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Case Study Automated Weld Seam Inspection on Battery Frames

100% quality assurance in e-mobility production

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Summary

Optimization of quality assurance
Economic and time efficiency
Reduction of human errors
Increased safety in the workplace

About the Customer

Wasiak Group, headquartered in Hannover, Germany, is a Tier 1 supplier to the automotive and medical technology industries. Over 300 employees serve more than 65 customers in eight countries. At the Brodnica site in Poland, Wasiak S. A. produces sheet metal parts and complete pressed and welded assemblies for the automotive industry.

Wasiak S. A. was commissioned by a major vehicle manufacturer (OEM) to produce welded frames for the battery housings of an e-van. The frames are bulky: each measuring around 2.20 by 1.20 meters and weighing up to 60 kilograms. Over 200 weld seams hold the individual parts together.

One frame already has over 200 individual welds.

The customer expects 100 percent defect-free parts: The frame for the battery housing must be absolutely stable; it protects the battery in the event of impact and prevents it from igniting. Dirt could also get inside via faulty seams.

Manual inspection of all welds is practically impossible at high production volumes; errors would be inevitable. It would also be too slow and too cumbersome: The heavy frame has to be rotated several times for inspection - a heavy load for humans. The customer therefore demanded an automated quality inspection system.

The solution

The individual parts of the battery frame are welded together fully automatically by robots. Directly in the welding line, the VIRO WSI weld seam inspection system from VITRONIC scans all weld seams of a finished battery frame with a movable laser head. In the inspection station, a frame is rotated successively in four positions so that the scanner can reach all seams.

VIRO WSI detects all welding defects and triggers the signal to reject not-OK (NOK) parts. At a visualization station, the defective parts are reworked manually. A display shows the inspection results of the individual seams on the part for the worker. He can see exactly which of the more than 200 seams need to be reworked. In addition, the worker can enter rework performed into the system and document it together with the inspection results.

Automated inspection is more precise and reliable than manual visual inspection; NOK parts are detected before they are sent to the customer. In addition, many quality features can be inspected at the same time.

Quality Features

burn-through
deepening
deviation of weld location
missing part or missing weld
pores
throught thickness
weld gap for overlap welds
weld length
welding spatter
weld undercut
weld width

All inspection results are visualized in different views and displayed in real-time statistics. In addition, they are stored in an internal database with component and seam identifiers. Thus, everything is comprehensively documented and can be evaluated and tracked later.

Thanks to the statistics and the evaluation tool, process deviations can be detected at an early stage and the welding system readjusted. In this way, VIRO WSI helps to prevent welding errors from the outset.

The employees of Wasiak S.A. were trained on the new system in a training course lasting several days and were supported by VITRONIC technicians as needed during the first months. Since then, they have been able to operate the complete system independently and make all settings. Of course, VITRONIC continues to offer service for the system.

The result

Automated weld inspection met the OEM customer's quality requirements 100 percent without slowing down production.

100% of the requirements were met.

VIRO WSI has inspected more than 1,000 parts of the frame for us so far. In many cases, it has detected parts with defects, which could thus be eliminated. We have not received any complaints from the customer since the start of production."

Bartosz Paszkowski Quality & Project Manager, Wasiak Group

Summary

Challenge: Wasiak S.A. produces frames for battery housings for an electrically powered van. The vehicle manufacturer demands 100 percent defect-free parts.
Solution: The more than 200 weld seams are inspected automatically with VITRONIC VIRO WSI; defective seams are thus reliably detected and manually reworked.
Result: After more than 1,000 parts delivered, there was not a single complaint from the vehicle manufacturer.