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Maintenance planning, services and equipment
News Release from: Mann+Hummel | Subject: Filtration systems research and development
Edited by the Manufacturingtalk Editorial
Team on 17 October 2006
Filtration product maker invests widely
in R and D
Research and Development are important factors for success at filtration product manuacturer, Mann+Hummel, expenditure in these areas amounted to nearly 6% of total turnover in 2005.
Research and Development are important factors for success at filtration product manuacturer, Mann+Hummel, expenditure in these areas amounted to nearly 6% of total turnover in 2005 Research and development play an important role at Mann+Hummel
This article was originally published on Manufacturingtalk on 29 Oct 2003 at 8.00am (UK)
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The research and development work is based on three concepts.
* Innovations management - the innovation management sector includes not only materials, filter media and filtration processes, but also acoustic design.
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All submitted ideas are carefully studied.
The development department concentrates particularly on finding an innovative approach for the development.
What should be concentrated on in the future? Which demands will be placed on Mann+Hummel's products and systems? Market analysis and commercial considerations are balanced against technical criteria.
This analysis, together with feasibility studies, enables decisions to be made for starting the development of new products.
Parallel to this, the necessary processes and technologies are developed, evaluated and implemented.
Each year, the Mann+Hummel Innovation prize is awarded for patentable ideas at the so-called 'Innovation Day'.
In 2004, the prize was awarded for a system for combustion engines which filters the harmful crankcase gases formed during operation of all combustion engines.
An engineer has received the Mann+Hummel Innovation Award 2004 for submitting a total of 48 inventions over the past six years.
With around 1,700 applications for patents and utility patents filed world-wide over the past five years Mann+Hummel occupies a leading position in this respect.
In 2005, 290 promising new ideas were submitted, most of which will result in applications for industrial property rights.
* Advanced development - if the right trends and tendencies have been identified by innovation management, the corresponding products and systems - without any specific customer order - are developed during the advanced development phase.The aim of advanced development is to have an answer to tomorrow's requirements today.
* Development projects - finally, our customers commission us with specific development projects.
At this stage, everything is precisely defined, from performance requirements through to installation conditions and cost, and the required speed of development.
Continuously coordinating and adapting to new conditions are essential parts of Mann+Hummel's project management.
Mann+Hummel has set up Competence Centres in certain sectors to improve co-ordination of development work.
One example is the Cabin Filter Competence Centre at the Marklofen site in Lower Bavaria, Germany.
Its tasks include developing cabin filters, supplying methods and processes to measure these products, and providing testing services for their development, testing and validation.
As the Competence Centre is adjacent to the production lines, direct testing and immediate quality control can be carried out on the cabin filters produced.
As a series supplier, Mann+Hummel is involved with customers' strategic planning at a very early stage.
100% quality is the pre-requisite for the relationship between the partners.
Since the standards required are constantly increasing, intangible factors are important, as well as technological and service aspects.
General Motors evaluates all these aspects when granting its annual Supplier of the Year Award.
The award stands for quality, service, technology and price.
In 2005, Mann+Hummel received the international Supplier of the Year Award from General Motors.
Mann+Hummel is one of only two companies that received the award every year since its initiation.
Based on continuous development of basic principles Mann+Hummel push ahead the pace of progress in the filtration area.
* New materials - new materials for today's filters have been researched in just the same way as physical principles.The involvement, alongside filtration, of other research and development areas in the automotive sector was a natural progression.
Mann+Hummel's laboratory has also provided principles for light-weight construction of air intake systems.
The three-stage system - innovation management, pre- and product development - channels development and ensures efficiency.
Projects recommended for further development are more likely to progress through to production readiness than those projects still at the innovation management stage.
Apart from straight-forward technical feasibility, factors such as trends in society or the ecological and economic situation play a part when considering whether to implement a new method or material.
To be able to evaluate these factors properly, Mann+Hummel regularly ask outside agencies such as, for example, the Max-Planck and Fraunhofer Institutes, to conduct studies.
The more engines are developed, the greater is the need for air, oil and fuel filtration.
Smaller and smaller injection nozzles call for ever-cleaner fuels.
Small impurities - even moisture - can cause problems.
With filters getting more sophisticated all the time, Mann+Hummel ensure that the processes in the engine take place under ideal conditions.
* Fuel filters - Mann+Hummel has developed the finest currently available fuel filter medium to protect modern diesel direct injection systems - Multigrade.
