Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Technology and Advanced Materials
The project KOHANA
Sustainable decarbonization of road freight transport can only be achieved through electrification of the powertrain. The main focus here is therefore on the electric motor. Not only must it be particularly reliable and have a long service life, it must also be installed in a comparatively small space within the vehicle despite its power-related size, i.e. it must itself be correspondingly compact. This requires elaborate and often complex cooling concepts.
In addition, in the commercial vehicle sector, the various weight classes mean that many motor variants can be expected in comparatively small numbers. In addition, there is little budget available for the development of new motor models, and the investment budgets for tools for the economical production of such motors are also limited.
The KOHANA funding project addresses all these challenges through a two-part solution approach. First, a more automated design process is being created that combines different engineeringengineering disciplines as well as addressing functional and manufacturing requirements. The automated drive design is combined with 3D printing of the hairpin winding. This innovative manufacturing process makes it possible to produce a wide range of variants without high initial investment.