Lumetrics announced sales of its non-contact thickness measurement system to Advanced Polymers, a supplier of ultra thin medical balloons and the thinnest, smallest and strongest heat shrink tubing
Lumetrics and Advanced Polymers are customizing the system for multiple applications in their facility.
"We were looking for a system that we can use on-line and off-line", said Mark Saab, Advanced Polymers president.
"The Lumetrics system provides more functionality than existing measuring systems, with no integration issues and at a comparable price".
The OptiGauge thickness measurement system employs optical technology to measure absolute thickness to the highest accuracy of +/-0.000004inch, a specification guaranteed by continuous calibration with a built-in reference standard.
Virtually any translucent multi-layer film, tubing, or coating can be analyzed in detail because the thickness of every layer is measured simultaneously.
Advanced Polymers plans on initially installing the OptiGauge in a Quality Control environment performing QC testing and then migrating the system to on-line measurement.
"Advanced Polymers is a perfect partner for us.
"It is a cutting-edge manufacturer and can take advantage of our advanced capabilities", said John Hart, Lumetrics president.
"Today much of the medical tubing and balloon industry relies on manual QC testing with micrometers and pin gauges, or tool makers' microscopes and video measuring systems.
"Using the OptiGauge, our customers are able to decrease their test time, and provide superior accurracy".
In addition, OptiGauge provides superior results with no transposition errors due to manual measurements and entry into spreadsheets.
"The system automatically gathers the information, performs the calculations, presents the results and then archives the data for future reporting.
"With the OptiGauge providing OD, ID, wall thickness and concentricity measurements simultaneously, non-destructively, and non-contact, we are able to eliminate testing uncertainties," said Saab.
"We can eliminate operator variability with precise, unambiguous measurements".
Advanced designs of specialty tubing and balloons have led to the need for better measurement tools to confirm critical parameters such as layer thickness.
Lumetrics provides free analysis of a customer's tubing and other products.
Samples should contain layers of at least 0.0005inch thick.
An analysis of thickness across the sample will be performed and a report will be sent to the customer upon completion.
