Siemens employs nearly 50,000 people in research and development. Last year invention applications at the company rose by 17 percent and the number of patent applications filed by 8 percent. Siemens ranks No. 1 in the patent statistics in Germany, No. 2 at the European Patent Office, and is in the Top 10 in the U.S. Each year Siemens presents the Inventor of the Year award to its twelve most successful researchers. The inventions honored by Hermann Requardt, member of the Siemens AG Corporate Executive Committee and head of Corporate Technology, this year include multifunctional radio antennas for cars, a navigation system that guides surgeons through the human body and a customer-friendly graphical display technique for automation.

The majority of the award-winning inventors this year are based in Germany. The awards are spread among many corporate Groups such as Automation, Communications and Medical Solutions.

While some inventors, such as 34-year-old Sergio Parolari, are still at the beginning of their research careers, others are being honored for a lifetime of innovative ideas. This latter category includes 59-year-old Manfred Meinherz, who has worked continually on several generations of gas-insulated switchgears and permanently improved them.

Notwithstanding their differences, the inventors all have one thing in common: they developed their innovations not as a solo effort, but as members of a team. Most of the award winners therefore cite their colleagues and supervisors as the greatest source of inspiration for their work. Dr. Jörg Freudenberger and Dr. Peter Schardt are typical. As equal partners working in the field of laser-controlled X-ray tubes, they are receiving the award jointly.

The Inventor of the Year award has been presented every year since 1994 to twelve selected employees for outstanding contributions to improving the technical expertise and the economic success of the company.

The winners are:

Dr. Elena Costa: Clever packaging – High-performance coding and decoding techniques, Siemens Networks, Munich

Manfred Meinherz: Compact insulation – Further development of gas-insulated switchgears, Power Transmission and Distribution, Berlin Sergio Parolari: Quick and versatile – Improvement of GPRS systems, Siemens Networks, Milan, Italy

Frank Sauer: Map of the body – Three-dimensional images of the heart to assist in minimally invasive heart surgery, Corporate Technology, Princeton, U.S.

Dr. Peter Schardt and Dr. Jörg Freudenberger - Old cover, new core – New options thanks to laser-controlled X-ray tubes, Medical Solutions Erlangen

Dr. Johannes Leopold Schenk: Waste gases help save raw materials – Increased efficiency with FINEX technology, Industrial Solutions and Services, Linz, Austria

Christian Schneider: The all-purpose antenna – Improved wireless communication in the car, Siemens VDO Automotive, Regensburg

Karlheinz Schreyer: No compromising on safety – Smoke detectors go wireless, Siemens Building Technologies, Munich

Dr. Werner Stamm: It’s the mix that matters – New protective layer for Siemens gas turbines, Power Generation, Mülheim

Frank Volkmann: Brilliantly simple – Displaying graphics on a Web-based automation system, Automation and Drives, Nuremberg

Karl Weidner: Flat and many-sided – Planar connection technologies for building electronic modules, Corporate Technology, Munich


Dr. Elena Costa: Clever packaging – High-performance coding and decoding techniques, Siemens Networks, Munich

Cellular networks and wireless Internet links transfer ever greater streams of data at increasingly high speed. "Customers expect the performance of networks to improve. At the same time, though, they naturally also expect data transfer to be reliable," Dr. Elena Costa, who heads up the Beyond 3G mobile phone systems project at Siemens Networks, states. To provide this reliability she turned to coding, especially the Low Density Parity Check (LDPC) codes, which are among the best known channel codes, and introduced some radical improvements.
The principle of coding is basically very simple. Redundant information is added to the original data prior to transmission and can be used to detect and correct errors on decoding. The strength of LDPC codes is in their very high transmission quality and relatively simple decoding. In the past there were two methods available for generating this type of code, the pseudorandom method and the algebraic method, each with its advantages and drawbacks.

In the case of the pseudorandom method, though it is possible to generate highly efficient codes, they are complicated to implement. The algebraic method can be implemented more easily, but on the other hand the codes generated in this way deliver a comparatively poor performance in terms of both error rate and transmission speed.
This is the very problem that Dr. Elena Costa solves with her award-winning invention. She has developed a method that combines the two different matrices in a way that brings benefits. The code generated in this way delivers high performance and at the same time is easy to implement. "The idea behind the invention was: What can we improve compared with our competitors?" Dr. Costa says.

Although Dr. Costa, 35, has only been at Siemens six years, she has already headed numerous projects. Her impressive tally to date stands at 70 inventions in a variety of subject areas, for example, antenna concepts, multiple access procedures and - as described above - the use of coding in mobile radio communication.
"My team comes up with a constant stream of new ideas and challenges," Dr. Costa says. "Great importance was attached to making the coding procedures powerful but not too complicated to implement." Dr. Costa is working intensively with her colleagues on the further development of the 3G LTE (Third Generation Long Term Evolution) and 4G (Fourth Generation) mobile phone standards. The LDPC codes improved by Dr. Costa has already been incorporated in the 3G LTE demonstrator, where they will ensure error-free and reliable transmission.

For Dr. Costa, a native Italian, working at Siemens Networks is the fulfillment of a career dream. She studied telecommunications engineering at the University of Padua, where she also took her doctorate in this field. Concurrently, she learned German, with the object of working for Siemens later. "After completing my doctorate, I applied to Siemens immediately, as I knew that they had an outstanding research department in the area of communications. The prospect of working in such a research department was very attractive." Dr. Costa still relishes the interesting and fascinating projects in which her department is involved. "I find it highly motivating to work in a team that always has access to the latest in telecommunications technology and calls for such a high degree of creativity."

Manfred Meinherz: Compact insulation – Further development of gas-insulated switchgears, Power Transmission and Distribution, Berlin

Fifty-nine-year-old Manfred Meinherz has worked at Siemens for 40 years in the field of high-voltage switchgear. He specialized in the then new area of gas-insulated switchgears (GIS), which, unlike conventional air-insulated switchgears, use sulfur hexafluoride (SF6) for insulating the electrical conductors. Since the sulfur gas has a higher dielectric strength than air and can thus prevent unwanted voltage flashovers more effectively, GIS systems take up less space. Moreover, switchgears operating on this principle are less prone to faults. Over the course of his career Meinherz has developed numerous technologies which for the most part build on one another, and with his continuous work he has had a defining influence on the concepts and designs of whole generations of gas-insulated switchgear. Because of his effort, switchgears have been made more and more efficient, reliable and compact, undoubtedly contributing to the success of this technology. The Inventor of the Year 2006 award is therefore not so much an acknowledgement for a particular invention but rather a tribute to his life's work, which has been devoted entirely to GIS switchgear. "I also see the Inventor of the Year award as recognition for my many years of inventive activity in this field," Meinherz comments.

He has submitted 113 invention applications to date, which have been converted to 99 patent families. "This gives Siemens good patent protection over the whole area of gasinsulated switchgear," Meinherz states.

There is no sign of his stream of ideas drying up yet. Previously, Meinherz recounts, switchgears were always housed inside buildings in order to protect them against corrosion and the effects of the weather, so it was necessary first to construct a building in which to install the switchgear. Meinherz made the gas-insulated switchgear suitable for outdoor use. The high integrated switchgears (HIS) combine the advantages of the different systems and need 70 percent less space than a comparable air-insulated switchgear. "These HIS switchgears optimized for deployment outdoors are already available in two different voltage levels. The next challenge is to expand the area of use of the HIS systems to the 550-kV voltage level." A corresponding switch variant is due to come on the market in 2007.

Meinherz, a dyed-in-the-wool Berliner, acquired the foundation for his productive career as an inventor at what is now Berlin Technical University. Later he supplemented his mechanical engineering degree with a degree in business administration. "I took a second degree because I didn't want my work to have a one-sided technical bias. I've always been interested in the commercial aspects as well." The secret of his creativity, Meinherz says, lies in his day-to-day work: "If you're involved in design and have also studied it, coming up with new ideas for technical and economic improvements is all part of the creative process."

Sergio Parolari: Quick and versatile – Improvement of GPRS systems, Siemens Networks, Milan, Italy

The youngest "Inventor of the year 2006", Sergio Parolari, 34, comes from Italy. Parolari was an early starter, and came up with his first invention, a new intelligent type of antenna for cellular networks, while studying at Milan's prestigious Polytechnic University.
Today, Parolari can already lay claim to 15 inventions: "I always enjoyed solving problems and finding new ways of doing things," he says. After taking his degree, he worked for a year in university research but then decided in favor of a career in business. He now works as a system designer on the further development of mobile phone standards. The inventions for which he received the award increase the bandwidth in GPRS systems, make them multitasking-capable and reduce delays in data transfer.

