Prototyping services for pharmaceutical research and industry

All innovations require testing in an authentic environment after academic basic research. Integration of any measurement system to process equipment necessitates professional prototyping of the mechanical and electrical components. In Promis Centre this task has been initiated by applying the best suitable tools for electrical and mechanical engineering. Currently the prototyping services concentrate on the following themes.

• Design of high-speed electronics. Our recent LabVIEW programmable FPGA system enables powerful design of electronics. Easiness of use and feasibility are important features during the first phase prototyping of process monitoring solutions.

• Integration of wireless communication into the sensor systems. Wireless data transfer enables measurements from totally new locations in the process line (such as rotating parts). This theme develops together with the FGPA programming since wireless data transfer and steering/measurement electronics are normally used hand-in-hand within the systems. Currently, we are developing a pilot wireless communication (6lowpan) platform.

• Application of micro- and nanotechnology know-how to basic pharmaceutical research. The main subject is quartz crystal microbalance technique (QCM). QCM enables for instance real time monitoring of material growth on surfaces (<10ng/cm2). Additional techniques, for example atomic force microscopy and UV-lithography systems are available at our facilities.

• Design of tailor-made process interfaces for analytical tools. In addition to process and analytical knowledge successful implementation of an analytical method in a manufacturing process requires that the sensor is located in such a fashion that it collects the right information with as minimal as possible process disturbance. Our mechanical engineering tools and knowledge enable design and production of robust high-end interfaces.