Dietrich Balzer

Dietrich Balzer, 2017

Dietrich Balzer (born November 9, 1941 in Brandenburg (Havel) ) is a German automation engineer , professor of process control and industry manager . He is one of the pioneers in process control and co-founded the training of qualified engineers in this field in Germany.

education

Dietrich Balzer was born in Brandenburg an der Havel, attended from 1948 to 1956 here, the elementary school and put 1960 in Halle (Saale) , the High School from.

Balzer studied at the traditional "Leningrad Technological Institute" (today: Technological University St. Petersburg ), one of the oldest technical universities in Europe, where Dmitri Ivanovich Mendeleev had already taught in the 19th century . In 1965, Balzer completed his studies there in the field of “automation of technological processes” with a diploma thesis. At the same institute in 1968 he defended his dissertation on the topic of "Controlling an ammonia reactor according to the temperature field". The scientific supervisor was Boris Vladimirovich Iljin , Chair for the Automation of Technological Processes.

In 1976 he obtained his habilitation (PhD B) at the Technical University of Leipzig on the subject of "Optimal control of process engineering systems", combined with the award of the academic degree Dr. sc. techn. (today: Dr.-Ing.habil.). Reviewers were Professors Klaus Hartmann , Manfred Peschel , PG Romankov and Wolfgang Schäfer .

Balzer lives on the outskirts of Berlin. He has been married to Ludmila Balzer (* 1942), who has a doctorate in chemistry and environmental science, since 1966 . The couple have their adult son Vladimir Balzer (* 1974), who studied journalism, lives in Berlin and works as a freelance radio and television company.

Industry

Balzer has been active in the industry for many years and has held managerial positions in development and sales in the following companies: Petrolchemisches Kombinat Schwedt (Oder) , Westinghouse Electric Corporation Frankfurt (Main) , ELPRO Berlin and AUCOTEAM Berlin. He is the managing director of PROSYS GmbH.

His main areas of work were or are:

• Process automation in process, energy and environmental technology
• Mathematical modeling and optimization
• Information systems for automatic company management
• Quality management
• National and international (Russia, Asia, Middle East) business activities in the field of control and energy technology for process and environmental systems.

The pioneering work in preparation for the deployment and in the operation of the first hierarchically structured process computer system in Germany in the petrolchemical combine (today: PCK refinery ) in Schwedt / Oder together with Klaus Hartmann , who later took up the chair for process systems engineering at the TH Leuna- Merseburg was appointed, and with Gunter Reinig , who was later appointed as a university lecturer at the TU Dresden at the chair of Heinz Töpfer and then to his own chair at the Ruhr University Bochum . The focus was on the initial project planning as a large corporate control system and the creation of the innovative and extensive application software.

As part of his industrial activity, Balzer was z. E.g. in the following state-sponsored research and development projects, which were usually cooperation projects between scientific institutions and industrial companies, and largely initiated them:

• "Mobile control technology" (2000–2003, Berlin innovation program)
• "New generation of control systems" (2002–2004, Berliner Zukunftsfonds)
• "Intelligent control of integrated waste disposal and energy supply in a municipality" (2003–2005, PROINNO, BMWi)
• "IT-based systems and procedures for safe production" (2003–2006, Berlin innovation program)
• "Virtual Automation Networks" (2005–2009, EU project)
• Model-based process management for thermal waste recycling plants using the example of a pilot plant (2006–2009, INNO-WATT, BMWi)
• Operational, knowledge-based control of biogas fermenters using information about the biotechnological pollution potential (2009–2012, ZIM, BMWi)
• "Optimal design and control of horizontal fermentors (systems with distributed parameters) for the gasification of vegetable, stalk-like biomasses" (2011–2014, ZIM, BMWi).

University

In 1978, Balzer was appointed professor to the chair for process computing technology at the Technical University of Leipzig in the "Automation Systems" section (section director: Werner Richter ) with the following areas of work in teaching and research:

• Process control technology
• Computer science and artificial intelligence
• Process and energy technology.

In this context, there was personal scientific supervision of 5 habilitations and 19 doctorates for Dr.-Ing. and more than 125 theses.

