EoW July 2009

Wire products for the automotive industry

Hivocar ® for high temperatures

Hybrid, electrical and fuel cell propulsion systems require harnesses that make special demands on HV cables and conductors. Leoni’s Hivocar ® range offers cables for different temperature ranges. Especially developed for 150°C requirements, Hivocar 150 is designed for excellent thermal properties, beyond ISO 6722 and SAE J2183 standard as well as the LV 212 standard-specified temperature class D ( of –40 to +150 °C). With respect to long-term ageing, short-term ageing and thermal overload this new cable exceeds the required standards. Internal test results show that a Leoni Hivocar 150 cable can be used at the upper temperature limit for as long as 4,000 hours. This is in contrast to a standard 150°C cable, typically designed to withstand this temperature for 3,000 hours. Based on the choice of materials, irradiated cross-linked PE insulation in combination with a TPE-U sheath, Hivocar 150 cables are believed to be significantly more robust in regards to both thermal and mechanical characteristics. Leoni Hivocar products are also available as silicone types to meet long-term temperature requirements of up to 200°C. Hivocar 200 offers a high performance similar to ISO 6722 requirements. Excellent bending performance at lower temperatures and resistance against environmental influences will qualify these types for several HV applications in the automotive segment. In addition, all Leoni cables are optimised for superior EMI/EMC performance as well as flexibility. Leoni Hivocar exceeds the special requirements for all hybrid and fuel cell power trains. Leoni AG – Germany Fax : +49 911 2023 231 Email : info@leoni.com Website : www.leoni.com

▲ ▲ Leoni’s Hivocar 150 and 200 for automotive applications

Flexible flat cables Flexible flat cables (FFC) have found widespread use in the automotive industry. Compared to traditional cabling and automotive wiring harness, using flat conductor technology solutions in particular save space, weight and costs.

As a leader in coating equipment for optical fibres, Medek & Schoerner has developed a new pressureless cold process for the production of FFCs using UV cured resins, thus ensuring the perfect geometrical accuracy of the cable at high production speeds. The same procedure can also be employed in-line with an extruder to position the individual flat cables accurately as they enter the extruder head. Lamination and extrusion have been the processes most commonly used for the production of FFCs today. The disadvantage of lamination is its extremely low production speed. Extrusion is unsuitable for the production of micro FFCs due to the high temperatures and pressures encountered in the extruder head: these make it impossible to maintain accurate geometrical dimensions and precise positioning.

▲ ▲ Flat, flexible cable for automotive applications

Hybrid FFC structures such as copper and optical fibre combinations and other materials can be employed more or less as a standard with the new FFC production process. When marking automotive wires the outer sheathing and insulation of wires is generally identified by printing them with text information or by coding with coloured rings. For such applications Medek & Schoerner offers high quality gravure printers for text printing at speeds up to 1,200m/min, and ring markers for speeds up to 2,500m/min. Medek & Schoerner GmbH – Austria

▼ ▼ Ring marking on an automotive cable

Fax : +43 1 982 72 96 Email : m+s@medek.at Website : www.medek.at

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EuroWire – July 2009