Our Technology
We have developed a technology using thermoplastic reinforced composites, which has valuable engineering properties in two distinctly different states.
It was created to allow the same material to hold a stable and rigid shape both in compression and expansion, and to incorporate no working parts as it moves from one state to the other.
We achieve this by manipulating the structure of Fibre Reinforced Composite (FRC) tubes and sections, so that they can be rolled up, with a minimal amount of force and so that once rolled, they stay rolled with no constraint.
The results are Bi-stable Reeled Composites or rolatubes.
On their own, rolatubes offer a light-weight, compact and immediate method for a user to achieve more height or distance for sensors, cables and communication devices.
When incorporated into the design path, cables, ribbon / fractal antennas and fibre-optics can be embedded during production, seams can be welded on deployment to carry low-pressure liquid, automated deployment by motor or tension can be achieved and varying rigidity and flexibility in one continuous rolatube can all be achieved.
Further with variable strength in all three dimensions, exact and exacting tolerances for each can be achieved as every individual task requires.
This opens a whole range of alternatives to traditional telescopes, jointed rods and articulated devices that are used to make actuators, masts, booms and frames. At the same time its very compact nature, simplicity and the ease with which it can be driven allow the engineer to realise designs that were previously impossible to execute. By welding or bonding the seam, pipes and conduits can be created that can be stored and shipped in small containers and then extended at the point of use in effectively unlimited lengths.
By tailoring both the material and the structure, we can make rolatubes that are customised for a wide range of applications. They can be optimised for stiffness, or as pressure pipes, in compression or tension. They can work from the Sahara to the Arctic. They can survive being buried in concrete, or the airless, high radiation environment of space. They can be extended in a single length kilometres down into an oil well or provide tiny actuation mechanisms for compact robotic arms and manipulators. They can be straight, or extend along curves, be circular in section, or extend along a range of different profiles.
Communication masts can become their own antennas, robotic arms can become their own umbilical cable, optical fibres can carry data and monitor the environment around the RolaTube, all with no additional installation and without any of the problems associated with handling reels of cables and fibre optics in hostile environments.
As almost any engineering polymer and reinforcing fibre can be combined to make a Rolatube our technology also functions within a wide temperature range, is inert when in contact with many hazardous liquids and environmentally efficient in its manufacturing and ultimate disposal.
With such a great breath of capabilities, through its simplicity, versatility, strength and compactness, we have been fortunate to work across most engineering sectors, around the world, in numerous applications.
All of which enable new solid-state engineering applications using built-in intelligent material as the mechanism. Or as we say, Extending Technology.
