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The Proof is in the PEM!

Published October 13, 2011

Visit Sono-Tek at the 2011 Fuel Cell Seminar and Exposition, October 31st  - Nov 3 in Orlando, FL, booth 627 to see what we mean. Sono-Tek’s precision ultrasonic coating technology is being used by some of the largest Fuel Cell manufacturers in the world to spray uniform thin film coatings of carbon black inks, ceramic slurries, or other catalyst suspensions onto fuel cell membranes such as Nafion and solid oxide fuel cell rods.

Sono-Tek ultrasonic coating systems provide highly durable, pinhole free catalyst coatings, with homogenous dispersion of platinum particles, creating the most effective surface area for maximum transport of reactants. This in turn has a direct effect on cell efficiency. Electrochemically active Pt surface area using ultrasonic atomization has been recorded as high as 71% of the total Pt particle surface area.

Turnkey systems for R&D tabletop coating applications and standalone fully automated spraying systems are available from Sono-Tek. For more information, go to http://www.sono-tek.com/energy/page/overview or go to http://www.sono-tek.com/energy/page/overview to see a video of Sono-Tek systems in action. Contact us by email at info@sono-tek.com.

Ultrasonic Fuel Cell Catalyst Coating

SEM detail of catalyst coating applied with Sono-Tek ultrasonic nozzle

Posted in Corporate, Electronics, Energy

Sono-Tek Celebrates 35th Anniversary Milestone

Published September 29, 2011
Sono-Tek Corp Headquarters

Sono-Tek's Corporate Headquarters in Milton, NY

2011 marks the 35th anniversary of the founding of Sono-Tek Corporation, Milton, NY USA. The Company was started in 1975 by Dr. Harvey Berger, inventor of the ultrasonic nozzle. From modest beginnings during the oil crisis of the 1970s, we have continually developed our unique technologies and grown from being a company that only provided ultrasonic nozzles to a full coating solutions company.  Our initial developments included fuel efficient nozzles for oil burners, but we quickly realized the unique capabilities of our ultrasonic nozzles would benefit manufacturers in a wide variety of industries. Our current worldwide offerings include spray fluxing systems for PCB manufacturing, XYZ coating platforms used in Solar and fuel cell manufacturing, precision medical device coating equipment, and various other industrial coating machines for glass, textile, and food applications.

The Company’s diversification plan into several industries has allowed steady growth for the past 6 years and counting. Sono-Tek has delivered over 10,000 ultrasonic coating systems around the world through the company’s history.

Dr. Christopher Coccio, Sono-Tek’s CEO, made the following statement regarding this historic milestone for the company, “Having worked with Sono-Tek for the past decade, I have seen the company and many of our products develop into industry standard methods for coating in several industries. The opportunities we find for implementation of our ultrasonic spray coating equipment continues to expand, and we see exciting potential in the years ahead”.

Posted in Corporate, Electronics, Energy, Food, Industrial, Medical, Nanotechnology

Save the Date: PV Taiwan 2011 Photovoltaic Forum & Expo Starts October 5

Published September 29, 2011

Sono-Tek plans to exhibit ultrasonic coating technology for thin film solar cell manufacturing at PV Taiwan 2011, October 5-7, at the Taipei World Trade Center in Taiwan.

Ultrasonic wet process equipment continues to gain momentum in the thin film solar manufacturing world as a viable, cost effective alternative to costly vacuum deposition processes. Sono-Tek offers a full line of equipment, from research and development to pilot line and high volume production equipment for applying active and buffer layer coatings onto CIGS and CdTe solar panels.  Sono-Tek ultrasonic coating systems have also proven successful for depositing TCO layer chemistries in R&D and pilot line manufacturing.

Since ultrasonic coating systems all utilize the same core nozzle technology, scaling up from R&D to pilot line and high volume manufacturing is accomplished seamlessly. Proving process at the R&D level allows customers to optimize coating parameters at little cost, with the assurance that the same quality coatings will be achievable at high volume.

For more information about Sono-Tek thin film solar manufacturing equipment, go to http://www.sono-tek.com/energy/page/thin_film_overview or email info@sono-tek.com.

CIGs coating

Ultrasonic wet process spray system manufacturing CIGs solar panels

Posted in Corporate, Electronics, Energy

Sono-Tek to Exhibit at the 2011 Fuel Cell Seminar & Exposition

Published September 20, 2011

Sono-Tek Corporation – Milton, NY, will be exhibiting at the 2011 Fuel Cell Seminar & Exposition in Orlando, Fl, November 1st – November 3rd, in booth 627. Visitors can get a hands-on view of Sono-Tek’s ultrasonic nozzle technology and learn about our fully enclosed coating systems such as ExactaCoat FC for depositing carbon black suspensions onto PEMs, GDLs and SOFC fuel cells or other electrolyte substrates in fuel cell manufacturing processes.

