Press Releases 2020

A novel electrochemical purification process for highly contaminated process wastewater is to generate hydrogen at the same time. In the AECO H2+ project, a test stand with electrolysis cell is being set-up to undertake test for industrial use of the technology. The project is carried out by Fraunhofer UMSICHT at its Sulzbach-Rosenberg site with the industrial partners DiaCCon GmbH (Fürth, www.diaccon.de) and Blue Eden CleanTech Inc. (Calgary, Canada, www.blueeden.ca) and is funded within the framework of the Central Innovation Program for Medium-Sized Enterprises (ZIM).

Innovative insulating materials made of shape memory polymers are developed and tested by the Fraunhofer Institutes for Applied Polymer Research IAP, for Chemical Technology ICT and for Building Physics IBP within the Fraunhofer Cluster of Excellence Programmable Materials CPM. The high-tech foams are to be used as functional materials, for example in the field of construction.

Heat pumps will be the most important heating technology in the future. To accelerate market penetration, heat pump manufacturers are working on reducing the costs and finding sustainable refrigerants. The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE is developing a compact and cost-efficient refrigeration circuit for heat pumps which use propane as refrigerant in the research project "LC150 Development of a Refrigerant-reduced Heat Pump Module with Propane", funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy BMWi. A broad industrial consortium of European heat pump manufacturers is both financially supporting and technically accompanying the development in the project. The joint development platform is meant to open up considerable cost reduction potential to the participating companies and accelerate the industrial development of heat pumps for residential buildings.

Power for the mobility turnaround! Fraunhofer IISB is excited about the Joseph von Fraunhofer Prize 2020 for our colleagues Dr. Bernd Eckardt und Dr. Stefan Matlok. They receive the award for the development of a completely new generation of extremely powerful DC/DC converters - key components for the fuel cell vehicles of the future.

With "BattLife", the initial project of the newly founded Battery Innovation and Technology Center BITC at Erfurter Kreuz has been launched. Within the scope of the project, a digital test center for batteries and battery components will be established at BITC in the coming years. The industry partner of the project is Contemporary Amperex Technology Thuringia GmbH (CATT), a subsidiary of the Chinese battery manufacturer Contemporary Amperex Technology Co., Limited (CATL). It is the world market leader in the development of Li-ion batteries for electric vehicles and energy storage and will set up its first European plant in Arnstadt which will create up to 2000 jobs in the future. CATT works closely with the researchers at BITC. The state of Thuringia will support the project with 5 million euros.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE has developed an alternative process for producing solar cell contacts. The laser transfer and firing (LTF) technique offers several advantages compared to conventional processes, particularly for specific solar cell surfaces. Together with industry partners in the joint project “C3PO”, the Fraunhofer researchers in Freiburg have realized a fully automated LTF process for the first time on a system from Pulsar Photonics GmbH. Now the process can be systematically tested and optimized with the goal of industrial implementation. f-cell conference in Stuttgart on September 29.

The Fraunhofer Institute for Solar Energy Systems ISE received the f-cell Award this year in the category "Research & Development". The prize distinguished their work on the development of flatbed screen printing as an industrially scalable manufacturing process for fuel cell electrodes. Minister of the Environment, Climate Protection and the Energy Sector for Baden-Wuerttemberg Franz Untersteller presented the award personally during the f-cell conference in Stuttgart on September 29.

Solar power is the most cost-effective form of energy worldwide, thanks to the many significant research contributions continuously made up to today. A decisive factor here is resource-saving production technology, which plays an important role along with increasing efficiency. HighLine Technology GmbH is the most recent Fraunhofer ISE spin-off company. The Freiburg-based start-up aims to commercialize a new process which was developed at the institute, whereby a contactless dispensing process is used to apply front metal contacts onto solar cells. This process not only saves resources but also increases the electricity yield and the potential for cost reductions. Applications also include production processes outside the field of photovoltaics.

Solar power is the most cost-effective form of energy worldwide, thanks to the many significant research contributions continuously made up to today. A decisive factor here is resource-saving production technology, which plays an important role along with increasing efficiency. HighLine Technology GmbH is the most recent Fraunhofer ISE spin-off company. The Freiburg-based start-up aims to commercialize a new process which was developed at the institute, whereby a contactless dispensing process is used to apply front metal contacts onto solar cells. This process not only saves resources but also increases the electricity yield and the potential for cost reductions. Applications also include production processes outside the field of photovoltaics.

Plug-in hybrid electric vehicles accounted for about 3.5% of all new passenger car registrations in Europe in the first half of 2020. Equipped with a combustion engine as well as an electric motor, the potential for reducing emissions for plug-in hybrid vehicles depends strongly on their daily driving patterns. For a joint study, the German Fraunhofer Institute for Systems and Innovation Research ISI and the International Council on Clean Transportation (ICCT) analyzed a comprehensive dataset about the real-world usage patterns for more than 100,000 plug-in hybrid vehicles in Europe, North America and China.