Author: Natalie Yates

CVE are exhibiting at Battery Show North America, in Novi, Michigan, 13-15 September 2022.

You can find us at stand 2345.

CVE colleagues Tony Slater, Technical Sales Manager, Nick Edge, Consultant, and Ellen Cormack, Marketing Manager, would like to talk to visitors about manufacturing electric vehicle (EV) powertrain components, including batteries, motor stators and hairpins, inverters, and shunt resistors.

CVE is delighted to announce that our Knowledge Transfer Partnership (KTP) associate, Max Nentwich, is a finalist in the Innovate UK KTP Awards 2022.

KTPs, organised by Innovate UK KTN, connect businesses with academia to deliver innovation projects led by graduates.

The projects focus on some of the world’s most pressing problems, and the programme accelerates these ambitious ideas into real-world, commercial solutions. It does this through connecting businesses with new partners, ideas, or academia.

The KTP Awards celebrate the most creative, effective, and interesting people and projects out of around 800 KTPs that are active right now.

Max is a finalist for the Future Leader Award. This award is for associates who have shown exceptional skills, above and beyond the normal expectations of a KTP Associate, in driving and delivering innovation strategy, demonstrating great teamwork, and outstanding leadership potential.

Max’s work with CVE in includes an innovative laser in vacuum window protection solution and is in partnership with Cranfield University.

There are an additional six awards available:

• Best Knowledge Transfer Partnership
• Technical Excellence Award
• The Changing the World Award
• Business Impact and Transformation
• KTP Academic of the Year Award
• Best Knowledge Base KTP Support Team Award

The ceremony will take place on Wednesday 12th October, in-person and online. You can register your attendance via Innovate UK’s website.

CVE has entered the 2022 Cambridge Dragon Boat Festival. The event will take place on Saturday 10^th September and is held annually in aid of Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT).

Dragon boat racing is the fastest growing water activity, with up to 10 people paddling a 30’ boat, with an additional drummer at the front. The race will take place on a 200m stretch down the River Cam at Fen Ditton. This year more than 40 teams are expected to compete.

View the complete crew list (accurate as of 23rd June 2022).

The Festival promises an exciting day out for all the family and there will be a wide range of bankside activities and food stalls for everyone to enjoy. The Festival is free to spectators.

There are awards for the top three crews, the best-placed mixed crew (minimum 5 ladies), the crew raising the most money for ACT, and the ‘best dressed’ crew.

As part of the entry, CVE is raising money for ACT. ACT’s mission is to ensure that every patient at Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie hospitals experiences the highest quality of care available. They raise funds for cutting-edge technology, additional specialist staff and extra comforts for patients, over and above what is possible with NHS funding alone.

“Addenbrooke’s Charitable Trust (ACT) is excited to be the official charity sponsor for the Cambridge Dragon Boat Race once again this year. We would love people to sign up for what promises to be a great day full of fun, friendly competition and team rivalry. We’re so grateful that the festival will be raising funds to support ACT this year, helping to make Addenbrooke’s and the Rosie hospitals even better for patients, their families and staff.” – Emma Bray, Corporate Fundraiser

We welcome any donations to our Just Giving page, where you can also follow updates from the CVE team!

CVE supplied a 150 kV electron beam welding machine to the Łukasiewicz Instytut Spawalnictwa (Polish Welding Institute) in Gliwice.

Established in 1945, Instytut Spawalnictwa is Poland’s leading welding research and development organisation. In its long-standing activity, Instytut Spawalnictwa has solved problems in welding technology, coordinated numerous R&D projects and strengthened close links with the Polish industry and foreign centres. Instytut Spawalnictwa is the only organisation of its type in Poland and has the status of Centre of Excellence.

Instytut Spawalnictwa has a CVE electron beam (EB) welding machine in their electron beam welding laboratory.

