With the continuous expansion of the new energy vehicle market, hairpin motors are becoming the first choice of more and more automakers due to their high power density and excellent reliability. To increase stator production capacity, many companies have introduced advanced automated assembly production lines to achieve both efficiency and quality improvements.
However, a well-known new energy vehicle manufacturer encountered many challenges in actual applications, which brought a profound warning to the industry. After the company put the new equipment online, it not only failed to achieve the expected capacity growth, but also exposed multiple production bottlenecks:
Due to the wide variety of copper wires and insufficient equipment compatibility, switching production models is time-consuming and labor-intensive.
The twisting and cutting processes are complicated, which increases production costs and also brings the risk of unstable quality.
The paint penetration is insufficient, which seriously affects the final performance of the motor.
This case shows that when introducing automated equipment, companies should not only look at technical parameters, but also pay attention to the process adaptability and flexible design of the equipment to ensure that they truly meet the actual needs of hairpin motor production.
These challenges aren't isolated cases, but are common problems faced by the entire hairpin motor production industry. As a key component of the new energy vehicle drive system, hairpin motor are favored for their compact structure and excellent heat dissipation performance. However, their manufacturing process is highly complex and involves multiple precision processes, which places higher requirements on equipment accuracy and process coordination.
The above cases reflect a reality: the automated production of hairpin motor is not only a matter of equipment investment, but also a test of system process and process integration capabilities. Especially when equipment resources are limited, how to achieve more efficient and stable production capacity output by optimizing existing automation processes is becoming a core issue that companies urgently need to solve.
In this article, we will explore how to maximize production capacity with limited resources through strategies such as equipment optimization, process improvement and flexible design - that is, to achieve 80% production efficiency with 20% of the equipment. Through this idea, we hope to provide a practical solution for the efficient operation of flat wire motor stator automated assembly equipment.
Next, we will focus on the three core issues that restrict the production capacity of hairpin motor stator, and analyze their causes and coping strategies one by one, to help companies improve efficiency while ensuring product quality and production stability.
1. Insufficient compatibility of copper wires and low efficiency of changeover
In actual production, hairpin motor of different power levels need to match flat copper wires of different specifications. However, traditional equipment has significant shortcomings when dealing with copper wires of multiple specifications: each changeover takes an average of 4 to 6 hours, and the overall efficiency of the equipment is difficult to exceed 65%, which seriously restricts the increase in production capacity.
In addition, the traditional forming process usually adopts a "two-step" approach - first, the flat copper wire is initially bent to form a 2D structure, and then stamped into a 3D form with the help of a mold. This step-by-step operation process is not only inefficient, but also performs poorly in dealing with the flexible production needs of small batches and multiple varieties.
In response to this problem, HONEST Automation has achieved a key breakthrough in the copper wire forming link. Its innovatively designed automation equipment not only supports multiple types of co-line flexible production, such as H-pin, X-pin, Mini-pin, etc., through comprehensive optimization of structure and process, but also has the ability of 2D and 3D integrated forming, which simplifies the process to the greatest extent and improves efficiency. The molding accuracy can be controlled within ±0.05mm, which effectively improves product consistency and assembly accuracy, and provides a solid guarantee for customers to build an efficient and flexible production system.
2. Process redundancy affects efficiency, and twisting and cutting become bottlenecks
On the traditional hairpin motor stator production line, the twisting and cutting processes are not only complicated but also require additional special equipment, which not only lengthens the overall production cycle but also significantly increases equipment investment and operating costs.
What is more difficult is that defects such as burrs are easily generated during the mechanical shearing process, which not only affects the stability of subsequent processes, but also leads to a decrease in product consistency and difficulty in ensuring the yield, further pushing up production costs and reducing overall efficiency.
To address this problem, HONEST Automation independently developed a new generation of "non-cutting hairpin twisting machine", which achieves high integration and automation of the twisting process while maintaining high-precision processing. The equipment eliminates the traditional cutting link through structural optimization and low-energy drive design, significantly simplifying the production process.
This technological innovation not only effectively improves the production line cycle but also greatly reduces material waste and defective rate, helping customers to reduce comprehensive manufacturing costs while improving production efficiency, and provides a new path for creating a high-quality, low-cost, flexible manufacturing system.
3. Insufficient paint dripping causes insulation risks, and reliability is difficult to guarantee
In the production process of hairpin motor stator, the paint dripping process plays a key role in the insulation performance of the motor. However, the traditional paint dripping method has obvious shortcomings: due to the residual air, bubbles are easily formed, and the filling rate of the paint liquid is generally only about 78%. In long-term operation, under severe vibration or high load environment, it is very easy to induce insulation failure problems such as inter-turn short circuit, which seriously affects the stability and service life of the motor.
In response to the above pain points, HONEST Automation has developed a new vacuum paint-dripping system. The system significantly improves the fluidity and permeability of the paint liquid by filling the paint liquid in a vacuum environment, effectively eliminating the hidden dangers of bubbles, and greatly improves the filling efficiency.
In addition, the equipment has a rotating and tilting structure design, and the paint dripping head can be adjusted to any angle within the range of 0° to 90°, flexibly adapting to different stator structures and multi-angle segmented paint dripping requirements, and the filling rate can reach up to 95%. This technological breakthrough not only significantly improves the insulation reliability of the stator but also provides strong support for customers to build a high-stability and high-consistency production system.
Flexible design empowers production lines and creates highly adaptable intelligent manufacturing systems
In addition to developing special automation equipment in key process links, HONEST Automation also attaches great importance to the flexibility of the entire line equipment. By introducing the concept of modular design, we enable equipment to be flexibly combined and quickly adjusted according to different process requirements, thereby significantly improving the adaptability of the production system to multi-specification and multi-variety products.
In actual applications, companies can quickly adjust the production line configuration according to changes in order requirements, easily cope with small batches and flexible manufacturing scenarios of multiple varieties, avoid repeated investment and excessive production capacity, and help customers build a more agile and efficient production system.
Thanks to the above comprehensive innovations in equipment optimization and process improvement, Hoest has helped many new energy vehicle drive motor manufacturers achieve "less wins more" production line upgrades: with only 20% of the equipment invested, the production capacity has been increased by up to 80%. This achievement not only effectively reduces the overall manufacturing cost, but also significantly improves product consistency and market competitiveness.
Empowering the future with intelligent manufacturing and promoting high-quality development of the industry
As the core link in the manufacturing process of hairpin motor, the hairpin stator assembly line not only carries the task of efficient output, but also shoulders the important mission of ensuring product consistency and promoting high-quality development of enterprises. With the continuous growth of the new energy vehicle industry, the market has put forward higher standards for the automation level and production efficiency of flat wire motor stators.
HONEST Automation has always adhered to the balance of technological innovation and customer value orientation, and continued to deepen its efforts around "high precision, high efficiency, and high flexibility", and is committed to providing the industry with more advanced and reliable intelligent assembly solutions. In the future, we will continue to work with global partners to jointly promote the manufacturing of new energy vehicle electric drive systems to a higher level and create a new chapter in intelligent manufacturing.
