Head of Group: Professor John McBride. The research interests of the Mechatronics Research Group (MRG) cover Electric Machines, Power Electronics, Microfluidics, Ultrasonics, Thick-film sensors, Electric contacts and Control systems
We are engaged in cutting-edge fundamental and applied research underpinning Electro-Mechanical technologies. Our activities are organised around four research themes, covering a wide spectrum of applications in the areas of control systems, energy conversion and management, instrumentation and sensors and microfluidics. Our strategy is to maintain a balanced portfolio of projects on a broad range of research topics, and to promote commercial exploitation of research results. We also feed our research into the undergraduate and postgraduate teaching programmes including the Advanced Mechanical Engineering Systems (AEMS) Mechatronics MSc.
Our activities are organised around four research themes:
Control and Identification
Staff: Dr Mohamed M Torbati , Dr Zhan Shu
Energy Conversion
Staff: Professor Suleiman M Sharkh , Dr Mohamed M Torbati
Instrumentation and Sensors
Staff: Professor John W McBride ; Professor John K Atkinson
Microfluidics and MEMS
Staff: Professor Martyn Hill , Dr Xize Niu , Dr Peter Glynne-Jones, Dr Dario Carugo
Mechanical Engineering Department
School of Engineering
Building 5 (Eustice)University of Southampton
Highfield Campus
Southampton SO17 1BJ
Tel: +44 (0)23 8059 2871
Email: [email protected]
The term "thick film" refers to the fact that these sensors are fabricated using screen printing techniques that were originally developed for the production of thick film hybrid circuits that employed screen printed interconnections and passive components (such as resistors and capacitors) with surface mounted integrated circuits (chips).
The devices are typically built up in layers by printing the active materials of the sensors onto a variety of different support media (substrates). Most commonly ceramic but increasingly steel, plastics and other materials are used.
The screen printing process forces ink (or paste) through a pre-patterned mesh or stencil (the screen) onto the substrate. The thickness of the deposited layer is controlled by the printer and the properties of the ink define the function of the layer. Enquiries to: Prof John Atkinson: [email protected]
Thick film technology is a particularly good medium for fabricating arrays of sensors on a common substrate. For example, a water quality sensor can consist of 13 thick film layers that make up 5 separate solid state sensors for detecting the dissolved oxygen concentration, temperature, pH, redox potential (a measure of ionic activity) and conductivity of the water. The complete array is only 35mm in diameter and would easily fit into a matchbox.
Using thick film chemical sensor technology the group developed a series of rugged miniaturized pH sensors for use in controlling the viscosity of printing ink. They were funded as part of a European Commission project aimed at producing disposable sensors that would survive in the harsh environment of a printing works. Modern printing inks are water based, as opposed to solvent based, and have to have ammonia added to them to keep them workable. The thick film pH sensors were developed to enable the dosing of the ink to be controlled more precisely. Thick film is an excellent means for mass producing disposable sensors as many such devices can be printed at the same time making them very cost effective to manufacture.
| Related Projects | Status |
|---|---|
| A Linear to Rotary Magnetic Gear | Active |
| Modelling of an electromagnetic regenerative shock absorber with a mechanical motion rectifier | Active |