Narae Nanotech is showing strong performance. The news that it has developed a new concept equipment that dries secondary battery electrodes using light instead of heat appears to be influencing its stock price. The company expects to improve battery productivity by developing equipment that is four times faster than existing devices. Narae Nanotech is currently conducting mass production verification and process development evaluation to supply this equipment to domestic secondary battery companies. A demo line for the equipment has been established and is being operated at the headquarters in Yongin.
As of 10:14 AM on the 11th, Narae Nanotech is trading at 7,510 KRW, up 8.53% from the previous trading day.
Narae Nanotech announced that it has developed secondary battery equipment consisting of a coater and dryer using an optical (light) drying method.
The coater is equipment that thinly coats the cathode and anode slurry onto the electrode when manufacturing batteries. Afterward, the drying process removes moisture. Since lithium, a key battery material, reacts with water increasing the risk of fire, drying is very important to ensure the safety of secondary batteries.
Narae Nanotech independently developed the optical drying technology. The existing drying process used a hot air drying method that removes moisture by placing the electrodes in an oven at temperatures above 100 degrees Celsius. Instead of heat, Narae Nanotech dries the electrodes using 'xenon' light generated by passing high-pressure xenon gas through electricity. The company emphasized that it is the first in the industry to apply the optical drying method to the secondary battery manufacturing process.
The optical drying method faced commercialization challenges due to the high cost and large size of xenon light controllers. Narae Nanotech overcame these technical challenges by internalizing key equipment in cooperation with the Korea Electrotechnology Research Institute.
With improved productivity, the length of the coater dryer was reduced to about half. While the hot air drying oven length is around 80 meters, Narae Nanotech's drying oven is approximately 36 meters, enhancing space efficiency.
A Narae Nanotech official explained, "We plan to secure the European and North American markets, which are major production and consumption hubs for secondary batteries, and to actively expand our secondary battery equipment and parts business."
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