KMEZ installed equipment and is testing the technology for the electrodeposited foil production

The foil coating apparatus (Treater) turned out to be one of the most difficult part of the equipment installation in the new workshop. Treater is a complex system consisting of eight tanks, passing through this system of tanks foil is got “dressed” in special adhesive and anticorrosive coating. Specialists of various specializations had to smash their heads over this machine.

“We past experience dealing with similar equipment, the technology is well known to us,” says Igor Tarakanov. “But now we got new generates of equipment at our disposal, and it sometimes gives up really difficult problems and makes us hopping. For example, previously, the rollers on all tanks were driven by one main drive, now each tank has its own drive. Considering mechanics, it is easier and more convenient. On the other hand, it is much more difficult to synchronize their work so that the rollers rotate at the same speed and maintain a stable foil web tension on each of the eight tanks.”

The foil division workers and contractors from SMU-2 struggled with this and other emerging problems much longer than they would like to. Manufacturers from Japan participated in the installation process in remote mode and could not always promptly suggest the solution. KMEZ had to rely only on their own strength, knowledge, experience and intuition.

The Mechanic of the foil production division Aleksey Kalinichenko faced the need to improve the aspiration system of the machine. As long as the thick foil was processed on the Treater, there were no issues. But when it was required to coat a foil of only 18 microns thickness, the system ceased to cope. The original version of the equipment did not provide for any additional devices for operation with such foil. A priori, it was believed that the device will cope with it. Practice showed different. Together with Igor Tarakanov, the Mechanic came up with a special pipe supplying the solution. It was manufactured by Remservice LLC. This pipe made it possible to process foil of any thickness.

A very difficult task faced Pavel Bogatkin, an Electronic Engineer of the Instrumentation and Automation division. During main drive connection the program gave an error. Pavel threw himself into the schemes, carefully studied them, revealed the shortcomings left by foreign colleagues, and corrected them himself. He also happened to develop a safety program that tied together the operation of rectifiers and Treater.

14 rectifiers are installed on the Treater tanks. The power equipment for Japanese equipment KMEZ selected on its own. It was necessary to adapt them to each other, because any, even the most imperceptible difference can cause a short circuit that will disable an entire unit. Pavel managed to achieve such a coupling that information about the slightest weakening of the foil tension on the Treater tanks goes to the rectifier control system, turning off the current and thereby providing short circuits avoidance.

By joint efforts, the Treater was put to a working speed of 15 meters of foil per minute. Samples of the foil obtained from the Treater are sent to the Central Plant Laboratory. Here they are tested for peeling strength, that is, how firmly the coating adheres to the copper. Studies have shown that the processed foil fully meets the requirements of the technical specifications, which were originally created with an eye to the world market.

Today experts continue bringing Treater to fruition considering any nuances. For example, the machine was not intent to slow down as smoothly as it was necessary to. Together with Japanese colleagues, KMEZ specialists managed to make this huge machine as smooth and grace as needed.

“We are adjusting the technology. We do not have ready-made recipes, we need time, experience and professionalism of specialists” — says Andrey Kudryavtsev, General Director of JSC KMEZ. “Our indisputable advantage is the very pure (99.999 percent) chemical composition of the foil. We produce it from our own raw materials and, in fact, we obtain double-refined copper. Our task is to learn how to switch very quickly from production of one brand of foil to another, to adapt to the individual requirements of each customer. This is a lot of work, and we are ready for it.”