Siegfried Pilz (engineer)

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Heinrich Kindler , Siegfried Pilz and Hans-Joachim Zander at a public scientific event in Dresden (from left to right)

Siegfried Pilz (* 1931 ; † 2004 in Cossebaude ) was a German engineer , university professor and industrial researcher . He is one of the pioneers in information processing and has advocated the use of switching systems to describe binary controls .

education

Siegfried Pilz was born in Saxony , he attended an elementary school and a grammar school. After graduating from high school in 1951, he initially trained as a telecommunications fitter and then studied electrical engineering at the Technical University of Dresden in the field of telecommunications technology with Professor Kurt Freitag , director of the relevant institute. Pilz defended his diploma thesis here in 1958 and obtained his degree in engineering . He started his career immediately afterwards as a scientific assistant at the TH Institute for Control Engineering in Dresden.

Academy of Sciences in Dresden

At the beginning of 1957, the German Academy of Sciences in Berlin (DAW) founded a work center for regulation and control technology in Dresden, which in 1962 received the status of an academy institute; this institution was the first non-university research institution in this field in the German-speaking area. Heinrich Kindler headed both the TH Institute for Automatic Control and this academy facility. In addition to a department for electrical control systems (headed by Karl Reinisch ) and a department for non-electrical control systems (headed by Heinz Töpfer ) , Kindler also planned a department for control systems in this facility . Since no special engineers were trained for control technology at that time , Kindler took advantage of the technically relevant and traditional field of telecommunications technology at the TH Dresden and won Siegfried Pilz as an employee. He entrusted him with the development and management of the control systems department . As a graduate in telecommunications technology, Pilz suggested the interdisciplinary name of switching systems for this new department , which has been retained in the long term.

In 1959, Kindler and Pilz selected the graduates of control engineering Eberhard Oberst and Hans-Joachim Zander as the first employees for the new “Switching Systems” department . Pilz stipulated that both graduates should first familiarize themselves with switching algebra , which was already used in telecommunications and computing technology to describe combinatorial switching systems. This means of description can potentially also be used for binary controls. So both graduates attended the lecture " Switching Algebra " by Hans Rohleder , who, as a physicist and mathematician, was involved in the development of one of the first small computers based on relays at the Technical University of Dresden, Institute for Computer Engineering under Nikolaus Joachim Lehmann .

At the same time, both graduates should research how contact relays can be replaced by contactless switching elements, since the use of relays also had disadvantages (e.g. hazards, races, risk of explosion). Work on the development of contactless components (e.g. logic elements) and modules followed. A special result of this work is the contactless system for error signaling developed by Zander , which worked on the basis of special Translog modules and with which systems in process engineering and in power and transformer stations could be monitored using various types of error signaling. Own patents have also been registered for this. This signal system, which was produced in the Elektro-Apparate-Werken (EAW) Berlin-Treptow, is from today's perspective to be regarded as one of the first simple process control systems for control systems . A similar system was also developed by the Siemens company, so that patent opposition was even made from this side, but these were rejected.

As a further employee, Kindler and Pilz won Peter Hummitzsch, a mathematics graduate , in order to facilitate deeper penetration into mathematically oriented automaton theory through his cooperation with the engineers .

During this time, Pilz was already giving lectures on the use of switching systems in control technology for control engineers at the TH Dresden, the TH Ilmenau and the TH Magdeburg. Such lectures have never been given at any technical college or university in Germany. He was also involved in various professional bodies at academies and state institutions. In addition, he wrote the part Theory of Switching Systems in Eugen Philippow : Taschenbuch der Elektrotechnik , Volume 3, 1969. He was the first to contribute at an early stage to the application of the theory of switching systems to the description of binary controls also being imparted to the students of control engineering . You have to keep in mind that the binary mathematics required for this was not included in the curriculum in schools until the Abitur.

Heinrich Kindler, as director of the institute, expected all scientific staff to write a dissertation in connection with their work . Kindler supervised all of his employees' dissertations himself, but he expected potential doctoral students to find a dissertation topic themselves and suggest it for approval.

