Schweighofer Prize 2009

8/12/2019 Schweighofer Prize 2009

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SCHWEIGHOFER PRIZEInnovationspreis fr die Europische Forst und HolzwirtschaftInnovation Award for the European Forest Based Sector

Prof. Dr. Gerd Wegener

The winner of Main Prize for 2009 is Prof. Dr. Gerd Wegener from Munich, Germany.Well known in the Forest Based Sector worldwide both in the scientific communityand in Forest Based Industries - he has been inspiring generations of scientists as well asmanagers. His broad interests and knowl-edge in the field of Wood Science, togetherwith his admirable commitment as editor of major European scientific journals such asWood Science and Technology and European Journal of Wood and Wood Products,made him an outstanding expert in this field. His innovative research has resulted innumerous new technologies and products.

Especially as a teacher and a speaker at conferences and seminars all over the world, he

is an outstanding ambassador for wood science as well as for wood utilization ingeneral. His impressive career and achievements and his ongoing inspiration forinnovative R&D convinced the jury to decide in favor of Prof. Wegener.
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INNOVATION PRIZES

CADIX THE ALARM SYSTEM FOR DETECTING TERMITE ATTACKS

from left to right:Miguel ngel Abin Prez, Jos Vicente Oliva

The winning project deals with a big problem for the South European constructionsector termites. They occur in regions with mild Mediterranean climate, but we have to

be aware that they will conquer more northern regions in future as a result of climatechange. Belonging to the cockroach family, they destroy any wooden constructioneasily. This presents a major obstacle for building with wood in southern Europe.

This project presents an alarm system based on a motion sensor. It consists of only avery small box, which is installed in an endangered wooden element, such as a beam orwindow frame. As soon as a movement that is similar to that of a termite is detected, thealarm is triggered. The system has a wireless connection to a computer, which generates

both acoustic and optical alarms. Termite attacks can then be detected at an early stageand wooden buildings can be protected before it is too late. This is a vital contributionfor an enhanced use of wood in Southern Europe.

CADIX system is been used to monitor several pilot installations, such as the timberstructure of Valencia Cathedral and Palencia Cathedral and some train stations and

private houses. Miguel ngel Abin Prez, Head of the Wood Technology andBiotechnology at AIDIMA, and his current team is looking to extend the deviceswireless range and incorporate additional parameters into the technology to indicatedegradation at an early stage, including wood discoloration, loss of mass and CO2emissions. The sensor is currently undergoing commercial production, and it has beenintegrated in some innovative developments, such as the wireless architecture used inthe European project SHBUILDINGS.


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ADAPT NEW STRATEGY FOR FUTURE FOREST MANAGEMENT BASED

ON CLIMATE CHANGE

from left to right:Norbert Putzgruber, Alexandra Wieshaider, Werner Rammer, Manfred Lexer

The winning project deals with the problem of planning with a moving target, in thespecific case of climate change. As forest management is always very much future-oriented plans have to be made at least several generations in advance nowadays it isof the utmost importance to take climate change into consideration. Several tree specieswill not be suitable in future in specific regions, because they cannot cope with newconditions such as higher temperatures or less rain. Taking into account the observed

regional data of all districts within a big forest enterprise, it is possible to create aspecial simulation programme, which allows foreseeing upcoming problems such asweakened trees, beetle attack and possible storm calamities. Based on that knowledge,focused actions can be planned and implemented in favour of sustainable forestmanagement. This system is already implemented in one of the biggest forestcompanies in Austria and is already foreseen to be licensed for other forest companies,even in Canada.

TIMBERTOWER THE FIRST MODULAR TIMBER TOWER FOR HIGH

PERFORMANCE WIND ENERGY PLANTS

from left to right:Gregor Prass, Sandro Mainusch
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The winning team convinced the jury with a revolutionary concept. Instead of steel orconcrete they use wooden modules for constructing towers for wind energy turbines.The static calculations and design of wooden towers is an outstanding feature ofengineering. This project not only opens a new field for wooden construction, but alsosolves a fundamental logistical problem. Towers of steel and concrete have to be pre-

fabricated whole and transported to the site.

The transport of large towers is very costly and complicated, whereas prefabricatedwooden modules are smaller and much easier to transport to the site. They also allowon-site construction - THE advantage of wood in general. Moreover, the prizewinningteam developed a wood protection system using a membrane in order to protect thewooden tower from weathering. The first tower will be built in autumn in the Hannoverregion of Germany. This is a perfect combination of exploiting natural wind energy andusing renewable building material!

INNOVATIVE LIGHTWEIGHT SANDWICH PANELS MADE OF WOOD AND

WOOD BASED MATERIALS

from left to right:Michael Schpers, Markus Wolf, Dirk Specht, Ulli Garbert, Heinrich Kster

This award-winning light-weight panel solves a major problem within the furniture andautomobile industries. There is a growing need for light-weight elements, which have to

perform under en-hanced load conditions. This type of panel shows several innovativeelements. One new feature is the middle layer, which consists of a fibre mat pressed intocorrugated form in both directions. This specific form is also able to withstandtransverse tensile forces, which is not common for wood-based panels. Secondly, thesurface layers are milled accurately in order to match perfectly with the form of theinner layer. This, and the gluing exactly on those spots, guarantees a good fit and opti-mum transmission of power the most important properties for high-performancesandwich panels. The panels are already implemented in furniture, as well as in vehiclessuch as caravans, as lightweight wall elements.


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FIRST INDUSTRIAL PRODUCTION OF SYNTHETIC NATURAL GAS (SNG)

OF WOOD

from left to rightChristian Aicherning, Martin Schaub, Reinhard Koch, Alfred Waser, HermannHofbauer

This project marks a milestone in the history of renewable energy from wood. Theaward-winning consortium has already broad experience with wood-gasification andgas driven energy plants. Now they have taken a further step by introducing a new

process that results in a synthetic natural gas (SNG) with higher quality than natural gas.The gas can be fed into gas pipelines without any further treatment; it can be produced

regionally in order to provide cities or regions with natural gas for energy plants orheating. Moreover, it makes a large contribution to a new generation of fuels fromrenewable sources. SNG is suitable either for gas-driven vehicles or as basic product fordiesel or petrol. The winning team has already succeeded in installing a methane

processing unit in Austria

ECO-FRIENDLY IN-DEPTH COLORATION OF SOLID WOOD WITH THE

HELP OF SUPERCRITICAL CO2

from left to right:Christian Hansmann, Ulrich Mller

The basic idea of this winning project was to develop a wood colorant with a highpenetration depth making use of a supercritical fluid. A substance becomes a
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supercritical fluid at a temperature or pressure above a critical point where distinctliquid or gaseous forms do not exist. a It can diffuse through solids like a gas, anddissolve materials like a liquid. The penetration is instant and dry, which makessupercritical fluids optimal carriers of the pigment.

The most important advantage of this method is the lack of moisture, which alwayscreates problems with the dimensional stability of wood. Moreover, no poisonoussolvents are needed. The project is in an early stage, but very promising first for thewood flooring sector but also for the (interior) design sector in general. As it is verycomplicated to colour wood to high penetration depth, often tropical wood species areused instead of painted wood. Painted wood cannot be sanded when small

blemisheshave occurred on the surface. By contrast, depth-coloured wood can berefurbished easily without losing its original colour.

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Schweighofer Prize 2009