Wim van der Hoek award

Wim van der Hoek Award 2022

During the 20th edition of the Precision Fair, held this year for the first time in Den Bosch (NL), the Wim van der Hoek Award was presented under the auspices of DSPE (Dutch Society for Precision Engineering). The prize went to Nick

During the 21st edition of the Precision Fair, held this year in Den Bosch for the second time, the Wim van der Hoek Award was presented under the auspices of DSPE (Dutch Society for Precision Engineering). The prize went to Dennis Struver, who designed an active vibration isolation system for cryogenic application at JPE in Maastricht-Airport (NL) and subsequently graduated on this design from Eindhoven University of Technology (TU/e). This system works at extremely low temperatures to make a better, more sensitive gravitational wave detector. According to the jury, his design is a “best practice” of the design principles for precise movement and positioning in the spirit of Wim van der Hoek. “Especially the clever folding of the construction, because of the limited space, and the use of a one-piece straight guide are fine examples of innovativity.”

The second day of the Precision Fair 2022, Thursday 17th November in Den Bosch (NL), featured the presentation of the Wim van der Hoek Award. This award (also known as the Constructors Award) was introduced in 2006 to mark the 80th birthday of the Dutch doyen of design engineering principles, Wim van der Hoek (1924-2019). The Constructors Award is presented every year to the person with the best graduation project in the field of design in mechanical engineering at a Dutch or Belgian university of technology or university of applied sciences. This award includes a certificate, a trophy made by the Leidse instrumentmakers School and a sum of money, sponsored by TU/e institute EIASI.

Measuring gravitational waves even more sensitively

The Wim van der Hoek Award 2022 eventually went to Dennis Struver, who studied Mechanical Engineering at TU/e. He graduated this spring on the design of a vibration isolation system for application under cryogenic conditions. This system can make a gravitational wave detector even better and more sensitive. Gravitational waves were predicted by Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity, and astronomers study these very weak signals that arise in the deep universe, for example when two black holes collide. Only since 2015 have direct measurements been possible, with kilometers-long detectors built in the US and Italy. Work is currently underway in Europe on a successor that – thanks partly to Struver’s design – should be able to measure even more sensitively and thus detect even more gravitational waves. This is the Einstein Telescope, the location for which has not yet been determined. One of the candidates is the Maastricht-Aachen-Liège triangle, where the detector could be installed deep underground in the marl, protected from all above-ground disturbances.

Hall of Fame:

Who will you nominate for the Wim van der Hoek award 2023

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The jury in the Wim van der Hoek room at Janssen Precision Engineering in Maastricht:

Chairman Jos Gunsing (MaromeTech)
Johan Vervoort (Vervos)
Marc Vermeulen (ASML)
Maurice Teuwen (Janssen Precision Engineering)
Hans Steijaert (VDL ETG)
Wouter Vogelesang (VH Consult)