More than 200 inventors were in attendance at the Endress+Hauser Group's Innovators" Meeting 2006. The company's creative talents applied for 173 patents last year - even more than in 2004.
"Innovative products whose benefits impress the customer are one of the prerequisites of our success," said Dieter Schaudel, the board member responsible for technology, technique and informatics. "That is why a forward-looking patent rights policy is essential."
In 2000 the Group introduced the "Patent Rights Incentive Program", which offers special incentives to its employees worldwide to register their inventions. Since then, the number of patent applications has increased more than threefold.
"The aim of the Innovators" Meeting is to demonstrate how much we appreciate our innovators," said Klaus Endress. "This meeting shows how important inventions, innovations and patents are for the successful future of Endress+Hauser."
The Patent Rights Incentive Awards were also presented for the three most economically important patents issued last year that have benefited the Group. The prizes were awarded for three outstanding developments in level and flow measurement technology and digital data transmission.
Dr Robert Lalla's new circuit configuration is capable of analysing the signals transmitted by pressure sensors from completely different "sensor worlds" and can easily be programmed to adapt to different types of sensors. The circuit is manufactured as a small silicon chip according to established standards, thus reducing the risk of error and quality defects as well as increasing reliability.
Coriolis flowmeters work on the principle of "vibrating pipe" technology. However, high internal pressure causes a minor systematic error, as the pipe warps under pressure. An invention by Dr Martin Anklin-Imhof and Dr Alfred Wenger minimises this effect by using rings to stiffen the pipe in certain places. "The sensitivity of the measuring device is practically unchanged," explains Dr Anklin-Imhof. "At the same time, aberrations are three to four times smaller than without the stiffening rings - only about 0.1% per 10 bars of pressure."
The system is now deployed in Endress+Hauser's Promass F flowmeters, with nominal values from 100mm.
Today's modern temperature probes digitally process measuring signals internally, dependent upon the electrical circuits being separated from the signal entry and exit. One way of achieving this is to use optocouplers but this system consumes a great deal of electricity.
Stephan Konrad of Endress+Hauser Wetzer in Nesselwang, Germany developed a circuit component that achieves galvanic separation by means of a small transformer - a solution that does not require much electricity and is cost-effective to manufacture. "The energy requirement of the transformer is negligible, while the optocoupler needs almost 20-30%., explains Konrad.