GPRS is an extension of the GSM mobile phone standard. In this method the data to be sent is converted into separate packets, transmitted in that form and put together again at the receiving end. At present this technology is employed chiefly as a data transfer service for using WAP pages and for the multimedia messaging service (MMS).

"With GPRS systems, multimedia services could not be supported efficiently in real time. This meant it wasn't possible to use multimedia broadcast multicast services (MBMS) such as mobile TV or MMS and receive an SMS or accept a call at the same time," Parolari explains. In order to make this possible for terminals, handhelds or laptops connected to the cellular network via GSM, he sought a technical solution with which GPRS systems support applications in real time and can receive a number of packet-oriented data services simultaneously without causing disturbances. To do this, Sergio Parolari has modified the transfer protocol for data packets and improved the transmission mechanism so that only a very small bandwidth is needed in the acknowledgement channel. According to Parolari, "This method optimizes data flow and reduces transmission time. That's important especially with GSM/EDGE applications such as video films or audio streams, which are sensitive to delay."

Apart from his research activity, Sergio Parolari is also active in the standardization arena. Conferences and multilateral cooperation with colleagues from Germany, America, the United Kingdom and Poland are a continual and important source of inspiration. "My award is not a purely personal success but is based above all on good cooperation with colleagues," he stresses.

Frank Sauer: Map of the body – Three-dimensional images of the heart to assist in minimally invasive heart surgery, Corporate Technology, Princeton, U.S.

Even as recently as the early 1990s, often the only way to reach the actual operation site in heart surgeries was by making large incisions. With new techniques for minimally invasive surgery, a large number of operations can now be performed under the skin. "This technology is very popular because the patient recovers faster and hospital stays are correspondingly shorter," Frank Sauer, head of the Imaging and Visualization department in Siemens' American R&D-lab in Princeton, states. "Minimally invasive means the gentlest possible treatment."
Eight out of ten operations today already can be performed using minimally invasive techniques. However, this method poses particular challenges for doctors: They must find their way around the patient's body without having a free, direct field of vision.

Consequently, imaging procedures that give the doctor a view inside the patient's body are an important basis for the success of minimally invasive methods. "Our objective was to offer the doctor a three-dimensional overall view of the anatomy and to incorporate it in the operating process." Sauer and his team accomplished this by developing special imaging techniques that show with greatest precision the position of surgical instruments inside the body.

Before the operation, a three-dimensional anatomical map of the patient is produced with the aid of medical images, preferably using MRI or CT scans. During the operation, the medical instrument is visualized on this map so that its position can be pinpointed at all times. The navigation work is performed by small position sensors integrated in the tip of a catheter, which measure and display the instrument's position threedimensionally.

"This method facilitates navigation of the instruments in minimally invasive surgery. Operations can be performed faster, which makes them safer," Frank Sauer states. Operations that used to take an entire day can now be performed in a matter of hours, thanks to the advanced image backup. What's more, doctors are no longer required to take many years of specialist training at selected centers to be able to carry out this type of operation proficiently. "Now, using the new method, doctors can learn the technique faster, with the consequence that it's being used increasingly often."
Sauer and his team developed the new imaging method for minimally invasive surgery in cooperation with the business unit Angiography, Fluroscopic / Radiographic Systems from Siemens Medical Solutions and the partner Biosense Webster. And the possibilities of this technology are by no means exhausted yet. Looking to the future, Sauer describes, "We plan to link the position indication of the instruments with images taken during the operation. This will enable critical situations to be recognized immediately and allow the doctor to intervene promptly."

Dr. Peter Schardt and Dr. Jörg Freudenberger - Old cover, new core – New options thanks to laser-controlled X-ray tubes, Medical Solutions Erlangen

If you want to changes things radically you have to start from the inside. By applying this maxim, Dr. Peter Schardt and Dr. Jörg Freudenberger have opened up totally new prospects for the long-established technology of X-rays.

The core element of conventional X-ray devices is a filament of tungsten wire that glows very brightly at temperatures around 2500°C. Due to the high temperature the tungsten coil emits electrons which are accelerated by high voltage in the vacuum and generate X-ray radiation when they strike the counter-electrode.

High-speed modulation of the electron stream is often necessary in modern diagnostic procedures, for example, when the X-ray dose has to be adjusted individually to a patient. The material employed in the existing method is too inert for many of these new applications. Dr. Peter Schardt and Dr. Jörg Freudenberger's award-winning answer to these requirements is based on laser technology. A laser beam irradiates a cathode that releases the electrons needed for the X-ray radiation. The laser spot on the cathode dictates the position and amount of the emission and its dynamic ratio over time. Heating by laser is very much faster and more flexible than using tungsten wire.
Thanks to the laser technology, it will possible in the future to use X-ray radiation in medical applications more precisely and flexibly. "Especially in applications such as angiography, where a number of X-ray photos are taken in quick succession, the diagnosis can be made with far less risk to the patient thanks to the lower exposure to radiation," Dr. Freudenberger explains.

First and foremost, though, the laser-controlled X-ray tube can be used to advantage in a new CT scanning process. In order to better distinguish between different types of tissue in an image, Siemens introduced a system in which the photo is taken with two different X-ray energy levels. This produces "colored" X-ray pictures that permit more rapid and more accurate identification of diseased tissue, for example in cancer tumors. "In the device currently on the market, two X-ray emitters and two detectors are still needed for this. The laser-controlled X-ray tube makes do with only one emitter because it's possible to switch over very quickly between the two different levels of X-ray energy," Dr. Schardt says. By using lasers it will be possible in the future to avoid rotating the tube around the patient. A narrow detector ring could replace the massive mechanical system, and today's very large and complicated CT machines could be made more compact.

Dr. Schardt, 41, and Dr. Freudenberger, 36, work together on the new developments and therefore receive the inventor award as a team. Their cooperation functions so successfully in part because their educational backgrounds make a perfect fit. Both studied and took doctorates in physics at the Technical University in Darmstadt, Dr. Schardt specializing in accelerator technology and Dr. Freudenberger's in X-ray radiation. At Siemens they can indulge their shared passion for inventing things and translating them into tangible products. Dr. Schardt, who heads up the X-ray Innovation Department of Siemens Medical Solutions today, says: "I always had an urge to turn technical ideals into reality with my own hands to prove that they function." Dr. Freudenberger sees it similarly: "A written invention application is just a lifeless piece of paper. To breathe life into it is what makes innovation for me."

Dr. Johannes Leopold Schenk: Waste gases help save raw materials – Increased efficiency with FINEX technology, Industrial Solutions and Services, Linz, Austria

Pig iron was first produced in a blast furnace at the Luisenhütte a good 250 years ago. Since then this technique has become a firmly established part of steel production. With its FINEX technology Siemens has now developed a process by which pig iron can be produced more cheaply and with far less environmental pollution. The chief advantage of FINEX technology is that it uses low-cost raw materials such as noncokable coal and fine ore. The production process is also leaner, since it dispenses with process stages required by the blast furnace method, such as coke production, sintering of fine ores and pelletizing.

In 1989 Siemens VAI applied for the first process patent for this technology. Development work began with the Korean partner POSCO, the fourth-largest steel producer in the world, in 1992. After successful conclusion of the process development, an order was placed in 2004 for implementing the process at the POSCO plant in Pohang, Korea. Applications for 24 patent families have been filed to date during the course of development of FINEX.

Dr. Johannes L. Schenk has made a major contribution to this development, with 32 inventions, and he continues to work with his colleagues on improving the basic technology. "Innovations are hard work," he says, "and the idea is only the first step in a long process."

Dr. Schenk receives the Inventor of the Year 2006 award for development of a technique that helps make the iron production process even more efficient. The inventor has found a way to enable the "top gas" produced during iron production to be reused. This gas is a by-product for which there always had to be an external use, such as heating for electricity generation, if the process was to operate economically. In the new process, however, a large proportion of the gas is recycled and fed back into the production process. The process is complicated, the inventor says, but it pays off. "This technology sets off a real chain reaction of savings. If you can use less coal, then oxygen consumption decreases as well. Another effect is lower water consumption and significantly lower emission values and energy costs." Manufacturers therefore profit many times over from this gas recycling process.

A welcome side effect of Dr. Schenk's energy-saving invention is improved product quality. By recycling the top gas it is possible to monitor the very high temperatures in the hearth of the melter-gasifier more precisely. This provides a more effective means of controlling quality factors such as the silicon and carbon content of the pig iron.
The cost-efficiency of FINEX plants can be increased even more by implementing this invention. Production costs can be additionally reduced by as much as 10 percent compared with the conventional FINEX process. With this incentive, a demonstration plant on an industrial scale is planned for construction with development partner POSCO as soon as possible.

