Periodic Reporting for period 1 - SURE2COAT (SURE2COAT: SUSTAINABLE SURFACE TREATMENTS OF COMPLEX SHAPE COMPONENTS FOR TRANSSECTORIAL INDUSTRIAL INNOVATION)
Período documentado: 2023-01-01 hasta 2024-04-30
SURE2COAT will focus on two use cases where aluminium is the metal to be coated and one copper use case. For the aluminium, several methods will be developed and tested, including doped-PEO and spray-coating with stainless steel.
Through the use cases, development, integration and evaluation of the surface treatments will be conducted. To evaluate the integration potential, SUPSI will work on physical and virtual assembly methods. The coatings will be developed by WUST, HEREON, CIDETEC and UAVR in cooperation with the relevant industry partners. For life-cycle and environmental assessments, the University of Ljubljana, will work closely with the industry partners and the research insititutes. UNE will evaluate the need for updating or developing new standards, based on the results of this project.
SINTEF AS is the coordinator of this project
Project overview as given in the application to EU is given below:
1. Develop new flexible and environmentally friendly surface treatments for aluminium (Al) and copper (Cu), enabling multifunctional corrosion resistant and conductive surface functionalities on complex shape components.
2. Integrate the new surface treatments into manufacturing lines for the production of electrical engines for the food & beverage industry, gas-water heaters for residential heating units, Al-based heat exchanger internals for latent heat storage applications.
3. Demonstrate at TRL6 that the new production line will have higher efficiency, reduced material and energy consumption and lower environmental footprint than the current ones.
4. Demonstrate >50% reduced energy consumption during use for Al-based electrical engine housings and latent heat storage heat exchanger internals and 5% increase in energy consumption and 10% reduction in Cu consumption for gas-water heaters. Simulation techniques and digital twins will be used to demonstrate integration of the technologies through the use cases.
5. Enable the use of Al profiles in environments currently not applicable due to corrosion challenges, which will open new emerging markets: electrical engines for the mobility, shipping and aerospace sectors, construction elements, and future ultrathin heat exchangers.
6. Ambition of a reduction in manufacturing costs of 10% by reduced energy consumption.
The main achievments will be new surface methods, and evaluation of those for the relevant use case operational conditions. For treatments with a high potential for industrial application, further development of LCA, business case and standardisation needs will be developed.
Aluminium engine houses:
- Medium term goal is to implement the new ST technologies into the SIEMENS plant with 25k units which will increase to 125k units if the ST technology is adapted by other companies.
- Replace 134 ton SS with 38 ton recycled Al reducing the weight per engine by up to 80%.
- 25 000 engines as a first measure of quantity
Gas Water Heaters (GWH):
- Long term goal is to expand the uptake of the new integrated STs to other production lines by 2030. Lifetime of a GWH is estimated to increase from 15 to 20 years with improved corrosion properties.
- Integration and uptake of STs at a scale of up to 1 million units/year for GWHs
Latent heat storage units with aluminium macro capsules or other shapes:
- New technology that will reduce the overall energy for heating and cooling in residential areas and buildings.
- First production line will produce 8200 units.
For the use cases above the project results will consist of new surface treatments that will prevent Al from corrosion, while keeping the thermal conductivity. For the copper GWHs the aim is to modify the surface by laser structuring to improve the draining of water from the fins of the GWHs which again will reduce corrosion and thus will enable less copper for the same expected life-time of the units. New knowledge and suggested methods for integration of the surface treatments will be an important project result. LCA-E data will be important input to the overall decision of further development and how to make the overall process both sustainable and competitive to existing competing technologies.
Overall, the outcomes of Sure2Coat will contribute significantly to the twin digital and green transition by enabling both more efficient and sustainable production but also enable materials (Al) to new sectors and reduce the overall material consumption.