The German Aerospace Center (DLR) has investigated how remotely controlled trucks can support humanitarian missions. The project, along with innovative lime-based energy storage systems and completely emission-free vehicles, will be presented at a greentech festival in Berlin.
The festival, taking place from June 14 to 16 at the former Tegel Airport, focuses on green and sustainable developments. At the DLR booth, visitors can experience innovative lime-based energy storage systems, the ZEDU-1, dubbed the "world's most environmentally friendly car," and the remotely controlled vehicle concept AHEAD (Autonomous Humanitarian Emergency Aid Devices).
A team from the DLR Institute of Engineering Thermodynamics, in collaboration with the University of Stuttgart, is working on how to heat buildings in a climate-neutral way using a heat storage system made of burnt lime. The researchers are currently testing a pilot plant, deploying this technology for the first time on a larger scale outside the laboratory. To generate heat, lime storage systems utilize the chemical reaction of burnt lime and water. When these two substances react, temperatures exceeding 100 degrees Celsius can be reached. The heating output can be regulated by adjusting the amount of lime and water.
Energy could thus be chemically "stored" in lime for months. An exhibit at the DLR stand explains exactly how this works.
Photos: DLR
On the road to environmentally and climate-friendly road transport, electric drives with batteries and fuel cells are at the forefront. However, they do not yet enable completely emission-free driving. This is because brake and tire abrasion generates particulate matter and microplastics. With the ZEDU-1 (Zero Emission Drive Unit – Generation 1) prototype, the German Aerospace Center (DLR), together with the automotive company HWA, has developed and tested a completely emission-free road vehicle.
Instead of a conventional disc brake, the vehicle has a so-called multi-disc brake. This is not installed in the wheel, but integrated as a closed unit into the electric motor. Thanks to specially developed high-performance electronics, the braking energy is almost completely recovered. The researchers used the freed-up space for another innovation: The closed wheel arch of the ZEDU is aerodynamically designed to create a low-pressure area while driving. This causes the tire abrasion to collect in a specific location. A fan unit in the front of the vehicle draws in the particles and sends them through a filter system – similar to a vacuum cleaner. Only purified air is emitted from the vehicle.
During initial test drives at a speed of 50 kilometers per hour, no tire abrasion was released into the environment. At higher speeds, it was reduced by 70 to 80 percent compared to conventional road vehicles. This prototype is also on display at the Greentech Festival.
Vehicles transporting aid supplies often travel in difficult terrain. They sometimes have to cross regions that pose risks to the drivers as well. These risks can include disease, animal attacks, or flooding. Especially in areas rarely visited by people, these risks are difficult to assess in advance. In the AHEAD (Autonomous Humanitarian Emergency Aid Devices) project, scientists from the DLR Institute of Robotics and Mechatronics, along with a consortium of other DLR institutes and technology partners, investigated how trucks can be remotely controlled and transported without a human crew to safely deliver aid supplies to their destinations.
In this project, the German Aerospace Center (DLR) collaborated with the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). The team developed a concept for how robot-controlled, remotely operated vehicles could traverse a regionally flooded area in South Sudan. This concept utilized SHERP vehicles, which the WFP already employs. These off-road vehicles can navigate any terrain, even water or swamps. They can overcome obstacles up to one meter high. The researchers equipped the vehicles with multiple sensors to control them remotely. At the end of 2022, the system was successfully tested at the DLR site in Oberpfaffenhofen.