Pilz received his doctorate in 1967 with a "Contribution to the calculation of sequential circuits", Hans-Joachim Zander 1968 on the topic of "Structural analysis and state minimization of sequential circuits in different operating modes", Eberhard Oberst 1968 on "Description and calculation of control processes in large circular knitting machines using a ternary logical algebra" , and Peter Hummitzsch as a mathematician in 1969 on the subject of "Construction of minimal sequential structures as an aid to answering certain equivalence questions". At the 4th IFAC World Congress in Warsaw in 1968 , Zander gave a lecture on the problem dealt with in his dissertation , which received a lot of attention and which was also published in the IFAC journal Automatica upon invitation .

Siegfried Pilz was appointed professor at the Technical University of Ilmenau in 1968. Kindler now appoints Hans-Joachim Zander as the new head of the department established by Pilz .

University professor in Ilmenau

Karl Reinisch as director of the Institute for Control Engineering, who previously also worked at the Academy Institute with Heinrich Kindler in Dresden and was then appointed professor in Ilmenau, had won Pilz to teach in Ilmenau from 1960. At the Technical University of Magdeburg, Institute for Measurement, Control and Regulation Technology (Director: Heinrich Wilhelmi ), Pilz worked from 1963 with a corresponding teaching assignment. This task was later taken over by Hans-Joachim Zander , who was effective until Günther Liermann was established and won over as his own specialist employee for control technology.

In 1968, Siegfried Pilz, as the previous department head for switching systems at the DAW in Dresden, was appointed professor with a teaching assignment and in 1971 he was appointed full professor for information processing at the Technical University of Ilmenau , Technical and Biomedical Cybernetics Section TBK (founding director: Karl Reinisch ). Within the TBK section, Pilz was the first head of the “information processing” science area, the nucleus for the later areas of “technical informatics” and “computer technology”, and at the same time laid the foundation for technical informatics at the TH Ilmenau.

This TBK section was founded in Ilmenau as part of the third university reform in the GDR , which meant a fundamental structural change in the university system. Here in Ilmenau, Pilz was initially concerned with building up and further profiling his new teaching area. From 1971 to 1975 he also took over the management of the TBK section as section director. At about the same time, the research area "Control engineering and process control" was founded at the TU Dresden in Dresden, which Heinrich Kindler headed until his retirement in 1975. In 1978 Heinz Töpfer was finally reassigned from the TH Magdeburg to Dresden as his successor, his previous duties in Magdeburg were taken over by Siegfried Rudert and Ulrich Korn .

Industrial research in Dresden

Pilz lived with his wife and his daughter and son in Cossebaude near Dresden, even while he was a professor in Ilmenau. This gave rise to the understandable desire to change to a job in Dresden, which took place in agreement with the TH Ilmenau. This opportunity arose in the Center for Research and Technology (ZFT) of the combine for computing technology Robotron . From 1976 he was entrusted with the management of the Computer Aided Design (CAD) group for circuit technology for computers and microprocessors. At the same time he was an honorary professor in Ilmenau until 1981 .

During his activities as a department head at the academy and in university teaching in Dresden, Ilmenau and Magdeburg, Siegfried Pilz campaigned for the development and further expansion of the control technology / switching systems department . All in all, Pilz has had a lasting impact on its field. Siegfried Pilz is one of the pioneers in information processing.

His research results were reflected in publications in book form and in specialist journals. He was involved in several patents.

Publications (selection)

• Contribution to the calculation of subsequent circuits. Dissertation, Technical University of Dresden, Faculty of Electrical Engineering, Dresden 1967.
• F. Hänichen; AG Fulczyk; Siegried Pilz: Cross-section of machine project planning for rural road projects - program complex. Technical information reports of the project planning company of the road system, special issue 2; Berlin 1970.
• Siegfried Pilz: Theory of switching systems. In: Eugen Philippow (Hrsg.): Taschenbuch Elektrotechnik. Volume 3, communications engineering. Verlag Technik, Berlin and Carl Hanser Verlag, Munich 1969, 1624 pp.
• IFAC Symposium Discrete Systems . Dresden, 14. - 19.III.1977. Sponsored by the International Federation of Automatic Control, organized by the Scientific and Technical Society for Measurement and Automation Technology (WGMA) in the Chamber of Technology, Chairman: HJ Zander. Verlag KDT / WGMA, Berlin 1977 (Pilz was a member of the international program committee).
• Necessity and implementation of CAD-CAM processes - computer-aided engineering. URANIA, Society for the Dissemination of Scientific Knowledge, Presidium; Technical Sciences Section, Series for the Speaker, Issue 7; Berlin 1986.