The machine has the following features:

• Working chamber (volume 4.95 m3)
  • Width – 1500 mm
  • Height – 1500 mm
  • Length – 2200 mm (it is possible to extend the chamber)
• Directly-heated cathode system, maximum beam power of 30 kW
• Accelerating high voltage up to 150 kV
• Beam current up to 200 mA
• Three vertical EB generators positioned on the chamber roof
• Three viewing windows on the front side and one on the right side

The machine is equipped with:

• A quality management system for logging welding parameters, including the temperature of the elements
• Rapid beam deflection system enabling surface and heat treatment, multibeam welding including automatic seam tracking, and back scattered electron imaging
• Light optical monitoring system with camera
• Electron optical monitoring, back scattered electrons and advanced digital image processing
• Wire feed unit
• Beam assure system
• CNC controlled XY table
• CNC controlled rotary/tilt table with a tailstock
• Two independent vacuum controllers
• Portable helium leak detector with accessories
• Demagnetising devices for mobile use

The EB machine allows the development of the following technologies:

• Welding with and without filler metal
• Brazing
• Cladding
• Alloying
• Local heat treatment
• Rapid prototyping with wire
• Texturizing
• Engraving

Video courtesy of Łukasiewicz Instytut Spawalnictwa.

Instytut Spawalnictwa can help you determine the usability of electron beam technology for processing defined elements, developing electron beam technologies and manufacturing test runs in various components.

Find out more about the electron beam welding laboratory on their website.

If you are interested in adding electron beam welding to your Institute’s facilities, please get in touch.

CVE are attending the 75^th International Institute of Welding (IIW) Annual Assembly and Conference, 17^th-22^nd July 2022, in Tokyo, Japan.

The Japan Institute of Welding, The Japan Welding Society, and The Japan Welding Engineering Society will host the event this year, with support from the Tokyo Convention and Visitors Bureau.

The theme is innovative welding and joining technologies to achieve carbon neutrality and promote sustainable development.

CVE colleagues Chris Punshon, Head of New Energy Applications, Alex O’Farrell, Development Engineering Manager, and Max Nentwich, Head Laser Development Engineer, will be presenting at the conference, with topics spanning local vacuum power beam welding, copper welding for electric vehicles, and laser welding in a vacuum.

The details of the papers are as follows:

• Doc.IV-1507-2022 Local Vacuum Electron Beam and Laser Solutions in New Energy Applications – New Developments and Regulatory Position, Chris Punshon, et al.

• Doc.IV-1506-2022 Removing The Bottleneck In Welding Of Electrical Conductors for Electric Vehicles, Alex O’Farrell, et al.

• Doc.IV-1508-2022 Interaction of Protective Gas with Process Emissions in Vacuum Laser Welding, Max Nentwich, et al.

Chris is the UK delegate for IIW Commission IV (Power Beam Processes) and will act as a session chair for Commission IV. He will also present on local vacuum electron beam welding.

His paper is titled the Local Vacuum Electron Beam and Laser Solutions in New Energy Applications – New Developments and Regulatory Position.

This follows a series of development projects using CVE’s local vacuum technology, Ebflow, including welding of 200mm thick steel, pressure vessel manufacture, pilot at Dogger Bank wind farm, and wind tower manufacturing.

Alex’s paper, titled Removing the Bottleneck in Welding of Electrical Conductors for Electric Vehicles, will focus on how the industry can increase the rate of joining electrically conducting components and the criticality of this to improving electric vehicle manufacturing.

Finally, Max, working as part of a knowledge transfer partnership (KTP) between Cambridge Vacuum Engineering and Cranfield University, will present a paper on the Interaction of Protective Gas with Process Emissions in Vacuum Laser Welding.

Chris’s presentation will take place on Monday 12th July between 13:00 and 16:00. Both Alex and Max’s papers will be presented on Monday 18th July, between 14:00 and 16:00. Please visit the event’s website for the full timetable.

The conference covers a range of other topics, including:

• Additive manufacturing technology and efficient engineering
• Artificial intelligence (AI) and digital transformation (DX)
• Hydrogen (including fuel ammonia), renewable and nuclear energy, electrification
• New materials
• Future technologies
• Other fundamentals

The CVE team will also be attending the adjacently-running Japan International Welding Show at Tokyo International Exhibition Centre and will be happy to meet any attendees or exhibitors interested in the above topics, please get in touch by emailing sales@camvaceng.com.

