Editorial: System-Integrated Intelligence – Intelligent, Flexible and Connected Systems in Products and Production

The editorial introduces the SysInt conference series and the motivation behind it. It describes the structures and content as well as the scientific and technological background of the SysInt 2020 conference held online and hosted in Bremen from November 11th to 13th, 2020. It provides an outline of the organizing institutions, detailing their individual perspectives on the general topic of the system-integrated intelligence. Furthermore, the editorial acknowledges the collective contribution of the program committees for the benefit of the successful scientific event

Modeling and characterization of PCB coils for inductive wireless charging

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.Wireless charging is emerging as a viable technology in many industries, including consumer, medical, and sensor electronics. An investigation of design principles is conducted for a wireless charging platform that is designed to charge devices of different sizes and technologies, using only through vias. It is shown that at a 5 mm separation distance, a coupling coefficient can be achieved which varies from 0.12 to 0.37 when staggered hexagonal transmitter coils (approximately 5 cm across) are used with an unstaggered square receiver coil, which declines to 0.06–0.11 at 2 cm separation. Without design measures, the coupling coefficient will approach zero at certain positions. The quality factors of the coils can be improved by stacking the coils in parallel, enabling the use of only through-vias, while the inductance can be controlled horizontally by increasing the number of turns in the inductor

Data availability and the need for research to localize, quantify and recycle critical metals in information technology, telecommunication and consumer equipment

Dieser Beitrag ist mit Zustimmung des Rechteinhabers aufgrund einer (DFG geförderten) Allianz- bzw. Nationallizenz frei zugänglich.This publication is with permission of the rights owner freely accessible due to an Alliance licence and a national licence (funded by the DFG, German Research Foundation) respectively.The supply of critical metals like gallium, germanium, indium and rare earths elements (REE) is of technological, economic and strategic relevance in the manufacturing of electrical and electronic equipment (EEE). Recycling is one of the key strategies to secure the long-term supply of these metals. The dissipation of the metals related to the low concentrations in the products and to the configuration of the life cycle (short use time, insufficient collection, treatment focusing on the recovery of other materials) creates challenges to achieve efficient recycling. This article assesses the available data and sets priorities for further research aimed at developing solutions to improve the recycling of seven critical metals or metal families (antimony, cobalt, gallium, germanium, indium, REE and tantalum). Twenty-six metal applications were identified for those six metals and the REE family. The criteria used for the assessment are (i) the metal criticality related to strategic and economic issues; (ii) the share of the worldwide mine or refinery production going to EEE manufacturing; (iii) rough estimates of the concentration and the content of the metals in the products; (iv) the accuracy of the data already available; and (v) the occurrence of the application in specific WEEE groups. Eight applications were classified as relevant for further research, including the use of antimony as a flame retardant, gallium and germanium in integrated circuits, rare earths in phosphors and permanent magnets, cobalt in batteries, tantalum capacitors and indium as an indium–tin-oxide transparent conductive layer in flat displays.BMBF, 033R087A, r³ - Strategische Metalle, Verbundvorhaben: UPGRADE - Integrierte Ansätze zur Rückgewinnung von Spurenmetallen und zur Verbesserung der Wertschöpfung aus Elektro- und Elektronikaltgeräten, TP1: Übergreifendes Stoffstrommanagement und Design für Recyclin

Eine batchfähige Verbindungstechnik auf Basis von Schmelzklebstoffen

Die hier vorgestellten Arbeiten des Teilprojekts B8 aus dem SFB 516 „Konstruktion und Fertigung aktiver Mikrosysteme“ befassen sich mit der Montage aktiver Mikrosysteme. Dabei werden sensorgeführte Montageprozes se sowie die Verbindungstechnik auf Basis von nicht-viskosen Klebstoffsystemen (Schmelzklebstoffen) entwi ckelt. Bei diesen Entwicklungen wird der Fokus auf die Automatisierbarkeit, die Prozessgeschwindigkeit und die Anwendbarkeit in Batchprozessen gelegt. In diesem Beitrag werden batchfähige Applikationstechniken für den Auftrag von Schmelzklebstoffen, ein System für die sensorgeführte Montage sowie ein Montageprozess von schmelzklebstoffbeschichteten Mikrobauteilen am Beispiel der Montage eines Mikrolinearaktors vorgestellt

Addressing sustainability and flexibility in manufacturing via smart modular machine tool frames to support sustainable value creation

Sustainability and flexibility are crucial aspects in todays’ manufacturing processes. Within this study an innovative approach of modular machine tool frames (MMTF) equipped with micro system technology is presented that aims at enhancing flexibility of mutable production processes. This new approach extends the existing reconfigurable manufacturing systems (RMS). MMTF goes beyond the platform approach via minimizing the machine tool frame parts used for the building block system of manufacturing cells. The concept has been realized by integration of modularized microelectronics and actuators enabling for integrity and accuracy of the machine tool frame. In this contribution, sustainable hotspots for the production of the MMTF are identified via a tiered life cycle sustainability assessment. From these findings, new approaches are derived that provide for a reasonable usage of mechanical and electronic components in MMTF for sustainable value creation

