FRHY is developing a flexible, multidirectional and technology-agnostic solution for the mass production of electrolysers. At its heart is a reference factory that develops new production and testing modules and brings them together as digital replicas within a central virtual architecture.
On this basis, individual processes can be compared in terms of manufacturing quality, scalability and cost. The result is a scalable technology toolkit that makes variants of entire value chains comparable and evaluates cost, automation potential and return on investment as a function of production volume.
The reference factory is built in three levels. In the production modules, five Fraunhofer institutes develop the individual manufacturing and testing steps across sites in Chemnitz, Görlitz/Zittau, Aachen and Stuttgart. The technology toolkit consolidates their virtual models, focusing on the production and testing of single-cell components (MEA, PTL, BPP) as well as stacking and system-testing processes. Finally, the reference architecture links these models into complete process chains, enabling the evaluation of entire production strategies across process steps.
As part of the German flagship hydrogen project H2Giga, FRHY unites the expertise of the five Fraunhofer institutes across the entire electrolyser value chain — from component to stack to system.
Objectives
- Enable cost-optimised, scalable production processes
- Significantly improve the technical and economic characteristics of the product
- Accelerate the structured rollout of production technologies for mass manufacturing
