EALA – European Automotive Laser Applications
25th Expert Conference
EALA, European Automotive Laser Applications, is Automotive Circle’s focus conference on everything to do with laser-based material processing in any area of automobile series production. Since 1999, the conference has taken place annually in Bad Nauheim, Germany, and has been discussing technical advancements regarding, for instance,
- laser-based welding, brazing, cutting, drilling, cladding, surface structuring or surface cleaning
- laser systems and laser optics
- laser beam and laser seam analytics and process control
- process data management and AI- or non-AI-based data analyses
- corresponding simulation techniques
- new application areas of industrial laser material processing, in any component of the automobile.
Bringing together an international audience of laser systems and automotive engineering experts, the conference always aims at presenting a mixture of latest application progress reports from trailblazing OEM and Tier1 module suppliers, most recent innovations from laser system and process control equipment suppliers and highly interesting academic study results.
Next Instalment
Please note the date: The 25th EALA edition takes place on February 6-7, 2024 in Bad Nauheim, Germany.
Conference Agenda
Tuesday, Febuary 6 2024
8.00 AM |
Welcome and conference introduction |
Dr. Dirk Meine, Automotive Circle, DE Dr. Jan-Philipp Weberpals, Audi AG, DE |
OEM Status Reports |
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8.15 AM |
Border conditions for laser applications in BIW at the Volkswagen brand |
Meinulf Hinz, Volkswagen AG, DE |
8.45 AM |
Copper and aluminium welding in e-automotive: Renault’s state of the art |
Christian Brémont, Groupe Renault, FR |
9.15 AM |
Porosity reduction in laser welding of Al sheets from BIW to e-mobility |
Masoud M. Pour, General Motors Company, US |
9.45 AM | Meet the Speakers / Coffee and contacts | |
Body Structure |
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10.30 AM |
Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) in combination with actual welding tasks |
Richard Steinbrecht, Lessmüller Lasertechnik GmbH, DE |
11.00 AM |
AI-based quality control for laser brazing and aluminum welding applications |
Dr. Michael Ungers, Scansonic MI GmbH, DE |
11.30 AM |
Improving the weldability of 22MnB5 in laser beam welding by process superposition with ultrasonic waves |
Christian Wolf, University of Kassel, Department for Cutting and Joining Manufacturing Processes, DE |
12.00 PM |
Welding aluminum for automotive applications with dynamic beam laser |
Dr. Robert Bernhard, Civan Lasers Europe GmbH, DE |
12.30 PM | Meet the Speakers / Lunch break | |
Battery Cells |
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1.45 PM |
Innovative process and machine for Laser-Tab-Welding |
Dr. Dmitrij Walter, Manz AG, DE |
2.15 PM |
Highly productive e-mobility applications with a focus on welding contacts for cylindrical batteries |
Dr. Axel Luft, Scansonic MI GmbH, DE; Uwe Bergmann, Bergmann & Steffen GmbH, DE |
2.45 PM |
Laser welding lattice to cell with in-process monitoring |
Dr. Mohamed Al-Badani, Jaguar Land Rover Ltd., UK, Dr. Paul Webster, IPG Photonics Corporation, CA |
3.15 PM | Meet the Speakers / Coffee and contacts | |
Battery System |
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4.00 PM |
Laser scanner welding of aluminum busbars |
Dr. Dirk Steffens, Mercedes-Benz AG, DE; Lutz König, Precitec GmbH & Co. KG, DE |
4.30 PM |
Holistic approach for laser beam welding for cell contacting of battery modules with highest quality |
Dr. Jan-Philipp Weberpals, Audi AG, DE; Timur Demirbas, Precitec GmbH & Co. KG, DE |
5.00 pm |
Precision Power Laser: A step change in automotive joining |
David Kilburn, The Lincoln Electric Company, DE |
