"In the following, an overview about the current status of each contribution to impact is provided:
Impact 1 – The yield, cycle time and production capacity, demonstrated through simulation that with the improvements in the production process and product
The simulation showed the bottlenecks of the existing manufacturing process. Therefore an assisted assembly station is developed, to automate process steps and parallelize assembly for the HyLOG Fleet. Furthermore the end-of line test was improved to reduce cylce time and costs. Additional scenearios for reduction in cycle time and production capacity could be derived from the simulation.
Impact 2- Produce and validate engineering samples of the improved design for manufacturability of at least one relevant component, including its product validation.
The two key components tank valve and media supply unit have been analysed concerning manufacturability, assembly and costs. Based on this a redesign of the MSU took place, which improves the assembly as well as the production process. The manufacturing of the tank valve was also improved, the production process was simplified and more automated to generate a higher quality of the valves as well as a reduction of the production costs.
Impact 3 - Validate in hardware, with cycle time measurement, cost analysis and statistical evaluation, the performance of the improved system or system component production steps.
The first demonstrator for the inline quality assurance of fuel cell stacks provides real time applicability. A cost analysis will take place after the implementation of the final version.
Impact 4 - Validate the performance of the full system (or system component) production in an existing production line upgraded with the optimized process steps.
The new developed components (tank valve, MSU) as well as the new manufacturing processes will be shown at the review meeting, already at the production line of Fronius. Integration in the manufacturing process will then take on further development in the hardware setups. For the Demonstration #2, which will take place at Fronius in M24, the first performance indicators of the newly developed production steps can be recorded and validated by comparison with the simulation of the full production process. This will lead to further improvements in cycle time and Quality.
Impact 5 - Achieve components yields > 95% for the improved system component production steps
Two activities in the project aim at increasing the yield of system components. The first one relates to the manufacturing of the tank valve. This will be realized by automation of complex drilling operations, also poka-yoke System will be added in the assembly process and an assisted assembly line will be integrated. The second activity is related to the assembly processes in general and the MSU assembly in particular. Assistance Systems will be developed to provide integrated Quality Control.
Impact 6 - Feedback the project results into future system component development
The results of the development of the assisted assembly system and the production line will be incorporated in the development of future production lines for hydrogen-products at Fronius. The concept of the scalability of the production line, as well as methods for assisted assembly stations, will also be used for the conceptional design of other production lines at Fronius. The quality inspection of the holes of the tank valve using an endoscope sensor developed by PROFACTOR is currently built up in hardware and will be integrated into the production process of OMB. The redesign of the MSU has been realized by building up engineering samples of the MSU. The final design and also the improved manufacturing processes will be used in future production.
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