Dr. Schenk, who studied process technology in Graz, is glad that he joined the FINEX project, which has considerable promise for the future. "Looking back on my inventions, you could say that the results have been relatively good, and many of my ideas have also been commercialized as products." This motivates him to continue working on development of the FINEX technology. Dr. Schenk aims to make the technology even more competitive with new inventions. "The blast furnace took about 200 years to reach its present level of technical maturity. Our infant technology is only just trying to take its first steps."
machen."

Christian Schneider:

The all-purpose antenna – Improved wireless communication in the car, Siemens VDO Automotive, Regensburg

"There's no such thing as a favorable wind if you don't know what port you're heading for," is Christian Schneider's motto. This maritime analogy from an inventor involved primarily in automotive electronics might appear surprising at first sight. But what he's mainly trying to express is the need for thorough familiarization with fields of research and the persistence needed to pursue objectives if one wants to achieve innovative improvements.

Schneider receives the 2006 Inventor Award for work in a number of areas, including vehicle antennas used for all wireless applications in cars. They ensure that services both inside and outside the vehicle are supplied with the necessary data and are available at all times. The quality of mobile phone reception and Bluetooth and WLAN connections inside the vehicle typically depend on this. As things are at present, several antennas are necessary for this wide range of functions, each of which has to be connected to its particular receiving device. The consequence is increased installation costs and potential mutual interference of the individual antennas.

Christian Schneider and his team succeeded in finding an elegant solution to this problem. They designed an antenna module that combines the various different services and can react flexibly to the different requirements. "The antenna system is an autonomous system that recognizes whether the required communication has to be set up inside or outside the vehicle. Thanks to the tailored wireless links, the quality of transmission is improved and new functions are made possible." The new antenna also helps save costs. According to the inventor: "Our module is a key factor in reducing the costs Christian Schneider has devoted his entire career to development in the field of automotive technology and despite his many other functions has come up with a string of new inventions in this field - including basic patents for vehicle immobilization technology. One of many inventions in this area is the development of a new generation of keyless access control systems that Schneider has been involved in as project leader. For opening and starting the car, the owner merely needs to carry around a special identification tag. "We began back in 1990 building up a family of patents for access control systems and immobilizers which has made Siemens VDO the global market leader in this segment today," says Schneider.

Such continuous research and implementation of ideas would not be possible as a solo effort. For the 42-year old researcher, it's important that the award should not eclipse the work of the team as a whole. "It takes a strong team to make patents productcompatible." For this reason, none of the patents are filed in his name as sole inventor. "My team colleagues contributed at least as much as I did," says Schneider. In the case of the award-winning invention of the antenna module, Schneider worked very closely with his group leader Dr. Chakam, whom he brought in from Karlsruhe University to work jointly on new technology concepts.

Karlheinz Schreyer: No compromising on safety – Smoke detectors go wireless, Siemens Building Technologies, Munich

Karlheinz Schreyer works in a sensitive field - alarm reporting technology. This area comprises primarily smoke detectors and burglar alarms - devices whose reliability can sometimes be a life-or-death matter. But that only makes the 59-year-old inventor work all the harder: "If someone says it can't be done, we do it."
Schreyer and his colleagues recognized early on that the future of alarm systems lay in the wireless networking of individual alarm units. At first, there were doubts about this innovation, Schreyer recalls: "For a long time, wireless technology for smoke detectors was written off as too unreliable. However, our products have reached a level of reliability that is even better than conventional wired systems in many situations."

The inventor has been working on wireless transmission issues for eight years. As a project manager at Siemens Building Technologies, he develops market-specific and project-specific solutions for use in smoke detector systems. In the process, Schreyer has repeatedly managed to combine safety and economy. "I wanted to find wireless solutions capable of combining two functions that are almost diametrically opposed to each other. On the one hand, the system must always be able to respond instantly to any problem, but on the other hand, the battery has to use as little energy as possible."

Thanks to Schreyer's inventiveness, a wireless smoke detector from Siemens - the SIGMASYS/TeleRex series - can run for six years on a single set of batteries. The batteries power both the smoke detection sensors themselves and downstream wireless transmission capabilities. The long battery life, which far outstripped other competition entries, will protect both the environment and the user's wallet. The happy consequence of this development is improved safety for everyone, Schreyer says. "Lower costs will get more and more companies and individual consumers to invest in smoke detection systems. As a result, the invention will lead to an increased level of safety for society as a whole."

Schreyer's latest invention concerns the implementation of wireless alarm system technology on a larger scale. Currently, a combined power/data line must be run to every wireless cell of seven to ten detectors to provide power and to transmit data to the cell master. Schreyer's innovation allows engineers to build a network connecting more than 100 wireless smoke detectors without depleting the batteries of the individual detectors.
Schreyer built his wide-ranging expertise in two fields of study. At the Oskar von Miller Polytechnic Institute in Munich, he majored in communications engineering, and at the Munich University of Applied Sciences, he earned a degree in industrial engineering, broadening his knowledge even further. The inventor decided to come to Siemens after completing his training because, as he says, "I thought I could best use my broad-based knowledge in the work they were offering me."

Asked how he became an inventor, Schreyer stresses that "Creativity is something you're born with. But I was also very lucky to have supervisors and colleagues from the very beginning who inspired and encouraged me. Without the innovative environment I enjoy here, my inventions couldn't possibly exist."

Dr. Werner Stamm: It’s the mix that matters – New protective layer for Siemens gas turbines, Power Generation, Mülheim

Materials used in gas turbines are pushed to their limits: Gas at temperatures around 1300°C creates extreme operating conditions, subjecting the parts that carry the hot gas to numerous mechanical and corrosive attacks. Therefore, materials used in gas turbines must be especially tough. The more stresses they can withstand, the more efficiently the power plant can work.

Inventor Dr. Werner Stamm is working on new coatings to make the machined parts used in gas turbines tougher and more durable. Because the base materials currently in use will withstand temperatures of "only" about 950°C, the blades are pneumatically cooled from the inside and are often coated with a heat-insulating layer as well. This allows the surface temperature to fall to a level that the base material can handle. Sometimes, power plant turbine blades oxidize so severely from exposure to the hot gas that they can no longer be used past the 25,000-hour service life requested by the customer.

Dr. Stamm provided significantly better material protection, increasing the service life of the gas turbine blades. "The invention makes it possible to operate the turbines for longer periods and under greater mechanical stress. The longer service life of the parts exposed to hot gas makes the turbines more economical to operate," the inventor says.

He successfully developed a protective coating with a rhenium additive that acts as both a protective layer to stave off pure oxidation and an adhesive conduction layer between the base material and the heat-insulating coating. The new coating has significant advantages over previously used coatings. Rhenium, a fairly late addition to the periodic table, has very favorable properties for this application: its melting point is very high, and the metal has an unusually high density. When rhenium is used in alloys or surface coatings, these properties increase the material's heat resistance. Thanks to the coating's optimal composition, the material's oxidation resistance and resistance to cracking are both increased. At high temperatures, the coating - which consists primarily of nickel, cobalt, chrome, aluminum and carefully measured doses of rhenium and yttrium
- forms a slow-growing aluminum oxide on its surface that protects components from oxidation and prevents the heat-insulating layer composite from failing prematurely.
Because the benefits are self-evident, the rhenium coating will be used on all Siemens gas turbines in the future.

The 53-year-old inventor's next project is to fine-tune the projected service life of heatinsulating layers: "I want to calculate with even greater reliability how long a ceramic coating will last under specific operating conditions and loads. Because if you really know the causes of possible failure and can describe them precisely, you can optimize the coatings and do an even better job of avoiding errors."

Dr. Werner Stamm has been working for Siemens for 15 years; during that time, he has submitted 52 inventions. He particularly likes being able to see the entire production cycle of his products at a glance: everything from the base material and coatings to the final product - the gas turbine blades. A short but heartfelt sentence sums up how this technical expert feels about his work: "I work because I have so much fun!"

Frank Volkmann: Brilliantly simple – Displaying graphics on a Web-based automation system, Automation and Drives, Nuremberg

Frank Volkmann works in an area of automation with an extremely bright future: the use of network and Web technologies. Today, Internet browsers are generally used to display control data. The problem is that displaying automated processes requires dynamic graphics to show things like blinking warning lights or operations data, whereas browsers are currently capable of displaying only text, numbers, and static graphics.

Previously, users had to install a plug-in to allow the dynamic display of graphics. However, most system administrators want to avoid installing such plug-ins for security reasons, Volkmann reports. "Also, this solution requires you to manually install the necessary software on every display unit, including devices such as laptops, and then uninstall it again later," he adds.

