CIKONI’s advanced engineering and consulting drive composite tank innovation, reducing weight and boosting efficiency
We are proud to announce that CIKONI, together with our project partners Cevotec and Roth Composite Machinery GmbH, has won the prestigious CAMX 2024 Combined Strength Award for our work on dome-reinforced composite tanks. This groundbreaking achievement highlights the power of collaboration and CIKONI’s expertise in composite engineering and strategic consulting, which were key in delivering innovative solutions that significantly enhance the performance of hydrogen storage systems.
This is the fifth innovation award for our team, following the AVK Innovation Award, the GHTC Award, the ESAFORM Industrial Research Award, and the LeichtbauBW ThinkIng Award. These accolades reflect our commitment to continuous innovation and excellence in the field of advanced composite solutions.
15% less fiber material, 17% more storage efficiency
In this award-winning project, CIKONI’s engineering and advisory teams worked closely with Cevotec to apply advanced Fiber Patch Placement (FPP) technology to composite tank domes, achieving impressive results. By optimizing the reinforcement design, we reduced fiber material usage by 15% while increasing the storage efficiency of hydrogen (H2) tanks by 17%, all while maintaining equivalent mechanical properties. CIKONI’s in-depth engineering analysis and optimization capabilities played a pivotal role in these material and process improvements, making these savings possible on an industrial scale.
Engineering precision and technical innovation
“The award underscores our commitment to delivering cutting-edge engineering solutions that are both customer-centric and technically superior,” said Dr. Farbod Nezami, Managing Partner at CIKONI. “Our expertise in composite design, combined with Cevotec’s fully automated FPP technology, enabled us to develop high-performance reinforcement strategies for composite tanks that not only reduce weight and cost but also improve production efficiency.”
CIKONI’s involvement ensured that the dome reinforcement strategies were engineered for seamless integration into large-scale series production, addressing key cost drivers in the manufacturing of pressure vessels, such as material use and processing time.
Supporting the future of hydrogen storage
As a leader in lightweight engineering and consulting, CIKONI provided critical technical input like Advanced Composite Finite Elemente Simulation and Process Simulation throughout the project, ensuring that the solution not only met but exceeded industry expectations for efficiency and sustainability. Our contributions also helped to significantly reduce the carbon footprint of the tanks, a priority for future energy storage systems.
“Collaborating on this project has shown the enormous potential of combining engineering excellence with automated production technologies. Together, we’ve opened new doors for the future of composite pressure vessel manufacturing,” added Dr. jan-Philipp Fuhr.
With this award, CIKONI continues to demonstrate its commitment to pushing the boundaries of what is possible in the field of lightweight design and advanced composite engineering.
