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Newsdesk - February 2004University Technology Centre receives further fundingOxford University has received a 5-year, £3.5 million extension to Invensys' funding of the University Technology Centre for Advanced Instrumentation, in its Department of Engineering Science. The extension will enable the university to broaden and expand the highly successful collaboration under which the university delivers research and development services to meet business needs of Invensys manufacturing customer base. The collaboration has already led to a number of major innovations, including the concept of the self-validating (SEVA) sensor, which performs online assessment of the sensor's performance and describes the resulting measurement quality in standardised metrics, including online uncertainty. This enables more efficient utilisation and management of assets under abnormal process conditions and can significantly reduce costly unplanned shutdowns. The SEVA work contributed in part to the development of the award winning Invensys' CFT-50 Digital Coriolis mass flow meter from Foxboro. After Invensys customer research revealed a pressing need for a meter that provided accurate flow measurement in the presence of entrained air, Oxford UTC developed a digital control solution, which Invensys has since built, manufactured and is marketing successfully. The SEVA concept has also contributed to the adoption of a UK Standard (BSI7986:2001 - Specification for data quality metrics for industrial measurement and control systems). Discussions of the standard at an international level are now underway. In partnership with Westinghouse Signals Australia of Invensys Rail Systems, the UTC has developed research phase prototypes of a condition monitoring system for railway points machines. Web-based prototypes are already installed in three rail sites in Australia, which have been monitored and maintained from Oxford. Under the extended funding arrangement, work will continue in these areas, and be expanded to include several other significant research and development projects now in discussion.
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