Rising Fastening and Removal Demand in New Energy and Storage Modules: The Double Challenge of Small Screws on Large Parts

Beyond 3C consumer electronics, new energy and energy storage are becoming another growth area for automatic fastening and removal equipment — and they bring a set of rather contradictory process requirements: the workpiece keeps getting larger and heavier, while the screws keep getting smaller.

Start with the workpiece side. Power battery modules, storage racks, PACK enclosures, electronics and BMS modules are all far larger and heavier than a phone or earbud. The immediate problem is handling and location: workpieces cannot be placed by hand conveniently but rely on roller conveyors, speed chains or AGVs, and location usually depends on pallets and zero-point systems. Under those conditions the fixture design priority at a removal station shifts from fine location to "load-bearing plus repeatable location," with additional attention to deformation and accumulated error caused by the workpiece's own weight.

Now the screw side. Connection screws inside modules are commonly M2–M4, but more and more structural parts use smaller sizes; on BMS sense lines, busbar connections and insulating brackets, M1.6 or smaller is not unusual. That means the same machine — or the same line — must cope with a large spatial scale while still holding torque-control accuracy on micro-screws. The two pull the motion platform's travel, rigidity and resolution in opposite directions, which is exactly why such scenarios are harder than pure 3C. It is also why small screw removal equipment needs re-evaluating for non-3C applications.

A third characteristic is safety. High-voltage workpieces require confirmation of power-down and residual voltage before removal, so the station often has to interlock with testing. Aluminium threaded parts also tend to gaul, corrode or oxidise in long service, so removal torque can far exceed assembly torque, requiring a higher torque ceiling and more thorough anomaly judgement.

In terms of deployment, the practical route again is division of labour. The main line motion can be handled by a gantry or truss mechanism for long travel and load capacity, while the fastening and removal end effector is a dedicated module with torque monitoring and vision alignment. For rework stations or small-batch pilot builds, desktop and vertical models can also cover part of the operation — for example by pairing the end module of an M0.8-M2.0 screw removal solution with a gantry or robot. What matters is the end module's torque resolution and data logging, not the overall machine size.

Taken together, new energy and storage do not pose a wholly new technical problem for fastening and removal equipment; they compress "long travel" and "high accuracy" — normally separate requirements — onto the same line. When selecting equipment, it is worth confirming that its torque resolution covers the smallest size, that it supports multi-stage torque and angle monitoring, that fixtures and pallets can carry heavy workpieces, and that process data can be retained for safety and traceability requirements.

Shenzhen Honred Technology has long experience in automatic screw driving and combined drive-and-remove equipment, with engineering capability in micro-screw removal and vision fastening. Its automatic vision screw removal machine and non-standard solutions cover load and accuracy needs from small 3C structural parts to heavier module workpieces — a reference point at the production-planning stage.