autoregion international - Edition 1/2020

42 Technology Mix at VOIT Automotive: Production Stator Carrier Gen 2.0 By Peter Biegelmeier, MBA, B.Sc. Industrial Engineering, Head of Operative Sales/Head of Sales, VOIT Automotive GmbH INNOVATIVE and SUSTAINABLE FOR THE FUTURE are the requirements specified for Mission E today. Existing platform designs and vehicle architectures are being turned upside down in this regard to achieve improvements in the mobility of tomorrow. The efficiency of the products, the right mix of materials and economic efficiency are being taken into account more than ever today when seeking product solutions for the future. In doing so, it is a priority to manage the balancing act between short development times and an efficient pro- duction process. VOIT Automotive picks up on this develop- ment potential as an automotive supplier for ready-to-install components in its core competence areas – aluminium die casting technology and forming technology. VOIT thereby supports its 1st tier clients and OEMs by taking a “simultaneous engi- neering approach” in product development right through to the optimum series manu- facturing process. Technology mix for stator carrier production At VOIT, the focus is initially on the cus- tomer’s requirements or component spec- ifications irrespective of the production process so that optimum development of the component can be achieved. During this development phase, we validate the advantages and disadvantages of indi- vidual aspects of material and production techniques in order to achieve a manufac- turing strategy which is both reliable and low-cost. Besides using state-of-the art manufacturing technology such as friction stir welding for liquid-cooled electronic housings, one of the best examples is the right technology mix used by VOIT in the production of stator carriers for electric drives. Taking the material properties and com- plexity of the component into account, differentiated manufacturing technolo- gies such as extrusion, punching-bending technology and aluminiumdie casting have been considered. Above all, extrusion and punch-bending technology allow a high degree of load bearing capacity in the material as a result of the component geometry (especially the wall thickness) and the stability of the material. In this case, the increased tensile strength of the material is advantageous for components which are subjected to high loads and these technologies were primarily favoured in the first generation of stator carriers (see fig. 1). On the other hand, for complex component constructions and adapted component de- signs, it seems favourable to switch to the aluminium die casting process. During the first development cycles, mould filling and solidifying simulations are used to achieve a homogenous microstructure with low-porosity so that, to some extent, the casting microstructure already proves to have sufficientmechanical characteristics. These characteristics can even be specifi- cally improved by carrying out subsequent heat treatment. Furthermore, it should be especially noted that this process allows great freedom regarding the component design and, among other aspects, it means that less mechanical post-processing of the component is required. This free- dom in component design is beneficial for new development concepts with complex component geometries and functions while simpler component geometries with good mechanical material properties in punch-bending technology can, for exam- ple, be processed on larger deep drawing presses. Focus: Optimisation of costs Besides focussing on the right material and process mix, parallel to this, open book ac- counting is carried out. In calculating the different variants, VOIT not only considers the reliability of the process and manufac- turing efficiency taking the volume of the Material properties ofmaterials used at VOITAutomotiveGmbH (Fig. 1) Image/Graphic: © VOIT Automotive GmbH S H A R E