The global site of the UK's leading magazine for automation, motion engineering and power transmission
28 March, 2024

LinkedIn
Twitter
Twitter link

Line will produce 120,000 EV drivetrains a year

21 February, 2022

The Italian automation supplier Comau has developed and commissioned an automated end-to-end assembly line to produce electric motors, gearboxes and inverters for the Chinese car-maker Geely. The flexible line will assemble permanent magnet motor rotors, gearboxes and electronic drives, as well as performing automated quality control and testing of up to of 120,000 drivetrains a year.

The automated line, at Geely’s Veremt plant in Ningbo, uses multiple robots to install the motor rotors. It also includes 3D vision positioning and guidance, automated high-speed installation of the motor magnets, automated injection of rotor cores, and the automated dual-position dynamic balance correction and magnetisation. It includes stations for:
• assembling the motor stator casings and thermal sleeves;
• dynamic and static testing of the motors;
• feeding and pressing bearings;
• feeding and tightening bolts; and
• automatically selecting and measuring gaskets.

The installation has raised the Veremt plant’s level of automation from around 40% to 80%, while delivering a full-scale production capacity.

Comau allocated 20 engineers to the design phase of the project, which they completed in four months. The line was delivered in just over a year, despite the challenges of Covid-19 and product optimisation changes. Mass production started in late 2021.

Part of the automated drivetrain assembly line at Geely’s Veremt plant

Comau is a member of the Stellantis group which incorporates Fiat, the PSA Group and Fiat Chrysler.

Comau:  Twitter  LinkedIn  Facebook




Magazine
  • To view a digital copy of the latest issue of Drives & Controls, click here.

    To visit the digital library of past issues, click here

    To subscribe to the magazine, click here

     

Poll

"Do you think that robots create or destroy jobs?"

Newsletter
Newsletter

Events

Most Read Articles