Potomac is more than just a contract manufacturing company. We strive to solve the difficult problems that impact humanity.
Much of our work has been focused on advancing healthcare. Our manufacturing innovations have helped nearly blind people see, allowed point of care diagnostics to ensure best treatment options for patients, and enabled precision medicine to deliver life-saving therapies.
Electric Vehicles
Today, innovations from companies like Tesla, Volkswagen, and Volvo, the alarming rate of climate change impact, and the increase in fuel costs due to the war in the Ukraine, are driving consumer demand for EV’s that can lower mankind’s impact on climate. We see more EV’s on the road and with that comes need for more sophisticated battery technology.
EV Batteries
The heart of any electric vehicle is the battery that stores energy to power a car, truck or other mode of transportation. Manufacturing an EV battery involves a number of complex steps, many of which borrow from other advanced manufacturing technologies.
For example, the same laser micro-machining that can manufacture microfluidic devices can also quickly and economically cut and pattern the thin foils in EV batteries. Metal fabrication using lasers has been a staple on automotive factory floors for decades because most metals absorb laser light easily.
EV Batteries vary but in general metals like copper, aluminum, lead, tin, and nickel are common, while rare earth metals like lithium and cobalt also make up the EV Battery cell. Laser materials processing of these metals, along with the plastics like PVC, PET, and polystyrene used in the battery housing results in a smaller Heat Affected Zone [HAZ] when the laser wavelength is optimally matched to the specific material.
Manufacturing at the Speed of Light
Potomac’s manufacturing expertise extends beyond the technical parameters of fabricating parts. Starting with truly high-speed rapid prototyping, we are able to optimize functional prototypes through an iterative process with product designers. Focus on Design for Manufacturability ensures a smooth transition then to high volume production.
Our rapid turnaround is, in part, due to this attention to the final manufacturing process at the earliest stages of a project. Depending upon the size of the individual part, we can produce thousands of parts per week.
Potomac’s highly automated quality control processes also ensure that parts meet spec. Speed without quality is not acceptable in this consumer-driven EV battery market.
Saving the Planet
We believe that innovation is how mankind’s big problems can be solved. Potomac’s innovation in all areas of manufacturing – from laser technology and tools on our factory floor to automated QC and Design for Manufacturing – is exactly how we are battling problems like climate change through EV Battery production.
Animal testing has long been an established protocol in drug discovery programs. But there are systemic issues with the far from reliable methodology. In fact, only 10% of the drugs that move from animal testing to human clinical trials succeeds. Such low yields increase the time and expense required to get pharmaceuticals to market, fueling…
In the field of microfluidics, where precision is key to innovation and application success, our expertise at Potomac Photonics sets a standard. We specialize in the art of laser drilling precise small holes in glass slides and coverslips, a critical capability for the fabrication of microfluidic devices. These devices play a pivotal role in various…
The world today seems consumed with fears about Artificial Intelligence, otherwise known as AI. Writers, journalists, ad copywriters, teachers, and artists are fearful their jobs will be lost to computers but in manufacturing we have been applying a subset of AI to manufacturing for decades with positive results. Like other forms of AI, Machine Learning…