Press Releases

The relentless advance in the digitalization of production is making inroads into the manufacture of premium quality optical plastic components: More and more frequently, digital applications help to model production processes more dependably and more predictably and to produce plastic optical components more swiftly and accurately. This is enabling plastic optical components to be produced with greater precision and reliability. At the Fakuma International Trade Fair for Plastics Processing which takes place 16 - 20 October 2018 in Friedrichshafen, the Fraunhofer Institutes IPT and ILT in Aachen along with the IKV at RWTH Aachen University will be providing an insight into new technologies and applications for the manufacture of optical elements made of a range of plastic materials in Hall B4 at the joint Kunststoffland-NRW e.V. Booth (Booth 4404).

When economic or safety considerations rule out the use of powder materials in additive manufacturing, the option of wire-feed laser deposition welding resents itself. The Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in Aachen has developed a smart laser module for wire deposition welding, which can easily be integrated within existing process chains, handling systems or machine tools. The engineers from Aachen will be unveiling the LMD-W-20-L module for the first time to the visitors from industry at Formnext, the Fair for Additive Technologies in Frankfurt/Main, Hall 3, Booth E70, 13-16 November 2018.

Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT, Ericsson and GF Machining Solutions joined forces on a collaboration to create a networked, adaptive manufacturing solution that will be on display at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago from September 10-15, 2018.

A pod chases through a nearly airless tube at over 1,000 km/h, transporting passengersor goods faster than is currently possible by aircraft. The "Hyperloop" Competition was held in California at the end of July in the quest to make the futuristic vision dreamed up by Elon Musk, the founder of SpaceX and Tesla, a reality. During the competition students from all over the world tested their self-designed and manufactured transport pods. The Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in Aachen produced high-precision components for the power train of the second fastest transport pod.

One of the main features of additive manufacturing processes such as 3D-printing is that the complexity of the component shapes it produces, is virtually unlimited. However, high surface quality in metallic components can frequently be achieved only via milling or grinding finishing operations. Milling operations conducted on thin-walled parts in particular often cause vibrations which impact negatively on part accuracy and on machining time. The Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT and the Fraunhofer Institute for Laser Technology ILT in Aachen will be presenting special-purpose support structures which can eliminate these vibrations in post-processing operations at Farnborough International Airshow from 16 – 22 July 2018.

Europe is at the threshold of a technological revolution - the application of the power of light to solve our greatest global challenges. As a fast, compact, energy efficient and therefore sustainable option, it is suitable for many applications and will be an essential component of the societal challenges of the future. An important future market is the photonic chip market. The new assembly machine presented by the Fraunhofer Project Center will allow large-scale photonic chip production to become a reality in Twente. This is a first, since this high-precision work has been performed by hand for small series until now. It is therefore an important step towards mass production of the fast and energy-efficient chips for telecommunications, among others. The application has been developed in collaboration with PHIX Photonics Assembly, an international innovator in the field of assembly and packaging services for the photonics industry.

For the past two years, the three Fraunhofer Institutes in Aachen have been working alongside other experts from industry and research in the Fraunhofer High Performance Center for "Networked, Adaptive Production" to identify new approaches to digitalization and networks which will help pave the way for a successful transition to Industrie 4.0. On 25 April 2018 at 16.00, the institutes will declare the "International Center for Networked, Adaptive Production", ICNAP, open for business and will be keen to welcome additional partners into the Community. The official opening ceremony, which will include talks to be given by representatives from the three institutes as well as from industrial partners such as Ericsson GmbH, Kuka Industries GmbH and MTU Aero Engines AG is free of charge for visitors to the fair and takes place at the joint Fraunhofer booth in Hall 2, Booth C22.

Sensors continuously record measurements in plant and machinery to check that everything is running according to plan and to enable any errors in the industrial production environment to be recognized at an early stage. However, as a rule, evaluation of the data is decentralized and takes place after a time lag. In contrast to this, the 5G wireless standard permits direct, wireless measurement in real time. Fraunhofer in Aachen has teamed up with Ericsson to offer a unique test environment for 5G applications in industry. The partners will be using the example of aero-engine component manufacture to demonstrate live, for the first time, the opportunities provided by the technology at the Hanover Fair from 23– 27 April 2018 (Hall 17, Booth C24).

Components made of fiber-reinforced plastics have long outgrown their role as elements for use exclusively in high-performance applications in the aerospace sector. Piping for industrial applications and components for both the automotive engineering and the consumer goods industries can now be produced in fully automated tape placement and winding processes, making them relatively economical. In collaboration with Conbility GmbH in Aachen, the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT is working to develop the technology to the next level in order to meet industrial requirements in readiness for transfer to industrial application.

Researchers from three Aachen-based Fraunhofer Institutes are working together in the Fraunhofer High Performance Center for Networked, Adaptive Production to realize the complete connectivity of machines and sensors with the goal of evaluating all recorded production data with intelligent algorithms in real time and flexibly adapting processes accordingly. At the Hannover Messe Preview on February 6 and at the Hannover Messe proper from April 23 to 27, 2018, they will demonstrate what diagnostic and forecasting possibilities this yields for the manufacture of demanding products for various sectors.