Fraunhofer IWS is a trusted and experienced partner in coordinating and implementing a wide range of EU projects. With many years of expertise and in-depth knowledge, we develop forward-looking, tailor-made solutions. This competence makes Fraunhofer IWS a valued partner in numerous European research and development projects.
The project ALBATROSS has received funding from the European Union`s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No 963580.
Project duration: 01.01.2021–31.12.2024
ALBATROSS addresses the needs of European Electric and Hybrid-Electric passenger vehicle market by overcoming driver concerns relating to battery range and anxiety, cost, long-term reliability and excessive charging times. ALBATROSS will develop an integrated approach based on smart batteries combined with lightweight designs. Using innovative cooling technologies, we will achieve pack temperature range 5-40°C (30-40°C under ultra-fast charging), with <3°C variation between battery cells and optimal operating temperature 20-23°C. The light weighting solutions, based on modular multi-material systems for battery modules and trays, will be fabricated and joined using cutting edge, fast and cost-effective processes, with disassembly, recycling and reuse designed in as a part of an eco-design approach.
The Fraunhofer IWS intends the development innovative laser-based joining technologies and design concepts for light-weight cell connections and the aluminium battery tray. Surface structuring methods, using interference patterning approach, will be developed with the aim of increasing thermal and electrical conductivity of cells and battery components.
ALBATROSS represents a pan-European EU consortium of world leading organisations that are looking to commercialise these technologies of European origin. The coordinator (Yesilova) has a global presence in the automotive market and the consortium is strengthened by organisations that are part of the global Fiat-Chrysler, Ford and Mercedes-Benz groups as well as European SMEs with world leading technologies.
The project PULSATE has received funding from the European Union`s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No 951998.
Project duration: 01.09.2020–31.08.2024
Digitizing European industry is essential for European competitivity in the 21st century, but only 1/5 of EU SMEs is highly digitised. Laser Based Advanced and Additive Manufacturing (LBAAM) technologies are regarded as Key Enablers for Digital Production and offer important advantages to the adopters. SMEs have strong entry barriers for the technology: Investment cost, technology complexity, system integration and awareness/adoption readiness. PULSATE aims to lower all said barriers to boost the adoption of Laser Based technologies by SMEs and promote the development of SME-friendly laser based equipment and solutions.
PULSATE will establish a Pan-European Network to stimulate SMEs to take part in Innovation Ecosystem of LBAAM, by connecting Digital Innovation Hubs (DIHs) to a support structure of knowledge, infrastructure and services, designed to tackle the issues currently limiting the adoption of LBAAM technology. A balanced combination is proposed between wide outreach using interconnected Virtual Communities and ICT tools (a Single Entry Point will connect a wide range of networking and servicing tools), and close exchange and interaction via DIHs. The project relies on a consortium of 6 competence centres (AIMEN, FTMC, MTC, SINTEF, Fraunhofer, CEA), service community and marketplace providers (FBA, CLESGO) and a photonics industry association (EPIC). With >50 previous projects outcomes, existing tools and services, connections with 74 running DIHs, Clusters and regional initiatives, PULSATE counts with the explicit support of companies and institutions (>80LoS), and an independent Board of Stakeholders gathering key players in LBAAM will ensure the quality and pertinence of PULSATE orientation.
PULSATE will operate under 4 action areas: Business, Technology, Competence & Awareness, addressing the following technology domains: Nano/Micro Fabrication, AM, High Power Laser Manufacturing and Digitisation, and implementing 4 Open Calls and a catalogue of services.
The project NanoQI has received funding from the European Union`s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No 853988.
