Recently, Honeycomb Energy released the latest generation of lamination technology 3.0, the lamination efficiency reached 0.125 seconds/piece, which is more than 200% higher than the second generation of 0.45 seconds/piece.
Lamination technology 3.0 integrates pole piece thermal lamination and multi-piece lamination fusion technology, integrates pole piece unwinding, cutting, lamination CCD online monitoring, and hot pressing functions, shortening the sheet material transfer between pole piece coils and laminations , reduce the difference in machining accuracy between the pole pieces and the laminations, and realize the improvement of the yield of the short-knife battery. At the same time, the area per unit of equipment is reduced by more than 40% year-on-year, which greatly saves costs and improves manufacturing efficiency.
Lamination technology - a fierce track of technological change
In order to improve the space utilization and safety of the battery, it has become a trend to make the cell structure longer and thinner, and the module design is canceled, so that the cell is directly arrayed as a structural component in the battery pack.
However, in large-scale production, the yield of long and thin cells is not easy to control. If the more mature winding process in the industry is used, it is easy to occur that the battery consistency is difficult to guarantee due to uneven winding tension.
The industry consensus is that the technological transformation of power batteries is evolving towards high energy density, and the lamination technology can better utilize the advantages of long cells and make them perform better in terms of energy density, safety, and consistency. Adapting to the thinning of the cell length, the lamination technology has also become a fierce track for the "competition" of the next stage of power battery technology.
Process + Supply Chain Innovation
In terms of process, the inspiration for the improvement of the lamination efficiency of Honeycomb Energy comes from the can production line. The original "one flow" equipment concept has been transformed into the concept of batch processing, and multiple pieces can be cut and stacked at the same time on one equipment, which makes it easier to achieve. The high-efficiency output of the organization, under the condition that the cost of single-machine equipment is almost unchanged, the efficiency is doubled.
At the same time, higher efficiency can be achieved on similar platforms. Not only that, Honeycomb has also introduced a large number of cross-industry technologies, absorbed inspiration from equipment in the paper industry, beverage industry, etc., combined with the existing mass-produced lamination technology and structure, fully integrated to form a combined innovative solution.
Lamination technology + short-knife battery is the solution given by Honeycomb Energy to deal with the coming era of power battery TWh.
In October 2021, Honeycomb Energy's first L600 lithium iron phosphate short knife battery was mass-produced at the Jintan factory. This is also the first time that the short knife battery and lamination technology have partnered. The blessing of the lamination process makes the short-knife battery safer and has a longer life. The reason is that the short-knife battery can make better use of the corner space when it is produced by the lamination process, and the force when the pole pieces are stacked is more even and the internal resistance is smaller.
Before the establishment of Honeycomb Energy, it chose to focus on lamination technology. After years of intensive R&D testing and introduction into production, Honeycomb Energy has accumulated solid lamination technology R&D and production experience.
The short-blade battery using the lamination process has passed a series of safety tests with less pole piece stacking and larger heat dissipation area, and the short-blade battery has also won the trust of car owners for its safety. Judging from the electric load supporting situation, the Ora Lightning Cat equipped with the Honeycomb Energy Knife Battery was launched recently and was an instant hit, and the orders quickly exceeded 10,000.
From the first generation of 0.6 seconds/piece to the second generation of 0.45/piece, the honeycomb energy lamination technology is constantly evolving. At present, lamination 3.0 has been planned in the honeycomb energy mass production line. As the new bases are put into operation one after another, the production capacity of short-knife batteries will be released rapidly.
