Page 56 - Energize July 2022

VIEWS AND OPINION

fuel cells (FCEVs) were newly registered is still only beginning. This is mainly help business leaders in the automotive
in Europe. Compared to 2019, this was because hydrogen technologies do not sector to better understand their
a minimal increase of 266 passenger yet have the application and acceptance processes. The information collected by
cars. Hydrogen vehicles are an important that increased production requires. AI and sensor-based technologies leads
pillar of climate-friendly mobility - if Many workflows are therefore carried to new insights to optimise processes
their opportunities and possibilities out semi-automatically or even manually. inside and outside the company. An
are researched, expanded and used on To make hydrogen applications more example is predictive maintenance - it
a larger scale. European automotive attractive, increased automation in can be used to detect wear patterns,
players are often more innovative in this manufacturing is urgently needed. Since peculiarities and anomalies, and thus
respect and receptive to hydrogen than battery and fuel cell manufacturing counteract machine failures, downtimes
some large German corporations, which are similar in many respects, it is and errors. AI can also help to capture
are primarily dedicated to e-mobility. advisable to rely here on a partner market share in blue ocean segments
who is familiar with automated battery – new innovative markets. Particular
Increasing automation of cell manufacturing. In addition to the attention should also be paid to seamless
electrolysis and fuel cell technology and know-how, system and flexible intralogistics processes, the
production processes integrators and machine builders are also keywords being “transparent supply
There is no way around new energy needed to jointly drive this topic forward. chain”.
vehicles (so-called NEVs), if we are A particularly critical process in battery
to even come close to achieving the and fuel cell production is stacking; Collective measures needed
Paris climate targets. Hydrogen can this is where errors, such as leaks, can In the coming years, a mix of different
be produced from renewable energy occur. Finding the cause takes a lot of drive technologies will establish itself
sources in a CO₂-neutral way and time. Stacking expertise is therefore on the market. This includes the fuel
converted into electrical energy in fuel also recommended. In addition, the cell as an important building block. For
cells. There are several challenges to be membrane must be handled carefully so alternative technologies of the future
overcome in the production of these fuel that it is not damaged. to gain momentum, it is now up to
cells to ensure efficiency and precision. politicians, manufacturers and service
This applies to both the production Factory of the future: Modernised providers to pull together, optimise
of the individual components and the production processes, innovative framework and production conditions
assembly of the stacks through to the technology and promote digitalisation and
manufacture of the entire system. The cornerstones of future-oriented fuel automation. OMRON can support here,
The fuel cell components bipolar cell production, to promote sustainable with their many years of expertise in this
plate, gas diffusion layer and catalyst- mobility, are the procedures and field, as well as having the technologies
coated membrane are manufactured technologies of the Smart Factory. They and strategies of the i-Automation!
with different materials in different make it possible to comprehensively model. In fuel cell production, the
production processes. Widespread modernise production and rationalise company places a special focus on high
deployment of electrolysis and fuel supply chains from the ground up, speed and precision. Newly developed
cell technology requires product and in parallel with the expansion and edge-based algorithms (Shape Search
process innovation to reduce production conversion to new drive technologies. III) are used. Fewer data are used
costs and drive the deployment of this Innovative industrial robotics, mobile for position adjustment to increase
technology. Scaling production volumes robots and cobots, edge computing, transparency. At the same time, several
while maintaining uniform quality sensor technology, the coupling of processes work in parallel, which
requirements is needed. Flexible and mechatronics and IT, and augmented minimises production time. Permanent
scalable production lines that can be reality (AR) are some examples of this position adjustment is dynamically
quickly and easily adapted to individual factory floor of the future. The highest corrected between NX and FH, and
requirements are advisable. Production possible degree of digitalisation is the high-precision position adjustment is
costs of fuel cells need to be reduced, as key to success so that the manufacturing accelerated. These are all examples
this is the only way this technology will process can optimise itself independently. of technological adjustments that can
be accepted in the longer term. Traceability is also essential, ideally to be optimise fuel cell manufacturing – so that
able to track every single layer of a fuel the hurdles for increased engagement in
Battery expertise supports fuel cell to conclude where production is not this field (hopefully) tumble.
cell production running optimally.
Unlike battery cell production, where Another pillar is artificial intelligence Contact Omron Electronics,
processes have already been automated (AI), as it can be used to unleash new Phone 011 579-2600,
for many years and are constantly being efficiency potential from highly complex info.sa@omron.com,
further developed, fuel cell production production chains. Used correctly, AI can www.industrial.omron.co.za

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