OPTICAL & IR SYSTEMS

Elston Engineering Services assists clients in developing stiff, lightweight composite structures for the shorter wavelengths of Infra-Red (IR) and Optical Systems, which require even greater geometric accuracy than microwave radar and communications systems.

Composite design of lightweight connections and Finite Element (FE) analysis by EES enabled Paxford Composites to reduce the mass of aircraft flight simulator screens for SEOS by almost one third. Training and FE process development by EES for Best Solutions allows them to continue to incorporate the improvements into the SEOS range of simulator products.

FE analysis and composite lay-up definition by EES helped Carbon Fibre Technologies Ltd to make the stiff high accuracy 90 degree offset paraboloidal mirrors for the Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory’s Very Small Array. The VSA was built to make high resolution observations of the cosmic microwave background (CMB) radiation from the Big Bang creation of the Universe, looking for tiny fluctuations of temperature (one 100,000^th of a degree centigrade at most).

VSA - Superextended

Photo Courtesy of Mullard Radio Astronomy Observatory