ANSMANN wins innovation prize with “BioBattery” project

The “BioBattery” project

- supported by the Fraunhofer Institute in Darmstadt - using renewable raw materials, was successfully completed at the end of August 2021.

Awarded first place in the Main-Tauber District Future Prize in the middle of the year, Alfred Bergold and Patrick Megerle from ANSMANN AG were able to receive the Bioeconomy-Württemberg Innovation Prize from Minister Peter Hauk on 18.11.21 in Stuttgart.

The Biobattery project was created from the interplay of three points:

• the need to implement changed requirements of standards.
• the aim of being able to respond individually to customer requirements.
• The wish to also fulfill our social and political responsibility.

In close cooperation with the Fraunhofer Institute for Structural Durability and System Reliability in Darmstadt, this resulted in a research project to develop natural fiber-reinforced plastics for mass production lightweight construction using the example of a Li-ion battery housing.

In a first work package, an overview of the possible applications, the standards to be considered, and the resulting required mechanical properties of the plastic components was created.

The second step was the qualification of suitable natural fibers. For a more intensive examination, hemp, flax, ramie and sisal could be identified.

These natural fibers were compared with regard to the relevant properties of temperature stability, availability of consistent qualities and moisture absorption.

The team chose flax fiber as the fiber with the best temperature stability, which is also available with consistent qualities.

The Fraunhofer Institute was able to further develop an existing machine for enamel impregnation so that it could finally process flax fiber fabric.

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This is how the sheet material, the so-called organic sheets, was created. The biggest challenge here was to adjust the machine's parameters in such a way that the temperatures and the feed rate lead to uniform results. Plates and inserts were cut from the roll material, which reach the required reinforcements at the appropriate positions of the battery case. The company Dürr Kunststofftechnik from Schöntal supplemented the existing injection molding tools and converted them so that the housing parts could be processed on their machine.

In a joint workshop with the Fraunhofer Institute at Dürr, the right machine setting for sample production was found. The team led by Alfred Bergold in ANSMANN AG's battery pack production department produced finished downtube sample batteries for e-bikes from the manufactured housing parts and installed them on bicycles.

The developed technology can be used for all applications of plastic housings, in which the mechanical properties of the parts are improved by hybrid components with natural fiber-reinforced panels.

In addition, we have submitted the BioBattery project to the program: “100 companies and more for resource efficiency”, which honors new examples of excellence for improved resource efficiency in production.

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