4 CELESTE

The devices of embarked Power Electronics make allow to convert and manage the electric power with flexibility and effectiveness. They must meet increasing needs for applications ranging from a few Watts (food for wandering systems, house automation, car...) up to tens of MW (heavy industry, maritime propulsion, etc). The 4CELESTE project more specifically aims to fabricate ceramic condensators of colossal capacity being possibly used as energy assistance in the field of hybrid transports (diesel-electric), in particular the railway ones. 4CELESTE is based on a innovating process of multimaterials prototyping, derived from the ink jet printing techniques, for the shaping in only one stage of a network of discrete elementary capacitors arranged according to ultra-compact 3D architectures integrating connectors. The 4CELESTE consortium includes 6 partners divided into 3 entities with complementary skills which interact in order to undertake an integrated research targeted towards the application. Each entity associates an academic partner and an industrial partner in order to care for the industrial aspects with each key stage of the project. The SPCTS laboratory (UMR CNRS 6638) and the CERADROP spin-off (prize winner of the contest of assistance to the creation of innovating companies of the French Ministry of Research in 2005 and 2006), are at the core of the project. This entity is in charge of the formulation of colloidal suspensions (or inks) specific to the chosen prototyping process, then of the shaping of the devices. The CIRIMAT laboratory (UMR CNRS 5085) associated and MARION TECHNOLOGIES have to synthesize the adapted dielectric ceramic powders (morphology, size, specific surface...). On the basis of skills developed within the framework of the French National Platform of Flash Sintering, the CIRIMAT is also responsible for the consolidation of the devices provided jointly by SPCTS and CERADROP. Finally, the entity gathering the LAPLACE laboratory (UMR CNRS 5213) and one of the world leaders of the infrastructures of energy and transport, ALSTOM (represented by its common laboratory with CNRS named PEARL), is the client. This entity defines, upstream, the specifications of devices (architecture/functionality, dimensioning, expected properties) according to perfectly identified industrial needs. It validates, downstream, the electric properties of devices and other key parameters such as the costs. An environmental aspect is added to the clearly posted industrial goals of 4CELESTE. The devices should indeed make it possible to better use the various sources of energy available in the hybrid systems and, thus, to limit fossil fuel consumption and pollutant emissions.