Project description
Advancing circular production in PV manufacturing
The shift towards sustainable production is critical, as the current ‘take-make-dispose’ model leads to waste and resource depletion. Manufacturing industries need ways to reduce their environmental impact while maintaining profitability. Circular production emphasises reusing, repairing, and recycling products, but implementing these practices across industries remains a challenge. Many lack the tools to efficiently redesign processes and products for circularity. In this context, the EU-funded CIRCMAN5.0 project combines advanced technologies like AI and machine learning with human-centred design. Focusing on the photovoltaic industry, it helps manufacturers reduce waste, optimise resources, and assess sustainability. CIRCMAN5.0 also provides the workforce with the skills needed to implement circular practices and ensure greener production.
Objective
The EU guidelines for circular production and supply chains require a strategic approach at every stage of the product lifecycle. The shift towards circularity starts with circular design principles, where the linear “take-make-dispose” model is superseded by the one that prioritizes reusability, reparability, and recyclability. CIRCMAN5.0 combines advanced industry 4.0 technologies with human-centric design principles to assess and demonstrate how waste reduction and optimization of raw material can be feasible and profitable while significantly reducing the environmental impact of manufacturing processes.
CIRCMAN5.0 delivers a Human-Centred AI-aided Framework for the Photovoltaic (PV) manufacturing industry, entailing: (I) AI-driven modelling and circular-by-design simulation techniques for product design; (II) ML algorithms for dynamic production process reconfiguration; (III) A Cognitive Digital Twin environment supported by AAS models for testing and verification of manufacturing processes for efficient resource utilisation, waste management etc; (III) A Circularity and Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) Framework to help with comprehensive evaluation of the sustainability aspects of products and processes using data/feedback from AI-based process optimisation, forecasting models, energy and emissions metrics etc.; (IV) The Human-in-the-Loop (HitL) Recommendation Engine to provide actionable and explainable recovery strategies for EoL products; (V) The Digital Product/Material Passport (DPP) enabled by Distributed Ledger Technology enabling secure and trustworthy information sharing. The learning resources developed in the project will equip the EU industrial workforce with digital, circular and transversal skills. CIRCMAN5.0 will be tested in four (4) PV manufacturing industries providing different type of products (e.g. perovskites PV, BIPV, BAPV, OPV).
Keywords
Programme(s)
Funding Scheme
HORIZON-RIA - HORIZON Research and Innovation ActionsCoordinator
57001 Thermi Thessaloniki
Greece
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Participants (16)
106 82 ATHINA
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0313 Oslo
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20133 Milano
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2007 Lillestrm
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72100 Cittadella Della Ricerca Brindisi
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118 54 Athina
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
23900 Lecco Lc
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
D02 P593 Dublin
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00128 Roma
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48008 Bilbao
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
8015 Paphos
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
570 01 THERMI THESALLONIKIS
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
40221 DUSSELDORF
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
05004 Avila
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
97318 Kitzingen
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LT-08412 Vilnius
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The organization defined itself as SME (small and medium-sized enterprise) at the time the Grant Agreement was signed.
Partners (2)
Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement.
6928 Manno
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Partner organisations contribute to the implementation of the action, but do not sign the Grant Agreement.
6830 Chiasso
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