Every year the tech world is drawn to Hanover for the world‘s largest industrial trade fair, the Hannover Messe. For years you have also been meeting colleagues from KIT from Karlsruhe who want to inspire trade fair visitors from April 17 to 21, 2023 at this year’s HM23 with, among other things, automated driving in public transport, optical filters from inkjet printers and intelligently networked energy systems of the future.
KIT shows exhibits and presentations in particular at the two main booths in the “Future Hub” (Hall 2, Booth B45) and at the “Energy Solutions” (Hall 13, Booth C70). Current mobility research projects can also be seen at the Baden-Württemberg International booth (Hall 12, Booth D15) and KIT is represented with ten spin-offs in the Startup Area (Hall 17, Booth A62).
Greentech from KIT in the “Future Hub” (Hall 2, Stand B45)
In the Future Hub, the KIT and the FZI Research Center for Information Technology, an innovation partner of the KIT, present their projects at a joint stand.
TEMPUS: Automated driving in public transport
In the TEMPUS project, researchers from KIT and their partners are developing an electric and automated bus system for regular service in Munich: During platooning, one or more vehicles – which are networked with each other via an “electronic drawbar” – automatically follow the lead vehicle at a close distance. In this way, buses can be combined into one unit or divided again as required. Platooning is therefore economically and ecologically attractive, as it absorbs fluctuating passenger numbers and represents another milestone towards fully automated driving.
IJPOFs: Optical filters from the inkjet printer
Whether machine vision, AR and VR technologies, autonomous driving, medical inspection or laser material processing: many applications require optical filters that block or amplify a certain part of the spectrum. Inkjet Printed Optical Filters (IJPOFs) can reduce manufacturing costs and increase flexibility in customization: Inkjet printing simplifies manufacturing in desired locations, in desired sizes, and with different properties.
Video “Inkjet Optical Filters – Inexpensive and Customizable”
SDMBot: Software-based process enablement for industrial robots
For the software-based enabling of robots in industry, simulation tools are required that model the manufacturing process in a virtual environment. This includes robots, tools and materials. For the open software tools presented, robot simulations were expanded to include process models such as milling, welding and painting. The simulation makes it possible to eliminate problems and weak points in advance and thus improves the quality of the final process.
FLOOW: New mobility solutions with AI
Artificial intelligence (AI) creates energy-efficient and safety-conscious new solutions for the mobility of people and goods. Above all, this concerns the robust and precise localization of the mobility systems, the generalized environment recognition and the maneuver planning on specialized hardware. The FLOOW project is jointly presented by the KIT and the FZI Research Center for Information Technology, an innovation partner of the KIT. Project partners are the Munich navigation specialists ANAVS and the automotive supplier SCHAEFFLER.
Research to Business – Technologieangebote des KIT
At the booth in the Future Hub, the technology exchange of the KIT is also represented with a further 42 offers. It shows innovations of the KIT, from which marketable products and processes can arise.
KIT at the “Energy Solutions” (Hall 13, Stand C70)
Energy Lab 2.0: Experimental field for future energy systems
Europe’s largest research infrastructure for renewable energies is dedicated to the intelligent networking of various environmentally friendly ways of tapping, storing and providing energy. At the Hannover Messe 2023, the researchers will provide information on the following three topics in particular.
Video “The Energy Lab 2.0 – Research for the energy transition”
Real-time system integration: energy system – grids – simulation
The coupling of the different energy sectors and the fluctuation in energy production from renewable sources pose enormous challenges for control and regulation. In order to simulate these control and monitoring tasks as realistically as possible, the Smart Energy System Simulation and Control Center (SEnSSiCC) was set up in Energy Lab 2.0. This is where all the information from the system network and from many partners comes together. Measurement currents are stored, controlled, analyzed and visualized. In this way, the real energy world – as in the adjacent photovoltaic field and the associated large battery storage systems – is linked to the virtual energy world.
Power-to-X: e-fuels and methanation processes
The energy transition requires the coupling of renewable electricity with other energy sectors. In the case of chemical energy carriers, such as motor fuels, this is possible using Power-to-X approaches (P2X): Starting with hydrogen and CO2 synthetic chemical energy carriers are produced. If the hydrogen is produced using electrolysis processes with green electricity and the CO2 derived from a non-fossil source, the P2X products are nearly CO2-neutral.
The Energy Lab 2.0 has a system network for P2X. This is how fuels, so-called e-fuels, are produced in the power-to-liquid container. In power-to-gas plants, climate-neutral methane is generated, for example for later generation of electricity in a gas turbine. To this end, the researchers are working on various processes such as three-phase methanation, honeycomb methanation and methanation in the microreactor.
