Battery & Electrification Technology - May/June 2024 - 14

Battery Manufacturing
Butterfly
Valve
Pressure
Temperature
Footprint
Lifecycles
Flow rates
Open/close
speed
Flow control
Cost
Particles in media
Table 1: ≥ 2-inch pipe.
★★
★★
★
★
★★
★★
★
★★★
★
Gate
Valve
Ball
★★
★★
★
★★
★★★
★
★★★
★
★★★
Cost
Table 2: ¼-2-inch pipe.
How does one know what type of valve
body is best for the material and flow?
Many times, the choice of valve type - ball,
butterfly, gate, angle seat, or solenoid -
rests on installed base or tradition. For example,
water treatment facilities tend to
use butterfly and gate valves for cost-effective
throughput. But some applications, like
slurry mixing and battery recycling, fall into
a gray area where multiple valve types can
fulfill the requirements of the application,
and there is not always one right answer or
a clear preference.
The principal reason to consider butterA
control valve assembly, foreground, includes
these parts, from top to bottom:
Festo SRBC/SRBE limit switch, VSNC pilot
valve, DFPD quarter-turn actuator, MS6 filter
regulator, and KVZA butterfly valve.
Hundreds of control valve assemblies, rear,
are destined for
a battery gigafactory.
(Image: Festo)
manufacture represents a complex interaction
of materials added in precise proportions,
at exacting intervals, and mechanically
mixed to the proper degree so that
the slurry meets a host of rheology, dispersal,
and sheer properties. Control valves are
the means of precise ingress and egress of
powders, liquids, and slurries.
A battery gigafactory uses upward of
5,000 control valves in the battery slurry
manufacturing process. The valves exhibit
fast and repeatable opening and closing
based on the slurry formulation process.
Each control valve assembly typically comprises
a limit switch, pilot valve, positioner,
a pneumatically powered linear or rotary
actuator, valve body, and filter regulator.
14
A Festo CPX-MPA valve terminal controller,
bottom center, DFPC linear actuator for a gate
valve, left, and a KVZA butterfly valve assembly,
right, simulate the automated extraction
process of precious materials from a slurry of
shredded EV batteries. (Image: Festo)
In slurry batch processing, many different
types of valves and valve sizes are
used. For example, the size of the piping
and the pressure exerted by the flow of
liquid at one point in the mixing process
is so strong that the plant specified the
largest Festo DFPD quarter-turn actuators,
rated at up to 517 lbf (2300 N) of torque.
Valve Types and Applications
The choice of the control valve begins
with the valve body and continues out from
there to include the other components
such as switches, pilot valves, and actuators.
fly and gate valves for pipes 2 inches and
larger is because these valves scale up to
larger sizes more cost effectively than ball,
angle seat, and solenoid valves. Butterfly
valves have the best price of the two, and
they are the easiest and most cost-effective
to automate. Thousands of butterfly
valves are in use at gigafactories.
Gate valves, on the other hand, are best
for slurry, sludge, and high particulate
media, as well as proportional control
applications. Table 1 shows how the two
standard industrial valves compare in
relative terms to important considerations
for automated applications. A single
★ rating has the lowest relative value
in the category while a ★★★ rating offers
the highest.
As pressure and/or temperature increases,
ball and angle seat valves provide
an overall advantage due to the standardization
on highly resilient materials like
stainless steel housings and PTFE seats.
However, the larger an angle seat valve
becomes, the lower its pressure rating,
Battery & Electrification Technology, May/June 2024
Pressure
Temperature
Footprint
Lifecycles
Flow rate
Open/close speed
Flow control
Valve
★★★
★★★
★★
★
★★★
★★
★★
(V-Port for
proportional)
★★
Angle Seat
Valve
★★
★★★
★★★
★★★
★★
★★★
★★★
(Conical seat for
proportional)
★★
★★★
Solenoid
Valve
★
★
★★★
★★★
★★
★
★
Battery & Electrification Technology - May/June 2024

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