The European Green Deal is a package of different initiatives to set Europe on the path to making a green transition, ultimately achieving the goal of becoming climate neutral by 2050. The Green Deal supports this shift towards a fair and prosperous society with a modern and competitive economy.
It emphasises the need for a holistic and cross-sectoral approach, with all relevant sectors contributing to the overall climate goal, such as climate, environment, energy, transport, industry, agriculture and sustainable finance.
This research area spans various topics across faculties and touches on almost all organisational units as well as other research areas at the Uniersity of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt.
We perform research and development in the following topics:
Infrastructure:
The aim of this project is to search, evaluate and test various technologies for the automated (AI-supported) detection of quality defects and anomalies in the process data in two product lines of a manufacturer of special machines.
The FAMOUS (Freight Access Management for Optimizing Urban Space) project aims to evaluate legislative and technical measures for freight traffic control in cities using a comprehensive calculation and simulation model. For this purpose, the GÜMORE freight transport model is used in combination with a small-scale model for fine distribution in the urban area and the proven passenger transport model from ITS Vienna Region for access management issues in cities. In addition to traffic metrics, the reduction in greenhouse gases (CO2), energy consumption and pollutant emissions are also calculated and evaluated. In addition to the Verkehrsverbund Ost (VOR), BOKU Vienna, and hh2pro, project partners include the cities of Vienna and Wiener Neustadt.
Young talents in the region get to know businesses and educational institutions in the region. The connecting theme will be energy.
The energy transition is the main task in combating climate change. Mastering this great challenge requires talented, cooperative and well-trained people in this field. The "Clean Tech Club" is a network group that will be formed by students of all ages and stakeholders from the fields of research, science, education and business. They all share the vision that the energy transition is possible, if they engage in a cooperative development process. There are three different innovation areas to carry out the necessary development work. For the involvement phase, we use the mobile energy laboratory (energy trailer) to set up a low-threshold extracurricular offer for children and young people on site with the latest technology and fascinating experiments. Young talents can then deepen their knowledge in the stationary offer of the innovation laboratories together with the supporters from science, education and business and then develop and implement their own ideas and solutions in the innovation factory. In the weekly network meetings, complex connections are discussed and solution strategies are developed. In the experimental phase, the ideas are implemented and the results validated. Furthermore, there should be an intensive exchange and cooperation with all other funded co-creation spaces. In order to further develop the project, there will be a multi-day excursion every year to learn from best practice examples. As many people as possible should benefit from the results of the co-creation process, therefore the participants themselves will create teaching and learning materials using modern technology (e.g. instructional videos, podcasts, virtual reality). Through close cooperation with people from business and science, new educational paths and/or career paths for young talents, but especially for girls, can be identified and made possible.
The aim of this exploratory project is to investigate the motivations and needs of all stakeholders in the context of a stakeholder analysis. Based on this, service design blueprints will be created for different use cases and a feasibility analysis will be performed according to the following criteria: Legal, technical, economic, network usability. From this, the development needs for an implementation of the EigenStrom2Go concept in the context of a subsequent RDI project will be derived.
In the "CircularPro" project, a continuing education program for SMEs is being developed that is intended to enable product developers, product designers and development engineers to design products that are recyclable. Modules are developed with a focus on the basics and framework conditions of the circular economy, recyclable materials, circular design and construction principles and circular-based product-service systems. With these modules, participants should build up competencies in order to effectively develop sustainable and recyclable products and product-service systems in the future. In order to establish the practical relevance, case studies and practical exercises are developed for all modules, which supplement the theoretical content. The FHWN Innovation Lab provides a laboratory environment that can be used for prototyping and illustrating recyclable products. This project is funded by the FFG as part of the Innovation Camps program.
The "Liquid Hydrogen Tank Demons-trator 4.0" project funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG) in the TAKE OFF programme aims to develop a liquid hydrogen tank demonstrator for aviation and to realise a digital twin of it on which various scenarios can be tested. The project is thus doing essential pioneering work in the transition of aeronautics towards hydrogen.
Within this project funded by Lower Austria, the basic principles for the development of a hybrid propulsion system (electrical and chemical) for space applications are to be worked out. The aim is to realise a 1 N monopropellant thruster based on hydrogen peroxide in combination with FEEP thrusters and to extend this to a 10 N bipropellant thruster.
