BONDABLE MAGNET WIRE - COST JUSTFICATION

David Myers & David OHara Phelps Dodge Magnet Wire Company
Abstract: Bondable magnet wires have been wed for years in certain specialized applications such as television deflection yoke coils and bobbinless c i s ol for solenoids and inductoa. With the development of bondable magnet wire that retains bond strength at temperatures exceeding 155C. it is now possible to use the physical and electrical properties of a bonded wire system to replace conventional varnish system in some motor applications. Varnish provides more than mechanical strength to the stator of a motor, so one has to consider whether these features can he replaced by other systems or foregone in order to realize the costs savings associated with the use of bondable wire.
I. INTRODUCTION Self-bonding or bondable magnet wire is magnet wire in which the base insulation is a conventional thermosetting system. To this is added a self-bonding resin to provide the mechanical bonding of the wire to itself and its surroundings. Various forms of this product have been used since the 1950s. The limiting factor in the use of self-bonding magnet wire has historically been the strength of the self-bonding resin at elevated temperature. The development of bondable magnet wires that conform to NEMA M W - I OOO standard M W 102-C has opened the possibility of producing fractional and integral horsepower motors with B and F thermal class ratings without the use of traditional trickle or dip and bake varnish and the long curing cycles and hardware associated with such systems. Depending on the motors design and expected use, considerable cost savings can be realized through the use of bondable magnet wire to replace the conventional wire and varnish. The additional cost of the bondable wire is usually more than offset by the elimination of varnish, lower labor and energy costs. One also needs to consider harder to quantify savings such as reduced manufacturing space requirements, the environmental issues associated with varnish, smaller WIP, and reduced equipment maintenance. Motor manufacturers have been reluctant to embrace the use of bondable wire to replace traditional magnet wire in their motor designs. Their concerns usually focus on product reliability issues. There is a perception that a motor containing bondable wire is not as sound. mechanically or electrically, as a motor made with traditional wire and a varnish-based process. However, with proper design changes recognizing the differences between the two systems, a reliable motor can be made for many applications using self-bonding magnet wire and without the use of varnish. 11. DISCUSSION
A. Self-bonding Magnet Wire

Self-bonding magnet wire has been in use for almost fifty years. Among its fust commercial uses was winding coils for the horizontal scan magnetic field in the deflection yokes of cathode ray tubes for black and white television sets in the 1950s. The product evolved with a higher temperature class of materials for color sets in the 1960s and has been commonly used in automotive air conditioner clutch coils and power tool motor fields since the 1970s. Bondable magnet wire that meets NEMA MW 102-C requirements has been around for more almost thirty years, but only recently have motor manufacturers been willing to use this capability to replace varnish in commercial motors. As competitive pressures have forced them to reduce costs, bondable magnet wire bas emerged as an attractive replacement for conventional magnet wire and varnish in many applications.

B. Bondable Magnet Wire Constructions Bondable magnet wires have historically been based on conventional magnet wire insulation systems, with the addition of an outermost layer of bonding resin or cement. The underlying insulation system can be a single insulation such as polyurethane or two such as polyester/polyamideimide. Because of the dimensional demands placed on magnet wire, the two NEMA dimensional tables for bondable wire are based on conventional heavy and triple build. For class B or class F insulation systems, polyurethane insulation with a bonding cement that softens at or just above 155C. is the usual choice. Class H operation usually requires a polyesterlpolyamideimide insulation system with a higher-temperature softening cement. Such a wire, if it

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has at least 3 pounds of retained bond strength at 180C. when tested as proscribed by NEMA, qualifies as MW 102-c. C. Limitations and Considerations of Using Bondable
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MW 102-C Type 1 bondable has the same maximum OD as an MW 35-C heavy build, but the minimum dielectric breakdown voltage for an MW 102-C Type 1 bondable is identical to a NEMA single build MW 35-C. The inference is that the bonding resin does not add to the dielectric strength, or at least that it may not. The same is often said of Corona Inception Voltage or CIV. Testing on bonded samples of Type 1 bondable magnet wire indicate that this is not a correct assumption. Table I shows the dielectric breakdown voltage (DBV) of Types 1 and 2 bondable MW 102-C wire both before and after bonding as well as MW 3542. As expected, the Type 1 bondable wire has twisted pair dielectric values comparable to the MW 35-C, and the C N is essentially identical. It is also no surprise that the Type 2 bondable wire has both a higher DBV and CIV, due to its higher total build. Dielectric and corona testing were performed again on the bondable wires after bonding. Table I. [ 11 Type 1 Bondable Total Build Base Insulation Build Unbonded DBV Unbonded CIV DVB after Bonding CIV after Bonding Type2 Bondable Heavy Build MW 35-c 0.0030 0.0030 12056 volts

From Table I it can be seen that one does not necessarily lose critical performance characteristics when bondable wire is used in place of conventional magnet wire. The electrical requirements of most commercial motors can still be met if the standard magnet wire is replaced with the right bondable wire. There are other requirements to be considered, but, again, these can usually be met with the right combination of material choices, design changes, and manufacturing techniques. Another common concern about using bondable wire is that it lacks the bond strength of a conventional varnished magnet wire system. Testing on an apples to apples basis shows that bondable wire has bond strength equal to or greater than varnish systems commonly used in the manufacture of commercial motors. In fact, as can be seen in Figure 1, the bond strength of MW 102-C bondable wire can be higher than varnish at low temperature, and essentially identical from 125C. to 200C. The challenge with bondable wire is that its cement can only bond to what it is in contact with. It cannot bridge between wires that do not touch. However, proper attention at the design stage and some clever manufacturing techniques can yield a stator that uses the bond strength of the cement.
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The dielectric of each wire showed no deterioration and the CIV actually increased with both bondable types. The working thesis to explain the improved CIV is that the bonding process forces out some of the air found between wires of opposite polarity. Since corona is caused by an ionization of this air, the reduction of the amount of air raises the voltage needed to produce it.