Video „Power-to-X“
DeepStor: Gain and store geothermal heat all year round
The North Campus of the KIT is located in the geothermally important Upper Rhine Graben. The location therefore offers enormous potential for a sustainable heat supply. In the DeepStor project, researchers are testing a high-temperature heat storage device that is filled in summer and discharged in winter.
The infrastructure enables experiments on loading and unloading the deep storage tank as well as the investigation of the associated thermal, hydraulic, chemical and mechanical processes in the thermal water cycle. Once the feasibility has been demonstrated, a high-temperature heat storage tank will be integrated into the existing heat network on Campus North for research purposes.
Research to Business – Technologieangebote des KIT
The technology exchange of the KIT is represented at the stand by the Energy Solutions with a further 30 offers. It shows innovations of the KIT, from which marketable products and processes can arise.
KIT at other themed stands
The KIT and its partners present further projects at Booth of Baden-Württemberg International (Hall 12, Booth D15) before.
The InnovationsCampus mobility of the future (ICM) of the KIT and the University of Stuttgart provides insights into cutting-edge research for sustainable and digitized production and mobility. Using the DeVee demonstrator, a light electric vehicle, the researchers are presenting various subsystems for a vehicle concept of the future that visitors can experience both in real life and immersively as a virtual twin. The live visualization of a transverse flux machine also shows how magnetic fields behave in a complex electric motor.
In CELESTIAL KIT, together with the University of Ulm and the Center for Solar Energy and Hydrogen Research Baden-Württemberg (ZSW), deals with electrochemical energy storage, from basic research to technical application. At the Hannover Messe 2023, the researchers will present new battery materials in elementary form, various cell types and a SCARA robot for stacking pouch cells, including an electrode magazine and gripper.
INERATEC, a spin-off from KIT, is a pioneer in the field of power-to-liquid applications. The company supplies sustainable fuels and chemical products. In modular chemical plants, hydrogen from renewable electricity and greenhouse gases such as CO2 E-Kerosin, CO2-neutral gasoline, clean diesel or synthetic waxes, methanol or SNG produced. The overarching goal is to defossilize mobility and the chemical industry and protect the climate.
Am Stand of the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (Hall 2, Stand A22) the wbk – Institute for Production Technology of the KIT informs about its work in the Competence Center KARL [LINK: https://kompetenzzentrum-karl.de/]. In it, the wbk examines how artificial intelligence-based assistance systems for employees in production affect their work.
For example, the Kinemic Band Wearable uses an integrated AI to recognize screwing processes based on characteristic vibrations on the wrist. The belt supports the employees and at the same time secures production processes. The technology can be transferred to other tools or work steps.
KIT in the Startup Area
Spin-offs from KIT present themselves in the Startup Area (Halle 17, Stand A62) before. In 2023, ten KIT start-ups will be represented, which will be supported by the KIT Founders Forge. The spectrum of topics ranges from antibacterial surfaces for implants and a modular transport system to innovative and robust AI solutions to sensors for smart homes and hydrogen technologies. Two start-ups will present themselves on each day of the fair: EFFECT and Nanoshape GmbH (April 17), Formic and RevoAI GmbH (April 18), Aimino GmbH and Respeak GmbH (April 19), Prenode GmbH and SemorAI GmbH (April 20) and Inventife and Revyve (04/21). (or)
KIT in the HM23 conference program
Tech Transfer Conference Stage (Halle 2, Stand A60)
Monday, April 17th, 2023, 11:25 a.m.: Software-defined process planning for the robotic production of the future
Alexander Puchta, wbk Institute for Production Technology of the KIT
Tuesday, April 18, 2023, 9:55 a.m.: Machine Learning for SMEs in production engineering: Practical deployment of ML models
Imanuel Heider, wbk Institute for Production Technology of the KIT
Wednesday, April 19, 2023, 9:30 a.m.: Aquifer storage for a sustainable heating and cooling supply in Germany
Professor Philipp Blum, KIT Institute for Applied Geosciences
Thursday, April 20, 2023, 1:30 p.m.: Panel: KI2Business – paradise or wrong way?
In addition to the discussion about the opportunities and possible uses of AI in the industrial sector, there is also a discussion about the dangers that an AI poses. It also shows how companies can protect themselves from damage caused by disinformation. The panel is a joint event of KIT and FZI, participants: Professor Jürgen Fleischer, Professor Michael Decker (both KIT), Dr. Arne Rönnau and Dr. Jonas Fegert (both FZI). Moderator: Dr. Stefan Schwab (FZI).