AMA Innovation Award 2018 with two Winning Teams
The AMA Association for Sensors and Measurement (AMA) conferred the AMA Innovation Award 2018 on two developer teams at the SENSOR+TEST 2018 at Nuremberg.
The jury, comprising representatives from science and industry, declared that both submissions were highly innovative approaches with clearly discernible market relevance. The prize money of 10,000 euros went to the miniaturized and highly integrated environmental sensor BME680 from Bosch Sensortec and to the thermometer itherm TrustSens TM37x with an automatic in-situ calibration function from Endress+Hauser and the Ilmenau Technical University in equal parts.
Bosch BME680 – First Miniaturized Chemical Gas Sensor
The Bosch BME680 is the first integrated 4-in-1 sensor module that combines pressure, temperature, and humidity sensors with a MEMS gas sensor. Thus, a new measuring parameter was developed for CE & IoT applications. The basis for the innovation were the high requirements in the CE & IoT market as opposed to the state of the art, especially in regard to system intelligence, device size, power consumption, reliability, as well as industrialization and scalability in production volume. Up to now these were major hurdles in establishing a chemical parameter for gas on an industrial scale and for mass production. Today, the first devices in the area of IoT and smart homes are available on the market.
The jury and the AMA Association extend their congratulations to the developer team:
Dr. Richard Fix, Dr. Thomas Block, Dr. Herbert Verhoeven and their colleagues (Bosch Sensortec GmbH, Reutlingen)
Thermometer with Automatic In-Situ Calibration Function in Process
The other innovation to win the award is the itherm TrustSens TM37x, a thermometer with automatic in-situ calibration function during processing. Parallel to the resistor sensor, a ferro-electric reference element with a known Curie temperature as a temperature etalon is integrated for its measuring function. If the process temperature causes a phase transformation, the measurement deviation of the digital temperature value from the Curie temperature is determined and the thermometer is calibrated anew. This automatic, nonreactive calibration is performed without extension of the thermometer directly in the process. Thus, cost and effort for calibrations are considerably reduced.
The jury and the AMA Association congratulate the developer team: Dr. Pavo Vrdoljak, Christian Stöger, Michael Korn, Harald Bründl, Alfred Umkehrer (Endress+Hauser, Nesselwang) and Dr. Marc Schalles (Ilmenau Technical University).
Two Special Awards for “Young Enterprises”
The special award in the category “Young Enterprises 2018” also went to two developer teams. The team with Dr. Matthäus Langosch (CeLaGo Sensors, Saarbrücken) convinced the jury with a thinfilm strain gauge. The team with Houssam El Moutaouaki (SENVISYS, Saarbrücken) wins with the development of an efficient and safe railroad level crossing by means of vibration analysis. Both developer teams received a free-of-charge trade fair presence at the SENSOR+TEST 2018.
Sensors and Measuring as Innovation Drivers of Technology
“This year 34 projects were submitted from Germany and abroad. The developments were innovative, original, and mostly market relevant. The two winning projects convinced the jury with scientifically outstanding solutions and clearly identifiable utility,” explained jury chair Professor Andreas Schütze from the Saarland University. “From my perspective, the overall winners are always the user industries, since many of the submissions are approaches from sensor and measuring technology to solutions that are the innovation drivers for technical advance,” added Schütze.
Brochure with All Submissions 2018
The AMA Innovation Award is among the most renowned awards in sensors and measurement for many years and is conferred annually by the AMA Association. All accepted submissions are published with a brief description of the innovation in the brochure “AMA Innovation Award 2018 – the Contenders,” which can be downloaded online.
Competition for the Innovation Award 2019
Application forms for the AMA Innovation Award 2019 are available online as of October 2018. Individuals or developer teams from enterprises and institutes may apply. Further information at: www.ama-sensorik.de.
An overview of all submissions for the AMA Innovation Award 2018
AMA Innovation Award 2018: Association Nominates Four Teams
This year, 35 research and development teams from Germany and abroad contended for the renown AMA Innovation Award. The 10,000-euro award can also be split by the jury. The jury comprises representatives from science and industry. In their evaluation, the jurors place special emphasis on the degree of innovation, the originality of the solution, and the market relevance of the submitted R&D projects.
