5 questions to Jesús Castillo (Andaltec)

Meet Jesus Castillo, a mechanical engineer working as an R&D project manager at Andaltec, a Spanish plastic technological centre. As one of ESSIAL’s partners, Jesus answered 5 questions about his role in the project, the achievements and the next steps.

Question: Can you tell us a bit about yourself and Andaltec?

My name is Jesus Castillo, I am a mechanical engineer. I am currently working as R&D project manager in Andaltec, which is a plastic technological centre located in the south of Spain. At Andaltec we develop different kinds of project with the particularity that in a lot of them involve plastic materials. For example, we are working on projects regarding renewable energy by using plastic materials, on projects regarding the development of green raw material that are more sustainable with the environment. Or also, projects like ESSIAL in which we use laser welding technology to join plastic to metal.

Q: What is your role in ESSIAL?

We are mainly working on the assembly process of the electrical machines developed for this project using laser and plastic technology. By means of this technology, we hope to develop products with a simpler disassembly process, including the recyclability and reuse of components at the end of its useful life.

Q: Why did Andaltec decide to take part in the project?

We started working on this project because we think it have a huge potential. For example, with the increase of electrical cars, the demand of the electrical engine is increasing quickly. And therefore, if in this project we achieve to reduce the energy losses by 25% - like it is expected - the project results will be revolutionary.

Q: What are the achievements so far?

We have made a selection of plastic materials that could meet our requirements which actually are very few. In addition, we have carried our trial on samples with the research factory result in terms of mechanical and thermal assistant.

Q: What are the next steps?

The next steps will be to develop and carry out a strategy for the assembly of real prototypes using plastic metal laser welding technology. And in addition, we will have to carry out mechanical and thermal resistant tests as well as engine tests to verify that the product will meet our requirements throughout its whole lifetime.

In conclusion, we think that the project has a huge potential because we try to improve the effectiveness and to improve the assembly process of electrical machines. We expect to have a satisfactory result with this project.