Automotive Technologie in Bavaria e-Car + Hydrogen - media-mind.info
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Automotive
Technologie
in Bavaria
e-Car +
Hydrogen
Editorial
Where is the automobile headed?
The future of the car is at stake. The political, What contribution does laser technology make
business and scientific spheres are facing to the future of mobility?
tremendous challenges in finding ideal and
sustainable solutions to mobility problems Will hydrogen technology play a major role in
during the coronavirus crisis. the future in light of climate change?
The need for technically sophisticated, affordable
and emission-free cars that are compatible with Can energy be stored and transported?
available fuels is creating confusion throughout
the industry. We must find sound answers to the I encourage us to have confidence in the mobili-
following questions: ty of the future and to take a cue from Galileo in
our efforts: And yet mobility still moves.
Where can highly competent and vehicle-spe-
cific technologies be tapped into and merged?
What form will the next generation of door Walter Fürst, Managing Director
electronics take while reducing cost, installation
Masthead:
space and weight?
Publisher: media mind GmbH & Co. KG
Hans-Bunte-Str. 5
Are consistent plant engineering and design 80992 Munich/Germany
necessary? Phone: +49 (0) 89 23 55 57-3
Telefax: +49 (0) 89 23 55 57-47
When must patent claims for injunctive relief E-mail:
mail@media-mind.info
be asserted? www.media-mind.info
Managing director: Walter Fürst, Jürgen Bauernschmitt
Can plastic materials provide an advantage in
Design + DTP: Jürgen Bauernschmitt
conjunction with efficient production
methods? Prepress: media mind, München
Responsible editor: Ilse Schallwegg
What is the outlook for the Nuremberg metro- Published annually: 1 x annually
politan area in terms of the transformation of
© 2020 by media mind GmbH & Co. KG
low-emission drives as well as digital products No part of this magazine may be stored, copied or
and processes? reproduced without the written consent of the editorial office
Integrated
engineering
in plant design
and construction
Necessities, benefits and practical teaching
Integrated engineering cycles on the one hand and the development of new business
Nowadays, mechanical engineer- increasing demand for customer areas and models. Due to these
ing is characterized by an increas- individuality on the other. A cor- current and future challenges,
ing mechatronization of all com- respondingly oriented develop- manufacturers are forced to
ponents used. This means, that ment process, modular products increase their efficiency and adapt
the development and value added and short commissioning times the development processes accord-
of current products is increasingly are indispensable for this and can ingly. Here, integrated engineer-
moving away from the mechanical be made possible by the approach ing can be a possible solution.
domain towards the electrical and of integrated engineering. This The integrated engineering pur-
information technology domain. change is particularly noticeable sues the approach of document-
This is accompanied by an in- in the automotive industry. New ing information in a structured
crease of the amount of informa- competitors are pushing onto the way, from the requirements defi-
tion required to define, develop, market and establishing alterna- nition to product acceptance,
test and commission such pro- tive technologies to the point linking it horizontally and verti-
ducts, be they cyber-physical where they are ready for series cally and enabling its use in cross-
systems or special machines. production, which can only be domain development. The inte-
By linking all information in a tar- realized by established suppliers grated engineering is based on
geted manner, it is possible to with a considerable delay due to the approach of Model-Based
react effectively to changing existing processes. These new Systems Engineering (MBSE) /
customer and market require- technologies also lead to new Model-Based Virtual Product
ments. This goes hand in hand types of customer requirements Development. The use of Pro-
with the ever-shorter product life or even standards and enable the duct Lifecycle Management (PLM)
Construction
Fig. 1: Cross-domain collaboration is more than ever the focus of product development; proven process models provide methodical
support
Construction
software is an enabler of this
approach. In combination with a
process methodology, the pro-
duct development process is sup-
ported in a goal-oriented manner
(see Figure 1).
Depending on the phase of the
development process, defined
intermediate statuses are coordi-
nated through scheduled syn-
chronization of the domains (qual-
ity gates). Between the quality
gates, the development work
takes place synchronously within
the domains "Mechanics", "Elec-
trics" and "IT". PLM systems
support the interdisciplinary Fig. 3: Kinematic model and virtual control can be combined to verify the system
function
teams by providing processes,
developer role models, document ferred into a function structure, Domain-specific
storage and exchange. from which the logical and physi- development data is linked
cal realization of the product is with PLM software
At the beginning, derived later. All interim results During the realization of the devel-
there are the requirements are recorded in the PLM system opment work in the individual
The process of integrated enginee- and related to each other across domains of mechanical, electrical and
ring starts with the structured phases. Quality gates ensure the software engineering, documents and
recording of customer require- synchronicity of the domains at data from domain-specific programs
ments. The properties and bound- defined points in time. Necessary are entered into the PLM system in
ary conditions to be fulfilled are release processes are implement- an audit-proof manner. The domain-
described, which are structured and ed and documented by the PLM specific tools used, such as M-CAD,
hierarchically arranged according to system using stored role models. E-CAD or programs for creating
various criteria. These are then Likewise, the tests verifying the software code for controls or HMI,
integrated into a PLM system for fulfilment of requirements later are integrated with the PLM system
use in the further development on must be defined in early devel- via appropriate interfaces. This guar-
process (see Figure 2). opment phases. An appropriately antees that all developers work with
Within the methodical frame- set up process in the PLM system and build on the most up-to-date
work, the requirements are trans- ensures the procedure. data. Furthermore, process steps are
released by the persons responsible
in the domains, which promotes tar-
get-oriented development and relia-
bility. This approach supports colla-
boration across the boundaries of
domains, but also across time zones
and workstations.
Virtual commissioning
forms the bridge from the
virtual to the real world
Virtual commissioning is used to
ensure the function and quality
of the developed system. Sorted
according to the degree of con-
cretization, it can be divided into
the modes
Model in the Loop (MiL),
Software in the Loop (SiL) and
Fig. 2: Recording of requirements in a PLM system
Hardware in the Loop (HiL).
