{"id":104100,"date":"2025-07-09T15:41:39","date_gmt":"2025-07-09T13:41:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/?p=104100"},"modified":"2025-07-09T15:41:39","modified_gmt":"2025-07-09T13:41:39","slug":"schmalz-vacuum-technology-research-project","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/schmalz-forschungsprojekt-vakuumtechnik\/","title":{"rendered":"Research: Leeches as a model for vacuum technology"},"content":{"rendered":"

Schmalz is also thinking outside the box when optimising its vacuum systems: a current research project is focusing on the suction organs of leeches.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Velcro fasteners, the lotus effect and aeroplane wings are some prominent examples of how bionics can solve technical problems. Because Nature offers fascinating answers to everyday challenges<\/strong>. \u201eIt is usually very efficient,\u201c emphasises Dr Harald Kuolt. He heads up the research projects at Schmalz. \u201eWe have been looking for natural suction methods to improve our own vacuum systems.\u201c<\/p>\n

Schmalz found what he was looking for in leeches. With their two sucking organs at the front and rear ends, they have the ability to cling to different surfaces.<\/strong> Whether slimy or porous, under or above water - thanks to the Combination of suction adhesion and mechanical gripping<\/strong> or clinging, they can attach themselves securely to their hosts. Together with the University of Freiburg, Schmalz started a project to better understand the biological adhesion systems. \u201eWe investigated the functional morphology and biomechanics of leeches,\u201c explains Prof Dr Thomas Speck. He heads the \u201eBotany - Functional Morphology and Bionics\u201c working group at the University of Freiburg.<\/p>

\"\"<\/a><\/div><\/div>\n

After manual pull-off tests, the researchers built rotating systems and determined the centrifugal force at which the flukes detach from the respective surface. \u201eWe broke new ground and developed special test set-ups for this purpose<\/strong>, to measure the adhesive forces of the leeches,\u201c explains Thomas Speck. In a current research project, the team is investigating the anatomy of the sucking organ, which consists of muscle-controlled sucking, sealing and grasping lips.<\/p>\n

\u201eUnderstanding the form-structure-function relationship of the suction organ is essential for further abstraction and implementation steps for new, bionically optimised systems from Schmalz.\u201c<\/p>\n

Dr Simon Poppinga,<\/strong> TU Darmstadt<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"\"
With their two sucking organs at the front and rear ends, leeches have the ability to cling to different surfaces. (Image: Schmalz)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

From the aquarium to the industry<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Harald Kuolt: \u201eOur pre-development department then produced a prototype that differs from our standard range.\u201c Firstly, the sealing lip runs in a different direction to that of standard suction cups. Secondly Schmalz adapted the radii of curvature and combined hard and soft materials.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201eWe were able to reduce the dead volume and thus evacuate much faster. Our aim is for the new suction cup to perform better than conventional models in terms of holding and shear forces as well as sealing behaviour. It should also be possible to manufacture it industrially and its carbon footprint must be comparable to previous suction cups.\u201c<\/p>\n

Dr Harald Kuolt<\/strong>, Head of Research Projects at Schmalz<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The focus is currently on two variants that Schmalz is further optimising. The new models save energy thanks to the short evacuation times.<\/strong> They seal better on rough surfaces and impress with their long service life. Thanks to the new structure of the seal, they should also ensure a secure hold on uneven or sensitive surfaces. \u201eThe suction cups must function reliably in standard applications; we don't want to develop a solution for a few special cases,\u201c emphasises Harald Kuolt.<\/p>\n

Source:<\/em> Lard<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Schmalz is thinking outside the box when it comes to optimising its vacuum systems and is focusing on the suction organs of leeches in a current research project.","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":98357,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"__cvm_playback_settings":[],"__cvm_video_id":"","rank_math_description":"Schmalz blickt bei der Optimierung seiner Vakuumsysteme \u00fcber den Tellerrand und stellt in einem Forschungsprojekt die Saugorgane von Blutegeln in den Fokus.","rank_math_focus_keyword":"Vakuum","rank_math_title":"","csco_display_header_overlay":false,"csco_singular_sidebar":"","csco_page_header_type":"","csco_page_load_nextpost":"","csco_post_video_location":[],"csco_post_video_location_hash":"","csco_post_video_url":"","csco_post_video_bg_start_time":0,"csco_post_video_bg_end_time":0,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[55,58744,58731,39],"class_list":{"0":"post-104100","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-verpackungstechnik","8":"tag-automatisieren-und-robotik","9":"tag-forschung","10":"tag-schmalz","11":"tag-verpackungstechnik","12":"cs-entry","13":"cs-video-wrap"},"acf":[],"vimeo_video":null,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104100","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/20"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=104100"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/104100\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/98357"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=104100"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=104100"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/packaging-journal.de\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=104100"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}