The automated integration of conductor tracks is of great importance for the manufacture of a wide variety of products. In most cases, the connection of cable harnesses requires a lot of manual work and the associated high costs. Automation processes have so far been unreliable here, as pre-assembled cable harnesses are difficult to handle as flexible elements. For this reason, industrially used processes for the automated integration of conductor tracks often use additive processes. Examples of this are jet dispensing of conductor pastes or laser direct structuring, which, however, have high material costs and can only achieve small conductor cross-sections.
With Wire Encapsulation Additive Manufacturing (WEAM), Fraunhofer IWU has developed a technology that can connect various conductor elements to different substrates in a fully automated manner. This process uses standard single wires or strands that are encased in a sheath polymer. Polymers and conductor elements can be selected independently and according to the application. The sheath polymer provides electrical insulation and also establishes the connection to the substrate.

This technology enables the automation of the integration of various wiring harnesses in a variety of application scenarios. Conductor tracks can be embedded in additively manufactured structures, applied to injection-molded workpieces or integrated into production processes on a film basis. The layout of the structures can be freely selected and can also be applied to 3D contours.
In addition to cable applications, various sensors, actuators or functional elements such as antennas can also be implemented using the WEAM process. So far, conductor cross-sections of 0,05 - 0,8 mm can be processed with deposition speeds of up to 180 mm/s. Various options for automated contacting, such as soldering, spot welding or IDC, can be used in the process.
By using the WEAM process, components can be implemented in a highly integrated and intelligent manner. The available design space enables high lightweight construction potential as well as cost-effective, decentralized production processes.

Dr.-Ing. Fabian Ziervogel from Fraunhofer IWU presented this solution as part of the trend outlook on June 11, 2024.