Printed electronics for the automotive industry will be a key focus at LOPEC 2025
With its lightweight, flexible and cost-effective solutions, printed electronics has become a key technology for the automotive sector. At next year's LOPEC, 25-27 February 2025 in Munich, exhibitors from all over the world will demonstrate how printed electronics can enable sustainable and safer mobility concepts, paving the way for the transition to sustainable transport.
In times of change, printed electronics offers the mobility sector new solutions. "The lightweight electronic components support sustainable vehicle concepts and ensure greater safety and lower energy consumption," says Dr. Klaus Hecker, Managing Director of the LOPEC co-organiser OE-A (Organic and Printed Electronics Association), in a statement released by Messe Munich. Printed electronic elements can be used to implement various additional functions, says Hecker. "Printed electronics is thin and flexible, allowing it to be seamlessly integrated into a wide variety of products. Its use can significantly reduce the vehicle weight."
LOPEC 2025 will showcase numerous applications for the automotive industry that are already on the market or about to be commercialised. According to Messe Munich, among the exhibitors at LOPEC are industry giants such as Covestro, Henkel, Heraeus, IEE and tesa, as well as start-ups, medium-sized companies and research institutions from all over the world.
Printed sensors: the key to greater sustainability
One focus of LOPEC 2025 is on e-mobility. In Munich, exhibitor Flexoo will present the ultra-thin MiniMoS sensor unit, which accurately measures the pressure and temperature of batteries and other energy storage devices. With the help of real-time monitoring, the battery life of an electric car can be extended by up to 40%. The risk of fire is also reduced as critical conditions are detected in time. MiniMoS transmits the data to existing battery management systems via Bluetooth.
Printed electronics also contributes to the safety of hydrogen mobility, as Arkema Piezotech will demonstrate in Munich. The French company specialises in piezoelectric plastics. Sensor arrays printed from these and mounted on highpressure hydrogen tanks register the acoustic waves generated by impacts or other mechanical influences and convert them into electrical signals. The severity and location of the damage can thus be determined as well as the premature aging of a tank. The sensor solution for car tires developed by the Finnish research center VTT in turn helps save fuel by setting the optimum tire pressure. A life cycle analysis carried out as part of the EU project UNICORN highlights the positive environmental effect.
Electronic components that can be dismantled non-destructively at the end of their service life, making them easier to sort for recycling, are also ready for the circular economy. LOPEC exhibitor tesa offers a debonding-on-demand technology for that purpose, which ensures permanent yet easily removable bonds.
Customised design of lights and interior
Flexible, organic and printed electronics is, however, not only convincing in terms of sustainability and safety, explains OE-A Managing Director Hecker: "The easy-to-integrate electronic components offer designers undreamt-of possibilities and pave the way for individualisation in vehicle construction." Audi, for example, already offers individually configurable OLED rear lights consisting of individually controllable segments. In the future, the technology will increasingly be used to communicate with other road users, as Dr. Werner Thomas, OLED Lighting Project Manager at Audi, will explain in his plenary lecture at the LOPEC Conference (February 26, 9:45 a.m.).
The subsequent Mobility Application Session will provide further inspiration. A presentation by Antolin, a leading innovator in automotive interior solutions, will highlight its smart surface technologies that integrate color changing films by LOPEC exhibitor E Ink into vehicle interiors to create dynamic user experiences. The half-day Application Session will be followed by a guided tour of the trade fair. With this combination, LOPEC invites all interested parties to find out about the status and potential of printed electronics in the mobility sector in one compact day.
About LOPEC
LOPEC (Large-area, Organic & Printed Electronics Convention) is the world’s leading event for printed electronics. The combination of exhibition and conference covers the complexity and dynamism of this young industry perfectly. LOPEC is organised jointly by the OE-A (Organic and Printed Electronics Association) and Messe München GmbH. The next event will take place from February 25-27, 2025, at the ICM – Internationales Congress Center München.
About the OE-A
The OE-A (Organic and Printed Electronics Association) is the world’s leading industrial association for flexible, organic and printed electronics. It represents the entire value chain of this industry. Its members are world-leading companies and institutions, from research and development institutes to, mechanical engineers and material manufacturers to producers and end users. More than 200 companies from Europe, Asia, North America and Africa work together in the OE-A to further advance the development of a competitive infrastructure for the production of flexible and printed electronics. The OE-A is an international working group within VDMA.
Caption 1: Printed electronics has become a key technology for the automotive sector.
Caption 2: With its lightweight, flexible and cost-effective solutions, printed electronics can be seamlessly integrated into any component.
(Image source: Messe München/LOPEC 2024)