Construction
QR-Code QR-Code
Conference Research sector
Fig. 4: Hardware in the Loop (HiL) represents a virtual commissioning mode in which the
actual controller interacts with a virtual plant model. Authors:
Florian Faltus,
The MiL procedure can be used Based on a clearly structured pro- M.Sc.
for testing basic processes with- ject, the steps from requirements Research assistant
out knowledge of the implemen- definition to commissioning are
tation of a PLC. A kinematized completed. By connecting the
plant model in a virtual environ- previously tested control system
ment interacts here according to including code with the real plant
the developer's specifications. SiL and starting the implemented pro- Eva Fischer,
M.Sc.
can be used for the virtual inte- cess, the practical training ends
gration of the associated plant with a sense of achievement. The Research assistant
control system. Here, the control software chain used is based on
code is executed by means of a Siemens PLM products, is con-
virtual controller and interacts stantly updated and corresponds
with the inputs and outputs of the to the state of the industry.
Martin Sjarov,
virtual model. The bridge to the
M.Sc.
physical world is then built using
Annually, the research Research assistant
the HiL method, in which the sector organizes
final control code is loaded onto a conference
the physical control to be used Every year, the research sector
and coupled with the virtual Engineering Systems of the Institu-
model. Finally, nothing stands in te for Factory Automation and Pro-
Dipl.-Ing.
the way of real commissioning. duction Systems invites to a two-day Matthias Brossog
conference. The next conference
Director of research
will take place under the motto sector
A block internship brings
the concepts closer „Integrated Engineering – from re-
to prospective engineers quirement to the finished pro-
The Chair for Factory Automa- duct“, probably on 24.02.2021 and
tion and Production Systems 25.02.2021 in the premises of the
(FAPS) at the Friedrich-Alexan- chair in Erlangen. Experts from Research sector Engineering Systems
der University of Erlangen- industry and research are invited to Institute for Factory Automation
and Production Systems
Nuremberg teaches the methods participate. A registration is possible
Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jörg Franke
of continuous engineering to pro- under the following address:
Friedrich-Alexander-University
spective engineers in the block https://www.faps.fau.de/veranst/fach Erlangen-Nuremberg
internship of the same name. tagung-durchgaengiges-engineering/. Egerlandstraße 7-9
D-91058 Erlangen
Once per semester, the partici- Last year we were able to welcome Tel.: +49.9131.85.27991
pants learn about the advantages around 45 experts on the subject of Fax: +49.9131.302528
E-Mail: matthias.brossog@faps.fau.de
of this approach, but also about „digital twins“. We look forward to www.faps.fau.eu
the effort it implies in practice. seeing you again this year.
Next generation
door electronics
from Brose
From window regulator anti-trap protection to side camera image processing all the way to
active noise canceling for the vehicle interior – a new generation of Brose control units will in
future integrate all functions in the vehicle door. This cuts costs, saves space and reduces weight.
Even from a distance the car can
recognize and welcome the driver
with projections in the vehicle
windows. A simple gesture, and
the side door opens automatically.
A radar sensor scans the environ-
ment to prevent any collisions.
Monitors in the doors show the
image from the side cameras in
real time during the drive, while
the side windows turn into per-
sonal infotainment displays. Passen-
gers inside the vehicle enjoy the
quiet ride thanks to speakers with
actively controlled noise can-
celing, which also enhances the
sound of the infotainment system. Brose side door drive with radar-based anti-collision protetion
Fewer circuit boards, cessing platforms. These control unit. In the future, Brose will not
more features for example smart actuators with only develop individual functions
To make this mobility experience integrated (basic) electronics via and their interaction with the
of the future possible, the auto- hardware signals. Smart Brose hypervisor; the supplier will also
motive supplier Brose is driving window regulators are already offer the functional software as a
forward the expansion of its elec- leading the way in the market – standalone product. Standardized
tronics competence. The challenge: and soon the supplier will also interfaces keep the integration
Especially the analysis of sensor offer drives for side doors and effort for the customer at a mini-
data or the transmission of liftgates with integrated elec- mum.
Door electronics
image signals overstrains con- tronics.
ventional electrical/electronic ar- Software expertise is also gaining Low latency and
chitectures, as large amounts of importance, because many of the fast processing are key
data have to be transmitted and physical control units will be sub- However, the development
processed without any notice- stituted with digital variants on towards a central computing unit
able delay. the central platforms. This can also has its disadvantages. For
At the same time, it makes sense only work with the help of so- example, the future scenario
to centralize electronics increas- called hypervisors, which are vir- described above will only be pos-
ingly: today‘s luxury vehicles con- tually placed in front of the indi- sible through the exchange of
tain an average of over 150 con- vidual functions. They guide huge volumes of uncompressed
trol units with microcontrollers. incoming and outgoing data to real-time information. The solu-
In the future, they will gradually the right place and orchestrate tions currently used in series
be replaced by central data pro- the functions inside the control vehicles with only one main
Door electronics
CPU require long cable routes, projectors can have much smaller
which translates into high costs form factors and be positioned
and high latencies. This means it more flexibly if their graphics
takes longer for systems to start units are located in the door elec-
and features to be available, tronics.
resulting in problems in terms of The first presentation of the all-
operator comfort and safety – for in-one door control unit and its
example when processing images features was at the IAA 2019.
from the side cameras. Brose has already received con-
This is the reason Brose is devel- crete orders for the development
oping its next generation of door of multiple features such as win-
control units that processes all dow projections, variable sun
functions in the door locally. visors and active noise canceling.
