Patent applicationsSiemens names 'Inventor of the Year 2017'
Siemens filed 3,650 patents in the 2017 fiscal year - 150 more than in the previous year. The company has now named 14 particularly resourceful researchers as 'Inventors of the Year 2017'.
Thorkil Munk-Hansen (55) is Chief Designer at Siemens Gamesa in Vejle, Denmark. His job is to arrange the many components and systems of a wind turbine in such a way that it will provide reliable service for over 25 years and is easy to maintain. As early as the design process, the inventor has to plan all the life cycles of the wind turbine in advance: how can it be produced and transported cost-effectively, how can the service technicians access the components to be serviced as easily as possible later on? There is still a lot to invent in this relatively young industry - which is why Munk-Hansen has already achieved 116 individual patents in the nine years he has been with the company. For this, he was awarded Inventor of the Year in the "Lifetime achievement" category.