Teijin Automotive Technologies Focuses Efforts in Two Areas for the Upcoming CASE Era
AUBURN HILLS, Mich. — Teijin Automotive Technologies, a Tier One supplier with a development emphasis on light-weighting technologies, is focusing efforts in two areas for the upcoming CASE era.
The company has four formulations for EV battery covers and trays. There also are intumescent grades of composite that scab up like your skin in the event of a fire involving batteries.
Ultra Lite(tm)
Featuring spacious flush floor slides, comfortable stylish sofas and wide dinettes, the Ultra Lite series offers the space and amenities you desire without compromising on quality or weighing too much. The result is a premium RV that delivers generous storage, deluxe features and a towable weight of less than half-ton.
Bringing together five strong organizations, Teijin Automotive Technologies includes Continental Structural Plastics, Inapal Plasticos, Benet Automotive, and CSP Victall under one brand with 5,400 employees. The combined organization has 29 strategically located manufacturing and technical centers worldwide.
Skilled overtime lawyers at Ross * Scalise are investigating claims from hourly employees of Teijin Automotive Technologies who have not received overtime pay as required by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Workers allegedly worked more than 40 hours per week, but were not paid overtime wages for the additional time. These workers may have been employed as a Team Lead, Production Operator, Press Operator, Paint Production Operator, Clerk or Shipping and Receiving Production Engineer, or Quality Engineer.
Sereebo(r)
Developed by Teijin through its Teijin Composites Innovation Center, Sereebo(r) is a carbon fiber reinforced thermoplastic (CFRTP) that can be injection-molded in high volume. This enables automotive manufacturers to build vehicles with structural components made from lightweight, eco-friendly materials.
Unlike unidirectional or fabric-based CFRP, Sereebo is composed of randomly-oriented, isotropic carbon fiber in a polyamide resin matrix. Its molding process is significantly faster than conventional thermoset CFRP, with a cycle time of one minute.
Sereebo is used in the GMC Sierra Denali CarbonPro edition, a new option for the truck that saves 62 pounds over a steel box and provides best-in-class dent, scratch and corrosion resistance. The material also eliminates the need for a bed liner, further reducing vehicle mass.
GM and Teijin worked closely to develop the innovative CarbonPro pickup box. This includes extensive computer-aided engineering and application/materials testing to ensure the Sereebo materials met GM’s performance requirements. In addition, Teijin contributed to the development of the C-channel mounting system that integrates the carbon fiber component with the truck frame.
EV Battery Enclosure Formulations
Whether called packs, boxes or trays, the structures that envelop EV battery cells and their supporting electrical and thermal-management hardware are among industry subsystems that are the focus of intensive research. Optimizing them involves a complex set of manufacturing and material choices, mass and package tradeoffs, and safety provisions.
Suppliers of composite and plastic materials are undeterred by aluminum’s current dominance in battery-pack structures and are working to match or exceed the light metal’s performance and cost-competitiveness.
Teijin, for example, has become a major producer of thermoset battery-box top covers. “We’ve got over 30 of them in production for various EVs,” says Hugh Foran, director of new business development/new markets at the Japan-based supplier. “But we’re looking beyond just pack covers.” Foran points to a company program to develop EV battery-box trays that use molded-in, rather than welded-on, mounting holes and a structural matrix made with phenolic resins that can resist thermal runaway for up to five minutes per Global Technical Regulation 20 requirements.
Battery Covers
Battery terminal covers reduce the risk of accidentally shorting car battery terminals to each other or to ground. They also help prevent corrosion around the lead alloy battery terminals. They are available in plastic and metal materials. They come with detailed instructions for easy installation. Corrosion inhibits the ability of your car battery to deliver power to its electrical components. It can also hinder the alternator from recharging your battery.
The molded case is designed to withstand vibration and temperature changes. The dividers in the case separate each element, and a sediment recess is incorporated for the flakes of active material that drop off the plates during the battery’s life. Using stamping, multiple operations can be completed in a single pass. This helps to reduce manufacturing costs and time. Skilled overtime lawyers at Ross Scalise Employment Lawyers have filed a lawsuit on behalf of hourly employees of Teijin Automotive Technologies who have not received appropriate overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a week.