Ultrasonic Thermometry Portal
Check out the newly opened Ultrasonic Thermometry Portal for information on how to measure temperature and heat flux acoustically. This revolutionary innovative technology is an excellent supplement and replacement for thermocouple, pyrometer and IR imaging thermal measurement approaches, which are limited to sensing merely surface conditions of an object under test. Ultrasonic thermometry can be used for research and development, health monitoring, control feedback, and can be serve dual use sensing needs such as monitoring erosion, integrity or ablation in certain circumstances. Ultrasonic Thermometry is an ideal solution for high temperature testing, such as arc jet testing where backside ultrasonic sensors can detect front side surface conditions non-intrusively. Our patented technology has been developed on and employed in various harsh environment conditions including:
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High-G Naval guns
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Hypersonic flight research
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Hypersonic Boundary layer detection
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Glass blow-molding
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Advanced weapon platforms
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Turbine inlet conditions
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Jet fuel regenerative cooling channels
Advanced Research for More Informed Manufacturing
Whether it is the research we are performing on non-intrusive ultrasonic heat flux and temperature measurement or our efforts to apply laboratory instrumentation to production lines for quality control, Industrial Measurement Systems, Inc. is developing methods and technologies to enhance industry and manufacturing globally. Informed manufacturing allows the best products with the best quality to roll off manufacturing lines through the novel use of advanced sensor systems. IMS is helping to ease the blind spots in manufacturing to see what previously was unseen to increase quality, decrease development time and costs and streamline manufacturing whether it is in the manufacture of friction materials or the design of hypersonic vehicles.
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)...
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. |
