Achieve 5-fold expansion in 2 years: SOFC ceramic printing process rapidly enters fully automated large-scale production from research and development

JYUTEC has helped SOFC solid-state battery manufacturers overcome numerous technical challenges and achieved rapid breakthroughs in SOFC ceramic thick film printing technology from research and development to fully automated mass production.

Case Details

As a leader in the research and development of electronic specialized materials, a certain enterprise has been committed to innovation and breakthroughs in new energy technology. Mainly research and produce SOFC cell (semi-solid oxide fuel cell) technology upgrade products.

Challenges and Needs
SOFC technology, as an efficient energy conversion technology, can efficiently convert the chemical energy of various fuel gases (such as natural gas, landfill gas, coal gas, methanol, etc.) into electrical energy. The thick film printing process of SOFC ceramic chips, as a key link in the early stage, faces many process difficulties such as uneven printing, inaccurate overprinting, substrate deformation, and adhesive sticking caused by thick slurry. To overcome these challenges, companies urgently need to find a partner who can provide specialized and systematic solutions.

Search and Contact
In order to find suitable partners, the company conducted extensive market research. In the end, the company chose JYUTEC, which has rich process experience and professional technical strength in the field of thick film screen printing。

Inspection and communication
In order to further understand the strength and equipment quality of JYUTEC, the company's technical team visited JYUTEC for on-site inspection in September 2022. Through on-site inspection and in-depth communication, the technical team highly recognized JYUTEC's equipment performance, technical strength, and professional services. Especially in response to the technical challenges and market demands they are currently facing, JYUTEC has provided a practical and feasible complete set of process solutions and technical recommendations.

Collaboration and Verification
After on-site investigation and communication, the company has officially decided to cooperate with JYUTEC. In October 2022, the company ordered one high-precision thick film screen printing machine IC-200A-LTCC for preliminary process validation. After the equipment was shipped, JYUTEC responded quickly and arranged for technical personnel to go to the customer's site for equipment debugging and process verification. During the experiment, JYUTEC worked closely with the company and, through multiple trials and tests, ensured the feasibility and reliability of the printing process, solving multiple technical and practical problems.

Deepening and Expanding
Due to the successful validation of the previous process, the company has decided to further expand the scale of cooperation. In February 2023, the company purchased one production line model HG-250-LTCC for further validation and expansion. During the six-month production validation process, JYUTEC's thick film printing equipment once again performed excellently, outperforming its competitors in terms of printing accuracy, film thickness uniformity, and product quality stability. The company once again received orders for 5 units of HG-250-LTCC. Under the on-site technical support and guidance of the Jianyu screen printing team, these devices have been successfully put into production and have brought significant economic and social benefits to the enterprise.

Automation Upgrade and Capacity Enhancement
With the expansion of production scale, enterprises hope to further improve production efficiency and retrofit two fully automatic printing production lines on the HG-250-LTCC model. The JYUTEC technical team immediately conducted in-depth research and analysis based on the actual needs and production processes of the enterprise, fully considering factors such as compatibility, stability, and production efficiency of existing equipment, and formulated a detailed renovation plan. Through the joint efforts and multiple revisions and improvements of both parties, the two automatic line schemes passed the review and entered the production stage in March 2024. In May of the same year, two fully automatic printing production lines were successfully delivered and completed on-site production debugging work. Looking back at the cooperation process, from initial contact to in-depth cooperation, and then to automation upgrade and production capacity improvement, JYUTEC helped the company overcome numerous technical difficulties and achieve a breakthrough in the automation process of SOFC ceramic thick film printing technology.

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Matching Screen Printer

IC-200A-CCD Screen Printer

Maximum printing size: 200mmx200mm The printing accuracy: ± 5um The screen printer can be used for precision screen printing of ceramic substrates, electronic components,sensor ,PCB boards and other fields. It is equipped with CCD automatic visual alignment to reduce manual feeding errors.

IC-200A-LTCC Screen Printer

Maximum printing size: 130mmx130mm The printing accuracy: ± 5um This is the special screen printer for Production of Multilayer circuit Components such as LTCC,HTCC,MLCC, fuel cell,solar cell,etc. The platform is equipped with a special roll paper platform, effectively preventing cross contamination during printing.

IC-150B-CCD Screen Printer

Maximum printing size: 150mmx150mm The printing accuracy: ± 5um The screen printer can be used for precision screen printing of ceramic substrates, electronic components,sensor, PCB boards and other fields. It is equipped with CCD automatic visual alignment to reduce manual feeding errors.

IC-250B-CCD Screen Printer

Maximum printing size: 250mmx250mm The printing accuracy: ± 5um The screen printer can be used for precision screen printing of ceramic substrates, electronic components, ,PCB boards and other fields. It is equipped with CCD automatic visual alignment to reduce manual feeding errors. The IC-250B screen printer is an upgraded version of the IC-250A, with the main difference being that some precision accessories have different brands and the same functions

Multilayer ceramic circuit board

Ceramic Circuit Board

Battery

Sensor

Semiconductor

Medical Equipment