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INNOVATIVE THINKING Interdisciplinary collaboration produces sensitive sensors A product no larger than a fingertip – the result of a decade of research – has the potential to break into the world auto market. The gas sensor will make diesel engines cleaner by measuring emissions in the hot exhaust gases. The tiny sensor is one result at S-SENCE, a VINNOVA-supported Competence centre. SENSORS CAN BE USED for many industrial applications. They are useful for measuring gases and liquids in many different areas, such as the food industry, water treatment, medical diagnostics and Sensors are important in a wide range of industries, from process industries to medical diagnostics, according to Tina Krantz-Rülcker. process and environmental engineering. S-SENCE has taken advantage of this. Close cooperation takes place at this Competence centre at Linköping University between researchers at the university and the development departments of the participating companies. VINNOVA is contributing 623 000 euro per year for a period of 10 years, and these funds are being matched by corresponding contributions from industry and the university. The director, Tina Krantz-Rülcker, has noted many advantages as a result of close collaboration with industry. – Companies gain access to advanced and successful research findings related to their business areas and researchers like us get the opportunity to work on topics that interest us. Thanks to our collaboration at S-SENCE we can test our research findings directly in the company’s processes! WINNING COLLABORATION Higher education benefits, too. Doctoral students may be employed by the university and work at one of the companies affiliated to the Competence centre. At the same time, industrial doctoral students who are employed by the companies can visit the academic environment, so that both groups benefit from this collaboration. One concrete example is Helena Wingbrant, who recently became the 20th student at the centre to obtain her PhD. She has now completed the last tests of a new gas sensor based on heatresistant silicon carbide. It is designed to measure the hot exhaust gases in a diesel engine in order to optimize exhaust emission control. – It has been stimulating to work so close to the product development side. I have carried out measurements with sensors in the test laboratories at both Volvo in Gothenburg and Ford in Detroit. MULTIMILLION EURO AGREEMENT Per Holmberg, development manager at AppliedSensor, which paid for some of Helena Wingbrant’s research at S- SENCE, says that they are now going ahead with the patented sensor. – This demonstrates how our collaboration works – the researchers are ahead of us, but they are not in our way. We believe that the sensor has great potential in view of future stringent exhaust emission standards, for example in the USA. Now we are involved in discussions with several car manufacturers. This 1 2 | V I N N O V A M A G A Z I N E
The sensor developed by researcher Helena Wingbrant, which measures exhaust emissions, has the potential to conquer the world auto market. It is the result of successful research collaboration between Linköping University and industry at the S-SENCE Competence centre. may lead to sales of millions of sensors, he says. The company has been successful in commercializing research results. A few years ago it signed an agreement with Texas Instruments worth over 50 million euro relating to another gas sensor. The sensor measures concentrations of noxious gases in vehicle ventilation systems. When these concentrations reach a certain level the sensor causes the air damper to close long before the driver has noticed anything. S-SENCE’s current success just goes to show how long the road from research to commercial product normally is. – Long-term funding has really paid off. It takes time to build up a research team with the right people and equipment. Working in a centre has also given us a strong team spirit, although we have very different backgrounds – from physics to chemistry to biology, explains Tina Krantz-Rülcker. She is now planning the future of the centre after the project in its present form comes to an end in mid-2006. Collaboration will continue in some form, and many new companies have ‘Long-term funding has really paid off. It takes time to build up a research team with the right people and equipment.’ joined as partners during the last year. They include NIBE, which produces heating systems, and the paper manufacturer Billerud, which apart from COMPETENCE CENTRE FOR SENSOR TECHNOLOGY S-SENCE is one of VINNOVA’s 28 Competence centres for collaboration between industry and university. It is based on the Department for Applied Physics at Linköping University. S-SENCE focuses on gas and liquid sensors. These may be used to monitor processes in the food industry and rinsing water in household appliances, and also in connection with medical diagnostics and to detect narcotics and explosives. They may also be used to measure exhaust emissions the project at the centre also collaborates with Senset, a spin-off company on measurements of emissions from its paper mills. – Counter-financing from VINNOVA has naturally attracted these companies, since they have not had to pay for all the research themselves. The fact that several new partners have appeared, now that the product does not have long to go, is a sign that they believe that cooperation will continue in the future. and the quality of oil in vehicles. VINNOVA’s aim is to develop worldclass research resources at universities for the benefit of, and in cooperation with, industry. Asko Cylinda, Volvo, Ford, Billerud, AppliedSensor, Biacore, Biosensor Applications, NIBE, Senset and Tekniska Verken i Linköping AB all take an active part in the S-SCENCE Competence centre in the expectation of long-term benefits from cooperation. V I N N O V A M A G A Z I N E | 1 3
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