LOPEC: Printed Electronics for COVID-19 Management

Solutions for healthcare, retail and other industry sectors – including those in the fight against COVID-19 – will be showcased at LOPEC on the online platform of Messe München from March 23-25, 2021.

According to organizers, printed electronics offer solutions to release pressure from the healthcare system and increase the effectiveness of protective measures. 

“Printed electronics manufacturers responded extremely fast to the pandemic and have adapted their products to meet the particular challenges,” said Dr. Klaus Hecker, managing director of the OE-A. 

“We want to inspire innovative solutions and encourage collaboration because, in times of the pandemic, cross-industry cooperation is more important than ever,” added Lena Haushofer, LOPEC Exhibition director at Messe München.

One example of successful cooperation is the COVID-19 health patch jointly developed by seven companies, led by LOPEC exhibitors Henkel and Quad Industries. 

In their plenary lecture at the LOPEC Conference on March 24, Dr. Stijn Gillissen, global head Printed Electronics at the Duesseldorf-based consumer goods manufacturer Henkel, and Dr. Wim Christiaens, R&D director at the Belgian technology provider Quad Industries, will present their concept. 

The patch is based on integrated printed sensors to capture respiration, heart rate and body temperature of COVID-19 patients. 

Data is transmitted wirelessly to the cloud and can be accessed through a user-friendly platform. Following successful tests last spring, the COVID-19 health patches are being used by around 20 clinics in Belgium, according to LOPEC organizers. 

Printed electronics’ properties – thin, flexible, lightweight – make them compatible with the soft, curved and dynamic surfaces of the human body, noted Prof. John Rogers of Northwestern University. 

In his LOPEC plenary lecture on March 25, he will discuss health monitoring.

In addition to COVID-19 projects, Rogers will focus on the patches his group developed for the monitoring of premature and newborn infants.

Researchers at the Dutch Holst Centre in Eindhoven integrated a printed moisture sensor into a commercially available mouth and nose protection mask. 

It indicates when the mask becomes too wet and no longer provides sufficient protection. 

A circuit printed with stretchable inks and integrated into the mask informs the wearer whether the face mask is fitting tight enough. An ultra-thin microphone was incorporated into the mask to eliminate communication problems. 

This is another topic addressed by the Dutch researchers who will be presenting their innovations at the online exhibition and in several Conference presentations.

LOPEC exhibitor InnovationLab from Heidelberg developed smart floor mats with integrated pressure sensors that help retailers manage social distancing. 

Placed at store entrances and exits, they register customers and indicate through a traffic light or display panel whether the number of people in the store meets the requirements. 

Global pandemic control requires cost-effective products in large quantities. It is therefore of particular advantage that the sensors and other electronic components are manufactured by printing processes suitable for large-scale production, as Dr. Florian Ullrich of InnovationLab will explain at the Business Conference of the LOPEC Conference on March 23. 

InnovationLab prints between 10,000 and 1 million sensors on film per minute. The company also provided information about the smart mats in a LOPEC Web Seminar that was recorded last year and is available on the website.

“Over the past decade, printed electronics has evolved from a niche application to a cross-industry and key technology,” Hecker said. “LOPEC has accompanied the development from the very beginning. Also in its online format, LOPEC is the ideal platform for all those who want to prepare themselves today for the markets of tomorrow.”