Download the flyer with the key facts on the Joint Partner Project “Cell-to-Pack Battery Casings”

If you are interested and would like to receive more information, please get in touch with:

Alexander Knauff
Manager Industrial Services | AZL Aachen GmbH
Phone: +49 241 475 735 16
Mobile: +49 177 283 5184
Email: alexander.knauff@azl-aachen-gmbh.de

Download the flyer with the key facts on the Joint Market & Technology Study “Utility & Cargo Bikes”

If you are interested and would like to receive more information, please get in touch with:

Alexander Knauff
Manager Industrial Services | AZL Aachen GmbH
Phone: +49 241 475 735 16
Mobile: +49 177 283 5184
Email: alexander.knauff@azl-aachen-gmbh.de

Download the flyer with the key facts on the Joint Partner Project “Lightweight Tailgate”

If you are interested and would like to receive more information, please get in touch with:

Alexander Knauff
Manager Industrial Services | AZL Aachen GmbH
Phone: +49 241 475 735 16
Mobile: +49 177 283 5184
Email: alexander.knauff@azl-aachen-gmbh.de

The purpose of this project is to develop a simple drop tower set up for oblique foreign object penetration impact testing. Different materials, monolithic and sandwiches and material combinations, are compared on equal safety level and suitability for battery casing.

Results:

• An application relevant test method for penetration damage to bottom materials for battery casings.
• Relative safety performance of different material options, such as solid laminates, sandwiches, different thicknesses and layups, in comparison with aluminum reference material.
• For each material it will give guidance what minimum amount is needed to prevent penetration or unacceptable damage.

Download the flyer with the key facts on the Follow-up Project “Bottom Impact Protection”

If you are interested and would like to receive more information, please get in touch with:

Philipp Fröhlig
Senior Project Manager | AZL Aachen GmbH
Phone: +49 241 475735 14
Email: philipp.froehlig@azl-aachen-gmbh.de

The purpose of this project is to develop a fire testing procedure for materials and material forms, enabling the evaluation of suitability for the EV battery casing.

Results:

• A standard test method enabling suitability of various materials for fire safe application in a battery casing.
• Comparison of relative performance of various materials and/or protection layers.
• Guidance to minimum material needs to survive battery fire testing.

Download the flyer with the key facts on the Follow-up Project “Fire Protection”

If you are interested and would like to receive more information, please get in touch with:

Philipp Fröhlig
Senior Project Manager | AZL Aachen GmbH
Phone: +49 241 475735 14
Email: philipp.froehlig@azl-aachen-gmbh.de

Based on the frequently addressed requirements from the industry AZL was kicking-off a fourth phase to follow up on the developments of the AZL Joint Partner Project Cost- and Energy-Efficient Double Belt Press System” (project phase III) on August 30th, 2021.

In November 2020, the Joint Partner Project to improve the AZL “Cost- and Energy-Efficient Double Belt Press System” has been successfully accomplished. As result of the project, the isobaric double belt press system now accomplishes max. temperatures up to 300°C and is equipped with a closed-loop temperature control, optimized control system and HMI and with a belt cleaning system. The machine concept has been validated by extensive material and processing studies for the demonstration of wide applicability of the novel machine concept. Impregnation studies on thermoset as well as on thermoplastic material have been accomplished.

In order to investigate the full potential of this double belt press technology, further system upgrades, process trials, and optimizations for different materials and tasks were planned for the 12- week follow-up project.

The process temperature for the processing of high-performance polymers was raised >300°C with the aim to achieve up to 400 °C.
The press was expanded to include isochoric functionality so that, for example, foam or honeycomb cores can be processed.
This isochoric functionality was combined with the existing isobaric functionality.

Also included in the project were vouchers for bilateral testing on the double-belt-press. The newly patented machine has already been used by many industrial partners bilaterally.

This project is closed, for more information regarding questions please contact us directly.

Alexander Knauff
Manager Industrial Services | AZL Aachen GmbH
Phone: +49 241 475 735 16
Mobile: +49 177 283 5184
Email: alexander.knauff@azl-aachen-gmbh.de

In a third stage of AZL’s project of the machine-development of 5-seconds fully consolidated multi-layer composite laminate production, additional heating elements were investigated and subsequently added.

The “Ultra-Fast Consolidator Machine” for the production of tailormade laser-assisted in-situ consolidated TP-FRP laminates within cycle times of less than 5 seconds was build up from white paper by AZL in close cooperation with industrial partners.

