In the process of lithium battery coating, the increase of speed, the widening of width and the change of functional coating requirements have put forward higher challenges and requirements for the coating die of the core components of the coating equipment.

In the stock coating die market, imported products, like adding filters, have been advocated by the market in the past. andShenzhen manest Technology Co., Ltd(hereinafter referred to as "manest") as a dark horse in the industry, with its deep technical accumulation and word-of-mouth service reputation, its market share in the new market of coating die is rising, and it has carried the flag of localization of coating die.

The person in charge of manest said that the changes in the high speed and width of the coater have brought revolutionary changes in technology. The flow length ratio will change at high speed, and the original low-speed method may not be available at high speed. At the same time, considering different material systems such as lithium iron phosphate / ternary cathode and graphite / silicon-based cathode, the flow channel will also change differently at high speed.

"The widening of the width is a greater challenge to the die head. On the one hand, it is necessary to improve the accuracy, on the other hand, the design of the flow channel is more difficult. And with the widening of the width, the product requirements of the enterprise are also higher and higher. Therefore, the die head will encounter some problems in the design of the flow channel, and processing will also bring a certain challenge." The person in charge of manest emphasized.

Gaogong lithium learned that Mann Ernst, who is famous for customized coating die design, can design the flow channel of coating die according to the process schemes of different battery enterprises.

At present, the company has solved the problem of stable coating with a high-speed coater with a speed of 120m/min-200m/min and a width of 1.5m-2m, and has been affirmed and endorsed by well-known domestic battery enterprises.

In the process of localization and substitution of coating die, what Mann Ernst wants is not only to overtake in the corner, but also to press the fast forward key of development.

At present, manenst has established long-term and stable cooperative relations with more than 95% of the large and medium-sized battery factories in the country, including domestic well-known enterprises such as catl, ATL, BYD, GuoXuan high tech, Xinwangda, AVIC lithium battery, Lishen, Guangyu (Guanyu), Jiewei power, Nandu power, dofluoro, Ganfeng battery, Lixin energy, Xingheng power, etc.

The person in charge revealed that at this stage, the development of power batteries in the European market is surging, and international battery enterprises pay great attention to Chinese equipment and core parts enterprises. With the support of core technology, actively deploying the European market and going international is the next focus of menenster's strategic planning.

Behind the rising market share

Gaogong lithium battery learned that in the new market share of coating die, most of the products came from Mann Ernst. Although at present, some battery manufacturers still reject domestic die heads, as battery manufacturers strengthen the cost control of coating die heads, they have more detailed research and requirements for their own coating technology. Driven by the continuous progress of domestic coating die head technology, it will be the general trend to replace imports.

Manest believes that the core technology of domestic coating die mainly focuses on processing technology, design ability, adaptability to diversified processes, after-sales service and so on. For Mann Ernst, it is precisely because of the following advantages that the market space can be further opened.

First, processing technology.The accuracy of the die head should be comparable to that of the imported die head, and it should have a series of precision machining technologies such as materials and heat treatment.

Second, a strong design team.As the core element of auxiliary mechanical accuracy, the runner design must be reasonable. If the runner design is unreasonable, no matter how high the accuracy is, it is useless. Therefore, the die company must have deep technical precipitation and strong design ability.

During the interview, the person in charge talked about a detail, that is, when designing the die, the company will design some "redundant" links, such as the width setting of the coating window, so that it can quickly and cheaply correct the width of the coating window for different customers.

The company will also make simulation and prediction according to the customer's process at the beginning of the design. Once problems are found in the later stage, the company also has the ability to solve them together with the customer.

"Such ability cannot be achieved by product plagiarism alone, and there will be no way to correct problems." And this detail just reflects Mann Ernst's technical skills and design strength.

Third, adapt to diverse needs.With more and more functional requirements of battery enterprises, such as the coating of collector edge and the emergence of diversified coatings, the die head should also keep up with the functional requirements.

