LIGHTWEIGHT
COMPOSITE SOLUTIONS
we have addressed some of our customers most significant challenges, including cost and high volume production. By innovating with new resins, exploring the diverse material choice, developing new manufacturing techniques and implementing automation for efficiency, we can produce structural components at a comparable cost to their metallic equivalent.
experienced in designing components for the automotive industry, including battery enclosures ( knowledgeable in – integrated cooling structures, fire resistance and energy absorption).
Able to design and manufacture prototypes at speed.
This allows us to produce components quickly and deliver them to customers on time
TRB can provide composite parts to meet mid to high volume demand
Composites are designed to be both strong and light and resistant to fatigue.
Fibre-reinforced composites offer excellent strength-to-weight ratios.
Composites do not rust or corrode, providing a long service life.
Composites have a lower thermal conductivity allowing for better thermal management.
TRB has been working on a project to develop safe and robust battery enclosures. This collaborative project has focused on the production of battery boxes and modules for a new fleet of electric buses that are being rolled out in the USA, supporting the drive towards more sustainable transportation.
Key facts
Challenge
Enclosures for battery cells on buses restrict the natural expansion that occurs as cells are used and recharged over their lifetime. The project requirement was to produce panels – one top, one bottom, plus 16 or 30 endplates for each enclosure – that would create a lightweight, compact, robust and electrically-isolated container to meet the tight space requirements of the bus. Weight was the most important driver for this particular application; the battery enclosures needed to be lightweight, but still robust and capable of withstanding impact.