This also includes innovative The next-generation control
concepts such as voice recogni- units could enter series produc-
tion in the vicinity of the car, tion as early as 2025.
pre-processing of all received
antenna signals or variable sun At the IAA 2019 Brose demonstrated
visors thanks to electrified win- the applications of glass projections
dow segments with individually and their interlinking with other
functions with a futuristic exhibit.
adjustable transparency. A single
Authors:
broadband line connects directly plete solutions. The company
Thomas Schindler
to the central control unit, saving assumes responsibility for inter- Head of Door Modules Product Group
space and costs by eliminating more linking the entire mechatronic
Thomas Liedtke
than 30 cables in the door interface. system – for example by integrat- Project Manager Development
Thanks to around 35 years of expe- ing a digital signal processor for Door Control Units and Sensors
rience in electronics, the family- active noise cancelling into an Brose Group
owned company has the in-house existing multimedia architecture,
expertise to integrate this into the placing sensors and speakers into Brose Fahrzeugteile SE & Co. KG,
entire system, thereby reducing the the door module and fine-tuning Coburg
technical and financial expenditure all of the individual components. Max-Brose-Str. 1
96450 Coburg
even further for OEMs. This system approach saves Phone: 09561/21-0
And Brose not only develops the money and enables further bene- info@brose.com
www.brose.com
control unit, it also delivers com- fits. For example, window pane
Possible functions of the new generation of Brose door control units
Proportionality
reservations for
patent injuctions
§
Criticism of automatic injunc- Legislative initiative of the portionality, which is an expression
tions German Federal Government of the requirements of good faith in
Unlike in the United States (see 35 In January 2020, the Federal Minis- Article 19 (4) of the German Cons-
U.S.C. 283 - ebay ./. mercexchange), try of Justice and Consumer Protec- titution.
there is no mandatory proportio- tion presented a discussion draft bill Finally, the explanatory memoran-
nality test for injunctions in ordinary (Diskussionsentwurf eines zweiten dum of the draft bill refers to the
patent infringement proceedings in Gesetzes zur Vereinfachung und possibility of granting use-by peri-
German legal practice (§§ 9, 139 (1) Modernisierung des Patentrechts), ods in the event of patent infringe-
PatG). In the event of patent infrin- which contains an amendment of ment, as recognised in the case law
gement, a cease and desist order is the provision concerning the right of the Federal Court of Justice.
usually issued automatically. In this to injunctive relief in case of patent According to the decision published
respect, the patent owner is given a infringement. under the keyword "heat exchan-
sharp sword against patent infrin- According to the draft bill, § 139 (1) ger" (ruling of 10 May 2016, GRUR
gers. PatG, which provides that the 2016, 1031), a court injunction with
The increasing emergence of com- patentee has a right of injunction immediate effect may not be issued
plex products protected by hun- against the infringer in the case of if the immediate enforcement of the
dreds of patents, related information patent infringement, is to be supple- patent holder´s right to injunctive
technologies covered by Standard mented by the following sentence: relief would constitute an unreason-
Essential Patents (SEPs) and, last "The claim is excluded if the en- able hardship in breach of good
but not least, the increasing number forcement of the right of injunction faith, for the patent infringer.
of "Non-practising entities" is disproportionate because it con- The granting of grace periods allows
(NPEs), i.e. companies which (apart stitutes a hardship not justified by the alleged infringer to continue to
from commercial patent exploitati- the exclusive right, due to special use the patent-protected product
on) do not carry out any operative circumstances, taking into account for a certain period of time after an
activities of their own, have trigge- the patentee's interest vis-à-vis the injunction has been issued and gives
red a call for proportionality requi- infringer and the requirements of time to develop patent free alterna-
rements for patent injunctions in good faith. tives. In the so-called “heat exchan-
Patent injunctions
Germany in order to avoid "unfair" ger” judgement, the patent in dispu-
injunctions. The automotive indus- Motives of the legislator te protects a system for heating the
try in particular points out that com- In the explanatory memorandum of air flowing around the neck and
plex products, such as automobiles, the proposed amendment to the shoulders of a person in a conver-
and corresponding cost-intensive law, the legislator emphasises that tible car. The patentee filed a law-
production processes may be the supplementary provision is suit for infringement and claimed
blocked by patents covering only a merely a clarification of the legal injunction against the manufacture
single part of the whole product requirements for the issuance of and distribution of the cars concer-
and/or process. Therefore, it is injunctive relief and points out that ned. The defendant requested that
required to establish explicit pro- German law already allows an the action be dismissed on the
portionality requirements for injunc- examination of the proportionality grounds of non-infringement and,
tive relief in German patent law in of the claim for injunctive relief in as an auxiliary request, that a grace
order to enable a balance of inte- case of patent infringement. Re- period has to be granted in order to
rests prior to issuing court injunc- ference is made to the constitutional delay the effect of an injunction.
tions. guarantee of the principle of pro- Even if the requested period of use
Patent injunctions
was not granted in this decision such as Role of the patent holder as implementation into valid patent
because the infringing element was a non-practicing patent exploiter law. The Federal Ministry of Justice
not essential for the function of the with a limited interest in the enfor- has called upon the relevant circles
car, the Federal Supreme Court has cement of the injunction adverse of industry, legal practice and acade-
provided some guidelines for the economic effects of the injunction mia to submit their opinions. Prac-
granting of grace periods which are for the alleged infringer which are titioners of the legal profession fear
to be observed in future court deci- disproportionate to the value of the a devaluation of the patent system
sions (e.g. Düsseldorf Regional infringed patent complex products, and are concerned about the legal
Court GRUR- RS 2017, 106557 - which are covered by many patents status of Germany as a preferred
Herzventile; Munich Regional whereas the redesign with regard to location for patent cases in Europe.
Court, Beck RS 2019, 11305). the patent-infringing components On the other hand, the proponents
Accordingly, grace periods can causes high time and economic of the reform even demand a more
already be granted under existing efforts. far-reaching limitation of the right
law but only upon request and to injunctive relief, which also inclu-
under strict conditions. They are Degree of fault of the infringer. des the right to take into account
excluded if a changeover to patent- Serious doubts as to the validity of the protection of public interests
free solutions has already been pos- the infringed patent do not appear and third party interests. In case of
sible since the knowledge of the to be an aspect of proportionality, an implementation of the provisions
infringement allegation. Neither the but remain a criterion for suspen- proposed in the discussion draft bill,
normal economic harm caused by ding the infringement proceedings the plaintiff should be prepared for
the enforcement of an injunction in the event of parallel revocation the expected objection of dispro-
nor the public interest can currently proceedings before the Federal portionality of an injunction in
justify the granting of such a period. Patent Court or the patent offices. patent infringement proceedings.
