Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft zur Förderung der angewandten Forschung e.V. |
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Postfach 12 04 20
Hansastraße 27C
München
D-80031
Germany
[t] +49 8912 05 0
[f] +49 8912 05 7531
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The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft undertakes applied research of direct utility to private and public enterprise and of wide benefit to society. Its services are solicited by customers and contractual partners in industry, the service sector and public administration. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft maintains over 80 research units at more than 40 different locations throughout Germany. A staff of some 12,700, predominantly qualified scientists and engineers, works with an annual research budget of over one billion euros. Of this sum, more than € 900 million is generated through contract research. Two thirds of the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft’s contract research revenue is derived from contracts with industry and from publicly financed research projects. The remaining one third is contributed by the German federal and Länder governments, as a means of enabling the institutes to pursue more fundamental research in areas that are likely to become relevant to industry and society in five or ten years’ time.The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft is also active on an international level: Affiliated research centers and representative offices in Europe, the USA and Asia provide contact with the regions of greatest importance to present and future scientific progress and economic development. |
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It takes a consistently high transmission quality to convey phone calls, videos and information over the Internet all at the same time. Fraunhofer researchers are testing prototypes for the next-generation Internet in a project known as NGN-PlaNetS. |
31 December 2006 |
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Invisible, but audible, is the latest attraction at the Bavaria Film Studios near Munich. The '4D cinema experience' is the second movie theater in Germany to have departed from conventional multi-channel sound. The IOSONO system creates perfect surround sound at every seat. |
30 December 2006 |
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Whether its diesel, natural gas or gasoline, ceramic high-temperature fuel cells can convert a wide range of fuels into heat and power. Fraunhofer researchers have now developed a technology that makes cost-effective, long-lasting fuel cells possible. |
29 December 2006 |
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Adhesives are supposed to harden quickly and reliably, and connection should be debondable without difficulty once they have done their job. Fraunhofer researchers have developed the first adhesive to reconcile these contradictory requirements. |
28 December 2006 |
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Take a close-up look at an aircraft and you soon realize what holds it together, rivets. Several hundred thousand metal rivets go into every passenger aircraft. The riveted joints are subjected to enormous forces. A new quality shows defects during production. |
28 December 2006 |
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Critical events often occur with blinding speed and hidden from view. The ignition of an airbag, for instance, takes just 150 milliseconds. With X-ray cinematography, processes of this kind can now be viewed for the first time. |
27 December 2006 |
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Driver assistance systems are popular, but they can sometimes be rather complicated to operate. In future, intelligent human-machine interfaces will ensure that drivers receive relevant information in manageable quantities in any situation. |
27 December 2006 |
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Though scientists can do little to prevent flooding, they can do a great deal to prepare optimum up-to-date information from disaster areas for crisis intervention teams. Systems such as MobiKat facilitate the work of the relief units. |
26 December 2006 |
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To give their cars the right acoustic properties on the road, manufacturers check them out on a variety of test rigs, a complicated and expensive undertaking. A new adaptive car structure test facility combines stress and hydraulic testing stations in a single compact model. |
26 December 2006 |
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Manufacturers are starting to build energy-saving vehicles that are as lightweight as possible. A European team of researchers has developed and tested new, lightweight and extremely robust magnesium alloys for this purpose. |
25 December 2006 |
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Ancient Egyptian tombs are priceless, and conserving them is a challenge to conservators. For the first time ever, researchers have used laser light to remove the accumulated dirt of millennia. The setting was the tomb of a high-ranking official not far from the Valley of the Kings. |
25 December 2006 |
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Extremely conductive, stronger than steel and lighter than aluminum, these are only a few of the amazing properties of carbon nanotubes. An innovative method now enables the 'miracle material' to be processed on an industrial scale. |
24 December 2006 |
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Semiconductor technology is expensive. Novel optical microchips made of plastic are set to bring down the price of fiber-optic technology in future. Personal fiber-optic connections for private individuals and industrial enterprises may soon become a reality. |
24 December 2006 |