 

The ExactaCoatFC  is a 3 axis programmable ultrasonic spray coating system specially designed for depositing carbon platinum catalyst ink and precious metal suspensions. With state-of-the-art customizable options including integrated heat and/or vacuum plate, camera/laser pointer, rod spinner/coater, ultrasonic dispersion pump and dual nozzle configurations, the ExactaCoatFC is a complete R&D and small volume production solution. Sono-Tek precision coating systems are known to provide significantly higher platinum utilization and active surface area coverage of catalyst inks due to the unique nature of ultrasonic atomization. Highly uniform, repeatable thin films have proven to be among the best quality fuel cell industry coatings. For more information regarding the ExactaCoat FC coating system, go to http://www.sono-tek.com/energy/page/exactacoat_fc or email info@sono-tek.com.

Fuel Cell Catalyst Coating System

The ExactaCoat FC system provides uniform coatings of carbon black and other catalyst inks onto PEMs, GDLs, SOFC rods, and other electrolyte materials.

Posted in Corporate, Electronics, Energy

Sono-Tek to Exhibit Ultrasonic Spray Coating Systems for CIGs Solar Cells Coating at EU PVSEC

Published August 16, 2011

Sono-Tek Coporation, Milton, NY, USA, plans to exhibit ultrasonic coating technology for spraying CIGs solutions and CdTe layer chemistries in thin film solar cell manufacturing at the 26th European Photovoltaic Solar Energy Conference (EU PVSEC) September 5-8, in Hall A4/B27b, in Hamburg, Germany.

As ultrasonic wet process spray gains popularity for use in thin film solar manufacturing, Sono-Tek remains at the forefront of companies offering these cost effective spray solutions. In particular, Sono-Tek has developed the ExactaCoat spray system for R&D applications, and the WideTrack system for pilot line and full production scale applications, both of which provide uniform thin film coatings of suspensions used in thin film solar manufacturing, and are easily integrated with existing lines.

Capital equipment costs for manufacturers using wet process ultrasonic spray technology are a fraction ofCVDand other vacuum deposition process equipment costs, making investment into new lines more feasible for emerging companies.

Further manufacturing cost savings achieved with ultrasonic spray include: seamless integration with inline high volume production lines versus slow batch processing, and high effective material transfer of very expensive rare elements used in CIGS and CdTe suspensions (up to 95%). The targeted, low velocity ultrasonic spray produces very little overspray. Independent control of process parameters such as drop size, flow rate, and deposition contributes to the highest possible uniformity with the flexibility to optimize morphology characteristics.

Sono-Tek’s patented ultrasonic nozzles, the core of all of the company’s coating equipment, are non-clogging precision atomizing devices, whose high frequency vibrations break up any agglomerations in solution throughout the entire coating process. This is particularly valuable when depositing cadmium-based suspensions where agglomerations can result in non-uniform distribution of particles and lower cell efficiency.  Ultrasonic atomization creates a very stable process with highly repeatable thin films, and uniformities as low as +/-2%.

Sono-Tek ultrasonic spray systems are proven and currently in use at some of the largest solar cell manufacturers in the world. For more information on Sono-Tek’s ultrasonic coating systems for thin film solar manufacturing, visit http://www.sono-tek.com/energy/page/r&d_thin_filmor email info@sono-tek.com.

CIGS coating for thin film solar manufacturing

WideTrack system spraying CIGS suspension

Posted in Corporate, Electronics, Energy, Nanotechnology

Sono-Tek Prepares for Washington, DC Fuel Cell Technology Conference

Published July 11, 2011

Sono-Tek’s Technical Services Director, Robb Engle, plans to present his paper “Maximizing The Use Of Platinum Catalyst  By Ultrasonic Spray Application”, at the ASME 9th Fuel Cell Science, Engineering and Technology Conference on Wednesday, August 10th, in Washington, DC, in Track 2-4-6 Modeling PEM Fuel Cells and Related Processes. Mr. Engle’s paper discusses the benefits of ultrasonic deposition of Carbon black catalyst ink in order to optimize available surface area and maximize catalyst exposure. Ultrasonic nozzle theory, coating durability and experimental results of PEM coatings are discussed.

For more information regarding Sono-Tek’s ultrasonic technology for applying catalyst coatings onto fuel cells, go to http://www.sono-tek.com/energy/page/overview.

