Special show on the production of batteries and power electronics for electromobility

12/09/2010

productronica, the leading trade fair for innovative electronics production, has extended its nomenclature in 2011 to include the areas of battery production and power electronics. This is playing a very important role primarily in the hype topic of electromobility. In particular, a large number of production engineering challenges still remain unsolved. productronica 2011 will take up and highlight this topic during a special show organized in close cooperation with the Productronics Association in the German Engineering Federation (VDMA). 

“The acceptance and, thus, the economic success of electromobility worldwide depend to a very large extent on the further development of battery technology. It is quite rightly a key topic in the interim report of the German Federal Government’s National Platform on Electromobility, which was recently published. High-performance energy storage devices must not only become more efficient, but cheaper above all. This objective will only be achieved with highly developed production engineering”, emphasizes Rainer Kurtz, Chairman of the Board of Management of the Kurtz Group and Chairman of the Productronics Association in the German Engineering Federation (VDMA). “A massive cost reduction will only be attained through highly integrated production and interaction among all players along the process chain.”

The special show during productronica 2011 will link battery production for electromobility to the topic of power electronics. Power electronics are indispensable for both packaging of batteries and all other high-energy components ranging from inverters through to the drive train in automobiles. “Only mass production will lead to learning curve effects and, thus, lower costs. Computer chips, flat panel displays and photovoltaics clearly show that technological developments are possible alongside with enormous cost degressions. The German engineering industry has a great deal of experience on these markets and production engineering has a number of similarities which will take us forward more quickly. As the platform for the electronics production industry, productronica is an ideal setting for presenting and linking these capabilities”, explains Dr. Eric Maiser, Managing Director VDMA Productronics. “During the special show we will demonstrate what is required in manufacturing high-performance energy storage devices with respect to production engineering aspects and how the industry is now already getting ready to do this.”

However, the topics of high-energy storage devices and power electronics are important not only for mobile but also for stationary use. “Energy generation from renewable sources not only calls for efficient transmission grids, but also capacities for intermediate storage. Battery storage devices can make a major contribution, in particular, to decentral energy supply”, says Kurtz. “With this, we are also addressing a nice interrelation to photovoltaics production here”, adds Maiser. The main requirements for all these objectives are cost-efficient and quality-assured production technologies, the main theme of productronica.

Find out more at http://productronica.com