37-ecat Product Catalog
80-services Services
39-magazine Magazine
36-downloads Downloads
35-contact Contact
47-chevron-right
20-close First-Hand News?

Obtain news and background information about sealing technology, get in touch with innovative products – subscribe to the free e-mail newsletter.

Innovation for Electric Vehicles: The Tightest of Seals

Weinheim (Germany), September 12, 2023. Freudenberg Sealing Technologies, the world's leading provider of sealing solutions, is launching a crucial product innovation for the automotive industry: an impermeable rectangular busbar overmold that seals reliably and helps prevent damage to an electric vehicle’s power electronics. The solution also reduces assembly complexity by combining the busbars, seal and guide in one complete package that is ready for installation on the vehicle assembly line. The new product will be showcased for the first time at the upcoming Battery Show in Detroit.

Oil-cooled electric motors are commonly employed in various electric vehicles. To maintain reliable vehicle operations, it is crucial to protect sensitive power electronics within the inverter from exposure to motor oil by sealing around the busbar motor / inverter interface. Additionally, other electrical busbars with rectangular geometries, like those found in immersion cooled batteries and oil pumps, also require sealing along their metallic cables. This necessity underscores the importance of establishing a permanent seal for the current-carrying rectangular conductors, often referred to as 'busbars'.

However, achieving tight seals with busbars having rectangular geometries poses challenges. Traditional busbars are die-cut from copper or aluminum sheets and then bent to the desired shape. The resulting rectangular busbar is not ideal for standard sealing, as the corners prevent effective compression of the sealing material. Even attempts to enhance the contact surface with partially embossed edges or press-on structures do not yield satisfactory sealing results. Post-processing methods like potting can be used but are time-consuming and impractical for large-scale industrial applications. They also require additional space, limiting busbar design flexibility.

State-of-the-art: rectangular sealing

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies has now succeeded in developing a sealing innovation that reliably seals rectangular busbars and can prevent associated damage to the power electronics in electric vehicles. This recently patented, sealed, rectangular busbar overmold includes an elastomeric layer, which is applied to the rectangular busbar and bonds firmly with the metallic conductor and the surrounding plastic later in the manufacturing process. This innovation will be on display at Freudenberg Sealing Technologies' booth (2411) at the Battery Show in Detroit from September 12 to 14 (Suburban Collection Showplace, Novi, Mich.)

"Sealing rectangular shapes is considered the pinnacle in sealing technology, as leakage points often occur in the corners. Thanks to an elastomer layer between the metal and plastic we can now produce sealed busbars - and in a way that saves valuable space, as component and seal virtually become one. This new solution from Freudenberg Sealing Technologies enables our customers to seal their busbars even more reliably, while at the same time offering a high degree of design latitude," says Parisa Burger, Business Development Manager and Project Manager at the company.

Technical innovation offering numerous benefits

The new busbar seal configuration enables an impermeable bond to be created by chemically pretreating the conductor surface with a primer and applying a special elastomeric coating. This creates a firmly bonded intermediate layer, which is followed by thermoplastic injection molding. The elastic material should preferably be based on vulcanizable elastomers such as FKM, AEM, ACM, HNBR, NBR, EPDM, but thermoplastic elastomers (TPE) can also be used.

At the same time, the flexible coating reduces stress on the threshold between the copper and the thermoplastic matrix. The elastic coating reduces the notch effect at the conductor edges, which minimizes the susceptibility of the electronic component to stress cracking.

"We are proud to offer our customers a solution that is not only technically advanced, but also saves time and space, and is cost efficient. This solution provides a wide range of benefits and application options. In particular, the inverter’s sensitive power electronics can now be reliably protected from liquids originating from the electric motor," said Burger.

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies at the Battery Show 2023

The Company is regularly represented by its sales and technical experts at all major trade shows. The next event: the Battery Show 2023 in Detroit from September 12 to 14, 2023 (Suburban Collection Showplace, Novi, MI, Booth 2411).

Ulrike Reich

Head of Media Relations & Internal Communications

Telephone: + 49 (0) 6201 960 5713

ulrike.reich@fst.com chevron_right

Cheryl Eberwein

Director, Corporate Communications

Telephone: +1 734 354 5373

cheryl.eberwein@fnst.com chevron_right

News Service

You can subscribe to the Freudenberg Sealing Technologies news alert service, bringing you the news as soon as they are published. You can always unsubscribe from this service.

Subscribe now! chevron_right

Login with your access data

* mandatory field

Forgot your password? Click here to reset.

Or

Don’t have an account yet? Register now!

You've logged in successfully.

Register and get access to exclusive content

Your benefits

  • Download exclusive documents such as Solution Sheets
  • Live Webinare/On-Demand Recordings on the beverage and food industry
  • Virtual tours of production facilities
  • Resistance tools for selecting the right material

Security Level

* mandatory field

Or

Do you already have an account? Continue to Login.

Thank you. Your subscription was successful.

We have sent you an e-mail. Please click on the included activation link to complete the registration.

Have you forgotten your password?

Please enter your email address to reset it.

* mandatory field

The form has been successfully sent.

We have sent you an email. Please click on the included link to assign a new password.

Further Articles With These Taggings

Electric Alignment: Collaboration Leads to New Battery Solutions

25.09.2024

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies announces three new battery innovations at the 2024 Battery Show in Detroit

Read more chevron_right

Automotive E-Mobility

Boosting Battery Cycle Life

04.09.2024

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies launches two new product lines for prismatic battery cells.

Read more chevron_right

Automotive E-Mobility

High Technology in Agriculture

20.08.2024

Artificial intelligence, robotics and the Internet of Things are turning agriculture into a high-tech industry. And they are bringing food security to future generations.

Read more chevron_right

E-Mobility

Corteco Strengthens Ambitions in Southeast Europe

19.03.2024

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies’ aftermarket unit opens a warehouse in Turkey and a sales office in Serbia.

Read more chevron_right

Automotive Sustainability

Major Orders From Car Manufacturers: Huge Interest In DIAvent

27.02.2024

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies triples production capacity for its intelligent pressure compensation element in Germany and the USA.

Read more chevron_right

Automotive E-Mobility

Running On 100 Percent Green Power

15.02.2024

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies is inaugurating a new green plant in Parets del Vallès, Spain.

Read more chevron_right

Automotive Sustainability

Greater Safety for Lithium-ion Batteries

30.01.2024

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies has introduced a product – DIAvent® – that ensures pressure equalization and emergency degassing of the battery housings of electric vehicles.

Read more chevron_right

E-Mobility

A Very Hot Item: Thermoplastics For Up To 1,200 Degrees Celsius

17.01.2024

Freudenberg Sealing Technologies develops extremely temperature-resistant plastics for electric cars.

Read more chevron_right

Automotive E-Mobility Material Expertise

Motor Scooters: Southeast Asia’s Top Choice for Transport

16.01.2024

Motor scooters are tremendously popular in Southeast Asia. And especially in Indonesia. Why is that? And could the car industry benefit from the region’s economic upswing?

Read more chevron_right

E-Mobility
Press Subscription Service

News Service

You can subscribe to the Freudenberg Sealing Technologies news alert service, bringing you the news as soon as they are published. You can always unsubscribe from this service.

Subscribe now!