Research
A fundamental objective of SRA Developments is to use its technical and marketing expertise to create innovative solutions to practical problems. Lateral thinking, backed up by decades of experience of applying ultrasonic technology, is the key to our success.
Everything we develop is patented as a first step. Using our expertise in recognizing genuine novelty, we focus on areas where few or no patents exist. This results in original ideas, with strong, defendable intellectual property and, in turn, maximum potential value.
Examples of present projects include:
High Intensity Focused Ultrasound - HIFU
We hold IP which is relevant to the medical applications of focused ultrasound. It involves the use of a composite metal “concentrator” bonded onto a cost-effective planar piezo device. The key is in the theoretical modeling of the concentrator shape and in achieving critical impedance matching through the device and into the target.
The benefit is in the speed and low cost of designing a custom concentrator for a particular target size, depth and material.
Fabric Welding
SRA has developed a new approach to welding polymer fabrics with ultrasound. The problem of solidified molten conglomerates along the weld line has been eliminated by subjecting the fabric fibres to an intense, inhomogeneous pressure field in air. The obvious step of welding by melting from friction heating has been refined to produce large numbers of “microwelds” along individual fibre bundles where they are compressed momentarily in the pressure field. Welds in man-made fabrics have no apparent change in fabric texture but a strength equal to that of the fabric weave.
Ceramic cutting
The Sonicut was a world first in ceramic tile cutting technology.
SRA took a dramatically new approach to the literally ancient problem of cutting ceramics. Hard, brittle materials such as ceramic tiles can be cut by sawing them with even harder saw blades. This can be dangerous, difficult, messy and expensive.
SRA was the first to use ultrasound to cut ceramic tiles, using a vibrating tungsten carbide tip. The technology is such that smooth curves can be almost “drawn” through hard tiles.
If you have any ideas where you believe ultrasound can help solve a problem, please feel free to contact us on mail@sradevelopments.co.uk