At the conference, Tibor Nagy, a fellow engineer, presented ELI ALPS in a podium discussion.
The aim of the conference was to present the latest CAD/CAM/PLM solutions and technologies – software that can be used to increase the efficiency of design and production. The organizers invited Tibor Nagy to a podium discussion, where the mechanical engineer spoke, among other things, about the benefits of the 3D model of the building complex of ELI ALPS.
“The 3D model of Building A of the research institute is now complete, and Building B is close to completion. The model of Building A includes all building parts and components, except for the roof supporting frame. The model is invaluable if we want to install a new vacuum chamber or other equipment, or if we want to transport a laser beam through three rooms, for example. With the help of the software, every step can be planned in advance. Furthermore, a meeting does not require a visit to the site, because the 3D model can be used to visualize a preliminary design for the participants. It lets us see the vacuum chambers, other pieces of equipment, even the individual screws,” said Tibor Nagy, describing the importance of the database.
The engineers working at ELI ALPS are seasoned professionals with experience gained in companies engaged in various industries, from automotive production through custom machinery to medical device design and manufacturing. Engineers are crucial for the institute, as they are the ones who ultimately help researchers overcome technological issues.
They process the requests and prepare the technical drawings, on the basis of which the necessary components – ranging from simple connecting tubes through target holders to complex optomechanical systems – are produced for the experiments. To date, vacuum chamber components, mirror and lens holders, as well as optical fine adjusters have been manufactured in-house. One of the latest tasks was the production of a 50x40 mm target holder, but designs have also been prepared for a target holder measuring 400x300 mm. A device our engineers once manufactured was 100 mm thick, but they have been asked to produce minuscule components too. Once they faced the challenge of stretching a 50 μm copper net over the end of a tube with a diameter of 36 mm. The threads of the net were 4 μm each! Our engineers did solve this problem, too.
Apart from aluminium and stainless steel, our engineers also work with a special plastic known as PEEK, which is widely used in space technology. Researchers favour this material because it can be safely used in vacuum, as it does not contaminate experimental systems.
“In the industry in general, boreholes with a diameter of less than 3 mm are rather unpopular to work with, but our users and researchers sometimes need holes as small as 1 mm. The industry is not prepared to satisfy such special requirements. For us, working in this range is almost part of our daily tasks,” says Tibor Nagy, who believes that if you serve a user quickly and precisely with high-quality tools, it will quickly become common knowledge in the international scientific community.
“At our research institute, we manufacture custom-designed components using various software tools. In the mechanical workshop, we work with computer-controlled machines, for which we create machining programs using the EDGECAM software. This allows us to automate certain work processes and make the production of tools simpler and faster,” said engineer Gábor Krizsán, who believes that the production of small components is particularly challenging.
“Imagine that you need drill a cone-shaped borehole in the centre of a 5 mm thick stainless steel disc with the diameter of a coin. The borehole’s diameter must be 3 mm on one side and 0.3 mm on the other. Manufacturing such a cone with precise dimensions is a complicated process. On another occasion, a double cone shape was required. In this case, two cones with a base diameter of 3 mm and 4 mm, respectively, on the two sides, and a peak diameter of 0.3 mm in the middle had to be drilled into a 20 mm thick material. You can imagine the complexity of this drilling process. “Inserting a 0.1 mm thick wire into a 0.2 mm hole is only seemingly a simple task,” says Tibor Nagy, mentioning another exciting challenge.
Research institute engineers produce one or two prototypes, and manufacture the special components using commercially available equipment. However, apart from using the machinery for their intended purpose they increase the range of applications with creative ideas. Sometimes the tools required for specific needs are available on the market, so there is no need to develop a special drill bit, for example, but user experience lacks due to the small number of items sold worldwide. In such cases, the manufacturer essentially tests the developed product together with our engineers. According to Gábor Krizsán, such collaborations have been successful so far.
Photos: Gábor Balázs