High-Pressure Water Jet Coating Removal
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Solution Overview
Problem
Current methods for recycling lithium-ion batteries, such as those used in electric cars, face challenges in non-destructively detaching thin coatings from metal foils without contaminating the recovered materials with foil scraps, which are essential for maintaining the usability of the coatings.
Innovation Solution
The method involves transporting metal foils between perforated plastic conveyor belts and directing high-pressure water jets onto the foils to detach the coatings, with the detached coatings being carried away and filtered out, using a system that includes rigid plates for support and a closed-loop water recycling process to prevent damage and contamination.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Productivity
If high-pressure water jets are used to detach coatings from metal foils, then the detachment efficiency is improved, but the metal foils may be destroyed or contaminated by foil scraps
Solution Approach 1:
The process is divided into multiple sequential stations, each performing a specific function (coating detachment, foil cleaning, foil drying) to handle the delicate operation in controlled steps, preventing foil damage while maintaining detachment efficiency
Solution Approach 2:
A support plate is introduced as an intermediary element between the water jets and the metal foil. The support plate receives the impact of high-pressure water jets, preventing direct damage to the thin metal foil while still allowing effective coating detachment
2Ease of manufacture
If conventional water jet cleaning is used to remove active material from current collectors, then the cleaning process is simple, but the thin metal foils are destroyed and the coating becomes contaminated
Solution Approach 1:
The cleaning process is segmented into multiple stations with different functions (detachment, cleaning, drying), allowing each station to be optimized for its specific task while maintaining overall process simplicity and ensuring coating purity through controlled operations at each stage
Solution Approach 2:
The support plate serves as a mediator that enables the use of high-pressure water jets without transferring the harmful impact forces to the thin metal foil, thus maintaining both process effectiveness and coating integrity
Applied Scientific Principles
This section explains which scientific principles are used to turn an abstract innovation direction into a practical engineering solution.
Function Achieved in This Case
This approach enables the non-destructive, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective recovery of coatings and foils, ensuring the coatings remain usable and the process is gentle on the environment, using water without chemicals.
Implementation Method 1
guided past high-pressure nozzles, which direct water jets at high pressure onto the conveyor belts
Implementation Method 2
the detached coating is transported away with the outflowing water to a filter device and is filtered out of the filter device from the water
Data Source
Figure 1
Figure 2
AI summary
The method for stripping coatings from metallic foils, preferably coated on both sides, is characterized in that the foils are transported between two superimposed perforated plastic conveyor belts and guided past high-pressure nozzles which direct jets of water at high pressure from above and/or below onto the foils between the plastic conveyor belts, causing the coating to detach, and that the detached coating is transported with the flowing water to a filter device and filtered out of the water by this device.