Integrated panel mount pump drive solution

Four DriveSure peristaltic units are mounted to a spray deposition system for thin film batteries that will aid R&D at a leading university. The use of DriveSure removed any risks for M-Solv associated with the separate specification of pump motor, gearbox and drives. Such risks include the incorrect matching of drive output torque to the design torque requirement of the pumphead throughout the pump operating range. Furthermore, the units proved easy to fit, set up and control via analogue signals.

"We recently encountered a new application involving a spray deposition system for thin film batteries,” explains the company’s strategic technologist, Dr. Taku Sato. "The spraying takes place in a ‘glove box’ – a sealed container filled with gases such as nitrogen for the processing of sensitive materials.”

To facilitate the spraying, M-Solv opted to use DriveSure, an integrated range of brushless DC drives and combined speed control board for pumps in panel-mount OEM peristaltic applications. DriveSure can be integrated with Watson-Marlow 100, 300 or 500 series pumpheads and is designed for applications delivering flows up to 6100ml/min with a 50:1 turndown speed achievable.

"We had used DriveSureTM units previously in an inkjet application – controlling fluid flow for an ink delivery system – and it proved very successful,” says Dr. Sato. "As a result, we returned to Watson-Marlow for pumps for the spray deposition system.”

How it works

In the new application at M-Solv, four DriveSure units (one for each spray head) are deployed in a pneumatic spray deposition system. Each DriveSure pump is mounted in line with its spray head and connected to a reservoir containing the fluid to be applied. The substrate, in this case a thin film battery, is then moved beneath the spray head to receive the fluid at a flow rate of between 1 and 50ml/min.

"Key attributes of DriveSure that lend themselves to this particular system are flow rate, accuracy and pulse suppression,” states Dr. Sato.

The system will be used at a university for R&D purposes, although according to Dr. Sato, it has the potential to be scaled-up commercially if demand should materialise.