Press Releases

The number of hip prostheses in the EU has risen steadily over the past ten years – most notably in Austria and Germany with 300 implants per 100,000 inhabitants. The frequency of aseptic inflammatory processes between bone and implant, accompanied with loosening of the prosthesis, has increased, resulting in a shortened lifetime of the hip replacement. A consortium of eleven research and industrial partners led by the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT has now joined forces to develop a new generation of endoprosthesis for the treatment of aseptic loosening disease. The EVPRO project started in January 2019 and is funded by the European Union within the Horizon 2020 programme with a total of 5.8 million euros.

Geothermal heat is a renewable energy source, low in emissions and capable of assuming part of the base load in the energy mix. When drilling deep into the earth's crust, the temperature rises by an average of about three degrees Celsius per 100 meters. However, in deep geothermal drilling the drill bits encounter different materials, including hard rock. Hard rock can only be drilled with low rates of penetration and the drill bit wears more quickly. The cost can be pro-hibitive, frequently preventing investors from going ahead with deep geother-mal projects. The Fraunhofer IPT has therefore developed a method for laser-assisted mechanical drilling of hard rock. Scientists from the Fraunhofer IPT have joined forces with partners in the "LaserJetDrilling" research project and successfully tested this technique in field trials.

Stem cells can offer new hope as a treatment for several serious diseases, including arthritis, diabetic complications, several cancers, liver diseases and more. Today, the production of stem cells is a complex, highly-skilled, and labour-intensive task, with a high risk of contamination or human error. Therefore, the EU funded Horizon 2020 research project “Autostem”, led by the National University of Ireland Galway (NUIG), has been working on a fully automated production line for stem cells. At their final meeting at the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in Aachen, Germany, the ten international project partners from four European countries presented a whole new production platform demonstrator which was built in the three-year project for the generation of therapeutic cells at the litre scale.

Industrial enterprises increasingly operate across multiple locations. That has led to growing calls for connected manufacturing environments and centralized monitoring of production processes. At the Hannover Messe Preview on January 24, 2019 and Hannover Messe from April 1 to 5, Fraunhofer researchers will be collaborating with Swedish experts to show how Industrie 4.0-style networked manufacturing can even extend across borders. One of the key components in controlling and monitoring connected machines is the fast 5G mobile communications standard.

Digitalization of the production process has allowed turbomachinery components to be manufactured more efficiently than ever before: The core question to be addressed at what is now the fifth ICTM Conference to take place 6 and 7 February 2019 in Aachen and hosted by the Fraunhofer Institutes for Laser Technology ILT and for Production Technology IPT is “How do high levels of data consistency, continuity and availability along with more robust processes and greater production transparency result in a more economically efficient process chain?” Online enrolment for conference attendance is now open and there is an early-bird discount for bookings made by 17 December 2018.

The Medical Imaging – New Perspectives and the Role of OCT Conference was hosted by the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in Aachen and Tokyo Women’s Medical University TWMU on November 8, 2018 at the TWMU Lecture Hall in Tokyo. Approximately 100 attendees listened to and discussed insights into the latest developments in OCT research. Leading clinical experts and representatives of international companies and universities provided valuable input in the form of lectures and presentations. The TWMU and the Fraunhofer IPT took this opportunity to strengthen their strategic research collaboration. Both partners signed an official Cooperation Agreement to kick off the establishment of the research alliance and the joint research facility in Tokyo.

The "International Center for Networked, Adaptive Production", ICNAP, which is emerging as a research community for new concepts of digitalization and networking in production, is holding its first annual meeting in Aachen. The members will meet for the first time 12 and 13 December 2018 in order to finalize the topics of research and development for the coming year. Companies with an interest in finding out more about membership of the ICNAP-Community, can still enroll for the first day of the event free of charge and without any obligation at www.icnap.de.

The relentless advance in the digitalization of production is making inroads into the manufacture of premium quality optical plastic components: More and more frequently, digital applications help to model production processes more dependably and more predictably and to produce plastic optical components more swiftly and accurately. This is enabling plastic optical components to be produced with greater precision and reliability. At the Fakuma International Trade Fair for Plastics Processing which takes place 16 - 20 October 2018 in Friedrichshafen, the Fraunhofer Institutes IPT and ILT in Aachen along with the IKV at RWTH Aachen University will be providing an insight into new technologies and applications for the manufacture of optical elements made of a range of plastic materials in Hall B4 at the joint Kunststoffland-NRW e.V. Booth (Booth 4404).

When economic or safety considerations rule out the use of powder materials in additive manufacturing, the option of wire-feed laser deposition welding resents itself. The Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT in Aachen has developed a smart laser module for wire deposition welding, which can easily be integrated within existing process chains, handling systems or machine tools. The engineers from Aachen will be unveiling the LMD-W-20-L module for the first time to the visitors from industry at Formnext, the Fair for Additive Technologies in Frankfurt/Main, Hall 3, Booth E70, 13-16 November 2018.

Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology IPT, Ericsson and GF Machining Solutions joined forces on a collaboration to create a networked, adaptive manufacturing solution that will be on display at the International Manufacturing Technology Show (IMTS) in Chicago from September 10-15, 2018.