Michelin worldwide
Western Europe
Eastern Europe
115000
Employees
69
Asia
(without India)
North America
Production facilities
in 18 countries
184 M
10M
maps & guides in
15 languages (2011)
South America
Africa, India
and the Middle East
1
Tires produced/year
Michelin Research & Technology ─ General Presentation
Michelin Research and Technology
Created in 1996 in Fribourg, Switzerland, to meet the challenges of sustainable mobility
75 people (50% with a strong engineer background)
15 years of R&D in activities « out of the scope » of tires
Electrical, mechanical and chemical engineering all together
Photovoltaic panels system (55m²) capturing solar energy to produce hydrogen through
electrolysis
Capacity: 20 000 km/year driven thanks to hydrogen produced
Designed facilities ensure top quality tests for our components and technological
concepts
2
Michelin Research & Technology ─ General Presentation
Zero emission technologies were right from the
beginning a « no-brainer »
Electric Motor
Batteries
Motorized Wheel
Supercapacitor
Systems using electrical
energy onboard
Active wheel
Energy consumption
3
Systems producing electrical
energy onboard
Energy management
Michelin Research & Technology ─ General Presentation
Fuel Cell
Retax project in a nutshell
The goal of RETAX is to explore intrinsically safe and efficient solutions for mid-size
rotorcraft autonomous taxiing on ground and to select the most promising solution and
develop it into a technical demonstrator to be tested and verified.
The former experience of Michelin in electric-drive solutions will be used and translated into
a rotorcraft electric taxiing system integrated with the landing gear
A real demonstrator of the electric-drive system will be designed, engineered and built.
→ it’s a significant step towards greener rotorcraft operations
March 2011
December 2011
Retax project
Kick of meeting
Preliminary
Design Review
(solution
evaluation)
October 2011
October 2013
December 2013
Critical Design
Review
Physical
demonstrator
Final tests
results
Retax project Milestones
4
Michelin Research & Technology ─ General Presentation
Example of maneuver and taxiing zone
Loading
zone
Take-off
zone
Hangar
5
Michelin Research & Technology ─ General Presentation
Projet RETAX
Dissemination strategy
Dissemination strategy - Intent
Focus
2012
7
Michelin Research & Technology ─ General Presentation
Retax website
• English website
• Hosting:
Two url : www.retax-project.org and
www.retax-project.com
Stand-alone solution
• Followed principles:
Flexible tool, easy to update - web
interface with a CMS (Content
Management System / Open
Source) allowing content updates
The goal is to be fully referenced
and listed in search engines
8
Michelin Research & Technology ─ General Presentation
Recommendations
Good :
Availability and reactivity of Clean Sky staff
Average :
Visibility of Clean Sky
synergies with other JTIs?
reach out to other sectors (energy, military, car)
Food for thought :
Actual communication vs the submitted strategy depends on:
• ad-hoc evaluation and milestones of the project
• on the industrial partner
• project very close to market launch or not
• IPR situation
9
Michelin Research & Technology ─ General Presentation
Thank you
10
Michelin Research & Technology ─ General Presentation