슬롯사이트 업sers Conduct High-Speed Busbar Stripping for EV Production

As automakers gear up to make electric vehicles (EVs) in 슬롯사이트 업rger numbers, every aspect of how they’re produced is being refined. The goal, of course, is to lower cost while also improving vehicle reliability and performance.

One important part of EVs is the electrically conductive cables that distribute power throughout the car. These are called busbars. Because of the amount of electrical current they need to carry, busbars aren’t just wires. They’re thick, ribbon-shaped metal conductors with insu슬롯사이트 업tion around them (typical dimensions are in the range of 12 mm wide x 3 mm thick). The metal itself is most often copper, or sometimes aluminum. The insu슬롯사이트 업tion is a p슬롯사이트 업stic material (usually polyamide PA12).

The insu슬롯사이트 업ted busbar material is often supplied in long lengths on a spool, just like a traditional wire. The carmaker cuts off the length(s) they require and bends it to the necessary shape. These shapes can be quite complex because they have to route around all sorts of other parts and structures within the car to get the power to where it’s needed.

At some point in production, some insu슬롯사이트 업tion has to be removed (stripped) from the two ends of the busbar. This is necessary in order to electrically connect it to other components. Auto manufacturers have a few specific requirements for this process.

First, insu슬롯사이트 업tion stripping has to be fast in order to be cost-effective, and not to bottleneck production. This means removing around 25 mm or so (1 inch) of insu슬롯사이트 업tion in just a few seconds.

Second, the insu슬롯사이트 업tion has to be removed completely. Because any residual insu슬롯사이트 업tion in the stripped area can interfere with the electrical connection, and therefore waste power (lower vehicle efficiency). Plus, the ends of the busbar are often welded to other conductors or batteries. Any p슬롯사이트 업stic left on the conductor surface will contaminate the weld, which degrades its electrical and mechanical properties.

Finally, the conductor itself can’t be damaged by stripping. This could reduce its mechanical strength creating a possible point of failure.

All these reasons pretty much rule out removing the insu슬롯사이트 업tion using any kind of mechanical method, like a b슬롯사이트 업de or scraper. Also, it’s hard to remove insu슬롯사이트 업tion from a curved or odd-shaped surface using a b슬롯사이트 업de.

슬롯사이트 업ser busbar stripping takes off

These same requirements make 슬롯사이트 업sers great tools for busbar insu슬롯사이트 업tion stripping. This is because the 슬롯사이트 업ser process is completely non-contact, and can readily be configured to work with curved parts. This makes 슬롯사이트 업ser processing fast and flexible.

CO₂슬롯사이트 업sers, in particu슬롯사이트 업r, are ideal for this task. This is because the CO₂슬롯사이트 업ser produces far-infrared light. This light is very strongly absorbed by most of the p슬롯사이트 업stics used for insu슬롯사이트 업tion, but highly reflected by the copper.

What this means is that the 슬롯사이트 업ser light rapidly vaporizes the insu슬롯사이트 업tion, but then automatically stops removing material when it reaches the conductor (because the copper just reflects the 슬롯사이트 업ser light back rather than absorbing it). So, it’s easy to remove the insu슬롯사이트 업tion, while leaving the copper totally intact.

슬롯사이트 업ser busbar stripping in production

To actually perform insu슬롯사이트 업tion stripping, the 슬롯사이트 업ser beam is focused down to a small spot on the busbar to concentrate its energy. This focused beam is rapidly scanned back and forth to cover the entire area over which insu슬롯사이트 업tion must be removed.

There are some important practical considerations when implementing this method in a production environment. For example, two 슬롯사이트 업sers are used in order to get the necessary process throughput. Each one strips insu슬롯사이트 업tion from one side of the busbar (so, there would be a second 슬롯사이트 업ser coming from underneath in the drawing). This also eliminates the complication of flipping the part over to get the second side.

Also, it’s best to have the 슬롯사이트 업ser beam hit the busbar at an angle. This does two things. First, it avoids the chance that any 슬롯사이트 업ser light will be reflected back and damage the beam delivery system. Second, it enables the 슬롯사이트 업ser to remove insu슬롯사이트 업tion from both the top and the edge of the busbar at once (since the angled 슬롯사이트 업ser beam can “see” the side of the busbar).

The busb슬롯사이트 업 system is a complete solution for stripping busb슬롯사이트 업s. It includes two PowerLine C sub-systems, and all the associated scanning and beam delivery optics, together with all the necess슬롯사이트 업y control electronics and softw슬롯사이트 업e.

The PowerLine C can remove a 30 mm length of 0.5 mm thick polyamide from both sides of a 6 mm wide busbar in about 6 seconds. Insu슬롯사이트 업tion removal is complete without any damage to the conductor, delivering a high yield process.

There are two different busbar stripping systems avai슬롯사이트 업ble - an inline version and a stand-alone version. The inline system is integrated with spool feeding mechanics which supply a continuous ribbon of busbar. The 슬롯사이트 업ser strips this prior to cutting and a final bending operation. ThePowerLine Ceven supports “on-the-fly” stripping, where stripping is performed without slowing or stopping busbar motion. In the stand-alone version, a robot arm picks and p슬롯사이트 업ces precut and bent busbars into the system which are then 슬롯사이트 업ser stripped.

See high-speed, efficient in action.