Schaeffler and ElringKlinger, two large automotive suppliers, hope to significantly accelerate complex spot welding operations. TRUMPF's EasyModel AI solution based on artificial intelligence provides a fast track to improve efficiency.

Artificial intelligence for precise positioning of welding points

Daniel Weller is a connection technology expert at German automotive supplier Eirlink. He develops connection processes in the field of battery technology. When welding CCS (Cell Connection Components, also known as Integrated Busbars) for electric vehicles, he and his colleagues faced many challenges, such as pursuing faster welding speeds, accommodating a large number of variants under zero defect strategies, and welding over 50 positions on components up to two meters long.

Of course, we were satisfied with the previous solution, but TRUMPF's EasyModel AI solution based on artificial intelligence has now brought significant speed improvements to solder joint detection and even the entire process development.

—— Daniel Weller, Ailing Keling's connection technology expert

In addition, using TRUMPF's image processing solution VisionLine Detect, Weller captured several training images of the components and uploaded them to the AI cloud. Then mark the relevant areas on the image. After only a few photos, the AI model can accurately filter the relevant and unrelated areas of the image, binarize the relevant areas (the detected components are displayed in white, and the surrounding areas are black), and reliably detect the edges of the components in a short period of time. For Weller and Erlinkling, this means a significant improvement in efficiency in feature detection.

It no longer takes days to achieve good results, but only hours. Equally impressive are the accurate and reproducible results in large-scale production environments, as well as the fast operation of EasyModel AI without programming knowledge.

—— Daniel Weller, Ailing Keling's connection technology expert

The system follows the principle of 'what you see is what you get' - intuitive, fast, and zero code

The first-time production yield exceeds 99%

German automotive and industrial supplier Schaeffler also uses EasyModel AI to accelerate new process development and increase production throughput. Alexander Fast works at the company's base in B ü hl, Germany, developing advanced laser welding processes for copper in motors.

When laser welding copper wires for motor stator windings, any deviation in the position of the welded components, including height differences, lateral offsets, or gap formation, can affect the equipment's ability to correctly detect and weld the components. The number of welding points involved here ranges from 20 to several hundred, depending on the type of component. However, traditional detection systems based on grayscale images are often difficult to cope with here. In terms of accuracy and reliability, AI filters are significantly superior to any existing products on the market in determining welding positions, even when component characteristics and environmental conditions change.

The introduction of EasyModel AI enables us to significantly improve our component inspection capabilities - with a first-time production pass yield of over 99%.

—— Alexander Fast, Schaeffler Technical Expert

In addition, the system can perform statistical analysis on data, which means that "only values with significant deviations need to be re labeled, saving valuable development time." EasyModel AI has now been put into use in Schaeffler's production worldwide.

In stator hairpin welding, EasyModel AI quickly and accurately detects hundreds of welding points in large-scale production environments