Sig and Matt, I remember a post with a link to a Coater/Laminator mfr that included a picture of the machine. I have not found it yet- perhaps someone else remembers approximately when it was or remembers posting it. As I was searching, I came upon something I posted in November that fits with having one of four machines in Henderson. Here are some excerpts:
<<Hi John, Re your comments on Don W.'s $80 to $100 projection, I just spoke with an analyst who paid the $1600 admission to the AEA conference and attended one of Valence's presentations.
Having followed the company for 2-3 years, it is the first time he has ever heard definite, positive and unqualified statements such as "WE WILL BE THE DOMINANT PRODUCERS OF LAPTOP AND CELLPHONE BATTERIES IN 1998"
The first laptop batteries will be CD-Rom drive size.
As mentioned briefly during a prior conf call, to solve quality problems with raw materials from outside vendors, the company has installed three of their own "coaters"(to make laminate material) for a combined capacity of 60 million cells per year in the Ireland plant. I would infer that this translates to 20 million per line.>>
Looking back, It appears that 3 of the 4 had arrived in NI in November. There were some delays with delivery times, and the fourth was shipped to and is making small runs in Henderson.
I have seen many automated batching systems for mixing ingredients in specific ratios. Not having seen this particularly equipment, I can only imagine that there could be several ingredient weighing tanks suspended on scales, or one main mixing tank suspended on or by "load cells"(scales) that transmit measured weight to a computer. When the target weight for a liquid ingredient is near the desired value, the larger of two flow valves closes, leaving only the "dribble" valve (5% max flow) open until the desired weight is indicated to avoid overshooting. Powders are usually assisted by vibrators to flow by gravity from tapered hoppers.
It is likely that the main mix tank is constructed of stainless steel and has one or more agitators (mixer blades) that turn as the ingredients are added, perhaps at varying speeds through the mixing cycle. Heat may be generated by chemical reaction and by mixing itself so temperature is likely monitored. The two most basic parameters are time and temperature for each mixing step. Certain chemical or electrical properties may also be factors.
To have un-interrupted flow to a coater/laminator machine it would require a tank to store batches of the mixed "goo" where the material is pumped at a closely-controlled rate to correspond with the speed of the machine. Otherwise, the coater/laminator may have its own storage tank with hi/low level controls.
As I understand it, the coater/laminators produce flat sheets of material with carefully-controlled thickness. The material is then cut into the 4x4" wafers (for laptops), two of which ,when stacked with electrode assemblies, constitute a bi-cell. I recall that the high-speed assembly machines can produce 240 bi-cells per minute.
Again, I have never seen the equipment Valence is using, and whenever I asked for details, I was told they were proprietary. My description probably differs substantially from what is actually installed, but it represents how I would picture it from my experience and the pieces of information I was able to acquire.
Regards, FMK |
