The winners of the Fraunhofer Purity Technology Award have been announced

© Fraunhofer IPA, Photo: Rainer Bez

The three winners are Igus, Pflitsch, and Zeiss – their placement remains exciting! Will the first hygienic design cable gland made of plastic from Pflitsch or the abrasion-resistant cable management system made of high-performance plastic from Igus win the race, or will the new solution for light microscopic analysis of technical cleanliness from Zeiss take the lead? As part of the opening of Digital 365 Cleanroom Processes, the Fraunhofer IPA awards the companies the Fraunhofer Cleanliness Technology Award REINER! 2021 for their pioneering developments in cleanliness technology.

"Both in traditional cleanroom ventilation technology and in the latest strategies of sensor integration including data aggregation and AI-based evaluations, cleanliness technology continually reinvents itself," states Dr. Udo Gommel, chairman of the jury of the Fraunhofer Cleanliness Technology Award. Even the COVID-19 pandemic has shown very impressively how, out of necessity, air guidance systems, filtration techniques, and sterilization procedures are adapted and result in valuable innovations for the benefit of people. Due to the demand for cleanliness-compliant solutions in a wide range of high-tech applications and the very broad scope of application, cleanliness technology is forced to continually develop. An insight into the diversity of current innovations is also provided by this year's REINER! 2021.

Abrasion-resistant, modular, expandable cable management system

To ensure electronics function reliably in everyday life, production systems must not contaminate sensitive circuits with abrasion. Even a small particle, such as debris falling from a robot's cable management, can destroy the circuit of a smartphone during production. Contributing to safety in electronics manufacturing is the e-skin® flat cleanroom power supply system from igus GmbH – a cleanroom-compatible, compact, and modular expandable cable management system made of high-performance plastic, which shows almost no visible wear and is abrasion-resistant. Tests by the Fraunhofer Institute for Production Technology and Automation IPA have shown: The system achieves Class 1 according to ISO 14644. Thus, e-skin® flat meets the strictest cleanroom requirements. The cable management causes only minimal particle emission even during rapid movements.

The development of the cleanroom power supply system includes development-accompanying tests for the highest cleanroom classes. The in-house cleanroom laboratory in Cologne enables igus to continuously improve e-chains, cables, linear guides, and sliding bearings, thereby meeting increasing quality requirements of customers and stricter testing standards.

Cost-effective first hygienic cable gland made of polyamide plastic

PFLITSCH GmbH & Co. KG has developed the blueglobe CLEAN Plus, the first hygienic design cable gland made of plastic, successfully certified according to EHEDG. It meets the strict requirements of the food and pharmaceutical industries regarding hygiene suitability and ease of cleaning. Smooth surfaces, no open threaded areas, and many other advantages prevent the adhesion of dirt particles that could promote the formation of bacterial nests. This forms the basis for reliable and reproducible production processes.

The cable gland has passed extensive Ecolab tests with common cleaning agents, achieves high protection ratings IP 66, IP 68 (up to 15 bar), and IP 69, and is approved for temperatures from -20°C to +110°C. Additionally, it impresses with its hygienic properties, matching the same high standards and sizes as its stainless steel counterpart, but is significantly more cost-effective due to its material.

Save 50 percent of time in one step with combined polar and brightfield imaging

Carl Zeiss IQS Deutschland GmbH introduces a new solution for light microscopic analysis of technical cleanliness. The One-Scan technology allows capturing both metallic and non-metallic shiny particles in a single pass. The solution is based on a new camera from the Axiocam family, equipped with an on-chip polarization filter mask with different transmission directions. This enables the acquisition of polar and brightfield images in one step. It also guarantees pixel-precise overlay of the polar and brightfield images – avoiding so-called pixel shift – and significantly simplifies brightness equalization, known as shading correction.

The main benefit, however, lies in the significantly faster image acquisition, since the entire sample surface is only scanned and examined once. This halves the time required for imaging. Overall, this results in a clear gain in time and efficiency for the entire evaluation process. Thanks to the new module's integration into Zeiss's software platform with a unified user interface, multimodal workflows and connectivity between systems, laboratories, and locations are enabled. The entire solution is patent-pending.

"I am excited about the highly innovative approaches and developments reflected in the submissions," praises Gommel the innovations and emphasizes: "With great commitment and enthusiasm, the engaging and always results-oriented discussions, along with the interdisciplinary composition of the jury, lead to scientifically sound and neutral evaluations of the entries."

Cleanliness technology production as a key technology

Cleanliness technology-driven production advances important innovations across industries: manufacturing microchips, flat screens, implants, pharmaceutical active ingredients, or micro- and nanoproducts would be unthinkable without a clean, pure, or ultra-pure manufacturing environment. Outstanding ideas in cleanliness technology enable entirely new products and make manufacturing processes more economical. To honor these achievements and highlight cleanliness technology as a key technology, the Fraunhofer IPA awards the Fraunhofer Cleanliness Technology Award every two years. Interested companies can already mark their calendars for REINER! 2023.

Fact sheet

Fraunhofer Cleanliness Technology Award REINER! 2021
Award ceremony during the opening of Digital 365 Cleanroom Processes

Exact date to be announced here:
http://ipa.fraunhofer.de/reinheitstechnikpreis_reiner

Organizer
The Fraunhofer Cleanliness Technology Award REINER! is presented by Fraunhofer IPA.

Jury
Prof. Dipl.-Ing. Arnold Brunner, Brunner Consulting
Dr.-Ing. Dipl.-Phys. Udo Gommel, Fraunhofer IPA
Dr. Gerhard Kminek, European Space Agency
Dipl.-Phys. Thomas Wollstein, VDI e.V.

Evaluation criteria for REINER!
- Innovation leap: To what extent does the submitted application/technology stand out from the state of the art?
- Sustainability: What contribution does the application make to environmental compatibility, resource, and energy efficiency?
- Enabling technology: What new application fields and products are unlocked by the application/technology?
- Industrial feasibility: How can the application be implemented under industrial conditions?