Oxsensis Ltd. is a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English ...

-based

engineering Engineering is the use of scientific method, scientific principles to design and build machines, structures, and other items, including bridges, tunnels, roads, vehicles, and buildings. The discipline of engineering encompasses a broad rang ...

business specialising in

energy In physics, energy (from Ancient Greek: ἐνέργεια, ''enérgeia'', “activity”) is the quantitative property that is transferred to a body or to a physical system, recognizable in the performance of work and in the form of hea ...

and

aerospace Aerospace is a term used to collectively refer to the atmosphere and outer space. Aerospace activity is very diverse, with a multitude of commercial, industrial and military applications. Aerospace engineering consists of aeronautics and astrona ...

equipment. Oxsensis Ltd. has developed

dynamic pressure In fluid dynamics, dynamic pressure (denoted by or and sometimes called velocity pressure) is the quantity defined by:Clancy, L.J., ''Aerodynamics'', Section 3.5 :q = \frac\rho\, u^2 where (in SI units): * is the dynamic pressure in pascals ...

sensors that operate at temperatures greater than . This is a noteworthy technical achievement as existing

piezoelectric Piezoelectricity (, ) is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials—such as crystals, certain ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA, and various proteins—in response to applied mechanical stress. The word ' ...

-based pressure sensors are not capable of operating at temperatures beyond . This achievement can be considered significant for industries such as power generation and aviation. This is because this technology allows manufacturers of

gas turbines A gas turbine, also called a combustion turbine, is a type of continuous flow internal combustion engine. The main parts common to all gas turbine engines form the power-producing part (known as the gas generator or core) and are, in the directio ...

and

jet engines A jet engine is a type of reaction engine discharging a fast-moving jet (fluid), jet of heated gas (usually air) that generates thrust by jet propulsion. While this broad definition can include Rocket engine, rocket, Pump-jet, water jet, and ...

to more closely control the combustion that is taking place in the combustor. The benefits that this offers to operating the gas turbine are increased levels of efficiency and also reduced levels of harmful pollutants such as

NOx In atmospheric chemistry, is shorthand for nitric oxide () and nitrogen dioxide (), the nitrogen oxides that are most relevant for air pollution. These gases contribute to the formation of smog and acid rain, as well as affecting tropos ...

. Oxsensis is based at the Harwell Campus close to the city of

Oxford Oxford () is a city in England. It is the county town and only city of Oxfordshire. In 2020, its population was estimated at 151,584. It is north-west of London, south-east of Birmingham and north-east of Bristol. The city is home to the Un ...

in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

(UK). The company was founded in 2003 and is privately owned with backing from various

venture capital Venture capital (often abbreviated as VC) is a form of private equity financing that is provided by venture capital firms or funds to start-up company, startups, early-stage, and emerging companies that have been deemed to have high growth poten ...

firms.

History

Oxsensis was a spin out using technology from the Central Microstructure Facility at the STFC’s (

Science and Technology Facilities Council The Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC) is a United Kingdom government agency that carries out research in science and engineering, and funds UK research in areas including particle physics, nuclear physics, space science and astro ...

)

Rutherford Appleton Laboratory The Rutherford Appleton Laboratory (RAL) is one of the national scientific research laboratories in the UK operated by the Science and Technology Facilities Council (STFC). It began as the Rutherford High Energy Laboratory, merged with the Atl ...

in 2003 by, Oxfordshire entrepreneur, David Gahan. After an initial proof of concept Oxsensis raised £890,000 worth of investment in July 2005 through a

funding round A securities offering (or funding round or investment round) is a discrete round of investment, by which a business or other enterprise raises money to fund operations, expansion, a capital project, an acquisition, or some other business purpose ...

. A further round of funding in July 2007 raised £4.36 million. In Aug 2006, Oxsensis was included in a consortium which successfully bid for funding from the

European Commission The European Commission (EC) is the executive of the European Union (EU). It operates as a cabinet government, with 27 members of the Commission (informally known as "Commissioners") headed by a President. It includes an administrative body ...

under a Framework Programme (FP6). The EU funded project called HEATTOP was set up with the aim of improving the measurement capabilities within the gas path of a gas turbine. This programme was concluded at the end of 2009. In Feb 2010, Oxsensis completed a third round of funding which raised £3 million, with the

Carbon Trust The Carbon Trust was developed and launched in 1999-2001 as part of the development of the Climate Change Levy (CCL), a tax on business energy use that still operates today. The Carbon Trust was originally funded by around £50m of tax revenue g ...

