This page features some of the work which we have done for clients in the past - more will be added to this page as time goes on.  

Infinitesima

VideoAFM™ Video Atomic Force Microsope

Infinitesima came to us with a prototype for their VideoAFM atomic force microscope which arrived as a 2-box solution built in their workshop, including handbuilt PCBs on breadboard, in a rough enclosure, with a request for us to "productionise" their product.

Mindsail's work on the system took in a variety of areas. Firstly, in our discussions with Infinitesima about how the product was to be used, it became apparent that different end users would use different outlying modules depending on their needs, so we suggested that the design could be made more flexible by adopting a backplane and add-in card approach. PCB's were then layed out for both the main system and the add-in cards which connect via a Eurocard backplane. The whole system was housed in a customised industrial enclosure, with bespoke printed front and rear panels designed by us based on Infinitesima's specifications.

The finished product is now being built in our on site factory facility and sold by Infinitesima and we retain a good relationship with them - since finishing the design of the VideoAFM we have gone on to do other related work for them such as additional add-in modules and an extremely high precision probe.

(link: Infinitesima.com)  

Telecomms equipment

Industrial temperature monitoring and cooling for telecommunications equipment

We were contacted by a major manufacturer of industrial fans to design an intelligent temperature monitoring and cooling system for rack-mount telecommunications equipment around their fans, to be sold into a major telecomms company.

We designed the system with safety in mind - twin redundant power supplies, wide range of operating voltage, failsafes, and the ability of the fan tray to cope should one or more fans become inoperable, sounding audible alarms and running faster to compensate.

What made the system particularly interesting was the stringent requirements on us to deliver a solution that fit into an unusual and restricted footprint, whilst being as low cost as possible and being able to pass conducted emissions tests, all of which we were able to do.

The system is still being manufactured at our on-site factory and we have since designed a number of different cooling solutions to meet other requirements.  

Architectural model manufacturer

Flexible lighting system for architectural models

A company that produces architectural models approached us to rethink the design of the lighting used in their high quality models. Each of their customers required a different layout of model, with individual lighting in each room (little more than a couple of cubic inches each). They had been buying, at great cost, bespoke PCB's for each job, after which the hardware had to be cannibalised to be reused, if it was possible at all. Could we come up with a more elegant solution that cost less?

We designed a range of small lighting modules each of which was uniquely addressable, and could be connected together in a network, and controlled by a hidden controller board.

The added flexibility offered by this system allowed us to surpass their existing design, with rooms in the model selectable from a keypad, and an LCD display giving information on the selected room. When the model reached the end of its life, the hardware could then be reused, and the controller reconfigured for the next job, saving them money.  

Video module

TFT-based video player subassembly for a manufacturer of white goods

A manufacturer of domestic appliances contacted us to design and produce a subassembly for an upcoming product. The product as it existed was a radio-controlled device with an interface to some outlying equipment: we were to produce a module that would "listen in" on that radio signal, and provide appropriate looping video through a TFT panel. In addition, we were to provide a button module that could replicate the radio control feature on the base unit itself.

Mindsail came up with a solution that could interface to their existing product, and could display one from a number of stored, looping videos on the TFT screen, with audio. The main unit was based around an embedded Linux platform with a custom-rolled operating system install that was capable of fitting into a very small space, saving storage for our video files, which could be loaded from a Compact Flash card.