With the wide-scale promotion of new energy vehicles, the bearing industry is facing performance improvement test

Recently, Renmin Group has taken the lead in the successful development of special bearings for new energy vehicles in China. This marks that China's bearing industry has blew the horn of independent forces to enter this emerging market.

 

01, is booming market

In 2017, the global sales of new energy passenger vehicles totaled more than 1.22 million units, a year-on-year increase of 58%. Among them, China's new energy passenger car sales exceeded 578,000, accounting for up to 47.37%. As the country deepens energy conservation, emission reduction and environmental protection, the popularity of new energy vehicles has become an irreversible market trend. For this reason, more and more multinational car companies have developed corresponding development strategies in the Chinese market.

Not long ago, Ford Motor Company announced that it plans to move 70% of its electric vehicle production line to China by 2025. Tesla, who will build a factory in China, also has high hopes for the Chinese market. The company has argued that Tesla's sales in China will account for the largest share of its global sales in a few years.

With the surge in sales of new energy vehicles, the demand for drive motors is rising rapidly. It is predicted that the global drive motor market will reach 4.4 billion US dollars by 2020.

New energy vehicle drive motors require special bearings. Compared with traditional cars, new energy vehicles require motors with high limit speeds, and are suitable for -40 ° C low temperature requirements and high temperature requirements above 150 ° C, and require bearings to have maintenance functions to accommodate the axial impact caused by frequent start and stop.

The new energy automobile special bearing market is booming and it has launched a serious challenge to China's bearing industry. Yan Zhizheng, a researcher-level senior engineer of Beijing Automotive Group Co., Ltd., and Chen Guangzu, former secretary general of the China Automotive Industry Advisory Committee, agreed that China's bearing industry should meet this challenge, actively develop and produce special bearings for new energy vehicles, and master the initiative in market competition.

 

02, the requirements for development and production are very high

Tao Fazhen, chairman of Beijing Taixin Measurement & Control Technology Co., Ltd., said in an interview: "The high-speed drive motor of new energy vehicles has strict requirements on bearing technology and quality, which is a severe test for product development and production." Yan Zhizheng also said that the new energy vehicle bearings have high requirements for enterprise development and production.

It is understood that the quality and performance indicators of special energy vehicles for the development and production of the Group have reached the international advanced level, especially in the high-speed performance design and test technology of the products to achieve the original innovation, and received user approval, get bulk orders.

Guo Changjian, general manager of the People's Technology Center, told reporters that they optimized the internal structure of the bearing, solved the problem of bearing heating and lubrication under high-speed and high temperature by using simulation and lubrication technology, and formed the theory and method of bearing design of new energy vehicle drive motor to ensure special use. The bearing has the characteristics of high precision, small centrifugal force and low friction, which can meet the comprehensive performance requirements of low starting torque, high speed and rapid shifting, durability and high reliability of new energy vehicles.

In addition, the technology center has also developed test benches for high-speed high-temperature performance, starting torque performance, durability and grease performance of new energy automotive bearings, and overcomes problems such as test bench loading procedures, high speed and temperature rise, and has developed new energy automotive bearings. The test specifications of high speed, high and low temperature, durability, grease performance, etc. form a test standard for new energy automotive bearing series.

Guo Changjian said: "We integrated the resources of the People's Group and set up a special energy vehicle bearing technology research team. After years of hard work, we successfully developed special bearings for the new energy vehicle series. Our successful experience is that enterprises must rely on their own strength to effectively integrate resources. Increase investment in development and master new core manufacturing technologies."

 

03, the gap in product quality and performance

In fact, high-speed drive motors for new energy vehicles have high requirements for bearing production accuracy. Sweden SKF is the world leader in the bearing technology and manufacturing industry. Yan Zhizheng said: "The new energy vehicle drive motor has a high speed and requires high bearing precision and quiet performance. The domestic new energy vehicle drive motor bearing precision, reliability and durability are not as good as those of Sweden's SKF." It is believed that the domestic bearing industry does not have enough research on the bearing performance of bearings, especially new energy vehicles. Compared with developed countries, there is a big gap between domestic high-end bearing materials.

Shen Jian, general manager of Jiangsu Auto Parts Co., Ltd., said in an interview: "The domestic pure electric vehicle drive motor mainly uses imported bearings from Sweden's SKF. The durability and reliability of special bearings for domestic new energy vehicles. And the mute effect is not as good as that of developed countries. We mainly manufacture the traditional automobile chassis system bearings, and the new energy car bearings can not be less. We are still conducting market research on this."

People's Group successfully developed the hybrid motor vehicle drive motor bearings before 2012; after that, it continued to increase research and development efforts, and successfully developed new energy commercial vehicles and passenger car drive motor bearings, and has a full range of new energy vehicle bearing products. .

Guo Changjian said: "Drive motor bearings are key components of new energy vehicles. Only a few companies in the world can mass produce. People have successfully developed drive motor series bearings, indicating that the domestic bearing industry is in high-speed design and lubrication technology for new energy vehicles. We have made breakthroughs in other areas and mastered its manufacturing technology."

The high-speed performance of bearings is a difficult point in the development of new energy vehicle drive motor bearings. There is no experience for independent enterprises to learn from. Products must achieve high-speed performance indicators in design and theoretical calculations, but also through high-speed performance test, simulation bench test and road test, in order to be reliable and durable under high-speed conditions.

Therefore, product development involves a wide range of fields, large spans, and long time. It is necessary to consider the cost performance of products and overcome the impact of international brands to achieve industrialization.

Guo Changjian said: "Compared with similar bearings in developed countries, domestic new energy vehicle drive motor bearings mainly have a certain gap in product quality stability and reliability."

For the problem of how to make up, he gave the following answer: using precision grinding technology to improve the precision of grinding and processing, reducing the discreteness of processing; using new materials, especially the application of grease and cage, improving bearing lubrication conditions and improving bearing High-speed performance and durability; improve steel purity and heat treatment quality; use simulation and test technology to speed up development and ensure bearing reliability.

Niu Hui, deputy secretary general of China Bearing Industry Association, said in an interview: "China's 30% to 40% of bearings are used in automobiles. Compared with fuel vehicles, the use of pure electric vehicles is reduced. With the promotion of electric vehicles, bearings The industry may have mergers and conversions."

The development of new energy vehicle market has brought new challenges and business opportunities to bearing enterprises, and the traditional automobile bearing industry is facing a reshuffle.