The third stage of the project the improvement of the thermal management is focused in order to exploit the high potential of the system and to further enhance the resulting laminate properties.

As requested by industrial partners a technical and economical comparison of laser and infrared heating systems were conducted.

In the previous phase II, the tape placement machine was expanded to create a highly productive, fully automated close-to-series production system. Extensive system tests, process investigations and laminate qualifications were successfully carried out.

Four companies have joined the 12-week project: Easicomp GmbH, Laserline GmbH, Maru Hachi Corporation and Mitsui Chemicals Europe GmbH

The project offered the additional benefits of cost-sharing, co-design of the content of the development and individual trials as well as the exchange within the consortium.

The machine system was also available for bilateral testing to all companies.

This project is closed, for more information regarding questions please contact us directly.

Alexander Knauff
Manager Industrial Services | AZL Aachen GmbH
Phone: +49 241 475 735 16
Mobile: +49 177 283 5184
Email: alexander.knauff@azl-aachen-gmbh.de

The future of automotive drive systems is electric. In the foreseeable future, the number of electrically driven vehicles will outweigh the number of combustion engines. A key issue in the direct comparison of the technologies is the range in connection with energy storage and the integration of batteries in the various vehicle concepts through light and robust battery casings.

Multi-material concepts based on composites offer high potential to meet the various requirements for functionality and performance. Compared to “conventional” battery boxes for electric cars, which are mainly made of aluminum and steel, composite solutions offer, among other things, lower weight with higher stiffness. Corrosion resistance as well as impermeability to various fluids are also among the decisive advantages.

The project aims to give an overview about existing solutions, applications, supply chains and their players as well as market potential. The advantages of a multi-material approach are evaluated. In the end an exemplary multi-material battery casing were developed and a production concept was derived. After this project a follow-up project addresses the realisation of this developed concept by manufacture of the multi-material battery housing which are used as a demonstrator product in the future.

This project is closed, for more information regarding questions please contact us directly.

Download the flyer with the key facts to the project

Within the Joint Partner Project “New Designs for Low-Cost and Energy-Efficient Double-Belt Presses” and the Follow-Up Project which was successfully accomplished in May 2019, a prototype machine of an Inductive Double Belt Press was developed, designed and built. The general machine concept has been validated.

This third project with the focus on process evaluations comprises an upgrade and optimization of the system for advanced material and processing studies and includes extensive material and processing studies for demonstration of wide applicability of a novel machine concept to identify which materials can be processed at which speeds, which requirements do exist using the material and which reproducibility can be achieved in impregnation and consolidation. It is also examined how thermal process parameters influence the product quality and how the different pressure profiles enable different laminate types.

This project is closed, for more information regarding questions please contact us directly.

Download the flyer with the key facts on the Follow-up Project “Inductive Double Belt Press”

By implementing the prototype machine, the initial Joint Partner Project is completed. The partners decided already to continue the joint research with a follow-up project which comprises the prototype upgrade and optimization for advanced material and processing studies as well as extensive material and processing studies for demonstration of wide applicability of the novel machine concept in the industry.

This project is closed, for more information regarding questions please contact us directly.

A follow-up project started at the end of 2016 to progress on the developed double-belt press system with the aim to build an industry-scaled machine according to the pursued concepts. The final design phase of the novel double belt press machine system has already been reached. The optimization of the inductor homogeneity is currently in progress, so is the procurement of induction heating equipment. AZL is preparing a scale-up estimation regarding cost and energy consumption of the system.

Large-scale production of composite sheets can be achieved by a continuous production process using double-belt presses. Current machine designs however suffer from low energy efficiency as well as strong limitations concerning the product geometry flexibility.
In the first project phase, the AZL, together with six partner companies, developed a prototype for proof-of-principle of a novel cost and energy-efficient double-belt press system for the continuous production of composite sheets. A follow-up project will start at the end of 2016 to progress on the developed double-belt press system with the aim to build an industry-scaled machine according to the pursued concepts.

To increase resource-efficiency in the production of continuous fiber-reinforced plastics, the processing of scrap-optimized blanks with defined fiber alignment (“tailored composite blanks”) on basis of unidirectional semi-finished products (thermoplastic tapes, tow-pregs or dry-fibres) offers high potential compared to textile-based pre-products. Nonetheless, today’s production systems for the manufacturing of tailored composite blanks are limited in throughput per system.
The 18-month Joint Partner Project involves 12 Partner Companies from seven countries to develop a machine prototype for proving the feasibility of a novel manufacturing principle to produce tailored composite blanks in seconds at medium investment cost.