The Chair of Production Engineering of E-Mobility Components (PEM) at RWTH Aachen University and its spin-off company PEM Motion are set to collaborate with Chinese plant manufacturer HYNN and Bielefeld-based mechanical engineering specialist BST to advance e-mobility technologies.
HYNN, specializing in post-processing in electric vehicle battery cell production, will establish a site at PEM’s Aachen headquarters Avantis on the German-Dutch border. This collaboration aims to drive product development and prototype testing for various forming systems and comparable machines in battery cell production. Professor Achim Kampker, Head of PEM, highlighted the significance of this collaboration, stating, “As one of the most time-consuming and energy-intensive process steps, forming is still one of the biggest challenges in the industrial production of lithium-ion batteries.”
The partnership with HYNN is also expected to foster research proposals and their implementation, with HYNN planning to provide prototype and industrialized systems to PEM for use in teaching and practical applications for students.
Additionally, PEM plans to expand its longstanding collaboration with BST, focusing on innovative process technologies for batteries, fuel cells, and electrolysers. The partnership aims to address key challenges in industrializing production for widespread adoption of battery and fuel cell technologies. Professor Achim Kampker emphasized, “The industrialization of production is one of the major tasks for a widespread establishment of battery and fuel cell technologies.”
Since 2017, PEM and BST have collaborated in various areas, including joint industry workshops, installation of a web guiding system in the PEM electromobility laboratory ‘eLab’ at RWTH Aachen University, and consortium projects with BMW on the “Industrialisation of fuel cells.” Their collaboration has expanded to include the ‘Fraunhofer Research Centre for Battery Cell Production FFB’ in Münster and the German Engineering Federation (VDMA) since 2022.
