Press and Media

More charging power, higher range, lower environmental impact: In the COOLBat joint research project, researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Machine Tools and Forming Technology IWU have teamed up with partners to develop next-generation battery enclosures for electric vehicles. The objective is to make the enclosures, a central component in any electric vehicle, lighter and cut the carbon dioxide emitted to manufacture them by 15 percent. The project partners aim to achieve this by combining individual systems, packing more functions into a smaller installation space, and using new heat-conductive materials and bio-based flame retardant coatings.

To ensure that food proteins do not become scarce in the future despite extreme weather conditions and increasing environmental stress, six Fraunhofer Institutes are focusing on indoor farming systems in the lighthouse project "FutureProteins" (alternative protein sources). How can wheatgrass, alfalfa, and potatoes be successfully grown indoors without soil, using only artificial lighting? And are these methods not only ecologically sustainable but also economically viable? Fraunhofer IWU is focused on this aspect, as the price tag is crucial for accepting product innovations in the food sector. In regions with significant poverty, high prices could make such products inaccessible.

Eliminating damages in offshore wind turbines is very expensive. When turbines are idle due to defective transmissions, repairs often require special cranes – high waves, strong winds, and poor visibility can hinder the deployment teams and further extend downtime. In the GEARFORM project, Fraunhofer IWU and its industry partners developed a hot rolling process to manufacture durable, large-module gears. In contrast to hobbing, hot rolling also boasts an outstanding material utilization rate and significantly shorter production times.

Sustainable value creation, which does not require limitations and conserves scarce resources of our planet, is likely the most urgent task of the 21st century. On the path to a circular economy, step-by-step optimizations will still be necessary. However, without groundbreaking innovations, the pace would be inadequate. Biomanufacturing, a still young discipline that integrates knowledge and methods from production engineering, biotechnology, and biology, is a promising approach: for example, it combines biotechnological processes with the capabilities of Industry 4.0 to substitute fossil materials and produce them in large quantities.

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.