News

The UK’s Defence Growth Partnership (DGP) will be supporting international business opportunities at DSEI Japan in November, with a Defence Industry Dialogue (DID) scheduled to take place during the event.

Following on from a very successful DID at DSEI in London in September, the event will focus on finding new opportunities for cooperation between UK and Japanese companies.

In particular, the Japanese military has stated that it wishes to enhance its capability in the areas of Space, Cyber Security and Electronic Warfare to protect Japanese interests against future threats.

The DGP believes that enhanced capabilities in these and other areas will be best delivered under international partnerships and collaborative innovation, to the benefit of both Japanese and UK industry. In order to support this, the DGP has been working to support UK-Japan collaboration for the past 36 months, working alongside organisations such as the Society of Japanese Aerospace Companies (SJAC) to build on the strong UK-Japan relationship.

The DID at DSEI Japan will include a series of workshops designed to continue collaborative discussions across these topics, in order to uncover areas of joint industry-to-industry interest that could result in UK-Japan collaborative projects. These topics and the DID itself is a collaborative effort, arranged and facilitated with the support and input of the SJAC. The workshops will include discussions, company presentations and support for follow up industry meetings.

The DID will be followed by Industry Engagement Forums in both the UK and Japan in the proceeding months, with the goal of establishing a long-standing, balanced and reciprocal relationship between UK industry and Japan.

“Ultimately we are looking to drive innovation from invention to reality and inspire problem solving to deliver experimentation, trials, and results within timeframes that suit the needs of both the UK and Japanese industry and government customers,” Martin Rowse, Japan Market Development Lead, DGP, said. “We have identified a number of law, policy, process and culture barriers to joint UK-Japan collaboration, and the DGP intends to drive forward enablers to overcome these so that we can foster innovation and enable the UK and Japan to jointly meet the defence and security challenges of the coming decade.”

On 5 November 2019, The Prince of Wales met representatives from NMiTE (New Model in Technology and Engineering), which aims to become the engineering university for and of the future in Hereford.  His Royal Highness met members of NMiTE during a visit to Herefordshire based technology company, ETL Systems. The visit included meeting NMiTE’s President and Chief Executive Officer, Professor Elena Rodriguez-Falcon, NMiTE Trial Learner Samuel Whitby and ETL staff, as well as touring ETL’s factory and unveiling a commemorative plaque.

The visit was in recognition of the contribution ETL has and is making to the local community, including boosting the local economy, providing local jobs and training and developing highly skilled staff. As a Founder Sponsor of NMiTE, ETL hopes to build upon this even further by sourcing locally trained graduate engineering talent in the future. During the visit to ETL, The Prince of Wales made a short speech during which he mentioned NMiTE; “…With the arrival of the new engineering university in Herefordshire it will make an even bigger difference to what you (ETL) are able to do. There is a big black hole in engineering skills to be filled, and NMiTE seems to be an extremely good way to fill those gaps…”

Professor Elena Rodriguez-Falcon said of meeting His Royal Highness; “The Prince of Wales was extremely interested in NMiTE, our objectives and the impact we will have not only on local Herefordshire businesses and lives, but nationally too in terms of putting British engineering back on the map. He had an extended conversation with one of our Trial Learners about a recent challenge based learning project in Hereford which really brought our unique approach to engineering education, to life.”

Samuel Whitby, 19, who was a member of NMiTE’s Design Cohort, is a current Trial Learner and will be applying to study on NMiTE’s Pioneer Cohort, had a discussion with HRH Prince Charles about an electrical engineering  ‘Sprint’. This one-month challenge-based learning project, just completed by the Trial Learners, was to create a flood prediction device that would give staff at De Koffee Pot, a café/bar located on the banks of Hereford’s River Wye, early warning of the river rising so they could move food supplies out of harm’s way.

Samuel says of that conversation; “I showed HRH Prince Charles the electronic device we created and explained that it uses an Infra-red sensor housed within a bespoke 3D printed bung aimed down a long tube to a float at the bottom, and that the information feeds into an LED display which indicates the severity of the water height and rate at which the river is rising. He was very interested, especially given the recent flooding which has been experienced locally, and was impressed with what we had been able to achieve in a short period of time, with limited electrical engineering backgrounds.”

BEKA associates have introduced a new accessory which provides impact and IP66 ingress protection for the rear of their panel mounting 96 x 48mm instruments and their 60 x 105mm rugged stainless steel panel instruments. The kit allows the extensive range of BEKA panel mounting loop powered indicators, rate totalisers, counters, timers and tachometers to be safely mounted in an open panel, or within a cubicle which may accumulate condensate, or be subjected to mechanical damage.