It is also irrelevant whether or not It can be concluded from the inten- The possible necessity of taking evi-
the patent-holder is using the tech- tion of the legislator that restrictions dence regarding disputed factual
nology. of the obligation to cease and desist allegations will lead to delays in pro-
Only economic consequences of an due to unproportionality should be ceedings. For defendants from the
immediate enforcement of the in- the absolute exception and may automotive industry the intended
junction against the infringer, which only be granted if unreasonable new regulation will in any case pro-
go beyond its normal damage, make hardship for the patent infringer vide a platform for avoiding or at
it possible to limit the effects of the cannot be avoided by conversion least delaying allegedly “unfair”
patent by granting a grace period. and use by periods. injunctions.
In the explanatory memorandum to It must be concluded from these
the discussion draft, the legislator legislative motives that the mere fact
expressly emphasized that the that the patent covers only a minor
implementation of the principle of individual feature of a complex pro-
proportionality in § 139 PatG must duct which might be protected by
not lead to a devaluation of the patents, such as a car, is not in itself
patent rights according to applicable sufficient to grant by periods use or
legal principles and that the limita- to limit the enforcement of the
tion of the injunction order must injunction. The same applies in
remain limited to exceptional cases. cases in which patents are enforced
The injunction should remain a by NPEs. It remains open how the Author:
powerful weapon in patent law, courts will define the requirements Dr. Johann Pitz
which can be issued independent of for "hardship not justified by patent Lawayer
Patent disputes
fault in the event of patent infringe- law" in case of the implementation and patent
ment. Therefore, the patentee is in of the proposed amendment. It infringement
proceeding
principle not obliged to make repre- should be noted, however, that the
sentations on proportionality in interpretation and application of
order to enforce his patent right. legal provisions by the courts is not
This only applies in cases in which primarily and exclusively based on Vossius & Partner
the alleged infringer puts forward the motives of the legislator. Siebertstraße 3
important arguments in favour of a 81675 Munich
Phone +49 89 41304-0
limitation of the injunction. Such Outlook Fax +49 89 41304-430
arguments may be based on specific The draft bill will trigger further E-mail: pitz@vossiusandpartner.com
www.vossiusandpartner.com
circumstances of the individual case, controversial discussions before its
Nuremberg
European Metropolitan
Region
Low-emission mobility
as a strategic trump card
The automotive industry and its suppliers are the leading industry and export motor in Bavaria. The co-
rona crisis is accelerating the transformation to low-emission drives and to digital products and processes.
With its broad mix of different suppliers, the Nuremberg Metropolitan Region is excellently positioned to
promote and decisively shape these future topics. Particular strengths lie in electrical and mechanical drive
technology and mechatronic system solutions.
One example is Vitesco Techno-
logies Germany GmbH (former-
ly Continental AG), located in
Nuremberg, where 500 of the
Metropolitan Region Nuremberg
approximately 3,000 employees
work on all facets of electrifica-
tion. Since October 2016, the
world's first 48-volt hybrid drive
has been in series production at
Vitesco. The technology is a par-
ticularly cost-efficient solution
for significantly reducing fuel
consumption and exhaust gas
emissions. The 48-volt variant is
an alternative to the much more
complex high-voltage technology
with 300 to 400 volts, which has
been commonly used in hybrid
vehicles until now. Since 2013, The world's first hybrid drive system that operates at a voltage of 48 volts was
developed by Conti in Nuremberg and continues to be series produced there.
engineers at Continental in Source: Continental
Nuremberg have been devel-
oping this hybrid drive together MAN Nutzfahrzeuge and ABM charging systems. Examples of
with Renault and regional partners Greiffenberger also stand for companies and brands in this sec-
such as the Fraunhofer Institute for considerable global expertise in tor are Bosch, Leoni, Komax,
Integrated Systems and Device the field of electric and hybrid Aptiv Services, ZF Friedrichha-
Technology (IISB) and the Bayeri- drive technology. fen, Diehl, Schlenk, Scherdel, E-
sches Laserzentrum (blz). T-A, ABL Sursum, TÜV Süd
A large number of companies and TÜV Rheinland.
Other companies and brands for offer components and solutions
instance Siemens, Baumüller, for electronics, cables, on-board The Nuremberg Metropolitan
Brose, Semikron, Schaeffler, networks as well as storage and Region is home to several re-Metropolitan Region Nuremberg
search institutes and university
departments specializing in elec-
tric mobility. Examples include
the above-mentioned Fraunhofer
IISB (development of power
electronics, design and realization
of storage systems and test cen-
ter for electric vehicles), the
Fraunhofer Institute for Integrat-
ed Circuits IIS (e.g. information
and communication technology
for battery management, energy
management, connection to
smart grids), the Fraunhofer
Institute for Silicate Research
ISC (material development for
high-performance, fast and safe
The Charging Network+ combines the services of around 60 municipal and regional
energy storage systems), the energy suppliers for a regionwide uniform and user-friendly charging infrastructure.
E|Drive Center at the Friedrich- Source: N-ERGIE
Alexander Universität Erlangen-
Nürnberg (production-related de- at the Energie Campus Nürn- cilities and fuel cell vehicles such
sign, production technologies and berg, is intended to link industry, as buses and commercial vehicles/
application development for elec- science and politics in order to trucks. On November 18, 2020,
tric drives), the Technologie- develop the hydrogen economy the so-called HYDROGEN
Transfer-Zentrum Electromobi- and to support the transforma- DIALOGUE will take place in
lität (TTZ-EMO) at the Hoch- tion process of the Bavarian auto- Nuremberg for the first time.
schule für angewandte Wissen- motive and supplier industry. This event of the Nürnberg
schaften Würzburg-Schweinfurt Hydrogen is an energy carrier for Messe will in future be the cen-
(among other things load man- electric vehicles, which generate tral meeting place for experts
agement with electric vehicles the electricity for driving through from politics, industry and sci-
and innovative charging techno- fuel cells. To activate the market, ence by giving them the support
logies), the Institute for Power the state government will pro- in bringing hydrogen technolo-
Electronic Systems (ELSYS) at mote combined electrolysis fa- gies to application.
the Technische Hochschule
Nürnberg Georg Simon Ohm
(among other things grid integra-
tion of electric vehicles), the Ost-
bayerische Technische Hoch-
schule Amberg-Weiden (em-
bedded system and real-time
software for electric mobility),
the Technologietransferzentrum
Automotive of the Hochschule
Coburg (TAC) and the Automo-
bilTechnikum Bayern (ATB) in
Hof.
