Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft

Warehouses are home to heavy volumes of traffic. The numbers of industrial trucks (pallet trucks, forklift vehicles and the like) traversing their aisles are growing especially large – in facilities that are themselves increasing in size all the time. Under these conditions, accidents become an inevitability even if numerous safety measures are put in place. Now, optical sensors on industrial trucks might provide warehouse staff with better protection as they do their jobs. Joining forces with BASF and Kinotex Sensor GmbH, the Fraunhofer Application Center for Optical Metrology and Surface Technologies AZOM has developed prototypes designed to ensure added safety during day-to-day activities.

Rather than being released into the atmosphere and exacerbating the problem of climate change, CO2 can also be used as a raw material for substances required in industrial processes, such as formic acid or methanol. The conversion of CO2 has already been investigated in detail in laboratory studies, with nanodiamonds serving as an environmentally friendly photocatalyst. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Microengineering and Microsystems IMM are now working with partners to turn this reaction into a contin-uous process – bringing it much closer to real-world application.

In the human body, electrolytes play a key role in maintaining water balance and distribution of fluids. All charged particles dissolved in the blood interact with each other. If a disturbance to their complex equilibrium is suspected, the concentration of a variety of these microminerals will be analyzed. Researchers from the Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich-Hertz-Institut, HHI and partners from a variety of disciplines have joined forces as part of the optION project. The project goal is to develop a device concept that uses a photonic sensor solution to significantly reduce the amount of blood needed for analysis and make the testing process significantly easier for all those involved.

Producing infection control clothing requires a lot of energy and uses lots of material resources. Fraunhofer researchers have now developed a technology which helps to save materials and energy when producing nonwovens. A digital twin controls key manufacturing process parameters on the basis of mathematical modeling. As well as improving mask manufacturing, the ProQuIV solution can also be used to optimize the production parameters for other applications involving these versatile technical textiles, enabling manufacturers to respond flexibly to customer requests and changes in the market.