On Thursday, June 6, 2024, the first PIC Academy since the pandemic took place. We welcomed forty piezo experts from industry and R&D to PI Ceramic in Lederhose, Germany, for this event on “Piezoelectric Solutions for Medical Technology.”
Following the welcoming speech and a brief introduction of the company by Dr. Patrick Pertsch, CEO PI Ceramic, the scientific program was opened with a keynote lecture by Dr. Kai Melde from the University of Heidelberg. In this lecture, entitled “Ultrasound: From imaging to biofabrication,” he presented his impressive results on the manipulation of cells with acoustic holograms.
Experts from PI Ceramic then presented the company’s latest developments in piezo technology for medical applications: Jörg Gebhardt showed piezo components for medical ultrasound applications in all shapes and sizes, Dr. Michael Oertel spoke about virtual product design and presented the development of high-power ultrasound transducers as an example, Dr. Franz Schubert explained the status of the RoHS regulation in the EU and our level of development for lead-free piezo materials, and Dr. Ivo Zunke spoke about new technological possibilities for the manufacturing of piezoceramic transducers.
Following a joint lunch, guided tours of the manufacturing facility took place, during which the manufacturing of piezoceramic products was explained and many questions about PI Ceramic’s technological capabilities were answered.
The second presentation part in the afternoon focused on specific customer applications. Anette Jakob of the Fraunhofer IBMT in Saarland, Germany, provided interesting insights into the development of an ultrasound system for muscle tracking. Jonas Kluitmann from Coburg University of Applied Sciences presented ultrasound-based concepts in microfluidics. As Ben Hartkopp, Managing Director of Quantica from Berlin, was unable to attend due to illness, his colleague David Niedner gave a remote presentation on “Piezoceramic inkjet printheads for medical technology,” which worked very well technically.
What can be achieved with therapeutic, focused ultrasound in medical technology? Dr. Frank Wolfram from the Wald-Klinikum Gera addressed this question in his concluding lecture. He vividly presented HIFU (High Intensity Focused Ultrasound) applications such as the minimally invasive thermal ablation of cancerous tumors.
The focus of our academy concept is on the exchange between the participants and our experts as well as among the participants, which worked very well. Extensive networking breaks, during which a large support team from the sales and development departments of PI Ceramic was present, made it possible to discuss current projects and offer advice and support. All participants perceived this concept as a great added value.
A big thank you to everyone involved in making the PIC Academy event possible! Special thanks go to Manja Tatschke for her great support during the preparation phase, as well as to the caretaker and service teams and the MarCom team in Karlsruhe, Germany. Thanks also go to the entire DACH sales team from PI Ceramic and Dr. Patrick Pertsch, who made sure that great speakers with exciting presentations were on site.
Contact person: Melina Ramakic, Marketing Project Manager Piezo Technology