Battery-powered electric vehicles
are only part of the energy tran-
sition but not the entire solution.
In the future, hydrogen will play
a key role, as it offers a wide
range of solutions to bridge the
The electric engines from the Nuremberg-based Baumüller Group are now also used
gap between energy, transport in battery-powered FRAMO trucks. The 18-ton electric truck has a range of 250 - 270 km
and industry. The Center and can carry a cargo load of 9.5 tons.
Hydrogen Bavaria (H2.B), based Source: BaumüllerMetropolitan Region Nuremberg
On September 5, 2019, the Bavarian State Government founded the Center Hydrogen Bavaria (H2.B). The Center intents to accelerate the
research and development of hydrogen as a future technology. Solutions for low-emission mobility, especially in the commercial vehicle
segment, are a particular focus. Source: Kurt Fuchs/H2.B
The Ladeverbund+ has commit- in Coburg, Bayreuth and Würz-
ted itself to promote electric burg-Schweinfurt (http://emobili-
mobility in the Nuremberg ty-nordbayern.de).
Metropolitan Region and neigh-
bouring areas. In order to achieve The above-mentioned Chambers
this goal, the members of Lade- of Commerce and Industry are
verbund+ are investing in the planning an additional User Club Authors:
expansion of a regionwide, uni- on the subject of hydrogen tech- Dr.-Ing.
Robert Schmidt
form charging infrastructure. In nology and infrastructure. Exam-
2019, the charging infrastructure ples of other regional clusters driv-
was expanded from 280 to 520 ing forward the topic of hydrogen
charging points, corresponding to and electric mobility are Bayern
a growth rate of 85 percent. The Innovativ GmbH, EnergieRegion
public charging infrastructure e.V., the Center for Transportati-
throughout Germany increased on and Logistics Neuer Adler Dr. rer. nat.
Ronald Künneth
by around 50 percent in the same e.V.(CNA), the European Center
period. As a means to create for Power Electronics e.V.
opportunities for cooperation (ECPE) and the ofraCar-Auto-
among regional providers, users mobilnetzwerk e.V.
and developers and simultenously
to promote the exchange of know-
ledge, the Nuremberg Chamber Industrie- und Handelskammer (IHK)
Nürnberg für Mittelfranken
of Commerce and Industry for Geschäftsbereich
Central Franconia has been offe- Innovation|Umwelt
ring the Innovation and User Hauptmarkt 25/27
Club eMobility since 2013 in D-90331 Nürnberg
cooperation with the Chambers E-Mail: iu@nuernberg.ihk.de
www.ihk-nuernberg.de
of Commerce and Industry basedLaser Technology
in Battery
Production
How laser technology shapes the mobility
of tomorrow.
The need for sustainable and cli- among other things through tech-
mate-friendly mobility is currently nological progress in cell production.
leading to a change of the mentality in Assuming that an average electric
the transport sector. As one of Ger- vehicle is equipped with a battery
many's main drivers of innovation, unit having a capacity of 80 kWh,
the automotive industry is assigned the production of a total storage
to the task of pushing ahead with the energy of 480 GWh will be re-
electrification of the powertrain. quired until 2030. Supposing a pris-
One of the key technologies for fur- matic cell format frequently used in
ther market penetration is the trac- automotive engineering with an
tion battery, which accounts for energy content of 0.3 kWh per cell,
about 40 % of the total value-added this results in more than 1.6 billion
costs of an electric vehicle. The individual battery cells required (see
demands placed on the currently Figure 1). These numbers illustrate
prevailing battery technology of the enormous production capacities
lithium-ion batteries are correspon- required and underlines the high
Fig. 1: Estimated demand for battery
dingly high in terms of service life, cells to achieve the fleet targets of the standards, which the production of
fast charging capability, safety, and BMU by 2030. lithium-ion batteries must fulfil.
energy as well as power density. The Only highly automated and reliable
Federal Ministry for the Environ- Germany by the year of 2030. This production processes can meet the
ment, Nature Conservation and goal only can be achieved by demanding targets concerning quan-
Nuclear Safety (BMU) set a fleet decreasing battery costs and im- tities, cell quality, and costs per kWh
target of 6 million electric vehicles in proved performance characteristics, storage capacity. The Institute for
Laser Technology
Fig. 2: The process chain for the production of lithium-ion batteries.Laser Technology
Machine Tools and Industrial Man- balancing when the electric current advantages in this context due to the
agement (iwb) of the Technical Uni- flows through the cell's current contactless and format-flexible work-
versity of Munich (TUM) is one of collectors. Finally, each cell is ing principle. To meet the high
the leading research institutes in the charged and discharged several demands on cut edge quality, a suit-
field of battery production in Ger- times in the cell formation to estab- able process regime must be se-
many. The operation of an in-house lish the final operability. lected. By employing pulsed laser
pilot line for the production of lithi- radiation with pulse durations in the
um-ion batteries facilitates research nanosecond range, less heat is intro-
along the entire value chain, from
The potential of laser duced into the materials compared
technology along
the manufacturing of electrodes and the production chain to continuous-wave laser radiation.
the subsequent cell assembly up to Innovative manufacturing technolo- Thus, melt spatters and defects in
the integration of batteries into gies help to achieve the targets in the the area of the cutting edges can be
modules. production of lithium-ion batteries. reduced. A further area of interest is
In this context, product quality has the achievable process speeds. To
to be increased, the number of re- increase the throughput, cutting
Process chain for the
production of jects reduced, and overall production speeds of significantly more than
lithium-ion batteries costs lowered. Laser radiation repre- one meter per second are targeted.