"We needed a solution that takes our customers' requests for improved security into consideration while minimizing the administrative effort required," he explains. In order to create a dynamic display despite the browser's limitations, the Web server continuously generates graphics using the newly invented process and sends them to the client. The client links the pictures to a previously cached Web site so that only the graphic object will refresh when something changes; the entire page will not have to be resent. This solution minimizes data traffic between the server and client.

"As long as the infrastructure allows it, the process will work on any end-user device, at any time, from anywhere, which is a very important factor when you consider the issue of support," Volkmann says. All that is needed to gain immediate access to the graphic data is a connection between a notebook, PDA, or mobile phone and the server. For this innovation and his successful track record of 44 inventions, Frank Volkmann is being named a 2006 Inventor of the Year. Among his outstanding colleagues, he stands out for his unusual training. At 27, he decided to do an apprenticeship at Siemens headquarters. Looking back, he feels the training to become a state-certified industrial technician for automation technology was a good choice: "The training is really terrific!" After two years, Volkmann completed the program with the best scores in his.

Karl Weidner: Flat and many-sided – Planar connection technologies for building electronic modules, Corporate Technology, Munich

A large store of knowledge to draw on, coupled with enthusiasm and creativity, as well as the support provided by an outstanding team of experts - Karl Weidner traces his success as an inventor to all these factors. He has been working with innovative construction and connection technologies since 1980.

This area includes wire bonding technology, which creates conductive connections between various contact points on a chip using small wire bridges. Now, Weidner has developed SiPLIT (Siemens Planar Interconnect Technology), a new connecting technology that can replace conventional wire bonding in electronic systems, particularly in power electronics. "The idea behind the invention is that a planar technology is being applied in the same space - and because it is planar, it allows the wires associated with the established technology to disappear," Weidner says.

Electronic switches using the flat SiPLIT connections are superior to conventional products in many ways: They are up to 30 percent smaller, they can handle more power, and they can be used at higher temperatures. Also, switches with the new planar connections are more reliable than switches that use wire bonding technology. Another advantage of SiPLIT is not apparent until there is an emergency: "With wire bonding technology, the individual wires have to be protected by a layer of silicon," the inventor explains, and adds: "If the switch short-circuits and the overload is sufficient to destroy the switch, silicon offgassing occurs, which contaminates the entire area. Because SiPLIT modules are produced without silicon, that can't happen."

There are any number of possible applications for the connection technology developed by Karl Weidner: "SiPLIT was specially developed for the automotive industry and automotive applications, particularly for power electronic system components such as electronic switches, inverters for engines, electronic battery toggles and onboard electrical systems." SiPLIT switches could be used in the plastics industry, for example, where production lines run at very high temperatures. Conventional switches with wire connections cannot withstand temperatures higher than 125°C. Planar construction, on the other hand, allows the chip to be cooled directly, enabling it to function at process temperatures of up to 200°C. A top+ project was launched in 2003 with many other Siemens AG Groups to bundle the wide-ranging applications of the trendsetting SiPLIT technology. A number of prototypes were developed as part of the project to show SiPLIT's potential. However, because the manufacture of SiPLIT is not an established process, new high-performance materials, processes and system concepts will have to be defined to produce test samples. These joint efforts focused on the innovative connection technology have yielded a total of 39 inventions in which Weidner, 53, played a major role.

Karl Weidner's team already has many potential customers, and interest in the technology is growing every day. If the current master plan holds, the switch production with the SiPLIT technology will begin in 2009 in Amberg.


Reference number / Informationsnummer: CT 200612.01 e

Guido Weber
81739 München
Tel.: +49-089-636-49030
Fax: +49-089-636-49220
E-Mail: guido.weber@siemens.com

Dr. Klaus Kleinfeld, CEO of Siemens AG, is carrying on a company tradition by personally presenting awards to the twelve best company inventors of the year. “Innovation has been our lifeblood since the days of Werner von Siemens. We must have ongoing innovation to secure our future success. And we base our worldwide leading position as an innovative company on our developers” explains Kleinfeld. In the past fiscal year, over 8,800 invention reports were submitted at Siemens and patent applications grew 15% to now 5700. Prof. Winfried Büttner, head of the Siemens intellectual property department, explains: "The basis for this success is our ever more focused orientation on promoting innovation and protecting it through patents. That’s the only way to scoop durable competitive advantage from our intellectual property."

This year's lineup of inventors once again shows the enormous spectrum of businesses where the company sets the technological pace. The awarded technologies are trendsetter in sectors, ranging from automotive electronics, automation and medical solutions, to power generation and distribution, communications, and transportation. “And our research and development is always in line with global challenges and megatrends” explains Büttner, “Together with the 47,000 other researchers and developers, they are the motor that drives the company.” Siemens always occupies top positions in international patent application league tables. There is no other company that applies for more patents in Germany, and in the USA too Siemens ranks among the top ten most innovative companies. Overall Siemens holds a total of 53,000 patents.

The “Inventor of the Year“ award has been presented every year since 1995 to twelve outstanding employees for outstanding contributions to improving the technical expertise and the economic success of the company.

This year’s winners are:

Dr. Joachim Charzinski: Everything under control – automatic controlling for the networks of the future, Siemens Communications, Munich, Germany

Dr. Karsten Freundt: Small switch, big advantages: the new SION vacuum circuit-breaker, Power Transmission and Distribution, Berlin, Germany

Dr. Bernhard Gottlieb: Micro system with macro performance – an innovative piezoelectric drive system sets new standards in actuator technology, Corporate Technology, Munich, Germany

Rüdiger Holz: Simply unbeatable – “Mouse teeth” improve trains, Transportation Systems, Munich, Germany

Dr. Li Hui: Beyond 3G – Resource management for future mobile radio standards, Corporate Technology, Beijing, China

Dr. Matthias Lott: Problem-free handover in multi-hop networks, Siemens Communications, Munich, Germany

Mohammad Mehdianpour: Maximum precision and speed in electronics manufacturing, Automation and Drives, Munich, Germany

Winfried Möll: CESAR – Driving cockpit design forward, VDO Automotive AG, Babenhausen, Germany

Dr. Bharat Rao: More data, less costs - REMIND helps make better use of patient data , Medical Solutions, Malvern, PA, USA

Dr. Martin Spahn: X-rays in the digital age –Flat-panel detectors improve workflow and diagnosis, Medical Solutions, Forchheim, Germany

Dr. Mike Twerdochlib: Novel sensors for even more security in power plants, Power Generation, Orlando, FL, USA

Rolf Vollmer: Competitive and versatile – harmonic technology in synchronous machines, Automation and Drives, Bad Neustadt a.d.Saale, Germany

Everything under control – automatic controlling for the networks of the future.

KING, the German acronym for components for the Internet of the next generation, is the name of a now completed project initiated by the Federal Ministry for Education and Research which carried out work on the Internet of the next generation. Effective control mechanisms are required for a faster and more powerful network of this type to be put into practice.

39 year-old Dr. Joachim Charzinski was involved in KING from the very beginning and worked at Siemens COM on realizing this vision. An important step was the use of automatic control systems. At present many network operators still control data traffic manually, but not for much longer, says inventor Dr. Charzinski: “We’re slowly reaching the point where networks are becoming so complex that it‘s hardly still possible to control them intuitively. The decision to send a data stream via a different channel can have consequences for the whole network that are difficult to calculate.” In the future, human reaction speed will not always be fast enough to meet the new requirements for networks.

In response to this problem, Siemens COM has been working for some time on the development of systems for automating network operation. “You can imagine this as a traffic control system. The data volume is monitored and redirected before congestion can occur in the first place,” says Dr. Charzinski. However, as the inventor soon found out, there is one point where this analogy does not fit. Interventions in the data flow of a network need to be handled very much more sensitively than in road traffic. “The operators don’t want to let control completely out of their hands. Although they want their operations simplified they’re also afraid of losing control over their network.”

In order to allow operators to make use of the optimization potential despite these misgivings, Dr. Charzinski and his team have developed a type of semi-automatic monitoring with which operators can slowly gain confidence in the control system. The carrier is informed by the system about every new network configuration and must give its consent for more important decisions. Says Dr. Charzinski: “As the operator increasingly gains confidence in the quality of the proposals made by our automatic network control system, it can gradually assign more and more tasks to this control system and thereby make increasingly better use of its network resources.“

In this way, the network operators can gradually accustom themselves to automated network control, and at the same time profit from substantial cost advantages: “With a well-tuned system you can achieve 40 percent more performance than with the basic setting,” states Dr. Charzinski.

Because the automation system constantly monitors the network and regulates it for optimum performance, carriers can go very much closer to the limit of their load carrying capacity without endangering the reliability of the network. And networks can be further upgraded in line with the “KING” concept without them becoming so complex that the operating personnel can no longer handle them.

