Originally Published MPMN November 2005

INDUSTRY NEWS

Company Signs Distribution Agreement to Offer Industrial CT Products

Corinne Litchfield

Carl Zeiss Industrial Metrology (IMT, Maple Grove, MN; www.zeiss.com) has signed an OEM distribution agreement with Bio-Imaging Research Inc. (BIR, Lincolnshire, IL; www.bio-imaging.com). Under the agreement, Carl Zeiss will represent the complete line of BIR’s industrial computed tomography (CT) equipment in North America.

“Incorporating CT systems into our product portfolio is part of our strategic plan to offer our customers a complete line of cutting-edge metrology equipment,” said Greg Lee, president of Carl Zeiss IMT Corp. “Partnering with BIR also gives us access to a new and growing market segment.”

A designer of both medical and industrial CT systems, BIR has incorporated the advances made in medical CT into its Actis line of industrial CT systems. The Actis systems are used for first-article inspection, rapid prototyping, and reverse engineering. Part digitization and rapid manufacturing can also be performed using the systems.

CT has become widely accepted for inspection applications in industries where parts contain complex internal geometries. It is also used in place of destructive techniques, which are either costly or impractical. It is critical in casting applications where destructive methods often change surface forces, thus altering the internal dimensions. X-ray CT can also acquire dimensional data on parts made of materials that flex on contact or those designed with undercuts and deep recesses where coordinate measurement system probes cannot reach.

The Actis systems use x-rays to create cross-sectional views of parts with both internal and external features. The combined individual slices create a 3-D volume image that can then be converted into point clouds. These allow for comparison between first-article dimensions and CAD designs. This process allows designers to optimize product quality by making critical design adjustments before full production begins.

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