RESEARCH SITE FOR E-MOTORS OPENED AT FORD IN COLOGNE
The Chair of Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components (PEM) at RWTH Aachen University has opened a new 1,000-square-metre research site for electric motor stators at the Ford plants in Cologne. In the course of the “HaPiPro2” project, funded by the Ministry of Economics and Climate Protection of North Rhine-Westphalia with a total volume of 5.3 million euros, the so-called hairpin stator is to be further developed.
In future, the production technology for different variants of this electric motor component, which is crucial for performance and efficiency, will be advanced on a prototypical demonstration line.
The new model factory reproduces all process steps. This also includes the stripping of the copper wire with the cleanLASER. Clean-Lasersysteme GmbH has provided a wireLINE MIRROR STATIC, which enables simultaneous stripping of the wire from four sides.
The aim of the project is to make the hitherto complex production of e-motors significantly cheaper in the future and thus shorten their time to market.
Mona Neubaur, Minister for Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Protection and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia: “The HaPiPro2 project creates optimal conditions for groundbreaking innovations at the tradition-rich automotive location of Cologne. This is also good news for sustainably secure jobs.” After all, more than 600,000 people work in the automotive industry in Germany alone.
The hairpin stators in focus are to be produced in the new research facility in both truck and passenger car engine sizes using the same machines and processes. This methodology should help to make the entire production process for electric motors more flexible, efficient and sustainable.