GF: The bionic trend for lightweight chassis design

On the 2nd Annual Technical Seminar on Automotive Chassis 2010 that was held by Gasgoo.com on July 30, Gasgoo.com interviewed Georg Fischer's R&D Director in Asia, Udo Kreutzarek, who talked with us about technology trends in lightweight chassis design.

Gasgoo.com: Please introduce briefly the application of latest lightweight technology in Georg Fischer. Which level of automotives can apply to your latest technology? Have the technology already been put into Chinese market?

Udo Kreutzarek：The latest technology from Georg Fischer is explained in my speech is a combination of special designed procedures, we call it bionic design approach, application of high strength material and process adaptation these three applications in combination are necessary to reach a real good result for a light weight component and to come to minimum weight. This principle can be applied to most of the vehicle components. We were applying this for chassis components successfully. It can be useful for all size of cars. In the Chinese market, regarding chassis components, we opened our plants one year ago, and we already producing those kind of components for local Chinese customers.

Gasgoo.com: Since you strive for the best quality/price ratio for the Chinese market，and in China, the local OEMs are sensitive for prices, have you taken any measures in R&D to adapt Chinese market？What's the key research field in order to control cost？

Udo Kreutzarek：Quality/price issues are very important, not only for the customer, but also for us. And one point I outlined in the speech is also you can not only find one certain price for a component. What customer should take into account is also the entire development time and lifetime costs. Through our capability in our R&D, we are able to reduce the development time on the customer side as well. This is a benefit they can profit from. On the other hand, we have certain quality standards, not only in R&D, but also in our production facilities. So our quality level is quite high. In consequence, quality costs are low, not only internally in our house, but also on the customer's side.

Gasgoo.com: As you presented, Georg Fischer is a leading company in casting technology of chassis components, Is there any basic research of casting chassis components in China? How much do you invest in R&D on the overall revenue in Georg Fischer globally and in China?

Udo Kreutzarek：When we are talking about chassis components in China, we are talking about iron castings. The iron casting process means we have at least 30% production cost in raw material, so raw material is a key issue for our production of those kinds of components. In that way, we are doing some basic research to find qualified local suppliers, to substitute expensive raw materials by cheaper ones. So that we are able locally in China to reduce our material costs. This is one side, the other side is running a plant means a lot of energy. So we also make some research for less energy consumption in production.

Gasgoo.com: Bionic design is widely used in automotive parts. What's the relationship between bionic design and auto chassis development? Is there any other innovative idea in chassis design except bionic design?

Udo Kreutzarek：Bionic design target is weight reduction. This is the main point: how to come to the lowest level of weight? Here we are quite successful, we reached the target, and the implication on the chassis is clearly an overall weight reduction contribution. Additionally we can contribute to an improved level of driving comfort of the chassis, and we can offer a potential to outbalance the additional weight which comes from additional safety or comfort components. For example: the advanced brake systems or hybrid car components. This means we offer a compensation for additional weight in the vehicles by reducing weight of our chassis components.

Other innovations, for example the welding of cast iron through special welding processes. So here we are able to offer hybrid solutions, where the expensive high strength material is only used, where really necessary and we combine this type of material with lower grades on areas with low stress requirements. So we come to an economic optimum, not only for a single component, but for an entire system.

Gasgoo.com: The challenges of lightweight for chassis, as you mentioned, design, material, process and testing, what are the tech-trends for their innovative solutions separately in the future?

Udo Kreutzarek：The trend for the future regarding the design is clearly outlined through the bionic design approach for the application on entire chassis systems. But here we are also heavily depending on the OEMS willingness to think over the necessity of conventional interfaces to the brake, bearing, shock absorber and control arm bushings. A shift or redesign of those interfaces is necessary to improve and optimize the entire system and to innovate chassis systems.

For the material, the trend for me is also clear, towards high strength material. For the process, the trend in the future is less energy consumption in the plant, to reduce the cost and also to protect the environment. Component testing becomes more and more important for us in China. After establishing the same level of test capabilities as we have in Europe, we will become an entire solution provider. This is the local trend for the future.

Gasgoo.com: Green vehicles becomes hot issue these years, lightweight is also one of the directions in green vehicles. What do you think of green vehicles and have you done some research for electric vehicles?

Udo Kreutzarek：One driver for us coming from green vehicles or electric vehicles is weight reduction because as I said, electric vehicles mean a lot of additional weight. So we have to reduce the weight of existing components to outbalance this additional weight. This is a trend for us. On the other hand, electric vehicles have specific components, and all these batteries, or power units, or electric engines, they have one thing in common: they are producing heat while working. For that reason, as cast component supplier, we have to work out solutions for cooling systems, integrated in the casting. With respect to that topic, we offer components with integrated pipes for cooling fluids or cooling elements to ensure the function where also costs for machining and assembling will be reduced.