The future is electric

The chassis of electric vehicles with independent front and rear axles is increasingly being developed as a fully integrated electric axle drive system. This is delivered directly to the production line and installed as a complete module. This reduces weight, installation space and production costs.

Prismatic, pouch or cylindrical: irrespective of the battery cell form, KUKA develops process-reliable and dependable battery module assembly lines for high-voltage energy storage systems for subsequent installation in battery packs. From pre-assembly to insulation and bracing, and from the assembly of electrical contacts, boards, sensors and end plate to the inspection station.

The assembly process for battery packs begins with the provision and preparation of the housing components such as the tray and frame. The cooling systems are then assembled and thermal compound or gap filler applied. The individual battery modules are inserted into the pack housing and fastened. This is followed by the electrical and thermal integration, cover installation and quality and safety testing of the battery pack.

The manufacture of electric motors is an established technology. Nonetheless it produces some major challenges for manufacturers. For the use in vehicles, a high level of automation of the production systems is required. Moreover, the associated production processes are subjected to the most stringent quality requirements. KUKA develops and implements turnkey, modular assembly lines for electric motors: from design and planning to final implementation and integration in your production environment – scalable from small to large-series production. In order to ascertain the optimal quality of your assembled motors and powertrains, KUKA also designs and implements all required inspection and measuring systems.

For the sealing of electronic modules, for example, KUKA develops flexible automation solutions that apply endless extruded plastic sealing profiles directly onto the desired components. Depending on the customer’s specific sealing task, KUKA provides the most appropriate robot-guided extrusion process to ensure greater flexibility, shorter cycle times and thus more cost-effective production.

Modern electric vehicles have special requirements on the vehicle design which also has a strong influence on body in white architecture: The large battery is bolted into the underbody and the battery housing becomes a structural component. The use of high-voltage technology increases the safety requirements, particularly for crash tests. As an expert in body in white production, KUKA provides the know-how required for innovative automation solutions for mass production and meets your specific vehicle body requirements, no matter in which way the design of the body in white is done.

The mileage that can be achieved is currently the decisive factor for people buying electric vehicles. In order to reduce consumption, lightweight design remains a major issue in electromobility. Established approaches in lightweight vehicle body design are being adopted. KUKA has many years of experience in all methods of body design, if it is aluminum and the more demanding multi-material-mix and masters the automated series production of vehicle bodies in all conceivable variants.

The field of service robotics has a major role in the future of electrically-powered, autonomously driving and parking vehicles. In both public and private areas, automatic charging technology will be required to enable conductive charging. KUKA is developing intelligent charging solutions and services for the exclusive requirements of the next generation of autonomous transport solutions and universal series solutions for all kinds of electric vehicle models.

KUKA is the specialist for the planning, design, manufacture and commissioning of automation systems, individual assembly lines and complex assembly systems. Electromobility components such as electric motors, front and rear axles and gear units for hybrid vehicles are assembled for the electric powertrain. KUKA test technology and KUKA high-tech test systems ensures that your assembled unit performs properly.

The automated production of battery components is another area in which KUKA ensures quality and safety down to the smallest detail. In order to implement the complex seams of battery and electronics housings, KUKA uses the robot-guided friction stir welding technology. This is particularly suitable for joining non-ferrous metals with a low melting temperature. In the battery housings for electric vehicles, for example, the floor plate and the frame are circumferentially welded to form a leak-proof housing. In addition to this, for joining battery contacts and connecting cables and cable lugs, KUKA uses the established friction welding process. This pressure welding process produces particularly strong joints and can be used to join identical or different materials.

The production of rotors and stators for electric motors requires a high degree of technological competence and also innovative automation solutions in order to be profitable. For this, it is necessary to master the core processes. These include the winding and impregnation of the stator coils as well as fitting the rotor with magnets and balancing it. Additionally, the assembly lines and the corresponding machinery should be planned and designed to be modular. This enables scalable layout and, in the case of increasing demand, a cost-effective increase in the number of units produced. Furthermore, for reasons of safety and ergonomics, rotor assembly presupposes the virtually complete automation of a number of manufacturing steps.

In order to ensure that the high-voltage energy storage systems meet the high quality standards and strict safety requirements, KUKA systematically subjects them to various inspections in different process steps during production. These extensive function tests require corresponding know-how and experience in measuring and inspection technology.