NEWS
TECHNOLOGYSPOTLIGHT
Robots inspect cables
T
he bearer cables and tethers of bridges, elevators and cable cars are exposed to high levels of stress. For this reason, their functional reliability must be monitored on a regular basis. A new robot recognises fissures before they pose a danger. Slowly the robot climbs up the wire cable. As it crawls upward with caterpillarlike movements, it scans the steel surface and detects whether it has any defects. Researchers at the Fraunhofer Institute for Nondestructive Testing IZFP have named the system FluxCrawler. It is designed to monitor
the quality of stay cables and wire ropes on a regular basis. Such cables are common features of bridges, elevators, cranes, cable cars, and ski lifts. And these checks are vital, as the tensioninduced strain, wear and corrosion that affect these steel cables mean that they are under enormous stress. By conducting a magnetic flux leakage test, the robot not only identifies tiny fissures in the cable surface, it also recognises deeper cracks. This process exposes the cable to a magnetic field that is “disrupted” in the event of a defect. A measurable leakage field is created wherever defects are located. “If such micro-fissures are not discovered in time, the steel can break. This is why material checks are absolutely vital to avoid deadly consequences or even catastrophes,” says Dr Jochen Kurz, an engineer and department head at IZFP in Saarbrücken. Visit: www.fraunhofer.de
Intelligent driving AS
part of its ‘Intelligent Drive’ strategy, Mercedes-Benz is set to bring Car-to-X technology to our roads by the end of this year. This will enable the exchange of information between individual vehicles as well as between vehicles and the traffic infrastructure. Car-to-X technology is able to significantly expand the scope of existing vehicle sensors, such as radar or camera systems for example. It enables motorists to see around corners or beyond obstacles, thereby helping to reduce the blind spots from which existing sensor systems suffer. The technology’s greatest potential lies in this expansion of the telematic horizon. How does Car-to-X technology work in vehicles? When warning messages are issued in the vicinity of the vehicle, from example by an emergency services vehicle or a broken down vehicle, the driver receives a warning in advance in good time and the hazardous location is marked on the map. With this information he has the option of adjusting his driving style and speed in such a way that a dangerous situation does not even arise in the first place. Thanks to Car-to-X technology, the driver can also be warned at an early stage about wrong-way drivers or dangerous weather conditions. Visit: www.daimler.com
22 Industry Europe
Advances in technology across industry
New technology for environmentally sustainable syngas production
Dr Harald Ranke, Head of Clean Energy Technology
B
ASF, The Linde Group and ThyssenKrupp plan to develop an environmentally friendly and competitive basis for utilising the climate gas carbon dioxide (CO2) on an industrial scale. Together with BASF’s subsidiary hte AG and scientific partners VDEh-Betriebsforschungsinstitut, Düsseldorf, and TU Dortmund University, the companies are developing a two-stage process. In the first step, an innovative high-temperature technology will process natural gas to obtain hydrogen and carbon. Compared to other processes, this technology produces very little CO2. The hydrogen is then reacted with large volumes of CO2, also from other industrial processes, to give syngas. A mixture of carbon monoxide and hydrogen, syngas is a key raw material for the chemical industry and is also suitable for producing fuels. “Methane decomposition complements our existing technology portfolio as well as our hydrogen, CO2 and syngas businesses. Compared to standard procedures of hydrogen generation, this new technology stands out for its higher efficiency and for reducing CO2 emissions by half. We figure that customers from both the industrial and the hydrogen mobility sector might benefit from this,” said Dr Harald Ranke, head of Clean Energy Technology at Linde. Visit: www.linde.de
