Innovation Award Winners for Laser Technology Honored in Aachen
cleansort GmbH, a company using laser-induced breakdown spectroscopy for the sorting of recyclable materials, earned the first place prize of the 2024 Innovation Award for Laser Technology. cleansort took this year’s award — and €10,000 (~$10,644) in prize money — for its "Cleansort process." The smart software-enhanced solution uses a combination of laser ablation and laser spectroscopy to increase resource efficiency and reduce material costs, energy costs, and greenhouse gas emissions.
The Innovation Award for Laser Technology is presented every two years to laser manufacturers, users, researchers, and developers who have spearheaded a laser technology innovation from application-oriented research to successful industrial implementation. It is organized by the Arbeitskreis Lasertechnik (AKL) eV, a network of approximately 200 laser experts, and the European Laser Institute (ELI) eV, a platform that pools expertise and knowledge of optical technologies.
The 2024 winners were celebrated at a ceremony in Aachen, Germany last week.
First place winners of the Innovation Award for Laser Technology from cleansort GmbH along with representatives of AKL. Courtesy of Arbeitskreis Lasertechnik eV.
The Cleansort process was developed by co-founder and managing director of cleansort Edwin Büchter. The company's technology supports a range of industrial applications, including those spanning the automotive and aviation industries, as well as waste incineration. The solution enables the recycling of all types of metals without sorting or losses, with a single unit saving up to 291,000 MWh of electrical energy and over 126,000 tons of CO2 per year. The Cleansort process has a reported success rate of over 93% and runs in just six ms.
Second place winners from Audi AG and Precitec GmbH & Co. KG along with representatives of AKL. Courtesy of Arbeitskreis Lasertechnik eV.
The jury awarded second place to the project “Holistic approach to laser beam welding for cell contacting of battery modules with the highest quality” by Jan-Philipp Weberpals of Audi AG and others from Audi and Precitec GmbH & Co. KG. The project is currently being used in prototype production at Audi and is on its way into serial production. The technology offers advantages, including the compensation of tolerances and optimum positioning of the weld seams to protect the battery cells from damage, and contributes to quality assurance and cost savings, as well as playing a role in reducing the environmental footprint of battery production.
Third place winners from Cailabs along with representatives of AKL. Courtesy of Arbeitskreis Lasertechnik eV.
The project “CANUNDA — Upscaling laser processing with beam-shaping” took third place. The commercialization of multi-plane light conversion (MPLC) for high-performance laser material processing, produced by Cailabs, was developed at the Laboratoire Kastler Brossel in Paris for use in telecommunications and optical space-to-earth communication. Since 2018, MPLC has been used in laser material processing under the name CANUNDA, a solution that offers compatible and customized beam shaping for the industry.
Representatives from all three winning teams along with representatives of AKL. Courtesy of Arbeitskreis Lasertechnik eV.
CANUNDA's MPLC technology enables complex beam shapes that contribute to more efficient and higher quality laser processing applications by modifying the intensity distribution of the processing laser in order to achieve higher process speeds and improved quality in many laser processes.
More information about the winners and winning team members is available here.
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