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Microscopes with 4Pi and STED technology produce images of unprecedented clarity, attaining a resolution up to ten times higher than that of the best light-optical microscopes. The Fraunhofer Patent Center supported the inventor and established contacts with industry. |
23 December 2006 |
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In bicycle racing, thousandths of a second can make all the difference. Anyone who wants to be among the first must train hard. Ambient Intelligence, an intelligent environment of sensors and computers, helps riders to improve their performance. |
23 December 2006 |
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Europe needs to gather its forces in a united effort to face up to global competition. The Fraunhofer Gesellschaft is bringing together science and industry in East and West with its newly founded Center for Central and Eastern Europe, MOEZ. |
22 December 2006 |
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What's the easiest way of telling a robot what to do? It’s using words and gestures. A robot that discerns and imitates its operator's arm movements with the aid of a 3D camera has proved that gesture recognition is feasible. |
22 December 2006 |
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Microfilters soon clog up and require elaborate cleaning. A new filter made of a metal fabric simply shakes off the offending deposits. It has an evenly sized pore structure of a defined granularity and is more durable than existing products. |
21 December 2006 |
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It’s all a question of the right recipe, in chemistry as in breadbaking: the finished result should be crusty, but not burnt. In the next generation of chemical flame retardants, nanoparticles incorporated in paint will ensure that a crust forms to protect the underlying surface. |
20 December 2006 |
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Nanocosmetics, nanopaint, nano car-wash: 'Nano' is already a well-established market, with nanoparticle sales forecast at 900 million US dollars in 2005. So far though, not much is known about the short and long-term effects on health and environment. |
20 December 2006 |
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Companies would be unable to compete on the global market without innovations. The same flexibility is required of small and medium-size enterprises. A new free Internet tool can help to identify opportunities, develop ideas, and drive them forward to market. |
19 December 2006 |
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In the Virtual Office of the Future, printers, fax machines and scanners will not need to be addressed directly. Jobs will be automatically distributed to the appropriate output device by software. Sports journalists will be the system’s first users during the soccer world championship. |
19 December 2006 |
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Precious stones are hard to see when they are extracted from the mine: They are hidden among masses of bedrock. A new sorting plant retrieves the precious diamonds and even detects the particularly valuable pure white and green gems. |
19 December 2006 |
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From car interiors to diapers, non-woven tissues are used every-where. Manufacturers are aiming to produce increasingly hard-wearing non-woven tissues from as little plastic as possible. A simulation model has been designed to help optimize the process. |
18 December 2006 |
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Designers are always on the lookout for glossy metals that have a high-quality appearance, yet are light and easy to handle. Fraunhofer researchers have won the International Forum Design’s IF gold award for a composite material made of metal. |
18 December 2006 |
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Micro fuel cells are already being acclaimed as an alternative to batteries. However, producing them from hundreds of tiny separate parts is complex and expensive. An alternative is now available: ceramic fuel cells that can be manufactured in one piece. |
17 December 2006 |
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The sound emerging from home cinemas and digital radios will soon be almost as good as that of a movie theater. At the international consumer electronics exhibition IFA in Berlin, Fraunhofer researchers presented the technology that makes it possible. |
16 December 2006 |
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Making its first public appearance at the IFA international consumer electronics fair in Berlin, the Multimedia Dome is the first digital dome theater to feature natural spatial sound: it envelops visitors in fascinating universe of video pictures and sound. Developed at the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Architecture and Software Technology FIRST and the Fraunhofer Institute for Digital Media Technology IDMT. |
15 December 2006 |
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Filming for the cinema results in enormous quantities of data; a 90 minutes film produces more than 3 terabytes, a volume which is time-consuming to edit and distribute. The aim of the EU project WorldScreen is to optimize the processes in digital movie making with the help of scalable data compression. |
14 December 2006 |
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The film industry and cinema operators are pinning their hopes on a new technology: Digital Cinema. Movies will then be stored digitally instead of using sensitive 35 millimeter films. The challenge and the big advantage for the movie theaters is that Digital Cinema is to distinguish itself clearly from television by offering exceptionally high quality. |
13 December 2006 |
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Whether you are at home or on the move new technologies are bringing TV in good quality on the “small screen”. Fraunhofer researchers will be presenting various systems at the International Broadcast Convention in Amsterdam. |
