MANN+HUMMEL Centrale Nantes Chair

2014 - 2018 | 2019 - 2023 | 2024 - 2028

Since 2014, Centrale Nantes and the international MANN+HUMMEL group have been collaborating on an international research chair, which has been extended twice.

MANN+HUMMEL Centrale Nantes Chair 2024-2028: 'Energy efficiency of filtration systems'

In February 2024, Centrale Nantes and MANN+HUMMEL extended their partnership to continue exploring new solutions to improve air quality with sustainable systems that are notably more energy-efficient.

Air quality standards are becoming increasingly stringent. Whether at home, at work, at school or on our means of transport, we spend an average of 85% of our time in confined spaces. Indoor air quality (IAQ) is a public health concern. A main thrust of the partnership with the Research Laboratory in Hydrodynamics, Energetics & Atmospheric Environment (LHEEA) at Centrale Nantes is to develop innovative systems that are more energy-efficient, using a systemic approach to MANN+HUMMEL’s filtration solutions.

The team led by chairholder Professor David Chalet, at Centrale Nantes, and Jérôme Migaud, Director of Innovation and Advanced Technologies at MANN+HUMMEL, has made significant advances in air quality in confined and semi-confined spaces. Major improvements have been made to the air quality of an electric vehicle thanks to innovations linked to the air conditioning system, which deliver greater filtration efficiency combined with lower energy consumption, thereby extending the vehicle's range. In the same vein, solutions have been developed to filter the air on railway station platforms, in order to improve air quality. A trial is currently underway in an underground railway station in Paris.

This new five-year research chair will provide support for four engineers, a PhD student and several Master’s student internships. The new partnership will focus on improving air quality with lower energy needs, as well as research into the filtration systems needed for low-emission, low-carbon propulsion technologies, a key driver of the sustainable mobility of the future. It follows on from collaborative work that began more than 15 years ago in the form of theses and collaborative projects.

MANN+HUMMEL Centrale Nantes Chair 2019-2023: 'Filtration systems: fluid dynamics and reduced energy consumption.'

The Mann + Hummel Group and Centrale Nantes renewed their chair in 2019. The new scope of this international teaching and research chair for the automotive industry concerns clean automobile engines focusing on filtration systems: fluid dynamics and reduced energy consumption.
 
Growing environmental awareness on the part of populations and governments is leading European legislators to intensify the use of new anti-pollution standards. Technical improvements are no longer sufficient to meet increasing demand. In addition, current environmental concerns also relate to air quality. Indeed, whether in closed (such as vehicle interiors) or semi-open environments (such as platforms in public transit systems), significant improvements are still needed. The improvement of air quality can be achieved in particular through the use of filtering systems and can be approached along three main lines:
 

• Optimization of internal combustion engines to reduce fuel consumption (and therefore CO2 emissions) while maintaining acceptable driving pleasure;
• Concerns associated with driver well-being, both in terms of thermal comfort in the passenger compartment and air quality (CO2, particles, etc.). To do this, technical solutions can be put in place but with the lowest possible energy impact so as not to reduce the vehicle's range.
• Air quality in semi-open environments such as station platforms through the use of filtration systems.

The aim of this five-year collaboration is to develop innovative filtration systems to improve the air quality of the environments studied, while reducing the energy consumption of the entire system. This includes vehicle interiors, station platforms and engine systems. A dedicated research team is composed of engineers and PhD students.

MANN+HUMMEL Centrale Nantes Chair 2014-2018: 'Innovative intake manifolds and thermal management'

The automotive component supplier, MANN+HUMMEL, and Centrale Nantes signed an agreement to create the teaching and research chair within the field of clean energy vehicles, specifically innovative intake manifolds and thermal management'.
The chair lasted for five years, starting 1st January 2014, and has supported three engineers, an assistant engineer, three PhD students, five Master students and two post-docs at Centrale Nantes. It followed on from collaborative work which commenced more than eight years earlier in the form of theses and collaborative projects.

The regulatory environment for the reduction of polluting emissions and CO2 from internal combustion engines is a major challenge for MANN + HUMMEL. Working with the LHEEA laboratory (Hydrodynamics, Energetics & Atmospheric Environment) was designed to broaden knowledge of future technological innovation relating to powertrain mechanisms.
 
The research themes were:

• Air intake systems,
• Thermal engine management.

With regards to these two themes, David Chalet, Professor at Centrale Nantes, and head of the chair, was in charge of developing new courses and contributing to the research work. This partnership allowed Centrale Nantes to finance high level scientific research within one of its fields of expertise, particularly with regard to air intake systems and energy management within a vehicle.

This chair enabled both establishments to benefit from a collaborative working environment equipped with excellent experimental facilities. Within the framework of this research, MANN+HUMMEL had access to a dedicated engine test bench on the Centrale Nantes campus as well as preferential access to other test facilities.