ISIS, based at the Science and Technology Facilities Council, is a world leading centre for research in the physical and life sciences. One of the world’s best sources of neutrons and muons, ISIS uses beams of these particles to reveal the relationship between the invisible world of atoms and molecules and the world of everyday life.

ISIS is like a giant microscope that enables scientists to see things at scales 10,000 times thinner than a human hair. The capabilities of the instruments inside the second target station enable the scientists to see in fine detail, and for the first time anywhere in the world, how such subtle effects seen in the reflection of light are reproduced by particles at the quantum level.

The detectors used to capture this light information are referred to as target stations. POLARIS, the latest target station shown below, has recently been completed and is preparing to go on line.

The POLARIS Detector is 7m in length and contains 38 detectors with over 600 Kilometres of fibre optic light guides.

The detectors used in Polaris took 12 months to manufacture and were produced at Carville’s manufacturing facility in Dorking, UK.

These detectors are one of a series produced by Carville for use at the STFC facility in Didcot, UK.

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Images courtesy of STFC

Carville customers operating in todays Life Science and Pharmaceutical Industries require manifolds that offer:

•  Smaller track sizes
•  More complex internal features and details.
•  Accurate alignment of internal and external features.
•  Better performance with more aggressive chemistries.
•  Alternative materials.
•  Lower costs.

To support these evolving requirements, Carville have invested in innovative developments which have resulted in new manufacturing techniques. These new High Accuracy Bond manifolds are known as HAB.

The Benefits of HAB
The HAB process is Carville’s new proprietary process. It has been developed with the support of leading names in the European and North American medical sectors. The drivers behind HAB were:

Higher Accuracy
As track sizes reduce, tests can be performed with less reagent and smaller samples sizes. This offers cost benefits to both the testing facility and the end user.
Smaller tracks require improved alignment to avoid the concerns raised by internal dead volumes and the risk of sample hang-up. The HAB process offers a more accurate manifold with track features down to 150uM.

Low Material Stress
PMMA (acrylic) has been an industry standard for use in medical manifolds since the 1980’s. While acrylic is a low cost, transparent and relatively inert material, acrylic carrying internal manufacturing stresses can be attacked by both reagents and cleaning materials.
The Carville HAB process delivers manifolds which are low in stress. Carville HAB manifolds have been comparatively tested against other medical grade PMMA manifolds and found to contain up to 80% less material stress. This low stress offers better resistance to internal chemistry attack ensuring improved part reliability and a longer product life.

Alternative materials
PMMA manifolds have been the medical industry standard for over 30 years. When more aggressive chemistries are required, Carville can offer customers manifolds produced in range of engineering grade plastics including:

         •      Polycarbonate           (PC)
         •      Polyvinyl Chloride      (PVC)
         •      Polysulphone             (PSU)
         •      Polyetherimide.         (Ultem – PEI).

Lower Costs
The development of improved testing techniques along with the requirement for preventative screening has resulted in a growing market for lower cost, single use, disposable components and devices.
Carville have again worked with customers in Europe and the USA to produce bonded fluidic devices using lower cost, injection moulded acrylic components. The HAB process has proven to be a viable option for customers looking to achieve a diversity of specification targets.

The phantoms are used to detect changes in
the performance of the X-ray set and image
receptors.

The test set comprises five fully heat treated
and precision machined cast acrylic plates.
The plates measure 300mm x 240mm.
The finished thickness is diamond machined
to a tolerance of 100 microns.

The plates can be stacked on the X-Ray imaging
bed in thicknesses from 20mm to 75mm in 5mm
increments. These increments allow all NHS breast
screening protocols to be measured accurately.

Plate “A” (shown) contains a 20mm x 20mm x 0.2mm
square of 99.99% pure aluminium foil.

The mammography test phantom sets come with a
certificate of conformity and are packaged in a custom
hard carry case.