28th Aachen Colloquium - Automobile and Engine Technology

Technical presentations for ICE and xEV powertrains

2019/10/25

Summary

  The 28th Aachen Colloquium Automobile and Engine Technology took place October 7-9, 2019 at the Eurogress conference center in Aachen, Germany. Under direction of Professor Lutz Eckstein, Institute for Automotive Engineering (ika), and Professor Stefan Pischinger, Institute for Combustion Engines (VKA) of RWTH Aachen University, this event is considered one of the leading technical conferences in the automotive area worldwide.

  The automotive industry is facing many challenges to develop the future of mobility: regulations for lower emission limits, climate neutral renewable energy sources and new propulsion systems, growing vehicle competencies up to automated driving. Those were topics for discussion by experts from research and development coming from science, automotive manufacturers, engineering providers and suppliers.

  Approximately 1,800 experts attended the 100 technical presentations running in five parallel sessions on October 8th and 9th to exchange on the big global challenge "Shaping the Future of Mobility". Additionally, participants had the opportunity to visit a technical exhibition on site with around 70 exhibitors which was open from the evening of October 7th. Furtheron, a driving event on a test track of the RWTH Aachen University was offered during the presentation days to experience first-hand innovative vehicle concepts and prototypes.

Main conference room of Eurogress filling up technical exhibition at Aachen Colloquium 2019
Main conference room of Eurogress filling up Partial view of the technical exhibition at Aachen Colloquium 2019

(Photographed by reporter, the same hereinafter)


  For powertrains, already many different solutions exist to address the various requirements and usage cases (e.g. city, mid-range, long-range distances; low to high vehicle loads). There is no single architecture serving all cases and the industry faces a very complex technological field, as new solutions come into the market, while conventional technologies will be refined and remain present. Between the one side with conventional vehicles with internal combustion engines (ICE) and the other side with battery electric vehicles (BEV) there is the large group of hybrid electric vehicles (HEV). These hybrids are still carrying an ICE and thus the industry makes many efforts to further improve the engines with respect to fuel efficiency and emissions. The field of hybrid powertrains shows continuous improvements related to the system voltage, the powertrain architecture and the optimized engine and transmission combinations. Part of all activities is also the intention to lower the costs of complex HEV powertrains in order to convince more consumers to switch to such models. Finally fuel cell systems are another field of growing visibility with many research and development activities and their own benefits and challenges.

  The focus of this report is on a selection of sixteen presentations.

 

Related reports:
IAA 2019: Fuel Cell Technology at Frankfurt Motor Show (Oct. 2019)
IAA 2019: European Suppliers at Frankfurt Motor Show (Sept. 2019)
The Battery Show Europe 2019: Thermal management technology of Lithium-ion batteries (Jul. 2019)
Powertrain for Passenger Vehicles in 2030 - For ICE Survival (Jul. 2019)
Automotive Engineering Exposition 2019: Showcase of various xEV drive technologies (Jun. 2019)

 

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