5.30 PM |
Novel laser-based recycling technologies for traction batteries |
Max Rettenmeier, Trumpf Laser- und Systemtechnik GmbH, DE |
6.00 PM | Meet the Speakers / Get together | |
7.00 PM | Networking Night |
Wednesday, February 7, 2023
New Thinking |
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8.00 AM |
Electrification of the sky and the unique laser welding requirements of the eVTOL industry |
Sebastian Moser, Precitec, Inc., US |
8.30 AM |
Stationary Batterysystems for E-Car Loading Stations |
Stefan Wolff, König Metall GmbH & Co. KG, DE |
9.00 AM |
Evaluation of dual core fiber for automotive seat laser welding applications |
Luc Leportier, Forvia SE, FR |
9.30 AM |
Diode Lasers with high wall-plug efficiency for battery cell drying and brake disk cladding |
Dr. Johannes Schäfer, Laserline GmbH, DE |
10.00 AM | Meet the Speakers / Coffee and contacts | |
Welding Copper |
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10.45 AM |
Mechanisms and fascinating insights into the formation of pores during welding of copper using different kind of laser sources |
Dr. Andreas Heider, Robert Bosch GmbH, DE |
11.15 AM |
Melt pool behavior during hairpin welding – a computational fluid dynamics approach |
Dr. Marcin Serdeczny, Flow3D, Inc., US |
11.45 AM |
Application of Laser processing in the visible range for e-mobility parts |
Dr. Hideaki Shirai, Denso Corporation, JP |
12.15 PM |
Examples of tailored solutions in laser welding: High power blue laser application in copper welding; benefit of single mode laser in aluminum remote welding; IR beam shaping applied to martensitic stainless steels |
Stefano Zarini, Optoprim srl, IT |
12.45 PM | Meet the Speakers / Lunch break | |
Fuel Cells |
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2.00 PM |
Laser welding quality inspection through the process monitoring to minimize the defect rate of the EV battery welds |
Dr. Yongjoon Cho, Monitech Co., Ltd., KR; Prof. Young Whan Park, Pukyong National University, KR |
2.30 PM |
High-throughput printing of laser seams at micrometer-accuracy for the e-mobility vehicles of tomorrow |
Thibault Bautze-Scherff, Blackbird Robotersysteme GmbH, DE |
3.00 PM |
High-productivity, high-quality laser welding of bipolar plates for fuel cells |
Dr. Dahv Kliner, nLIGHT, Inc., CA |
3.30 PM |
OEM conclusions |
Members of the OEM Advisory Board on current trends and challenges in laser-based automotive manufacturing processes |
3.45 PM |
Farewell address and end of the conference |
Dr. Dirk Meine, Automotive Circle, DE |
Status as of November 9, 2023
The program is subject to change!
Participants
International OEM Advisory board
The Automotive Circle and OEM Advisory Board of the Doors and Closures in Car Body Engineering, consisting of experts from the following brands and companies:
Dr. Jan-Philipp Weberpals
Audi AG
Dr. Florian Oefele
BMW Group
Stefan Axmacher
Ford-Werke GmbH
Andrew Hromadka
General Motors Company
Dr. Sujit Chatterjee
Jaguar Land Rover
Christian Elsner
Mercedes-Benz AG
Taishi Tarui
Nissan Motors Co. Ltd.
Christian Brémont
Renault SAS
Raul Botta
Stellantis, DE
Yves van den Stock
Volvo Cars
Meinulf Hinz
Volkswagen AG
Exhibition & Sponsoring
Become a sponsor or exhibitor
Take advantage of the high coverage of the Automotive Circle and profit from the sponsoring options before and during the events. Show your competence and services, matching the conference subjects, to the numerous car body engineers of international OEM. Thus, you are strengthening your brand awareness in the automotive industry!
Come on board as an exhibitor or sponsor and benefit from this excellent platform to strongly promote your company’s capabilities as a reliable supplier!
Detailed information for various exibition and sponsoring options will follow here soon!