University spinout scoops Smart award

Edited by the Engineeringtalk editorial team Oct 23, 2003

A Smart award from the Department of Trade and Industry will fund pioneering research and development into an innovative new optical measurement system for manufacturing industry.

Loughborough University spinout company Phase Vision has recently scooped a Smart award from the Department of Trade and Industry to undertake pioneering research and development into an innovative new optical measurement system for manufacturing industry.

The award of GBP 45,000 was granted to enable Phase Vision to create a new method of measuring the surface profile of manufactured components.

The ground-breaking technology is based on a new alternative to mechanical co-ordinate measuring machines (CMMs), rivalling them with a measurement speed some four to five orders of magnitude faster.

Company Director Prof Jon Huntley explains: "Our research is focused on finding an optical replacement for mechanical CMMs, which need to make contact with a sample and can typically measure only a few co-ordinates per second.

The project will allow us to take a patented technique that we have developed over a number of years through research council funding, and extend it to provide a full 360-degree coverage of the objects being measured.

We also expect the accuracy of the results to be significantly improved - a crucial aspect for many manufacturing industries and something of a limiting factor in the previous generation of optical shape measurement systems".

He continued: "We are delighted to have been supported in our bid by such forward looking engineering companies as Airbus and Jaguar".

Companies such as Airbus and Jaguar are interested in Phase Vision's technology because of the tight dimensional tolerances required for the high quality components within their products (aircraft wings and car engines, respectively).

This approach guarantees that components fit together accurately and give the final product its specified high performance.

Phase Vision's work is a platform technology with additional applications in many other industries including medicine, robot vision, biometrics and security.

Collaboration projects include work with a Swedish manufacturer of robot systems, who is currently using one of Phase Vision's new sensors to provide a three-dimensional view of the robot's surroundings allowing the robot to pick parts directly out of a hopper without the complicated mechanical sorting machinery that is normally required.

Phase Vision is a spinout company from Loughborough University's Optical Engineering Group.

Formed in October 2002, the company: develops advanced phase analysis software for both end users and systems integrators in fields such as experimental mechanics, medical (magnetic resonance imaging) and satellite radar interferometry; manufactures high-speed high-precision optical systems for measurement of shape and deformation; and provides consultancy services in these areas.

Smart grants are a DTI initiative awarded for ideas that are both technically innovative and have a sound commercial prospect.

Phase Vision is one of a rapidly growing number of spinout companies and emerging technologies from Loughborough University to receive a Smart award.

Loughborough University's strong track record for Smart grants reflects the exceptional quality and commercial potential of the exciting new technologies spinning out from its diverse research portfolio.