IDTechEx Names Printed Electronics Europe 2018 Award Winners

At the 14th IDTechEx Printed Electronics Europe conference and exhibition, three companies were honored for their achievements in developing and commercializing printed electronics technologies. The judges of the awards were Dr. Natasha Conway, manager – technology networking and R&D at Beko and Dr. Alexander Mityashin, program manager thin film electronics, imec. The awards were presented by Raghu Das, CEO of IDTechEx, in Berlin on April 11, 2018.
 
The horoees are:
• Best Institute/Academic R&D Award – Fraunhofer IFAM
• Technical Development Materials Award – Nano Dimension
• Best Product Award – Applied Nanodetectors
 
The primary goal of Fraunhofer IFAM’s project “printed customized electrodes for gesture recognition” was to print suitable patterns of conductive materials onto surfaces for three-dimensional gesture recognition, motion tracking and approach detection with different printing technologies e.g. inkjet printing, aerosol jet printing, stencil printing or screen printing. Investigations regarding printability and adhesion of different substrates were carried out.
 
The conductivity of the printed electrodes and the resulting capacitances depending on the used materials e.g. silver, copper or graphene also was examined. Such a system enables user command input with natural hand and finger movements. It consists of a microcontroller which uses the principles of electrical near-field sensing. This chip is connected to electrodes that are sensing the E-field variance and calculates the users’ hand motion into gestures. “This is a great development showcasing the important role printed electronics has in human-machine interfaces,” reported one of the judges.
 
Nano Dimension has developed advanced materials – conductive and dielectric inks – that support the form and function of a broad range of 3D-printed objects. Nano Dimension’s inks for inkjet 3D printers are conductive, electrical, structural and solderable, compatible with different file types and substrates. The company’s AgCite conductive nanoparticle inks, as well as their dielectric materials, have been developed to be used together. These materials are then printed with Nano Dimension’s DragonFly 2020 3D Printer, which deposits the materials in such a way that it allows the production of printed circuit boards (PCBs) and novel 3D circuity.
 
Applied Nanodetectors’ new asthma breathalyser can accurately and selectively detect volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in breath, which has been shown to identity different phenotypes in asthma, and can also discriminate between viral and bacterial infection, which is crucial to effective treatment. It will eventually be available for home use and it would help asthmatics more effectively manage their condition and prevent hospitalization and improve their quality of life.
 
“Our new printed electronics-based gas sensor array is incorporated into the asthma breathalyser to measure trace levels of volatile organic compounds (VOCs) in human breath. The gas sensor detects up to 16 gases using a unique patented method of detection. This is the world’s first printed electronics gas sensor array on flexible substrates,” according to the company. “It demonstrates a novel use of printed electronics in a sensor array to deliver a unique method of gas detection,” noted one of the judges.