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A cell module for an electric vehicle weighs between 20 and 60 kilograms and costs more than the workstation where it is fitted. It goes into the tray with a few millimetres to spare. Anyone setting it by hand works over the tray, arms outstretched, against locating pins – and every knock is a reason to quarantine.
The module comes out of the carrier, is picked up, guided over the battery tray and set down between guides. Bolting follows, often within the same cycle. The task is not heavy, it is tight: the tray has fixed partitions, the module must not land on the cooling plates or the terminals, and the last five centimetres have to be travelled vertically and slowly. On top of that comes what sets this task apart from any other: high voltage is present as soon as the modules are interconnected. Everything touching the module has to be electrically defined.
A balancer holds the module in suspension and allows it anywhere. That is precisely wrong here: threading between partitions calls for a vertical path that cannot deviate sideways. An articulated-arm manipulator with a guided lifting axis provides that path. The operator guides in the plane, the final movement runs on the axis – and a three-millimetre joining clearance becomes manageable instead of risky.
You do not grip a battery module just anywhere. We use mounts at the intended design points, made from insulating material, with no continuous metallic connection to the unit. The mount locks positively and reports its state – a module that looks held but is only pinched is the most expensive mistake in this assembly. Falling small parts are ruled out by design: secured screws, no exposed springs, no loose accessories above the tray.
A pneumatically balanced unit sinks when air fails unless it is designed against it. Above an open battery tray that is unacceptable. We design the lifting axis with a self-locking drive or a load-holding brake, test the “energy off” condition explicitly at acceptance and document it. The same applies to emergency stop: the module stays where it is – it neither rises nor drops.
The jointed arm for millimetre-precise handling.
View device Lifting equipment · ManipulatorsThe jointed boom with a wide radius.
View device Lifting equipment · ManipulatorsArticulated arm plus integrated lifting axis.
View deviceIn high-volume production with one variant the robot is the default. In ramp-up, pre-series, rework and small batches it is not: every module variant needs a program, a gripper and an approval, plus an enclosure that costs the space the tray needs. The hand-guided manipulator works from day one, with people in the same room.
As long as the modules are not interconnected, no dangerous voltage is present at the individual pick-up. Even so: insulating gripper mounts, no continuous metallic bridge between module and installation, defined equipotential bonding on the unit. The specific ruling is made by the plant's HV officer; we supply the design that matches it.
As a rule yes. The space required is a floor column of around 250 mm diameter or a rail field above the station. The constraint is usually not space but the floor: we calculate the anchor forces beforehand and check whether the slab takes them.
One short conversation usually settles more than three quotations. Call or write — you will reach an engineer directly.
Start typing – for example “balancer”, “SAP” or “pipe stress”.
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