Aluminium Wiring Harnesses
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As the automotive industry becomes increasingly competitive and environmentally conscious, the necessity of looking to alternative materials becomes increasingly critical. One of these alternative materials, aluminium wire, has been the focus of a lot of attention lately, especially as copper prices continue to increase while the aluminium market remains steady. Price alone offers a compelling reason why modern aluminium conductors have a value proposition to offer.
Additionally, aluminium cable is far lighter than its copper equivalent. Even in larger gauge applications, aluminium is lighter than copper. Replacing copper with aluminium as the wiring material allows us to greatly reduce the weight of components while maintaining high reliability. Weight is an important factor in material selection for hybrid and electric vehicles. Elimination of unnecessary weight is essential to making hybrid and electric vehicles viable.
The development of new aluminium alloys suited for automotive wiring harnesses has allowed us to overcome a number of technical problems. We have to consider some negative points of aluminium wire such as lower conductivity, lower strength, oxide layers on the wire surface and galvanic corrosion. To solve these problems, Sumitomo group companies have developed an aluminium alloy for the conductor, terminals with unique serrations and anti-corrosion technology. To develop aluminium wiring harnesses, we have improved crimping technology to ensure a reliable connection between wire and terminal. As this connection technology ensures the same quality as that in the copper harness manufacturing process, future expansion of aluminium harnesses can be expected.