Amada Miyachi Europe has supplied laser welding technology for a student-led project to circumnavigate the globe in 80 days on an electric touring motorcycle. The company is a major sponsor of the Storm Eindhoven project and has provided battery pack manufacturing expertise, along with laser and resistance welding technology.
The project is being run by a team of 20 students from the Netherlands’ Eindhoven University of Technology. The team is part way through the trek which began on 14 August.
The students used the laser equipment and manufacturing facilities provided by Amada Miyachi Europe at the company’s manufacturing campus in Helmond, The Netherlands to produce swappable modular battery packs that can extend the motorbike’s touring range to about 500-600km per day. Specifically, the students used the PECO AWS3 resistance welding system to weld battery interconnects and the ML-2550 pulsed Nd:YAG laser welding system for connecting battery slices together.
‘We are very excited to be sponsoring this project, and enjoyed helping the team of young and eager students develop the best design and select the right equipment and technology to overcome their welding challenges,’ said David van de Wall, sales support manager for Amada Miyachi Europe. ‘We also hope to set up an event at our Amada Miyachi America facility in California to showcase our battery pack manufacturing expertise as part of the Storm Eindhoven around the world tour.’
‘We greatly appreciate the tremendous support Amada Miyachi Europe gave us because the battery packs are central to Storm Eindhoven’s mission,’ said Bas Verkaik, who is in charge of external relations for the project. ‘They helped us overcome our biggest welding challenge, which was attaching all the cells together without causing leaks. They were always available to answer questions and give us advice on issues both large and small. Their partnership is definitely central to our success.’