WORLD PREMIERE OF THE CONCEPT CAR 'EDAG LIGHT COCOON' IN GENEVA

PROVOCATIVE, FANTASTIC, AVANT-GARDE AND ABOVE ALL ELSE: THE ULTIMATE IN LIGHTWEIGHT DESIGN.

The 'EDAG Light Cocoon'. Engineering specialists EDAG can now, with their 16th concept car, provide an impressive idea of the ultimate in future lightweight construction - and incidentally present completely new standards for automobile aesthetics and design.

The 'EDAG Light Cocoon' is a visionary approach towards a compact, dynamic sports car, with a fully bionically optimised, additively manufactured vehicle structure combined with a weatherproof textile outer skin panel. That is the technical side. The result is a conscious break with existing paradigms. The 'EDAG Light Cocoon' has a pola-rising effect, and the idea is for it to rearrange existing thought patterns in vehicle design. For this unusual and visionary concept, EDAG built up a partnership with outdoor specialists Jack Wolfskin. Their extremely lightweight outdoor textile 'Texapore SOFTSHELL O2+' pro-vides ideal weather protection for the 'EDAG Light Cocoon'. LED lighting technology installed behind the textile outer skin panel makes the vehicle's skele-ton-like, organic structure visible, highlighting the vehicle's new, independent look to perfection.

Following the success of the EDAG GENESIS last year, EDAG have expanded their vision of a bionically inspired body structure. "We are pursuing the vision of sustainability – as demonstrated by nature: lightweight, efficient, without any waste, and with a result that weighs considerable less" explains EDAG's head designer, Johannes Barckmann. When the 'EDAG Light Cocoon' was being designed, its body was not regarded as a closed surface. Instead, an approach was adopted in which material was only actually used in areas where it was necessary for function, safety and stiffness.

"The result is the 'EDAG Light Cocoon': a stable, branch-like load bearing structure which meets all requirements imposed on structurally relevant components, despite the fact that less material has been used," adds Johannes Barckmann. To first of all quantify and then verify the lightweight potential of a bionically designed structure, this approach had previously been used in the design of the bonnet of a production vehicle, and then calculated. It goes without saying, of course, that in extremely lightweight concepts of this type any requirements regarding torsional and flexural stiffness and pedestrian protection must be met. The ensuing result was a spider-like, hollow structure designed for an assembly of aluminium profiles of different thicknesses. The calculation results confirmed two things: that the stability requirements were met, and that a weight saving of approx. 25 % was achieved with this bonnet.

The EDAG designers took nature as their inspiration for the ultimate, lightweight outer skin. The leaf of a plant served as the blueprint for the innovative design of the body shell. Just like the structure of a leaf, which has a lightweight outer skin stretched over it, a lightweight protective skin covers the 'EDAG Light Cocoon' – though in this case, it is made of a textile fabric. In Jack Wolfskin, outdoor specialists, the ideal project partner was found to supply a tried and tested stretch fabric that is also extremely weatherproof, to serve as the new outer body skin. "For us, the fascinating thing about the 'EDAG Light Cocoon' is the combination of two technological innovations – the vehicle structure, fully bionically optimised by EDAG, and the lightweight Jack Wolfskin TEXAPORE SOFTSHELL O2+ weather protection material," explained Elke Stein, Jack Wolfskin's Director of Marketing. "We see this as a chance to make an innovative mark beyond the limits of the outdoor sector – and EDAG is the perfect partner here."

TEXAPORE SOFTSHELL O2+ is a triple-layered polyester jersey fabric, which is extremely lightweight, durable and watertight. The material's excellent elasticity is what qualified it for the bionic structure of the 'EDAG Light Cocoon', as it can provide a perfect fit und accentuate it to perfection. Thanks to an LED back light concept, the interaction between light, structure and fabric created an attractive - and above all - innovative vehicle design. "Even if it sounds futuristic to begin with, this approach has its own special appeal: weighing no more than 19 g/m², the Jack Wolfskin materials support maximum lightweight design requirements with minimum weight. TEXAPORE Softshell, which is what we use, weighs just 154 g/m², making it one of the lightest TEXAPORE materials on offer," comments EDAG CEO Jörg Ohlsen. "Combined with the bionically inspired, 3D-printed structure, it offers enormous potential and stimulus for the ultimate lightweight construction of the future."