The challenges in the production of sents a flexible tool for the proces- One approach is a multi-pass process
large-format lithium-ion batteries sing of the sensitive and thin-layer strategy based on the iterative gui-
lie, among other things, in the com- cell materials. The high process
plexity of the production chain and diversity of laser technologies opens
the existing dependencies within the up great potential along the entire
individual process steps (see Figure 2). process chain. The wide range of
Starting with the electrode manufac- applications is increasing through
turing, the electrochemical active innovations in laser system technol-
material, conductive additives as well ogy and intelligent process control.
as binding agents and solvents are In comparison to mechanical manu-
fed into a mixing process. The facturing processes, the flexibility in
Fig. 3: Stack of anode sheets after laser
homogeneous electrode paste is beam guidance simplifies the adap- cutting. Novel laser processes can sig-
then continuously coated on thin tion to new product features, for nificantly increase the productivity of
metal foils. These foils serve both as example to a changed cell format. In the separation process, enabling milli-
ons of laser cuts per day.
coating substrate and as current the following, three selected exam-
collector in the cell. Within the ples from cell production are exam- dance of highly focused laser radia-
calendering process, which is a com- ined in more detail and the potenti- tion along the electrode contour at
pression step using heated rollers, als of laser technology are shown. very high speeds. To achieve the
the porosity of the materials is re- desired ablation rates, continuous-
duced. Then the anode and cathode Electrode cutting wave lasers with a high beam quality
layers are wound up on rolls. In the Depending on the cell dimension, and laser scanners capable of moving
first step of cell assembly, the speci- both the anode and the cathode the laser beam across the workpiece
fied electrode geometry is created material have to be separated into at more than 10 m/s are required.
by a cutting or blanking process. specific electrode formats (see Figure 3).
Subsequently, depending on the The roll material is unwound and Structuring of electrodes
desired cell size a certain number of fed to a cutting device. Currently, A possible addition to the process
anodes and cathodes are combined the electrode geometries are mostly chain in future cell production is
to form a cell stack or coil. For elec- produced through mechanical fine electrode structuring, which is cur-
trical insulation within the cell stack, blanking. The achievable high quali- rently still on a research scale. After
a separator is inserted between the ty of the cutting edge is counter- calendaring, a residual porosity re-
electrode layers. In a following step, balanced by tool wear and, thus, mains in the electrodes. During fil-
the electrodes are electrically con- decreasing product quality and re- ling, the pore volume is wetted by
nected by welding the collector foils gularly necessary maintenance efforts. the electrolyte and the ionic conduc-
on protruding tabs. After inserting In a cell production with an annual tivity within the electrode layers is
the contacted stack into a cell hous- output of one gigawatt-hour of established. To enable charge equa-
ing, the cell is filled with a liquid energy storage quantity, the daily lization between the electrodes, the
electrolyte. The electrolyte provides number of tool strokes amounts to lithium ions must migrate through
the conductivity for the lithium ions several million. Contour cutting by the complex pore network. A laser
within the cell and enables charge means of laser radiation creates can be used to drill microscopicLaser Technology
and joined to a tab for further exter- damages of the temperature-sensi-
nal electrical integration of the cell. tive battery components. As a highly
To reduce power losses within the flexible tool, the laser process is a
cell, joints with minimal electrical promising technology with regard to
resistances are aimed. Currently, the the design of new cell concepts. The
collector foils are usually contacted spatial variability of laser beam weld-
by ultrasonic welding. In this solid- ing enables a modified design in the
phase welding process the connec- cell layout, which allows for a reduc-
tion is formed below the melting tion of the dead volume (unused
temperature of the joining partners volume within the cell housing) and
Fig. 4: Scanning electron microscope
and the thermal stresses on the heat- thereby increases the energy
image of a laser structured anode sur-
face. Pulsed laser radiation can be used sensitive separators are excluded. density.
to introduce microscopic structures into This contact-based process is limited
battery electrodes to increase their per- in the shape of the weld seam by its
formance. Modern battery production
low geometric flexibility and a high in Germany
mechanical impact. The vibrations The use of innovative laser system
holes in the material layers (see introduced during welding can lead technology in combination with a
Figure 4). to a deterioration of the thin copper well-directed process design offers
Directed channels of the laser struc- numerous opportunities for the effi-
turing supplement the pores, which cient production of battery cells.
are randomly arranged after calen- Along the entire process chain, this
dering. This facilitates the diffusion of opens up possibilities for improving
the lithium ions through the elec- the production processes the quality
trode material. During operation, of the end products. This is the basic
the enhanced ionic conductivity not prerequisite for establishing a battery
only increases the discharge capacity industry that can compete with
at high discharging currents but also experienced suppliers from Asia or
improves the rapid charging capa- Fig. 5: Cross-section of a laser-contacted the USA and helps to maintain Ger-
bility of the cell. Depending on the foil stack. Using green laser radiation, a many as a production location in
more stable welding process is enabled
electrode configuration, up to 10000 when joining the battery foils. the long term.
holes per square centimeter of the
electrode can be useful. As a struc- and aluminum foils with single-layer Authors:
turing tool, pulsed laser radiation en- thicknesses between 8 µm and 15 µm. M. Sc.
ables thousands of holes with dia- Besides, the risk of detaching par- Sophie Grabmann
meters below 50 µm to be drilled ticles of the electrode materials is Research assistant
sophie.grabmann
within seconds. The short, high- involved. As a non-contact joining @iwb.tum.de
energy laser pulses keep the dam- method, laser beam welding repre-
aging thermal influence on the sents a promising, format-flexible
material to a minimum. The desired process alternative. Novel high-per- M. Sc.
drilling depth can be individually formance beam sources in the visible Johannes Kriegler
adapted to the electrode thickness wavelength range open up possibili- Research assistant
by adjusting the number of laser ties in the area of cell-internal johannes.kriegler
@iwb.tum.de
pulses. Scanner technologies with contacting. The collector foils on
very high deflection speeds offer the anode side are made of copper,
advantages in scaling-up the structu- which shows a sevenfold increase in Prof. Dr.-Ing.
