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Resolving the Problems High Viscosity Slurry Liquids Create on Production Lines with Smoothflow Pumps

The Smoothflow Pump that significantly reduced costs while simultaneously increasing production efficiency.

Lithium Ion Secondary Battery Manufacturer M

Production Department

Before Smoothflow

・Reduced production efficiency caused by contamination of foreign matter and a decrease in flow rate due to wear.

・Increased maintenance costs due to fast wearing of parts and frequent replacement.

・Since the liquid being handled is a high viscosity liquid, there was a high demand for a suitable pump.

With Smoothflow

・Dramatic improvement in production efficiency due to wear prevention.

・Significant reduction in total costs including maintenance.

・High viscosity slurry liquids could be transported without problems.

Company M, a lithium ion secondary battery manufacturer, constantly has to adapt to change with the times and keep up with cutting technology. With constant price competition from rival companies intensifying, Company M is working on developing products with high added value at low costs.

Problem:

・In this state, do we have no choice but to stop production?

“I thought at the time, given all of the problems we were facing, there was no choice but to stop production,” recalled Mr. S, who was in charge of the lithium ion secondary batteries production line that was causing them trouble. The production efficiency of the line fell below the company specified standard value and eventually fell to 75% of the standard value.

“I knew what the problem was. The pump would wear out over time while transferring the cathode material which would lead to contamination and decreased flow rates. This was the cause of our production efficiency decreasing,” Mr. S explained. The cathode material of this production line was a liquid containing lithium slurry. The flow rate would drop due to wear to the pump from the hard slurry, and this was the reason that Company M’s production efficiency was decreasing.

・The fundamental solution was to replace the pump. However, the demand for specification requirements for the pump was high.

Mr. S undertook the responsibility of the transfer process, and this is when he really started to take notice of the pump that was transferring the cathode materials. “With the pump we were using, no matter what we did the parts would wear out remarkably quickly, and our constant maintenance costs were increasing. We concluded that we have to replace the pump in order to solve our fundamental problems.

Mr. S began working on the selection of the new pump, but here he faced a new problem. “We couldn’t find a pump that could satisfy all of our conditions to smoothly transfer the very high viscosity of the cathode material we handle while also having good resistance to wear. It didn’t seem like we could clear all three of these conditions with only one pump.”

Problem Points:

・The causes of the lowered production efficiency were found in the pumps.

・Finding a pump that can transfer highly viscous fluids with reduced wear to the pump, smoothly and accurately.

Solution:

・A test with the actual transfer liquid before purchase helped wipe out concerns.

Mr. S had tried out a variety of other pumps before finally discovering Tacmina’s Smoothflow Pumps. “We had compared and examined various by that point, but Tacmina’s Smoothflow Pump was outstanding in all aspects of function and performance, cost, and actual achievements in the industry.”

“Since the pump we had been using up to this point was a rotary type pump, the pump’s sliding parts were the parts wearing out. However, unlike conventional rotary pumps, Tacmina’s Smoothflow Pumps don’t have any rotating or sliding parts in the wetted parts section. Therefore, there is no need to worry about wear to the pump and Tacmina has the experience transferring high-viscosity fluids as well as the sales results to prove it. But what really made the decision for us was that Tacmina performed a test for us with our actual transfer liquid in advance before we had to purchase the pump.”

“Honestly, I was pretty skeptical about whether Tacmina could actually transfer our high-viscosity cathode materials while preventing contamination of abrasive powder and reduced flow rates due to wear to the pump. However, thanks to the real liquid test conducted by Tacmina, I was able to confirm the detailed test data they provided and have confidence in my decision to switch to a Smoothflow Pump.

・Dramatically improved production efficiency, combined with drastically reduced running costs.

After implementing Tacmina’s Smoothflow Pump, the effect on production quickly became apparent. “Production efficiency dramatically improved thanks to the wear resistance structure of the pump which suppresses the amount of wear caused by transferring the cathode material. Immediately after installing the pump, we cleared all of our company’s standard value. Also, all of the pump failures due to wear and frequent maintenance problems we had face up and until now have not occurred at all since implementing the Smoothflow Pump,” Mr. S concluded with a cheerful expression since his production efficiency problems could be resolved.

Solution Points:

・Even high-viscosity slurry liquids can be transferred without issues with Tacmina’s Smoothflow Pumps.

・Production efficiency has improved remarkably by changing out the rotary pumps. The running maintenance costs were also greatly reduced as well.

Lithium Ion Secondary Batteries

Details

  • Osaka, Japan
  • TACMINA CORPORATION

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