About Opportunity:

Acoustic monitoring of critical equipment can avoid catastrophic failure by warning of impending problems, for example the gas turbines used to power the new generation of fast ships. Ultrasonic measurements on products during manufacture can be used to avoid waste and improve quality. These monitoring applications require sensors that can operate at elevated temperatures, so the measurements have been very difficult or impossible, or, at any rate, expensive and inconvenient. This thin film technology provides low profile, non-intrusive ultrasonic capability and becomes particularly advantageous at elevated temperatures, in the medium (around 200°C) and high temperature (>400°C) ranges, where conventional devices would fail. Future potential for the technology is indicated by the great interest in low profile, integrated, ultrasonic devices which can be combined into intelligent networks using new wireless communications protocols to give warning of defects in industrial plant and other structure.