Technology Offerings

Batteries are a fundamental part of any new electrical appliance and the increasing energy demand requires higher performance of batteries. We present a novel cathode material for LiS batteries with imporant strengths: Simple, sustainable and cost-effective production, Prevention of Shuttle Effect, High sulfur content, Higher cycle stability.

The novel mathematical concept of tangles is for the first time applied to identify highly connected regions in a graph. The applications of this analysis technique include image recognition & compression, cluster analysis & data mining and data quality assessment.

Congestion occurs in packet-based communication networks when more traffic temporarily enters a network than can be forwarded. Congestion management detects congestion in a communication network and drops or marks packets to mitigate congestion. Still, a few heavy users can monopolize the bandwidth of a bottleneck link, e.g., by opening many flows or using non-responsive transport protocols to send at large data rate. A challenge is to drop or mark the right packets if fair capacity sharing and low delay are desired in a network.
We propose activity-based congestion management (ABC), with which users can share a network’s capacity fairly within an ABC domain while keeping packet delays low. To that end, activity meters and markers equip user traffic with activity information that reflects a user’s traffic rate. In case of congestion, traffic with high activity is preferentially dropped on bottleneck links. Thereby, users can achieve a fair share of the network’s transmission capacity.
Low delay is achieved by leveraging active queue management (AQM) in routers or switches that start dropping traffic in case of congestion to avoid extensive, permanent packet queueing. ABC-AQM is a modification of a normal AQM that increases drop probabilities for high-activity traffic and decreases them for low-activity traffic. The mechanism is easily adaptable to various AQMs.

BaBeDa is a passive energy self-sufficient data logger for detection and documentation of shock events. A piezoelectric element is used as an acceleration sensor, since it – depending on the magnitude of the acceleration – produces electrical signals during a shock. These electrical signals are used both as a measurement signal and as power source for the circuit, which stores the data concerning the shock event. BaBeDa can be used in particular for shock detection in shipping. In the packing stations and logistics centers each BaBeDa chip can be read out to determine whether a packet was transported properly or not.
For this purpose BaBeDa can already be integrated into a packing during its production. Multiple usage is possible. Since BaBeDa is energy self-sufficient, there are no restrictions on the use of time. Because of the simple technique BaBeDa is compact, suitable for mass production and therefore also very cost effective.
A German patent application has been filed at the DPMA. On behalf of the University of Applied Sciences Bielefeld, we offer the opportunity of licensing and further development of the technology to interested companies.

The use of silicon as anode material promises high theoretical energy density in lithium-ion batteries. However, the volume of a silicon-based anode may increase substantially during lithiation. In order to solve this problem, scientists at the Institute of Photovoltaics (ipv), University of Stuttgart, now succeeded in developing a method for producing micro-stabilized and porous silicon anodes by means of laser irradiation. The battery electrodes related to this invention offer a high potential for lithiation and at the same time improved mechanical stability. Due to a large active surface they provide high energy density. They can be used for the production of mechanically flexible batteries.

Scientists of the University of Duisburg-Essen developed in cooperation with the German Aerospace Center (DLR) a full inorganic insulation material with high performance qualities. The material exhibits extraordinary heat-insulating and load-carrying properties. It combines the benefits of conventional inorganic building material like compressive strength and the ability to be poured into all kind of durable moulds with the advantage of being heat-insulating. The latter makes it perfect with regards to energy saving aspects. The designated properties are dependent on the ratio of matrix-to insulation-material. It’s very low weight in combination with its compression strength and its flame-retardant properties makes it a potential construction material even for applications with high demands.
The superlight and superinsulating material could be used in cars, trains and any other kind of vehicles. Even aerospace applications are imaginable. By its heat resistance, the material enables the passive isolation of load bearing areas in buildings as well as passive insulation in areas where high temperatures occur like exhaust systems or furnaces. In addition, the material isolates not only thermally but also acoustically. High efficient heat pumps, new kinds of filters for clean air inside cars, trains and airplanes are just some examples of applications.