34 Climate Protection at ALTANA
—
Sustainability is playing an increasingly important role
in the development of new products and solutions and is
a subject close to Dr. Simon Rost’s heart.
With an intelligent innovation, Dr. Simon Rost and
his research team are making electric motors more ef-
fective and environmentally friendly. In this way,
ELANTAS is not only contributing to the sustainability
of e-mobility, but also opening up new perspectives
for other areas.
E-mobility is the future. Electrically powered cars emit no car-
bon dioxide and are very quiet. But electric motors, too, need to
be maintained and replaced if necessary. When action should
be taken is often a matter of judgment or only becomes apparent
during a more or less complex inspection.
Things are different with the current ELANTAS innovation: A
special dye molecule precisely indicates the age condition of the
insulation material. As a consequence, it is possible to tell precisely
from the color whether a motor will soon need to be replaced.
Innovative dye molecule
The path to the goal, in cooperation with the University of Halle,
led to an analysis of the aging properties of insulating mate-
rials: What exactly happens during the aging process? Which fission
products are released at what time? Once a specific fission
product had been identified, the researchers developed a dye mol-
ecule that had to withstand temperatures of up to 180 °C,
among other things. The aim was to combine high stability with
equally high sensitivity – not an easy task, but one that could
be solved using a special so-called stilbene dye. In the end, it was
possible to meet all the requirements and thus implement a
genuine market innovation. The response speaks for itself: Even
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SUSTAINABILITY FOR
E-MOBILITY