With regard to separation efficiency, Multigrade comfortably exceeds the minimum values required by the injection equipment manufacturers, and is thus setting a benchmark for fuel filtration.
Mann+Hummel offer comprehensive solutions, placing themselves in new product areas and in the markets of the future, thereby setting themselves innovative challenges.
Apart from the development of new filter media and new technology for air, oil, fuel and cabin filters, Mann+Hummel's employees are pushing forward with numerous system developments.
Topics such as variable intake pipes providing optimum torque performance, new air filter concepts to reduce pass-by noise or acoustic design within the car have been to the fore in recent years.
Some current automotive examples follow.
* Acoustic measures - noise is generated along the entire air intake system.
It is also produced where parts vibrate - for example, at the engine covers and design air filters.
Then there is noise from the engine itself.
Emotional aspects play an extremely important role when purchasing a car.
The typical engine sound for a specific model is also a distinctive feature.
Sound designers at Mann+Hummel and the vehicle manufacturers are therefore working to create an appropriate acoustic image for particular marques and models.
A sports car has to sound sporty, and must not be too quiet, whilst for a luxurious limousine, the opposite applies.
Management of the air supply to the engine is one of our core competencies, and acoustic measures play an important role in the air intake systems sector.
We implement our customers' requirements to create a characteristic sound.
The Symposer is an acoustic device which adjusts the sound entering the passenger compartment.
It is a mechanical acoustic converter which transfers the pulsations generated in the intake manifold by means of a rocker without gas exchange taking place.
The pulsations are transmitted into the passenger compartment through a sound pipe, and the driver can thus obtain acoustic feedback which corresponds to the driving dynamics.
The Symposer is fitted in the Ford Focus ST.
* Air filter systems with hydrocarbon adsorbers - in addition to sound design components, other items may be installed in the air intake system, such as the HC adsorber.
Fuel residues which evaporate and can escape into the atmosphere through the intake manifold and air filter when the engine is switched off are adsorbed on an activated carbon layer.
The HC adsorber is generally installed directly over the air filter element.
This product was developed specifically for application in the USA, where maximum permissible HC evaporation emissions from vehicles at rest are prescribed by law.
* Functional integration - in automotive engineering, the well established trend towards spatial and functional integration has become increasingly marked.
For passenger cars and commercial vehicles, there has been a consistent switch by manufacturers and component suppliers from individual components to integrated systems.
Reasons for integrating different functions into one system include the restricted space available in the engine compartment and the manufacturers' requirement to reduce the number of interfaces.
Mann+Hummel has substantially accelerated this development.
One of our most recent examples is a new oil module for DAF.
The oil module consists of a full-flow filter, bypass centrifuge and heat exchanger (cooler).
The housing also contains an anti-drain valve for the oil centrifuge, a bypass valve for the full-flow filter, a thermostat valve, oil and cooling water ducts and a direct connection for the water pump.
When synthetic oils are used, service intervals can be extended to 150,000km.
The full-flow oil filter contains the longlife media F1233, and the metal-free filter element also meets the demanding Mann+Hummel standards, as far as environmental aspects are concerned.
Its oil-water heat exchanger is one of the largest plate coolers currently installed for automotive applications world-wide.
The module also has a thermostat to regulate temperature.
This oil module is produced by Mann+Hummel in the Czech Republic.
Once quality tests are successfully completed, the oil module assemblies are delivered directly to the DAF production line in Eindhoven.
* New generation of cyclone oil separators - cyclones have proved ideally suitable as oil separators for crankcase ventilation.
They offer an excellent cost : benefit ratio, particularly due to the fact that they are lifetime parts.
To improve separation still further, Mann+Hummel has now patented and applied their adaptive technology, characterised by its simple construction and compact design.
The development partner and original equipment supplier to the international automotive industry has already developed two variants of the new adaptive cyclone - for passenger cars and trucks.
In the passenger car sector, the new technology received its premiere in the form of a triple cyclone integrated into the new Audi V8 engines.
The truck version is similar in design, with three pairs of cyclones in each case, and is aimed at the Asian and US markets.
* Cylinder head cover with integrated oil separator - Mann+Hummel has recently started series production of the newly developed innovative cylinder head cover for the 3.2 litre V6-FSI direct injection petrol engine for the Volkswagen Group.
One advantage: integration of oil separation in the cylinder head cover reduces production costs.