Within the framework of the FFG-funded project, FHWN is working together with Diamond Aircraft on the development of future-oriented transport systems in aviation. FHWN's focus is on the simulation of new propulsion concepts as well as hybrid technologies, on the simulation of different configurations for future transport concepts and on research into sustainable materials in the field of composite materials.
The aim of this ESA-funded project is to develop a compact ion thruster based on the FEEP technology developed by FOTEC with high thrust density and high specific impulse. This thruster can be used in scientific space missions, including Earth observation missions, to collect data that can help to create refined climate models.
Bewusstkaufen.at is an initiative of the Federal Ministry for Climate Protection (BMK) and the first web portal for sustainable consumption in Austria. With around 300 sustainable labels in the database ("Label-Kompass"), around 50 guides, an interactive seasonal calendar and ongoing editorial contributions, interviews and blog posts by experts on sustainability topics, it offers consumers a comprehensive information platform and shows environmentally and climate-friendly action alternatives. The institut für sustainability is in charge of the label database.
The aim of this INTERREG SK-AT project is to strengthen regional entrepreneurship, the performance of start-ups and the innovation capacity of SMEs with a focus on smart, digitalized manufacturing.
State-of-the-art of potential primary and secondary measures for slow heat release appliances regarding effects on emissions and thermal efficiency
The Institute for Sustainability and the Department of Consumer Science at the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt at the Campus Wieselburg, together with numerous research and industry partners, are researching the needs of potential members of energy communities as well as the requirements for communication interfaces in order to be able to integrate, for example, photovoltaic systems, battery storage and electric charging stations into an energy community. Further research topics concern the optimal planning of energy communities and their organizational forms.
The objective of this project, funded by the FFG under the COIN program "Aufbau", is to build R&D competence to expand test and analysis capabilities specifically for small satellite systems (CubeSat).
The aim of this project, which is funded by the FFG as part of the FORTE program, is to develop an autonomous sensor-controlled filter system that electrochemically generates highly reactive molecules and thereby destroys pathogenic germs or chemical warfare agents.
The research project CO-INNO-LAB investigates regional success factors and models for co-innovation in university-run innovation labs. Studies are conducted with regional com-panies in the region, in particular small and medium-sized industrial companies (KMI), using methods of classic social research and innovative methods of intervention and action research. The role of infrastructures (university innovation labs) should also be examined. For this pur-pose, a innovation lab will be built. Another goal is to research the possibilities of digitizing the co-innovation process via combined real-virtual (cyber-physical) innovation spaces. The knowledge gained should be made available as recommendations for action, best practices and, in the case of technical developments, as conceptual prototypes.
This R&D project, funded by the province of Lower Austria, aims to develop cluster and similarity algorithms for the automated detection of the hardness of concrete formulations. FOTEC's task is to establish a LORAWAN-based measurement system at Wopfinger premises and to develop and evaluate algorithms from the measurement data obtained.
Goals of the concept development is to create a rollout for a communication concept of worm boxes for new international markets by analyzing the sales funnel from the 1st contact to the conclusion.
The objective of this ESA activity is to assess the reliability and functionality of 4D printing materials for space applications, to consider printed parts manufactured on Earth for use in space, but also those printed parts manufactured in space for space operations.
The CubeSat mission CLIMB is the second CubeSat mission of the University of Applied Sciences Wiener Neustadt. Starting from a low Earth orbit, CLIMB will slowly increase its orbit up to 1000 km. The main goal of CLIMB is to reach the inner layer of the Van Allen belt, which starts roughly at an altitude of 1000 km. Measurements of the accumulated radiation dose and the magnetic field will be conducted.
A Hold Down and Release Actuator will be developed within an ESA funded project, which is suitable for CubeSats. Those devices are e.g. applied to deploy solar panals and are a crucial component for improving the reliability of satellites.
Silicon detectors, which are able to detect single electrons are developed and tested together with the austrian acadamy of sciences and the Max-Planck-Institute in Munich. Beside the search for dark matter, they can be applied for the detection of single optical photons and their integration in a CubeSat will be studied
Establishing a sustainable energy and economic system and dealing with the opportunities and risks of digitization are among the greatest challenges facing our society. BSAIO aims to put these two aspects in relation to each other. The methods from the fields of Big Data, Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, which are based on digitization, as well as increasingly powerful optimization algorithms, offer the possibility of operating systems in a more sustainable way and saving resources both in their planning and operation. To this end, all necessary knowledge is to be imparted and the methods are to be applied directly to practical tasks. At the same time, the targeted use of methods based on digitisation for responsible and sustainable use of resources should help to create best practice examples in this area.
