The Manufacturing Process of Electromagnetic Coil Winding

You can find electromagnetic coils in several applications in almost every industry. Whether you are conducting laboratory research or consumer electronics, the fundamental component of many applications is the custom electromagnetic coils. The basic mechanism of electromagnetic coils follows Ampere’s law. Following this law, the manufacturers make the current flow in a conductor so that a magnetic field generates around the conductor.

Electromagnetic coils are essential components to prepare the devices such as sensors, electromagnets, inductors, and transformers. In these devices, either an electric current is passed across the conductor (ultra-fine wire) for the generation of the magnetic field, or an external magnetic field is prepared across the coil’s interior for the generation of the electric current in the conductor.

In order to enhance the concentration of the magnetic field, the winding of the coils should include many turns of the conducting wire that takes place side by side. The electromagnetic coils can be shaped differently such as a spiral, a helix, or a simple circular coil. However, the dimensions and shape of a coil depend on a particular purpose of use. There are also several parameters that determine the design of coil windings such as resistance, inductance, and the strength of the desired magnetic field.

In some cases where the manufacturers need to increase the magnetic field significantly, they place a core of magnetic material inside the coil. If you want to change the strength of an electromagnet, you should change the strength of the electric current that flows through the wire of the micro-coils. You can also reverse the direction of the electric flow in order to reverse the poles of an electromagnet.

The Manufacturing Challenges:

The need for miniaturization is the major challenge for the designing of state-of-the-art devices. On the other hand, miniaturization of the devices is essential to fulfilling several purposes such as reaching some inaccessible regions of the body without affecting the functions of the body, reducing the energy consumption and required physical spaces, and so on.

Due to the size constraints, manufacturers not only face challenges to manufacture the components but also to make connections between the components and their support systems. As the preparation of several miniaturized devices involves micro-coils, therefore, advanced techniques are required for the winding of the micro-coils and the development of the connections.

The Criteria of a Manufacturing Company:

A micro-coil manufacturing company should be able to fulfill several criteria such as-
i) In order to assure no damage of the sensitive components, the production process should be very safe,
ii) The company should have the ability of economic mass production,
iii) They should be able to provide oxidization-free reliable connections,
iv) The final product should fulfill the very tight tolerance requirements,
v) High-quality assurance for the long-life of each component,
vi) The manufacturers should deliver repeatable electrical and physical characteristics in the micro-coils,
vii) Above all, the manufacturing company should be able to conduct an automated manufacturing process in order to eliminate human errors.

Ultra-Fine Wire Connections:

In order to prepare tiny micro-coils, the diameter of the conductive wire should be very small. For this reason, many manufacturers use ultra-fine wires of 9 microns in diameter. The preparation of micro-coils requires connecting two different ultra-fine wires. Connecting such fine wires is not an easy task and the manufacturers may face several challenges. On the other hand, you can not use the traditional soldering or welding methods for connecting two wires. These traditional methods can produce several drawbacks such as inferior conductivity, oxidization of the connection and surrounding area of a coil, and low reliability and durability.

Therefore, to overcome these drawbacks and to provide tight tolerances at high temperatures, it is essential to have an effective connectivity technology. Thermo-compression bonding technology is the most suitable solution for the above-stated problems. This technology is very much useful to connect two ultra-fine wires of similar or different diameters. Using this technology, you can also connect ultra-fine wires of different materials.

With the help of modern robotic technology and state-of-the-art methods, the manufacturing process of micro-coil winding and ultra-fine wire connections has become significantly easy. The automated systems have eliminated the need for manual production and are effective to produce and connect micro-coils on a scale.