Posted in Corporate, Electronics, Energy

SemiCon Intersolar Starts July 12

Published July 7, 2011

Sono-Tek is preparing for SemiCon-Intersolar 2011, July 12-14 in San Francisco, CA. We will be exhibiting in booth 2631 (South Hall). We will be highlighting our ExactaCoat Tabletop Coating System along with working demonstrations of their patented precision ultrasonic spray nozzles.The ExactaCoat system is the perfect solution for R&D and small volume processes coating deep well topographies such as MEMs with photoresist, as well as thin film solar cell layer deposition of buffer layers onto CdS solar cells, and active layer coatings such as CIGS, CdTe, and CzTs-based solar cells. Homogenous, uniform thin film layers of nanosuspensions and solutions are easily applied using ultrasonic wet process, at a fraction of the cost of CVD and sputtering processes.

Visit http://www.sono-tek.com/energy/page/r&d_thin_film for more information about the ExactaCoat ultrasonic coating system for solar cell manufacturing.

Thin Film Solar Manufacturing

ExactaCoat

Posted in Corporate, Electronics, Energy, Nanotechnology

Sono-Tek Fuel Cell Technology in Print

Published June 15, 2011

A new article in Science Direct by Ben Millington & Bruno G. Pollet from the EM Fuel Cell Research Group, Centre for Hydrogen and Fuel Cell Research, College of Engineering and Physical Sciences, The University of Birmingham, Edgbaston, Birmingham, B15 2TT, U.K, and Vincent Whipple from Sono-Tek Corporation, 2012 Route 9 W, Milton, New York 1247, USA discusses the ultrasonic spray method for coating NAfion GDLs with Platinum-based ink.

Here is an excerpt from the paper abstract:

“A novel ultrasonic-spray method for preparing gas diffusion electrodes (GDEs) for proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is described. Platinum (Pt) loaded on Nafion®-bonded GDEs were prepared by the ultrasonic-spray method on various commercial woven and non-woven gas diffusion layers (GDLs) at several Pt loadings in the range of 0.40-0.05 mg cm−2.”

The full paper is available for purchase at:

http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0378775311011360

For more information regarding Sono-Tek’s ultrasonic spray technology for Fuel Cell manufacturing, go to http://www.sono-tek.com/energy/page/overview

Posted in Corporate, Electronics, Energy, Nanotechnology

Sono-Tek Expands Customer Service Globally

Published May 31, 2011

Sono-Tek Corporation, a worldwide precision ultrasonic coating equipment manufacturer located in Milton, NY, announces expansion of customer services with new laboratory facilities in China, Korea, Germany and Taiwan. These new testing facilities will enable customers to test small samples of their liquids in a controlled environment, simulating process conditions as much as possible, in order to prove concept and ensure compatibility of liquids. Emerging applications such as advanced energy coatings and specialty medical device coatings often find these services particularly valuable. Research and development professionals looking for a way to apply new coating formulations or improve functional coating characteristics are continually discovering Sono-Tek’s testing facilities to be an excellent means of finding just the right solution to their coating challenges. Sono-Tek has offered laboratory testing services at their corporate headquarters in Milton, NY for years, taking much of the guesswork out of ensuring a successful process at the beginning of each customer relationship. Available laboratory equipment includes fully enclosed 3 axis programmable coating systems with a multitude of fixturing, heating and vacuum options, with a variety of different nozzle configurations. Sono-Tek’s new labs in Asia and Europe will be staffed and managed by the local Sono-Tek distributors, with the added advantage of native language support and geographic proximity. The addition of these new laboratories extends Sono-Tek’s global reach and ability to provide superior customer service, while still offering a full range of testing services in their New York laboratory. The new labs will be up and running at all locations by mid 2011.

Posted in Corporate, Energy, Medical, Nanotechnology

VIPs in attendance at Hannover Messe 2011 Group Exhibit H2+FC 2011

Published April 14, 2011

VIPs in the spotlight Leading politicians and international delegations toured exhibits at Hannover Messes 2011 April 4-8, including a visit to Sono-Tek’s booth. See photo below. Sono-Tek gave visitors hands-on demonstrations of our ExactaCoat tabletop ultrasonic coating system used for spraying PEMs and GDLs with carbon black catalyst ink solutions. For more information on the ExactaCoat System for coating Fuel Cell components, go to http://www.sono-tek.com/energy/page/r&d

From left to right: David Hinson (National Director, Minority Business Development Administration), Brian McGowan (Deputy Assistant Secretary, Economic Development Administration), Garett Moye (European Account Supervisor, Sono-Tek Corporation), US-Ambassador Philip D. Murphy and Michael Camunez (Assistant Secretary, Market Access and Compliance)

Posted in Corporate, Energy