CVE is exhibiting at The Battery Show Europe, in Stuttgart, Germany, 28-30 June 2022. The Battery Show Europe brings together engineers, business leaders, and top-industry companies to create powerful solutions for the future.

Join the leading meeting place for the advanced battery and hybrid/electric vehicle technology community.

You can find CVE at the UK Pavilion at stand 8E50.

CVE colleagues Chris Coaster, Sales Manager, and Nick Edge, Consultant, will be pleased to discuss developments in electron beam welding for electric vehicle (EV) powertrain components, including batteries.

Alongside us in the UK Pavilion, you will find:

• Autocraft Solutions Group
• Acovet Battery Materials
• Breathe Technologies
• Brill Power
• Dennis Ferranti
• Eatron Technologies
• Lotus Engineering
• Samuel Taylor
• Turntide Technologies
• TWI

At the exhibition you will meet manufacturers, suppliers, engineers, thought leaders and decision-makers for a conference and trade fair focused on the latest developments in the advanced battery and automotive industries.

The free-to-attend expo provides attendees the chance to find solutions to their application needs, get a look at the latest technologies, and connect with their peers.

A forum for advanced battery technology which covers electric and hybrid vehicles, utility and renewable energy support, stationary power, portable electronics, medtech, military, and telecommunications.

Find out more on our exhibitor page.

CVE have launched a new electron beam (EB) welding machine for electric vehicle (EV) components, including batteries, shunt resistors, motor stators, hairpins, and invertors.

The machine will address the automotive industry‘s requirement for a high-quality, quick, and reliable welding process for EV components.

Vehicle electrification is the process of powering the vehicle with electricity by replacing components that operate on a conventional energy source with components that operate on electricity. This includes battery packs, motors, auxiliary systems, and charging systems.

Improvements are developing rapidly, with manufacturers already making advances in fast charging technology and battery exchange systems.

The size and mass of a battery pack often impact the design as more battery cells mean more mass for the vehicle. Increased mass requires more energy for the vehicle movement and affects manoeuvrability, such as handling, acceleration, and braking.

Widespread electrification of light and heavy-duty vehicles faces many economic and technological challenges. Many manufacturers sell electric cars, but there are still some barriers to adoption, including charging infrastructure and price. This is mainly due to the battery costs, but innovative welding solutions can help reduce these.

Electron beam welding is an optimal joining method for welding EV components.

Evflow is an electron beam welding machine for producing electric vehicle (EV) power train components. Electron beam welding is an extremely consistent process, creating strong, high-quality welds.

It is significantly faster for this application as the beam from the electron gun can be deflected electromagnetically with no moving parts, allowing it to move at speeds many times faster than a mechanical laser mirror.

It is significantly faster for this application as the beam from the electron gun can be deflected electromagnetically with no moving parts, allowing it to move at speeds many times faster than a mechanical laser mirror.

You can also change the focal point of the electron beam dynamically and very rapidly using electromagnetic focusing coils, which again have no moving parts. This allows the electron beam to process very wide areas without mechanically moving the welded part or the weld head.

The focal depth of the electron beam is typically longer than a laser; this combined with the lack of issues with reflectivity, makes electron beam welding a more reliable technology for mass production as it has wider tolerance for part misalignment.

Furthermore, as there is no reflectivity from an electron beam on metals such as copper (unlike laser), there is a greater heat intensity. As a result, less material is required in critical areas, such as hairpins, to absorb the heat.

As the vacuum chamber contains the welding process, there is less spatter, so the welds are extremely consistent.

The vacuum reduces the porosity in the weld creating a better electrical connection and increasing the efficiency of the electric vehicle.

