TurboScrew compressor assists with Antarctic research

A TurboScrew compressor from CompAir has been used to assist The Alfred Wegener Institute with seismic exploration in the Antarctic.

Capable of operating at temperatures as low as -30°C, The C250TS-12 compressor uses up to 26% less diesel than conventional mobile compressors, and has allowed the research team to benefit from reduced operating costs and extended refuelling intervals. 

Application details
Antarctic ice is more than just frozen water. By studying its structure and motion, scientists can work out how it formed and developed. The same applies to sediments below the ice. Here, controlled explosions are used to create seismic waves, which are then analysed at surface level to create a graphic picture of the ice and its structure. 

The C250TS-12 CompAir compressor, supplied by CompAir distributor, Peter Gay Baumaschinen in Bremen, Germany provides the compressed air needed to power a drill, which bores holes up to 20 metres deep in the ice to lay the charges needed to carry out these explosions. "We need a borehole in order to transmit the energy as efficiently as possible into the ice. At polar latitudes, the top 50 to 100 metres of the ice sheets can consist of porous firn," explains Dr. Olaf Eisen, from the Alfred Wegener Institute for Polar and Marine Research (AWI) in Bremerhaven, Germany. 

CompAir's TurboScrew compressor
The C250TS-12 compressor chosen is part of CompAir's TurboScrew range, which offers numerous design innovations to help improve reliability and deliver significant fuel cost savings.

Refer to the pictures above: (courtesy of Dr. Olaf Eisen / Alfred Wegener Institute / Bremerhaven) Top: The equipment drills holes up to 20 metres deep for the purposes of scientific research. Below: Explosive charges are inserted into the boreholes to generate artificial seismic waves.

Compared to conventional portable compressors, the units can deliver up to 26% better fuel efficiency with no loss in pressure, helping to reduce both the cost of diesel used and the frequency that the unit needs to be refuelled.

Using CompAir's patented bi-turbo technology, the TurboScrew compressors feature a lightweight and compact Cummins engine.  This is engineered with two turbochargers powering a CompAir screw compressor unit, with the addition of an engine exhaust gas turbine to precompress the inlet air before it enters the compression chamber.

This enables CompAir to convert 5% of what would normally be wasted exhaust energy and convert it to motive power to create compressed air.

The Alfred Wegener Institute in profile
The Alfred Wegener Institute carries out research in the Arctic, the Antarctic and high and mid latitude oceans. It is responsible for coordinating German polar research and provides essential infrastructure for national and international researchers, including the research icebreaker Polarstern, Germany's foremost piece of polar research equipment.

Scientists are based at research stations in the Arctic and Antarctic, some of which, such as Neumayer Station and the AWIPEV Research Base, are occupied all year round. 

The logistics team at the AWI coordinates other large items including polar aircraft and underwater research equipment. Dive missions are organised by the AWI's Centre for Scientific Diving. The Institute also maintains libraries, a range of databases and many software solutions either used or developed by the Institute itself.

For further information, view website: www.compair.com  Refer to page 166

A new approach to Micromachining

Laser Evolved Micromachining
The essence of Laser Evolved Micromachining is the ability to combine laser technology's ultra precision with the scale economies offered by other precision manufacturing processes, namely Advanced Electroforming and Photo Etching.

Precision Micro has developed two new process routes capable of creating true and precise micro components / component features, in prototype to high volume quantities, where increased complexity does not incur a cost penalty.

Picture shows: Laser Evolved Etching Process (LEEF) micro perforated slot mesh… with 20 micron wire equivalent and 90% open area.

The high definition and precision of these new process routes takes the Company's manufacturing capabilities, already in the ultra high precision range, firmly into the realms of true micro manufacturing.

Laser Evolved Etching Process (LEEP)
LEEP incorporates laser technology in the precision etching process. Laser Direct Imaging (LDI) gives the process the capability to create highly accurate micro components, with both fine features and high complexity, to exceptionally tight tolerances measured in microns.

The technology completely removes the need for traditional phototools and further streamlines the manufacturing operation. Feature alignment is exceptionally precise and the higher resolution exposure guarantees that edges are sharper and more precisely defined. It is now possible to create micro channels in the 25 microns range, features which were once only possible using more expensive micro laser or advanced electroforming techniques, with a four-fold improvement in pitch accuracy across an 800mm x 600mm sheet.

Laser Evolved Electroforming (LEEF)
Photo-electroforming is very effective when requirements call for extreme tolerances, complexity or light weight. Parts created in this way have superior edge definition and a near optical finish with fine feature limits being defined by the photographically produced pattern on the substrate.

By direct imaging the pattern on the substrate (using advanced LDI) far tighter tolerances can be maintained and features less than 15 microns can be achieved with high repeatability and excellent process control.

LEEF facilitates higher levels of complexity at tighter tolerances, with features finer than could ever have been achieved by conventional photo-electroforming, without the use of prohibitively expensive glass master tooling.

Miniaturisation can now take a further substantial step forward thanks to LEEP and LEEF. For information, e-mail: westonl@precisionmicro.com   Refer to page 90

New standards set for machine and system building
with its revolutionary modular X-frame system

X-frame Systems Ltd, a new company born out of the Cirris group of test companies has set new standards for machine and system building with its revolutionary modular X-frame system.

X-frame personnel have several decades of specialist machine building experience and this is apparent when the design and philosophy of X-frame is seen.

This versatile system has already been successfully used in the manufacture of special purpose machines involved with the production of medical devices, door furniture, garden tools and test cells for the automotive industry.

Conventional wisdom dictates the use of aluminium profiles to assemble a skeleton structure that holds and enables the machine with all of its functionality. Typically this "frame" has to be designed before any other development takes place and it consumes a number of days in design and further days to assemble. Using aluminium profiles to create a machine frame enables flexibility but it's not efficient. X-frame has flexibility but it's highly efficient and it's clever. Everything has been thought of! From operator panels to a vast range of door types and fittings making procurement just a few mouse clicks away.

X-frame components are precision made from steel and can rapidly, within hours, be assembled from a kit of parts. Design time is reduced to a simple choice of standard parts that create a professional look for the builder. A major advantage is that all the cabling, wiring and pneumatics are built in to the internal channels that run all around the X-frame. This means that the need for a vast array of clips and brackets that have to be used with profiles is eliminated. Even the control panel is a part of the X-frame structure.

As one of the directors of the UK Company, David Morris explains, "Your expertise is what you put inside the frame; your technology is the value that you provide.  It's not in the frame. X-frame provides that expertise, reducing time and cost whilst significantly improving the look of your finished product". Colour finishes and branding as well as customised functionality are all selectable by the user.

X-frame can be extended or reduced or indeed change shape or structure at any time. All the component parts are re-usable unlike aluminium profiles which are cut to a specific length. (To complete the X-frame range there is also a pro-X variant for use in heavy duty applications where the standard 800kg load can be significantly increased).

For further information, e-mail: xframe@eng-solutions.co.uk or view website: www.xframe-systems.co.uk