joining the existing investors to provide this funding. Oxsensis also began working in two publicly funded projects in early 2010. The first one funded by the UK

Technology Strategy Board Innovate UK is the United Kingdom's innovation agency, which provides money and support to organisations to make new products and services. It is a non-departmental public body operating at arm's length from the Government as part of the Unite ...

as part of its Carbon Abatement Programme included Siemens Industrial Turbomachinery Ltd and

Rolls-Royce PLC Rolls-Royce Holdings plc is a British multinational aerospace and defence company incorporated in February 2011. The company owns Rolls-Royce, a business established in 1904 which today designs, manufactures and distributes power systems for ...

within the consortium. The project called FRETSGATE, Fast REsponse Temperature Sensors for GAs Turbine Efficiency, aims to create a fast response temperature sensor for use in gas turbines to enable this equipment to operate on high hydrogen content fuel such as

Syngas Syngas, or synthesis gas, is a mixture of hydrogen and carbon monoxide, in various ratios. The gas often contains some carbon dioxide and methane. It is principly used for producing ammonia or methanol. Syngas is combustible and can be used as ...

. The second project funded by the EU Seventh Framework Programme Joint Technology Undertaking Clean Sky, called COTSTEM Ceramic Optical Temperature Sensor for Turbine Engine Measurements, was set up to develop a temperature sensor that could operate close to the turbine inlet of a helicopter gas turbine engine. In August 2011 Oxsensis won a bid with the UK governments

, worth £400,000, to develop down hole sensor technology with GE Measurement and Control Solutions for the Oil and Gas Sector. In June 2013 Parker Aerospace and Oxsensis agreed to work together to develop optical instrumentation for aircraft fuel tank instrumentation applications. In August 2013 GE Aviation and Oxsensis agreed to jointly develop an aerospace instrumentation system. In 2015 Oxsensis achieved AS9100C Quality Management System accreditation, for Aerospace systems. In 2015 Oxsensis and Centrax Ltd introduced combustion dynamics monitoring products for industrial gas turbines (KB5 and KB7) between 3.5 and 5.5 MW In 2016 Oxsensis partnered with Rolls-Royce plc in an Aerospace Technology Board engine health monitoring programme (E2EEHM). In 2016 Oxsensis moved to a new build 7500 sq ft Assembly and Test facility.

Method of operation

The dynamic

pressure sensor A pressure sensor is a device for pressure measurement of gases or liquids. Pressure is an expression of the force required to stop a fluid from expanding, and is usually stated in terms of force per unit area. A pressure sensor usually a ...

developed by Oxsensis Ltd, functions as a low finesse Fabry–Pérot cavity which is sensitive to changes in pressure. This cavity is manufactured from

sapphire Sapphire is a precious gemstone, a variety of the mineral corundum, consisting of aluminium oxide () with trace amounts of elements such as iron, titanium, chromium, vanadium, or magnesium. The name sapphire is derived via the Latin "sap ...

, which has a

melting point The melting point (or, rarely, liquefaction point) of a substance is the temperature at which it changes state from solid to liquid. At the melting point the solid and liquid phase exist in equilibrium. The melting point of a substance depends ...

of . Indeed, the

Youngs modulus Young's modulus E, the Young modulus, or the modulus of elasticity in tension or compression (i.e., negative tension), is a mechanical property that measures the tensile or compressive stiffness of a solid material when the force is applied le ...

of the sapphire retains the required stiffness to allow the Fabry–Pérot cavity to function up to temperatures of around . The light that is used to interrogate the cavity is generated in an interrogator unit and passes between this and the sensor via standard silica

optical fiber An optical fiber, or optical fibre in Commonwealth English, is a flexible, transparency and translucency, transparent fiber made by Drawing (manufacturing), drawing glass (silica) or plastic to a diameter slightly thicker than that of a Hair ...

Notes

References

External links

*{{Official, http://www.oxsensis.com
Oxsensis.com: ParkerHannifinOxsensis.com: GE-OxsensisYoutube.com: Video showing high temperature operation in laboratory conditionsStfc.ac.uk: RAL IntroductionNewscientist.com: "Clean tech revolution"

Carbontrust.co.uk: emerging technologies venture capital—Oxsensis

Carbontrust.co.uk: Innovation Awards 2009
Aerospace companies of the United Kingdom Engineering companies of the United Kingdom Technology companies of England Companies based in Oxfordshire Technology companies established in 2003 2003 establishments in England British companies established in 2003

History

Method of operation

See also

Notes

References

External links