The BA495 rear cover is manufactured from 1.5mm thick 316 stainless steel with a silicone sealing gasket. It has two M20 entries for cable glands, one of which is supplied fitted with an IP66 removable blanking plug. The kit has been ingress tested by a UKAS accredited testing laboratory to confirm that it provides IP66 protection for the rear of the instrument. All BEKA panel mounting instruments have IP66 front of panel protection and are supplied with a gasket which seals the joint between the instrument and the panel in which it is installed.

For further information including datasheets and ingress certificates please visit https://www.beka.co.uk/ba495.html or phone the BEKA sales office on 01462 438301.

Positive Weighing Solutions Ltd have recently installed BEKA BA304G field mounting loop powered indicators in a Midlands polyurethane manufacturing plant. The indicators, which have ATEX and IECEx intrinsic safety certification, display process temperatures and are working alongside Dini Argeo weighing monitors supplied by Positive Weighing Solutions.

Positive Weighing Solutions are a ten year old company specialising in industrial weighing and automation. Located in Malvern, they design, install and maintain industrial equipment throughout the UK and are a premium distributor of Dini Argeo weighing systems. Their specialist knowledge of protection techniques for flammable environments has resulted in much of their recent work being for hazardous area applications.

For further please visit https://www.beka.co.uk/ba304e_ba304g_ba304g-ss_ba324e_ba324g_ba324g-ss_loop_powered_indicators_is_field.html or phone the BEKA sales office on 01462 438301.

MVTec Software is expanding its partner network in Southeast Asia. The company is bringing on board two new distributors from Thailand and Vietnam, thereby expanding its strategic presence in these two important growth markets.

SP Vision Technology Co. Ltd. of Samutprakarn, Thailand, specialises in powerful solutions for automated visual inspection and innovative robot control systems in the machine vision environment. This medium-sized company offers numerous machine vision technologies for a variety of applications and industries.

RTC Technology Viet Nam Joint Stock Company, headquartered in Hanoi, Vietnam, supplies comprehensive machine vision solutions, including expert consulting services for production companies and system integrators. The company’s service portfolio includes automation technologies such as embedded systems, programmable logic controllers (PLCs), and robotics applications.

Powerful partners with solid solution portfolios

“We are pleased to welcome two important new partners to our global distribution network. Both are established companies with a solid portfolio of machine vision solutions. This will take our sales activities in Southeast Asia to a whole new level and strengthen our presence in the major growth markets of Thailand and Vietnam,” says Martin Krumey, Vice President of Sales at MVTec.

Resolve Optics has reported on its active participation in designing and supplying robust optical systems for a range of different space projects over the last few years.

Many different types of optical imaging and sensing systems are today used to observe and measure the Earth and the universe at large. However, designing optical systems for satellites and spacecraft is challenging due to the harsh conditions that space places upon components and systems working in this remote environment.

Mark Pontin, managing director of Resolve Optics, commented: “Designing high performance optical systems for confidential space projects is something that we have done for over 20 years. Lenses that are used in space applications have to meet certain basic requirements to survive the harsh environment of space.  Lenses must be constructed of specific materials that will not outgas when exposed to the vacuum of space. all significant air spaces should be vented to avoid pressure on the elements and distortion of the lens.  All materials right down to glues and greases must be approved and tested for outgasing.”

He added: “The orbit that our optical systems will be operating in determines how much radiation they will be required to withstand. All optical elements within Resolve Optics radiation tolerant lens designs are made using cerium oxide doped glass or synthetic silica enabling them to withstand radiation doses of up to 100,000,000 rads and temperatures up to 55°C without discoloration or degradation of performance. These non browning lenses provide high image resolution and minimum geometric distortion from 400 to 750nm.”

Resolve Optics provides optical systems for surveillance, where the optical system monitors the outside of the spacecraft, looking for any signs of damage caused by space debris or micro meteorites.  Inspection, where the optical system is required to view a specific area to aid operation. As part of a vision system that is used to guide and dock payload craft visiting platforms such as the International Space Station.  And, remote sensing from satellites where powerful, high resolution lenses enable the Earth to be viewed from space providing valuable data on weather patterns and the impact of climate change.

Drawing upon approaching 30 years experience – Resolve Optics has built a strong reputation for specialist lens design and manufacture of single to production quantities of optical systems for space projects on time to strict quality and target price guidelines. The company has the proven and rare capability to produce OEM quantities of custom lenses with the look, feel and quality equivalent to the best professional photographic lenses.

Measurement specialist, Evolution Measurement, reveals that with their principal, Scanivalve, they are supporting the Bloodhound LSR project with their pressure measurement requirements.

