Measurand Inc.
Who is Measurand?
Measurand was formed in 1993 to exploit SHAPE SENSOR
technology, invented and patented by its founder, Lee Danisch.
It has gone on to add 3D SHAPE TAPE technology, more patents,
and has sold sensors worldwide, while developing manufacturing
processes and systems and establishing growing worldwide market
channels.
What do Measurand Sensors do?
- Track shape and motion where cameras cannot see...
- The snap of a neck during a car crash
- The shape of a seat
- A complex curve for a car body design
- The motion of an athlete's knee
- The sweeping moves of a dancer
- Eddying currents of hot explosive gas
- A crumpling door just before the airbag deploys
- The position of a medical tool
- The shape of a spine
- Who needs these sensors?
- Auto companies designing safer and more comfortable cars
- Manufacturers improving efficiency of industrial processes
- Manufacturers of simulation and training systems
- Manufacturers of games and internet tools
- Aerospace designers and maintenance workers
- Remotely operated vehicle pilots
- Physicians and biomedical workers
- Rehabilitation clinics
How do Measurand Sensors work?
Cameras take in reflected light and form images. Measurand
sensors mimic the complex curves of human or inanimate bodies,
translating shape into electronic signals. Unlike cameras, they
do this directly on the objects, requiring no extra space,
focusing, or bright lights, and can move with the bodies,
translating even the fastest moves into computer images or
control signals. Measurand sensors do this with specially
treated optical fibers used not to send telephone and television
signals, but to sense curvature (bend and twist).
Company Details
Total Sales ($CDN):
$1,000,000 - $5,000,000
Number of Employees:
8
Company Information
Bev Stymiest
Title:
Director
Telephone:
(506) 462-9119
Fax:
(506) 462-9095
Email:
Click Here
Products
Fiber Optic Sensor Array
Fiber Optic Sensors
Shape Sensor And Shape Tape Technology
SHAPE SENSOR and SHAPE TAPE TECHNOLOGY
Modulation of throughput
Measurand patented SHAPE SENSORS use optical fibers that have
been treated on one side to lose light proportional to bending.
The lost light is contained in absorptive layers that prevent
interaction of light with the environment. For standard sensors,
the treated zone is only 2 mm long, very near the end of a tight
loop of fiber. Placement at the loop permits sensing at the end
of a structure and works with the loop geometry to produce a
larger throughput and modulation than otherwise possible.
Modulation is more than 3000 times greater than for bending of
untreated fibers.
The loops may have short leads (S210 sensor loops extend no more
than 1 cm beyond the electronics package), or long ones (S220
sensors have 17 cm leads; laminated leads 5 m long are used in
flow sensing applications), or very long (plastic leads can be
used to approximately 30 m).
Modulation of light throughput is very linear with curvature,
and uses over 30% of available throughput over a typical sensor
range. Curvature is measured in degrees or radians per treated
length, so typically has dimensions of rad/cm. It is the inverse
of radius of curvature: a curvature of 0.25 rad/cm (a typical
full scale deflection for Measurand sensors) has a radius of 4
cm. Within this range, radii of over 1 km can be resolved.
SHAPE SENSORS have another useful characteristic: they are
bipolar. When straight, their throughput is at the middle of
linear range. Bends to the 'left' increase the throughput; bends
to the 'right' decrease it.
SHAPE SENSORS are not strain gauges. They are equally effective
in the neutral axis of a beam, where there is no strain, or
glued informally to the surface of a bending object, bypassing
the need for careful attachment associated with strain gauges.
SHAPE SENSORS are used to make one degree of freedom (1DOF)
measurements, such as displacement, curvature, force, flow, or
acceleration. SHAPE TAPE is an array of paired SHAPE SENSORS
that makes six degree of freedom (6DOF) measurements with a
minimum number of sensors. Both use the same low cost, high
volume production methods.
Measurand optical bridge
Measurand SHAPE SENSORS use optical bridge technology to obtain
stable, compensated measurements. Two loops treated on opposite
sides are arranged so throughput increases in one and decreases
in the other, for the same bend.
The two light throughputs are detected and amplified, then
analog sums and differences are taken. The difference is the
signal output; the sum is held constant in a control loop. This
technique compensates all common mode terms such as light source
aging, temperature changes, and lead bending, leaving a large,
pure curvature signal at the output.
All these functions are performed by one LED, two photodiodes,
and a quad op amp. Total current draw is under 5 mA for a 5 V
supply. The LED, which powers both loops, runs at less than 10%
of its rated current.
The circuit employs no switching, and the fibers are not
susceptible to electromagnetic radiation, so EMI and EMR
problems are circumvented.
The sensors respond from DC to a 3dB bandwidth of 1.6 kHz (set
by internal feedback capacitors). Bandwidth can be increased if
needed. Amplifier, power, and A/D options provide full
adjustment of offset and gain, supply of regulated power, and
full data acquisition with Windows software, but even the most
basic Measurand SHAPE SENSORS provide a high level output
(typically 1-4 V for a 5 V supply) directly linear and useable
without further processing.
SHAPE TAPE uses paired loops to sense twist and bend along a
ribbon substrate. In this case, sums and differences correspond
to twist and bend, and there is no control loop used in ordinary
applications. For special applications, each bend pairs consist
loop has a nested mate, so the twist and of four loops in all.
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