This week, Peak and Brückner partnered at the K-show in Düsseldorf, Germany. While the tri-annual event is the world’s largest plastics show and known to many, it was my first visit, and it lived up to the hype. The booths were large, the noise was loud, and the air carried the distinct scent of newly manufactured plastic.
Among the announcements from Brückner this year was a larger and more advanced film production line capable of producing films up to 12 meters wide, running at 700 meters/minute, and holding up to 171 kilometers of film with a thickness of 2.9 microns on a single roll. As we look forward to our expanding power grid, the demand for AI data centers, and the promise of fusion energy, this expanded capacity will help Peak answer the growing needs.
With production lines up to 180 meters in length, a scale model is the only viable option. This detailed model provides a step-by-step walkthrough of the entire production process, from extrusion and base film material, through coatings, biaxial stretching, and final rolls.
At the event, Peak made a joint presentation on our next-generation NanoPlex capacitor film and had an exhibit of early high-temperature capacitor reference designs we are using to prove lifetime testing for our new films. From the beginning of our journey to develop a pilot product to commercialize it, Brückner has been an invaluable manufacturing partner, creating and designing new solutions to scale and supersize our capacitor film production.
Making a film is not enough to prove the advantages of our NanoPlex solution over BOPP or PEN. We must build capacitors to demonstrate our longevity, robustness, and performance capabilities before capacitor manufacturers can incorporate NanoPlex into their designs. We begin by logging thousands of hours in high-temperature and high-voltage test chambers to verify the properties of NanoPlex. This is hard data that can only be earned over time and under stress. Brückner has been an invaluable partner in helping us produce high-quality, high-volume formulations that will change the world of capacitors forever.
While the models make it hard to grasp the full size and scale of these machines, they provide excellent context. Peak is moving forward aggressively with Brückner to scale production of our films in the U.S. Together, we’re confident we can meet demand and drive innovation both now and into the future.