Sensors and diagnostics

New developments in medical technology are becoming increasingly complex and must satisfy numerous requirements for durability and patient comfort. Novel materials and components with integrated electronics and memory chips are increasingly being utilized in these applications. Sensors fulfill a wide range of tasks: from the transmission of information, for example during a medical procedure, to autonomously monitoring in vivo medical devices by means of integrated, biocompatible as well as biodegradable sensor technology. In addition to use in human environments, the demands placed on sensor technology used in industrial environments are also subject to constant change: new measurement parameters, online process control as well as ever higher requirements for resolution and sensitivity are driving research activities in many directions. On the one hand, sensors serve to monitor hygienic conditions, such as found in food production processes, but also to monitor various process parameters, like classic pH measurement. In addition to greater research and technological requirements, limitations in size and price are also factors gaining in influence. As a result, a multimodal sensor technology test bed named "SensBio"has therefore been established at the Fraunhofer FEP for testing and verifying its own sensors developed in house. In the future, this test bed will be supplemented by bioreactor processes on both laboratory and semi-industrial scales for investigating issues involved in scaling processes up.

Contamination is a problem in all manufacturing sectors. In order to prevent contamination, rapid detection is of great importance. Biofilms in particular can form on any surface and are very persistent, making them an as yet unsolved problem in many areas of daily life but also in production processes.

Up to now, there has been no process with which biofilms can be effectively prevented or specifically inactivated. Fraunhofer FEP is therefore dedicated to the development of solutions for the effective detection of surface contaminations with the help of various technologies from the institute. Among other things, we focus on the real-time detection of biofilms and other contaminations using bidirectional display technology. Furthermore, organic photodiodes as well as sensors are suitable for the detection and evaluation of surfaces and their contamination in numerous areas such as production processes with pipelines and various liquid-carrying systems.

Applications

• Fingerprint sensors
• Solar and photovoltaic systems
• Biofilm deactivation on catheter surfaces
• In-vivo infection detection or treatment
• Cleaning of drinking water pipes and liquid-carrying systems
• Lab-on-Chip systems
• Interactive monitoring of production processes