The vibration is achieved by using a proven vibrating motor or electro magnetic mechanism. It has been observed that dry filling of fine lead dust in tubular bags is best achieved using such a mechanism instead of  cam type vibrators or jolters.

Yes - it can be adjusted using the controller in case of electromagnetic vibrator provided in the control panel along with the Positive Tubular Plate Filling Machine. Additional settings can be done by adjusting the vibrator base bolts. Please refer to O & M manual for a detailed sketch and instructions pertaining to this adjustment. In the case of motor vibrator we have done factory adjustments.Yes - it can be adjusted using the controller in case of electromagnetic vibrator provided in the control panel along with the Positive Tubular Plate Filling Machine. Additional settings can be done by adjusting the vibrator base bolts. Please refer to O & M manual for a detailed sketch and instructions pertaining to this adjustment. In the case of motor vibrator we have done factory adjustments.

Yes - the machine can fill plates having

• 5.7 mm, 6.0 mm, 8.0 mm, 8.4 mm dia. tubular bags with correspondingly suitable spine thicknesses.
• 25 spines, 23 spines, 19 spines or 15 spines tubular plates – up to a max. width of approx. 190 mm.
• 95 mm, 105 mm … up to 540 mm ht. plates

The actual time of vibration filling is 1½  mins. However the loading of grids fitted with tubular bags into the cassette, subsequent vibration and unloading of filled plates from the cassette usually needs 4 to 6 mins. per cycle.

The productivity shall depend on the speed with which the workmen load grids into the cassette and unload filled plates from the cassette.  The min. productivity per eight hour shift has been observed to be in the range of 1200 to 2000 nos. depending on plate size.

The dust collector works very effectively pulling all dust away from the operators. The dust gets collected on the surface of the filter elements and clean air is exhausted out to the atmosphere. The blower fan remains ‘ON’ throughout creating the exhaust draft for the fine lead dust. The dust collected on the surface of the filter is dislodged by means of reverse pulse jet of air at regular periodic intervals which is controlled by a timer using diaphragm valve.  The dust is collected in a container at the bottom of the hopper. This container should be emptied periodically.

The differential pressure gauge indicates the pressure drop across the filter elements.

This differential pressure is an indicator of the condition of the filter elements. More the differential pressure - more the dust accumulated on the filter cartridge.

This pressure differential must be normally between 100 mm w.c. and 150 mm w.c.. The gauge has a full scale display up to 250 mm w.c.  In case the indication exceeds 150 mm w.c. and remains there for long time you must check whether the exhaust flap is fully open. If yes, please close the flap up to 50% or more and check the gauge.  In case the gauge indication is not as per recommendations and the suction of dust collector is not efficient / as required - remove the filter elements, clean it using compressed air and fit it in place again.

You can also try OFFLINE pulsing i.e. keep the blower ON for about 30 minutes or so after the production of filling has been stopped for the day.

No – The quality of hand pasted plate is not better than machine pasted. The finish of hand pasted plate may be better.

It is necessary to understand and accept that good finish does not mean good quality in the case of battery plates.

If good and smooth finish of battery plates was the only or main criteria of good quality then all unbranded and local battery manufacturers’ products would have been best sellers. The branded batteries of reputed manufacturers who use machine pasted plates would have failed and disappeared from the markets long back.

YES – Machine pasted plates are of better quality.

The machine pasted plates are of better quality due to the following reasons:-

a) Consistency of product: - Since the machine does not understand ‘beginning of shift’ and ‘end of shift’ it performs with the same consistency. In the case of workers their performance varies throughout the shift due to which they have a tendency to overpaste, at times, to finish the paste material allotted to them. As and when a worker is tired and finds the paste too hard to paste he invariably adds water to the paste to make it pliable. All this affects the consistency of the final product.

b) Density of paste: - It is necessary to have a defined paste density for good product life. However it is easier to hand paste when the density is lowered. Hence a correct density paste prepared and inspected / accepted at the mixing stage is invariably made less dense by the worker without the knowledge of the Q.C. inspector during hand pasting operation. This lowering of density is not necessary and not done when pasting is done by machine.

c) Pressing of plate: - This is an operation carried out traditionally by a majority of the plate manufacturers after the hand pasting is done. This is a labour oriented and time consuming activity. A pasting machine presses the paste into the grids under pressure as the grid passes under the hopper and again the pasted plate is pressed after the pasting as it passes through the finishing rollers.

d) Constant Plate Weights: - For a specified paste density and grid thickness the paste is applied uniformly due to which plate weights are in a narrow range when pasted using a machine. This uniformity ensures that plate weights are consistent and quality of battery is assured.

NOT AT ALL – In fact today the situation is such that it is costly to do hand pasting when compared to the SLOW SPEED LOW POWER pasting machines. Here is a chart below which clearly demonstrates the losses incurred by hand pasting.

