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NPL Engineering
NPL Engineering
NPL Engineering
2000-2016
1970-2000
1940-1970
1902-1940
1902: The NPL opening ceremony took place in the Engineering Building as it was the largest covered space on the site. From
the very first day that the NPL opened there have been Engineering Workshops and Design Offices on site. The size, number and
location of these engineering facilities may have changed over the years but the high quality of work and the unique design
innovations produced has always remained a constant.
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Present Day
Since the inception of NPL, in 1902, until the middle of the 1980s a scene similar to that
shown above would have greeted you if you visited the Design Office. Pencil, paper,
drawing boards and the slide rule were the equipment of choice for the Engineering
Designer
In 1986 things changed dramatically, Computer Aided Design (CAD) arrived at NPL.
Originally it was only used as a computerised 2D drawing board but very soon its ability
to model in 3 dimensions was exploited.
Now the latest versions of CAD allow us to produce an array of outputs which have uses in
areas that could never have been conceived of when it was first installed.
Portable 3D Images
The designs can be exported into an Adobe 3D format.
This powerful tool allows people to view the design in 3D on their own computer without
the need for any CAD software to be loaded onto it.
Space Planning
The CAD system can be used to plan the installation and interaction of a new design with
its surroundings.
Ergonomics
Using the 3D CAD system NPL Designers were able to confirm that the proposed
mechanical manipulators had the required reach envelope.
Manufacturing
Communication
Analysis
Customer
Interaction
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NPL Engineering:
A Design Story
The initial communication between the Scientist and Designer is The Design Brief.
The Brief contains the customers project requirements. Aspects such as the scientific purpose, mode of operation,
tolerance of movements, etc will be specified within.
From the Brief an initial design is created.
The design is then reviewed by the customer.
This can happen several times as a design evolves.
Once finalised the design is approved and detailed dimensioned drawings are created.
These drawings are then passed to the workshop so that manufacture of the final product
can take place.
The Prototype.
For the project we describe below, the aim was to
create a piece of equipment which can produce
pressure waves at various frequencies to simulate
the arterial pressures measured in hospital patients.
These pressure waves will then be used to calibrate
the heart monitoring equipment found in Hospital
Intensive Care Units.
The customers design brief specified that the
design should include a piston to produce a
pressure wave. Mounted on to that piston were
optical components which when combined with
a laser, confirmed the movement profile of the
piston.
As the measurement technique had not been tried
before a commercially available piston was used to
minimise development time
and cost.
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NPL Engineering:
The Big Picture
Degradation Chamber
Laser Tracker
Mammographic Carriage
LinAc Carriage
Saturator Coil
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NPL Engineering:
Manufacturing Processes
Milling
Milling is the process of moving of a work piece against a rotating cutter. The cutter is able to cut on both its
flanks and its tip. Milling machines may be manually operated or digitally automated via computer numerical
control (CNC)
Turning
Turning is the process of moving a static tool against a spinning block of material to produce objects that have
a symmetry about the axis of rotation. As with milling machines, lathes can be manually operated or digitally
automated via computer numerical control (CNC).
Grinding
Grinding is the process of removing material using a rotating abrasive wheel to wear away the surface of a work
piece. The main advantages of grinding are high accuracy, good surface finish and the ability to machine hard and
tough materials that are not suitable for milling or turning.
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