Follow the links for more information:

• Evflow machine page
• Evflow datasheet
• Electron beam vs laser welding case study
• Electron beam welding in the automotive industry
• Electrification
• CVE exhibit at coil winding exhibition
• Strip welding machine for shunt resistors
• Electron beam welding of battery busbars
• CVE exhibit at The Battery Show Europe

We build machines to order, and options include custom and precision work handling, vacuum systems tailored to specific process needs and productivity, wire-feed, automatic joint finding, backscattered electron imaging, automatic focus, alignment and stigmator adjustment, high-speed data capture, beam probes and QA reporting. At the heart of the system is CVE’s fully integrated HMI – find out more about our advanced features and options.

If you are not sure which system is right for your application, please get in touch! Our machines are built and manufactured at our Cambridge Headquarters. With 60 years of process know-how in providing turn-key solutions, we can find the right solution for your application.

Cambridge Vacuum Engineering (CVE)’s local vacuum electron beam welding system, Ebflow, welds steel nuclear pressure vessel of 200mm thickness in under 3 hours, revolutionising the assembly and welding of thick-sections for pressure vessel manufacture.

CVE’s ground-breaking local vacuum electron beam (EB) welding technology, Ebflow, achieved a continuous, fully penetrating weld in a 200mm thick, three-metre diameter demonstrator vessel section in low alloy steel.

The weld was produced in a nuclear grade steel typical of that used in some proposed small modular reactor (SMR) designs, with a circumferential weld length of ~10m.

The joint was completed in a single pass, reducing the predicted weld time from several months, using conventional arc welding, to ~140 minutes using Ebflow.

This weld represents a breakthrough in the industrialisation of Ebflow for fabrication of thick-section materials, not only for the nuclear industry, but also for other applications – such as offshore wind and hydrogen production – transforming the global capacity to produce zero-carbon energy.

The project is a continuing collaboration between CVE, Sheffield Forgemasters, TWI, Arc Energy Resources, NAMRC, University of Sheffield, University of Cambridge, and University of Manchester. There was also a steering committee consisting of the Ministry of Defence, Rolls-Royce submarines and SMR divisions, the UK Atomic Energy Authority and Cavendish Nuclear.

The Department for Business, Energy, and Industrial Strategy (BEIS) part-funded the project under the £26m Advanced Manufacturing and Materials Programme within the BEIS Energy Innovation Programme. Engagement with the Office for Nuclear Regulation and Environment Agency was also instigated by BEIS as the project progressed.

After years of highly-advanced engineering and process development, CVE has led Ebflow to market, achieving near commercial exploitation for pressure vessel applications, as well as offshore wind foundation structures.

CVE and Sheffield Forgemasters carried out the factory acceptance testing (FAT) of the welding system, which verifies that the equipment was built and operating in accordance with design and safety specifications, at CVE’s site, before shipping to Sheffield.

Sheffield Forgemasters’ aim to incorporate Ebflow as an advanced fabrication technique, offering significant savings on both processing time and cost, over the traditional arc welding methods, which typically can take months and includes numerous stages of non-destructive testing (NDT).

Notably, the weld was performed without pre-heat or consumables and with an overall energy consumption of less than 100kWh. This represents a considerable saving in CO₂ emissions, in comparison with to more conventional arc welding practice, which requires ~1,000kWh arc energy and pre-heat of ~180^oC before welding can begin.

The welded assembly was examined using several ultrasonic test methods including conventional pulse echo ultrasonic testing (UT) and time of flight diffraction (TOFD). TOFD is particularly well suited to the vertical EB weld joint preparation, resulting in a high level of accuracy in size and position of weld imperfections.

The tests reported that the weld zone was free from any reportable indications, as defined by the ASME acceptance criteria.

Test pieces representative of the welded assembly will be subjected to rigorous mechanical testing at Sheffield Forgemasters after appropriate heat treatment. It is intended that a sample will be removed and introduced into a campaign to assess the influence of exposure to the high levels of radiation anticipated in service.

Determination of magnitude and distribution of residual stresses both as-welded and after heat treatment will be carried out using a contour method.

Ebflow combines the use of a local vacuum system and a high power electron gun that produces a high intensity electron beam. The beam penetrates the full thickness of the vessel and fuses the two components prepared with a close-fitting square butt preparation to produce a welded joint in a single pass.

