Between benchtop screening and production commitment
A pilot coating line occupies the decisive middle ground between benchtop screening and production commitment. It runs your real formulation, at production-relevant speeds and web widths, through the same coating and drying physics your production line will use — generating the process window, coat weight data, and qualified samples that a production specification is written from.
IMC pilot coaters are production-representative by design: the same pre-metered fluid delivery, Coriolis-based closed-loop coat weight control, tension architecture, and controls platform as our full-scale coating lines. Recipes developed on the pilot machine run on the production line without translation.
Two standard styles: Compact and Linear
IMC pilot coaters come in two configurations. The Compact style folds the web path to minimize footprint. The Linear style lays the process out in a straight line for maximum accessibility and the most direct analog to a production coating line. Same fluid delivery, same drying technology, same controls — choose the geometry that fits your building.
Specifications — Compact and Linear
Compact pilot coater
Folded web path, minimum footprint — for coating trials, method comparison, and sample production where floor space is at a premium.
| Max web width | Up to 330 mm (13") |
| Coating methods | Quick-change cartridge head: slot die, comma / knife-over-roll, reverse roll, gravure |
| Coating modes | Continuous, stripe; intermittent (patch) available with HMI recipe control |
| Line speed | 0.5–10 m/min |
| Drying | 2–3 independent zones, up to 150°C+, solvent-rated (NMP-capable), top-and-bottom impingement |
| Substrates | Aluminum and copper foils, stainless steel, graphite carriers |
| Controls | Siemens PLC/HMI (Allen-Bradley option available) |
Compact options
Linear pilot coater
Straight-line web path — the most direct analog to a production coating line, for process scale-up, dual-side development, and pilot production.
| Max web width | Up to 500 mm |
| Coating methods | Precision slot die standard; comma coater cartridge available; second-pass dual-side and dual-layer capable |
| Coating modes | Continuous, intermittent (patch), and lane/stripe with recipe control |
| Coat weight control | Closed-loop mass-flow (Coriolis) metering; wet film 25–250 µm held to ±1.5 µm |
| Line speed | Up to 30 m/min |
| Drying | Multi-zone convection in 2 m sections, extendable (6 m+ total); up to 180°C+; NMP and aqueous rated; HEPA-filtered supply; top-and-bottom impingement |
| Roll capacity | Up to 600 mm OD; 3" and 6" cores |
| Substrates | Films, papers, membranes, and specialty webs; battery foils from 4 µm Cu / 6 µm Al |
| Controls | Siemens PLC/HMI (Allen-Bradley option available); UL 508A construction, NRTL listing available |
Linear options
Specifications shown are representative platform capabilities; each machine is configured to the application.
Dried from both sides — always
Every IMC pilot coater dries the web with impingement nozzles from both the top and the bottom of the product. Not all of our competitors do — and single-sided drying costs you drying rate, uniformity through the coating thickness, and web stability. Two-sided impingement is also why a shorter, more efficient IMC dryer outperforms a significantly longer conventional dryer — which matters at pilot scale, where a long dryer consumes much of a limited batch just filling the web path.
What a pilot coater is for
Process validation and scale-up — establish the coating window, drying profile, and coat weight control strategy before committing production capital. Small-batch and pre-production runs — qualified sample rolls for customer evaluation, cell builds, and regulatory submissions. Multi-method comparison — evaluate slot die against comma or gravure on identical substrate and fluid. Pilot cell lines — standing pilot capacity for battery developers iterating chemistry and loading.
From pilot to production
Because IMC designs pilot and production coaters on one control philosophy, the pilot machine becomes the front half of a production program. When you scale, the production line is engineered around your validated pilot recipes, with the same engineering team carrying the work through fabrication and commissioning.