Recent Advances and Challenges of Nanomaterials-Based Hydrogen Sensors

Safety is a crucial issue in hydrogen energy applications due to the unique properties of hydrogen. Accordingly, a suitable hydrogen sensor for leakage detection must have at least high sensitivity and selectivity, rapid response/recovery, low power consumption and stable functionality, which requires further improvements on the available hydrogen sensors. In recent years, the mature development of nanomaterials engineering technologies, which facilitate the synthesis and modification of various materials, has opened up many possibilities for improving hydrogen sensing performance. Current research of hydrogen detection sensors based on both conservational and innovative materials are introduced in this review. This work mainly focuses on three material categories, i.e., transition metals, metal oxide semiconductors, and graphene and its derivatives. Different hydrogen sensing mechanisms, such as resistive, capacitive, optical and surface acoustic wave-based sensors, are also presented, and their sensing performances and influence based on different nanostructures and material combinations are compared and discussed, respectively. This review is concluded with a brief outlook and future development trends

If blocking potency of ivabradine is preserved under elevated endotoxin levels in human atrial myocytes

AbstractLower heart rate is associated with better survival in patients with multiple organ dysfunction syndrome (MODS), a disease mostly caused by sepsis. The benefits of heart rate reduction by ivabradine during MODS are currently being investigated in the MODIfY clinical trial. Ivabradine is a selective inhibitor of the pacemaker current If and since If is impaired by lipopolysaccharide (LPS, endotoxin), a trigger of sepsis, we aimed to explore If blocking potency of ivabradine under elevated endotoxin levels in human atrial cardiomyocytes. Treatment of myocytes with S-LPS (containing the lipid A moiety, a core oligosaccharide and an O-polysaccharide chain) but not R595 (an O-chain lacking LPS-form) caused If inhibition under acute and chronic septic conditions. The specific interaction of S-LPS but not R595 to pacemaker channels HCN2 and HCN4 proves the necessity of O-chain for S-LPS–HCN interaction. The efficacy of ivabradine to block If was reduced under septic conditions, an observation that correlated with lower intracellular ivabradine concentrations in S-LPS- but not R595-treated cardiomyocytes. Computational analysis using a sinoatrial pacemaker cell model revealed that despite a reduction of If under septic conditions, ivabradine further decelerated pacemaking activity. This novel finding, i.e. If inhibition by ivabradine under elevated endotoxin levels in vitro, may provide a molecular understanding for the efficacy of this drug on heart rate reduction under septic conditions in vivo, e.g. the MODIfY clinical trial

Development and Characterization of a Novel Low-Cost Water-Level and Water Quality Monitoring Sensor by Using Enhanced Screen Printing Technology with PEDOT:PSS

A novel capacitive sensor for measuring the water-level and monitoring the water quality has been developed in this work by using an enhanced screen printing technology. A commonly used environment-friendly conductive polymer poly(3,4-ethylenedioxythiophene):poly (styrenesulfonate) (PEDOT:PSS) for conductive sensors has a limited conductivity due to its high sheet resistance. A physical treatment performed during the printing process has reduced the sheet resistance of printed PEDOT:PSS on polyethylenterephthalat (PET) substrate from 264.39 Ω/sq to 23.44 Ω/sq. The adhesion bonding force between printed PEDOT:PSS and the substrate PET is increased by using chemical treatment and tested using a newly designed adhesive peeling force test. Using the economical conductive ink PEDOT:PSS with this new physical treatment, our capacitive sensors are cost-efficient and have a sensitivity of up to 1.25 pF/mm

First responders occupancy, activity and vital signs monitoring - SAFESENS

This paper describes the development and implementation of the SAFESENS (Sensor Technologies for Enhanced Safety and Security of Buildings and its Occupants) location tracking and first responder monitoring demonstrator. An international research collaboration has developed a stateof-the-art wireless indoor location tracking system for first responders, focused initially on fire fighter monitoring. Integrating multiple gas sensors and presence detection technologies with building safety sensors and personal monitors has resulted in more accurate and reliable fire and occupancy detection information. This is invaluable to firefighters in carrying out their duties in hostile environments. This demonstration system is capable of tracking occupancy levels in an indoor environment as well as the specific location of fire fighters within those buildings, using a multi-sensor hybrid tracking system. This ultra-wideband indoor tracking system is one of the first of itsâ kind to provide indoor localization capability to sub meter accuracies with combined Bluetooth low energy capability for low power communications and additional inertial, temperature and pressure sensors. This facilitates increased precision in accuracy detection through data fusion, as well as the capability to communicate directly with smartphones and the cloud, without the need for additional gateway support. Glove based, wearable technology has been developed to monitor the vital signs of the first responder and provide this data in real time. The helmet mounted, wearable technology will also incorporate novel electrochemical sensors which have been developed to be able to monitor the presence of dangerous gases in the vicinity of the firefighter and again to provide this information in real time to the fire fighter controller. A SAFESENS demonstrator is currently deployed in Tyndall and is providing real time occupancy levels of the different areas in the building, as well as the capability to track the location of the first responders, their health and the presence of explosive gases in their vicinity. This paper describes the system building blocks and results obtained from the first responder tracking system demonstrator depicted