Originally Published EMDM January/February 2002
PRODUCT UPDATE
Taylor Hobson|
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"There's a strong trend towards three-dimensional inspection, because that's the way the world, and medical devices, operate," says Tom Brem, communications manager at Taylor Hobson (Leicester, UK). The company's Talyscan 150 3-D surface profiler is meant to be a practical extension of traditional 2-D measuring instruments. Typical medical applications for the unit include inspection of heart pump valves, hip implants, and other devices that have complex geometries.
The system comes with integrated inductive and laser gauge heads. The inductive gauge has 60-nm resolution at a range of 2.5 mm, and 2-nm resolution at a range of 0.1 mm, making it useful for both highly textured and polished surfaces. For high-speed, noncontact assessment of flatness or contour, the laser sensor can scan at speeds up to 10.0 µm/sec, with 10.0 mm of range and 1.0-mm resolution. "We also give you travel of 100 x 100 mm, so you can measure fairly large devices," says Brem.
When scanning is complete, data are automatically transferred to the Talymap Universal software, where they can be manipulated through such functions as levelling, form removal, inversion, thresholding, defect removal, and filtering. When exact correlation with 2-D profiling instruments is required, the 3-D surface can be converted into a series of individual profiles, and measured according to usual 2-D parameters. The coprocessor at the heart of the Talyscan 150, meanwhile, allows the operator to begin analysis of one sample while another sample is being scanned.
Copyright ©2002 European Medical Device Manufacturer
