NSF Grant Awarded
OCTOBER 2009 - IMS, Inc. has been awarded a SBIR grant from the National Science Foundation to develop ultrasonic methods as a quality assurance tool for automotive brake pads. The title of the program is “Tools for Improved Friction Material Processing”. The Phase I SBIR is scheduled to begin January 2010, and has a 6 month duration.
The program objectives are to develop a measurement method to improve the quality, consistency and reduce noise in automotive braking systems. Instrumentation development will be required to automate ultrasonic measurements on as-manufactured brake pads. These data will be used in friction material process studies to forge relationships between friction materials manufacturing process deviations and the features that can be measured by ultrasound. Experiments will be carried out on production components which will be differentiated by their ultrasonic characteristics and subjected to noise and vibration analysis. The measurement capability can be implemented as part of a control scheme to improve the manufacture of friction materials and also as a quality assurance method to ensure that noise-prone components do not enter the marketplace.
Partnering with IMS Inc. in this effort are Performance Friction Corporation, Clover, S.C. and TRW, Livonia, Michigan. Performance Friction Corporation will provide access to their manufacturing facility and materials for this study and have agreed to modify their friction material manufacturing process to accommodate specific process studies. Performance Friction will also conduct NVH tests. TRW, a major brake systems supplier, has agreed to help facilitate our development efforts by providing expertise in NVH testing and analysis.
SAE J2725 Specification Published
The Society of Automotive Engineers has published specification J2725 detailing elastic property measurements for friction materials. The IMS ETEK measurement system currently incorporates all of the J2725 specification into its design. Learn more...
Thermal
News: "It's
Too Hot to Touch"
The feature article of the winter 08/09 issue of Thermal News, written by IMS Project Engineer Mark Mutton, explains newly developed ultrasonic temperature and heat flux measurement technology. This "hot" IMS exclusive technology is one of the most innovative thermal investigation technologies employed in research with its sub-nanosecond temporal resolution and non-intrusive capability. Learn more about the technology or read the article (Page 10)...
IMS
Wins Three Additional SBIR Contracts
Industrial Measurement Systems, Inc. has increased its portfolio of innovative research grants with the addition of three new SBIR contracts for 2009. IMS, Inc. has been a successful research and development company dealing with multiple Phase I, II and III SBIR contracts, praised for its ability to achieve under difficult and sometimes poorly defined conditions. Learn more about our research and contracting services...
Limited Time Offer
FREE load dependant measurement and uniformity analysis of as-manufactured pad with purchase of standard ETEK service. Learn More...
Research, Technology and Software Innovation
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Industrial Measurement Systems, Inc. is an innovative technology research and development company and integrator with experience in automation, aerospace, automotive, defense, electronic and textile industries. Our commitment to high quality research and our precise experimentation methodologies have achieved scientific and commercial successes of significant benefit to our customers. Industrial Measurement Systems (IMS) has experience measuring the seemingly immeasurable through ultrasonic applications, electromagnetic methods and machine vision systems. Our current product line and research efforts provide advanced capabilities in thermometry and the measurement of elastic constants. |
