Leading Li-battery manufacturers have ordered adphos BearLITE®-systems for electrode production lines.
The adphos developed and proprietary BearLITE® (Battery electrode advanced rapid Light Initiated Thermal Emission) technology is based on the combination of multi-stage, high power, photonic energy emission with an integrated temperature-controlled defined local mass transfer of the vapor during the drying process of the wet electrode slurry.
Different to all other potential drying systems (e.g. hot air convection, infrared, induction, laser or microwave based) BearLITE® enables the complete drying of wet coating thicknesses of even more than 300 µm within single-digit seconds without cracking or reduced adhesion strength due to binder migration.
BearLITE® is already proven for several dozens of commercial and potential recipes of water and solvent-based anode and cathode slurries. Also the final manufactured cells have proven equivalent or even better cell performance related to capacity and reduced aging (enhanced number of charging/recharging cycles).
The BearLITE® electrode drying process reduces the existing dryer lengths down to a maximum of 15 %. The reduction of energy consumption of 90 % is also gained. In addition, the necessary investment and operating costs for adequate equipment and media infrastructure can be reduced by several factors thanks to the BearLITE®-processing.
While up to now the BearLITE® – technology has been rated with TRL (Technology Readiness Level) 7-8 by several independent technical organizations. The commercial production proof and planned production start of BearLITE® is to be expected for the fourth quarter of 2023.
