Using PC-based control from Beckhoff, bdtronic continues to enhance its trickle impregnation systems
The performance and durability of electric motors heavily depend on high quality potting of internal windings. This is why many of today’s most successful car manufacturers rely on impregnation systems from bdtronic. The process solution provider based in Weikersheim, Germany, combines its comprehensive process expertise in the dispensing, plasma, impregnation and heat staking technology into individual, cycle time-optimized systems with the help of PC-based control from Beckhoff.
The more thoroughly that impregnating resin fills in the slots of a stator/rotor, the better the thermal dissipation and mechanical stability of the motor winding. In turn, this can improve the performance of the electric drive. Therefore, to develop high-performance impregnation systems, system providers must possess in-depth process expertise about material preparation, dispensing and curing of resins.
Having manufactured dispensing and impregnation systems since the ’70s, bdtronic now boasts eight service and sales branches worldwide. More than 580 employees dedicate their time to developing and producing machines and systems for the electronics industry to manufacture batteries for EVs and sensor technology for autonomous driving.
The process solutions enable single-component and two-component dispensing, prior plasma treatment, heat staking and impregnation for electric drives.
“Nearly all of the world’s leading OEMs produce their motors using trickle technology from bdtronic,” explains Markus Rieger, Director of Indirect Sales and Marketing at bdtronic.
Efficient trickling accelerates innovation for today’s EV motors
Before the state-of-the art trickling equipment was available, automakers used a dipping process. This involved immersing the stators/rotors of electric motors in an open basin with resin until all cavities were filled. Then an elaborate process of removing the resin from the bundle of laminations of the electric motors would be necessary.
“This is both cost-intensive and unsustainable in terms of material consumption, environmental protection and operator safety,” explains Florian Schütz, Regional Sales Manager DACH at bdtronic.
In contrast, trickling is an impregnation process. The systems apply the impregnation material precisely and in the required quantity at pre-determined positions. The resin flows between the stator housing and the winding and hardens under defined process conditions.
“We have developed and refined the trickling process as a sustainable and cost-effective alternative to the usual dipping process,” emphasizes Andreas Olkus, Managing Director of bdtronic.
Sophisticated motion control takes on trickling
At the beginning of the bdtronic’s trickle impregnation process, a robot picks up three stators/rotors and fixes them onto tool holders. A transport chain guides these holders through the roughly 13-meter long system. First, the stators/rotors are preheated to around 100 degrees Celsius, before trickling begins at around 50 servo-controlled trickling stations. This is followed by gelling and curing zones with temperatures of up to 180 degrees Celsius as well as final cooling zones. At the end of the system, another robot removes the stators/rotors and prepares them for the next processing steps.
To ensure that all grooves are completely filled and the resin does not drip, the stators/rotors must rotate continuously as they pass through the system. The sheer number of dispensing pumps and rotating tool holders on the chain alone are an indication of the sophisticated motion sequences that are implemented using the TwinCAT 3 automation software from Beckhoff. A challenging factor is that the chain expansion varies constantly in the different temperature zones. The dispensing needles are positioned with an accuracy of ±0.1 mm to the rotating stators/rotors.
In addition, the trickling station servo pumps must be controlled synchronously with the movements. Even the rotation of the stators/rotors is precisely controlled to maintain a constant speed in the transport chain curves. “We have invested a lot of time and energy into the software and the motion profile in terms of positioning and component rotation in relation to the chain,” emphasizes Karsten Bauer, Head of Software and Electrical Design.
“Temperature and dispensing quantity are critical factors for the perfect dispensing and trickling process,” says Antonia Anetzberger, Product Manager for Dispensing Systems.
As such, bdtronic prioritizes the ability to trace the complete process chain and offer maximum process reliability. This means that users know at all times where each stator/rotor is currently positioned in the system and the conditions under which it was impregnated. In addition, each stator/rotor is weighed before and after impregnation to document the amount of resin absorbed as a further quality criterion.
Customers can access such production data using a wide variety of interfaces or can directly connect the database to their own quality control systems. “This is where the openness and the flexibility of PC-based control present an enormous advantage,” says Mirko Ammersbach, head of the Beckhoff sales office in Marktheidenfeld, Germany.
Powerful hardware and software scale for the future
To maintain a lead in machine building, bdtronic relies on almost the entire range of Beckhoff components in its various systems and scales the computer hardware according to the performance requirements. Components such as CX2033 Embedded PCs, C6930 control cabinet Industrial PCs, and C6040 ultra-compact Industrial PCs are integrated into the dispensing, plasma, heat staking and impregnation systems.
To minimize the systems’ footprint, machine-mountable EtherCAT Box I/O modules are used in addition to DIN rail-mounted EtherCAT Terminals. “At the moment, system wiring and cabling still require a relatively large amount of space and time,” Olkus says.
Beckhoff supports decentralized solutions for cabinet-free automation, including the AMP8000 distributed servo drive system, the AMI8100 integrated servo drives and the EP series EtherCAT Box modules.
For bdtronic, this is just the start of this collaboration. The machine builder sees breakthrough technologies in mechatronics, cabinet-free control and robotics as a roadmap for continued development with Beckhoff. With a scalable and future-proof automation platform, bdtronic has the power to advance its EV and battery production machines.
“We can easily integrate these advanced components into our control environment,” Bauer says. “That means we can adapt the performance of the industrial PCs exactly to our liking.”
Ready to rev up your automotive and battery production equipment with New Automation Technology? Contact your local Beckhoff sales engineer today.
Philip Ehlers is the Automotive Industry Manager at Beckhoff Automation LLC
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