Ann Lambrechts developed a revolutionary concrete that opened an entirely new world of possibilities for building professionals around the world by overcoming major technical, structural, and engineering challenges.
Her invention is marketed under the brand name Dramix by Bekaert where she works as a Global Sales and Product Manager. It has inspired architectures to unleash their creativity and realize their visionary work. The CCTV building in China or the entrance to Oceanogràfic aquarium in Valencia, Spain is prime examples.
Ann Lambrechts invented Dramix by adding 55mm flattened hook-shaped ends steel fibers to wet concrete. It boosts the bending tensile strength of concrete by 32%, provides better crack control, and is easy in mixing and handling. Also, because the steel fibers are only 55mm in length, it reduced the cost compared to the older methods where rebar was added to the concrete.
Lambrechts brought a mini-boom in the building and construction world. From home apartments to tunnels, from corporate to public buildings, and from building and civil engineering work to flooring, her invention is being used everywhere. Her contributions to the building material world fetched her European Inventor Award 2011. You can find her patent on Dramix here. Below is a quick snapshot of her patent portfolio.
Ann Lambrechts patents
Ann Lambrecht’s patent portfolio has 232 patents that belong to 29 unique patent families. The below exhibits highlight the key statistics of her patent portfolio.
Technology-wise distribution of Ann Lambrechts’ Patents
The patent count in the exhibit below is calculated by including only one patent from each patent family. A patent family can have multiple patent documents – filed globally or in a single country – covering a single invention.
Legal Status (Alive/Dead) of Ann Lambrechts’ Patents
The exhibits below distribute Ann Lambrechts’s patents into active and inactive categories which are further divided into total, application, and granted parts.
Worldwide Patents
Patent Families
Country Wise Patent Filing
The patent count in the exhibit below is calculated by including each family member of a patent family. A patent family can have multiple patent documents – filed globally or in a single country – covering a single invention.
Inventorship
Ann Lambrechts has 28 patent families in her patent portfolio. She is an individual inventor of 10 and a co-inventor in the rest 18.
An Interesting Patent
One patent that stands out in Ann Lambrecht’s portfolio is US6235108B1. It has been cited 45 times by companies like FORTA and Optimet Concrete Products Inc. The patent has family members in countries like United States, Australia, Brazil, Canada, and Japan.
If a patent is cited by a lot of other patents, it implies that the technology is being followed and incrementally innovated. This indicates the importance of a patent. Furthermore, it also indicates that citing companies are working on similar or closely related technologies.