Requirements
In view of the growing demand for e-mobility worldwide, the requirements surrounding the design of the charging components are also increasing. On behalf of a leading electric vehicles manufacturer, we took responsibility for the holistic development and manufacturing of a plastic-based charging socket holder.
In addition to the cost-effective complete solution, the product concept focused on the realization of several precision add-on interfaces which are combined in the ZSB component. Due to the impact of the changing weather conditions, it was necessary to design the socket holder to be particularly robust and temperature-resistant and to fulfill the high sealing requirements within the assembly.
As is often the case, we only had a very tight time frame available in which to take the product from blueprint to series production.
Process
All of the production steps were reproduced in-house at our Knittelfeld production site – from the process development, tool design and tool adjustment capability, the in-mold injection molding to the final assembly directly on the machine.
The development is oriented to the findings of a detailed mold-flow analysis. In this context, we were able to obtain a considerable amount of relevant information about the material behavior in terms of warping and shrinkage. Subsequently, all of the following assembly components such as the seals, threaded bushes and spacer bushes are coordinated with each another in the tool concept. When manufacturing the prototype, the component, tool and injection molding machine are designed according to the production requirements.
The latest injection molding technologies as well as specially-developed insertion and assembly solutions ensure the efficient and safe processing of the plastic used. The material specified by the customer is a thermoplastic which is suitable for outdoor applications, the PP GF 30. It was necessary for us to process this so that it was possible to precisely maintain the required flatness and connection dimensions, taking the warping properties into account.
It is naturally the case that all the process steps in the case of this plastic cladding are monitored with the use of tried-and-tested measurement methods, gauges, dial indicators and slides and documented in the CAQ system.
Result
Our customer benefits from our versatile expertise and experience in the processing of technical plastics. The direct connection of the assembly processes also accelerates the series production and makes us even more responsive, especially with peak orders or fluctuations. We currently manufacture up to 5,000 units of the charging socket holder in a 3-shift pattern.
8
injection molding machines
200
kg material throughput
5
manufactured components
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