The project will use Nano LC- MS/MS to provide a deeper insight into the complex communication system of cancer cells with their neighbours and the influence of therapy on this network.
The aim of this INTERREG AT-HU project is to strengthen regional entrepreneurship, the performance of start-ups and the innovation capacity of SMEs with a focus on the development of (internationally) competitive products in the field of digitisation.
The aim of the project is to develop a marketing concept that clearly positions the "Gemeinwohlprüfung" der GFG (Genossenschaft für Gemeinwohl) as an USP, anchors it more firmly in the awareness of existing cooperative members and serves to attract new members.
The aim of the project is the development of a marketing concept for the GFG (Genossenschaft für Gemeinwohl) for the recruitment of members from Generation Y and Z.
Advice and technical support of the project klimaaktiv missionzero Wr. Neustadt. Report on the missionzero-relevant data in Wr. Neustadt.
This project will investigate the potential of mealworms for the degradation of mycotoxins in food and feed. At the FH, the proteome of mealworms will be isolated and qualitatively recorded using Nano LC- MS/MS.
The CORNET project aims at the systematic and comprehensive investigation of additive-subtractive manufacturing process chains in order to gain a detailed understanding of influences and dependencies of parameters, strategies and boundary conditions related to the material and workpiece properties of additive manufactured and post-processed case studies in different applications. The task of FOTEC is the development of design guidelines for the different case studies along the entire process chain and their implementation.
This project aims to investigate the motivations for instutional investors to consider ESG factors in their investment decision making process.
The active involvement of end users in further awareness raising is the key element of WP3. Interested house owners (n=100) are actively involved in measures and methods for the sustainable improvement of air quality and for optimizing the operation of their own heating system. A citizen science approach is chosen (end users collect data on their heating behavior themselves and then forward it to the project consortium), leading to increased end-user awareness.
The aim of this project, funded by the EU within the frame of H2020, is to develop a recycling supply chain for rare earth magnets in the EU and to demonstrate this on a pilot scale with new products in different fields of application. The task of FOTEC is to design the injection moulds for the magnetic NdFeB components for the MIM process.
Existing machine learning concepts will be evaluated and tested for their applicability within the framework of the project funded by Lower Austria. Promising algorithms will be implemented prototypically and models for the evaluation of the status of the plant equipment will be created.
The aim of the project financed by the ESA SCIENCE department is to further develop and optimise the ion thruster developed by FOTEC for future ESA science missions (e.g. LISA, NGGM).
The aim of this ESA project is to develop and test a thin (<3 cm) in-plane variable emissivity spacecraft radiator with a size of 10x10 cm², suitable for cubesats. Within a consortium consisting of CSEM (project lead, CH), ENBIO (IE), Heron Engineering (GR), FOTEC is responsible for environmental tests of the developed radiator.
In the frame of this project funded by the Province of Lower Austria, a sensor network is being set up for roller mills to record the current condition of the plant. Based on forecasts, the plant operator can derive predictive maintenance measures for cost-optimized and efficient maintenance.
Bioinformatics in Interdisciplinary Life Science Research- The FH module includes the bioanalytical and bioinformatic search for relationships between transcriptome and metabolome data from Fusarium-infested grain.
In this ESA project, research is being carried out on additively produced HF components of communication satellites. The aim is to increase the electrical power through new available geometries, to shorten the production and delivery time through higher integration and to reduce volume and mass through the integration of different functions (electrical, thermal, mechanical) in one part. The task of FOTEC is the revision of the design as well as the additive manufacturing of the satellite components.
Through its NEOSAT project, ESA aims to help Europe's space industry become more competitive. The new communications satellite platform could reduce orbital operating costs by up to 30 percent compared to conventional satellites. FOTEC's task is to additively manufacture a bracket for a solar panel, whereby the focus is not only on additive manufacturing, but also on design and FEM-based simulation.
This FFG project examines solutions for heating and cooling in buildings with a thermal power of < 2 kW using a thermoacoustic heat pump. Forschung Burgenland is project lead, Heliotherm industrial partner, FOTEC is responsible for simulation and design of the thermoacoustic device.
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