The scientific workshop of the ILT
The workshop of the Institute of Agricultural Engineering was originally a classical precision mechanics workshop whose areas of activity have since expanded considerably. The term "scientific" is intended to emphasise that it is primarily apparatus for science that is built here. Of course, repairs and technical assistance are also part of the spectrum.
The four employees have backgrounds in precision mechanics, mechatronics and electrical engineering. The core task of the workshop is to technically develop the ideas of the scientists, mostly during their doctoral studies, and to transform them into functional equipment. Other institutes of the Faculty of Agriculture also like to use the services of the workshop.
In addition to precision mechanical equipment, agricultural machines are also built or rebuilt. Electrical engineering and microelectronics have long been part of the competences, and in the meantime the robotics department, which moved into the institute some time ago, is shifting the technology further and further in this direction.
Nevertheless, apparatus engineering and mechanical engineering continue to be the workshop's flagship. There is a wide range of machinery, from welding equipment to oscilloscopes, from band saws to CNC machining centres. Manufacturing methods that can't be realised here are covered by the university's central workshop or also by external workshops.
Often, commercial devices are merely modified or equipped with measurement technology for specific research purposes. However, complete in-house developments also leave the building. The equipment is accompanied by the workshop staff until it is used in the laboratory or in the field, as these are prototypes whose behaviour and problems often only become apparent in real use.
