Dr. Olaf Ohlhafer

On the one hand, the diversity of the Bosch product landscape is fascinating. Here at CR, components and products are developed for all business units – ranging from coffee machines and healthcare to intelligent field sprayers for the agricultural sector. This gives you a multifaceted overview of Bosch's research areas and product range. It is particularly helpful that experts from all the relevant branches of science work here on campus in Renningen and in the regional technology centers, and that networking across the individual disciplines is very easy. The fields in which you can work as a researcher at Bosch are just as diverse as the product landscape. I started out as a product developer, spent some time working on laser diagnostics in fluid flows, and am now developing new concepts and business models. My work takes me to different locations, so I had the opportunity, for instance, to go to East Africa for two weeks to work on a project. We talked to the local people to find out whether our project idea was feasible and also made sense. The insights we gained there were extremely important.

In general, our group conducts research in the field of fluid dynamics. We help the business units to solve any problems that arise and we’re constantly looking for improvements to existing products and ideas for new ones. At the moment, my main activities are in "Food and Water.” For example, we developed a concept for an intelligent field sprayer that automatically detects weeds and applies an appropriate crop protection agent only where necessary.

Products are becoming increasingly smaller, more efficient, and more robust. The previously used principles of functionality behind these products are often no longer sufficient and need to be improved or replaced. Pressures of up to 6000 bar or time scales in the µs range are increasing the demands on the products. In addition, shorter and shorter development times call for the use of powerful simulation and optimization tools. This virtual development presents many options for the design and optimization of components that were previously not available in this form.

With us an idea can grow and be developed right up to prototype status. With a little luck, the idea is developed into a marketable product, thus directly becoming "Invented for life." With the intelligent field sprayer, I was able to help design its development from the idea to the demonstrator and present it to a wide audience at the AGRITECHNICA fair in Hanover. The positive response confirmed that "Invented for life" is not just an empty slogan.