"Mann Ernst has made great efforts in meeting the requirements of multi-functional coating. The company has a whole layer of coating R & D center. For us, we should not only make the die, but also understand the whole coating process. Of course, we don't sell the process, but if there is a problem, we should know the problem and be able to solve it." The person in charge said.

Fourth, the after-sales service can keep up.In the front coating process, once there is a problem, there will be many factors involved. For a strong mold R & D team, it is also one of the indispensable core values of manest to be able to identify the problem and be able to help the battery factory solve the problem.

In fact, when expanding the Chinese market, imported die enterprises encounter difficulties such as short product service life and delayed maintenance and after-sales, which gives domestic coating die enterprises the opportunity to counter attack. Taking after-sales service as a breakthrough to reflect the value of the enterprise's technology, products and services has also become an important path for manest's market development.

In the future, Mann Ernst will continue to rely on the above four advantages to reflect its own value by providing coating die products.

"So why does the die head not only belong to a processing industry? If it is processed, the market will only become narrower and narrower. We will go deep and thoroughly along the road of combining process equipment."

Closely follow the market to create a value "label"

After the success of localization and substitution of coating die, Mann Ernst continued to follow the market, seek further breakthroughs in technological innovation and market path, and create value-added labels to obtain greater room for growth and achieve longer-term development goals.

What manest needs to do now is to press the fast forward key of its own development, not only to accelerate the replacement of imported products in the Chinese market, but also to preempt the deployment of the European market and further expand its market share.

"Although the current stock market is still dominated by imported die heads from Japan, if Japan does not further realize technology export, their market in China will become smaller and smaller in the future, and the speed of domestic replacement will become faster and faster." The person in charge of manest said.

The basis of its judgment is that with the continuous change and progress of domestic battery technology, the original problems of Japanese coating die are more and more, and its weakness in after-sales service will be compared with the gradually strong problem-solving ability of domestic enterprises, and the competitive advantage of Japanese imported die will be rapidly weakened.

At present, the change of battery technology, the emergence of multi-functional coatings and the change of market demand are forcing domestic coating die enterprises to continuously upgrade their technology, and manest is also enjoying the technological dividends brought by market changes.

The technical director of manest pointed out that the coating die is playing a role in some new technical processes, including CTP scheme, cell size thickening, functional coating iteration, etc; At the same time, the improvement of battery energy density and magnification performance is also making an important contribution, rooted in research and development. Since 2017, manest has provided relevant products for the lithium battery market.

In addition, previously, the client was more concerned about the quality and steady-state performance of the die, but now the client has gradually begun to pay attention to the dynamic process, so the full-automatic die began to generate a certain market demand.

"The company has successfully developed fully automatic die heads as early as 2017, and the market delivery of the company has reached nearly 40 this year. Fully automatic die heads can automatically adapt to the process and realize automatic adjustment, which requires deep learning and cooperation of artificial intelligence. The company has established a professional team in the field of artificial intelligence as early as a few years ago." The person in charge revealed.

In order to further seize market share, Mann Ernst began to focus on the European market. "The company has had separate technical exchanges with battery enterprises in the European market. Now the power battery in the European market is developing rapidly. The coating die is finished in the Chinese market, and the European market is about to start."

Gaogong lithium battery learned that at present, Mann Ernst has invited some returned doctors to join in, specializing in deep-seated theoretical research and related research and development in related fields.

"From the perspective of product technology, there is no problem. But in terms of pure theory, there is still a certain gap between domestic parts and components to meet the level required by foreign countries. The European market likes to explore the bottom of some things, so we will focus on making up for the weakness of theoretical research next." The person in charge of manest said.

It is worth mentioning that in order to meet the growing customer demand, Mann Ernst is preparing for capacity expansion. After completion, the maximum capacity of the die factory will reach 2000 sets / year.

Article source:High tech lithium power grid