Summary
There are currently 1.3 million Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles on Europe’s roads, expected to rise to 15 million by 2030. Customers such as Audi, Daimler and Volvo have set a target 10% weight and cost reduction for CNG tanks, to increase efficiency and reduce vehicle cost.
Most CNG tanks are made from a metal or polymer liner, over-wound with a carbon/epoxy composite, but:
• Wet-winding of carbon/epoxy is slow, so limits cost-effective production
• Their properties vary by up to 10%, so excess material is used to compensate
To meet the customer targets, Plastic Omnium has developed a new process for the fast, efficient production of CNG tanks, using 8-axis robotic tape placement cell from MF Tech, and high quality carbon/polyamide tape developed by Coventive Composites.
Together, these technologies can reduce CNG tank weight by 10% and cost by 20%. The technologies are currently at TRL 6, and the objective is to overcome the 3 remaining barriers to demonstration at TRL 7/8:
1. Materials: Optimise and upscale the carbon/polyamide tapes to meet cost, accuracy and property needs
2. Process: Enhance the vessel-winding process to meet performance, weight and quality requirements
3. Product: Upscale the manufacture of carbon/polyamide CNG tanks, to enable economic production
Overcoming these barriers will trigger our customers to start certification of the carbon/polyamide CNG tanks, as the next step in our commercialisation plan.
The USP is that no other CNG tanks can offer the required weight and cost savings. Our customers have a requirement of 150,000 tanks per annum, and Plastic Omnium forecasts sales of 20,000 tanks (€11.7m) by 2025/26. MF Tech will supply robotic placement cells worth €2.1m, and Coventive Composites will supply tapes worth €6.2m.
This proposal fits the FTI work programme, as it takes the tape manufacture and winding technologies from TRL6, and addresses the last steps needed to reach commercialisation and sales within 1 year.
Most CNG tanks are made from a metal or polymer liner, over-wound with a carbon/epoxy composite, but:
• Wet-winding of carbon/epoxy is slow, so limits cost-effective production
• Their properties vary by up to 10%, so excess material is used to compensate
To meet the customer targets, Plastic Omnium has developed a new process for the fast, efficient production of CNG tanks, using 8-axis robotic tape placement cell from MF Tech, and high quality carbon/polyamide tape developed by Coventive Composites.
Together, these technologies can reduce CNG tank weight by 10% and cost by 20%. The technologies are currently at TRL 6, and the objective is to overcome the 3 remaining barriers to demonstration at TRL 7/8:
1. Materials: Optimise and upscale the carbon/polyamide tapes to meet cost, accuracy and property needs
2. Process: Enhance the vessel-winding process to meet performance, weight and quality requirements
3. Product: Upscale the manufacture of carbon/polyamide CNG tanks, to enable economic production
Overcoming these barriers will trigger our customers to start certification of the carbon/polyamide CNG tanks, as the next step in our commercialisation plan.
The USP is that no other CNG tanks can offer the required weight and cost savings. Our customers have a requirement of 150,000 tanks per annum, and Plastic Omnium forecasts sales of 20,000 tanks (€11.7m) by 2025/26. MF Tech will supply robotic placement cells worth €2.1m, and Coventive Composites will supply tapes worth €6.2m.
This proposal fits the FTI work programme, as it takes the tape manufacture and winding technologies from TRL6, and addresses the last steps needed to reach commercialisation and sales within 1 year.
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More information & hyperlinks
| Web resources: | https://cordis.europa.eu/project/id/820567 |
| Start date: | 01-08-2018 |
| End date: | 31-10-2020 |
| Total budget - Public funding: | 2 481 062,00 Euro - 1 736 743,00 Euro |
Cordis data
Original description
There are currently 1.3 million Compressed Natural Gas (CNG) vehicles on Europe’s roads, expected to rise to 15 million by 2030. Customers such as Audi, Daimler and Volvo have set a target 10% weight and cost reduction for CNG tanks, to increase efficiency and reduce vehicle cost.Most CNG tanks are made from a metal or polymer liner, over-wound with a carbon/epoxy composite, but:
• Wet-winding of carbon/epoxy is slow, so limits cost-effective production
• Their properties vary by up to 10%, so excess material is used to compensate
To meet the customer targets, Plastic Omnium has developed a new process for the fast, efficient production of CNG tanks, using 8-axis robotic tape placement cell from MF Tech, and high quality carbon/polyamide tape developed by Coventive Composites.
Together, these technologies can reduce CNG tank weight by 10% and cost by 20%. The technologies are currently at TRL 6, and the objective is to overcome the 3 remaining barriers to demonstration at TRL 7/8:
1. Materials: Optimise and upscale the carbon/polyamide tapes to meet cost, accuracy and property needs
2. Process: Enhance the vessel-winding process to meet performance, weight and quality requirements
3. Product: Upscale the manufacture of carbon/polyamide CNG tanks, to enable economic production
Overcoming these barriers will trigger our customers to start certification of the carbon/polyamide CNG tanks, as the next step in our commercialisation plan.
The USP is that no other CNG tanks can offer the required weight and cost savings. Our customers have a requirement of 150,000 tanks per annum, and Plastic Omnium forecasts sales of 20,000 tanks (€11.7m) by 2025/26. MF Tech will supply robotic placement cells worth €2.1m, and Coventive Composites will supply tapes worth €6.2m.
This proposal fits the FTI work programme, as it takes the tape manufacture and winding technologies from TRL6, and addresses the last steps needed to reach commercialisation and sales within 1 year.
Status
CLOSEDCall topic
EIC-FTI-2018-2020Update Date
26-10-2022
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