Small switch, big advantages: the new SION vacuum circuit-breaker

Medium-voltage switchgears are used for the distribution of electricity by power supply utilities or in large industrial plants where very high currents have to be switched quickly and reliably on a frequent basis. This is commonly done with vacuum circuit-breakers which have proved their value in this field since the 1980s. This basic principle – the interruption of the current or short-circuit by means of a vacuum tube – has not changed much since then. What has changed are the requirements for the complete switchgear. The qualities called for in the new generations of circuit-breakers are compact size, reliability, ease of integration and reduction of costs over the whole process chain. Dr.-Ing. Karsten Freundt has been responsible for new product development at Siemens PTD M C and project leader for the SION development project since 2003.

As far as the dimensions of the circuit-breakers are concerned, the chief requirement is minimum possible depth. The width on the other hand is predetermined by the switchgear used. The SION series of circuit-breakers developed by Siemens PTD M C have a rated voltage of up to 17.5 kV but are only 370 mm deep. As a result, plant operators can save space compared with other circuit-breaker models and can thus also save money in the long run. Says Dr. Freundt. “The circuit-breakers of our competitors are at least 50 mm deeper. Although this may only seem like a slight difference it nevertheless opens up new possibilities for switching station builders to incorporate space savings in an overall concept.

A number of inventions were necessary in order to make this compact design possible: a smart mix of insulating materials, a direct drive concept and the creation of a portfolio of circuit-breakers made up of fewer components than before are the most important innovations. But Dr. Freundt also received the “Inventor of the year 2005” award for his continuous work in the field of vacuum circuit-breakers over many years. In twelve years at Siemens, he has submitted 17 inventions, of which 10 have been patented to date.

Another plus point for the new compact SION circuit-breaker developed by 40-year old Dr. Freundt and his team is its great flexibility. “We deliver the circuit-breaker with various different interfaces. The customer can use whichever interface is compatible with their own system.”

The SION circuit-breaker also displays its versatility when it comes to insulation. Because the insulating material accounts for a large part of the volume in the primary section of the vacuum circuit-breaker, customers can decide for themselves how much plastic they need depending on their insulation requirements. The insulating materials can be adapted as required by means of a simple snap-in locking system.

The new SION circuit-breaker series was unveiled in September at the “Elektrotechnik“ trade fair in Dortmund, and will be available on the market starting January 2006.

Micro system with macro performance - an innovative piezoelectric drive system sets new standards in actuator technology

Precision motor actuators find application in all branches of industry. In building controls, for example, ventilation flaps actuated by positioning motors ensure a pleasant room climate. The production technology sector uses precision actuators as an efficient way of aligning and placing components and tools. Laser machining techniques naturally require a very high standard of positioning accuracy for lining up the laser beam in relation to the work piece. These are just a few examples.

In our daily lives too we can hardly manage without precision actuators. In a modern mid-range car, for example, there can be as many as 150 of these drives playing a largely unseen role in improving safety and driving comfort, and reducing fuel consumption and exhaust emissions. Up until now electromagnetic motors have been the solution of choice for actuators of all kinds.

The innovative PAD (Piezoelectric Actuator Drive) system combines many advantageous and essential properties such as ultra-fast start-stop characteristics, high actuating force, integrated load sensor system, high drive rigidity and positioning accuracy in purely controlled mode which can only, if at all, be achieved by electromagnetic motors using elaborate and expensive additional sensors and control technology. “In all actuating functions in which the combined advantages of the PAD system are brought to bear it will replace the electromagnetic motor in the small motor sector for technical and economic reasons and open the way for new applications,” predicted Dr. Gottlieb.

The laboratory samples of the PAD system that he has developed have an amazingly simple construction consisting of just ten components, and achieve a maximum torque of 4 Nm and a speed of up to 30 rpm, giving a mechanical power of about 12 W.

Says Dr. Gottlieb: “The rotary motion is generated by two linear actuators arranged around a ring at an angle of 90° to each other. If a sinusoidal voltage is applied to one of the linear actuators and a cosine-wave voltage to the other, the ring is shifted with a circular motion that acts on the shaft and drives it in a rotational direction.” Ring and shaft fit together with micro teeth to improve force transmission.

The resulting high degree of precision enables the positioning error to be kept below one angular second. A graphic way to picture this is that an angular second corresponds to the thickness of a human hair viewed from a distance of 10 m.

Another outstanding property of the PAD system is its energy efficiency. Unlike conventional electric motors it does not take up any electrical energy in the hold state under load. In addition, its overall electromechanical efficiency of up to 35 percent is considerably higher than the typical comparative values of approximately 15-25 percent of conventional electromagnetic motors of this performance class.

The 43-year old physicist Dr. Gottlieb has spent most of his 9 years development activity at Siemens at Corporate Technology, where he has worked with great success in the field of piezoelectric injection technology and has made path-breaking contributions to this technology. Thanks to this wealth of experience in the application of piezoelectric actuators, he was able to devise the basic principles for the PAD system for which he has submitted 106 invention applications as a first step to patent protection. “PAD is a technology with applications across the board. It can be used wherever high accuracy and force are needed simultaneously. This can be such different areas as building controls, medical engineering or robotics,” states Gottlieb, underlining the importance of the PAD system for Siemens.

Simply unbeatable – “Mouse teeth” improve trains

Sometimes it’s the simplest solutions that are the best. More than ten years ago, Rüdiger Holz was looking for a cost-effective way to increase the strength of locomotive walls and make them more corrosion-proof. He hit upon the idea of making semicircular cutouts in the vertical and horizontal sections used to provide a supporting lattice for the sheet metal panels. These cutouts form so-called “mouse teeth” in the sections so that they no longer make 100% contact with the wall. “The strengthening effect remains the same but the novel section shape offers many advantages for manufacturer and customer alike,” says the inventor.

For example, the section webs can be aligned more easily and more precisely for attachment because the “mouse teeth” are beveled. Furthermore, the sections only make contact at the welds so no doubling up of the sheet metal occurs which would need sealing. In addition, there is a saving of up to 30 percent in raw material if the teeth of two sections are interlocked when cutting out from the metal sheet. There are fewer thermal and acoustic bridges, which improves energy consumption and comfort for the driver. Cables and pipes can also be laid through the sections without the need to drill holes.

The main benefit for customers comes in the form of increased corrosion protection. “Actually there’s nothing left that can rust. Condensation can’t collect against the section structure and paint can be applied absolutely thoroughly at every point on the metal section,” explains Rüdiger Holz.

The 58-year old has devoted his life to the development of ever better trains, originally at Krauss Maffei, whose locomotive building activities were later taken over by Siemens. He worked on the development of the Transrapid and the first ICE among other projects. 13 inventions and 5 patents date from his time at Siemens alone.

Rüdiger Holz is still amazed that it is precisely this simple improvement suggestion for the metal section webs that has had a greater impact than all his other inventions. “If anything, this patent is almost too simple, so simple in fact that I didn’t originally intend to register the invention at all,” he recalls. His boss at the time had quite a job persuading him to write the invention application.

Although more than ten years have passed since the idea was patented, this invention is still superior to all other approaches. More recent construction methods for coach walls are appreciably more expensive and have technical drawbacks compared with Holz’s solution.

His “planar component” is still the most cost-effective and practical solution and has been used in nearly 1,000 locomotives and power units produced by Siemens since 1996. And according to Rüdiger Holz, the potential is by no means fully exhausted yet. “This invention could also be used to good effect in aircraft or ships, and indeed anywhere large metal walls need to be strengthened.”

Beyond 3G – Resource management for future mobile radio standards

Telephoning with a cell phone from anywhere at any time has become a firmly established part of life for the modern, mobile generation. However, it is annoying when the reception suddenly deteriorates or even breaks off completely. One cause of disturbances of this type - so-called interference - is when the cell phone receives signals from two transmitters with the same frequency at the same time. A similar effect is familiar, for example, to drivers listening to their car radio. The reception quality decreases and before the other transmitter can take over the frequency both transmitters cause interference of each other’s signals.

Precautions are taken to minimize the interference in the boundary zones between two transmitters in mobile systems. In the first place, the allocation of frequencies is carefully planned. Secondly, a cellular structure similar to the structure of a honeycomb ensures optimum coverage of the network. The cells represent transmission regions which are each served by an antenna. The interference occurs at the boundary between two cells.

