Karlsruhe and Indian Partners at Hannover Messe 2023

Sustainable Solutions for Mobility, Energy and Industry

Automated public passenger transit, optical filters from the inkjet printer, and a smart test field for tomorrow’s energy systems: These and other innovations will be presented by Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) at Hannover Messe from April 17 to 21, 2023. KIT’s work will be highlighted in particular at its two main stands at “Future Hub” (Hall 2, Stand B45) and “Energy Solutions” (Hall 13, Stand C70). Latest mobility research projects will also be presented at the stand of Baden-Württemberg International (Hall 12, Stand D15). On the Startup Area (Hall 17, Stand A62), ten startups of KIT will introduce themselves.

“In time of crises, innovations are in higher demand than ever,” says the President of KIT, Professor Holger Hanselka. “The researchers of KIT are rising to this challenge. They are assuming responsibility and are making major contributions to resource-preserving and climate-friendly energy supply, mobility, industry, and digitalization.” The concepts and projects presented at the 2023 Hannover Messe show that KIT’s interdisciplinary research is excellently prepared for coping with the tasks of the present and future.

At „Future Hub“ (Hall 2, Stand B45), KIT and FZI Forschungszentrum Informatik, an innovation partner of KIT, will present their projects at a joint stand.

In the TEMPUS project, researchers are implementing a bus platoon on the test field for automated and connected driving in the urban area of Munich. Platooning means that several buses are connected by an electronic drawbar and follow each other at close distance. Whenever necessary, buses can be connected or operated separately again. Platooning is economically and ecologically attractive, as it helps respond to fluctuating numbers of passengers. Moreover, it represents another milestone on the way towards fully automatic driving.

Whether machine vision, AR and VR technologies, autonomous driving, medical inspection, or laser material processing: Many applications require optical filters, which block or amplify a certain part of the spectrum. Inkjet Printed Optical Filters (IJPOFs) allow for a reduction of manufacturing costs and increase in customization flexibility: Inkjet printing facilitates manufacturing of optical filters with the properties required in the desired locations and sizes.

Software-based empowerment of robots in industry requires simulation tools that model the entire manufacturing process in a virtual environment. This includes robots, tools, and materials. For the open source software tools presented, robot simulations were extended to include process models such as milling, welding, or painting. The simulation enables problems and weak points to be identified and eliminated in advance, which contributes to a better quality of the final process.

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is used to develop energy-efficient and safe solutions for passenger and freight transport. Work focuses on the robust and precise localization of mobility systems, generalized environment recognition, and maneuver planning on specialized hardware. The FLOOW project is presented by KIT and FZI Research Center for Information Technology, an innovation partner of KIT. Project partners are the navigation technologies company ANAVS and automotive supplier SCHAEFFLER.

KIT at “Energy Solutions“ (Hall 13, Stand C70)

Europe’s largest infrastructure for renewable energy focuses on the intelligent networking of environmentally compatible options to generate, store, and supply energy.

Even a delegation from India will join with partners from Karlsruhe at Hannover Messe.

At Hannover Messe, researchers will provide information on the following topics in particular:

Coupling of the different energy sectors and fluctuation of energy production from renewable sources are major challenges in control. To simulate control and monitoring tasks as closely to reality as possible, the Smart Energy System Simulation and Control Center (SEnSSICC) is part of the Energy Lab 2.0. SEnSSICC is the “brain” of the Energy Lab and pools IT-related activities and research. SEnSSICC collects all information from the different systems and partners. Measurement currents are stored, controlled, analyzed, and visual¬ized. Based on the findings obtained, further energy systems can be simulated. In this way, the real energy world – e.g. on the adjacent photovoltaic field and in the corresponding battery storage systems – is connected with the virtual energy world.

For the energy transition to be successful, the renewable power sector must be coupled with other energy sectors. In the area of chemical energy carriers, such as fuels and combustibles, this can be achieved using power-to-X approaches (P2X). In this case, synthetic chemical energy carriers are produced from hydrogen and CO2. If hydrogen is produced by electrolysis with green electricity and CO2 comes from a non-fossil source, the P2X products are nearly CO2-neutral. Research at the Energy Lab 2.0 covers the correspond¬ing plants. A Power-to-Liquid container produces so-called e-fuels, the Power-to-Gas plant generates climate-neutral methane for later power production by a gas turbine

KIT’s Campus North is located in the geothermally relevant Upper Rhine Graben and, hence, possesses great potential for sustainable heat supply. Within the DeepStor project, researchers test a high-temperature aquifer storage system that is loaded in summer and unloaded in winter. The experimental setup allows for the execution of experiments to load and unload the storage system as well as for the investigation of the associated thermal, hydraulic, chemical, and mechanical processes in the thermal water cycle. Having demonstrated the feasibility, it is planned to integrate for research a high-temperature aquifer storage system in the existing heat grid of KIT’s Campus North.

Inovation in focus: A delegation from india will join Hannover Messe, will visit the stands from karlstruhe and its partners. a number of other current topics will be presented also at the stand of Baden-Württemberg International (Hall 12, Stand D15), https://www.hannovermesse.de/en/