Particle synthesis apparatus and methods
View Patent ↗Apparatus and methods of forming a battery-active material are described. An apparatus includes a first processing section that raises the temperature of a precursor material to a reaction threshold temperature, a second processing section that converts the precursor material to a battery-active material, and a third processing section that cools the resulting battery-active material. Each of the processing sections may be a continuous flow tubular component. The first and third processing sections may be metal, and the second processing section may be a refractory material for high temperature service. The battery-active material is collected using a solids collector.
1. An apparatus for forming a battery active material, comprising:
a precursor inlet;
a linear heater coupled to the precursor inlet, the linear heater having a first plurality of independently controlled heating zones;
a linear converter coupled to the linear heater, the linear converter having a second plurality of independently controlled heating zones;
a particle collector coupled to the linear converter;
an annealer coupled to the linear converter; and
a heat recycle line coupled to the linear heater.
2. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the linear converter is surrounded by heating elements.
3. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the precursor inlet is coupled to the linear heater by a droplet generator.
4. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the linear heater and the linear converter are surrounded by heating elements.
5. The apparatus of claim 2 , further comprising a controller coupled to the heating elements.
6. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the droplet generator is a monodispersion or semi-monodispersion droplet generator.
7. The apparatus of claim 4 , wherein each of the heating elements is a resistive heat jacket.
8. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the linear converter is a ceramic cylindrical member wherein a ratio of a length of the cylindrical member to a diameter of the cylindrical member is at least 2.
9. The apparatus of claim 3 , wherein the droplet generator is a piezoelectric droplet generator.
10. The apparatus of claim 3 , further comprising a source of battery active precursor coupled to the droplet generator.
11. The apparatus of claim 1 , wherein the linear converter is a continuous-flow tubular reactor having a ratio of length to diameter of at least 2.
12. A combustion synthesis apparatus, comprising:
a droplet generator;
a linear heater coupled to the droplet generator; and
a linear reactor coupled to the linear heater, the linear reactor having a plurality of heating elements disposed around the linear reactor;
a linear cooler coupled to the linear reactor; and
a heat recycle line from the linear cooler to the linear heater.
13. The combustion synthesis apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising a source of liquid precursor coupled to the droplet generator, wherein the droplet generator is a monodispersion or semi-monodispersion droplet generator.
14. The combustion synthesis apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising a controller coupled independently to each of the heating elements.
15. The combustion synthesis apparatus of claim 12 , wherein the droplet generator is a piezoelectric droplet generator.
16. The combustion synthesis apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising a source of cooling gas coupled to the linear cooler.
17. The combustion synthesis apparatus of claim 12 , further comprising a humidity sensor coupled to the linear cooler.