It also provides greater reliability: with integrated crankcase ventilation, the protected design and supply of heat from the engine minimises the risk of freezing of the crankcase ventilation components.
A special T-shaped seal ensures acoustic decoupling of the cylinder head cover.
This prevents vibrations from the engine being transmitted to the plastic housing and thus reduces cabin and engine noises.
* Design air filter system for the new V6 petrol engines - the air filter with double-flow air intake is directly mounted on the engine and combines customer-specific design with the latest technology.
It has many integrated functions - resonators are fitted in the cover and body to optimise acoustics.
A metal sheet under the air filter cover reduces structure-borne sound, and an insulating mat also absorbs noise.
The filter is made up of 25 individual components, including for example, two flow straighteners, retaining screens for foreign bodies and a special seal on the air flow meter.
The filter is mounted on the engine using the push-fit system, and fixed with clamps and a lever closure over the air flow meter.
Special plastic is used for all components which deform easily, such as the cover, the body and the control unit cover.
* Fuel filter for the V6 and V10 TDI Touareg - Mann+Hummel, working together with Volkswagen, has developed a fuel filter for the VW Touareg V6 and V10 TDI engines ready for series production.
The fuel filter element contains water-separating high performance Multigrade F-HC filter media for common rail systems.
With a dirt absorbency of more than 30g, the filter media can separate more than 85% of minute particles between 3 and 5 microns in size.
The water is collected in a storage tank, and is easy to dispose of during service through a drainage channel.
A sophisticated cold-start management system prevents gelling of the fuel at temperatures well below 0 deg C.
A wax expansion element is used to control pre-heating of the fuel.
The non-metallic filter element in a crash-safe housing is easily accessible from above during service.
* Industrial filters - 'CompacPlus' air filter technology - the new patent-protected air filter technology CompacPlus for stationary compressors is highly energy efficient, extremely versatile as far as packaging is concerned, compact in design and offers filtration efficiency of over 99.95% These attributes have been achieved through the different design of the air filter element, compared with conventional star-pleated versions.
The Mann+Hummel technology employs an effective patent-protected production process.
Individual shapes can be created for optimum utilisation of installation space.
The micro-filtration channels of CompacPlus have a linear air flow, thus reducing the installation space and at the same time increasing energy efficiency through smaller pressure losses.
The CompacPlus elements are metal-free and can therefore be completely disposed of through incineration.
Both CompacPlus elements and their associated housings are designed to meet specific customer requirements.
* ProTec - unlike standard series production for filters, ProTec manufactures tailor-made equipment for the plastic processing and chemical industries.
Essentially, existing product designs were amended in 2005, complemented by the development of a new hopper-loader control unit, the introduction of an asymmetric hopper for dosing regrind material, a new control-unit for crystallising PET, and a new control-unit was developed in the gravimetric and volumetric dosing area.
The Gramix S9 gravimetric dosing and mixing system with new regrind material is used in the plastic processing industry to supply medium to large capacity extruders, coextruders and blow moulding machines.
* Hydromation - as far as the filtration of coolants is concerned, Mann+Hummel has centralised its activities world-wide at Mann+HummelHydromation, which is based in Tongeren, Belgium.
As well as the many different types of central coolant processing systems, the product range now includes a machine tool (MT) vacuum filter.
The new machine has been developed specifically as a stand-alone unit to filter the finest particles from cooling lubricants.
Its main field of application is in CNC grinding and processing machines in the machine tool industry.
The outstanding feature of this filter is its low, compact design.
It is possible to adapt or completely integrate the machine tool (MT) filter easily into existing machine tools.
The contaminated coolant can thus be sent directly from the machine tool into the filtration area.
It is no longer necessary to install an additional pump station.
When estimating the development required and the opportunities to achieve this, Mann+Hummel focus not only on market development forecasts, but also legislation.
* About Mann+Hummel - the Mann+Hummel Group is an international company.
In 2005, the company achieved sales of EUR 1,380 billion.
The Mann+Hummel Group currently employs around 9,500 people at 41 locations worldwide.
The company develops, produces and sells technically complex automotive components such as air filter systems, intake manifold systems, liquid filter systems and cabin filters for the automotive industry, and filter elements for vehicle servicing and repair.
For general engineering, process engineering and industrial manufacturing sectors the company's product range includes industrial filters, filter systems, and materials handling systems and equipment.
Mann+Hummel's customers come from a large number of sectors, with series production for the automotive industry occupying a key position.
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