Based in Andover, UK, Evolution Measurement have been working with the Bloodhound LSR team who are aiming to smash the land speed record of 763.035 mph which was set over 20 years ago, by supplying pressure scanners from US manufacturer Scanivalve.

Bloodhound’s high-speed test programme is scheduled to take place from mid-October to mid November 2019. During this period, Bloodhound LSR will be running at speeds up to and beyond 500mph on Hakskeen Pan in Northern Cape, South Africa. The speed will gradually be increased with each run as the engineers and driver Andy Green put the car through her paces and learn how to operate safely in the desert environment before the world land speed record runs.

Assistant Aerospace Engineering Professor Ben Evans, from Swansea University, and PhD student Jack Townsend will join the Bloodhound team in the desert to help analyse the gigabytes of performance data from each of the runs. They will be comparing the real data against the predicted Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) models to see how closely they marry up. A key aim of these tests is to provide valuable data allowing the refinement of the CFD models, which will in turn improve the accuracy of future modelling. Bloodhound engineers will use the data to validate the next run profile, allowing safe increments in speed as the real vehicle data is compared with its ‘digital twin’.

Evolution Measurement managing director, Paul Crowhurst said, “We are excited to be a part of engineering history. This is an amazing project and we were delighted that our partners at Scanivalve Corp were able to support the team with the technology.

Addison Pemberton, president Scanivalve Corp, announced, “Scanivalve is excited to be part of the Bloodhound project instrumentation requirements for this exciting technical achievement and we are looking forward to following efforts in Hakskeen, South Africa through November 2019. Scanivalve pressure measurement instrumentation donated to the project, will be used to survey aerodynamic down forces on the vehicle to ensure safe operation at these very high speeds.

“The ZOC pressure scanner can withstand brutal test environments and its use on this project will really demonstrate its strength and capability in delivering valuable data.”

To follow the Bloodhound LSR journey visit: www.bloodhoundlsr.com

Convert, a leading manufacturer of cable looms and harnesses, has secured an order to design cable assemblies to power 100 electric all terrain quad bikes a year.

Convert will design and manufacture the cable assemblies for Aspire Engineering, specialist in sustainable engineering solutions for the electric vehicle industry, who then convert the quad bikes which are run on petrol/ diesel into a 100 percent electric vehicle for EcoCharger Quads, specialists in all terrain quad bikes.

Convert will manufacture 28 cable assemblies for both two-wheel drive and four-wheel drive quadbikes. The cable assemblies vary in complexity and wire size – from 0.5mm² up to 35mm² – and support two applications, one is the main control system and the other is to support the connection of the batteries to run the bike via the control system motor.

The quadbikes have been sold to end users all around the world – from police in the Cayman Islands to coffee farmers in Costa Rica. They have also been bought by the National Trust and RSPB as they are environmentally beneficial due to zero emissions and animal friendly because of the low noise level.

Dave Lord, Convert’s Managing Director, said: “Electric powered vehicles are the future, so it was very exciting to be part of a project which transforms conventionally powered quadbikes to run on electricity.  We used our experience and expertise to ensure the assemblies were easy to manufacture and were to the correct standards.”

Ian Briggs, Aspire Engineering’s Director, said: “Convert’s attention to detail when it comes to the design and manufacture of cable looms and harnesses is second to none. They always provide the best quality within the expected time frame. It’s great to be involved in a project that champions green transport by converting diesel and petrol powered quadbike to electric.”

Jon Hourihan, General Manager at Eco Charger, said: “The EV market is the most dynamic in the automotive, motorcycle and powersports sectors, with small niche brands beginning to gain ground on their larger counterparts. The R&D to get to this stage has been exhaustive and having a business model where you build your quality and reputation into the brand by using world class suppliers is fundamental to our continued success. The business is scalable, and the suppliers with us on our growth plan will share in our success.”

The electric quadbikes are also being manufactured in Australia using Convert’s looms. There are upcoming plans to roll this out in South Africa, Dubai and USA.

HRH The Prince Of Wales has visited ETL Systems to congratulate and commend the company on achieving global success from a rural location.

The visit from HRH The Prince Of Wales to the Madley-based company included a tour around the production and engineering facilities, meeting the 120 on-site staff and culminated in the unveiling of a commemorative plaque.

Following the unveiling, HRH Prince Charles gave a speech to members of staff, commenting: “What you all do is remarkable and is of enormous importance to Herefordshire and to the country. It is wonderful to see such skilled engineering being applied in this particular field. Clearly you are producing very high quality, high standard equipment which is used to great effect by customers in over 180 countries. Ladies and gentlemen I hope you go from strength to strength.”