In addition to his work as a professor, Balzer was also temporarily Vice-Rector for Natural and Technical Sciences and Rector of the Technical University of Leipzig. In his functions as Vice Rector and Rector from 1980 to 1990, the following strategic university tasks were the focus of his work:

• Ensuring the unity of teaching and research in accordance with Humboldt's ideal of education . It was particularly important that the university lecturers integrate their latest research results into the courses. The industrial university complex “Plant Automation” was also dedicated to this goal (responsible: Werner Richter , Werner Bennewitz ). Students in the “Automation Systems” section were integrated into research and development projects as part of their diploma and internship work. Transfer facilities of a similar type have also been created in the fields of electrical systems engineering ( university industry research group for electrical energy systems ; responsible: Siegfried Altmann , Wolfgang Löschner), civil engineering and polygraphy.
• Strengthening the scientific basis of technical sciences. A “Natural Sciences” section was established for this purpose (founding director: Hartmut Baumbach ). The focus of this section was teaching in the fields of physics and chemistry as well as working on research topics in cooperation with the sections of civil engineering, electrical engineering, energy technology and polygraphy.
• Development of a “general technology” as an independent scientific discipline and as a teaching and research subject. The aim was to strengthen the university's technological orientation. With the participation of all sections of the university, colloquia were held regularly on this topic with the involvement of external scientists.
• Profiling a specialty "building automation". In cooperation between the civil engineering sections and the “Automation Systems” section, a new teaching and research direction was created (responsible: Werner Kriesel ).
• Establishment of a specialty "Reconstruction in civil engineering". This new subject area (responsible: Wolfgang Wittig ) corresponded to the current needs of industry and municipalities and integrated all building science competencies of the university.
• Development of "software technology". As a result of the application of microelectronics and computer science in all scientific disciplines, the necessity arose from the 1970s to profile software technology as an independent scientific discipline. The focus was on the application of knowledge-based systems in construction and in solving higher automation tasks in plant automation.
• Research into the history of technical sciences and maintenance of tradition. The focus was on the creation and maintenance of a museum for automation technology (founder: Hans Rohr , automation systems section, control engineering research area (head: Herbert Ehrlich ); founded in 1996 as "Automatic Museum ") and researching the activities of Jakob Leupold (1674–1727) as a founder of engineering (responsible: Lothar Hiersemann ). In this context, consideration was given to naming the Technical University of Leipzig “Jakob Leupold”.

voluntary work

• Founder and head of the “Process Computing Technology ” committee in the Berlin Chamber of Technology
• VDI / VDE Society for Measurement and Automation Technology (GMA), Düsseldorf and Frankfurt (Main) - as a national member organization of IFAC , member of the central advisory board of GMA chaired by Martin Polke
• German Electrotechnical Commission (DKE) - National member organization of the International Electrotechnical Commission (IEC), CENELEC , member of Commission 9: Process Automation
• Entrepreneurs Association Berlin / Brandenburg, Head of the Research and Technology Commission.

For the Federal Ministry of Science and Research and for the Berlin Senate he worked as:

• Expert in awarding funding for research funding in the field of information technology
• National coordinator of several central research projects (e.g. "Intelligent method integration in bioprocess control", "Modern methods of flue gas desulfurization").

For the working group of industrial research associations "Otto von Guericke" (AiF) he was a special reviewer in the fields of "automation" and "mathematical modeling".

Memberships

Balzer is a member of the Leibniz Institute for Interdisciplinary Studies (LIFIS), a member of the private institute for the promotion of automation and since 2006 a member of the Leibniz Society of Sciences in Berlin .

Publications

Balzer is the author or co-author of 2 textbooks, 11 monographs, 160 specialist articles as well as various lectures at national and international conferences and congresses.

