The Technical Innovations research field currently focuses on applied research projects in the areas of infrastructure for alternative mobility, hydrogen technology, and buildings. The motivation and drive to initiate projects with technical and practical focal points — and to accompany them through to real-world implementation — stem primarily from the needs of businesses, industry, and the industrial economy.
Since its establishment, the research field has primarily conducted projects at the national level in collaboration with partners from Saarland, the surrounding regions, and international networks. Increasingly, projects are also being acquired and implemented at the European and international levels.
Thanks to the broad technical expertise of its international and interdisciplinary team, the research field offers a wide range of creative and practical solutions, for example, in the areas of measurement technology and monitoring, modeling and simulation, and the development of problem-specific hardware and software.
Current Research Priorities
The team is currently working on the following key topics:
• Planning, development, operation, and expansion of real-world demonstrators and research platforms and their integration into new research and development projects (ieMETaS, LEXU+, GenComm, OptiCharge+)
• Modeling renewable energy-based infrastructure for alternative mobility concepts (OptiCharge+, GenComm)
• Innovations for energy-efficient building retrofitting, with a particular focus on the application of low-exergy façade heating and cooling systems (LEXU+, AMELi)
• Hydrogen technology with a focus on mobility, industry, education, and dissemination (KoNSTanZe, SH2AMROCK, HyStarter community of Perl)
• Development of primary and secondary emission reduction measures (MeliNa)
• Design of specialized hardware and software solutions to address project-specific or newly identified challenges (hILDe, DEMO)
The main emphasis is placed on modeling, project planning, and subsequent implementation of the developed processes, concepts, and supply solutions — following an applied research and development approach, including scientific support and monitoring.
Technical Expertise and Support
In addition to the above activities, the research field also acts as a service provider for all technical questions — both theoretically and practically. This is reinforced by the cross-cutting work in hardware and software development. The team also has access to extensive measurement technology, which can be used for emission or process monitoring as well as for physical and chemical analyses.
When needed, the research field also serves as an internal service provider for other research fields within the institute or collaborates with them to address specific challenges.
Employees
Stephan Schulte (Work area management)