TU Ilmenau performed outstandingly at the international trade fair "Ideas - Inventions - Innovations" iENA 2024 in Nuremberg. The scientists received three gold, four silver and one bronze medal. This means that the university’s patents are among the best from over 500 submissions from 30 countries.
A research team from the Institute of Process Measurement and Sensor Technology at TU Ilmenau led by Prof. Thomas Fröhlich received a gold medal for an invention that measures temperature and simultaneously protects the measuring device from direct sunlight. A movable aperture is used to determine and correct the influence of the sun’s rays when measuring air temperature, so that the temperature can be measured much more accurately.
Dr. Nesrine Jaziri and Prof. Jens Müller, Head of the Electronics Technology Group , were also awarded a gold medal for the development of a precise process for the production of ceramic-based microelectronic circuit carriers. Using thick-film technology, the research team succeeded in reducing the structural resolution of conductor tracks from 100 micrometers to less than 20 micrometers, i.e. less than 20 thousandths of a millimeter. The usual misalignment of the conductor tracks to the contacts is also completely avoided. Compared to previous manufacturing processes, the new method from TU Ilmenau also saves material, time and energy.
A third gold medal was awarded to two scientists from TU Ilmenau, Prof. Jörg Robert, head of the Group for Dependable Machine-to-Machine Communication , and Tim Hemmecke. Together with KOMPASS GmbH in the COMSENS+ research project, which is funded by the Thüringer Aufbaubank via the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF), they have set up a monitoring system for monitoring the emission of greenhouse gases from peatlands using innovative wireless sensor technology. As moors are excellent climate protectors - in their natural state they store more carbon than all the world’s forests combined - moorland areas that have been drained for agriculture are to be rewetted.
The inventions and innovations will be supervised by the Patent Management of Thuringian Universities. The Patent Management Thuringian Universities, which is part of the Thuringian State Patent Center PATON located at the TU Ilmenau, supports all Thuringian universities in the field of industrial property rights. Dr. Christoph Hoock, Head of the State Patent Centre Thuringia, underlines the importance of the award-winning inventions for a sustainable future:
It is impressive to see how sustainability goals such as the environment, energy efficiency and climate protection are addressed by the high-tech inventions. These developments show how closely technological excellence and social responsibility are linked.
The following inventions from TU Ilmenau were awarded three silver and one bronze medal:
Packaging architecture for superconducting electronic systems, Dr.-Ing. Heike Bartsch, Prof. Dr.-Ing. Jens Müller, Dr. rer. nat. Jörg Pezoldt, Kateryna Soloviova and Prof. Hannes Töpfer
The invention addresses superconducting electronics, which in the future will offer solutions for highly sensitive quantum sensor technology and efficient quantum circuits. The solution is based on the use of multilayer ceramic circuits, which offer an interface between classical packaging and interconnection technology and quantum electronics through an adapted surface architecture.
Broadband multispectral camera, Dr.-Ing. Maik Rosenberger, Dipl.-Ing. Richard Fütterer and Dr.-Ing. Peter Brückner
The core idea of this invention is a camera that captures visible light as well as near and short-wave infrared radiation. This enables it to analyze materials and plants more precisely and offers a wide range of possible applications, for example in agriculture to analyze the damage to forests or materials research.
Observer of atoms - method for sub-nm precise control of coupled over-actuated positioning systems, M. Sc. Alex Smith and Huaman Loayza
The progressive miniaturization of technical products is leading to a growing demand in many industrial sectors for precision machines that can be used to measure and process the smallest structures and objects with high accuracy. A new control concept for the compensation of interference forces makes a major contribution to increasing the precision of the drive systems required for this.
Spring device, Dr. Ann-Kathrin Kügler, Dr. Wolfram Kaiser, Prof. Dr.-Ing. habil. Lena Zentner, Dr. Stefan Griebel
The invention relates to a spring device comprising a first and a second suspension element and a plurality of constant-force spring elements. The suspension elements are suspended so as to be movable relative to one another in a spring direction (y-direction) via the constant-force spring elements. The constant force spring elements are grouped together in packages with translation symmetry, whereby the individual packages are arranged with rotational symmetry to one another. For a compact design, the spring assemblies are also arranged in different planes, whereby the moments generated during springing cancel each other out to advantage. Areas of application include precision weighing technology and the suspension of fuel cells.
