Contributing to Quality Through Emptying Systems and Degassing Technologies
BorgWarner, a leading supplier in the automotive sector, produces a wide range of technologies, including power electronics for e-mobility. During production, a thermal paste is used, but its inconsistent delivery properties complicated production processes at BorgWarner. A direct feed into the dispensing process was impossible: besides noticeable separation behavior, the thermal paste exhibited significant cracks. BorgWarner sought to address these issues and turned to the specialists at ViscoTec.
ViscoTec’s approach was to empty the thermal paste from the Hobbock using the ViscoMT-XS and then process it to the required quality standard using the ViscoTreat-I. The feasibility of this approach was demonstrated through a series of (experiments) tests with the following setup:
In the first step, the paste is pumped from the Hobbock drum emptying system into the ViscoTreat-I degassing station. The thermal paste is fed into the ViscoTreat-I’s degassing container via a media distributor. The specific setup, shown in Figure 1, uses a showerhead-like nozzle and a stirring mechanism to increase the surface area of the highly viscous paste, thereby enhancing the evacuation of gases.
The now demonstrably bubble-free and well-mixed medium (Figure 2) can then be directly delivered to a dispenser for dosing. The media level in the Hobbock gradually decreases until only a small residual amount remains at the bottom. This residual material is manually transferred to the subsequent Hobbock, ensuring that material losses are minimized in continuous production processes.
The use of the ViscoMT-XS and ViscoTreat-I technologies not only improves component quality and efficiency in the dispensing of thermal pastes but also actively prevents air entrapment. This results in significantly better thermal management, which positively impacts the lifespan of the components.