by Margret Hoppert
Finalist at the Thuringian Innovation Award
With the development of optical "harsh enviroment" gas sensors based on strong IR components, we made it into the top 3 in the category "Light and Life" at the Thuringian Innovation Award 2021.
A 19-member jury reviewed and evaluated a total of 81 applications in 5 categories. Decisions are made according to criteria such as degree of innovation, entrepreneurial performance, functionality and economic success.
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Our optical "harsh enviroment" gas sensors have the outstanding property of exhibiting high long-term stability under very harsh environmental conditions, such as high temperatures, strong temperature fluctuations and high humidity.
This is made possible by our patented HermeSEAL® technology (link page). For a high longevity it is essential to seal the sensor components hermetically. Under high temperatures and high humidity as well as corresponding alternating loads, conventional adhesive and solder joints can degrade very quickly. With the new metallization and an organic-free joining technology, hermetically sealed and long-term stable infrared components and gas sensors based on them are made possible.
Our strong MEMS emitters, which have an optimal broadband emissivity due to an optically functionalized surface, and customized detector components are optimized in terms of timing, sensitivity and clock frequencies to address high performance and long term stable applications for different sectors.
One example is bio-medical technology. Here, our NDIR gas sensor measures and monitors the concentration of carbon dioxide in medical, pharmaceutical and biotechnical incubators to ideally control cell and tissue growth. The CO2 sensor impresses with low drift, high accuracy and long-term stable performance in daily use. The sensor head is placed directly in the atmosphere to be measured. The probe can be heat sterilized at up to 190 °C. This ensures easy and safe cleaning with low risk of cross contamination. The implemented compensation of temperature and pressure variations during the measurement leads to less handling errors and easy integration of the gas sensor into the incubator measurement and control system.
Another special field of application is aerospace technology. Currently, our components are used in a gas sensor of our customer SmartGas Mikrosensensorik in NASA's Perseverance Mars Rover for the extraction of oxygen from the Mars atmosphere. Due to the unique technology used in the production of the HermeSEAL® IR emitter, loads such as the enormous G-forces during rocket launch, extreme temperatures and atmospheric pressure conditions are no problem for our JSIR emitters.
The Innovation Award is presented to 5 companies in the following categories:
- Tradition & Future
- Industry & Material
- Digital & Media
- Light & Life
- Special prize for young companies
The prize recognizes innovative strength and is intended to encourage the development of new products. The sponsors of the prize are the Ministry of Economics, Science and Education, the Thuringia Foundation for Technology, Innovation and Research, TÜV Thüringen and the Ernst Abbe Foundation.
Steffen Biermann, Director of Development & Industrial Engineering " We are very pleased to be among the three finalists for the Innovation Award Thuringia 2021. It is a very great and significant recognition for the entire Micro-Hybrid team and the involved cooperation partners. With this success, we are able to further expand the field of gas sensor technology with the highest motivation."
Picture: GMM GmbH
