Li Ion Battery Electrode Coating Machines
For liquid electrolyte and polymer electrolyte Lithium Ion Batteries.
AEM'S Electrode Coaters provide a proven and economical alternative for R & D or production of battery electrodes. And, AEM's San Diego based engineering team is ready to provide the closest customer support for development efforts and special applications.
AEM's coaters are designed for depositing electrode slurry onto foil or polymer sheet, then drying and winding up. They can coat incremental, two sided electrode, or single side continuous. These machinese are especially compact and energy efficient. Ease of use and fast material change over has been designed into the machines since many of our customers are working is a start up mode.
Coating System
The knife over roll coating head rests on the surface of the coating reference roller. This compensates for any run-out in the roller. A gating system is provided that allows the flow of slurry to be stopped and restarted repeatedly, producing an incremental coating pattern. The length of the coated and uncoated segments and rheology tuning are variable and are set at the operator control panel. Coating head motions for starting and stopping the flow of slurry are tied to the velocity and distance of the web motion.
Slurry is fed to the coating head from a pressurized slurry tank. One 15 liter stainless steel tank is supplied that is equipped with air driven stirrer to prevent settling of the solids during the coating run. Control of the slurry level in the coating head is provided by a fiber optic sensor controlling a valve that stops the flow as the slurry level rises to pre-set level. The slurry handling system is designed for ease of disassembly and cleaning. Change over between different slurry types can be accomplished in around 15 minutes.
Drying System
A unique drying system allows the machine to be unusually compact. Heat for drying the slurry is provided by recirculating hot oil and hot air generated by an oil-to-air heat exchanger. The heat is applied to the wet coating from underneath by heating the surfaces over with it passes. A low volume of air is used to sweep away the solvent vapor. Less energy is lost this way in the exhaust air. The oil is heated by an industrial oil heater located outside the explosion hazard area. The operating temperature of the system when NMP is the binder solvent is approximately 150 deg. C (302 deg F). Three drying zones plus drying air temperature are independently controlled. This makes the use of fast drying solvents like acetone possible. The total length of the drying surfaces is 6 m (19 feet). The entire coating operation is conducted in filtered air.
Explosion safety is provided by air purging and intrinsically safe wiring in the drying chamber. Web transport is designed to allow the use of a wide range of substrate materials from 12 micron copper foils to 50 micron Mylar. Coating/Drying rate of 2 m/min is typical with NMP based slurry.
Model 2147
Model 2160
Model 2163
Other options on request |
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