The essential solution for the production of electric cars: CMS ikon

10 Sep 2020

The Car industry, nowadays, is turning its attention to electrics. Within this context, CMS Advanced Materials Technology is a key player in the creation of battery pack compartments.

The volumes for this application are currently around 100,000 cars per year and rising. Each compartment consists of a lower base, 4 perimeter sides, and generally 3 or 4 internal spacers. It is manufactured using extruded aluminium, for a total of 800,000 pieces a year that usually require more than one routing machine. We are also considering the idea of manufacturing the parts in composite materials to bring added value.

Naturally, the problems become exponential: space occupied, cycle time, piece loading and unloading, dealing with scraps, and material. There is only one way to resolve all this in a single solution: CMS ikon.

For safety reasons, the compartments need to be sealed and, as a result, require extremely strict machining tolerances. CMS ikon is the solution designed especially for CMS to encompass in a single machine all the operations for cutting, drilling, tapping (where foreseen), and blade machining to custom-size the extrusions, using two operating units fitted with 20 kW electro-spindles.

 

TOP BUYER BENEFITS

  • Can be fully integrated into highly automated production lines
  • +47% reduction in bulk compared to a vertical machine with pallet change system
  • Zero time wasting with loading/unloading operations
  • 53% cycle time reduction thanks to the double bridge configuration

 

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS

  • vertical rotary table to reduce occupied space on the floor to a minimum, and simplify the loading/unloading operations, especially with robotic systems
  • natural acoustic insulation and containment of the dust/shavings produced, thanks to its closure on five sides
  • horizontal routing that allows for the natural drop of shavings/scraps onto the removal mat below
  • Full visibility of the work area