Press Releases

To create a sustainable road traffic system, hundreds of thousands of fuel cells will be needed for hydrogen-powered cars in the future. Until now, though, fuel cell production has been complex and too slow. The Fraunhofer team is therefore developing a continuous production line that will be able to process fuel cell components in cycles lasting just seconds. The pilot line is set to be presented at the Hannover Messe Digital Edition from April 12 to April 16, 2021.

Industrial production today is only about one thing: productivity. Until now, the values behind this term have prevented a zero-emission and sustainable production, even though it would already be technologically and economically possible. However, changing requirements of the capital market from a plain financial orientation to a holistic view of sustainability, demand that German companies rethink the concept of productivity. The Laboratory for Machine Tools and Production Engineering (WZL) of RWTH Aachen University and the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT will discuss the question of how the Internet of Production (IoP) can support this process and at the same time make companies crisis-proof during the 30th Aachen Machine Tool Colloquium (AWK) on September 22 and 23, 2021, at Eurogress Aachen and in digital form.

Being able to reliably and safely control and regulate highly dynamic production systems still appears to be a challenge for many companies. Edge and cloud systems are gaining in importance, but even today there is still a lack of appropriate equipment and infrastructure to permanently integrate existing machines and plants into digital IT landscapes in accordance with the necessary industrial requirements. To this end, the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in Aachen, together with partners from mechanical engineering, network technology and robotics, is now developing an end-to-end real-time-capable communication infrastructure based on 5G mobile technology and the Time Sensitive Networking (TSN).

The treatment of cancer with new, individualized cell therapies is usually very costly and lengthy. Before treatment can take place, patients often have to wait a long time for individualized therapeutics to be produced and they lose valuable time. In the EU project AIDPATH, researchers are now developing a facility for the production of so-called CAR-T cells that is capable of integrating patient-related data and biomarkers into the therapy process via artificial intelligence. The CAR-T cells are produced close to the patient, directly in the hospital. In the future, this will make it possible to provide cancer patients with treatment tailored to their needs and much more quickly.

Complex production processes in highly flexible and networked manufacturing systems require all processes and distributed systems to be able to exchange their data extremely reliably and with only short delay times. For this so-called "Ultra Reliable and Low Latency Communication" (URLLC), the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP), a worldwide cooperation for the standardization of mobile communication technologies, is developing a new standard for future 5G products. The Fraunhofer-Institute for Production Technology IPT and the Swedish mobile communications supplier Ericsson are now testing the envisaged URLLC functions in Aachen using a real production scenario for collision control in machine tools.

Even in the “Corona Year” the international toolmaking industry does not give in and proves to be resilient to the crisis: Harting Applied Technologies GmbH from Espelkamp in Westphalia, Germany, won the “Excellence in Production” award this year and is thus awarded the title “Toolmaker of the Year 2020”.

Big Data solutions require densely integrated networks of production facilities and IT – which, in turn, oblige companies to invest heavily in resources and technological skills. This is why the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT and its project partner German Edge Cloud are currently developing an open test environment for research and industry in Aachen that will allow the testing of digitalization concepts in actual production facilities with a view to integrating these concepts into industrial production lines.

As transmitters of power and torque, shafts are inconspicuous yet irreplaceable components of cars, aircraft, ships or wind turbines. Billions of these components are produced worldwide every year in various sizes, most of them with shoulders or other surface features. A team from the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT has now developed the additive process »Express Wire Coil Cladding« (short, EW2C) for the surface treatment of shafts. The EW2C process is an alternative to common ablative processes of shaft machining such as turning, an alternative that not only conserves resources, but also lowers costs.

As a pioneer in applied research, the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft brings together the expertise of 23 separate Fraunhofer facilities to develop new development and production technologies for innovative cell and gene therapeutics, as well as vaccines, in the “Production for Intelligent Medicine” innovation cluster. As a first step of the project, a concept for a modular pilot plant for the automatic production of these therapeutics is to be developed combining both Industry 4.0 and Health 4.0.

What is the potential of 5G wireless technology for the industry? And how can digitization in production succeed? These are the questions many manufacturing companies ask themselves when it comes to the successful implementation of 5G in production. Through a 5G-Audit, the Fraunhofer-Institute for Production Technology IPT from Aachen now offers manufacturing companies the opportunity to explore their own potentials for the industrial use of the new mobile communication technology and to find out which positive effects 5G can have on existing process flows.