“Additional frequencies could provide a remedy here”, explains Dr. Li Hui from Corporate Technology at Siemens China, whose work involves mobile radio systems for the future. “However, this would also entail higher costs.” Provision is made for this in the 3rd generation of mobile communication technology UMTS with the WCDMA process (Wideband Code Division Multiple Access) in which every user can be identified uniquely. As a result the network recognizes interference and rectifies it . “But even WCDMA comes up against its limits when there’s a very large number of users,” explains Dr. Li. “Upwards of a critical subscriber number the dynamic allocation of resources is no longer controllable with the consequence that interference cannot be eliminated either.”

Dr. Li and his 12-strong research team, which submitted 15 patent applications last year, are working on international B3G (beyond the 3rd generation of mobile network) research projects aimed at further developing mobile radio technology. Their work involves a combination of distributed antenna technology and the OFDMA process (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) which splits up certain frequency bands into small orthogonal units in order to achieve improved dynamics. Instead of one powerful antenna in the center of the cell, Dr. Li now distributes a large number of low-power antennas uniformly throughout the cell. In this way coverage can be optimized with less transmission power and at the same time interference in the boundary zone can be eliminated through dynamic allocation of radio resources. “With the new technology we’ve succeeded in increasing the utilization level of the radio resources while at the same time improving the quality of the service,” states Dr. Li. “I’m highly confident that our technology for radio resource management will be included in future mobile radio standards.”

In the future, this researcher with a doctorate from Berlin Technical University would like to get more intensively involved in Chinese research projects. “We will strengthen our position on the Chinese market if we work together with other Chinese research groups to lay the foundations for the next generation of mobile phone systems.”

Problem-free handover in multi-hop networks

One of Dr. Matthias Lott’s principal fields of research focuses on mobility in multi-hop connections. Multi-hop means that a signal is not routed directly from the transmitter to the receiver but is redirected several times by transmission stations. At 37, he is the youngest of the award-winning inventors, and he has already submitted 91 inventions, 31 of which resulted in a patent application. This impressive total, stresses Dr. Lott, is thanks to the innovative and effective cooperation in the team headed by Dr. Egon Schulz.

In a multi-hop network, base stations (also known as access points) are supplemented by a number of secondary intelligent relay stations. This new network architecture makes the wireless network more efficient.

Multi-hop networks will increase network range and data capacity in the future. Multi-hop links are designed to provide uninterrupted transmission of multimedia services, for instance, in the wireless networks of the future where time-critical transmission of high data rates is required.

However, the problem with the new data structure is that it complicates the handover procedure. When the reception deteriorates and the cell phone therefore tries to change stations it has to make a choice between a relay link and changing to the base station. The signal quality is not the only criterion for the handover decision. “In many cases it can be better to select a poorer radio link to the base station than to set up a good connection to a relay. This is because the data has to be sent twice in the case of a relay connection - from the cell phone to the relay and from the relay to the base station,” explains Dr. Lott.

A remedy is provided by a new method of determining the status. If the connection threatens to break off, the mobile handset transmits a signal that is located and evaluated by the stations. Compared with earlier solutions this speeds up the handover process, says multi-hop specialist Dr. Lott. “A single signal is all that’s needed for the measurement and for the handover decision. The network has all the necessary information about the resources, and can thus decide whether to give preference to a multi-hop connection or to choose normal transmission.”

This decision is made so quickly that the mobile phone user is not aware of the handover at all, even when using a time-critical multimedia application at that moment. The user has the impression of remaining connected the whole time.

In future networks with and even without multi-hop connections the invention will help implement faster handover with fewer transmission resources, an important requirement for providing low-price, good-quality multimedia services anywhere at any time.

Maximum precision and speed in electronics manufacturing

“Electronics products are becoming smaller and smaller and increasingly complex,” explains Mohammad Mehdianpour, who has been developing electronics assembly systems at Siemens since 1987. Mobile phones are no longer used just for making calls. Now they’re also used to take pictures and surf the Internet. As a result, they require a growing number of components, which in turn are being increasingly miniaturized.

Modern assembly systems no longer work as stand-alone islands in manufacturing. They are linked to form entire production lines. “One machine won’t have just one placement head collecting and placing components. It’ll often have two, three or four,” explains Mehdianpour. These heads operate on the Collect&Place principle. The 20-segment placement head picks up 20 components from the feeder and places them on the printed circuit board. Several placement heads work in parallel, continuously placing components onto printed circuit boards with an accuracy of 1/100th of a millimeter, at extreme speeds.

“With the optimization that has been achieved in automation and in the speed and precision of the machines, optimizing production of the machines themselves is becoming increasingly important,” says Mehdianpour, who has devoted himself and his team to precisely this issue. “We’re on the brink of a key breakthrough with this latest invention.” In the future, assembly machines and production lines will no longer be built and assembled in the factories of machine suppliers but on-site in the customer’s own production facilities. “This doesn’t just optimize flexibility and cost effectiveness. It turns them completely on their heads.”

Siemens AG is honoring Mohammad Mehdianpour as one of its inventors of the year because he and his team have made a key contribution to the success of SIPLACE assembly machines with their continued innovations. Mohammad Mehdianpour is responsible for 69 inventions, of which 29 have been patented. “In all of our innovations, we are striving to unite the factors that are critical for electronics manufacturing,” explains Mehdianpour. In flexible high-speed electronics manufacturing, these include extreme precision and performance, speed and, most important, cost effectiveness. “And at the same time,” he continues, “you have to ensure the highest level of quality.” Because, in the end, the airbag sensor and the pacemaker don’t have to work just one time. They have to work all the time and be extremely reliable.

CESAR – Driving cockpit design forward

Car-buyers have come to expect to have a variety of equipment options to choose from. At the same time, they want improved use of space, weight and user-friendliness. Manufacturers seek to satisfy all of these needs without incurring additional costs. By standardizing components, Siemens VDO has developed a cockpit solution that not only meets these requirements but also makes it possible to retrofit multimedia options down the road.

Siemens VDO Automotive has laid the groundwork for greater flexibility in interior vehicle design by creating a new type of instrument panel that consists of three plug-and-play modules. CESAR (Cockpit Electromechanical System ARchitecture) is a modular concept that meets the many demands placed on the instrument panel of the future. The integration of electrical and mechanical components reduces weight by about 15 percent, increases the amount of useable space by up to 40 liters and can cut cockpit costs by as much as 30 percent. The modular design also significantly reduces maintenance, cutting the time involved by as much as 80 percent.

The concept for this new cockpit architecture was developed by Winfried Möll. The 41-year-old recalls, “It was primarily a matter of integrating a number of different ideas. Others have thought about a lot of things, but nobody had combined them all in a strong concept.”

The instrument panel is produced using three premanufactured modules for the driver side, passenger side and central console. This allows customized yet less expensive cockpit construction. The individual modules are easy to remove and replace so retrofitting can be done on a plug-and-play basis.

Another innovation is the structure, which consists of a die-cast magnesium cross-car beam. This structure is seven kilograms lighter than conventional steel structures and just as stable. Automakers also benefit from magnesium’s very good suitability for recycling.

The heart of CESAR is the centrally controlled electronics architecture. Until now, cockpits, along with all instrumentation, have been developed from scratch for each new vehicle model. With CESAR, additional functions can be integrated without requiring the development of a whole new system. CESAR makes it easy to switch out or retrofit individual components. “It's a completely new approach,” explains Möll, who has already applied for patents on 30 inventions. “We're working on a holistic concept by giving equal attention to the electrical and mechanical components, placing great importance on user-friendliness. Imagine it like a PC, where new hardware is automatically recognized and integrated into the system.”

The CESAR instrument panel was introduced at the International Motor Show (IAA) 2005 as part of the “always on” vision of the future – a concept in which vehicles will always be up to the latest state of the art, even after they leave the production plant. The modular design allows drivers to easily “update” their vehicles. Multimedia applications, new navigation systems and additional screens can be easily integrated into the vehicle without the changing the way the owner operates within the vehicle.

More data, less costs - REMIND helps make better use of patient data

Cardiovascular diseases are the number one cause of mortality throughout the world, accounting for 17 million deaths a year. The disease is often a chronic condition, so that patients are reliant on medical treatment over years, which is a huge burden for them as well as for the health system. And the way of life in industrialized countries is expected to contribute to a further rise in the number of those affected in the future. There is therefore considerable need for a further improvement in the quality of care with a parallel reduction in costs.

In order to improve the care of patients suffering from cardiovascular diseases, Dr. Bharat Rao of Siemens Medical Solutions has developed a system known as REMIND (Reliable Extraction and Meaningful Inference from Nonstructured Data). The system collects patient data from various sources, analyzes it and offers recommendations for further treatment.