ring process. Polygon scanners, the degree of absorption for green Michael F. Zäh
which can pass the workpiece at laser radiation in comparison to Head of Institute
several hundred meters per second, infrared laser radiation. This enables michael.zaeh
@iwb.tum.de
enable the structuring in a roll-to- a stable heat conduction welding
roll process and are considered to be process with a reduced material ejec-
highly promising here. tion (see Figure 5). Safety-critical
weld spatter can be significantly Technical University of Munich
Faculty of Mechanical Engineering
Cell-internal Contacting reduced. The application of pulsed Institute for Machine Tools and
For cell-internal contacting, the laser radiation offers the possibility Industrial Management (iwb)
collector foils of the stacked anodes of a decreased heat input into the www.iwb.mw.tum.de
and cathodes are welded together joining partners and avoids thermalHandling of
accident-damaged
electric vehicles
Electromobility, specifically passen- nology field Safe Electromobility first aid. In road traffic, it doesnot
ger car electric vehicles (EVs), will comes into place in the context of matter whether the vehicle is
experience a significant increase in the EU-funded network project equipped with an ICE or an elec-
near future, due to governmental SENSE BAY. The aim is to develop tric drive. The fear of suffering
regulation to reduce CO2 fleet recommendations, together with the an electric shock by touching
consumption. The growth would know-how of the network partners, high-voltages are widespread.
thus occur as a result of an in- for the handling of accident-dam- Voltages above the range of the
creased number of registered elec- aged electric vehicles (passenger cars, protective low voltage, so-called
tric vehicles. commercial vehicles) from the scene high-voltage (> 60 V and ≤ 1500 V
Statistically, since there will be of the accident to the repair garage (DC) or > 30 V and ≤ 1000 V
more EVs on the roads, more acci- or recycling company, and to high- (AC) [7]), represent a considera-
dents with EVs are expected. At light the differences in regulations ble danger. In paragraph § 323c
present, there is a natural skepti- between EVs and internal combus- of the German Criminal Code
cism and reluctance among the tion engine vehicles (ICE). (StGB), the importance of self-
public towards new technologies protection is emphasized and the
Accident-damaged electric vehicles
such as EVs [1]. The occurrence of aid given by the first responder
High-voltage hazard -
fires in electric vehicles are making intrinsically has to be reasonable in order to
big headlines in the media. For safe vehicle architecture not endanger him or herself.
example, at the beginning of Octo- Section 323c of the German Since a layperson cannot assess
ber 2019, a Tesla Model S accident Criminal Code (StGB) requires the electrical hazard, vehicles
in Austria was reported in detail in everyone in Germany to provide must be designed in such a way
the media and was controversially
discussed [2], [3], [4], [5], [6].
After a collision with a tree, the
electric vehicle went up in flames
within a few seconds. Nobody was
injured, but as the responsibilities
and the handling procedure of the
vehicle involved in accident was
unclear, it was difficult to deal with
the situation [4].
The mentioned accident and simi-
lar cases illustrate that current legal
regulations are still unclear with
regard to the handling of an EV
accident, and highlight the lack of
experience of the population and
all involved parties who are respon-
sible for the handling and pro-
cessing of the vehicles involved in
the accident (fire brigade, police,
towing service, etc.). This is where
the Technische Hochschule Ingol-
Fig. 1: Reaction chain of accident scenarios depending on the severity of the accident.
stadt and the CARISSMA tech-Accident-damaged electric vehicles
that complete safety is guaran- has been divided into four cate- following sections. The roles of
teed after a serious accident. For gories of severity (Figure 1). the control center, the rescue
this reason, electrical safety is A detailed presentation of all four services, the towing company and
given the highest priority in the cases is not possible within the the waste disposal company are
development of all vehicles [8]. scope of this article. This article is described in detail.
Technical measures such as the therefore limited to the descrip-
insulation monitor of the energy tion of the fourth case, an acci- Reporting the accident - control
storage system make electric dent resulting vehicle fire, as this center
vehicles intrinsically safe [7]. All is where the greatest uncertainty In the event of a serious accident in
high-voltage (HV) components exists. Based on this accident a newer vehicle, an emergency call
are designed to be safe to touch scenario, the consequential (eCall) will automatically be sent to
and are electrically isolated from recommendation of action for the the nearest control center (manda-
the 12 V vehicle electrical sys- movement of an electric vehicle tory from March 2018) [10]. The
tem and thus from the vehicle from the accident site to the recy- dispatcher of the control center
body. If an airbag is triggered by cling company is laid out and immediately attempts to contact
an impact, the contactors of the explained in the following sec- the vehicle occupants. If the vehicle
HV circuit are opened immedi- tion. occupants can successfully be con-
ately and the high-voltage system tacted, the dispatcher uses specific
is deactivated [9]. Accident scenario vehicle fire questions to determine the location
Figure 2 illustrates the chrono- of the accident, the circumstances
Accident scenarios logical reaction chain of an acci- and the number of people involved.
and procedure dent, which has resulted in a In such scenario time plays a major
The manner in which the electric burning electric vehicle. The re- role as regulations specifies the fix
vehicle is to be handled upon the sponse steps from the deploy- amount of time between the initial
occurrence of an accident is ment of the emergency staff, fire call and the arrival of the fire brigade
dependent on the severity of the extinguishing and vehicle towing at place of accident. The time limit
accident. The guide for the hand- to the recycling company are is dependent on the location of the
ling of accidents involving EVs explained systematically in the accident, for example, the maxi-
Fig. 2: Reaction chain and recommended actions in the fourth accident scenario.Accident-damaged electric vehicles
mum time must not exceed 12
minutes in Bavaria [11].
As the airbags are released it would
automatically trigger an emergency
call (eCall), provides data of the
location of the vehicle, the number
of occupants and the time of the
accident, as well as thedrive system
of the vehicle involved [10].
