At the international trade fair "Ideas - Inventions - Innovations" iENA 2023 in Nuremberg, scientists from TU Ilmenau did extremely well in the awards for the best inventions: they received three gold, four silver and two bronze medals. Over 500 inventions from 29 countries were presented at this year's inventors' fair. The 15 winning research teams from Thuringian universities and research institutions will be presented with their medals at a ceremony organized by the Thuringia State Patent Centre PATON on 12 December at TU Ilmenau.Representatives of the media are cordially invited to attend.
With an average of 20 patent applications per year, TU Ilmenau is one of the most inventive universities in Thuringia. According to a study by the German Economic Institute, the university registered the most patents of all German universities in relation to the number of employees between 2010 and 2019. In the ranking of the total number of patents registered, TU Ilmenau came in a remarkable 8th place - ahead of only much larger and financially stronger universities.
These inventions and innovations are presented by the Thuringia State Patent Center PATON, which is responsible for the patent management of all Thuringian universities, at the annual international trade fair "Ideas - Inventions - Innovations" iENA 2023 in Nuremberg. This year, over 500 inventions from 200 exhibitors from 29 countries and regions, including Germany, France, Canada, Korea, Taiwan and China, were assessed by an international jury of experts. 15 inventions were honoredThuringian universities, nine of them by scientists from the TU Ilmenau alone.
A team of researchers led by Prof. Jean-Pierre Bergmann, Head of the Production Technology Group at the Department of Mechanical Engineering, received a gold medal for a novel process for manufacturing tools for friction stir welding. Friction stir welding is a welding process used to join two opposing workpieces without melting the workpiece material. A tool is used, the manufacture of which is made more efficient with the new process and which therefore has a higher performance. The process can now be used to manufacture tools in a wide range of sectors, such as the electrical industry, automotive engineering, shipbuilding and the aerospace industry.
Prof. Eberhard Manske, Prof. Thomas Fröhlich and their research team from the Institute of Process Measurement and Sensor Technology also received a gold medal for a process for actively stabilizing the refractive index of air or gas density in a measuring chamber. With the new method, the interfering influences for optical length measurements and scales, in particular air pressure, temperature and humidity, can now be controlled in such a way that the resulting measurement uncertainties are reduced by a factor of a thousand compared to conventional methods. In addition, the stabilization of the refractive index of the measuring chambers reduces the climatic demands on the measuring rooms, thereby conserving resources.
Dr. Alexander Hunold from the Group of Biomedical Engineering and his research team also received a gold medal for an innovative method of application configuration for stimulation in humans. The method is used in medical therapies to stimulate certain regions of the brain with current of varying intensity via electrodes, among other things. The wide range of applications extends from the treatment of visual impairment to post-stroke therapy or depression.
Ceremonial event with presentation of the iENA inventor medals:
12.12.2023, 1 p.m.
TU Ilmenau, Senatssaal, Langewiesener Straße 37, 98693 Ilmenau
Contact
Sascha Erfurt
PATON | State Patent Center Thuringia
+49 3677 69-4569
paton.pth@tu-ilmenau.de