“REMIND helps doctors to implement current treatment guidelines, for example those of the American Heart Association. In this way, better care can be provided for the patient with no increase in time expenditure, resulting in less costs for the health system,” says the inventor of the program. Treatment can only be improved, though, if the patient administration system has sufficient data material available to make valid proposals for treatment, such as the prescription of beta-blockers.

The organization of patient data is often not particularly good in the first place, explains Dr. Rao. ”The information is kept at dispersed locations, it’s often only available in the form of written text and structured differently from one clinic to another.” REMIND provides a means of collecting patient data from all these sources and comparing it, without the need to enter additional data by hand. The program makes use of existing bills, prescriptions, laboratory reports and written doctor’s notes. “We take what we can get and use this to generate an optimum data record. If the quality of the data improves in the future through the use of electronic patient files, REMIND will also profit from this,” predicts Dr. Rao.

Every case of illness is different. For this reason, maximum flexibility was an important factor in the development of REMIND. It can be applied at all levels of complexity, from simple practice administration to patient management systems in large clinics. Moreover, new treatment guidelines can easily be integrated in the program.

Not only doctors and patients profit at individual level from the improved patient administration. Valuable results for clinical studies or for quality management in hospitals can also be gleaned from the data material after it has been made anonymous.

At present, REMIND is tailored primarily to the American health system, but it could also be configured for any other country. And there is still considerable scope for expanding the application area, according to Dr. Rao. “REMIND has proven suitable for other applications and diseases as well, for example for the treatment of cancer patients. At the moment the system is used for 5 million patients with totally different diagnoses.”

X-rays in the digital age – Flat-panel detectors improve workflow and diagnosis

X-ray technology is the oldest medical imaging process, and little had changed about the process over the course of a hundred years. Images of the skeleton and lungs were shot onto film and analyzed on a viewing screen. Photography had long since entered the digital age when digital imaging using flat-panel detectors finally began to be used in medical practices and clinics for radiography with real-time image processing in the 1990s.

Dr. Martin Spahn played a key role in the successful advent of this technology. Spahn is responsible for the field of flat-panel detectors at Siemens MED. In flat-panel detector technology, x-rays are converted into digital image data through direct and indirect conversion processes. The technology is similar to the photo chip in a digital camera in that it employs semiconducting amorphous silicon. However, in the x-ray system, the materials are arranged on a much larger scale. “For indirect conversion, the x-rays are first converted into light in a scintillator layer. In the layer below, an active amorphous silicon photodiode (pixel) array, this light is then converted into electrical signals,” explains the inventor. The indirect process has become commonplace in nearly every area of application in radiology and cardiology while direct conversion is most suitable for mammography.

The use of flat-panel detectors has brought numerous advantages for x-ray-based diagnostics. Examination times are shortened because images are available on the monitor immediately and the time-consuming process of developing x-ray films is eliminated. Moreover, the digital data can be saved directly and immediately made available to other medical specialists. Modern flat-panel detectors increase efficiency in clinics and practices and at the same time contribute to considerable cost savings.
For patients, they make the process of getting x-rays considerably less harmful. Because flat-panel detectors are more sensitive than film, x-ray doses can be reduced by one-half without compromising image quality.

Not only is ease of use improved, flat-panel detectors also give doctors better diagnostic options by making a variety of digital image processing methods possible in the first place, reports Spahn. These include automatic contrast adjustments and frequency-related noise reduction as well as simple manipulations like rotating or magnifying the image. In many cases, the entire range of such image processing methods can make diagnosis easier.

Initially, flat-panel detectors were used primarily for radiography and mammography, that is, static applications. Now, their use has also become established in angiography and cardioangiography, which deal with moving images such as blood flow. Previously, image intensifiers were used in this area.

Further developments are aimed at making the detectors lighter and more portable to support mobile applications. And, according to Spahn, one vision could come closer to reality in the medium term. “The ideal detector is an integrating detector. A series of improvements could be made with such detectors, such as even lower-noise images, integrated image processing on the pixel matrix or new applications that would arise from detection of the energy of the x-ray quanta.“

The flat-panel detectors continue a long tradition of x-ray technology at Siemens. The Erlangen-based company Reiniger, Gebbert und Schall (RGS) – now the Siemens Group Medical Solutions – began fabrication of x-ray tubes and devices shortly after Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen discovered x-rays in 1895.

Novel sensors for even more security in power plants

Dr. Mike Twerdochlib, who works for Siemens PG, has developed a novel sensor for providing even more security in power plants. The hydrogen monitor for which a patent application has been filed allows any leaks occurring in the generator to be detected far more quickly than in the past. The new measurement system is also far cheaper than alternative systems.

This patented monitor is mounted directly on the generator, and can thus react far more quickly to overheating. In the past, monitoring systems have been installed externally and supplied with hydrogen samples via a complex system of pumps and valves.

Another example of the continuous improvement in power plant sensor systems is the measurement device, also developed by Dr. Twerdochlib, for detecting mechanical wear in the turbine generator. “With this device you can measure, for example, whether there has been any displacement or wear of the component due to rotation while the plant is running. This ensures that the plant can be stopped in time before any major damage occurs,” says Dr. Twerdochlib. The sensor he developed carries out measurements and calculates the surface distances and compares them with reference data. Several components can be monitored simultaneously by moving the measuring device to different parts of the generator.

Siemens has marketed these and other monitoring systems and sensors developed by Dr. Twerdochlib. As part of a product line, they have helped consolidate Siemens’ market leadership in this sector and increase market share. “We can offer power plant operators more attractive products at competitive prices. Better monitoring systems also means a more reliable and cheaper electricity supply for electricity customers,” said Dr Twerdochlib.

As an inventor, though, Dr. Mike Twerdochlib cannot be tied down so easily to one area. “I’m an all-rounder and I deal with practically every aspect of monitoring and sensor systems in power plants. My paramount goal is to ensure than power plants run like clockwork. I also want to make monitoring equipment handier, more reliable and more customer-friendly.”

Competitive and versatile – harmonic technology in synchronous machines

“I want to improve every aspect of electric machines,” says 44-year-old development engineer Rolf Vollmer. His specialty is harmonic motors, a special form of synchronous machine that are used in robots and machine tools. “Harmonic motors achieve a higher output than other technologies,” says Vollmer. “Thanks to my inventions, we can increase the already high output even further.”

Synchronous machines consist primarily of two components, the moving part, the rotor with permanent magnets, and the stationary part, the stator, which is wound with multiple coils. Both components generate magnetic fields that interact and thus exert mechanical forces. A pair consisting of a magnetic north pole and a magnetic south pole is called a pole pair. Key for this interaction between the magnetic fields in electric motors is that the numbers of pole pairs for the stator field correspond to those of the permanent magnet field.

“Both motor speed and motor output depend on the selected number of pole pairs,” explains Vollmer. “Normally, one works with the lowest number of pole pairs of the stator field. But this means that the motor always stays below its potential. We use higher numbers of stator field poles and achieve better efficiency, especially at lower speeds."

“To use this to increase the output of electric motors, you need to know that it works and you need to be inventive,” beams Rolf Vollmer.

Higher efficiency enables plant operators to save energy.
In addition, harmonic technology can be used to build motors with smaller space requirements and lighter weights. “It is possible to build motors with a large number of poles even with a small number of coils. All you need are three coils to get 8 pole pairs,” explains Vollmer. The electrical engineer has been working for Siemens for 19 years, in which time he has logged 66 inventions, 43 of which have been patented.

The inventions regarding the harmonic motors have resulted in the development of new products and – thanks to lower production costs – completely new areas of application. Possible applications for Vollmer’s inventions include machine tools, production machinery and textile machinery as well as vehicle drives, medical technologies and mail distribution systems – and the range of possibilities is growing as the share of harmonic motors in production is growing fast.

Vollmer is confident that the harmonic motors won’t have to worry about competition from Asia for now. “Material and construction costs are far lower than for other synchronous machines, so we can produce them competitively in Germany.”

Reference number / Informationsnummer: CT 200512.01 e

Siemens today honors its twelve top inventors at a prize ceremony at the company’s Munich headquarters. The electrical company invested 5.1 billion euros in research and development in the last financial year, equivalent to 23.2 million euros for each working day. Over 45,000 employees work in the research and development area worldwide. CEO Dr. Heinrich v. Pierer will be presenting the prizes for the award-winning inventions, which include intelligent traffic systems, exceptionally user-friendly hearing aids and video systems that react to the contents of images.

