Press and Media

Smaller batch sizes instead of mass production, more complex production lines, increasing competitive pressure, unstable supply chains: Against this background, the Franco-German research project GreenBotAI addresses robotics. Three main objectives are in focus - ensuring production continuity even in pandemic times, strengthening Europe's independence in production automation, and significantly reducing the energy consumption of robot applications in European factories.

Climate-friendly fuel cell systems, which are set to power machines such as vehicles in the future, are still rare and expensive these days. There are several reasons for this, including the complex and costly process used to produce bipolar plates — a key component in electrolyzers and fuel cells, which are needed for many hydrogen systems. The Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU has now taken a major step toward lower costs and mass production of bipolar plates by introducing an innovative sys-tem for roll embossing: BPPflexRoll. The Fraunhofer researchers will be presenting one component of the system at the joint Fraunhofer booth in Hall 2, Booth B24, at Hannover Messe 2024 from April 22 to 26.

Mushroom mycelium is a renewable resource. It has been essential in pharmacy for many years. Yet, mushroom mycelium has even more potential. As a biodegradable material, it can sustainably replace various materials, such as animal leather, packaging materials made from wood, cardboard, or Styrofoam®, and insulation wool. A team of researchers at Fraunhofer IWU is now exploring another application for mushroom mycelium material: for components integrating complex functions in high-quality transmission line speakers, with the aim to enhance their sound even further. The ambitious goal is to process living mycelium in 3D printing and then deliberately influence its growth to achieve sound-reflecting and sound-absorbing properties in one process.

By 2035, the EU aims for new vehicles to be manufactured almost entirely of recycled, refurbished, repurposed, repaired, or reused parts, with the share of new raw materials needed for car production approaching zero. The result will be over 1.5 tons of material per vehicle saved. Of course, from 2035 on, new cars will still have to meet all crash safety requirements and satisfy customer expectations regarding quality. Under the leadership of Fraunhofer IWU, a consortium of 28 European partners, including five automakers (OEMs), is now showcasing pathways towards a consistently resource-efficient production in the EU project ZEvRA. The partners aim to develop a virtual Circular Car Concept based on a popular Skoda model; for demonstration purposes, they will assemble a vehicle with parts made from recycled materials that comply with the principles of the circular economy.

If 1 kilogram of hydrogen allows for approximately 100 kilometers of range in a car, a hydrogen tank for an electric motorcycle can also fit within the limited space of its design. A more challenging task is integrating a complete fuel cell system (which converts onboard hydrogen into electrical energy) into the frame construction. A German-Czech consortium of research institutions and manufacturing companies is now taking on this challenge: By the end of 2025, they will construct a fully functional motorcycle as a demonstrator that complies with the strict European approval standards and certification requirements.

Several Fraunhofer Institutes and the Brandenburg Technical University Cottbus-Senftenberg, under the leadership of Rolls-Royce Germany and other partners such as the research institution ACCESS, are collaborating on the future of hybrid electric flying. Supported by the state of Brandenburg and the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Climate Protection, the partners are researching an entirely new propulsion system for medium-range aircraft with up to 35 passengers.

With granulate-based plastic processes, it is now possible to design highly durable products and produce them economically, even in closed material cycles. Fraunhofer IWU demonstrates with a highly resilient shelf and a vehicle frame how individual shaping, low material costs, and high load-bearing capacity can add up to rather useful products.

Additive manufacturing technologies enable an almost limitless variety of products with increasingly demanding materials and 'embedded' functions. Laser Powder Bed Fusion (LPBF) allows tremendous freedom in material selection, geometry, and integration of functions. Current research focus at Fraunhofer IWU: revolutionary printing strategies for high-quality medical implants and ultra-thin, highly efficient heat exchangers that utilize valuable waste heat. 3D-printed aluminum wheel carriers can be both highly durable and economically manufacturable.

Utilization-optimized, flexibly arranged production modules equipped via driverless transport systems which can manufacture a variety of products; a production planning and control system that can flexibly allocate these modules and, through segmentation and intelligent distribution of manufacturing tasks, make it possible to produce large-size components in small facilities: Matrix production and SWAP-IT create a production infrastructure that enables highly efficient manufacturing of even smaller quantities. But that is not all. Such infrastructure also stimulates new ways of working when previously manual tasks need to be automated. Relevant impulses for continuous further qualification come from the InTeleMat project: allowing businesses to rely on valuable human labor even more effectively.

In South Africa's capital, Cape Town, and near the Namibian port city of Walvis Bay, so-called microgrids will contribute to a sustainable and emission-free power supply. These systems combine electrolyzers for green hydrogen production with fuel cells for its reconversion to electricity: the microgrids store electricity generated from solar and wind power as hydrogen and convert it back to electricity when needed. In Walvis Bay, a local school will use the oxygen produced during electrolysis to treat wastewater for irrigation purposes in its cultivation areas.