Laboratories and R&D

Developing and designing tomorrow's solutions for the energy transition

Woman in white coats and glasses in a laboratory

As the world undergoes a major energy transition,

our R&D teams, split into specialist fields of activity and working in close proximity to our customers around the world, apply their many years of experience and industry standards to develop products and services that precisely target customer needs.

We continue to develop and invest in our R&D teams and laboratories, who are designing tomorrow’s solutions with a view to anticipating the future and driving technological developments.

A network of 13 test, research and development laboratories worldwide, supported by an annual investment of around €15 million.

Design

Digital simulation of an electrical cabinet

To encourage creativity and responsiveness, our teams work in a multidisciplinary, complementary way, with a wide range of design tools at their disposal: modeling, simulation and prototyping.

From design through to production, we control product performance and environmental impact throughout the entire life cycle, taking into account all related constraints, risks and opportunities, and using development methods based on international standards.

MODELLING

We use state-of-the-art design tools (mechanical, electronic and software), enabling rapid visualization, a high degree of flexibility and the optimization of our developed products.

Standardized across the Group, these tools facilitate a responsive and collaborative approach between our teams around the world.

SIMULATION

To ensure we provide the best possible technical solutions, our products undergo rigorous testing from the start of our design process, before the prototyping stage. With our digital, mechanical, electrical and electronic simulation tools, we can efficiently explore our solutions and model their development behavior.

PROTOTYPING

In order to test and substantiate the expected behavior of our products, we produce full-scale prototypes adapted to project maturity, thus optimizing development time and costs.

Testing, qualification and external services

We are continually investing

in our capacities to test and analyze our products’ performance, via our renowned test laboratories located across the world. These laboratories contribute to developing our solutions in both the investigation and qualification phases.

Mechanical

We verify the performance of our products via mechanical testing, such as tensile, vibration and bending tests, using a set of specialized test benches which meet the validation criteria of all global standards.

Product ageing tests in Sicame's Pompadour laboratory

Electrical

From low to high voltage, DC or AC, we conduct voltage-withstand, short-circuit, accelerated aging and overload tests on specially designed test benches.

Climatic testing machine in the Dervaux laboratory

Environmental

We are equipped with a number of environmental chambers which are used to recreate a range of different weather conditions (heat, low temperatures, humidity, salt spray, sunlight), in order to test, adapt and qualify our products.

Machine that checks the material of a product in one of our laboratories

Materials

Our dedicated laboratories qualify the synthetic materials used in the manufacture of our products in accordance with all international criteria: mechanical, physico-chemical, electrical and fire resistance standards.

Electrical safety test laboratory at Catu, a Sicame Group subsidiary

Qualifications

Our laboratories are recognized in many fields, including aeronautics, automotive, electrical networks and railways.

To meet our customers' requirements for competence and impartiality in the energy world, our laboratory ecosystem is accredited to IEC 17025.

Mechanical testing of a product in Sicame India's laboratory

External services

As recognized experts, we are attentive to the needs of our partners and market players, and offer services in our laboratories, whose testing facilities help to meet customer demand.

Standardization

Logos of standards bodies of which the Group is a member: IEC, IEEE, ASTM, ANSI, AFNOR, CEN, CIRED, CIGRÉ

Through our involvement and the presence of our recognized experts within the ecosystem, we actively contribute to the drafting of standards and technical publications that will be applicable in the future.

With a worldwide presence, the Group participates in the work of the main French (AFNOR), European (CEN) and international (IEC, IEEE, ASTM, ANSI) standards bodies.

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