Public Funding for TQC Limited

AXENIC will deliver a novel small bag format, nitrogen 'fixing' inoculant to Smallholders across sub-Saharan Africa. This inoculant technology uses a natural process to make use of nitrogen from the air we breath allowing the smallholders to boost the yield of the protein rich legume crops such as soybean. Based on the proven track record of the product LEGUMEFiX from the successful SME Legume Technology who will be working as part of a consortium to design and develop the inoculant pack as well as a new machine design, and hence deliver high quality, reliable products to the majority of farmers growing legumes as part of their staple diet. Working with TQC and the Manufacturing Technology Centre (UK Catapult), the AXENIC project will build on their collective experience in machine design to create a first-to market product. Due to the budget constraints and travel restriction from the pandemic dissemination will be limited.

Recent times have seen progressive miniaturisation of devices. In some, it is critical that small parts are leak proof and their production demands quality assurance for leak characteristics. Examples are in small medical devices e.g. small drug dosing pumps, swallowable cameras, diagnostic cartridges, lab on a chip devices, and medical vials. Non-medical applications include in-tyre pressure sensors, electrical sensors and hermetically sealed parts. Existing solutions are bulky, imprecise, or very expensive. TQC developed a pre-prototype high-precision compact low cost Micro Application Leak Testing module (MALT). The MALT is designed to minimise internal volumes below one tenth of comparable instruments. The MALT module uses differential pressure decay and can detect leaks by an order of magnitude more sensitively than other pressure decay leak test instruments. TQC’s engineers achieved this at a lower unit cost than existing solutions. Bespoke versions of the prototype are successfully deployed in two distinct industrial assembly and leak testing applications, validating the proof of concept. The challenge remains to convert the initial prototype into a general purpose micro applications leak test unit, and to enhance its capabilities for a broader range of applications. Further developments are: • create pneumatic micro circuitry and control for leak testing hermetically sealed parts • build a vacuum micro-leak tester variant • integrate a shock filling function for testing semi-flexible parts • include functions to automatically calculate the test volume and set the test pressure • redesign the electronics to SMT to further reduce the size and production costs • enhance the user-interface and communications software so that MALT becomes an Internet of Things device accessible remotely and by Cloud services • ensure regulatory compliance for validation to FDA approval standards, IP rating enclosure rating enclosure and ATEX rated for use in hazardous areas