12 December 2006 |
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Dieter Fuchs, head of International Business Development at the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft in Munich, has been elected President of the World Association of Industrial and Technological Research Organizations WAITRO. It is the first time in the association’s history that this honorary post has been awarded to a German. |
11 December 2006 |
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The HIV virus still poses unsolved problems. Despite decades of research, no vaccine yet exists. An international project supported by the Gates Foundation, Fraunhofer, and the Ministry of Economic Affairs of Saarland in Germany has set out to develop a global HIV cryobank. |
10 December 2006 |
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A new system makes it possible to guide the computer mouse with your eyes. The technology is designed to facilitate the task of maintenance technicians and make it easier for paraplegics to work at the PC. A software program interprets the user’s pupil movements. |
09 December 2006 |
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When a patient complains of painful, swollen and stiff joints, the diagnosis is obvious: arthritis. But the physician may nevertheless have no idea what is causing the joint inflammation. A new diagnostic instrument can find the answer within two hours. |
08 December 2006 |
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The requirements are tightening up. Computers are having to become more and more efficient. A new technology boosts memory capacity: etching the silicon wafer creates deep trenches that increase its capacity to store data. |
07 December 2006 |
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No larger than a sugar cube, the video projector is ready to hand at all times. Instead of the conventional microarrays, it contains just a single mirror which can be rotated around two axes. This makes it smaller, lighter and handier than traditional. |
06 December 2006 |
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Streetcars have much to endure when crossing switches and uneven rail sections. A novel measuring wheel determines the forces occurring in the process. The collected data helps in systematically repairing railtracks. This measuring wheel will be presented at InnoTrans in Berlin. |
05 December 2006 |
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Thanks to UMTS, you can now let your cell phone guide you through foreign cities or a merry paper chase. The basis for these new applications is a combination of different mobile technologies on a gaming platform. |
04 December 2006 |
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Europe needs to gather its forces in a united effort to face up to global competition. The Fraunhofer Gesellschaft is bringing together science and industry in East and West with its newly founded Center for Central and Eastern Europe, MOEZ. |
10 September 2006 |
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Microfilters soon clog up and require elaborate cleaning. A new filter made of a metal fabric simply shakes off the offending deposits. It has an evenly sized pore structure of a defined granularity and is more durable than existing products. |
09 September 2006 |
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It’s all a question of the right recipe, in chemistry as in breadbaking: the finished result should be crusty, but not burnt. In the next generation of chemical flame retardants, nanoparticles incorporated in paint will ensure that a crust forms to protect the underlying surface. |
08 September 2006 |
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Precious stones are hard to see when they are extracted from the mine: They are hidden among masses of bedrock. A new sorting plant retrieves the precious diamonds and even detects the particularly valuable pure white and green gems. |
07 September 2006 |
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From car interiors to diapers, non-woven tissues are used every-where. Manufacturers are aiming to produce increasingly hard-wearing non-woven tissues from as little plastic as possible. A simulation model has been designed to help optimize the process. |
06 September 2006 |
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Micro fuel cells are already being acclaimed as an alternative to batteries. However, producing them from hundreds of tiny separate parts is complex and expensive. An alternative is now available: ceramic fuel cells that can be manufactured in one piece. |
05 September 2006 |
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The sound emerging from home cinemas and digital radios will soon be almost as good as that of a movie theater. At the international consumer electronics exhibition IFA in Berlin, Fraunhofer researchers presented the technology that makes it possible. |
04 September 2006 |
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With a microspectrometer containing just a single photo-diode, research scientists can measure the colors of light, visible and invisible in the UV and infrared range. The one kilo spectrometer offers an interesting alternative to measurements with gallium-arsenide detectors. |
28 May 2006 |
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Displays made of organic LEDs are brightly lit but tend to be mostly opaque. Making them transparent opens up a whole new world of applications: OLEDs can be wedded with conventional LCDs and transform laminated glass into a display panel. |
28 May 2006 |
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Train brakes and wheel bearings of trains must work without fail. Because this is so important, the temperature and other operating parameters are monitored from the track. A covering of snow causes problems that can be prevented by flexibly controlling data acquisition. |
