Low Dew Point Ultra Dry Room
220m2, 2MWh Production Facility - Design and Build
For the past 12 months Humiscope has worked on designing and building a low dew point, ultra-dry room for Li-S Energy - an ASX listed, lithium sulfur battery R&D company. The dry room is one of the largest in Australia.
Check out our video from conceptual design, timelapse of the low dew point, ultra-dry room being built and finally the completed Li-S Energy.
The Current Dry Room Conditions
The room is now operational and maintaining a constant:
22° C
0.1% Relative Humidity (RH)
-55° dew point
Low Dew Point Room
The ultra dry room’s purpose is to provide a safe and stable environment for the manufacture of lithium batteries. The dry atmosphere enables the automated anode production equipment and Li-S’ team to operate at full capacity without the restriction of inert gas enclosures or glove boxes.
Keen for a local supplier, Li-S Energy CEO, Dr Lee Finniear began looking for an Australian-based company that could design and build an ultra-dry room and that also understood the critical nature of lithium battery manufacture and what was required to ensure a stable and safe production room.
Humiscope Australia
Humiscope solves indoor climate and humidity control issues for a diverse range of industries and a wide variety of applications - from pharmaceutical processing and cannabis cultivation to food processing and seed storage. To learn more, click below.
Lithium Sulfur Batteries
Lithium sulfur battery chemistry has been known to battery scientists for quite some time, but until now cells always failed too quickly — making them commercially unviable.
Li-S Energy was created to solve this long-standing issue. They have successfully created a lightweight lithium sulfur battery with a cycle life approaching that of lithium ion. Learn more about Li-S Energy technology
Boron Nitride Nanotubes (BNNT) - Image courtesy of Li-S
Image courtesy of Li-S Energy
Ultra Dry Room Design and Build
In 2022, Li-S were ready to design and build a 220 square metre, 2MWh automated battery production facility. The facility will scale up their production capacity to over 1000 high-quality commercial sized cells per week, enabling large scale customer trials and creating additional production IP for their IP portfolio.
In his research, Dr Finniear spoke with Queensland University of Technology’s National Battery Testing Centre (NBTC), who, in 2017 produced Australia’s first lithium battery at its purpose-built battery testing facility.
Over the years NBTC has dealt with Humiscope regarding desiccant dehumidification technology and recommended us to Dr. Finniear.
Dr Finniear met with Humiscope Director, John Morgan and Lead Mechanical Engineer Ladan Bagherzadeh and was suitably impressed by their technical knowledge.
The group discussed Humiscope’s previous experience in providing precise indoor climate and humidity, giving Dr Finniear confidence in our expertise in indoor environment control and our understanding of the project’s requirements.
John and Ladan began the design phase together with Humiscope’s draftswoman Paula Andrea-Gil in late 2022.
Humiscope Low Dew Point, Ultra Dry Room 3d Design
Humiscope 3D design of Low Dew Point, Ultra Dry Room
Low Dew Point Ultra Dry Room Conditions
The conditions required were to create an ultra-low humidity, ultra-dry room and antechamber at minus 45 dew point or lower at 22°C. The custom designed room required fireproof walls and ceiling panels and was to run at positive pressure of 40 pascals, with the antechamber at 20 pascals.
Desiccant Dehumidifier
To achieve the above, Humiscope designed a desiccant dehumidifier to create a dry environment where the dry air is circulated into the room through a maze of sealed ducting and filtration systems. The unit was manufactured in Europe by Humiscope’s long-time supplier, TFT Dry Air Solutions.
TFT Desiccant Dehumidifier Designed by Humiscope for Ultra Dry Low Dew Point Room Build for Lithium Battery Manufacture
Glycol Chiller
Humiscope also installed a glycol chiller which provides chilled water to the dehumidifier. Through the use of pipe work and pumps, the chiller helps create and maintain the optimal temperature.
Glycol chiller aids in creating and maintaining the ideal temperature inside the low dew point ultra dry room.
Desiccant Dehumidifier installed and ducted outside the dry room
Why is a Low Dew Point Room Required?
The reason behind all this careful planning and design is that lithium reacts strongly with moisture. When lithium metal and water in the air mix, the reaction is exothermic (generates heat) and can lead to burning or even explosion. Moisture sealed inside the battery can react even after the battery is completed.
With the critical need for the room to be completely sealed and free of moisture, Humiscope commissioned a pressure test to verify there were no air leaks through panel joins or at any other area where entry points were created; such as electrical outlets, ducting etc.
Li-S Energy Phase 3 Ultra Low Dew Point Facility
The dry room is powered by clean solar energy from the Deakin University’s Waurn Ponds solar farm, the Li-S 2MWh production facility minimises Li-S’ carbon footprint while they scale up the production of cleaner, greener, lighter and more energy dense batteries that have the potential to deliver a significant reduction in future global carbon emissions.
Dr Lee Finniear inside the Li-S Energy Phase 3 Production Plant
Ultra-Low Dew Dry Room with equipment for Lithium Battery Production
If you would like to find out more on how Humiscope can help design and build an ultra dry room or if you would like our help in converting an existing space into a low dew point environment, get in touch.
Please note: Humiscope also provides the design and installation of refrigerant and desiccant dehumidifiers. We tailor our designs to suit our clients’ specific application and seamlessly retrofit our equipment with your current systems. We also rent superior quality, fully maintained dehumidifiers that we can configure to suit a variety of applications.