The local vacuum approach allows the EB process to be applied to thick-walled large vessels, which cannot be practically contained within a vacuum chamber, and can operate at significantly higher vacuum pressure than in-chamber EB welding systems. This results in an improved process tolerance to cleaning and outgassing when welding big structures.

The Ebflow system comprises:

• A patented high power electron beam generator designed for long duration welding campaigns with consistent, reliable welding performance, particularly for very thick section materials.
• Local vacuum chamber and pumping system with minimum volume designed for rapid pumping (5 minute pump down in the FAT, compared to hours for conventional in-chamber systems) and minimal energy consumption compared to in-chamber systems as only mechanical pumps are required.
• Several configurations of local vacuum deployment for vessels and other structures including the use of vacuum jackets for different sized vessels, sliding local vacuum seals for modular construction of components and internally mounted guns for heavy wall pressure vessels.
• Beam quality measuring station that permits characterisation of the welding beam before and after welding to demonstrate consistency and reliability and provide a quality assurance measure.

In addition, all electrical data is monitored continuously and captured, so that it can be stored and uniquely linked to the welded part, providing a through life record of the welded component.

The resulting weld is inspected in real-time with a temperature resistant ultrasonic test method to provide immediate information on weld quality indication where detailed examination may be needed on completion of welding. The outcome is in line with the industry 4.0 data management approach.

Ebflow has the potential for exploitation in many of the global SMR programmes for primary structures and associated pressure containing plants.

It also has applications in low carbon energy, hydrogen production and storage, chemical and pressure plant industries.

CVE are exhibiting at CWIEME in Berlin, 10-12 May 2022.

CWIEME is the Coil Winding, Insulation, Electronic Manufacturing Exhibition, which has the global coil winding, transformer, electric motor, generator, and e-mobility supply chain all in one place.

You can find us in Hall 6 at stand 2E02, where we will be happy to discuss developments in electron beam welding for electric vehicle (EV) powertrain components, including batteries.

On the stand you will find Chris Coaster (Sales Manager), Alex O’Farrell (Development Engineering Manager), Liam Howarth (Sales Agent), and Nick Edge (Consultant), who all look forward to meeting you!

To arrange a meeting in advance of attending the exhibition, please email sales@camvaceng.com.

CWIEME is the the largest global event dedicated to the coil winding transformer, electric motor, generator and e-mobility supply chain, which enables global knowledge exchange.

Find the solutions to your latest engineering challenge among the over 600 leading components, raw material and process machinery manufacturers.

Product sectors include:

• Adhesives, resins, and coatings
• Electromechanical components
• Electronic and electrical components
• Electric powertrain components
• Insulation and shielding materials
• Intermediate semi-finished products and materials
• IT & software
• Motor components and accessories
• Other machines and manufacturing systems
• Transformer components and accessories
• Winding systems and supplies

For more information on the event, please visit the organiser’s website.

TWI will be presenting a poster titled “Fatigue Performance of Longitudinal Seam Welds Made by Rapid Weld Electron Beam Welding for Use in Monopiles” supported by Cambridge Vacuum Engineering (CVE) and SSE Renewables at Wind Europe in Bilbao on 6^th April.

The presentation will highlight the potential of electron beam welding to produce significant cost savings in many industries under the Rapid Weld project.

The Rapid Weld project aims to create an industry-approved weld process for offshore wind, which is more productive and sustainable than established methods while reducing energy and material costs significantly.

This will use CVE’s new technology, Ebflow.

Ebflow can reduce the time needed to weld a monopile by 95%, whilst being 94% more energy efficient, resulting in a 98% overall cost reduction – compared to traditional submerged arc welding (SAW) – based on a typical specification of a 60 metre long, 8 metre diameter monopile, with a wall thickness of 80mm.

CVE’s Head of New Energy Applications, Chris Punshon, will be at the event – please get in touch if you’d like to discuss the project in more detail!

For more information, you can view the poster.

Find out more about the event on the organiser’s website.