27 May 2006 |
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Airplanes, cars and buildings, modern-day life would be hard to imagine without these complex technical systems. A new tool called MOSILAB can simulate complex processes within a closed model, as for example an aircraft takeoff. |
27 May 2006 |
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The classic series-production paradigm has become obsolete, the future belongs to flexible assembly lines. A European team of researchers is developing a concept for tomorrow's auto manufacturing: fast, made-to-order, and customer-oriented. |
26 May 2006 |
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From concept to product, the pace of product development cycles is relentless. And with it the pressure to optimize existing products and processes. That`s why computer-based simulation systems play a key role in the future. |
26 May 2006 |
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Aircraft mechanics work under extreme conditions. In the SNOW project, Fraunhofer scientists and their partners in industry have developed a support system tailored to the needs of maintenance engineers. The EU project and other topics will be presented at stand D22 'Signposts to tomorrow's markets' in Hall 2 at the Hanover Fair. |
25 May 2006 |
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Comfortable, all-terrain and safe. A four-wheel drive wheelchair with hybrid motor and electronic assistance system helps the physically disabled live more independent lives. The innovative system even checks pulse rate and blood values and calls for help in emergencies. |
25 May 2006 |
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Science and industry work hand in hand at the Fraunhofer-Center Nanoelectronic Technologies CNT in Dresden developing new process technologies for nanoelectronics. The European Commission endorses 232.5 million euro of public funding for a new research platform. |
24 May 2006 |
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German sausage might be very popular, but that tasty exterior conceals a lot of fat. Together with a master butcher, the Fraunhofer Institute for Process Engineering and Packaging IVV has developed a new manufacturing process for sausages using just 2.5 percent fat. |
24 May 2006 |
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Hospitals with several hundred beds use a great deal of energy for heating, hot water, air conditioning and running electronic equipment. Comparing key figures can highlight where and how energy can be saved effectively. |
23 May 2006 |
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Hollywood is ringing in the new age of digital cinema. The Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits IIS is one of the research groups involved in the introduction of the new technology. Under a cooperation agreement with the Digital Cinema Initiatives DCI, a consortium of the major Hollywood studios, the Fraunhofer IIS is developing test procedures for the certification of digital projectors, servers and other hardware for the digital cinema of the future. |
23 May 2006 |
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Tomorrow's movie world is all-digital. Fraunhofer researchers will be presenting key components for digital cinema at one of the world's largest trade shows for electronic media, NAB2006 in Las Vegas. |
22 May 2006 |
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Until now, only the human eye has been able to detect scratches and marks on ceiling panels or high-quality glossy paper. A rapid surface inspection system for spotting defects is now in use and will be presented at the Control international trade fair for quality assurance. |
22 May 2006 |
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Metal foams, full of tiny air bubbles like a sponge cake, are gradually making inroads in industrial applications. Lightness and high energy absorption are two demanded material characteristics. Less known is the use of open-pored variants for decorative purposes. |
28 December 2005 |
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Renewable sources provide the raw materials for a growing variety of everyday products. One example is a meltable wood polymere called Arboform, which is injection-molded to produce different parts. In the near future, an extruder will form artists' crayons and cosmetic pencils. |
15 December 2005 |
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A new venture capital firm, Munich Venture Partners, is cooperating with the Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft to float a fund for financing high-tech startups. One of its main focuses will be to support Fraunhofer technology spin-offs. |
14 December 2005 |
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Natural sources of the active principle used in the cancer drug Taxol are limited, and its chemical synthesis is complicated. A precursor can be produced simply and at low cost using an enzyme membrane reactor. The raw material is an extract derived from yew needles. |
12 December 2004 |
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Spotless surfaces are of prime importance in the plastics and metal processing industries, as dust and dirt can impair the function and adhesive properties of parts. A portable measuring device, the KombiSens, can detect both types of contamination. |
25 October 2004 |
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No one wants food that has gone mouldy – least of all when they have only just purchased the product. But consumers are not exactly wild about food preservatives either. Packaging researchers are now introducing coated films to fight the battle of the bacteria. |
25 October 2004 |
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Air pollution and inhalation of dust are known to cause or aggravate respiratory diseases. For the first time in Germany, researchers have proven that not only the quantity of dust particles in human lungs but also the amount of metal they contain is a significant causal factor. |
