On November 16th, 2023, the 25th China Hi-Tech Fair ushered in a weightier scientific and technological achievements conference. As a high-performance semiconductor laser chips and solutions supplier, At the high-tech fair, LEMON Photonics with KATOP brought the results of [coating machine laser drying technology]. and Mr. Chalier Cai, the marketing director of LEMON Photonics, delivered a speech. The coating laser drying technology has obtained 1 utility model patent authorization and 2 inventions are in the public.
The core laser source of the [coating machine laser drying technology] in the press conference is the LEMON Photonics' high-power VCSEL laser heating engine.
Beacause of narrow spectrum absorption and high power density , VCSEL laser heating engine can be processed quickly in coating drying processes. VCSEL partition control mode can achieve accurate within 5mm according to the material and drying speed, and improve drying uniformity. VCSEL array can be extended wide width according to different production lines.
The operating temperature of the VCSEL laser chip is about 20℃, which is conducive on the positive electrode coating. Our test experiments show that 1m length VCSEL array corresponds to the coating speed of 3m/min, under flat surface electrode and no ventilation test enviroment.
Thick electrode coatings required longer drying time and higher drying temperature, and the quality of the coating will decrease. Air-heat drying process has reached its limit, while VCSEL laser drying can smooth the temperature gradient and reduce cracking.
Compared with the traditional air-heat heating process, VCSEL laser has higher power density, higher efficiency, faster drying speed, and strong laser penetration, which can realize simultaneous heating of the coating inside and the surface. The energy efficiency of the laser is more than 50% of air-heat heating. VCSEL laser drying technology makes the heating equipment system smaller and lower overall cost.
VCSEL's energy density up to 100W/cm², and the drying speed is 10-100 times that of infrared drying. VCSEL service life is 10 times that of infrared lamp. Compared with the infrared lamp drying process, VCSEL has higher reliability, multiple array to avoid accidents, even a few VCSEL array sudden failure will not cause serious accidents.
In addition to the lithium battery coating drying. Laser drying technology can also be applied to other applications such as: composite material heating, large area plastic heating, surface coating processing, tin welding preheating, wafer annealing, photovoltaic cell sintering ect.