SEE TABLE

A battery manufacturer who decides to buy a pasting machine must first evaluate his requirements before he evaluates the machines available in the market.

The first criteria for selection of the machine is based on how much pasting he is presently doing & how many kgs. per day he intends to do maybe six months or a year from now.

The next criteria is the availability of electric power and also availability of skilled manpower necessary to operate and maintain sophisticated fully automatic machines.

The chart below shall be of help in arriving at a conclusion on the choice of machine.

SEE CHART

The UNIK pasting machine has been tailor made for the small & medium sector. This machine is not a scaled down version of the machine used by large scale battery manufacturers. The UNIK machine was created due to our own need for a machine in our battery manufacturing set up. The problems faced by us due to non availability of labour and cost of training workers to be pasters which is considered a skilled operation forced us to develop this UNIK UNIVERSAL pasting machine.

The UNIK pasting machine can be used to paste Automotive, Industrial, Motorcycle, Small SMF plates as well as Big 2 V VRLA battery plates. We have successfully pasted grids of 1 mm to 5 mm thickness for our customers who bring grids to our battery factory for trial and inspection of the UNIK pasting machine. In fact, we have made lakhs of plates of various sizes over the last six years on our machine and these plates have been used in batteries all over India & in many countries abroad.

The curing chamber ensures proper adhesion of paste to grid surface and cohesiveness of active material thereby strengthening the plate and ensuring long life of the battery.

The curing cycle consists of a heat and humidity phase as a initial part of the cycle followed by a drying phase with a subsequent heating phase followed finally by a cooling period. All the different phases can be set by the user. The entire cycle ensures that there is a reduction of free lead to create tribasic or tetrabasic lead sulphate in the battery plates in addition to reduction of moisture in the battery plates.

A- It is possible to set time, temperature and humidity during the humidity cycle. It is possible to set the time for the drying cycle. The time and temperature can be set for heating cycle and in the final cooling phase it is possible to define the time. Thus the user has all the controls which need to be programmed prior to start of the cycle.

Humidity is created by generating steam and not by vaporizing nozzles. This steam is circulated within the chamber in a scientific uniform manner thereby ensuring consistent quality plates irrespective of the location of the plates in the chamber.

Yes the atmosphere is fully saturated and hence does not introduce shrinkage cracks. Thus the paste pellets are strong with no cracks noticed in the pellets or between the pellets and the grids.

The UNIK curing chamber lives up to its reputation of being a product built to last. All interior panels that come in contact with steam are of stainless steel. The chamber is fully insulated and the cavities are sealed to prevent ingress of water. The insulated doors have sturdy hinges and spring actuated locks. There is no transfer and wastage of heat energy to the external walls of the chamber due to the 75 mm thick rock wool insulation thereby ensuring huge savings of costly power / fuel.

Yes UNIK has developed LPG operated curing chamber for use in areas of power shortage or in factories having limited power availability.

Yes it can be changed by authorized personnel prior to start of the cycle. The program mode is Password protected and hence cannot be changed by unauthorized personnel.

Once the cycle starts it is not possible for even authorized persons to change the Program mode. In case the set parameters need to be changed after the cycle has started it is necessary to abort the cycle by pressing STOP button. In such a case the entire cycle shall need to be RUN from the beginning after changing the Program by authorized personnel who know the Program Password.

Further in order to RUN the Program there is a different password.

Lug brushing is important and hence necessary prior to group welding in the assembly department.Removal of oxide from the lugs exposes the metal surface thereby ensuring a proper welding and bonding of the plates to the busbar.

Manual filing of plates can result in uneven lug thickness causing lead runs during grouping. Such lead runs if undetected can be the reason for cell shorts and battery failure. Thus it is a quality related issue.

Moreover filing of plates manually is laborious, time consuming and hence not economically viable.

Further – in addition to productivity the rate of production with manual filing is low and hence unviable considering the competitive nature of today’s business environment.

Lastly and not the least – manual filing is polluting whereas the lug brushing machine having the integrated dust collector ensures that the lead dust is collected in a tray resulting in substantial savings for todays battery manufacturers clean setup.

The machine can be used for positive & negative plates of standard size as well as narrow size automotive plates in addition to using these for all industrial plates.

Cleaning of the filter media is done periodically with the help of moisture free compressed air. It is for this purpose that compressed air forms part of this machine’s utility requirement. A timer in the control panel ensures cleaning of the filter at regular intervals of one minute.

A battery dealer is a person who never wants to displease his customer and at the same time wants to have the maximum business.  This is not unusual in any region and understandable from the businessman’s point of view.

If a battery manufacturer gives the dealer a dry charged battery the manufacturer and dealer derive the following benefits:-

1.The rest period after acid filling is around 2 hrs. as against 12 to 16 hrs. There are no batteries lying around waiting for charging and occupying costly floor space.