10 October 2004 |
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Used plastic wrappings and containers make good fuel if incinerated, but are also dumped in huge quantities on landfill sites. Researchers are developing a compostable packaging tape that can be disposed of more cheaply, and ultimately creates less waste. |
04 October 2004 |
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The corrosiveness of a specific atmosphere can be established in a few weeks by thin slices of special glass. The sensors are capable of monitoring the outdoor environment as well as indoors, for instance in sensitive production processes such as chip fabrication. |
04 October 2004 |
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Coatings used to protect the exposed wooden parts of buildings have to withstand all kinds of weather. To avoid over-frequent renovation, architects, builders and house-owners are advised to look for a reliable quality label. The relevant European standard is being revised. |
04 October 2004 |
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A special processing technique transforms melted chocolate into fine, snow-like powder. What makes it unique is that liquid aromas can be encapsulated in the globules of chocolate, even though these particles are only a few micrometers in diameter. |
23 September 2004 |
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Even non-chemists know at least the abbreviations of those nasty substances: DDT is a highly persistent insecticide, CFCs used as propellants and refrigerants destroy atmospheric ozone, and PVC stands for plastics often regarded with suspicion. |
12 December 2003 |
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Do you believe in free will? That is certainly the case for numerous research groups in Europe and America working on concepts for brain-computer interfaces. These 'mind-readers' include an interdisciplinary research team in Berlin. By analyzing neural signals, computer scientists from the Fraunhofer Institute for Computer Architecture and Software Technology FIRST and neurologists from the Benjamin Franklin university clinic can determine whether a person intends to move his / her right or left hand, for example. |
11 November 2003 |
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It looks like SuSi is going to hit the market soon. In fact, tire and wheel producers don't want to show their cards just yet. After all, it's a hot topic. It won't be long before freight forwarders and vehicle manufacturers will be able to equip their big trucks with the nearly half-meter wide 'super single' wheels. |
12 October 2003 |
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In the beginning, there was protein. 19th-century scientists at least believed that this group of organic compounds were based on some kind of primeval matter. Therefore they named them 'proteins', derived from the Greek word 'protos' (the first). It is meanwhile known that the structure of proteins is ultimately determined by the genome. |
30 September 2003 |
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Actors who perform in musicals often sweat in torrents when they have to zap around the stage on roller-skates or sing a ballad under a burning spotlight, dressed in bearskin. To allow the audience to hear them clearly, the artists wear cleverly hidden microphones underneath their make-up and costume. |
15 September 2003 |
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'Sorry, I don't have the right part with me, I'll have to come back tomorrow,' says the friendly service technician, and departs. If it was 'just' someone's washing machine at home, all it means is waiting another day for clean shirts. But if it's a whole production line in a factory, it can have huge financial implications: |
15 September 2003 |
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Even in this multimedia age, most TV viewers are condemned to an existence as relatively passive consumers. To express an opinion on a particular show, their only means of feedback is by indirect routes such as the telephone. |
31 August 2003 |
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It is an undisputed fact that chronic hypertension can lead to a stroke. To identify this risk factor as early as possible, upper-arm blood-pressure measurements are not always adequate, for the vascular system consists of many branches where narrowing of the arteries can lead to localized zones of high pressure. |
17 August 2003 |
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Everybody visiting an old church or temple has experienced the cooling effect of thick walls. On the other hand, heat waves particularly affect buildings constructed in lightweight materials. |
12 August 2003 |
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Clothes make the man, but they also create work. Each consignment has to be recorded on arrival at the warehouse, and again after shipment to one of retail outlets. When the job involves thousands of garments, it can become a real labor of Sisyphus, especially when the time comes round for the next general inventory. |
09 August 2003 |
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The public-address systems in conference halls, railroad stations and theaters are like enormous spiders' webs: Dozens of microphones and speakers are linked up over miles and miles of cable. To change the configuration of the equipment might, with luck, simply involve replugging a few wires at the mixing console, but in the worst case could mean having to call an electrician. |
21 July 2003 |
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Over 35,000 blind people in Germany alone could be helped. If 'only' the retina is affected and the optic nerve still functions, implants can restore limited sight. For the past eight years, researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Microelectronic Circuits and Systems IMS in Duisburg have been developing various sight prostheses with increasingly better resolution and performance. |
