Strain Measurement Devices has built a business around designing fully engineered custom solutions to the complex needs of our customers. While we offer a wide range of in-stock parts to satisfy these needs, it is increasingly common that a more customized product is required. These standard parts serve as a foundation to assist during the “proof of concept” stage of a custom project.
When customization is required, our team of engineers is available to work with you, whether it be to modify an existing part or produce a new design. Our ISO9001 and ISO13485 certifications make us well-equipped to handle all of your industrial or medical device needs.
The most common reasons for customizing bubble sensors include:
- Unique size or shape requirements
- Large tubing sizes
- Combining with other technologies (e.g. combined bubble and occlusion sensors)
- Custom bubble size calibrations
- Adding an integrated lid to hold the tube in place
- Required bubble volume detection range
- Custom mounting and protection from harsh environments
- Customizing electronics for different functional or lead-out needs
- Incorporating wireless communications, such as Bluetooth or IoT
The Custom Bubble Sensor Engineering Process
Understanding Your Vision
A successful project is determined by the product’s ability to turn your vision into reality. Before initial designs begin, we want to have a complete understanding of your target application and expectations. Our first step is to meet with you, either in-person or via conference calls, to get a general overview of the project and predict any possible setbacks that may occur. During this time, Non-Disclosure Agreements are signed and ideas are shared on how best to design a solution to fit your needs. Depending on the application, we may suggest testing our technology with off-the-shelf parts while we design your custom solution.
Delivery of a Written Quotation
Once our team has a thorough understanding of your project’s design and its possible obstacles, we will deliver a written estimate for a deliverable prototype and a budgetary estimate for production-ready parts. These documents will fully outline the design objectives, delivery dates of product samples, and cost.
Design of Your Custom Bubble Sensor
Agreeing to the supplied quote initiates the project’s design phase. Throughout this step, many failure and risk assessment tests will be performed to ensure the outcome is a reliable, high-quality product that seamlessly fits your needs.
You can expect frequent progress updates during this phase to ensure complete satisfaction. This gives you the ability to make the project as collaborative as you see fit. Since every project comes with its own set of challenges that could result in engineering tradeoffs, we want our customers to be well-informed and involved in these decisions. Due to their complexity, bigger projects often include weekly conference calls between our team and the customer to discuss progress and important milestones.
Delivery of Product Samples
Although all of our products are run through a wide array of testing, customer feedback is arguably the most important data we can collect. Once the initial design is approved, we utilize the most appropriate manufacturing processes available to us in an effort to provide the customer with a prototype that can be evaluated in their application. Using customer feedback, we can implement any necessary design changes and provide an updated prototype until a production-ready design is attained.
Finalization of Product Design and Production
Once a formal agreement on the final custom bubble sensor design has been met, we will finalize the product’s documentation, produce any necessary tooling, and send the design to our in-house manufacturing facility for production.
Each SMD bubble sensor utilizes a proprietary signal conditioning and sound crystal design that can accurately measure bubbles as small as 1 microliter. This technology offers a wide array of benefits to optical sensors including resilience to contamination in front of the sensor, tolerance to temperature changes, and resistance to ambient light variation. These sensors feature various output options that each consider “fail-safe” conditions, depending on the customer’s needs.
Features:
- Wide available detection range
- Input voltage ranges of 5 – 15 or 5 – 24 VDC
- Low power consumption
- Large range of acceptable tubing types
Features: |
| · Noninvasive technology · Available for a wide range of tubing materials & sizes · Ideally suited for OEM applications · Low power consumption · Combination bubble/occlusion sensors available |
Applications: |
| · Medical devices · Semiconductor processing · Pharmaceutical · Food dispensing equipment · Chemical processing · Oil & gas |
Options: |
| · Integral tube clamping · 3.3 VDC input optional · Redundant sensing capability · Relay/custom output signal · Red/green LED for visual indication · Combination bubble/occlusion sensor · Remote electronics for small form factors |
Tubing: |
| · Steel · Plastic (PVC, fluoropolymers, including Teflon, polyethylene, nylon, Etc) · Silicone · Glass · Etc · Standard tubes sizes: 1/16" OD - 1/2" OD · Custom bubble sensors are available for larger tubes |
