The Precision Mechatronics group (MEP) focuses on special mechanical and mechatronic projects with high-performance requirements. In these contexts, the application of precision engineering principles becomes a central issue in the pursuit of optimal choices in materials, part design, selection and allocation of actuation elements and sensors, electronics, software, and control.
As a fundamental characteristic, the project methodology is based on systems engineering and predictive engineering tools, aiming to minimize the technical risks involved even in highly complex projects with a significant degree of novelty. Beyond project execution, an internal research front in mechatronic technology offers opportunities for continuous evolution in the performance and efficiency of beamline systems.
The multidisciplinary team encompasses backgrounds in Mechanical Technology, Mechatronics and Automation, and Physical, Mechanical, Materials, and Control and Automation Engineering, among others, as well as specializations in precision engineering and synchrotron light technologies. Core competencies include precision mechanical design, analytical and finite element multiphysics modeling, metrology and mechatronic integration, and systems architecture.
The MEP members’ history over the past decade covers the entire project life cycle of projects such as high-dynamics double-crystal monochromators (HD-DCM); high-dynamic performance X-ray mirror systems; and nanofocus experimental stations, including a wide variety of sample environments for high stability under special conditions such as in vivo, heating, cryogenics, electrochemistry, and catalysis.
Part of the group’s mission is to work towards deterministic, robust, and repetitive systems that increase the reliability and efficiency of beamline instruments, as well as to promote technical developments towards optimized continuous scan experiments (fly-scan), thereby enabling productivity improvements from the high photon flux provided by Sirius light sources.