be used to clean sealing nails and adapter plates in battery cells, as well as electrode posts and terminals in module sections, removing dirt and dust to prepare for welding and reduce defective products.

During battery assembly, to prevent lithium battery safety accidents, insulating adhesive must be applied to the outside of the battery cells. Taking Xiangming Laser's battery box cover cleaning project as an example, this project demonstrates excellent fully automated characteristics. In a short time, its equipment can clean different shaped parts of the battery box cover. This is thanks to the advanced technologies used, such as visual recognition and visual inspection. The equipment can accurately identify the contours and dirt distribution of various parts of the box cover, intelligently plan the cleaning path, and efficiently remove dirt from CMT welds on the battery pack tray, electrophoretic paint on the top cover, etc., improving the adhesion of adhesive or glue. Furthermore, the entire cleaning process generates no harmful pollutants, fully meeting environmental protection requirements and greatly improving the efficiency and quality of the battery assembly process.