Along with companions, a group of researchers from the Fraunhofer IPA was in a position to present in a examine that e-bike motors might be remanufactured within the sense of a contemporary round economic system. For the reason that remanufacturing succeeded with virtually the identical properties, the researchers see nice potential within the method.
Within the ‘AddRE-Mo’ challenge, researchers from the Fraunhofer IPA, along with the businesses Cirp, Electrical Bike Options, the sponsoring affiliation Umwelttechnologie-Cluster Bayern and the Wuppertal Institute for Local weather, Surroundings and Vitality, investigated the technical feasibility of remanufacturing electrical bike motors.
Along with the method chain itself, ranging from non-destructive dismantling to cleansing, testing, remanufacturing or alternative with new elements and reassembly – the ecological and financial potential of remanufacturing must also be analysed. As a result of with no viable enterprise mannequin, remanufacturing will hardly achieve success regardless of the ecological advantages.
“On the finish of the method chain, remanufacturing delivers a motorbike motor that’s on par with a newly manufactured motor by way of high quality, and likewise comes with the identical assure,” explains challenge supervisor Jan Koller. The financial financial savings potential relies on the variety of items and is often round 30 to 40 per cent for comparable parts in comparison with shopping for a brand new electrical motor. Consequently, remanufacturing additionally gives nice potential for the producers of the electrical motors.
In step one, Koller and his group examined electrical bicycle motors from established producers for his or her likelihood of failure. Then they examined whether or not and below what circumstances spare elements with a excessive put on fee, comparable to gears and torque helps, might be manufactured additively. The scientists obtained the required knowledge for 3D printing both via 3D modelling or 3D digitisation, relying on the geometry of the parts. They then chosen supplies and additive processes. Along with the businesses Cirp and Electrical Bike Options, the Fraunhofer IPA lastly manufactured the parts and examined their service life, noise growth and temperature resistance in specifically developed take a look at stands and below actual masses. In whole, greater than 120 parts made from 20 completely different supplies have been produced from the 3D printer.
What is evident, given the rising gross sales figures, is that an increasing number of e-bikes are on the highway in Germany – based on the German regulatory institute Zweirad-Industrie-Verband (ZIV), electrical bikes already accounted for 48 per cent of gross sales within the general bicycle market in 2022. These automobiles will attain the tip of their helpful life in some unspecified time in the future. And defects can already happen throughout operation – however right here there’s typically no alternative, which is why a damaged motor will not be repaired however exchanged as an entire for a brand new unit.
“If the motor or battery fails, it’s often the case that the whole element is changed, though it could solely be one gear that’s defective. It’s hardly ever worthwhile for electrical bike workshops to restore a motor or battery, and producers even have a vested curiosity in changing previous motors, that are the largest price drivers in electrical bikes, with new ones,” says Koller.
To consolidate the outcomes achieved within the challenge, the method chain of remanufacturing electrical bike motors will likely be applied and made tangible within the new RemanLab studying manufacturing unit on the Fraunhofer IPA in Bayreuth, which can open on 23 Could 2023.
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