Building a mini-assembly system from a technology construction kit

As part of this paper, extracts will be presented from the results of the joint project 'MiniProd', which is carried out by Frauhofer IPA together with industrial partners and sponsored by the BMBF (federal ministry for education and research). The aim of the research project is to develop a marketable, miniaturized highly-flexible micro-assembly system capable of reproducing the correct size proportions between a product and its production environment and also able to intelligently integrate processes which had previously run separately. Using of the 'plug-in' principle, the user is able to construct his own miniaturized micro-assembly system from individual assembly modules. The overall system has been designed using the modular concept and will be pesented here together with the hard and software interfaces of the individual assembly units and the 'plug- and produce' control architecture. A further topic wil be the presentation of miniaturized process modules for the micro-bonding, micro-screwing and precision handling of miniaturized parts and components, with regard to a laser diode application

Communication platform digital mine

This publication presents actual developments and future perspectives from the connection of virtual reality and mining. The state of the art, existing applications in mining and possible new application areas are discussed

Hoerimplantat mit multidirektional wirkendem Aktor

DE 102007031114 A1 UPAB: 20090116 NOVELTY - The system has a sound signal processor in connection with an actuator (42) for signal transmission. The actuator acts uniformly along spatial directions. The actuator is oriented with respect to a perilymph area (56), and is electrically movable along a preset priority direction (51) matched to the transmitted signals transmitted to a perilymph. Moving direction of the actuator is adjustable along spatial direction after an implantation operation is performed in such a manner that the actuator is moved along the priority direction. DETAILED DESCRIPTION - An INDEPENDENT CLAIM is also included for a method for transmitting environmental sound to interior ear of a human ear. USE - Implantable hearing system for being direct or indirect hydrodynamic coupled at a Perilymph area of a human ear. ADVANTAGE - The system implants the actuator along a desired stimulation direction, thus facilitating the implantation of the actuator when a human tympanic cavity is spatially restrained

Laser basierte Registrierung für roboterassistierte Fräsprozesse an der lateralen Schädelbasis

Einleitung: Etablierte Methoden der Registrierung bei der chirurgischen Navigation basieren auf der Zuordnung assoziierter Landmarken oder auf einem Vergleich von präoperativen und intraoperativen Patientendaten. Beide haben Nachteile: Während bei der Zuordnung künstlicher Landmarken eine vorbereitende Operation notwendig ist, ist der geometrische Vergleich anfällig für Messartefakte und Veränderungen des Weichgewebes. Auf der Suche nach einer klinisch anwendbaren Registrierungsmethode, stellen wir ein hybrides Registrierungsverfahren vor, welches auf einer Kombination beider Methoden basiert.Methoden: Lokal begrenzte Topologien dienen als anatomische Landmarken und werden automatisiert einander zugeordnet. Zur Verifizierung des Verfahrens wurde die Registrierung eines Humanpräparats anhand einer CT-Aufnahme und eines Laserscans durchgeführt. Dabei wurden die Fehlereinflüsse durch Blut- und Spülflüssigkeiten sowie Abschattungseffekte simuliert.Ergebnisse: Die Präzision wurde anhand zusätzlich eingebrachter künstlicher Landmarken (n=10) ermittelt. Es ergab sich ein Fiducial Registration Error (FRE) (realer mittlerer Abstand zwischen erwarteter und gemessener Situs-Oberfläche) von FRE 95% bezogen auf die zur Kontrolle eingesetzten künstlichen Landmarken. Der Einfluss von Flüssigkeiten zeigte keine signifikante Auswirkung auf die Leistung des Verfahrens, sofern eine artefaktfreie Oberfläche zu einem ausreichenden Anteil von >30% zur Verfügung stand.Schlussfolgerung: Damit besitzt das neuartige hybride Registrierungsverfahren auch unter klinischen Bedingungen das Potenzial, die Registrierung anhand der CT-Daten und des Laserscans mit hoher Präzision durchzuführen

From laboratory processes to production: Table top factory for biotechnological applications

