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management report research and development pfleiderer ag 41
Hybrid masts for wind converters were the focal point of development work in the
Masts/USA Business Unit in 2002. Increasing demand for ever higher towers has taken conventional
steel designs to their limits. The Masts Business Unit combines the advantages
of a cement construction with steel, enabling production of concrete towers of more than
100 meters. In the USA, too, hybrid towers are being used successfully as power transmission
masts. Other areas of development relate to applications found in airports, where plastic
masts are used in order to comply with special requirements relating to tensile strength and
microwave reflection.
In the Infrastructure Technology Business Center, the Wind Power Business Unit is carrying
out important development work with its offshore MULTIBRID ® technology. In fiscal 2002,
around 6.7 million euros were spent on developing this, the first systems solution for offshore
turnkey wind converters. As the Pfleiderer Group is looking for a partner over the medium term
with whom to develop its wind converter activities, particularly in the offshore segment, these
development costs are shown under “Discontinued operations”.
Insulation Technology
Research and development activities in the Insulation Technology Business Center in 2002
were directed at further optimizing existing product characteristics. In a joint project carried
out with the Fraunhofer Gesellschaft, glass-fiber production was analyzed. A better understanding
of the processes involved could enable lower raw fiber density, achieving savings in terms
of the total quantity of material used. Other research areas included the virtual design of
open-pore materials and the development of odorless and emission-free inorganic adhesives.
This latter development would give insulation materials a longer life-span and enable them to
be recycled.