As many in the industry know, the Krypton 85 (Kr85) Beta gauge has been the default technology for measuring the coat weight of anode and cathode electrodes for the past couple of decades. But with battery technology developing rapidly, the need for a better measurement solution has long been required.

One of the key failures of the Beta gauge is that to get good measurement statistics the energy footprint (as radiated onto the product) had to be large. A large footprint results in low measurement resolution, meaning the coating edge definition is lost and lots of useful and meaningful measurement data is discarded.

This limitation with the Beta gauge has become more and more of an issue as cell producers look to get better uniformity of coating and to better control the dies to reduce the coating edge (shim zones, and head and tail) disturbances. However, the Beta gauge has remained the default technology because it gives a reasonable measurement in terms of repeatability of both the anode and cathode. Other measurement technologies like Gamma (which is too slow) and X-Ray (which is unable to measure both electrode materials and composition sensitivity issues) have been considered and rejected.

It’s All About Quality

There’s a lot pressure on cell manufacturers today to improve battery performance. Improving the electrode coating process is a significant part of the equation to delivering better quality and better performing cells – and coating uniformity is seen more and more as a critical requirement.

Introducing the Photon Gauge – Measurements You Can Trust and Rely on

Our new and unique Photon gauge delivers significant improvements over the traditional Beta gauge. It offers a considerably higher measurement resolution while not compromising measurement reproducibility. The Photon gauge is also a much fast sensor, providing more measurements per scan compared to the Beta gauge. It is also non-nuclear, since it uses energy in the electromagnetic spectrum.

A Robust Solution

The Photon gauge provides robust measurements of the anode and cathode just like the Beta (Kr85) gauge, but does it with significant added value. As mentioned above, it’s a non-nuclear, high-resolution and ultra-accurate measurement solution.

Let us know if you’re interested in learning more about our Photon coat weight measurement solution. We’re here to help improve your battery cell quality.