Gentherm Inc. has been assembling a wide range of thermal management products for the automotive industry since 1991, when it was known as Amerigon. In 1996, the company created the industry’s first thermoelectrically heated and cooled seat system (called Climate Control Seat).
The seat was eventually adopted by Ford Motor Co. and introduced as an option on the 2000 Lincoln Navigator. Today, it is available on more than 50 vehicles sold by Ford, General Motors, Toyota, Kia, Hyundai, Nissan and Jaguar Land Rover.
Gentherm’s other automotive product offerings include heated seats, steering wheels and armrests, and battery and cable management systems. The company employs more than 13,000 people worldwide in many sales and manufacturing facilities.
Since 2016, when the company acquired medical company Cincinnati Sub-Zero, Gentherm has made patient temperature management systems. In 2017, advanced electronic controls manufacturer Etratech was acquired to further expand Gentherm’s market reach.
About two years after the acquisition, managers at the Gentherm facility in Burlington, Ontario, Canada, needed to purchase an automated conformal coating system that could meet the requirements of a new PCB production line. After evaluating several suppliers, Gentherm selected Nordson Asymtek’s Select Coat SL-940 system. Mike Renneboog, manufacturing manager at the Burlington facility, says the main reason is the SL-940 enables high uptime and throughput.
The production line encompasses three processes prior to conformal coating (inline wave soldering, in-circuit testing, automated optical inspection) and two afterward (depaneling by a router and end-of-line testing). Renneboog notes that the line’s advanced equipment provides greater accuracy and volume capability than what was required for previous Gentherm lines.
“We decided to purchase the Select Coat system based on [its] capabilities and applicator options,” explains Renneboog. “Its SC-300 applicator offers coating flexibility, whereas the SC-400 provides tight control around keep-out areas. [We also like the] user friendly, programmable [EasyCoat] software.”
Impressed with the performance of its first SL-940 system, Gentherm has since bought four more, and now uses them on three other manufacturing lines in various facilities. The systems support the production of automotive modules, recreational vehicle controls, medical devices and other consumer electronic controls.
Operators equip the systems with SC-300, SC-400, and SC-350 applicators as needed. The latter is designed to atomize coating fluids for excellent edge definition. All systems are run at high speed for optimum productivity, and yield, according to Renneboog. Other key options include the Qadence flow-control system, dual toggle application, a flow meter, a bar code recognition system (1D or 2D), a board presence sensor, a low fluid scale, manual material changeover and a pre-queue board station. The closed-loop Qadence system maintains a stable flow rate by volume and also automatically compensates for viscosity changes related to temperature, humidity and batch-to-batch variation.
For more information on conformal coating systems, call 760-431-1919 or visit www.nordsonasymtek.com.
