At the international trade fair "Ideas - Inventions - Innovations" iENA 2024 in Nuremberg, scientists from TU Ilmenau did extremely well in the awards for the best inventions: they received three gold, four silver and one bronze medal. Over 500 inventions from 30 countries were presented at this year's inventors' fair. The twelve 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 Technische Universität Ilmenau. Representatives of the media are cordially invited to attend.
With more than 20 patent applications per year, TU Ilmenau is one of the most inventive universities in Germany. According to the latest study by the German Economic Institute, the TU Ilmenau ranks third among all universities in Germany in terms of patent activity after the Bergakademie Freiberg and the Hannover Medical School.
These inventions and innovations are presented by the patent management of Thuringian universities at the annual international trade fair "Ideas - Inventions - Innovations" iENA in Nuremberg. The Patent Management of 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. This year, over 500 inventions from 260 exhibitors from 30 countries, from Algeria to the United States of America, were assessed by an international jury of experts. Twelve inventions from Thuringian universities were honored, seven of them by scientists from TU Ilmenau alone.
A team of researchers 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 at the same time 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, also received 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. Misalignment of the conductor tracks to the contacts, which was previously common, is also completely avoided. Compared to previous manufacturing processes, the revolutionary 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, who, together with KOMPASS GmbH, are developing a monitoring system for monitoring the emission of greenhouse gases from moors using innovative wireless sensor technology in the COMSENS+ research project, which is funded by the Thüringer Aufbaubank via the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). 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.
