Industry Collaboration Case Studies
Diabetes research breakthrough
Dr Paul Stoddart, a research fellow at the Centre for Atom Optics and Ultrafast Spectroscopy, has developed a system that could one day be used to constantly monitor blood glucose levels.
The innovation that Dr Stoddart and his group have developed and patented is an optic fibre probe that diabetics will eventually be able to wear in a wristwatch-sized device.
By gently pressing beneath the skin’s surface, blood sugar levels can be monitored more precisely and less invasively than the traditional finger prick test that diabetics currently have to undergo several times a day.
According to Dr Stoddart glucose sensing is regarded as being at the frontier of sensor research.
“The development of a continuous monitoring system for glucose would allow glucose levels to be more precisely controlled, resulting in an improved long-term health outlook for diabetes patients.”
The initiative has been funded by the Diabetes Australia Research Trust and ASX listed company BioPharmica.
As part of his Victoria Fellowship, Dr Stoddart went to Japan to discuss another partnership with a company that can manufacture the optic fibre probes, and visited American researcher Richard P. Van Duyne in Illinois, whose laboratory is a world leader in nanoparticle optics.
Dr Stoddart’s work may lead to practical implementations of the science, including portable sensors that can detect terrorist threats to drinking water, such as cyanide, bacteria, nerve agents and toxins.
“It has been proved in the laboratory that the technology can detect these agents. The trick is to make robust, portable equipment that can be taken into the field,” he says.
Laser robots save millions of dollars for the power industry
Swinburne researchers have played a leading role in developing technology that allows laser robots to carry out on-the-spot repairs of power station turbine blades, with the potential to save the power generation industry millions of dollars in costly and time-consuming maintenance.
The development was led by Professor Milan Brandt and is the result of a collective effort by a team of researchers from the CSIRO and Swinburne through the Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) for Welded Structures.
“The prime objective from the start was to find a way to repair turbine blades without having to remove them,” Professor Brandt says. “Laser surfacing technology has been available for some time but only off-site, with the blades having to be removed and later refitted."
“The technology we have developed is called ‘In-Situ Laser Surfacing’ and overcomes this limitation by allowing on-site repair.”
Comprising state of the art robotics and laser technology, the repair process combines three separate technologies – a programmable robot, a special diode laser, and a ‘gun’ that feeds a metallic surfacing compound into the eye of the laser which deposits it along the edge of the turbine blade. The laser is mounted on a coaxial head that can operate at any angle, allowing it to reach otherwise inaccessible places.
“The project ran for five years with successful trials conducted at TXU Australia’s Torrens Island power station, near Port Adelaide in 2004 and 2005,” Professor Brandt says.
“It’s world leading technology and a real plus for the group and for the university. Already it has attracted a lot of interest in the technology, both among local power generators and big international firms which make turbines and blades.”
Perfecting car windscreens
Photo: dchousegrooves
Supplier of vehicle windscreens Pilkington Australia has teamed up with researchers from the Robotics and Non-Contact Inspection Group at the Industrial Research Institute Swinburne (IRIS) to develop an inspection system that would test windscreens for defects during production.
Team leader Professor Romesh Nagarajah says the end result is a “robust, non-contact, on-line inspection system that reduces costs for Pilkington and improves the quality of their production process”.
“Pilkington Australia invested significant time and money in the project, which also received substantial funding over three years from the Australian Research Council through its linkage grant scheme,” Professor Nagarajah says.
Using software developed as part of the project, the Swinburne team simulated a prototype inspection apparatus before building a full-size inspection system and testing it with windscreen samples. Extensive tests were carried out at IRIS with the results indicating that the system was able to identify isolated surface defects of less than a millimetre within five seconds, which suited Pilkington’s production line timeframe.
The prototype inspection system has been transferred to Pilkington’s factory in Geelong for the final testing phase, with the initial results looking positive.
Professor Nagarajah says the group is involved in a range of industry-based research programs and the Pilkington technology will be adapted to make it applicable to other components outside the automotive industry with similar characteristics.