Synera (former ELISE)
1. What is ELiSE?
ELiSE is an acronym and stands for "Evolutionary Light Structure Engineering". Behind it lies the approach of systematically transferring the construction principles of the extremely light but mechanically stable shells of radiolarians and diatoms to technical components (link: "Diatoms as samples for technical constructions"). After initial development projects with industry around 2005, the development process was first standardized and finally converted into software. Thus ELiSE changed from a development approach for specialists in biology, bionics and engineering to a powerful, universally applicable development software for all industries - from shipbuilding to aerospace engineering.
2. Software and spin-off
The latest development is software as low-code platform for engineering that significantly increases the efficiency of development processes for new products. As with natural models, complex geometries can be created, varied and optimized. In addition, the integrative approach of the software makes development processes much more flexible, faster and more valuable for companies. Due to the very high demand from our cooperation partners in industry, a startup, Synera GmbH, was founded in 2018 from the AWI. The Synera GmbH was able to win 1.2 million euros from the EXIST program of the Ministry of Economics. Since autumn 2019, renowned high-tech investors have been participating in the company with an additional € 3 million. This enables the software to be further developed into a mature development tool.
3. Future Innovations
At the Alfred Wegener Institute, we are currently researching new, more efficient solutions for multifunctional lightweight construction based on natural design principles and will continue to do so in the future (i.e. we use biomimetic- see Applied Research). Through close cooperation with Synera GmbH and other industrial partners, we ensure that the transfer of our results to industry and society is carried out quickly and effectively. The future work is firmly anchored in the latest research programme of the Helmholtz Association in the Topic 7 - "Bioeconomy" section.
The classic ELISE development process
ELISE was conceived early on (ca. 2005) as a systematic approach that used design proposals based on natural lightweight construction principles in combination with optimization methods to achieve unusual, highly efficient lightweight construction solutions. Since 2010 ELISE is available as a mature development process (see video), which leads to very good and innovative results, but requires highly specialized expertise and is therefore complex, time and cost intensive. We used it for pilot and research projects that were designed for the longer term and were intended to explore the limits of what was feasible. It is not suitable for being integrated by industrial partners into their own development processes. For highly efficient development work, the new ELISE software (see above) is now an ideal, flexible tool, which is not only used for product development, but also increasingly in research for innovations in multifunctional lightweight construction.
Explanation video about the ELISE process (status 2010):
The general approach is still valid and has been standardized in a VDI guideline, among others. However, many of the development steps have now been automated in the ELISE software. In addition, the range of services has been considerably expanded there (originally focus on weight minimization and statics, now taking into account costs, manufacturing restrictions and other aspects).