The best innovations developed by Hidria's innovators in the past year were awarded at today's meeting of Hidria's management in Portorož.

Innovation is one of the key values on which Hidria's organizational culture is based. As a pre-development supplier of state-of-the-art systems for automotive and industrial technologies, Hidria's teams are constantly looking for new opportunities and innovative solutions for sustainable development. Which four innovations ranked among the best this year?

High temperature gas detector

Hidria's award for innovation was granted to the team including: Dr. Boštjan Berginc, Dr. Jani Kenda, Dr. Miha Kenda, Uroš Milost, Jani Čebokli, Aleksander Tapaj, Jernej Rejc, Ana Lipušček, Urban Bric and Aljaž Podobnik. The team developed an innovative high temperature exhaust gas sensor. The breakthrough product addresses the pressing issue of reducing greenhouse gas emissions from trucks, where electrification will take place more slowly. Hidria's high temperature gas detector enables extremely accurate measurements for efficient filter operation.

Electrical connection of the exhaust gas system

The award for innovation was granted to the team in which Bojan Meklav, Tadej Muznik, Nejc Eržen and Vasja Tuta participated, namely for the development of an innovative electrical connection of the exhaust gas system. The solution is unique in the world, as it is the first example in the European automotive industry, in which, by using high-temperature insulation and the process of rotary forging of the housing and insulation to the electrode, we achieve a very strong and robust connection, which is able to withstand extreme temperature and mechanical loads in all regimes operation. Hidria has already protected the exceptional solution with an European patent, and the acquisition of an international patent is also underway.

Plug tube made with deep drawing

The award for innovation went to Aleš Bizjak and Tomaž Mrak, who developed an innovative plug tube made with deep drawing. The deep drawn tube replaces the current classic tube manufacturing concept. The new concept has a very short supply chain and requires only an investment in a progressive deep drawing tool instead of an expensive forging machine. The solution significantly reduced the investment in technology, increased the energy efficiency of the production process and productivity, and improved the specifications of the product itself.

Optimization of 3D printing parameters of die casting tool components

The award for innovation was given to Jan Štucin and Mitja Novak, who optimized the parameters of 3D printing of die-casting tool components. The authors of the innovation developed and tested on an actual example the parameters of 3D metal printing of maraging steel, which enable production with an 80 µm thickness of the layer of metal powder application, which is 30 µm more than the usually used parameters developed by the machine manufacturer. The solution enables faster 3D printing of metals, lower energy consumption and cheaper manufacturing of components, while maintaining the same functionality and lifetime of the components.

We sincerely congratulate the recipients of the awards for the best innovations in Hidria!