Wormsensing collaborated with Holst Centre on industrial ramp-up acceleration.
From lab to plant in just 1 year
Following a successful fundraising in 2022, Wormsensing initiated the setup of its industrial production line, targeting industrial operability by the end of 2023.
To achieve this goal and maximize the chances of success of such an undertaking, Wormsensing called on the services of the TNO at Holst Centre in Eindhoven (Netherlands), a research and innovation organization specializing in microelectronics with strong expertise in flexible electronics.
Supporting the implementation of Wormsensing pilot line
The first work package of the collaboration aimed at evaluating among several technological paths identified by Wormsensing the best route to manufacture Dragonfly® sensors on an industrial scale. In this benchmark, the TNO at Holst Centre suggested other paths developed in-house to be included. The desired outcome was not only a selection of building blocks but also a typology of equipment and associated materials as well as consumables.
The results provided by TNO at Holst Centre not only enabled Wormsensing to validate the appropriate technological pass, but also drastically decreased risks on the acquisition of the required equipment for its pilot line.
The second work package was basically a support to produce pre-series of Dragonfly® batches, enabling Wormsensing to supply its early adopters while the production line was being set up.
As it turned out, the first work package was more effective than expected, and Wormsensing was up and running faster than planned.
In the process of this collaboration, TNO at Holst Centre has also been able to expand its panel of knowledge in material integration.
“As a result of the close collaboration on the implementation of an assembly process for Wormsensing-technology a new level of high-tech materials integration was achieved for printing and bonding processes while broadening the application field for Holst developed technologies”, says Roel Kusters, Senior engineer in Integration Technologies for flexible systems at Holst Center.
A pilot line up and running within a tight timeframe
This successful and efficient collaboration led to the inauguration of the pilot line, named Hyperion, in early 2024. Hyperion has not only a capacity of 2 million sensor/year, making it the first tool to massively produce Dragonfly® sensors to supply the company first markets, but it can also keep R&D processes running for custom demands and future products developments.
“We were able to conduct a stress test campaign in November 2023, that was originally scheduled early 2024. It demonstrated excellent results in terms of throughput, yield, and quality. We are therefore in time on our production schedule and can safely focus on product improvement to make Dragonfly® product line up meet our customers sharp requirements”, says Lamine Benaissa, Wormsensing CTO and co-founder.
The collaboration continues, in a continuous improvement mode, to support Wormsensing on R&D process needs Lately, TNO at Holst Centre and Wormsensing were able to take operating temperature resistance a step further for the sensors to withstand the harshest environments and address wider markets.