AIMEN will develop high technology in photonics | News


AIMEN Technology Center has recently entered the final year of the project FLOIM, a novel initiative through which technological innovations have been developed for the automated manufacturing of optoelectronic components (combining optics and electronics), in a single step and with reduced costs. FLOIM, part of the Horizon 2020 framework program, started in January 2019 with a budget of 6.7 million euros and is scheduled to end in February 2022.

Within the framework of this initiative, all the members of the consortium, coordinated by AIMEN, have worked on the design of the final products that will serve as demonstrators of the technologies developed to respond to the growing demand for lighting systems specifically adapted to real needs. of the users.

Specifically, we are working on the development of three demonstrators:

Fiber optic transceiver, a compact device designed for high-density data transmission; integrating high-performance optics on the transmitter, which will allow to significantly increase the communication speed.

Miniaturized scanning head for optical encoders. Optical encoders are the most common and accurate devices used in industrial automated applications. FLOIM will optimize the manufacturing process of optical and optolectronic components, replacing the current assembly operations and manual adjustments of the main elements, with a novel manufacturing system through direct injection and micro-replication of the optical component, simplifying manufacturing and increasing current precision. of these components.

Backlit flexible OLCD display on vehicles A-pillar to eliminate blind spots. Currently, the A-pillar of vehicles (between the windshield and the front doors) can completely hide pedestrians, bicyclists, and even another vehicle at an intersection. To reduce this blind spot, FLOIM is developing a backlit screen that will display images captured by an outdoor camera in real time, making this pillar transparent for practical purposes. In order to integrate a screen of these characteristics into the A-pillar of a vehicle, it is necessary to reduce the thickness with which they are currently manufactured. The FLOIM team works to reduce this thickness by up to 1 cm and to direct the lighting of the same to reduce energy consumption and the heating of the screen.

AIMEN will develop high technology in photonics.

In addition, in these months a complete pilot manufacturing line which will serve to validate the technologies developed, especially injection molding technology for the manufacture of embedded optical elements for optoelectronic components.

Finally, a whole quality control system which will serve both to increase the rate of valid parts manufactured with new technologies compared to traditional technologies, as well as to have a strict quality control of 100% of the manufactured components. This system is currently in the implementation phase in the pilot line, along with the rest of the machinery necessary for its commissioning.

In the next six months, efforts will focus on applying these technologies in the manufacture of the final demonstrators or their components, as well as in the integration of the components of the pilot line and the quality control system.

FLOIM Consortium

AIMEN Centro Tecnológico leads the FLOIM consortium, which is made up of a total of 12 entities, which include companies, universities and innovation centers. The members of the consortium are the following: AIMEN (Spain), Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya (Spain) Promolding BV (Netherlands), Hybtronics Microsystems SA (Spain), Mondragon Assembly (France), Fagor Automation (Spain), Adama Innovations (Ireland) ), FlexEnable (United Kingdom), Research Center for Non Destructive Testing GmbH – RECENDT (Austria), Fraunhofer IWU (Germany), Ceit-IK4 (Spain), Simulacions Òptiques SL – SnellOptics (Spain).

AIMEN, in addition to coordinating the project, has supported the partners in the development of key technologies in the areas related to laser processing and advanced materials; and has contributed to the design and development of automation and control solutions, among other functions.

The innovations developed under the FLOIM project will contribute to improving the competitiveness of the European photonics industry, generating growth and jobs, creating new market opportunities for manufacturers of optoelectronic devices and allowing the manufacture of different solutions related to LED lighting, information and communication, the photovoltaic industry or devices that use flexible or curved screens, among others.


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