literature

• Hans-Joachim Zander ; Eberhard Oberst; Peter Hummitzsch: RENDIS - a universal program system for the computer-aided design of digital controls . In: measure, control, regulate, Berlin. Vol. 16, H. 4, 1973, pp. 142-144 and H. 7, 1973, pp. 281-284.
• Hans-Joachim Zander : Control and regulation devices . In: Heinz Töpfer (Ed.): Automation technology from a manufacturer's point of view . Bürkert Steuer- und Regeltechnik, Ingelfingen 1996, ISBN 3-00-000 666-4 .
• TU Ilmenau, Faculty of Computer Science and Automation: The Technical University of Ilmenau mourns the loss of Prof. Dr.-Ing. Siegfried Pilz. Obituary in: Ilmenauer Universitätsnachrichten, vol. 47, No. 4 July / August 2004, p. 19.
• Karl Heinz Fasol , Rudolf Lauber, Franz Mesch, Heinrich Rake , Manfred Thoma , Heinz Töpfer : Great Names and the Early Days of Control in Germany. In: Automation technology, Munich. Vol. 54, No. 9, 2006, pp. 462-472.
• Werner Kriesel : Prof. Hans-Joachim Zander on his 80th birthday. In: Automation technology, Munich. Vol. 61, H. 10, 2013, pp. 722-724.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Hans-Joachim Zander : Control of event-discrete processes. New methods for process description and design of control algorithms. Springer Vieweg Verlag, Wiesbaden 2015, pp. 22-23, ISBN 978-3-658-01381-3 , e-book ISBN 978-3-658-01382-0 .
2. ↑ Hans-Joachim Zander : About some methods of error signaling. Journal measure, control, regulate, Berlin, vol. 5, 1962, issue 2, pp. 55-60.
3. ↑ Hans-Joachim Zander : The contactless Translog signal system in modular form. (First value, last value, new value). In: Elektrie, Berlin. Vol. 17, H. 2, 1963, pp. 41-44.
4. ↑ Peter Neumann (ed.): Magdeburg's automation technology in transition - from industrial to research location. Authors: Christian Diedrich , Rolf Höltge, Ulrich Jumar , Achim Kienle, Reinhold Krampitz, Günter Müller, Peter Neumann, Konrad Pusch, Helga Rokosch, Barbara Schmidt, Ulrich Schmucker, Gerhard Unger, Günter Wolf. Otto von Guericke University Magdeburg ; Institute for Automation and Communication Magdeburg (ifak), Magdeburg 2018, production: Grafisches Centrum Cuno GmbH & Co. KG, Calbe (Saale), ISBN 978-3-944722-75-7 .
5. ^ Siegfried Pilz: Contribution to the calculation of subsequent circuits. Dissertation at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at TU Dresden, reviewer: Heinrich Kindler ; Hans Rohleder . Dresden 1967; Author's lecture in: measure, control, regulate, Berlin, vol. 11, 1968, p. 282.
6. ↑ Hans-Joachim Zander : For structural analysis and condition minimization of subsequent switching of different operating modes. Dissertation at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at TU Dresden, reviewer: Heinrich Kindler ; Hans Kortum . Dresden 1968; Author's lecture in: measure, control, regulate, Berlin, vol. 11, 1968, p. 281.
7. ↑ Eberhard Oberst: Description and calculation of control processes in large circular knitting machines with the help of a ternary logical algebra. Dissertation at the Faculty of Electrical Engineering at TU Dresden, reviewer: Heinrich Kindler ; H. Perner . Dresden 1968; Author's lecture in: measure, control, regulate, Berlin, vol. 11, 1968, p. 281.
8. ^ Hans-Joachim Zander : Method for State Reduction of Automata taking into Account Technical Peculiarities of Synchronous and Asynchronous Operational Modes. Automatica, Vol. 7, pp. 59-71, Pergamon Press 1971 (Great Britain).
9. ↑ Hans-Joachim Zander : Control of event-discrete processes. New methods for process description and design of control algorithms. Springer Vieweg Verlag, Wiesbaden 2015, p. 23, ISBN 978-3-658-01381-3 , e-book ISBN 978-3-658-01382-0 .
10. ↑ Hans-Joachim Zander , Heinz Töpfer : Control technology - a branch of automation technology . In: Automation technology, Munich. Vol. 51, H. 3, 2003, pp. 136-142.