There are good reasons to switch from conventional materials and techniques even if the only result is an as g o o d product. Because of the ability to rapidly bond a stator produced with bondable wire, and the energy savings resulting from so doing, manufacturing cost reductions can be realized just from the energy not wasted avoiding by the varnish curing process. Although some bondable wire can be activated by solvent through wet winding, and most if not all can be bonded by conventional oven heating, the energy cost savings potential of bondable wire can only be achieved through resistance bonding of the wire.

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Figure 2. Comparison of Conventional and Self-honding Stator Manufacturing Resistance heating of the wire is so rapid that very little energy is wasted in heating the steel of the stator. The process is so quick that the stator is cool to the touch for a minute or two after removing the bonding voltage. As the heat in the wire dissipates to the steel, it too gets hot, hut the bonding process is already complete at this point. The resistance bonding is usually accomplished in conjunction with and as a part of the electrical testing done as a stator is fabricated. By making some assumptions one can calculate just how little energy is required to bond a stator. This hypothetical stator has exactly one pound of magnet wire, which needs to he heated from room arnhient (72F.) to 392F. (200C.). Using 0.092 Btu/lh."F. as the specific heat of copper it can he seen that heating the wire requires ahout 30 Btu or 8.6 watt-hours of energy. This is such a small amount of heat that it is essentially negligible. Elimination of the hake oven saves the cost of the oven, the cost of fueling the oven, and the cost of buying and operating the long conveyor to slowly carry the stators through the oven. Another benefit to eliminating the hake oven is the reduction in cycle time. Figure 2 shows in schematic form the differences between a traditional stator manufacturing process and one using bondable wire. Absent from the bondable process are varnish and baking steps. These steps require a relatively long time, commonly more than an hour, depending on the size of the stator. Modern bondable motor lines usually include fast connection to replace the labor intensive connection process used in traditional operations. The net result is a reduction in post-winding processing of the stator from hours to minutes [3].
A less obvious advantage to using resistance heating to bond the magnet wire instead of baking on a varnish is that modern bonding equipment automatically applies just the right amount of heat to each stator. With oven curing, a conveyor line typically has to he slowed to give enough dwell time to the largest model being produced, even if this model is a small percentage of the total throughput. With resistance bonding the stator is through final test minutes after it is wound. Any problem in the winding operation is detected before a large number of defective parts are built.

Bondable wire costs more than conventional magnet wire. It is more difficult to produce and uses more expensive materials than conventional magnet wire. In a commonly used 18-24 AWG wire, M W 102-C wire will cost roughly 510% more than comparably sized MW 000.35-C. In a study performed by an outside consultant, a 6% increase in wire cost was more than offset by labor and material savings totaling 3.5 to 5.5 times the wire cost difference [41. The actual savings depended in part on which varnish system was replaced by the bondable wire. The comparison included dip and hake as well as a low-heat trickle type varnish. The hulk of the savings were realized through the removal of the cost of buying varnish. Labor and energy savings totaled from 15% to 20% of the total savings.

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E. Other Engineering Considerations Successful use of self-bonding magnet wire requires consideration of other issues that the use of varnish usually addresses. For example, steel laminations may rust as the result of not being varnished. Varnish also provides some moisture resistance to the wire, so some lessening of motor life may be experienced in high moisture applications unless other means are employed to protect the stator. Varnish can also provide some dampening of vibration, so noise issues may need to be considered. A final, hut very important consideration when switching from conventional magnet wire to a self-bonding wire is that Underwriters Laboratory does not consider MW 102-C products as generic [ 5 ] . Unlike most conventional magnet wire constructions, one cannot substitute one product for another without verifying its approval status. However, the magnet wire manufacturer should be able to assist in securing whatever system approvals are needed.

REFERENCES
[ 11 Kauffman, John C. and Barta, Donald J., SelfBonding Wire for Induction Motor Designs, Proceedings EMCWA, 2002.

[2] Barta, Donald J. and Kauffman, John C., Bondable Magnet Wire for Innovative Motor Designs, EMMC Presentation, October 30,2001. [3] Reed, William D. Self-bonding Magnet Wire in Automated Motor Manufacture, Proceedings EMCWA, 2002.

[4] Schultz, Karl H., Ballard, A. Donald, & Hester, Douglas M., Bondable Wire -Cost Comparisons, confidential analysis performed by Schultz Associates for Phelps Dodge Magnet Wire, 1997.
[ 5 ] Underwriters Laboratory Publication No. UL 1446, 5* Edition, May 16, 1997

111. CONCLUSIONS
Bondable magnet wire can be an economical replacement for a conventional magnet wire and varnish system to produce stators for single and three phase commercial motors. Design and process changes are needed to fully realize the cost savings possible through the use of bondable magnet wire. The slight additional cost of bondable wire is usually more than offset by other material, labor, and capital savings. As labor and environmental compliance costs increase, bondable wire will become even more attractive to replace conventional wire and varnish systems.

David Myers holds a Bachelor of Science from Purdue University. He has been with Phelps Dodge Magnet Wire for just over 30 years with positions in Research, Marketing, and Sales Engineering. David OHara holds BS and MEng degrees from the University of Louisville. He has been with Phelps Dodge Magnet Wire for 11 years, holding positions in Process and Quality Engineering, Marketing, and Sales Engineering.

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