The visit is also recognising contributions to the local community, boosting the local economy, providing jobs in the area, whilst also training and developing it’s highly skilled staff. ETL is also a  founder sponsor of the future engineering university in Hereford, NMiTE (New Model in Technology and Engineering). Where ETL hopes to source graduates engineering talent in the future.

Before leaving HRH remarked: “With the arrival of the new engineering university in Herefordshire it will make an even bigger difference to what you are able to do. There is a big black hole in engineering skills to be filled, and NMiTE seems to be an extremely good way to fill those gaps.”

Ian Hilditch, CEO, ETL Systems, commented: “It was a great honour to have HRH visit our facilities. Hopefully we were able to show a glimpse of some technology being produced in amongst the apple orchards of Herefordshire, which is a bit different than what is usually seen around here! We are extremely proud of our heritage as a rural company achieving global success. We have aggressive growth plans over the coming years and we hope that will further help the local economy. This opportunity for the staff to meet HRH has been a great way to recognise their hard work and success with ETL.”

ETL Systems has previously won three Queens Awards for International Trade, and with this visit, marks another royal seal of approval.

The automotive industry is on the brink of a radical change. New technologies such as the Space Drive drive-by-wire system and new vehicle concepts such as the Schaeffler Mover are playing an increasingly important role. The joint venture partners can now look back on the first year of their cooperation.

Today’s trends in mobility are clearly headed towards digitalisation, vehicles without a steering column, and entirely new transportation concepts for urban areas.

“With the establishment of Schaeffler Paravan Technologie, Schaeffler has optimally positioned itself for the future,” explains Matthias Zink, CEO Automotive OEM at Schaeffler. “We want to play a decisive role in shaping the mobility of the future with the Space Drive key technology and the innovative Schaeffler Mover vehicle concept. Schaeffler is on the right path to becoming a leading chassis system integrator.”

Working together towards high volume production

“We have set up a partnership that provides benefits for both parties,” explains Roland Arnold, CEO of Schaeffler Paravan Technologie and founder of PARAVAN. “We have reached the first milestones and established the basis for the further development of the Space Drive technology with a view to high volume production. The Schaeffler Mover was successfully showcased as a groundbreaking self-driving technology platform at the IAA in Frankfurt.” The interest in digital driving and steering systems and the corresponding discussions have gained a lot of momentum in conjunction with the development of self-driving vehicles. Design engineers are increasingly focusing on technologies such as Space Drive that are licensed for road use and comply with the stringent functional safety regulations. “The start of volume production of this system is planned for 2021,” adds Matthias Zink. “We have already started specific projects with numerous customers who will implement the components used in the Schaeffler Mover, such as the Schaeffler Intelligent Corner Modules and Space Drive. We see ourselves as a chassis integrator here, supplying drives and drive control systems to higher-level vehicle integrators.”

Growing local market presence in Greater China

At the beginning of September Schaeffler signed an investment agreement with China’s Hunan province in a move aimed at supporting and facilitating autonomous driving in China using Schaeffler technologies. Under the agreement, both parties will jointly develop a mobility ecosystem for intelligent vehicles in the provincial capital of Changsha. Schaeffler’s role in the venture will revolve mainly around the further development of its Space Drive technology, a key enabler of autonomous driving, and the Schaeffler Mover, a mobility concept featuring Schaeffler Intelligent Corner Module technology. Alongside all of this, Schaeffler is planning to set up a new R&D facility in Hunan province. It will be the second R&D centre operated by Schaeffler Greater China and its focus will be on developing technologies for tomorrow’s intelligent vehicles.

Audi R8 LMS GT3 with Space Drive receives approval for racing

That this is even technically possible under extreme conditions is demonstrated by the Audi R8 LMS GT3 actively competing in the DMV Gran Turismo and Touring Car Cup (DMV GTC). The Audi R8 LMS GT equipped with the Space Drive steer-by-wire system made its racing debut in the DMV GTC season finale at the Hockenheimring at the end of October and was among the front runners in the two DMV GTC races. The concept vehicle, which has no mechanical connection between the steering unit and the steering gear, was the first vehicle of its kind in the history of motor racing to receive approval from the German Motor Sport Federation (Deutscher Motor Sport Bund – DMSB) in June this year. The racecar is managed by the Phoenix Racing team and driven by former Formula 1 driver Markus Winkelhock. “Our participation in the races marks another important milestone in the project. The previous race weekends provided us with valuable insights that can be directly incorporated in the system’s further development,” explains Roland Arnold. The DMV GTC will be part of the DTM supporting programme next year.