Research infra­structures and methods

Research infra­structures and methods

The research infrastructures of the CEMIS network enable diverse research and equipment development and testing.

MEASUREMENT TECHNOLOGY UNIT (MITY) OF THE UNIVERSITY OF OULU

MEASURING DEVICE PROTOTYPES AND SENSORS

The Measurement Technology Unit (MITY) of the University of Oulu has laboratory facilities, equipment and competence for the development of measuring devices and their prototype manufacturing, sensor technology, optical measurements, versatile chemical analysis, processing of natural biomasses, microbiology, and mammalian cell culture.

Mechanical and electronics workshops are available for the manufacture of measurement device prototypes, along with several testing facilities and a process hall for their testing. The mechanics workshop includes a CNC machining centre, lathe, 3D printer, welding machines and other mechanical machining equipment. The electronics workshop has a PCB milling machine, soldering stations, and measuring devices from multimeters to spectrum analysers. In addition, equipment and drones are available for field testing.

The measuring devices have their dedicated measurement servers, Digita’s Lorawan network and other wireless data transfer solutions for data transfer, storage, and visualisation. In addition, programming competence related to measurement device development is readily available, ranging from embedded to web programming.

For the development of sensor technology, two devices for reading surface plasmon resonance as well as several potentiostats are available. These have been used to develop both environmental measurements and point-of-care diagnostics. For the development of optical measurements, three dimmable laboratories with optics measuring devices are available, along with optics tables for building and testing optical measuring devices.

LABORATORIES

The chemical laboratory’s most significant devices for analytics include UHPLC and HPLC devices, three capillary electrophoresis devices, a gas chromatograph, and a well plate reader with spectrophotometric, fluorometric, luminometric and chemiluminescent detection. Several extraction and filtering devices are available for biomass processing, along with freeze-drying and spray drying equipment as well as a 30-litre fermenter.

For microbiology work, there are three incubators and one shaking incubator, several laminar cabinets, and a laboratory for working with pathogenic organisms, where it is possible to work with class 2 microbes. For the culture of mammalian cells, there are two CO2 incubators, a laminar cabinet, liquid nitrogen tanks for long-term storage of cells, and a fluorescence microscope.

KAJAANI UNIVERSITY OF APPLIED SCIENCES (KAMK)

PRODUCTION TECHNOLOGY, ROBOTICS AND TESTING

The Production Technology Laboratory of Kajaani University of Applied Sciences provides an environment for developing production technology, fault diagnostics and quality control. The services of the Production Technology Laboratory include production automation (FMS) and virtual production modelling (Visual Components and Siemens software family).

The Robotics Laboratory has a variety of training devices and software for production automation, virtual production planning, robot simulations, robot programming, and mechanical and automation design. KAMK has state-of-the-art 3D design and simulation software as well as several printers intended for 3D modelling at its disposal.

The Equipment and Electronics Testing Laboratory enables comprehensive testing and product development. The testing laboratory’s service offering covers both unit- and device-level testing. The testing laboratory is used for EMC, condition and vibration testing.

MOBILE LABORATORY ENVIRONMENT FOR THE ROCK AGGREGATE AND MINING INDUSTRY

The laboratory environment for the rock aggregate and mining industry provides opportunities for materials research in the mining and process industries as well as for material classification that facilitates the utilisation of side streams. The incinerator, thermoanalyser, XRF and XRD in the analysis laboratory enable analysis and modification of samples. In addition to chemical and mineralogical characterisation, the devices can be used to determine the grain size and reaction temperatures of the material being studied. Column tests also make it possible to perform flow-through tests. The tests are used for determining the solubility and adsorption properties of different materials.

KAMK also has a mobile laboratory for the rock and mining industry, a ‘container’ that can be used for material classification and materials research, quality control of companies, study of process variables and their effects, process optimisation, product development, and waste recovery research.

VUOKATTI UNIT OF THE UNIVERSITY OF JYVÄSKYLÄ (JYU-VUOKATTI)

SPORTS TECHNOLOGY RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT LABORATORIES

The laboratories of JyU-Vuokatti provide measurement conditions for conducting research related to elite sports and well-being alike.

In the Shooting Laboratory, a biathlete’s shooting performance technique can be measured and studied.

In the Biomechanics Laboratory, it is possible to measure and study human movement, mechanics and physiology with different muscle work methods as well as carry out method and equipment development.

The Physiology Laboratory can measure and study the functioning of the human cardiovascular system and endurance performance using equipment such as a bicycle ergometer. In addition, metabolism, body composition and blood counts such as haemoglobin, glucose and lactate can be measured. The laboratory carries out equipment and method development, which, together with expertise in exercise biology, support the Master’s Programme in Sports Technology and doctoral education.

The JYU-Vuokatti Ski Laboratory is used in collaboration with Vuokatti Sports Institute and Vuokatti-Ruka Sports Academy. From research perspective, various exercise stress tests and measurements can be carried out in the laboratory on subjects roller skiing or moving on foot.

In the Low Temperature Laboratory, skis are mainly measured with a linear tribometer, which measures the friction of the skis.

The Strength & Endurance laboratory in Snowpolis, Vuokatti, is used for conducting Nordic walking and running tests, in addition to which it accommodates a test room with six bicycle ergometers. In addition, the facility has a strength laboratory with treadmills for warm-ups and small mat tests, a power plate for vertical depth and static jumps, and various strength training equipment that can be used for conducting tests and research using, e.g., a wire sensor.

The outdoor laboratory, located in the shooting range area in the lower terrain of Vuokatti, enables shooting performance measurement and technology-assisted shooting training. In the outdoor laboratory, live round shooting can be carried out to measure an essential element of the sport.

VTT MIKES KAJAANI

METROLOGY INFRASTRUCTURE

Kajaani is home to VTT MIKES’ metrology infrastructure for calibrations of power, torque and fluid flow and traceability of measurements.

Measuring equipment for large liquid flows is also located in Kajaani.

CSC – IT CENTER FOR SCIENCE

DATA MANAGEMENT AND COMPUTING ENVIRONMENTS

In its modern data centres in Kajaani, CSC provides data management and computing environments for research and companies. CSC also provides services for data management with regard to sensitive data.

LUMI is a unique pan-European supercomputer located in CSC’s Kajaani data centre.