German Innovation Award 2019 Electric Motor Housing With Roll Bond Core

A manufacturing process for cooling ducts in cast electric motor housings for e-mobility applications won this year's German Innovation Award in the "Excellence in Business to Business" category.

Related Companies

Bühler AG

Nemak Europe GmbH

AionaCast Consulting GmbH

Fondarex SA

The Consultancy Group wanted to solve the problem how to offer a production process for the cooling channels, which is at the same time easier, cheaper and of a higher quality.

To tackle the problem, an innovation had to be created: The developers inserted a light metal sheet package, which already includes all cooling channels and connectors, in a die for gravity or low pressure die casting and recasted it with aluminum. In the process, two roll-bonded pure aluminum sheets are inflated by 100 bar air pressure, thus forming cooling channels, before the sheet is bent to a cylinder, inserted into a casting tool and recast with aluminum. An important element is the cooling of the sheet from inside during the casting process.

Innovations in Body Design

The new Porsche 911 with more Die Cast Aluminum Components

The so-called Roll Bond Core (RoBoC) could be realized in seven steps, starting with a roll bonding of two aluminum sheets, through the insertion of the light sheet package into the die, to the solidification. The result is a highly efficient casting with significant advantages in quality and manufacturing costs compared to conventional methods. It is designed for mass production and, in addition to electric motors, predestined for use in the housing of batteries, power electronics and other similar products.

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