Project duration: 01.03.2020–30.11.2025
The vision of Immune Safety Avatar (imSAVAR) is to develop a platform for integrated nonclinical assessments of immunomodulatory therapy safety and efficacy. Existing nonclinical models do not adequately represent the complexity of the immune system and its interactions in both immunoncology and immunmediated diseases. They also do not accurately reflect the diversity of response to new therapies that is seen in clinical medicine. We will, thus, constantly refine existing and develop new nonclinical models with the final goal of validation aiming at:
The platform imSAVAR will be based upon case studies for prioritized therapeutic modalities and has been built around institutes of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft which has strong track records in applied science and in particular toxicology. The consortium will improve the prediction of the transferability of safety and efficacy of immunomodulators from pre-clinical models to first-in-human studies in collaboration with the private sector, pharma, regulators and technology providers. We will share experience on customized models that can be deployed (w.r.t. the 3Rs principles), establish the necessary infrastructure, conduct the analyses and provide wider disease domain expertise. This conjoint effort assures that the platform imSAVAR constantly benefits the field of immune safety evaluation, and will generate opportunities for European businesses.
A guiding principle of this consortium is the meaningful engagement of multiple stakeholders including patients and regulators. A multi-stakeholder community will be established.
The project NanoQI has received funding from the European Union`s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No 862055.
Project duration: 01.03.2020–28.02.2023
Functional performances of nano-materials and thin films with nano-scale thickness are determined not only by material selection but also by their nano-physical dimensions, nano-scale structure and their nano-scale chemical composition. Precise characterisation of these properties is critical to develop new functional nano-materials and optimise processes toward higher performance, improved reproducibility and yield and up-scaling to larger quantities. X-ray characterisation techniques such as X-ray diffraction analysis (XRD) or X-ray reflectometry (XRR) are widely used in research laboratories for this task but are rarely used in industrial material development and assessment of production processes due to technical limitations and required high level expertise. The project NanoQI targets the development of an industry-suited, real-time and in-line capable technique to characterise nano-structure and nano-dimensions of (thin-film) nano-materials by optimisation of area-detector based XRR and XRD concepts and their multi-modal combination with a novel wide-angle hyper-spectral imaging (HSI) technique. Therewith, NanoQI will provide industry access to real time evaluation of nano-material geometry, structure and morphology and correlative imaging of deviations of these properties. NanoQI technology will be demonstrated in three relevant industrial application scenarios: in-situ process assessment in manufacturing of perovskite solar cells; large-area vacuum roll-to-roll coating of polymer webs and industrial atomic layer deposition of dielectric and gas barrier layers.
Li-ion batteries are still the limiting factor for mass scale adoption of electrified vehicles (EVs) and there is a need for new batteries that enable EVs with higher driving range, higher safety and faster charging at lower cost. LiS is a promising alternative to Li-ion free of critical raw material (CRM) and non-limited in capacity and energy by material of intercalation. LISA proposes the development of high energy and safe LiS battery cells with hybrid solid state non-flammable electrolytes validated at 20Ah cell level according to EUCAR industrial standards for automotive integration. LISA will solve specific LiS bottlenecks on metallic lithium protection, power rate, and volumetric energy density; together with cost the main selection criteria for EV batteries.
The sustainability of the technology will be assessed from an environmental and economic perspective. The technology will be delivered ready for use within the corresponding state of charge estimator facilitating battery pack integration. Today, LiS is twice lighter than Li-ion and has reached only 10% of the sulphur theoretical energy density (2600Wh/kg) at cell prototype level (250-300Wh/kg), with potentially 800Wh/l (600Wh/kg) achievable by improving materials, components and manufacturing.
LISA is strongly oriented to the development of lithium metal protection and solid state electrolyte; and will incorporate manufacturability concepts enabling integration in future manufacturing lines. Moreover, the outcome of the project in terms of new materials, components, cells, and manufacturability will be transferable to other lithium-anode based technologies such as Li-ion and solid state lithium technologies. As such, LISA will have a large impact on existing and next-generation EV batteries, delivering technology with higher energy density beyond the theoretical capacities of chemistries using CRM – i.e. natural graphite and cobalt – or silicon-based chemistries inherently limited by their manufacturability.
The project LISA has received funding from the European Union`s Horizon 2020 research and innovation program under Grant Agreement No 814471.
Project duration: 01.01.2019 – 31.07.2022
Fraunhofer Institute for Material and Beam Technology IWS