Interested in a Mini-Environment Solution for Your Battery Cell Production?

Mini-environments are compact cleanrooms and dry rooms designed to isolate the production process. They provide the necessary pure and extremely dry air directly at the point of use. Meanwhile, the rest of the manufacturing facility maintains moderate ambient conditions, which are adequate for safe production processes. 

Mini-environments are a game changer for battery cell production as they can significantly reduce production costs and thus increase competitiveness in Germany and Europe. The key cost factor that mini-environments address is energy consumption. The provision of the required clean and extremely dry air in conventional clean and dry rooms is extremely energy-intensive. It accounts for 25 to 50% of the total energy consumption in battery cell production. According to initial calculations, mini-environments can reduce energy requirements by 70 to 80 per cent, thus making production significantly cheaper. 

The main advantage is the energy saving of 70 to 80% compared to the use of conventional clean and dry rooms. Additional benefits include a smaller carbon footprint, greater process reliability and improved product quality. This is possible because the very low dew points can be precisely controlled at the point of use, ensuring stable dew point conditions.  

Mini-environments offer two further advantages in relation to operating personnel: unlike the extremely dry air of a dry room, personnel can work in the moderately air-conditioned environments of mini-environments for long periods without difficulty. Simultaneously, operators no longer introduce moisture into the mini-environments as a disturbance variable. This simplifies air management and further reduces energy consumption. 

Several manufacturers are currently developing specific encapsulations for the production environment of battery cells. A standardized term for these closed, separate areas has not yet been established. We are guided by the relevant VDI guideline 2083, page 16.2, and call our solution “Mini-Environment”. Other manufacturers use the term “micro-environments”, but mean the same thing from a technical point of view. 

Air management is the key factor in battery cell production and determines safe production conditions as well as the performance and number of charging and discharging cycles of the battery. As the materials used are highly sensitive to moisture, it is essential to maintain the specified air dryness throughout each step of the production process.  

In the QueEn project , leading companies and research institutions are collaboratively developing a mini-environment concept to make battery cell production more cost-effective and environmentally sustainable. Weiss Klimatechnik is responsible for the air management in this consortium. As a specialist in clean and dry rooms, Weiss Klimatechnik is developing the drying technology and air management. 

The main challenge is to maintain constant dew point conditions of up to -60°C in an economical manner under real production conditions. Weiss Klimatechnik is contributing its decades of experience in the design of dry rooms for industry and research. The result is an efficient, innovative air management system for mini-environments that ensures optimal product quality and significantly reduces manufacturing costs. 

Yes, our product makes that possible.