29 June 2003 |
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The 'one-times-one' chant of the witches 'This must ye ken! From one take ten' guild in Goethe's Faust could be re-written by this new process simplificationm, call it: 'This must be done! From two makes one'. Until now, plastic lenses were first hardened and then treated with an antireflective coating in a separate step. Now it's done simultaneously, without witchcraft. |
06 June 2003 |
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It's the same frustrating routine on the way to work every day: The radio announcer reports 'stop-and-go traffic'. And once again, detours are the only way to get to the office on time. Information generated by typical traffic reporting services, such as SMS-based systems, lag behind actual road conditions because they depend primarily on stationary traffic detectors which lack full coverage. |
23 May 2003 |
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In the early days of mass motoring, in the 1950s, a car became due for inspection and oil change roughly every 3,000 kilometers. Since then, improvements to car engines and oils have lengthened this interval to around 30,000 kilometers, and it is likely to increase still further: to three times that figure, in the years to come. |
13 May 2003 |
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All standard methods of removing tumors have side effects. Surgical excision under anesthetic leaves a wound, usually extending into adjacent healthy tissue. It also raises the risk of cancerous cells spreading via blood and lymph vessels. The X- or gamma-rays used in radiation therapy have to pass through healthy tissue to reach deeper-lying tumors, causing collateral damage on the way. And the hormones and other drugs used in chemotherapy have undesirable effects on the whole body. |
13 May 2003 |
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The human body is held together by collagen (from the Greek kolla = glue). This group of structural proteins makes up 20-30 percent of the protein content of mammals, and can be found in skin, cartilage, tendons, ligaments, blood vessels, teeth and bones. The range of associa-ted diseases is correspondingly wide. |
02 April 2003 |
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Modern product development is increasingly taking place within virtual environments. The keywords are rapid prototyping, rapid tooling and rapid manufacturing. Behind them lie various technologies that speed up the manufacture of prototypes and functional parts, particularly in low-volume batches. |
29 March 2003 |
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Although many sectors of the telecommunications industry are eagerly awaiting a ray of hope on the economic horizon, the prospects for video conferencing systems look good: Last year, sales on the European market increased by almost 15 percent, and the consultant Frost & Sullivan predicts that the growth rate will exceed 20 percent next year. |
15 March 2003 |
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Polarization glasses in position, data gloves on, and then into the CAVE, a room in which computer-generated images are projected onto the walls, this is how people have so far ventured into virtual worlds. |
13 March 2003 |
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To the chagrin of many parents, their children's shelves will soon be buckling under the weight of new toys once again. Apart from the issue of educational value comes the question of whether to look on the underside of that plastic elephant. Is there a Conformité Européenne? |
12 March 2003 |
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Trade show visitors know the feeling of panic, despite all preparations. Hurrying through the maze of halls and aisles before closing, they waste time looking for the last specific exhibits. |
10 March 2003 |
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The tool at the pressing plant resonantly pounds the sheet metal, ejecting the newly formed vehicle hood moments later. Although this operation runs like clockwork on the production line, it caused the developers of the metal-forming equipment many a headache, since sheet metal springs back (unbends elastically) when the press is opened. |
27 February 2003 |
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Anyone who bought a new house built in Germany after 2002 has no worries. New building regulations introduced that year impose stricter energy standards, so these homes are generally well insulated. |
27 February 2003 |
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One present-day form of colonialism works like this: A company sends researchers into the rainforest to discover promising new natural substances. Once found, the company registers a patent or trademark and begins to cash-in. |
23 February 2003 |
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Despite faster Internet connections, many users still resentfully associate the three letters www with 'world wide wait'. This is also due to the fact that files are constantly increasing in size. When using wireless terminals with low-resolution displays, such as palmtops or PDAs, it is not in fact necessary to transfer all elements of a Web page, designed for display on large, high-resolution monitors. Although mobile service providers offer solutions to this problem, access is then limited to preselected sites, in the same way as the WAP service. |
23 February 2003 |
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Despite the use of computer simulation, wind tunnel testing is still required to measure pressure changes and airflow speeds on the surfaces of new aircraft and automobile prototypes. Such testing is now done less with smoke visualization and threads but more frequently with high-tech sensors which have the least influence on air flows. |
