From car headlights to tomorrow’s resources: How can vehicle components and other industrial goods be designed to be recyclable? Paderborn University is investigating this question in the new KOLLEKT[1] research project, in collaboration with the consortium coordinator FORVIA HELLA and other partners from academia and industry. The three-year research project is funded by the Federal Ministry of Research, Technology and Space (BMFTR) under the ‘CircularGlowUp’ funding scheme with a total budget of around 4.3 million euros and is managed by the Project Management Agency Karlsruhe (PTKA). The overall aim is to develop circular product concepts designed to be reusable from the outset.
The project is based on the four ‘R’ strategies: ‘Repair’, ‘Re-Use’, ‘Remanufacture’ and ‘Recycle’. At the heart of the research is a flexible disassembly cell in which industrial robots dismantle headlamps in a largely automated process. Researchers from the‘Control Engineering and Mechatronics’ group, led by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Ansgar Trächtler at the Heinz Nixdorf Institute at Paderborn University, are developing a digital twin for this purpose, which combines existing product knowledge with sensor data recorded in real time. In parallel, an AI-supported process model is being developed which continuously adapts the sequence of operations during robot-based disassembly and learns from each run. The aim is to achieve a robust process that separates even worn or soiled headlamp components as completely as possible by type, thereby supporting the R-strategies.
“Today’s headlights are designed to be assembled efficiently, but not to be taken apart again. In the KOLLEKT collaborative project, we are achieving circularity through two innovative approaches: firstly, with a system capable of dismantling even headlights that are difficult to take apart, and secondly, with novel headlight designs that are engineered from the outset for automated dismantling,” explains Prof. Trächtler.
The research group‘Sustainable Industrialisation and Resilient Infrastructure’, led by Prof. Dr.-Ing. Alexander Schlüter, also from Paderborn University, also analyses the environmental and economic impacts of these developments and devises engineering-based optimisation proposals to improve material and energy flows. Finally, the group applies the findings to other sectors in order to achieve the greatest possible impact. “The circular economy must be economically viable; otherwise, it remains a theory. We therefore assess right from the start what environmental and economic effects the individual strategies actually have and which of these can be applied to other sectors,” adds Prof. Schlüter.
The collaboration builds on a long-standing relationship: both professors are involved in the “L-LAB”, a research institute for automotive lighting technology and mechatronics. The institute is run as a “public-private partnership” by FORVIA HELLA, Paderborn University and Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences. Prof. Trächtler is a member of the Executive Board, whilst Prof. Schlüter sits on the Scientific Advisory Board. This partnership is being further strengthened through KOLLEKT. In terms of content, KOLLEKT builds on the predecessor project NALYSES (“Sustainability-optimised life cycle assessment of technologically highly complex mechatronic products”), which examined sustainable product design, material strategies and the use phase of products, and uses this as a basis to develop a comprehensive circular value chain.
Alongside Paderborn University and the consortium coordinator FORVIA HELLA, the partners include BMW, Covestro, Geba, Fraunhofer IEM, Fraunhofer UMSICHT, Hamm-Lippstadt University of Applied Sciences, the Helmholtz Centre Dresden-Rossendorf (HZDR) and SW Maschinenservice are all partners in the KOLLEKT project.
[1] Full title: ‘Systemic design of circular ecosystems in the automotive industry to optimise end-of-life value creation for lighting and electronic products’.
This text was translated automatically.
