Inventors stepping on the gas
Endress+Hauser celebrates new record in patent applications
The innovation motor keeps running at Endress+Hauser: 219 patent applications and a total of six awards were celebrated by the Group's inventors who came together for the eleventh Innovators' Meeting. The Basel Pantheon, Switzerland's biggest vintage car forum, was the perfect setting.
The stage at the Basel Pantheon, Switzerland's biggest vintage car forum, was truly impressive. Many highlights from automotive history are displayed on a 250 meter spiral ramp. And right in the middle, at the center of the circular building, was the stage for the eleventh Innovators' Meeting. More than 300 inventors throughout the Endress+Hauser Group came together to present their inventions, exchange experience and, of course, to celebrate.
"2010 was an excellent year for Endress+Hauser, and also for our spirit of innovation,” said Michael Ziesemer, Chief Operating Officer of the Endress+Hauser Group. "Last year we filed 219 inventions for patents - that's a new record.” The three "Patent Rights Incentive Awards” for patents with special business relevance, each with a cash prize of 15,000 euros, went to inventors from the production centers Endress+Hauser Conducta, Endress+Hauser Flowtec and Endress+Hauser Maulburg. The certificates and trophies were presented by Michael Ziesemer and CEO Klaus Endress.
Outstanding inventions
Dr Dietmar Spanke, Edgar Schmitt, Marc Baret and Yong Jin (from left) optimized echo tracking of level measurement instruments with radar engineering.
With their invention, Marc Baret, Edgar Schmitt, Dr Dietmar Spanke and Jin Yong of Endress+Hauser Maulburg, the production center for level and pressure measurement, have enhanced the measurement reliability of radar level measurement instruments. "Until recently, the most powerful echo was considered to be the level echo when using level measurements with echo tracking,” explains Marc Baret. "But, since parts such as agitators in the tanks can also generate echoes beside the actual medium, a static decision is not always correct.” The four inventors have now developed a method in which every echo is continuously recorded and identified. The level echo is now determined from the dynamics of the echo and from previously recorded values. This method substantially increases the measurement reliability.
Frank Voigt (left) and Werner Wohlgemuth advanced the measuring accuracy of inductive flow meters.
Frank Voigt and Werner Wohlgemuth of Endress+Hauser Flowtec, the specialist for flow measurement, have optimized the measuring accuracy of inductive flow meters with their invention. "Our instruments are often exposed to massive fluctuations in temperature when in contact with process media. To make sure that the instrument reflects the flow accurately over its entire life cycle, the geometry of the measuring tube must remain constant and stable,” explains Frank Voigt. To guarantee this constancy and stability, the two inventors modified the carrier tube and the open-pore sintered bronze support element such that substantially fewer material tensions caused by temperature fluctuations occur in the measuring tube.
Making remote calibration of pH sensors possible: Dr Detlev Wittmer, Dr Torsten Pechstein and Dr Hermann Straub (from left).
Dr Torsten Pechstein, Dr Hermann Straub and Dr Detlev Wittmer of Endress+Hauser Conducta, the competence center for liquid analysis, have substantially improved the calibration potential of Memosens pH sensors. "We've managed to store essential operational and calibration data in the semiconductor memory of the pH sensor,” explains Detlev Wittmer. Using this memory chip allows calibration to be undertaken in the laboratory and therefore remote from the measuring point. This used to be impossible in pH sensors. The new method cuts plant downtime substantially, increases the quality of the calibration and, what is more, allows entirely new maintenance and service concepts. "All this results in substantial cost savings among users, which our key accounts worldwide corroborate,” says Detlev Wittmer.
Beside the patent awards, this was also the first event where outstanding improvements in business processes were honored for the first time. The 'Process Innovation Awards', with a cash prize of 10,000 euros, went to teams in the production centers Endress+Hauser Flowtec and Endress+Hauser Process Solutions and to the production site of Endress+Hauser Maulburg in Stahnsdorf near Berlin.