VERENA incentive award goes to innovation from Salzburg
26.03.2015
VERBUND awards prize to new procedure that brings great advantages for the production of electric vehicles.
The winner of this year's VERBUND E-Novation Award – VERENA for short – is the Salzburg-based company AB Mikroelektronik, with its cooperation partner the University of Salzburg, for the project "Vertical Integrated Chip-Stack Power Module". The prize is awarded by VERBUND, Austria's leading electricity provider, as part of the Austrian National Prize for Innovation. In a collaboration with the University of Salzburg, AB Mikroelektronik succeeded in developing the world's first procedure for soldering electronic components to aluminium, thus making power electronics in electric vehicles even more environmentally-friendly and affordable.
"Electric power is the fuel of the future. We are exerting every effort towards making the transport sector more efficient and ecological. This is why we have been promoting electromobility in national and international projects for many years and are actively committed to future-oriented, energy-efficient and clean mobility solutions," emphasises VERBUND Chairman of the Managing Board Wolfgang Anzengruber. "Electromobility requires strong impulses and partners. This is why are particularly happy about this new procedure that will provide a strong boost for electromobility. All projects submitted are outstanding innovations, which once again confirms the Austrian inventive spirit. This year too, the VERENA incentive award is sending a clear signal on the path towards the energy transition and is an important building block for redesigning the energy future.“
Based on analyses by students of the University of Salzburg, the company AB Mikroelektronik, which is headquartered in Salzburg, has developed an aluminium-based power model for both drive technology and batteries. It is lighter, more environmentally-friendly and affordable than copper. Thanks to a specially developed technology, electronic components can now be soldered to aluminium for the first time. The varying expansion properties of other materials such as silica or synthetics are contained even under changing load. The new procedure enables the soldering of electronic components to aluminium. This way, the production of electric vehicles becomes more affordable and environmentally-friendly.
Two further companies were nominated for the VERENA award: Egston System Electronics Eggenburg GmbH from Eggenburg in Lower Austria developed a test system for power electronics that helps to shorten development times, optimise product properties and reduce development costs. And KWB – Kraft und Wärme aus Biomasse GmbH (power and heat from biomass) – from St. Margarethen/Raab, Styria, with its KWB Multifire, has developed a new burner technology for the processing of waste materials from agriculture.
The VERBUND E-Novation Award (VERENA) was awarded for the 13th time this year by Austria's leading electricity company VERBUND for innovative projects in the fields of energy efficiency, energy management and smart grids, electromobility, as well as electricity from renewable sources of energy. VERENA aims to motivate researchers and the economy to cooperate in order to implement future-oriented measures. As of 2012, VERENA is a special prize awarded as part of the National Innovation Award.
From left to right: Dr. Reinhold Mitterlehner, Federal Minister for Science, Research and Economy, DI Hermann Hauser, Dr. Johann Maier and Robert Christopher Burns M.Sc. from AB Mikroelektronik, Prof. Dr. Werner Lottermoser from the University of Salzburg, and DI Wolfgang Anzengruber, VERBUND.
"Electric power is the fuel of the future. We are exerting every effort towards making the transport sector more efficient and ecological. This is why we have been promoting electromobility in national and international projects for many years and are actively committed to future-oriented, energy-efficient and clean mobility solutions," emphasises VERBUND Chairman of the Managing Board Wolfgang Anzengruber. "Electromobility requires strong impulses and partners. This is why are particularly happy about this new procedure that will provide a strong boost for electromobility. All projects submitted are outstanding innovations, which once again confirms the Austrian inventive spirit. This year too, the VERENA incentive award is sending a clear signal on the path towards the energy transition and is an important building block for redesigning the energy future.“
Based on analyses by students of the University of Salzburg, the company AB Mikroelektronik, which is headquartered in Salzburg, has developed an aluminium-based power model for both drive technology and batteries. It is lighter, more environmentally-friendly and affordable than copper. Thanks to a specially developed technology, electronic components can now be soldered to aluminium for the first time. The varying expansion properties of other materials such as silica or synthetics are contained even under changing load. The new procedure enables the soldering of electronic components to aluminium. This way, the production of electric vehicles becomes more affordable and environmentally-friendly.
Two further companies were nominated for the VERENA award: Egston System Electronics Eggenburg GmbH from Eggenburg in Lower Austria developed a test system for power electronics that helps to shorten development times, optimise product properties and reduce development costs. And KWB – Kraft und Wärme aus Biomasse GmbH (power and heat from biomass) – from St. Margarethen/Raab, Styria, with its KWB Multifire, has developed a new burner technology for the processing of waste materials from agriculture.
The VERBUND E-Novation Award (VERENA) was awarded for the 13th time this year by Austria's leading electricity company VERBUND for innovative projects in the fields of energy efficiency, energy management and smart grids, electromobility, as well as electricity from renewable sources of energy. VERENA aims to motivate researchers and the economy to cooperate in order to implement future-oriented measures. As of 2012, VERENA is a special prize awarded as part of the National Innovation Award.
From left to right: Dr. Reinhold Mitterlehner, Federal Minister for Science, Research and Economy, DI Hermann Hauser, Dr. Johann Maier and Robert Christopher Burns M.Sc. from AB Mikroelektronik, Prof. Dr. Werner Lottermoser from the University of Salzburg, and DI Wolfgang Anzengruber, VERBUND.