Ever since the company was founded, Siemens developments have helped shape technological trends. In the early days Werner von Siemens permanently changed the face of communications technology with the development of the pointer telegraph. This was followed by the development of the dynamo principle, the first electric railway and the production of the first high-purity silicon, the substance from which electronic memory chips and processors are manufactured.
Inventions remain the driving force behind the company to this day. Worldwide, the company currently has over 48,000 issued patents. In the last financial year alone researchers announced 8,200 inventions, and patent applications were filed for nearly two thirds of them. In international statistics Siemens is among the top companies in terms of patent registrations. In November the German President, Horst Köhler, awarded Siemens together with Infineon and the Fraunhofer Institute for Silicon Technology ISIT the 2004 German Future Prize for their “Quicklab” electric biochip. “Innovation is at the very beginning of every value added chain,” stresses Heinrich v. Pierer. Tonight, for the tenth year in a row, the company will therefore be honoring the best of its scientists. Their inventions are to be found in almost every sphere of public life, from communications and security technology, through intelligent traffic systems to wireless technology used in a further development of the car key.

The winners are as follows:

Osman Ahmed:
Low-cost, efficient semiconductor platforms are revolutionizing building controls, Siemens Building Technologies, Buffalo Grove, Illinois, USA

Alain Brillon:
The days of the metal car key are numbered - plastic cards offer greater convenience and security, Siemens VDO Automotive, Toulouse, France

Dorin Comaniciu:
Information from images – Statistical processes for applications at Siemens MED, VDO and SBT, Siemens Corporate Research, Inc., Princeton, New Jersey, USA

Dr. Joachim Franke:
Tradition meets future - the Benson boiler in modern 700°C power plants, Power Generation, Erlangen

Dr. Andreas Hutter, Dr. Jörg Heuer:
Making more efficient use of XML metadata, Corporate Technology, Munich

Günter Steindl:
Neighborly help on the Ethernet – Automatic assignment of IP addresses, Automation and Drives, Amberg

Dr. Paul Mathias:
More safety and comfort in urban traffic thanks to novel assistance functions for car drivers – Intelligent traffic systems in which on-board computers interact with traffic lights, Industrial Solutions & Services, Munich

Dr. Jürgen Michel:
Filling in the gaps in reception – Innovations for MBMS services in UMTS mobile phones, Communications, Munich

Hans-Jochen Morper:
The best of both worlds – Wireless LAN and WiMax enhance fixed and mobile networks, Communications, Munich

Dr. Torsten Niederdränk:
Easy-to-use hearing aids - wireless technology does more than just improve hearing, Medical Solutions, Erlangen

Rudolf Temming:
Modular principle as basis for railroad installations - functional modules cut costs and development time, Transportation Systems, Braunschweig

Dr. Oliver Veits:
Ensuring that data packets reach the right address in Internet telephony, Communications, Munich

Low-cost, efficient semiconductor platforms are revolutionizing building controls

Osman Ahmed
Siemens Building Technologies, Buffalo Grove, Illinois, USA

Air humidity, temperature and light conditions are factors that people perceive unconsciously upon entering a room, making up the overall sensory impression described simply as the “room atmosphere.” For modern building control systems, achieving this atmosphere involves a host of concrete measurement data and monitoring processes.

Dr. Osman Ahmed, head of engineering at Siemens Building Technologies in the USA, has filed patents for eleven inventions in the field of building controls since 1988. He describes a typical process in a building control system as follows: “A sensor measures the actual temperature and forwards it to a computer, which compares it with the desired temperature. A signal is then sent to a device that adjusts the temperature accordingly. That’s the classic control circuit.”

These processes used to be carried out by four or five different components. Ahmed has now found a way to combine all these processes on a single platform. These so-called MEMS (Micro Electro-Mechanical System) platforms are only the size of a semiconductor chip, but they still pack in a vast number of functions. For example, they can measure a draft, process the corresponding data and radio it to a station. At the same time they can be produced very cheaply in large quantities.

Another advantage of MEMS is that they can be equipped with wireless modules, thereby saving up to 70 percent on installation costs. “Present-day sensor systems usually have two things in common,” said Ahmed, “namely wires for the power supply and wires for transmitting signals to the control center. That means high costs because the time spent for installation and possibly tracing faults is immense. MEMS on the other hand do not need to be wired and they transmit their signal to a switching station by radio. This signal could contain data about the room atmosphere or a fire alarm, or even surveillance pictures from tiny MEMS cameras.”

A dense network of sensors in the building can detect drafts, a rise in the temperature if the workplace is exposed to sunshine, or stuffy air that needs changing. This information is used to improve the room atmosphere, create a better working environment in offices, universities or stores, and boost efficiency. Ahmed believes that building controls will become more important thanks to cost-saving innovations such as semiconductor platforms and wireless communications. “Monitoring can be extended beyond the classic areas such as temperature and air quality to other areas and appliances. The trend is moving away from straightforward building controls to the intelligent use of room information in the building.”

In a field test, Ahmed used this method to measure the carbon dioxide and ammonia content in mouse cages. When MEMS in the mouse cages detect a high carbon dioxide and ammonia content, this is an indication that the air is stifling and the straw needs to be changed.

A dense network of sensors in the building can detect drafts, a rise in the temperature if the workplace is exposed to sunshine, or stuffy air that needs changing. This information is used to improve the room atmosphere, create a better working environment in offices, universities or stores, and boost efficiency.

The days of the metal car key are numbered - Plastic cards offer greater convenience and security

Alain Brillon
Siemens VDO Automotive, Toulouse, France

Most people still have a car key on their key ring. However, thanks to the inventions of Alain Brillon and his team at Siemens VDO Automotive, more and more cars coming onto the market these days are fitted with a system in which a card key in the wallet unlocks the vehicle and switches on the ignition by means of a radio signal. The convenience of going to your car, getting in and driving off without having to look for the car key is just one benefit of the new system.

Alain Brillon is one of the spiritual fathers of the “Passive Start and Entry System,” PASE for short, a keyless access control system for cars. Since 1997 he has filed patent applications for 26 inventions, mainly in this field. The system from Siemens VDO had its world premiere in 1998 when it was first offered as an option for the Mercedes S-Class. This technology is now available in other vehicle classes. Anyone who orders a Renault Mégane with card key today soon wonders why all cars don’t do away with the ignition key. It’s not just a question of replacing a metal key with a card, which is a more convenient way of opening the car. Cars can also be started accidentally by children left unattended in the car by their parents, even for only a moment, and it happens time and again. This source of danger is eliminated with the radio card. As soon as the driver gets out of the car and the card leaves the vehicle the ignition is disabled.

There were a number of obstacles to overcome before the technology could be used in mass production. “One of the challenges in the development of our keyless access system was to find a way of pinpointing the position of the key to ensure that the car can’t be started when the key is outside the car,” Alain Brillon recalls. This problem was solved by using various antennas inside and outside the car and by means of a patented invention that makes clever use of an interference signal. When the starter button is pressed to start the engine the system checks the location of the key a second time. To make absolutely certain that the key can only respond if it is actually inside the car, the external antennas transmit an interference signal. If the key is outside the car it cannot react and the engine remains off. The car cannot be started until the starter button is pressed with the key card inside the car where it can react.

Another vision that could become reality with PASE is the car that recognizes its driver. The next generation of access control will, for example, be able to start adjusting the seat position as the driver approaches the car – and will even be able to do this for a passenger with a key card. The system of the future will also be able to recognize the exact position outside the car and so distinguish between driver and passenger side.

Alain Brillon is one of the spiritual fathers of the “Passive Start and Entry System,” PASE for short, a keyless access control system for cars. Since 1997 he has filed patent applications for 26 inventions, mainly in this field.

Information from images – Statistical processes for applications for Siemens Medical, Automotive and Building Technologies

Dorin Comaniciu
Siemens Corporate Research, Inc., Princeton, New Jersey, USA

Echocardiography in medicine, video cameras in vehicles and video networks in building technology and security systems have one thing in common. They all need to store increasingly large volumes of data in the form of image sequences, to display for example a beating heart, an approaching traffic obstacle or overtaking vehicles. These days, this image information is generally still evaluated and interpreted by human beings.

Dorin Comaniciu conducts research at Siemens Corporate Research (SCR) in Princeton (New Jersey) on new mathematical processes that recognize and interpret the contents of image sequences of this type. He has filed 68 patent applications since 1999, all focused on one objective, to obtain meaningful and quantifiable information from a continuous stream of image data.

“We’re concentrating on the development of self-contained image processing systems that can interpret visual information with consistent accuracy,” explains Dr. Comaniciu. One of his inventions, for instance, describes the mathematical framework for a reliable means of combining information, a technology that is used when data contains errors or is incomplete.

Siemens Medical Solutions uses Comanicius’ new methods, for example, for developing systems that continuously analyze the movement of the inner heart muscle by means of heart ultrasound sequences. These systems provide a reliable means of detecting heart diseases, the number one cause of death in the USA and Europe, at a far earlier stage. “In this way we can simulta