<title>New results and future plans of the German major project ADAPTRONICS</title>

Abstract

In 1997 the BMBF (German Ministry of Education and Research) announced a highly paid competition for future oriented key technologies and their industrial utilization. 230 proposals from industrial enterprises and research establishments were submitted. An independent group of experts selected altogether only 5 projects which were proposed to the BMBF. One of these projects was the major project ADAPTRONICS which is funded from 1998 to 2002 with a total volume of 25,000,000 EURO. This project is under the direction of the DLR (German Aerospace Center) and focuses on the integration of piezoelectric fibers and patches into lightweight structures aiming at active vibration and noise reduction, shape control and micro positioning. The main project target is the implementation of this technology in different industrial branches like the automotive industry, rail technology, mechanical engineering, medical engineering, and aerospace technology. This paper will give an overview of the recent progress and the next steps in the various tasks.