The message may or may not come as a surprise to you. Today’s industrial production depends in an essential way on sensors. But, not to worry, this is not intended to be trite chatter about sensors built into products produced on production lines based on sensors.. In numbers, temperature and pressure are probably the most frequently monitored quantities, followed by the whole variety of position.
Just imagine the 25…30 million platinumth in film sensors produced every year. Not to mention NTCs or thermo couples. Imagine the numbers for potentiometric, optical encoders or LVDT-type position sensors. Global annual turnover in sensors is estimated to be somewhere around 90 billion Euro. Market research shows German sensor manufacturers to supply more than 30 % of the world market.Amongst others, German machinebuilders are major drivers for development in the sensor industry.
In any high-end automobile today you will find far more than 100 sensors. Sensor technology is no longer simply about measuring the temperature of cooling water or detecting the individual rotational speed of each wheel. It is more about detecting a child’s hand on the edge of a power window; or about determining the operational age of motor oil in terms of chemical composition; or about keeping your eyes on the road by controlling the inclination of your car’s head lights.
Sensors are at the hub of all this. And that is why some 30 years ago a small group of 14 general managers founded the German Association for Sensor Technology (AMA). Most sensor manufacturers are fairly small companies. They are technology and customer driven instead of share holder driven. Their business is solving customers’ application problems. In Germany alone we count about 800 such companies, most of them small and medium sized enterprises.
It is this relative smallness, which prompted founding of AMA Association. Back then, the significance of sensor technology in the big picture was scarcely recognized. One of the first intentions of this fast growing Association, was to host atrade show to showcase sensing solutions, targeted at industry experts in R&Dor design.
Today, some 30 years later, AMA Association membership has grown to about 460 manufacturers and research institutes Europewide, and the SENSOR+TEST with accompanying conventions is considered the most important gathering in the field of sensors, measurement technologies and testing equipment - not just in Germany or Europe but globally.
Even with today’s down-scenarios we are looking forward to more than 500 exhibitors on the Nuremberg fair ground from 26. -.28. May 2009. Besides the traditional booths-in-a-hall show concept, several forums and important conventions will address a wide variety of issues for technical experts. And of course there will also be live demonstrations of mobile testing equipment or data acquisition systems with real cars, where visitors canjoin the drivers’ presentation from the safe back seat.
Dr. C. Thomas Simmons, General Manager, AMA Association for Sensor Technology, Berlin, Germany