• Analysis and control of processes in materials management. Joint edition of the Akademie-Verlag Berlin and the German publishing house for basic industry Leipzig, 1971 (member of the authors' collective, publisher: Klaus Hartmann).
• Nonlinear optimization for modeling and process control - algorithms, programs, applications. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1976 (with Klaus Damert, Gunter Reinig).
• Automatic process assurance in production systems. Verlag Technik, Berlin 1983 (with Frank Baldeweg, Georg Brack ; lead editors: Gunter Schwarze ).
• Process control - Basics of automation and control with the help of process data processing systems. Deutscher Verlag für Grundstofftindustrie, Leipzig 1986, ISBN 978-3-342-00045-7 , 2nd edition 1988, ISBN 978-3-342-00285-7 (with Peter Metzing, Helmut Reinhardt ).
• Knowledge storage process computing technology. Fachbuchverlag, Leipzig 1989, ISBN 978-3-343-00332-7 (collective of authors, lead with Jürgen Hesse ).
• Stability of procedural processes and systems - theory and applications. Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1991, ISBN 978-3-05-500763-7 .
• Knowledge-based systems in automation technology. Hanser Verlag, Munich; Vienna 1992, ISBN 978-3-446-16310-2 (as editor and together with Volker May, Rainer Müller, Klaus-Peter Schulze; contributions by Volkmar Kirbach and others).
• Technical, economic and social problems in the automation of production processes. In: Gerhard Banse , Ernst-Otto Reher : General technology - generalized specialist knowledge and concrete orientation knowledge about technology. 3rd symposium of the Leibniz Society of Sciences in Berlin and the Institute for Technology Assessment and Systems Analysis of the Research Center Karlsruhe Technology and Environment on October 12, 2007 in Berlin. Meeting reports of the Leibniz Society of Sciences in Berlin, Volume 99, year 2008. Trafo-Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-89626-759-7 .
• Automation - a curse or a blessing? In: Gerhard Banse , Ernst-Otto Reher : Ambivalences of Technologies - Opportunities, Dangers, Abuse. Meeting reports of the Leibniz Society of Sciences in Berlin, Volume 111, year 2012. Trafo-Verlag, Berlin 2008, ISBN 978-3-89626-982-9 .
• The current and future role of automation and communication technology in the security industry. In: Gerhard Banse , Ernst-Otto Reher : Technology - Security - Technical Security. Meeting reports Leibniz Society of Sciences in Berlin, volume 116, year 2013. Trafo-Wissenschaftsverlag Dr. Wolfgang Weist, Berlin 2013, ISBN 978-3-89626-986-7 .

literature

• Association of German Engineers, VDI / VDE-GMA (Ed.): Yearbook 1997 VDI / VDE Society for Measurement and Automation Technology. VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1997, ISBN 3-18-401611-0 .
• Karl Friedrich Früh et al. (Hrsg.): Handbuch der Prozessautomatisierung. Process control technology for process engineering systems. Oldenbourg Verlag, Munich 1997, Deutscher Industrieverlag, Munich, 5th edition 2014, ISBN 978-3-8356-3142-7 .
• Lothar Starke: From the hydraulic controller to the process control system. The success story of the Askania factory in Berlin and the device and regulator factory in Teltow. 140 years of industrial history, tradition and future. Berliner Wissenschafts-Verlag, Berlin 2009, ISBN 978-3-8305-1715-3 .
• Alfred Iwainsky: On the role of computer science in automation - honorary colloquium for the 65th birthday of Prof. Dr. Dietrich Balzer. Company AUCOTEAM Berlin, January 26th, 2007.
• Wolfgang Weller : Automation technology through the ages - development history of a fascinating subject. Verlag epubli GmbH Berlin, 2013, ISBN 978-3-8442-5487-7 and www.edoc.hu-berlin.de January 13, 2012.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ self-report, in: https://www.deutschlandfunk.de/der-tag-klimarebellion.3415.de.html?dram:article_id=460482
2. ^ R. Marten: Control technology and central ideas - conversation with Martin Polke . In: Automation technology practice, Munich. Vol. 52, No. 9, 2010, pp. 29-30.
3. ↑ Dietrich Werner, D. Herrmann: msr introduces: Technical University of Leipzig - Automation Systems Section. In: msr - measure, control, regulate, Berlin . Vol. 26, No. 9, 1983, pp. 527-531.
4. ↑ Werner Kriesel , Hans Rohr, Andreas Koch: History and future of measurement and automation technology. VDI-Verlag, Düsseldorf 1995, ISBN 3-18-150047-X .
5. ↑ Automatic Museum Leipzig ( Memento of the original from September 6, 2017 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link has been inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.  
6. ^ Lothar Hiersemann: Jakob Leupold - a pioneer of technical education in Leipzig - a contribution to the prehistory of the Technical University of Leipzig. Scientific reports of the Technical University, No. 17, Leipzig 1982, ISSN  0138-3809 .
7. ^ Lothar Hiersemann: Jakob Leupold - Mechanic and pioneer of technical education. In: University of Technology, Economics and Culture Leipzig . The rector Hubertus Milke (ed.): Leipziger technician portraits. Printing and binding Gebr. Klingenberg Buchkunst, Leipzig 2007.
8. ↑ Dietrich Balzer: Technical, economic and social problems in the automation of production processes. LIFIS ONLINE [01/08/08] www.leibniz-institut.de ISSN 1864-6972 [1]