Special-Purpose Equipment
PES banner on the front of our premises on the A259 in Rye, East Sussex
Contents:
Overview
Specialist fields
Overview
We have made a great variety of devices for a large range of clients from small 'micro businesses' to companies with multimillion pound turnovers.
Water heater, filter & pumping system(client: Gentle Water)
There are a number of ways to make money from new technology. It is important to identify which best applies to your situation:
- Selling the technology as a manufactured product
- Using it within your existing business
- Hiring it out to other businesses
- Using the technology to manufacture products
Special-purpose eye bolts(client: Ensto UK)
The following examples are concerning work undertaken in specialist fields.
Specialist fields:
(Under construction)
We have experience in a number of specialist fields including....
Small-format aerial camera mount system Bolivia 1998
PES Director and Projects Manager, Ian Coker was contracted in 1997 by the UK's Department For International Development (DFID) and (with Doris Coker as photographer) by CARE Bolivia's Madidi Project, to undertake aerial photographic and mapping work in remote regions of Bolivia, South America.
In order to do this work it was necessary to take aerial photographs from a chartered light aircraft. This required the design, development and testing of a special-purpose camera mount system (shown below).
Camera mount system in use in a Cessna 206
flying over the Buffer Zone of the Madidi National park, Bolivia 1998
This was successfully achieved at minimum cost and included the following components:
1. A novel "camera seat" arrangement
which allowed the camera to be rotated
and fixed about three axes.
2. A means of remote shutter release.
3. A robust, portable means for fixing the system to the aircraft
without the need for structural modifications.
4. A windshield.
5. A digital video camera and TV monitor.
6. An intrinsically safe power supply.
The above equipment was used to successfully complete aerial photographic surveys over rainforest and farmland of Bolivia. This work has been published as "Sustainable agriculture through aerial photography and modern technology" by Ian Coker, Marlon Flores & Doris Coker, (Vol 27 No.2, April/June 2000) in the Appropriate Technology Magazine (now incorporated into International Agricultural Development which is published by Research Information LTD, Hemel Hempstead, UK).
Small-format digital aerial camera mount system, Guyana 2001
A slightly modified system (to incorporate a Nikon D1) was used in Guyana in 2001 (examples below).
Low altitude test, Georgetown, Guyana 2001
Low-altitude test, Guyana, 2001
Are you a GIS/RS professional presently offering mapping and interpretation services in remote locations? We can provide you with a low-cost self-assembly aerial camera mount which you can use to obtain detailed digital imagery. PES has developed an in-house intervalometer and can provide clients with the necessary hardware to obtain detailed small-format aerial photographs. Full training offered. Contact us to find out more.
Soil strength, vegetation and slope stability in remote locations
Plant roots can function as engineering components and in a sophisticated way. Plants are of course self-replicating and can adapt to their circumstances. Roots can be used to naturally stabilise steep slopes. Quantifying this is however problematic especially in-situ. One parameter that has to be measured is the soil strength.
Ian Coker was contracted by the UK's DFID in Bolivia 1997-8, as mentioned above and was based at the University of San Simon in Cochabamba, Bolivia. One aspect of the project required measuring the "shear strength" of soils in order to calculate the likelihood of landslides occurring on steep slopes. This work involved managing the design, construction and testing of a novel kind of soil sampler, which was called the 'Nail Cage Soil Sampler'. This had a very simple but effective design. It comprised of a box-section surface plate and 20 large soil "nails" (12" long by dia 1/2").The nails were hammered into the soil through holes in the plate and thereby isolated a volume of soil which could then be removed intact.
Isolating a large soil sample on-site using the NCSS
It worked very well indeed. This work has been published on the Internet by the Electronic Journal of Geotechnical Engineering. (see http://www.ejge.com then click on the Vol 5, year 2000 papers "A Device for Extracting Large Intact Soil Samples" by Ian Coker and Roger Flores. This paper includes a series of colour photographs.
