Currently, the three founders are concerned with tool holders: Larger toolholders that hold milling tools are usually marked and identifiable by RFID tags, which are embedded in recesses in the shank. However, smaller tool holders are simply too small for this solution, and the recess would ruin stability and concentricity.
Mathias Rechel, Piriya Taptimthong and Lev Savkun convinced the EXIST jury with their identification alternative for small tool holders. Since October 1, the three scientists have been able to continue developing their prototypes to market maturity in their office and in the laboratories of the Institute of Micro Production Technology for the next 18 months - subject to an interim evaluation after nine months. A further employee in the programming department is still being sought for support. The programme "EXIST - Start-ups from science" is a programme of the Federal Ministry for Economic Affairs and Energy.
Why do tool holders need identification? Mathias Rechel mentions a few reasons; it is primarily a matter of wear and of assignment of the employed tools inside the tool holder: "The tool holders are constantly equipped with new tools during operation – by identification of the tool holder the tool itself is also identified. And: "If tool holders are constantly inserted into and removed from the machines, at some point the overview of how often and for how long this tool holder has already been in use and possibly needs to be replaced is lost." The team cooperates with the company Diebold and develops its solutions close to practical needs.
This solution looks simple at first glance: A magnetic tape, which also sticks to credit cards, is placed flush around the receptacle in a groove about half the width. A "MIP system" consists of this strip as a storage medium, a write head and a read head. The interaction between the magnetization of the medium and the write field of the write head forms the basis for secure data storage. For this application, the magnetic write heads have to be further developed for reliability on rough surfaces.
Rechel names the "most striking competitive advantages" of MIP: high forgery resistance of the written information, low costs and layer thicknesses of the storage medium and the rewritability of the medium. "Furthermore, due to the specific bit geometry, original information can only be written with an original write head that generates customer-specific bit geometries.
A particular challenge is the inductive heating of the tool holder to loosen the tools. But Rechel and Taptimthong give the all-clear: the information on the MIP is not affected. The next few months will be used to identify further market segments that will benefit from this technology in concrete terms. Companies interested in applications of the "Magnetic Information Platform" are therefore cordially invited to contact us.
More information under: www.mip-magtech.de
Note to the editors:
For further information Mathias Rechel is available to you under telephone 0511 762 18024 or by E-Mail under rechel@impt.uni-hannover.de gladly.
