Studio capabilities
Dr. Samir Khan
www.through-life-engineering-services.org
EPSRC Through-life Engineering Services Centre, Building 30, Cranfield University,
Cranfield, Bedfordshire, MK43 0AL. +44(0)1234 750111 x2356. samir.khan@cranfield.ac.uk
Introduction
The Studio is intended to supports the EPSRC Centre for Through-life Engineering
Services. It is an integrated laboratory that can be managed with strict manufacturing
controls but is flexible enough to fulfil research requirements. The Studio is designed
to address a wide range of coupled whole system issues from material analysis for
maintenance and repair to process simulation and visualisation.
Technologies
The Studio provides instrumentation and facilities to perform experiments in
supporting all the EPSRC Centre projects. This includes the:
• Environmental Test Chamber
• Intermittent fault detection kit
• Thermographic imaging
• Virtual Reality Suite
• High-end workstations
Test Chamber
How does it work?
Stress
Heat
Humidity
Airflow
Vibration
Test Environment
unit-under-test
Environmental Chamber
The lab features the use of a test chamber. It is an important tool for probing the influence of the
environment on the technology being used. The choice of environmental variables to regulate, along
with control tolerances, depend on the experimental objectives.
Chamber specs:
-70 to 180 degrees C; at 10 degrees C /min
10-90% humidity
Intermittent Fault Detection
The NCompass is the state of the art intermittent fault detection and isolation
system. It aids in determining the root cause of electronic equipment and NoFault Found (NFF) problems. The kit is being used to capture faults that other
traditional test equipment often fails to capture. It can aid in:
• Huge time savings for maintainers
• Intermittent Fault Detection
• Wiring Integrity testing and trending
• Product Assurance of electronic integrity
• Improved first-time-fix capability
• Reductions in Total Ownership Costs
Thermoscope
This measurement and imaging technology is being
used to inspect component degradation, corrosion,
disbondings and delamination.
Heat transfer
Flash heating
Metal
component
surface
temperature
decay
thermal
image
Thermoscope
analyse defect
Virtual reality suite
The suite is being used to study system architecture design for engineering
services. Applications are being developed to visualise and link design rules
with system design. The facility allows users to carry out their tasks and
perform functions by exchanging information with computer systems in 2D
and 3D space. Siemens PLM will extensively be used to visualise the
manufacturing process and life cycle mock up designs.