Project description
For the Bavarian mechanical and plant engineering industry, the shift towards electric mobility offers some risks but also a number of opportunities. Above all, it should be solutions from domestic companies that reduce battery costs, enable lightweight constructions, and improve the production of electric motors. One of the challenges for the latest generation of electric motors is the precise production of so-called hairpins – solid, enameled flat copper wires that must be straightened, partially stripped, cut to length, and formed into three-dimensional, half-open coils. Although the methods of artificial intelligence offer great potential for mastering current challenges in production technology, companies have hardly taken them into account when developing their production systems.
Therefore, the present research project aims to systematically increase the intelligence of production systems for the manufacture and assembly of precision components using the example of hairpins. Based on an analysis of the system and the inherent sub-processes, first the existing as well as the desired degree of intelligence are specified using a suitable stage model. Alternative solution concepts are investigated by means of experimental setups and demonstrators. As a result, the project not only paves the way for the intelligent production of precision components for electric mobility but also forms the basis for the development of intelligent machines in other industries.