Cevotec Samba Pro installed in Fraunhofer IGCV AI research hall

Cevotec’s (Munich, Germany) Samba Pro Prepreg system has found a home in Fraunhofer IGCV’s (Augsburg) new “Hall 43” AI research hall at Augsburg University, inaugurated in June 2023. The production system is now up and running and is being used to investigate innovative machine learning approaches. It is also available for interested companies to explore and evaluate the feasibility of parts in fiber patch placement (FPP) design together with Fraunhofer IGCV.

In 2020, the Fraunhofer Institute for Casting, Composite and Processing Technology (IGCV) put a Samba Pro Prepreg production system from Cevotec into operation at the Fiber Placement Center in Meitingen, Germany. However, with the unveiling of the Augsburg AI Production Network, an alliance of esteemed partners, including Fraunhofer IGCV, the decision was made to relocate the equipment to Augsburg University’s research hall. The aim of the production network is joint research into AI-based production technologies at the interface between materials, manufacturing technologies, data-based modeling and digital business models.

“The commissioning of the FPP system in Hall 43 provides us with excellent conditions to drive forward research in the areas of digitalization and AI in composites manufacturing,” Dr. Renato Bezerra, research associate and project lead from the institute, says. “Both the environment and the existing AI production network consortium are ideal for exploring such approaches. We hope to transfer approaches successfully tested at the FPP system to other manufacturing technologies as well.”

The Cevotec Samba system features a laser cutting unit in order to ensure maximum flexibility in terms of geometry and patch edges. The entire material feed is temperature-controlled, so that the pre-impregnated materials can be processed in a controlled environment. The system’s robots in the system are a TP80 pick-and-place robot and TX200 tool manipulator from Stäubli (Pfäffikon, Switzerland).

“This configuration enables a high layup frequency combined with very high positioning accuracy, allowing for a fully automated layup of complex geometries of medium to small dimensions,” Dr. Dimitrios Sikoutris, expert composites and FPP technology at Cevotec, says. 

Cevotec looks forward to further developing the FPP technology together with Fraunhofer IGCV and opening up new fields of application. According to Thorsten Groene, CEO and cofounder of Cevotec, “The production system serves interested companies from various sectors for active technology and application development, together with the researchers of the Fraunhofer Institute.” Interested partners can also use the Samba system to investigate and evaluate the feasibility of components in FPP design and develop components for transfer to series production.