15 February 2003 |
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Outside the sports area the mobile digital companion named FLAME 2008 will offer predominant information-services about the town with its integrated roaming-concept. Once the user has defined his individual profile he will only receive the information he really needs. |
10 February 2003 |
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'This innovative system clearly improves cinematic sound quality. The difference in quality is even more significant than the step taken from mono to stereo', comments Prof. Karlheinz Brandenburg, head of the AEMT. The new sound system generates extremely realistic audio sound within the confines of any space or room. ' |
02 February 2003 |
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What can happen when steel girders soften during a fire was sadly illustrated by the collapse of the twin towers of the World Trade Center in New York. Civil engineers in Germany, as in most European countries, are well aware that the use of asbestos materials as fire insulation for load-bearing structures is prohibited by building regulations, such as the code of practice for working with hazardous materials. |
31 January 2003 |
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Every schoolchild knows that carbon burns easily. So what about brake disks? Those used in Formula-1 race cars and certain top-of-the-range Porsche and Mercedes cars are made of silicon carbide reinforced with carbon fibers. Their braking performance is so exceptional that similar materials will soon find their way into mid-range family automobiles. |
12 January 2003 |
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The good old magnetic disk drive is holding up well in the face of competition from optical storage media like CD-ROM and DVD and semiconductor flash and smart cards. Major advances are still being made, with typical storage densities doubling roughly every year and a half. |
10 January 2003 |
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Nowadays, model railways are less likely to be found on the Christmas list of those with a love of technological gadgets than consumer electronics. Alongside hifi systems, mobile phones or computers, a new type of speedometer will probably also make a few men's hearts beat faster. |
21 December 2002 |
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Films set in snow-laden winter landscapes cannot always be produced in the dead of winter. Until now, expensive artificial snow had to be imported from Hollywood to obtain the desired effects. In addition, it is always a laborious task to remove the splendid white chips made from polyethylene film after the shooting is over, almost unavoidable that some of the non-biodegradable plastic snow would remain. |
12 December 2002 |
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Somber semi-darkness, flickering candles and the smell of incense, visitors to old churches are delighted by this atmosphere, especially at Christmas time. Yet only a few of them will have noticed that Gothic churches are growing darker inside with every passing year. |
08 December 2002 |
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Gazing through a car showroom window, have you ever asked yourself how they manage to make such a variety of different models? One thing's for sure: The days of 'any color as long as it's black' and one model for all have gone forever. The new buzzword not only in the car industry is mass customization, still mass production, but incorporating a maximum of personalized features. |
15 November 2002 |
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According to the German leather industry association VDL, 'The art of dressing leather lies in the ability to apply the finest possible protective coating without detracting from its natural appearance or impairing desirable qualities such as suppleness and breathability.' |
11 November 2002 |
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Fungal infections pose a serious threat to patients with weakened immune systems. In the past few years, candida albicans has become the most common germ for mycosis, and the number of cases is on the rise. This widespread member of the yeast family, has already developed strong resistance to antimycotic drugs commonly prescribed. |
02 November 2002 |
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'And he shoots goaaal! or was it offside?' During a soccer match, a wrong decision can mean the difference between victory or defeat, angering the players and spectators. No matter what a slow-motion replay reveals, the referee's decision is final. |
31 October 2002 |
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Only a few years ago, soil-repellant coatings for polished metal surfaces were unthinkable. Although it is possible to exploit the 'lotus effect' and create knobby microstructured surfaces, they are not very resistant to mechanical stress and the coated surface loses its sheen. |
06 October 2002 |
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The travelling colossus weighs 20 tons and measures over seven meters in length. A few months ago, the core of the 'PEM Oberhausen' power supply system completed its long journey from canadian Vancouver to the Ruhr region in Germany. |
27 September 2002 |
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Today's powerful drills penetrate most concrete walls like a knife through butter. But not all concrete is the same: Depending on the application, different grades are used and they exhibit great differences, also in strength. A garden path made of exposed aggregate concrete is not in the same league as a strongroom which is protected by means of steel-reinforced heavy concrete. |
28 August 2002 |
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