The department for New Applications at the Fraunhofer Institute for Manufacturing Engineering and Automation (IPA) developed and realized the Advanced Modular Micro-Production System (AMMS). The AMMS is highly flexible and can be used for various biotechnological applications, e.g. biochip production. It meets the requirements of production in an industrial manner, meaning quality assurance, availability and reproducibility. Central element of our approach is a modular production platform with standardised configurable interfaces for energy, information and media. Various miniaturised process modules, including tools for liquid handling, storage, inspection and quality assurance, can be mounted onto the platform in a very easy way, enabling the users to create a tailor-made production and processing system to suit their products, components and requirements. Material flow function is realised by a highly dynamic linear actuator system that can be adopted to the specific application and process combination. Each module is equipped with its own control unit, interlinked with the other components, which allows a decentral and thus robust control architecture. A new software tool, developed at IPA, supports the virtual planning, configuration and simulation of the AMMS. We will point out the innovative solutions and speak about trends and future challenges for miniaturised, highly flexible automated systems for pharmaceutical and biotechnological applications

Vorrichtung zur Resektion von Geweberegionen mittels Elektrokaogulation

DE 10328329 A UPAB: 20050218 NOVELTY - The device is designed as a cylindrical hollow shaft (5) accommodating the parallel positioned wire segments required for forming two adjustable loops (6a, 8a) positioned above each other at the tip of the shaft (5). A narrow bag, also accommodated inside the shaft (5) can be fixed with its outer edge between the two loop-shaped electrodes (8). The loops (6a, 8a) are adjusted to their smallest diameter when the shaft (5) is inserted through a trocar, extended radial after reaching the area to be checked and axially in order to push the bag over a suitable proportion of tissue. Electric power is guided into the loops (6a, 8a) coagulating the tissue and the loops (6a, 8a) are reduced in size and retracted. USE - The loop-shaped electrodes and the receptacle are parts of a surgical device in particular to be used for the removal of lung tissue. ADVANTAGE - All operations can be performed simultaneously. Only minimal damage is caused to the surrounding tissue

Improvement of computer- and robot-assisted surgery at the lateral skull base by sensory feedback

Lately, surgeons performing lateral skull base surgery have been paying more attention to the development and advancement of computer-aided surgical procedures. Especially the interconnection between electronic hearing implants (i.e.) MET Otologics Transducer) and receptor tissues requires an accurate milling of skul cavities to ensure a proper angle of coupling and a long term stable fixation. We developed a PC-based computer- and robot assisted system for the precise and efficient planning and execution of surgical processes at the lateral skull. Employing multimodal sensory feedback, the geometry of the surgical area can be analyzed with a resolution of several mikrometer. Laboratory testing demonstrated that thereby robot-assisted skull base surgery could be improved. Both the reliability and the efficiency of the performed surgical process steps were augmented. In addition, the acquired data could be used to implement an exhaustive intraoperative procedural documentation needed for quality assurance and quality management tasks

Automation of the EMBL Hamburg protein crystallography beamline BW7B

The EMBL Hamburg Outstation currently operates five synchrotron beamlines for protein crystallography. The strongest of these beamlines is the fixed-energy beamline BW7B which receives about half of the radiation (1.5 mrad) from a 56 pole wiggler located at the DORIS III storage ring at the German synchrotron facility DESY. Over the last years this beamline has been upgraded and equipped with a fully automated crystallography end-station and a robotic sample changer. The current set-up allows for remote operation, controlled from the user's area, of sample mounting, centering and data collection of pre-frozen crystals mounted in Hampton-type cryovials on magnetic caps. New software and intuitive graphical user interfaces have been developed that control the complete beamline set-up. Furthermore, algorithms for automatic sample centering based on UV fluorescence are being developed and combined with strategy programs in order to further automate the collection of entire diffraction data sets

Ein neues Verfahren für die automatische Registrierung partiell veränderter Oberflächen durch lokale Landmarkenidentifikation: Unterstützt durch die DFG im Rahmen des SPP 1124

Unter Laborbedingungen konnte gezeigt werden, dass auch fehlerbehaftete Oberflächen (z.B. durch das Hinzufügen von weißem Rauschen, durch eine Polygonreduktion des Modells oder durch eine Gauss-Tiefpassfilterung der Polygone) mit hoher Zuverlässigkeit korrekt erkannt und dadurch registriert werden können. Hierbei zeigte das Verfahren insbesondere bei partiell veränderten Topologien seine Stärke. Der Vortrag beschreibt die verwendeten Algorithmen und diskutiert die Zuverlässigkeit und die erreichbare Präzision des beschriebenen Verfahrens. Hierbei werden mögliche Einsatzgebiete und Grenzen aufgezeigt