Active research projects

The SMADBatt project is based on the final demonstrator of the BioLIB project as a study vehicle, with the aim of developing ecologically and economically sensible solutions for the choice of materials and the design of battery housings.

The aim of the FairOSA research project is to investigate whether the different seat belt routing for men and women contributes to the fact that women have a higher risk of injury and to derive concepts to ensure better protection regardless of body size.

In the research project SANTA, skier collisions are to be investigated using human model simulations in order to analyze the challenges and risks in the context of ski injuries and to develop preventive measures.

Analysing the behaviour of innovative battery cells under various kinds of load is essential in order to guarantee or improve the safety of electric vehicles in defined safety critical load cases. Constantly evolving cell types with innovative cell chemistry pose new tasks and problems for research in the field of battery safety. In this project, the main focus will be on pouch cells and further, pouch modules. The aim of this research projects is to analyse the thermal runaway behaviour of the batteries and to investigate the thermal propagation within pouch modules.

Virtualization is also playing an increasingly important role in the deployment behavior of airbags. increasingly important role. On the one hand, suitable discretization methods, FEM modeling, the non-linear material properties with realistic failure models must be developed in order to be able to develop the opening behavior and the first deployment phase of airbags in a targeted manner. On the other hand, there is also potential in (partially) automated evaluation of the deployment behavior as part of series monitoring.

As part of the project, model-neutral load cases are being developed for model comparison and requirements for virtual human models are being defined.

The aim of this research project is the analysis of simulations with Human Body Models for the pedestrian protection assessment of cars.

The objective of the study is to evaluate possible effects of the green arrow for cyclists when the signals show red on road safety and to derive recommendations for the practical implementation of the green arrow for cyclists.

The aim of this research project is to specifically influences on battery storage systems in electric vehicles. Climatic test chambers are used to carry out a life cycle analysis of the battery.

As part of the project, model-neutral load cases are being developed for model comparison and requirements for virtual human models are being defined.

As part of the project, model-neutral load cases are being developed for model comparison and requirements for virtual human models are being defined.

The aim of this research project is the scientific investigation of the behavior of chassis by mapping real situations in abstracted dynamic principle tests.

As part of the project, model-neutral load cases are being developed for model comparison and requirements for virtual human models are being defined.

As part of the project, model-neutral load cases are being developed for model comparison and requirements for virtual human models are being defined.

As part of the project, model-neutral load cases are being developed for model comparison and requirements for virtual human models are being defined.

The aim of this research project is to analyze simulations that represent the Far Side Occupant Test.

Many studies show that there are differences in the risk of injury between male car occupants compared to female occupants. The reasons for this are not fully understood now. The aim of the DIVERSE project is to analyse injury patterns for women and men under comparable boundary conditions and to derive measures for the optimal protection for all. This is done on the one hand by means of detailed reconstructions of real accidents, and on the other hand based on simulations with the latest generation of finite element human body models.

The central goal of "CarryMeHome" is to bring people and shopping goods to their destination as energy-efficiently, energy- and time-savingly, safely, seamlessly and barrier-free as possible. At the same time, the urban quality of life for visitors and residents is to be enhanced by traffic calming. At the same time, there should be no loss, but on the contrary, an enhancement of (commercial) usability. The neighbouring rural zones up to a distance of at least 10 km should be connected by soft or active mobility.

NEMO project aims at advancing the state of the art of battery management systems (BMS) by engaging advanced physics-based and data-driven battery models and state estimation techniques. Towards achieving this goal, the consortium tends to provide efficient software and hardware to handle, host, process, and execute these approaches within high-end local processors and cloud computing.

The project objective is to develop design guidelines (referred to as NSK design guidelines in the project) for the development of sustainable, safe and cost-optimised EPTW traction batteries. The NSK design guidelines contain proposals and guidelines to comprehensively improve the sustainability, safety and costs of EPTW traction batteries already in an early development phase. The application case of an electric motorbike is considered.

In view of the growing quantities of discarded battery systems, the development of highly automated recycling facilities will be essential in the future. However, the progressive diversification of battery systems poses major challenges for the recycling processes. A major problem is that there is currently no mandatory labelling system that provides information about the composition of lithium-ion batteries. As a result, the lack of labelling leads to impure fractions. In practice, there are three main recycling approaches - pyrometallurgical recycling - hydrometallurgical recycling - direct (mechanical) recycling Mechanical recycling in particular offers a high potential to generate a high-quality, sustainable and recyclable material stream. The research priorities planned in the BATTBOX project include technological research and plant engineering concepts that should lead to an increase in the degree of maturity in the mechanical recycling of lithium-ion battery systems. The research project aims at a multi-stage recycling process, whereby a broad spectrum of possible processes is to be developed due to the non-existing standardisations (chemistry, design, dismantlability). In each recycling process stage, a diagnosis of the exposed components is carried out with the aim of checking them for reusability according to economic and safety-critical aspects. Components that are classified as undamaged or reusable are discharged from the recycling process and not processed/dismantled any further. By splitting end-of-life components and reusable components, a significant product intensification of the original battery is achieved. High-quality and unmixed raw material fractions or components are obtained that are suitable for reuse in the production process.

The central goal of the project is the production of components for conventional road vehicles and aircraft from largely bio-based resource-efficient wood-hybrid materials.

Wood shows a wide range of strengths. Under longitudinal tensile loads, hardwood - such as birch - has a strength of up to 140MPa. However, under shear loads (‘rolling shear’), it only exhibits a strength of around 4MPa. Especially with materials made of rotary cut veneers, this failure is provoked by production-induced damage (so-called "lathe checks"). In the case of plywoods or laminated veneer lumber, rolling shear failure therefore frequently observed - in particular when the plywood features high-strength face layers, e.g. of GRP or CFRP. In civil engineering, the tensile failure of concrete structures or the transverse tensile failure of wooden structures is tackled by inserting tension rods (reinforcements) or bolts. Though tension rods could prevent rolling shear failure and delamination in veneer laminates, a similar approach was so far not adopted here. The "Stitch!" project is investigating whether tension rods can be inserted through sewing-threads. The research hypotheses of the project "Stitch!" are: can be avoided or delayed. This significantly increases the bending strength and also the energy absorption in the case of bending impact loads. The sewing of veneers is already used in furniture design as a joining technique or for aesthetic reasons. In "Stitch!", the targeted strengthening of materials through sewing of veneers is investigated.

BreadCell will develop a sustainable foaming method utilizing non-food wood polysaccharides to produce renewable low density energy-absorbing structural foams with ecological advantage. We propose a radically different platform technology capable of producing high porosity materials from forestbased renewables that cannot be produced by other existing scalable technologies. If successful, BreadCell foams provide a sustainable and ecological alternative to current synthetic foams.

Lithium-ion batteries (LIB) are regarded as the key technology for battery storage and are finding an ever wider first life application as traction batteries for vehicles. Their continued use in stationary or other mobile applications ("Second Life") is becoming increasingly important for reasons of sustainability, but also for economic considerations: whether in e.g. electrical energy storage systems or in industrial trucks. In addition to many advantages, however, LIB has a not inconsiderable hazard potential (e.g. fire) regardless of the area of application. To ensure the operational safety of LIB over its entire life cycle, however, there is currently a lack of sufficiently detailed understanding and knowledge. This includes the safety-relevant evaluation and qualification, but also the improved early design of automotive LIB (A-LIB) for their reliable use ("First Life"), reuse (especially after an accident) and further use in another application area ("Second Life").