In Germany, the license plate
alone does not serve as a clear indi-
cator of an EV, as the vehicle
owner can optionally select the E
suffix on the license plate. In the
case of hybrid electric vehicles, it is
possible that the E may not be sel-
ected due to limited range (at least Fig. 3: Actors involved - fire service and police
40 km electric range required in
Germany [12]) - although a high- and highly toxic hydrofluoric acid. Clearing the accident loca-
voltage system may already be In vehicles with a conventional tion - police
installed here. Clear indications for drive train, the latter is produced The tasks of the police is to divert
example would be orange cables of exclusively from a fluorinated traffic, record accidents and pre-
the high-voltage components. component of the air-conditioning serve evidence on site. These mea-
Since 2013, the control center is agent R1234yf. In a battery-pow- sures do not diverge between ICEs
able to promptly obtain the appro- ered vehicle, hydrofluoric acid is and EVs.
priate rescue data sheet for the cor- also produced by the LiPF6, The corresponding towing com-
rect rescue response via an online which is used as a conducting salt. pany would be informed by police
license plate query at the “Kraft- When comparing the amount of to clear the accident location. In
fahrt Bundesamt” in Germany [9]. hydrofluoric acid released in a fire, doing so, the information of the
an electric vehicle differs from a drive train will be forwarded to the
Extinguishing the fire - fire conventional vehicle by a factor of company. Therefore, the towing
brigade approximately 2 [14]. Since hydro- company can send a sufficiently
Before the extinguishing measures fluoric acid is extremely reactive, it qualified employee to the wrecked
begin, the control center provides is quickly converted into more sta- vehicle.
the rescue datasheet of the affect- ble compounds. For example, the
ed vehicle model to the emergen- calcium and magnesium ions pre- Towing of the accident vehicle
cy services at the location of the sent in the extinguishing water - towing company
accident. The data sheet contains can react with HF to form solid A towing company in Bavaria
information about the location of CaF2 or MgF2. usually has at least one specialist
the HV battery and HV cables in Once the location of the battery is who is trained to work on ve-
the vehicle as well as instructions obtained with the help of the res- hicles with high-voltage systems
for deactivating the high-voltage cue datasheet, the battery can be [17]. Level 1 (DGUV-I 200-005)
system. cooled down in a targeted manner is recommended in this case,
In general, the electrical hazards in order to prevent thermal propa- which only provides non-electri-
for the rescue staff resulting from gation. Real life experiences show, cal work [7]. Clearing the acci-
a fire in an electric vehicle can be that the amount of water neces- dent location is an emergency
classified as low, as the HV system sary to extinguish or deactivate procedure and thus the vehicle
is already switched off. Any resi- EVs is significantly higher than does not have to be transported
dual danger can be avoided by that of ICEs (800 - 1,000 l [15]) in accordance with the regula-
maintaining a safe distance during and even reaches volumes up to tions of the European Agreement
extinguishing (spray jet 1 m, full 11,000 - 20,000 l. However, the concerning the International
jet 5 m [13]). goal is not to only extinguish the Carriage of Dangerous Goods by
By using a breathing device with fire, but rather to cool down the Road (ADR 2019 [18]). Never-
an oxygen tank, the emergency battery to such an extent that the theless, it is also not exempted
services are able to protect them- thermal propagation inside can be from these regulations (1.1.3.1 d
selves from fumes, soot particles dampened [13], [16]. of ADR). Therefore, the acci-Accident-damaged electric vehicles
dent-damaged vehicle must be a long period of storage. There- the latter case, another assessment
considered transportable. In the fore, it must be placed outdoors [9]. method of the battery is necessary.
case of electric vehicles, this is At present, vehicles are taken After a vehicle fire, the transporta-
primarily a matter of evaluating from the scene of an accident to a tion of the vehicle will most likely
the condition of the battery. quarantine area, which is provided end at a recycling company. This
However, no data from the bat- by an authorized distributor/ser- transportation must be carried out
tery is available at this stage. vice partner. However, this area in accordance to the rules of the
To assess the transportability of the can currently only be accessed ADR. For example, the special
vehicle, a thermal imaging camera during the company's business regulations SV 377 of the ADR
can be used to detect existing heat hours. This is an significant prob- apply to non-critical battery waste.
sources [19]. However, since the lem if an accident occurs outside
HV battery is installed deep within business hours and the towing Recycling - Recycling company
the vehicle and is protected by the company is unable to find a place The last stop of a burnt-out
vehicle, the thermal imaging cam- to leave the damaged vehicle. vehicle will be the recycling com-
era mainly captures the heat re- Accident-damaged electric/hybrid pany, as the vehicle is beyond a
sponse of the surface of the vehicle vehicles, as well as conventional state of being brought to a garage
body. The HV battery as the main vehicles, must be stored outdoors for repair. In contrast to an ICE
heat source is therefore concealed. at a sufficient distance from other vehicle, the dismantling process
Consequently, the thermal images vehicles, buildings, flammable ob- includes the removal of the HV
of such a camera do not provide jects and materials [13]. Indoor battery by a qualified electrician.
accurate information about the storage of an electric/hybrid vehicle In accordance with the EU End-
actual temperature and can there- with a damaged high-voltage sys- of-Life Vehicles Directive (Direc-
fore only be used as a rough indi- tem is not recommended [20], as tive 2000/53/EC) [21] and the EU
cator for the condition assessment the risk of a building fire is consid- Waste Directive (Directive 2008/
of the battery. ered too high. 98/EC) [22], the recycling pro-
A certified electrician evaluates cess of a residual vehicle is carried
Quarantine area - Authorized the battery condition on site out in the same way as for ICE
distributor/service partner using the available data [7]. vehicles and undergoes a two-stage
After a vehicle fire has been However, depending on the recycling process in Germany. Even
extinguished, the electric car extent of the fire, it may no lon- the burnt-out vehicle still contains
poses the risk of reignition of the ger be possible to obtain the some recyclable materials such as
fire within the battery, even after technical data of the battery. In steel, copper, light and precious
Fig. 4: Fire brigade hose distributor with valve shut-offYou can also read