The device is 'public domain' in terms of IPR so please do feel free to make one and use it if you believe it will be useful to your organisation. We would respectfully request a reference to the above journal in any subsequent publications. Alternatively, get in touch and we would be happy to make one to your own specifications.
Please contact us to discuss your company's requirements in complete confidence.
Take a few moments to visit our webshop: ....make your own fighting robot dinosaur - website launching soon! www.robokiller.co.uk
(Under construction)
We have experience in a number of specialist fields including....
Small-format aerial camera mount system Bolivia 1998
PES Director and Projects Manager, Ian Coker was contracted in 1997 by the UK's Department For International Development (DFID) and (with Doris Coker as photographer) by CARE Bolivia's Madidi Project, to undertake aerial photographic and mapping work in remote regions of Bolivia, South America.
In order to do this work it was necessary to take aerial photographs from a chartered light aircraft. This required the design, development and testing of a special-purpose camera mount system (shown below).
Camera mount system in use in a Cessna 206
flying over the Buffer Zone of the Madidi National park, Bolivia 1998
This was successfully achieved at minimum cost and included the following components:
1. A novel "camera seat" arrangement
which allowed the camera to be rotated
and fixed about three axes.
2. A means of remote shutter release.
3. A robust, portable means for fixing the system to the aircraft
without the need for structural modifications.
4. A windshield.
5. A digital video camera and TV monitor.
6. An intrinsically safe power supply.
The above equipment was used to successfully complete aerial photographic surveys over rainforest and farmland of Bolivia. This work has been published as "Sustainable agriculture through aerial photography and modern technology" by Ian Coker, Marlon Flores & Doris Coker, (Vol 27 No.2, April/June 2000) in the Appropriate Technology Magazine (now incorporated into International Agricultural Development which is published by Research Information LTD, Hemel Hempstead, UK).
Small-format digital aerial camera mount system, Guyana 2001
A slightly modified system (to incorporate a Nikon D1) was used in Guyana in 2001 (examples below).
Low altitude test, Georgetown, Guyana 2001
Low-altitude test, Guyana, 2001
Are you a GIS/RS professional presently offering mapping and interpretation services in remote locations? We can provide you with a low-cost self-assembly aerial camera mount which you can use to obtain detailed digital imagery. PES has developed an in-house intervalometer and can provide clients with the necessary hardware to obtain detailed small-format aerial photographs. Full training offered. Contact us to find out more.
Soil strength, vegetation and slope stability in remote locations
Plant roots can function as engineering components and in a sophisticated way. Plants are of course self-replicating and can adapt to their circumstances. Roots can be used to naturally stabilise steep slopes. Quantifying this is however problematic especially in-situ. One parameter that has to be measured is the soil strength.
Ian Coker was contracted by the UK's DFID in Bolivia 1997-8, as mentioned above and was based at the University of San Simon in Cochabamba, Bolivia. One aspect of the project required measuring the "shear strength" of soils in order to calculate the likelihood of landslides occurring on steep slopes. This work involved managing the design, construction and testing of a novel kind of soil sampler, which was called the 'Nail Cage Soil Sampler'. This had a very simple but effective design. It comprised of a box-section surface plate and 20 large soil "nails" (12" long by dia 1/2").The nails were hammered into the soil through holes in the plate and thereby isolated a volume of soil which could then be removed intact.
Isolating a large soil sample on-site using the NCSS
It worked very well indeed. This work has been published on the Internet by the Electronic Journal of Geotechnical Engineering. (see http://www.ejge.com then click on the Vol 5, year 2000 papers "A Device for Extracting Large Intact Soil Samples" by Ian Coker and Roger Flores. This paper includes a series of colour photographs.
The device is 'public domain' in terms of IPR so please do feel free to make one and use it if you believe it will be useful to your organisation. We would respectfully request a reference to the above journal in any subsequent publications. Alternatively, get in touch and we would be happy to make one to your own specifications.
Please contact us to discuss your company's requirements in complete confidence.
Take a few moments to visit our webshop: ....make your own fighting robot dinosaur - website launching soon! www.robokiller.co.uk
