Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems
Fraunhofer Institute for Electronic Nano Systems

»DigiMan«: Development of an R2R Printed and Hybrid Sensor System

Business Unit »Systems and Applications«

Roll-to-roll inkjet printing of sensors.
© Fraunhofer ENAS
Roll-to-roll inkjet printing of sensors.
Structure and functional test of the developed printed and hybrid sensor system.
© Fraunhofer ENAS
Structure and functional test of the developed printed and hybrid sensor system.

After two years, the project »DigiMan« was successfully completed on November 30, 2020. With the project partners Fraunhofer IKTS, C.P.C Solutions Ltd, Kerafol Keramische Folien GmbH & Co. KG, RIIT Ltd. OSTEC Group, PV Nano Cell Ltd., the Chemnitz University of Technology and MEPhI, it was researched on developing platinum nano inks as well as a digital manufacturing chain for additive digital printing of environmental sensors. Fraunhofer ENAS focused on the development of a printed and hybrid sensor system for temperature measurement and wireless evaluation of the same by commercially available Bluetooth systems such as smartphones. The sensor system consists of printed circuit boards, a printed 2.45 GHz antenna, a printed temperature sensor as well as a small printed circuit board and a button cell. The printed components were fabricated using a roll-to-roll inkjet printing process. The photo on the left page shows an inkjet print head producing sensor elements on a PET film web in high efficiency and high throughput.