Engineering Software: Diamond Die Inspection software developed at Ideas Unlimited

(Developed earlier in Dec 2011)

This is a slightly dated project, but we are posting about only now on our blog. This software was developed around Dec 2011. This software was developed by us exclusively for a 'Diamond Die' industry in Mysore.The software is used in the Diamond Die making industry to inspect tiny diamonds made from industrial diamonds.

Screenshot of the Diamond Die Inspection and Measurement software developed by Ideas Unlimited exclusively for a diamond die industry in Mysore.

Config screen - Calibration etc.

What is a Diamond Die and what does the software do?

The process of making metal wires is called 'Wire drawing'. Thick metal wire is forced through a die smaller in size resulting in a thinner wire. The process gets repeated using smaller dies each time until the right diameter of the wire is achieved. The key ingredient of making these wire-drawing dies is an industrial diamond. The process involves boring through a very small industrial diamond (few microns thick) in precise dimension through a very difficult time consuming process which the Diamond Die industries do.

Due to the complexity of the process (diamond is the hardest material) the profile cut in a diamond has to be inspected for precision and quality. Such diamond is digitally photographed in an illuminated industrial microscope using a large scale factor. The image gets loaded into our software and its various parameters of the diamond die are assessed using this software developed by us. The software allows visual marking and measurement of angles (in degrees) and lengths (in microns) by clicking on the image.

Ideas Unlimited hives off Production, Commercialization of products/technologies developed into a new company: "Ideas Manufacturing Mysore Private Limited"

We are very pleased to announce that we have hived off Production, Sales and Service activities to a new firm incorporated on 07-Jun-2012 under Companies Act, 1955 called "Ideas Manufacturing Mysore Private Limited".

Ideas Unlimited has been in existence for about roughly two years now and we are now in a stage to hive off production, sales and commercialization activities to a new firm and focusing on R&D, Technology and Intellectual Property Development completely. 

Ideas Unlimited will remain an R&D focus, Product development company, which keeps working on new products, concepts and technologies and technologies ready for production and to be commercialized will be given off to the new firm "Ideas Manufacturing Mysore Private Limited".

We are racing to get the new "Ideas Manufacturing Mysore Private Limited" firm operational before July 2012.

The products designed by Ideas Unlimited, made by Ideas Manufacturing Private Limited, will continue to use "Ideas Unlimited" brand. The new company may also take up product development and full life-cycle management for other companies as well as a separate business activity.

Illustration: Operational Business Model between newly incorporated  company "Ideas Manufacturing Mysore Private Limited" and "Ideas Unlimited".  (Click on image to view larger image)

This new move is in line with our original vision when we started Ideas Unlimited in December 2009, to keep Ideas Unlimited focused on Research and Development of new technologies, and new product development and a separate firm to take up Production and Commercialization of the technologies/products developed.

Ideas Unlimited will also be expanding its focus on taking up R&D, Product Development for external research labs, companies and entities in the near future. Ideas Unlimited will also continue to do in-house home/industrial automation products we are already in the process of making and move the production and commercialization aspects of the product to Ideas Manufacturing Mysore Private Limited.

Watch out for more announcements on the new company "Ideas Manufacturing Mysore Private Limited" in the coming days.

Miniature Movement Sensor Switch announced in EBAZAAR magazine, Jun-2012 Issue.

Our newly launched Miniature Movement Sensor Switch (mMS/MS501 series) was announced in EBAZAAR Magazine, Jun-2012 Issue.

(Click on image to enlarge)

Ideas Unlimited works with CFTRI for development of Portable, Bioluminescence meter using Silicon Photo Diode

Ideas Unlimited is collaborating with CFTRI (http://www.cftri.com/ - Central Food and Technological Research Institute, Mysore), to develop a low cost silicon photo-diode based Luminometer, which can detect very low intensity of Bio-Luminescence emitted by biological reactions.

CFTRI is working on Bio-luminescence based applications for detection of food contamination and other applications. In this initiative, as a first step, Ideas Unlimited has conceptualized and designed some prototype setups for experimenting with a silicon photo-diode to sense different bio-luminescence reactions and comparing results generated with lab grade equipment which use more expensive Photo-multiplier tubes. 

Picture 1: Experimental setup with Silicon photo diode and slot to insert sample in a test tube.

Picture 2: Experimental setup optically sealed by the lid before measurements.

Picture 3: 3D-Model showing internals of of the test setup

Picture 4: Screenshot of the data logging software developed by Ideas Unlimited for the experimental setup

The Luminometer experiments are conducted at CFTRI using enzymes synthesized by CFTRI in their labs. 

A low cost, portable Luminometer, if developed will have tremendous applications in the fields of Agriculture, Food Inspection and Quality Control, Contamination detection, Clinical Pathology and Medical fields.

 
What is Bio-luminescence?
[Source: Wikipedia]
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bioluminescence

Bioluminescence is the production and emission of light by a living organism. Bioluminescence is a naturally occurring form of chemiluminescence where energy is released by a chemical reaction in the form of light emission.

Fireflies, anglerfish, and other creatures produce the chemicals luciferin (a pigment) and luciferase (an enzyme).The luciferin reacts with oxygen to create light. The luciferase acts as a catalyst to speed up the reaction, which is sometimes mediated by cofactors such as calcium ions or ATP (Adenosine triphosphate). The chemical reaction can occur either inside or outside the cell. In bacteria, the expression of genes related to bioluminescence is controlled by an operon called the Lux operon.

How Bioluminescence works?
The link below graphically explains how bio-luminescence works.

[Source: howstuffworks.com]
http://science.howstuffworks.com/environmental/life/zoology/all-about-animals/bioluminescence3.htm

Challenges in measuring Bio-luminescence using Silicon Photo-diode
A normal silicon photo diode requires luminance to the tune of micro-watts per centimeter square. However most of the bioluminescence produced is in the order of nano-watts or pico-watts per centimeter square. At these levels a silicon photo diode's junction will not even trigger. A workaround had to be devised to detect such low bioluminescence.