JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #71 - March 2012 - 51

A completely different bicycle frame concept, using the braiding technique with a very high productivity and potential for automation
Most carbon fibre bicycles are currently manufactured out of prepreg. This involves a huge amount of manual labour. The shapes are cut out of fabrics and cured in an autoclave to form parts that are then bonded, filled up, smoothed and finally coated. As a result, all carbon fibre bicycles, apart from small series, are currently produced in China. The BRAID bicycle frame was designed taking into account the customer needs, the specific properties of carbon fibres and the manufacturing techniques. The result is a completely different

Sports & leisure
Winner: Munich Composites (Germany) Partnership Network: Technische Universität München (Germany); Institute for Carbon Composites (Germany)

frame concept compared to the state-of-theart diamond frame. The bicycle frame was re-engineered using the braiding technique – a preform technique with a very high productivity and potential for automation. The number of tubes was cut in half, limiting the number of parts and joints in the frame. One of the main advantages of the braiding technology is the ability to fully automate the placement of carbon fibres. This minimizes manual work and hence optimizes quality by eliminating potential sources of errors. The frame manufacturing process

can be fully automated, which means that manufacturing in high-wage countries like Germany is profitable.

The first modular composite blade and the largest wind turbine blade in the world with aircraft regulations for the intermediate joint, that may be erected in onshore complex terrain.
G128 is the first modular composite blade in the market. It is more than 40% lighter than the average tendency for current multi-megawatt blades. The G10x blades include several subsystems that bring new capabilities to the wind turbine: strain sensors embedded in the laminates (reduce the loads transferred to the wind turbine), preload sensors in the bolts of the intermediate joint (ensure that all blades are properly assembled), a high-efficiency lightning protection system adapted to size and modularity requirements and an optional light beacon system at the tip of the blade. The G10x project started in 2005, the first prototypes were manufactured in 2008 and serial production has now started. All design details were tested at the subcomponent scale. A medium-scale test bench was developed to obtain partial allowable for the blade structure. The full-scale tests were redesigned to reproduce as much as possible real conditions in the field. The G10x blades comply with standard IEC regulations (the type certificate was obtained in 2011) and with aircraft regulations for the intermediate

Wind energy
Winner: Gamesa (Spain) Partnership Network: Blade Test Center (Denmark); SSP Technologies AS (Denmark); Fiberline AS (Denmark); Rinder (Spain); Mecanizados Astorkia (Spain)

joint. The maximum power of current onshore wind turbine generators is 2-3 MW.

All-carbon composite structure with an excellent recyclability for an electric vehicle battery pack module (BPM) by extrusion compounding and compression moulding for mass production in the automotive industry
The manufacturing of 100% carbon composite structure for an electric vehicle battery pack module (BPM) without steel reinforcement. The manufacturing process is highly cost-effective for mass production in the automotive industry by using extrusion compounding and compression moulding process. The excellent material recyclability meets the End of Life Vehicle (ELV) regulations, especially for (thermoplastics components. It significantly reduces number of parts (91%) compared to steel. So the key benefits are: - Weight reduction (from 35 kg to 24 kg) - Function integration and part number reduction (from 35 to 3 per vehicle) - No need for anti-corrosion painting - Higher driving distance per single charge of the electric vehicle - Enhanced driving performance due to the weight reduction The development phase before mass production of electric vehicles is in process (target launch date: 2014). The potential market are all various structural automotive composite parts (spare wheel well, seat

Special price
Winner: Lg Hausys (Korea) Partnership Network: Hyundai Motor Cy (Korea); Shinhan Mold (Korea)

structure, bumper beam, engine mount, front-end module carrier and oil pan) and all weight and cost reduction for Zero-Emission Vehicles (ZEV).

No71 March 2012 /

jec composites magazine 51

JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #71 - March 2012

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of JEC COMPOSITES MAGAZINE - Issue #71 - March 2012