From Battery Manufacturing to Smart Grids: Towards a Metaverse for the Energy Sciences

Abstract

We present two digital-based serious games aiming to engage students and the general public with battery sciences. The first one is a multiscale simulator in Mixed Reality of a battery-powered Electric Vehicle (EV) interacting with an Electrical Grid. One of the players drives the EV in a Virtual Reality (VR) environment where the EV can be recharged, and the other players control the electricity produced, distributed, consumed and stored by interacting with 3D-printed devices. The second serious game is a digital twin of a lithium ion battery manufacturing pilot line, which can be played from an Internet Browser or by using VR hardware. The key steps of the manufacturing process of cylindrical cells are represented in an interactive way. We discuss our games working principles, their implications for motivation, engagement and learning, and why they pave the way towards new ways of collaborative R&D in the battery field.

Combining Virtual Reality with Mixed Reality for Efficient Training in Battery Manufacturing

“…To this end, tools using VR and VR interacting with real objects, have already been developed in Prof. Alejandro A. Franco's research group at Laboratoire de Réactivité et Chimie des Solides (LRCS) of the Université de Picardie Jules Verne (Amiens, France). [35,36] For instance, we have developed a VR serious game in which the user drives an electric car with a chosen type of battery and has to collect three gifts placed on a virtual map. While driving the car, the user sees a 3D microstructure of the battery cell cathode that evolves as the car is used.…”

“…[35] We have already reported the technical details and case studies about these serious games and others in previous publications. [35][36][37] We have also developed and analyzed a VR digital twin of our battery manufacturing pilot line, Simubat 4.0 Gen-1, also usable from the web (Figure 2). [36,38] With Simubat 4.0 Gen-1 it was possible to explore our battery pilot line using VR allowing users to immerse themselves in it and virtually manufacture a cell by going through all manufacturing steps in a sequential manner.…”

“…[35][36][37] We have also developed and analyzed a VR digital twin of our battery manufacturing pilot line, Simubat 4.0 Gen-1, also usable from the web (Figure 2). [36,38] With Simubat 4.0 Gen-1 it was possible to explore our battery pilot line using VR allowing users to immerse themselves in it and virtually manufacture a cell by going through all manufacturing steps in a sequential manner. At each step, the user has to choose the right input parameters so that the electrochemical properties of the battery cell match with the objectives set at the first step.…”

“…At each step, the user has to choose the right input parameters so that the electrochemical properties of the battery cell match with the objectives set at the first step. [36] Simubat 4.0 Gen-2, discussed in this Concept, uses the virtual environment from Gen 1 and adds an innovative MR functionality (Figure 3). Simubat 4.0 Gen-2 (Figure 4) responds to a strong need arising from the construction of several battery Gigafactories, particularly in the Hauts de France region, home of our Université de Picardie Jules Verne.…”

From Battery Manufacturing to Smart Grids: Towards a Metaverse for the Energy Sciences**

“…The game was primarily developed to be played in a VR environment by using HTC Vive hardware (Figure 14h and i). But in order to maximize the outreach of this game, specially to make the wide public to discover how battery cells are manufactured, we have decided to develop also a version that can be played from an Internet Browser [41,42] . This strategy is similar to the one we have adopted (motivated by the Covid‐19 pandemics) with the educative game Tortuosity VR [14] for which we also developed a version that can be played from an Internet Browser that was presented by invitation in the European festival Science is Wonderful!…”