Comau has been showcasing its innovative battery cell formation system, which is specifically designed to support small batch operations, at the Battery Show Europe in Stuttgart.
The Lab Fixtures for Formation and Testing solution is a modular and highly adaptable battery cell formation system created to support small-batch and laboratory-scale operations.
First developed for the National Institute of Chemistry in Slovenia, the company claim its flexible and easy-to-use platform ensures secure handling activities and allows testing of multiple sizes and formats of advanced cell technologies at varying working temperatures. In doing so, it helps expedite product validation and reduce time-to-market, while also enhancing safety and efficiency.
Comau also introduced the Racer-5 sensitive environments robot, a high-speed, compact, articulated robot, expressly designed for cleanroom and dry-room compliance. The firm say it is suitable for sensitive processes such as battery cell formation and electronics manufacturing, and that Racer-5 SE ensures precision handling and operational efficiency in contamination-controlled environments.
Comau has also entered into a collaboration with Intecells to optimise the use of cold plasma within industrial cell manufacturing processes. Comau will work with Intecells to develop a cost-effective technology path for customers looking to integrate the innovative, patented, technology within existing cell manufacturing lines.
The plasma-based solution available today is claimed to reduce cycle time and energy consumption in soaking and drying when added to existing cell manufacturing lines, while also improving cell capacity, cyclability and production quality across a full range of battery types and sizes.
As a further step, a plasma-based solution under development seems to be reducing significantly the process steps along the cell manufacturing process. The final target is to reduce investments by 50% and halve energy consumption and carbon emissions.
Image credit: Comau
