VIDEO: Automated laser plastic welding machine for company KIEKERT

Our customer and partner – the company KIEKERT-CS, s.r.o. asked us for a solution for laser welding of automotive parts in the form of plastic housings for actuators. This particular part can be found in almost every modern electric car and is used as a safety element ensuring the ability to handle the handle in case of failure of the primary system.

Considering the customer's requirements, we designed the station as a fully automated segment of the production line. In this particular case, the station is connected to a closed conveyor system on both sides.

For quasi-continuous transmissive laser welding, a 300W CW fiber laser with a deflection head and appropriate focusing optics was used. The sub-specifications of the laser components were appropriately optimized during the construction of the machine to achieve the best possible results of the welding process. 

The part is verified first after it arrives to the laser machine. Subsequently, the part continues to the position where it is locked and welded under pressure. The progress of the welding process is monitored in detail and the results are compared with reference values. These results are further stored and archived in the database. If the required values ​​are not reached, the part is automatically removed by the manipulator from the production flow and moved to the NOK box.

We greatly appreciate the long-term cooperation with this important customer. We are glad that the satisfaction is mutual:

"Kiekert, the world's largest manufacturer of car locks, has been cooperating with LINTECH for more than 10 years. It is a top partner for us in the field of laser technology, and we use its services both for marking lasers (CO2/fiber) and for laser welding of plastics. Thanks to its many years of experience, the LINTECH company helps us not only with the selection of suitable laser equipment, but also with the development of the design of our product so that it is as suitable as possible for the use of laser technologies. We build the laser stations ourselves and use hardware from the LINTECH company. In recent years, we have used the delivery of complete turnkey stations several times, where we were also very satisfied with the cooperation."

Petr Arnold, Manager Process and Technology Engineering