The Butterfly Effect of Flat-Wire Motor Manufacturing
New-energy vehicles continued to experience explosive growth in 2023. As the heart of these vehicles, motor technology—characterized by its stability and superior performance—directly shapes the evolution of electric cars. In recent years, the industry has also transitioned from round-wire motors to flat-wire motors.
As everyone knows, flat‑wire motors boast high slot fill factors, excellent thermal management, compact dimensions, and superior product consistency—features that need no further elaboration. Let’s now discuss how to manufacture high‑quality flat‑wire motors.
The production process for the entire flat-wire motor has now become increasingly clear, with the specific steps as follows:
One key component is laser welding, a technology that has long been dominated by foreign equipment manufacturers. Yueke has conducted extensive research in the field of flat‑wire laser welding. Below, we share some original, practical insights: Why, even with identical laser‑welding equipment, can Yueke break the butterfly effect in motor manufacturing processes and deliver superior product quality?
Common welding defects fall into two categories: one arises when the vision system fails to detect or misidentifies weld points, resulting in insufficient welds or no welds at all; the other involves direct damage to the product, such as laser‑induced leaks or localized burn marks on the paint finish. Together, these two types account for more than 95% of all failures at the welding station. If we confine our thinking to the first level—optimizing the welding equipment itself—we will inevitably become trapped in an endless cycle of repeatedly adjusting the welding‑vision alignment, recalibrating the equipment’s centering, and scrutinizing the raw materials.
In fact, the production of flat-wire motors is essentially a refined finishing process for flat-wire components. If each workstation is considered in isolation, it will be extremely difficult to ensure consistent front-to-back dimensions across the entire product.
Welding height variations are a common factor affecting weld quality, and their underlying causes can be further attributed to wire formation, indentation, trimming, and torsion. For example, height differences caused by torsion arise when wires from different layers have varying outer diameters; under the same torsional angle, inconsistent height changes occur. If the equipment lacks automatic height‑following compensation during setup, pronounced height variations will result. When a trimming step is included, it can mitigate the effects of height differences; however, the cut surface may still exhibit variations depending on whether the cutting method employs ring‑cutting or push‑cutting. Moreover, the compensatory effect of trimming can lead to fluctuations in the position where the paint layer is removed—resulting in cuts that are either too short or too long—which, in turn, may trigger electrical failures or welding burns.
For example, when welding two copper wires with an excessively large gap, the first consideration is the method used to remove the insulation. Typically, laser stripping does not damage the copper itself, and the spacing between wires can be controlled to match twice the thickness of the enamel coating (for example, in water-cooled motor enameled wire, the combined coating thickness ranges from 0.15 to 0.25 mm). In contrast, when using the punching method, the thickness typically increases to 0.3 mm or more. This will inevitably lead to laser leakage during welding. The use of welding jigs can mitigate this to a certain extent, but post‑weld gap control still depends on the clamping force of the jig and the design of the clamping plate’s angle. If the gripping position is improper and the force settings are unreasonable, not only will the gap fail to narrow, but it may even widen.
Of course, all of this in itself represents a deeper interpretation of the product. The springback of the copper wire, the thickness of the coating, and the width-to-thickness ratio all influence our selection of various process parameters. Through numerous experiments, Yueke has analyzed the differences in forming springback under different width-to-thickness ratios, established dimensional data models for various raw materials, and, based on DOE‑validated clamping performance, designed optimal fixture angles, shapes, and clamping strokes. Moreover, Yueke’s self‑developed vision system can precisely identify welds by leveraging actual color deviations and positional references, setting the most appropriate inspection criteria to effectively ensure both welding efficiency and consistent quality.
So faced with such complex parameter settings, aren’t you all feeling overwhelmed?
No problem—Yueke has pioneered an intelligent parameter‑setting system that integrates the product’s initial input data and, through backend simulation calculations, automatically generates the corresponding initial equipment parameters. This accelerates product onboarding and delivery, enabling a true turnkey solution. Behind this lies Yueke’s deep understanding of flat‑wire motor technology, as well as rigorous technical analysis and synthesis of the strong interdependencies between upstream and downstream processes.
Yueke is an integrated supplier dedicated to providing domestic and international customers with professional electric drive system solutions, as well as complete production lines for flat-wire motor stators and rotors. We bring together industry‑leading experts in product technology to help clients effectively overcome technical challenges and ensure rapid equipment delivery.
