A Tier-2 supplier headquartered in Belgium, BMT Drive Solutions (a division of BMT Group) – acting under the brand name of VCST – is involved in the mass-production of gears & shafts (from 20,000 up to 2 million parts/year) for major OEMs (such as VW, Ford, Porsche, DAF or Cummins) & Tier 1s, Greencarcongress.com reports.
Although the main applications covered by BMT have been focused on Internal Combustion Engines (timing gear sets or balancing shafts systems) over the last 3 decades, BMT, following the trend of the automotive market, is now involved in the manufacturing of complex parts for Electric Vehicle gearboxes (e-Drives).
BMT offers unique expertise in gear manufacturing (skiving, broaching), combined with suitable heat-treatment lines (case hardening, nitriding or induction hardening) and finishing process (honing, grinding).
The delivery of gears with a suitable micro-geometry is one of the main focus of premium customers keen to maintain decent levels of noise, as one of the main subjective quality features noticed by vehicle occupants. BMT offers End of Line test cells to guarantee the NVH traceability.
The main core business relies on the manufacturing of single parts according to experienced customers’ drawings (“make2print” scenario). Besides this “single components” business, BMT is developing its own e-Drives concepts addressing new categories of EVs such as high-performance vehicles (sport cars or pick-up trucks) or commercial vehicles (Light-duty vehicles up to 7.5 tons or busses up to 18 tons).
The first concept ready for industrialization is a 2-speed-AMT e-drive capable of 9000 N·m output torque where the 1st gear is designed to cover torque requirement (standing-start), and the 2nd gear designed to reach the top speed on highway.
Multi-speed e-drives should become the new trend over next decade, allowing the downsizing, and cost-saving of the e-machine and inverter.
The shifting events are electrically commanded by a “zero backlash” dog clutch system offering a smooth & fast operation (0.2 to 0.5 sec overall shifting time).