Additive manufacturing methods (3D-print) might make it possible to implement bionic structures in the future

It is a well known fact that nature provides a perfect blueprint for technical products. The creation of such complex structures as the 'EDAG Light Cocoon' was hitherto a technical impossibility. Current advances in additive manufacturing have brought this aim one step closer to reality.

Reason enough for EDAG to use this technology for the creation of the current EDAG concept cars. The potential of additive manufacturing for the automotive industry can be described as revolutionary: it might become possible for complex structures to be produced without tools and in a single step, opening up unthought of freedom for developers. Even if there is no way of knowing today whether the production of structure-relevant components will be possible in the medium term, a number of initial applications, e.g. in car interiors, are now within reach.

The EDAG Group will continue to keep a close watch on the evolution of additive manufacturing. The target: to develop practicable and valid applications for use in component development and production. Engineering specialists EDAG plan to present a number of bonnet variants using different materials and additive manufacturing methods at this year's IAA in Frankfurt.

"With the futuristic concept of our 'EDAG Light Cocoon', we hope to stimulate the discussion about the future of lightweight construction and automobile production. As an engineering company, we see it as our task to make sure that we are today already working on future technologies and completely new approaches to vehicle development. When it comes down to it, working on concept car projects like the 'EDAG Light Cocoon' enables us to build up additional competencies within our teams, while at the same time also encouraging people to think outside the box and tread new paths in order to achieve the best possible technical solutions," explains Jörg Ohlsen, CEO of EDAG Engineering AG. "The focus of people like us, who develop the cars of tomorrow, must always be on the day after tomorrow."

"EDAG Light Cocoon": the ultimate in lightweight construction based on nature's example!

"EDAG LIGHT COCOON": THE ULTIMATE IN LIGHTWEIGHT CONSTRUCTION

BRILLIANT WORLD PREMIERE AT THE GENEVA MOTOR SHOW 2015.

The "EDAG Light Cocoon" is not just a concept study of a compact, dynamic sports car, but also an unprecedented projection of the ultimate in future lightweight construction: a complete, bionically optimised vehicle structure combined with a weatherproof textile outer skin panel, which marks a new dimension for lightweight construction and automobile aesthetics: backlight technology illuminates the skeleton-like, organic structure, and brings the "EDAG Light Cocoon" to life.

Also involved in this extraordinary and visionary concept are outdoor specialists Jack Wolfskin. Their outdoor textile "Texapore Softshell" provides ideal weather protection for the "EDAG Light Cocoon".

Following the success of the EDAG GENESIS this spring, engineering specialists EDAG have expanded their vision of a bionically inspired body structure. In order to be able to implement bionic construction principles and natural strategies, additive manufacturing potential has also been put to use in the "EDAG Light Cocoon".

"We are pursuing the vision of sustainability – as demonstrated by nature: lightweight, efficient, and without any waste," explains EDAG's head designer, Johannes Barckmann. "The result: the 'EDAG Light Cocoon' presents a stable, branch-like load bearing structure from the 3D printer, which only uses material where it is absolutely necessary."

Instead of treating the body as a closed surface here, any material not actually needed for the special load cases was removed. EDAG's simulation experts carried out static and dynamic calculations for the basics of this topologically optimised ideal structure, and in this way helped to confirm its suitability as a potential lightweight concept.

The EDAG designers took a leaf as their inspiration for the ultimate, lightweight outer skin. Just as with a leaf, which has an ideal structure with a lightweight outer skin stretched over it, a textile skin covers the "EDAG Light Cocoon". In Jack Wolfskin, outdoor specialists, the ideal project partner was found to supply a tried and tested stretch fabric that is also extremely weatherproof, to serve as the new outer body skin. "Even if it sounds futuristic to begin with, this approach has a its own special appeal: weighing no more than 19 g/m², the Jack Wolfskin material supports maximum lightweight design requirements with minimum weight.

To give you a comparison: this extremely strong material is four times lighter than standard copier paper," points out EDAG CTO Jörg Ohlsen. "Combined with the topologically optimised, additively manufactured structure, it offers enormous potential and stimulus for the ultimate lightweight construction of the future."

"EDAG Light Cocoon": the ultimate in lightweight construction based on nature's example!

SOURCE: EDAG