The UK Battery Industrialisation Centre (UKBIC) has added a British‑built Genesis Air Mini coater from engineering firm E+R (Emerson & Renwick) to its new Flexible Pilot Line (FPL).
The compact coater is designed for low‑volume, low‑speed operation ahead of scale‑up, giving organisations the chance to produce electrode coatings in representative roll‑to‑roll conditions without committing to full industrial throughput.
By integrating the coater into the FPL, UKBIC strengthens its offer to companies looking to move from laboratory work towards commercial manufacturing. The line provides a more agile and cost‑effective development route than the centre’s larger Industrial Scale‑up Line, supporting early‑stage process refinement and material evaluation.
Mark Field, process engineer electrode, said, “We’re delighted to have been able to buy British with E+R’s coater, which will help us minimise clean-up between batch changes. That helps faster iterations and testing of new materials and formulations, which are a critical step in advancing and scaling up battery technology.”
The system features dual HMI screens that separate machine control from metrology data, a Keyence laser profiler, and a µEpsilon CS2 capacitive sensor array providing live measurements of edge meniscus height and dry coating thickness. Its 120° rotation and ±5° tilt allow a range of coating geometries and tensioned‑web modes with minimal change parts.
Andrew Jack, sales director of E+R, said, “We’re delighted to see our British made Genesis Mini coater installed at UKBIC. Our compact, flexible coater is designed to accelerate the development of next-generation battery technologies.”
The installation complements other recent additions at UKBIC, including the Battery Development Laboratory, Cell Cycling facility, and the Clean and Dry Zone.
