smartCAST – digital castings with condition monitoring for autonomous vehicles

目前有两项技术发展正在改变全球汽车行业：电力驱动和自动驾驶。自动驾驶汽车在车辆安全方面面临着新的挑战。到目前为止，主要的主题是主动监测道路状况，天气状况，或者在路上玩耍的孩子。然而，有一个方面一直被严重忽视或根本没有考虑：车辆的被动安全。为了实现这一目的，迄今为止，已经使用了现有车辆的成熟和知名技术。车辆的安全相关部件的尺寸具有较大的安全系数。如果车辆在过去发生过损坏——无论是由驾驶员主动造成的，由于无意的驾驶动作，还是由于外部影响而被动造成的——驾驶员通常会在方向盘上感觉到这一点。然而，在自动驾驶时，通过“放开”方向盘，驾驶员将自己从汽车的“触觉”状态中分离出来。特别是底盘被认为是一种与安全相关的车辆结构，它影响着驾驶动力学和紧急情况下对危险的控制。到目前为止，这还只能由驾驶员感知，但随着5级自动驾驶中方向盘的取消，未来这项任务将完全交给车辆本身。随着汽车共享趋势的不可阻挡的增长，以及对车辆的责任感的下降，戏剧性的增加随之而来。造成的任何损害以及相关的安全风险都将直接传递给下一个用户。未来的汽车共享运营商尤其认识到，至少在车辆再次启动时，有必要快速检查与安全相关的部件（如底盘）是否存在严重损坏。转移项目的目的是通过嵌入式传感器，使自动驾驶汽车的安全相关部件具有这种“身体感觉”。这些部件通常由铸铝制成。在dfg资助的“SINA”项目框架内，申请人已经开发了基于铝铸件厚膜技术的负载传感器直接铸造的首要原理。封装的传感器能够检测、测量和评估机械负载。它们提供了过载、损坏和部件故障的早期预警。由于压阻式传感器原理，可以在运行阶段和调试期间实时记录数据。这意味着可以在任何时候对铸件的变形或损坏进行检查。在转移项目中，这些基本发现将应用于自动驾驶汽车的具体场景和铸件，并与研究和行业合作伙伴一起完成后续的系列应用。

Two technological developments are currently changing the global automotive industry: the electric drive and autonomous driving. The autonomous vehicle faces new challenges in terms of vehicle safety. Until now, the main topic has been the active monitoring of road conditions, weather conditions, or e.g. children playing on the road. However, one aspect has been strongly neglected or not considered at all: the passive safety of the vehicle. For this purpose, proven and well-known technology of current vehicles has been used so far. Safety-relevant components of the vehicle were dimensioned with generous safety factors. And if damage to the vehicle has occurred in the past - whether actively caused by the driver, due to unintentional driving maneuvers or passively due to external influences - the driver has usually felt this in the steering wheel. However, by "letting go" of the steering wheel when driving autonomously, the driver separates himself from the "tactile" state of his car.The chassis in particular is considered a safety-relevant vehicle structure and influences the driving dynamics and the control of hazards in an emergency. Until now, this has been perceived solely by the driver, but with the elimination of the steering wheel in level 5 of autonomous driving, this task will in future be left entirely to the vehicle itself. An increase in drama follows from the inexorably increasing trend towards car sharing and the associated decline in the sense of responsibility towards the vehicle. Any damage caused - and the associated safety risk - is passed on directly to the next user. Future car-sharing operators in particular recognise the necessity of checking the safety-relevant components (e.g. chassis) for critical damage in a quick check, at least when the vehicle is started up again.The aim of the transfer project is to enable the safety-relevant components in the autonomous vehicle to have such a "body feeling" by means of embedded sensors. These components are usually made of cast aluminium. Within the framework of the DFG-funded project "SINA", the applicants have developed the first principles for the direct casting of load sensors based on thick-film technology in aluminium casting. The encapsulated sensors enable the detection, measurement and assessment of mechanical loads. They provide early warning of overloading, damage and failure of the components. Thanks to the piezoresistive sensor principle, data can be recorded both during the operating phase in real time and during commissioning. This means that an inspection for deformation or damage to the casting can be carried out at any time. In the transfer project, these basic findings are to be applied to concrete scenarios and castings for autonomous vehicles and completed for a later series application together with research and industry partners.