2.The charging duration after acid filling is 8 to 12 hrs. as against 55 to 72 hrs. The need for capital investment in costly chargers is eliminated.

3.The charge input is 1 C as against 3 to 5 C – thereby charging cost is lowered.

4.The inventory carrying cost at dealer’s premises w.r.t. charged battery holding in stock is substantially reduced.

5.The quality of batteries delivered to customers is good since batteries do not get heated during initial charging thereby damaging the internal components of the battery.  Due to this reason the battery warranty claims are reduced / eliminated.

6.The possibilities for export of batteries / battery plates open up leading to a wider market penetration.

Yes – the machine can be used to dry the formed negative plates of any type of lead acid battery. I.e. automotive, motor cycle, SMF, stationary, semi traction or traction battery.

In the case of battery made with formed dried plates the positive plates are fully charged whereas the negative plates have discharged after formation due to the oxidation reaction which is an exothermic reaction that has taken place when the plates were taken out of the formation jars. Due to this phenomenon batteries made with formed plates need a long duration of charging at a slow rate of charging i.e. low current input. The input in terms of Ah is also high. Basically the negative plates need to be charged without heating up the positives which are already fully charged.

In the case of battery made with dry charged formed negative plates and dried formed positive plates the batteries can be commissioned fast since the negatives are not discharged after formation.

The retention of dry charge characteristics in negative plates shall depend on the method of storage of plates and the nature and quantity of certain additives in the negative paste mix.

If the plates are not exposed to atmospheric moisture and oxygen the period of storage can be as long as 12 to 15 months. It is therefore necessary to cover the fully dried cool plates with polythene wrapping in a suitable manner. Dried silica gel pouches in cotton bags help in keeping plates dry.

Further at the time of negative paste mix preparation an addition of oil or stearic acid is recommended. This forms a protective layer on plate surface preventing oxidation of negative plates with a consequent loss of dry charge characteristics.

The retention of dry charge characteristics in an assembled battery shall depend to a great extent on

• the residual acid in the negative dry plates.
• the residual acid in the dried positive plates.
• the residual moisture in the dried positive plates.
• the sealing of vent holes of the battery to prevent moisture ingress.

Since moisture from positive plates can travel to negative plates and start the oxidation process it is necessary to dry the positive plates also thoroughly before assembly.

Residual acid in either positive or negative plates can cause deterioration of dry charge characteristics since the hygroscopic sulphuric acid can attract the atmospheric moisture leading to oxidation of negative plates 

The free lead content in the active material of formed dry negative plates – taken out of the machine after correct processing – is an indicator of the quality of the plate.

This can be verified by chemical testing in the laboratory. In case detailed procedure of testing is required please contact M/s Unik Techno Systems Pvt. Ltd..

A simple indication is available if it is observed that the assembled battery

• temperature does not increase more than 8C to 10C.
• sp.gr. does not fall by over 0.02 to 0.04 points.

over a one hour period after filling of acid in the battery.

It is important to wash the negative plates free of acid and check whether the wash water pH is between 5.5 to 6.0 prior to loading the plates on to the dry charging chamber.

Please note that it is equally important to load the washed plates into the machine within an hour of such a complete wash - free of acid.

In case the plates have to be stored for a long period in water after washing, it is necessary to retain some acidity in the water.  Hence it is recommended to do the washing in two stages. In stage one wash plates such that the wash water pH is around 4.5 to 5.5. Keep negative plates in a tank of such an acidic water. As and when the negative plates are to be dried and approx. an hour or so prior to loading into the machine the second stage of washing can be carried out i.e. plates can be washed to a pH of 5.5 to 6.0.

If the plates are not washed completely free of acid prior to loading on to the machines the seals of the vacuum pump shall get damaged leading to machine breakdown and production downtime.

Plate brushing is important and hence necessary prior to assembly. Removal of oxide from the plate edges ensures that there is no shorting from around the separators. The extra oxide/paste thus collected results in savings of costly lead.

Filing of plates manually is laborious, time consuming and hence not economically viable.

Further – in addition to productivity the rate of production with manual filing is low and hence unviable considering the competitive nature of today’s business environment.

Lastly and not the least – manual filing is polluting whereas the plate brushing machine having the integrated dust collector ensures that the lead dust is collected in a tray resulting in substantial savings for todays battery manufacturers clean setup.

The machine can be used for positive & negative plates of standard size as well as narrow size automotive plates in addition to using these for all industrial plates.

Cleaning of the filter media is done periodically with the help of moisture free compressed air. It is for this purpose that compressed air forms part of this machine’s utility requirement. A timer in the control panel ensures cleaning of the filter at regular intervals of one minute.