Nominations for the AMA Innovation Award 2018
Nominated for the AMA Innovation Award 2018 (in alphabetical order):
Bosch BME680, First Miniaturized Chemical Gas Sensor
Dr. Richard Fix, Dr. Thomas Block, Dr. Herbert Verhoeven, Dr. Tarek Zaki, Dr. Patrick Sonstroem, Dr. Andreas Menzel, Dr. Frank Rettig, Dr. Stefan Zehringer, Dr. Isolde Simon, Dr. Pascal Gieschke, Dr. Tobias Frey, Aibin Paul Lazar, Dr. Christoph Brueser, Alexandros Ninos, Thomas Claus, Lu Ye, Dr. Michael Knauss, Jonathan Balewski, Bassem Baffoun, Jochen Eitel, Dr. Uwe Bolz, (Bosch Sensortec GmbH, Reutlingen)
The Bosch BME680 is worldwide the first integrated 4-in-1 sensor module with a MEMS gas sensor. A new measuring parameter was developed for CE & IoT applications. The basis for the innovation were the high requirements in the CE & IoT market as opposed to the state of the art, especially in regard to system intelligence, device size, power consumption, reliability, as well as industrialization and scalability in production volume. (brochure, p. 7)
Coriolis Flow Meter – Promass Q with Multi-Frequency Technology
Dr. Hao Zhu, Dr. Alfred Rieder, Gerhard Eckert, Ennio Bitto, Dr. Wolfgang Drahm, Dr. Martin Anklin (Endress + Hauser Flowtec AG, Reinach)
Multifrequency technology (MFT) expands the application spectrum of Coriolis flow meters to include currents with gas inclusions. This MFT determines mass currents and density for two different vibration frequencies of the measuring tubes and compensates interference of measuring results by bubble currents. (brochure, p. 6)
Siloxane-Resistant Multipixel-Gas Sensor
Dr. Johannes Bühler, Dr. Matthias Merz, Dr. Roman Pavelko, Pernilla Andersson, Dr. Mirjana Banjevic, Dr. Cyrill Kuemin, Dr. Werner Hunziker, Dr. Felix Hoehne (Sensirion AG, Stäfa)
With the SGP multipixel gas sensor, Sensirion brings multiple key innovations to market. The core technology of the ‘SGP-MOXSens® makes the sensor extremely resistant to contamination by siloxane and thus enables long-term stability and accuracy, as has never before been possible. (brochure, p. 7)
Thermometer with Automatic In-Situ Calibration Function During the Process
Harald Bründl, Torsten Iselt, Michael Korn, Christian Peuker, Christian Stöger, Alfred Umkehrer, Michael Völkl, Dr. Pavo Vrodljak, Peter Wiedemann (Endress+Hauser Wetzer GmbH + Co KG, Nesselwang); Patrick Grob, Jiri Holoubek, Fredy Klammsteiner, Dr. Jiri Polak, Dr. Florian Krogmann (Innovative Sensor Technology IST AG, Ebnat-Kappeln); Dr. Marc Schalles, Michael Pufke (Technische Universität Ilmenau)
The itherm TrustSens TM37x is a thermometer with an automatic calibration function. Integrated in its measuring head is a ferro-electric reference element with a known Curie temperature, parallel to the resistor sensor. (brochure, p. 6)
Special Award for Young Enterprises
In the special category Young Enterprises, startups can compete that have not been on the market over five years, have less than 50 employees, and an annual turnover of less than 10 million euros. The winners of the special award get a trade-fair stand at the SENSOR+TEST 2018 free of charge. This year, three developer teams in this category convinced the jury.
One Special Award goes to the developer team of Dr. Matthäus Langosch (CeLaGo Sensors GmbH, Saarbrücken, und Hochschule für Technik und Wirtschaft des Saarlandes), for the development of a thinfilm strain gauge. It enables manufacturers to apply sensitive, low-energy, and robust sensor systems for flexible, highly sensitive, application-specific strain gauges.
The developer team of Houssam El Moutaouakil (SENVISYS, Saarbrucken) is to receive a Special Award for “efficiently securing a railroad level crossing by means of vibration analysis.” Supported by artificial intelligence, the vibration sensor system provides an efficient, wireless railroad level crossing.
Theresa Ebeling’s team (HygNova GmbH, Berlin) is also to receive a trade-fair stand free of charge in the special category for the development of the HygNova Advance. This device helps medical institutions to reduce hospital infections by increasing the hand disinfection rate.
“We were again very glad this year to see the many, high-quality projects submitted by the contenders for the AMA Innovation Award as well as those for the Young Enterprise category. Especially the three startups outdistanced the rest of the field in this category. Therefore, we are inviting three teams for the first time to a free-of-charge trade-fair stand at the SENSOR+TEST 2018,” says Professor Andreas Schütze, the jury chair from the University of Saarland. “The four nominated teams for the AMA Innovation Award 2018 show the plethora of developments and solutions in which innovative sensor and measuring technology set the pace for technical advance. Nevertheless, they also represent the current trends, especially for smartphones and the Internet of Things: Two nominated innovations are direct competitors in this highly dynamic market.”
The winners of the AMA Innovation Award 2018 will be made known at the opening ceremony of the SENSOR+TEST 2018 trade fair in Nuremberg.
An overview of all competitors and projects for the AMA Innovation Award 2018
