<p>This degree project has been carried out in cooperation with Enertech AB in Ljungby and is pilot study to automating all current manual soldering. The soldering process accounts for a large part of the processing cost in the production of a heat pump. The process is also a quality risk and has a major impact on the lifetime of the final product.</p><p>The Main task of this project has been to evaluate automation of the soldering process, to develop automation solutions and a principle layout, to draw the design changes required for the automation and to calculate the supposed solution.</p><p>This pilot study has resulted in a suggested automation solution using laser as a heat source for soldering. Calculations of the solution show that a automating a laser soldering cell is very profitable.</p>

This degree project has been carried out in cooperation with Enertech AB in Ljungby and is pilot study to automating all current manual soldering. The soldering process accounts for a large part of the processing cost in the production of a heat pump. The process is also a quality risk and has a major impact on the lifetime of the final product. The Main task of this project has been to evaluate automation of the soldering process, to develop automation solutions and a principle layout, to draw the design changes required for the automation and to calculate the supposed solution. This pilot study has resulted in a suggested automation solution using laser as a heat source for soldering. Calculations of the solution show that a automating a laser soldering cell is very profitable.

In the automotive industry a commonly used material is thin steel sheets coated with a thin layer of zinc for corrosion resistance purposes. Welding of this material, with the high temperatures involved, causes problems with zinc burn-off leading to reduced corrosion resistance. The zinc evaporation also causes arc disturbances leading to spatter formation, pores and difficulties achieving good visual weld quality. The joints are in many cases visible or semi-visible (e.g. visible after opening a door) and “A-grade” quality is demanded, meaning no visible discontinuities are allowed. It also implies a smooth and generally appealing appearance of the joint.An alternative to welding is brazing, and laser brazing meets the requirements but the process is associated with high costs. In the national project “LEX-B”, funded by Vinnova, the possibilities of using arc brazing, in particular one MIG/MAG brazing and two TIG brazing processes, for some automotive applications are investigated. This master thesis is connected to the first part of the project and aims at compiling data for making a selection of the most promising process to investigate and optimise further. LEX-B is conducted in cooperation between Swerea KIMAB, Volvo Trucks, Scania CV and University West. The joint of interest is a lap joint between bottom and upper sheets of 1.2 mm and 0.8 mm respectively that represents a joint on the side of a truck cabin. The requirements are visual A-grade quality and tensile shear strength of 300 MPa.In the project the MIG/MAG process Cold Metal Transfer (CMT) was compared to the TIG processes forceTIG and Plasmatron. CMT was experimentally investigated while the results for the other two processes were obtained partly from a previous study and partly from Volvo Trucks where tests were performed simultaneously. A system for measuring data for the process was developed, test specimens were brazed and examined visually and mechanical destructive testing was performed to ensure the tensile shear strength. Parameter studies were done for further process optimisation. / Inom fordonsindustrin är ett ofta använt material stål i tunna ark belagda med zink p.g.a. zinkets korrossionsskyddande egenskaper. Vid svetsning av detta material uppstår problem med zink som förångas vilket leder till minskad korrosionsbeständighet. Förångningen av zink orsakar också störningar av ljusbågen vilket leder till sprut, porer och svårighet att uppnå god visuell svetskvalitet. Fogarna är i många fall synliga eller delvis synliga (t.ex. synlig efter att ha öppnat en dörr) och "A-kvalitet" efterfrågas, vilket innebär att inga synliga diskontinuiteter tillåts. Fogen ska upplevas jämn och tilltalande.Lödning är ett alternativ till svetsning, och laserlödning är en process som uppfyller kraven men är förknippad med höga kostnader. I det nationella projektet "LEX-B", som finansieras av Vinnova, undersöks möjligheterna att använda båglödning, specifikt en MIG/MAG-process och två TIG-processer, för dessa applikationer. Detta examensarbete är anslutet till den första delen av projektet och syftar till ta fram underlag för att välja den mest lovande av dessa processer för vidare utredning och optimering. LEX-B sker i samarbete mellan Swerea KIMAB, Volvo Lastvagnar, Scania CV och Högskolan Väst. Den undersökta fogen är en överlappsfog mellan en undre plåt med 1,2 mm tjocklek och en övre plåt med 0,8 mm tjocklek. Detta representerar en fog på sidan av en lastbilshytt. Kraven är visuell A-kvalitet och en drag-skjuvhållfasthet av 300 MPa.I projektet jämfördes MIG/MAG-processen Cold Metal Transfer (CMT) med TIG-processerna forceTIG och Plasmatron. CMT testades experimentellt medan resultaten för de övriga två processerna erhölls dels från tidigare tester och dels från Volvo Lastvagnar där tester utfördes parallellt. Ett mätsystem for att dokumentera processdata utvecklades och de framställda lödfogarna undersöktes visuellt och med mekanisk förstörande provning för att säkerställa drag-skjuvhållfastheten. Parameterstudier gjordes för vidare optimering av processen.