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Contact By Laser Trumpf Laser System Saves Screwing Effort for Power Electronics

Source: Trump | Translated by AI 2 min Reading Time

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A new—and above all highly automated—laser welding process from Trumpf makes the production of power electronics for electric cars more economical.

Trumpf has found a more productive way of welding copper conductors to busbars very quickly and reliably using a laser. This makes the time-consuming screw connection obsolete ...(Picture: Trump)
Trumpf has found a more productive way of welding copper conductors to busbars very quickly and reliably using a laser. This makes the time-consuming screw connection obsolete ...
(Picture: Trump)

With a highly automated welding process from Trumpf, copper cables can now be connected directly to the so-called busbars, which are also made of copper, using a laser, according to the company in Ditzingen. This means that the usual screw connection is now a thing of the past. As Trumpf explains, the interplay of lasers, sensors and artificial intelligence (AI), as well as data, has been ideally coordinated. The whole thing was presented for the first time at the Intech in-house trade fair at the Trumpf site. According to Trumpf, the new laser welding system creates a firmly fused connection with low electrical resistance. This makes the power electronics for electric cars and plug-in hybrids even more efficient than a bolted connection. The process is primarily used in the production of voltage distributors. As the name suggests, these components distribute the high voltage from the vehicle battery to the electric motor, lighting and other electrical consumers. Manufacturers had to produce conventional mechanical connections for voltage distributors in several process steps, which is time-consuming and also prone to errors. According to Trumpf, mechanical screw connections are also sensitive to vibrations and can come loose. And the higher electrical resistance generates energy losses and additional heat in the wiring system. Now let's get to the heart of the innovation ...

Busbar Contact Welding in Less Than A Second

As mentioned above, the interaction between the individual systems must be coordinated. And this is how it works: first, an AI-supported image processing system recognizes the component and positions the laser beam with pixel precision within milliseconds. Then a fiber laser with nine kilowatts of power welds the copper strands. During the process, an optical coherence tomography (OCT) system monitors the welding depth in real time to prevent the component from being welded through, as Trumpf explains further. After the welding process, another system based on cameras checks the quality of the weld seam, which is again supported by AI. In order to achieve a reliable assessment of the seam quality, just a few training images are sufficient. All process steps—from component recognition to welding and quality control—were carried out in a single laser station. The entire process thus runs in well under a second. The goal that Trumpf has set itself is to achieve seamless process control in real time without slowing down the production flow. For larger cross-sections, users can also use even more powerful lasers from Trumpf.

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