Customer
A leading U.S. manufacturer of automotive and electric vehicles.
Application
Sealing and testing of plastic gortex de-gas or vent valves. These connection profiles include electrical header connections, coolant ports, and de-gas valve connections.
Challenge
The typical “de-gas valves” are often found on the exterior of the battery pack and have a gortex valve with an external plastic or metal housing. These valves allow the battery pack to vent vapors and gases to maintain a healthy internal pressure level within the battery pack during changes in temperature or altitude.
Project Goals
- Improve test quality, consistency, and first pass yield.
- Prevent any condensation or contaminates into the battery pack.
Solution
FasTest developed a bayonet style connector that can be inserted and rotated on the gortex valve connection allowing the tool to achieve fast leak tight seal on the degas valve. We provided variations of this connection tool for both pneumatically actuated automated test cells and connections that are manually applied.
Results
The customer achieved all production objectives including improvements in first pass yield rate and overall battery production through-put. A primary contributor to this improvement was decreased connection tool rig and derig time. Superior durability of the FasTest’s de-gas valve connection tool had the added benefit of significantly reducing maintenance downtime needed to replace worn seals, a tremendous value in a high-volume production environment.
