During the production of lithium battery cathode and anode materials, the storage and transportation of ultrafine powders often face challenges such as arching and blockages, which seriously affect production line continuity and product quality. Recently, Head Powder completed a lithium battery ultrafine powder silo arch breaking conveying project in Suqian, Jiangsu. Through customized arch breaking and pneumatic conveying solutions, it addressed pain points in material flow for customers and achieved stable and controllable conveying of powder from silos to downstream equipment.

Customer pain point: Arching of ultrafine powder causes interruption in conveying

This customer is a lithium battery materials manufacturer. The storage of ultrafine powders such as lithium cobalt oxide and lithium iron phosphate in the silo is small, sensitive to humidity, and has poor flowability. During conventional gravity unloading, it is easy for 'arch bridges' or 'mouse holes' to form at the silo cone, leading to interruptions in feeding and blockages in the conveying pipeline. Frequent manual tapping not only results in low efficiency but also poses dust leakage and safety risks. At the same time, the original system lacks accurate control over the conveying process, making it difficult to meet the continuous feeding needs of downstream processes.

Head Powder Solution: Integrated design of arch breaking and pneumatic conveying

To address these pain points, the Head Powder team optimized the silo structure, the arch-breaking device, and the conveying system:

• A fluidized arch breaking device is added at the silo cone, which fluidizes powder through low-pressure compressed air and damages the arch bridge structure;
• Hydraulic or pneumatic vibrators are used as auxiliary arch breaking methods to handle extreme working conditions;
• Uses a dense-phase pneumatic conveying system to achieve high concentration transport at lower airflow speeds, reducing pipeline wear and energy consumption;
• Integrated PLC automatic control system adjusts arch breaking frequency and conveying speed in real time based on material level and conveying pressure, ensuring continuous feeding.

Project Outcomes and Application Value

After the project was put into operation, the smoothness rate of silo unloading increased to over 99.5%, with no further production line shutdowns caused by arching; The conveying system's energy consumption is reduced by about 25% compared to the original solution, and dust emission concentrations exceed environmental standards. The successful implementation of the project demonstrates that combining "arch-breaking + conveying" design based on the characteristics of ultrafine powder is a reliable approach to solving the challenges of lithium battery material powder storage and transportation.