Aluminum Base Plates for Battery Rack Control Boards

Requirement

The control board sits on an aluminum base plate through a thermal pad. The previous supplier could not hold flatness, so parts floated locally after assembly and board temperatures varied. The requirement was 0.1 mm flatness, holes matching the board datum, and flexible small batches across variants.

Our approach

We switched to 6061-T6, added a flatness correction step after milling and before drilling, and machined all holes from the board datum in one setup. A single fixture is used in production to limit flip error. Chromate conversion coating keeps the surface conductive for grounding.

Delivery and inspection

First batch of 20 pieces across three models with flatness records, packed in compartment trays to avoid scratches in transit.

Project summary

Thermal pads now seat evenly and board temperature variation narrowed. The customer moved two more models to us on a quarterly order pattern.