Introduction to professional knowledge of aluminum alloy tube busbar industry

Aluminum alloy tube busbar is the core conductive structural material in modern high-voltage and ultra-high-voltage power transmission and transformation systems. It is a new type of energy-saving power conductor. With its hollow tubular integrated structural design, it completely breaks through the performance limitations of traditional conductive busbars and is widely suitable for various large and medium-sized substations and power transmission projects. This product mainly uses LDRE rare earth aluminum alloy and 6Z63 heat-resistant aluminum alloy as the core base materials and is integrally formed with the industry's advanced hot-top casting seamless processing technology. The overall structure is dense and uniform, with no splicing gaps, and has excellent structural stability and conductive consistency. The product specifications cover a comprehensive range, with the outer diameter ranging from 60 mm to 300 mm, and the wall thickness controllable from 3 mm to 12 mm. The entire integrated pipe up to 15 meters can be customized according to engineering construction needs, which can effectively reduce the number of spliced ​​joints on site and reduce line contact resistance and potential faults. As an upgraded conductor material that replaces traditional rectangular, trough-shaped busbars and outdoor flexible conductors, the parent tube product derived from the 6101 aluminum bus bar material system has further optimized the base material formula to adapt to long-term operating conditions of high-voltage power transmission and transformation.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The material selection for aluminum alloy pipe busbars is mainly aluminum alloy. This series of alloys has good extrudability, weldability and corrosion resistance. At the same time, it can achieve a balance between mechanical properties and electrical conductivity through heat treatment. 6101 aluminum bus bar is an aluminum alloy specially developed for conductive purposes. Its composition design provides sufficient mechanical strength while ensuring high conductivity, and is suitable for occasions where current carrying capacity is a priority. When higher strength is required to support long-span arrangements or withstand large short-circuit electric forces, 6061 aluminum bus bar becomes a suitable choice due to its higher tensile strength and yield strength. Its conductivity is slightly lower than 6101 but can still meet the requirements in most substation applications. The 6101 t61 aluminum bus bar that has undergone a precise heat treatment process represents the T61 state - through solid solution treatment and subsequent artificial aging, the strengthening phase is uniformly precipitated, the mechanical properties of the material reach peaks and the conductivity is maintained within an acceptable range.

 

For complex busbar structures that use thin-walled tubes or need to be bent multiple times, you can choose annealed-state (O-state) materials for processing, and then perform heat treatment to restore strength after forming. In a corrosive environment, tin plated aluminum bus bar effectively prevents the aluminum material from being directly exposed to corrosive media by electroplating or electroless tin plating on the surface of the aluminum base. More importantly, it solves the problem of galvanic corrosion caused by the potential difference when the aluminum conductor is connected to the copper equipment terminal. As an intermediate transition metal, the tin layer has a corrosion potential between aluminum and copper, which can significantly slow down the interface corrosion rate.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The manufacturing of aluminum alloy tube bus bars starts with the preparation of ingots. Aluminum ingots and master alloys that meet the grade requirements are selected and smelted according to the proportion. After refining, degassing and slag removal, they are cast into cylindrical ingots through the hot top casting process. Hot top casting can obtain a cast structure with a dense structure, uniform composition and smooth surface, reduce casting defects such as pores and segregation, and provide qualified blanks for subsequent extrusion processes. The ingot is sawed, homogenized and annealed and sent to a large extruder. After being heated to above the recrystallization temperature, it is formed into a hollow pipe through an extrusion die. The extrusion process causes the coarse as-cast grains to break and recrystallize, forming a fiber structure arranged along the extrusion direction. The mechanical properties of the material are therefore significantly improved. The extruded pipe needs to undergo solution heat treatment - heating to a certain temperature and insulation to fully dissolve the alloy elements, followed by rapid cooling (water quenching or air quenching) to solid dissolve the strengthening phase in the aluminum matrix, and finally artificial aging to disperse and precipitate the strengthening phase to reach T6 or T61 state.

 

For pipe bus bars that need to be bent or punched, they should be processed in the softer T4 or O state before aging treatment, and then aged after the processing is completed. In the finished product processing process, the pipes are cut to length, end milled, chamfered, and connecting holes drilled according to the customer's drawings. The hole position accuracy directly affects the efficiency of on-site installation. For tin plated aluminum bus bars, they must be thoroughly degreased and pickled before tin plating to remove the surface oxide film and oil stains, followed by zinc immersion as an intermediate transition layer, and finally electroplating or chemical plating in a plating solution containing tin ions. After plating, pure water cleaning and drying are required, and the porosity test is conducted according to standards. In terms of connection technology, manual argon arc welding (tungsten inert gas shielded welding) is usually used for the connection between pipe busbars or the connection between pipe busbars and other hardware.

 

During welding, the welding current, argon gas flow and filler wire composition need to be strictly controlled. After welding, radiographic flaw detection is required to check the internal quality of the weld. Aluminum Bus Bars for Cell Connection also involve processes such as precision stamping, CNC bending and laser cutting. The final product must pass contact resistance testing and insulation withstand voltage testing before leaving the factory. Traceable records are kept for all key processes throughout the entire manufacturing process, including raw material furnace batch numbers, heat treatment curves, dimensional inspection data and flaw detection reports, to facilitate quality tracking and quality improvement.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In conventional substations, aluminum alloy tube busbars are mainly used as cross-line connections on the incoming and outgoing line sides, and as main busbars between bays in distribution devices. Its tubular structure has good wind resistance and self-cleaning performance, and the surface is not prone to dust and water accumulation, reducing the risk of surface discharge caused by contamination. In the transitional connection between gas-insulated metal-enclosed switchgear and overhead lines, tube busbars are often used in conjunction with expansion joints to compensate for height and angle deviations of the equipment interface. For the layout of large-span bus bridges, mechanical calibration needs to be carried out based on span length, short-circuit electrodynamic force and self-weight deflection, and pillar insulators should be installed in the middle if necessary. In battery energy storage systems and electric vehicle battery packs, Aluminum Bus Bars for Cell Connection are used for series or parallel square case cells. Compared with traditional copper bus bars, aluminum bus bars have obvious weight and cost advantages, but attention needs to be paid to the contact surface treatment between aluminum and copper or aluminum and nickel. For battery core connection rows using 6101 aluminum bus bar, the contact area is usually nickel-plated or tin-plated, and the bolt tightening torque is strictly controlled to obtain stable contact resistance.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We can provide standardized finished product supply and engineering customized production services. With stable batch quality and mature engineering adaptation experience, we provide highly reliable Aluminum Busbar Electrical Power Connector overall solutions for various domestic and foreign power construction projects and industrial power distribution projects.