technical report
Manufacturing Lithium-ion Batteries in Gloveboxes vs. Dry Rooms and the Effects on Battery Efficiency, Safety, Quality and Overall Production Cost
- Sales Manager, MBraun Company
- Marketing Coordinator, MBraun Company
Unlike dry rooms, where a number of battery manufacturers currently produce batteries, gloveboxes are specifically designed as a flexible controlled manufacturing platform that can be configured to meet real-time production demands. The challenges lithium-ion battery manufacturers face are the ability to produce higher quality batteries in a safe, clean, efficient and flexible working environment. Incorporating gloveboxes in the production line better helps manufacturers meet the challenges by lowering overall operation cost and allowing greater flexibility in meeting the changing demands of lithium-ion manufacturing. Gloveboxes achieve greater control of the atmosphere compared to dry rooms where the environment is most often determined by a number of outside influencing factors like regional climate change and the number of operators working inside the dry room. To solve the challenges manufacturers face with lowering production cost and improving quality, companies need to adopt a new way of manufacturing. Incorporating gloveboxes and/or integrating gloveboxes with existing dry rooms for lithium-ion production lines is the best way to meet todays growing demand.
Gloveboxes offer a flexible production environment that operates efficiently, safely, and with minimal operating cost when compared directly to dry rooms. A growing number of today’s most advanced battery manufacturers have incorporated gloveboxes into their lithium-ion production lines to produce a higher quality product. Other manufacturers have the opportunity to reduce cost and increase product quality in all aspects of lithium-ion production. In the production process, gloveboxes protect lithium-ion batteries from harmful contaminates such as water along with protecting the operator from the material. The protection using gloveboxes in battery manufacturing greatly improves the quality of the products’ lifetime and provides a safe working environment for the operator.
MBraun offers two production processes in lithium-ion battery manufacturing along with their standard gloveboxes that are widely used for post-battery production testing. The first MBraun production process is the manual operation process where gloveboxes are typically incorporated into the dosing and sealing stages of the production process. The second production process is the automated process. The manual process includes five stages of lithium-ion battery development. The first stage accomplished inside a dry room includes the forming and punching stages of the battery. The second stage accomplished inside the dry room is the stacking, loading, folding and sealing of the batteries. The third stage which is done inside the MBraun glovebox includes the electrolyte dosing and vacuum sealing of the batteries. To insure product quality and efficiency, it is vital that this stage is completed in an atmosphere that is free of oxygen and moisture concentrations. The glovebox can also be integrated into the dry room for this process to take place. Stage four contains the degas and reseal of the batteries. The last and final stage is stage five of the lithium-ion battery manufacturing where the cutting and folding of the batteries takes place.
The fully automatic process allows for complete atmosphere control in all aspects of lithium-ion battery manufacturing. The glovebox system is modular in design where the production space within the glovebox can be increased by simply upgrading to additional gloveboxes or minimized by eliminating gloveboxes to meet changing production demands. The flexibility of gloveboxes in the production environment better enables manufacturers to meet the demand for lithium-ion batteries more efficiently, safely and cost effectively. The glovebox atmosphere is easily maintained while operators transport material in and out of the glovebox through vacuum antechambers and access doors. Special doors with docking mechanisms allow the transportation of heavy goods while glovebox filters prevent contamination of the atmosphere and inside illumination provides a bright working space. MBraun gloveboxes offer a stable base plate made of 30mm thick plated stainless steel. Other special glovebox configurations include, but are not limited to T-Shaped glovebox chambers and special integration features into existing dry room production spaces.
The glovebox atmosphere is properly maintained with levels of less than 1 part per million oxygen and moisture. MBraun maintains low levels through the use of our industry leading gas purification systems. Like our gloveboxes MBRAUN manufactures a large variety of gas purification systems specifically designed to purify the glovebox atmosphere. The MB 300-G-W-VA gas purification system achieves c(O2,H20) < 1 ppm in enclosures up to VBox=10 m3 complying with ISO 10648. The gas purifier features two filter systems with automatic filter regeneration for continuous operation with no production downtime. Auto purge is also incorporated into the gas purifier in case concentration levels rise, the system will automatically purge the glovebox. The gas purifier system is easy to use through a touch screen controller with nearly no consumables to worry about. Optional features include a solvent removal system to effectively remove solvent vapors from the atmosphere. MBraun gloveboxes can be utilized for all aspects of lithium-ion battery research, development and production. MBraun manufactures standard glovebox systems for post-battery production where quality control, performance and efficiency can be accurately measured. MBraun gloveboxes can also be directly integrated into existing dry room production lines and can be custom designed to meet your specific application requirements. Our systems provide the highest attainable atmosphere purity levels during the production process, and the fully automated touch screen display system offers a user-friendly work space. MBraun gloveboxes are extremely user- oriented, low maintenance, easy to extend and have much lower costs of ownership compared to the dry room production space.
Glovebox and Dry Room Direct Comparison
In a direct comparison with dry room production processes, gloveboxes are simple to extend since they are modular in design and dry rooms in most cases need new rooms to be built in order to meet demand. Operators are much more efficient in a glovebox due to the fact that they can work continuously at a glove box compared to the health indicated work breaks they have to. Gloveboxes provide a much cleaner, healthier process where operators are not exposed to the unhealthy working conditions found in most battery production lines. Gloveboxes have the ability to maintain a constant atmosphere that is not dependent on regional climate or the number of operators working inside the glovebox where dry room atmospheres are often dependent on both factors. On average one dry room operator equals 110g of moisture per hour. During normal operation the dry room atmosphere will change more frequently as operators move in and out of the space which drives up energy costs to maintain desired parameters. Energy consumption can increase ten to fifty times higher in a dry room compared to a glovebox. In an MBraun glovebox, lithium-ion battery manufacturers save production time, operation cost and improve overall quality. Improving these key elements in the production process of lithium-ion batteries enables manufacturers to overcome challenges and be better prepared to meet the demands of the changing marketplace.
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