With the industrial production of sensor-equipped functional films, Heidelberg is opening up a new field for digital business models. Every square meter of the film is equipped with up to one million sensors that register the smallest changes in pressure, temperature or humidity, and report them to the computer.
The entire sensor technology is printed in a single pass – with all the conductor paths, sensors and the interface to digital terminal devices.
What can the film do?
We are the one-stop-shop for your next generation digital product: from R&D to industrial production, from lab-to-fab, we accompany your product idea. As experts in printed electronics with a focus on flexible printed sensors and a profound understanding of the materials, processes and printing technologies that are essential for the development of flexible and hybrid electronic systems.
Our advantages for you:
“Without the know-how and many years of experience of Heidelberg and InnovationLab, OccluSense would have remained just an idea.
Instead, we now have a great application that offers our customers clear digital added value.”
André Bausch, Managing Director Dr. Jean Bausch GmbH & Co. KG
Are you looking for smart diagnostic options for patient monitoring and treatment? With our intelligent sensors, vital signs such as pulse, temperature, respiration and movement sequences can be monitored in real time, and are documented completely and automatically.
The OccluSense test device from the Cologne-based company Bausch demonstrates what a successful innovation for niche markets can look like.
Or the application example Smart Bed. The bedsores (decubitus) of patients in need of care are a highly problematic complication for all those affected. According to studies by the Agency for Healthcare Research and Quality, Rockville, Maryland, USA, lawsuits in connection with pressure sores are the second most common cause of complaint in the medical field*. Flexible sensors are used to protect patients, hospitals and caregivers: a smart sensor mat in the patient’s bed can be used to redesign decubitus treatment, because the pressure sensors in the sensor mat provide real-time data on the patient’s movements and document them in the system. From the data analysis it can be derived how the patient can be treated in the best possible way. The advantages are:
Source: https://www.ahrq.gov/patient-safety/settings/hospital/resource/pressureulcer/tool/pu1.html
Efficient warehouse logistics and automated inventory management are your topics? Then take the next step towards digitization with printed sensors. Our sensor solutions, which can be individually adapted to your requirements, open up numerous advantages:
As the global market leader for sheetfed offset presses, we have been delivering top print quality and innovation for 170 years – and have the necessary expertise in the development, qualification and manufacture of modern electronics.
We support our customers in their projects from the initial concept study through the sample phases to series production. We focus primarily on the application of electrically conductive structures, insulating layers and structures, the manufacture of sensor components and 3D surfaces.
Do you have your own product idea or would you like to learn more?
InnovationLab GmbH (iL) is the expert in printed and organic electronics providing tailor-made solutions for its customers' R&D challenges and accompanies them from the first idea to the industrial production at Heidelberg.
Customers not only benefit from the use of the extensive infrastructure for research and development of printed and organic electronics, they are also advised both technologically and scientifically along the entire value chain. The capacity for high-volume industrial production is secured by Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG.
Shareholders of InnovationLab are the companies BASF SE, Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG and SAP SE as well as the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology (KIT) and the University of Heidelberg. In 2008, the network was named one of Germany's top clusters by the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF).
Printed and organic electronics is an innovative technology for producing sensors based on conductive inks and functional materials. These sensors deliver data into the cloud and are a relevant cornerstone for the application areas Industry 4.0 and the Internet of Things.
Compared to conventional microelectronics, printed electronics are characterized by simpler, more flexible and, above all, more cost-effective production, can be designed on a large scale, and are less than one millimeter thin.
Further advantages are the energy-efficient production method, due to the resource-saving use of materials. This aspect and industrial series production stand for consistent quality in large quantities at relatively low costs and are important preconditions for success in international competition. Printed electronics are already in use in many industries such as the automotive industry, consumer electronics, household appliances, pharmaceuticals, and health care.
Heidelberger Druckmaschinen AG
Gutenbergring
69168 Wiesloch, Germany
Tel.: +49 6222 824656
