Meopta - optika sro, a Czech manufacturer of optical, opto-mechanical and optoelectronic products, is making a major capital investment to improve and expand its in-house capabilities for the manufacture of opto-mechanical devices with the purchase of a custom built automated fibre laying (AFL) machine and advanced winding technology from fellow Czech company CompoTech PLUS spol sro.
Close ongoing cooperation with CompoTech PLUS has enabled Meopta to develop performance enhancing carbon fibre (CF) composites component solutions, which are now part of its design and production of precision opto-mechanical devices and full turnkey systems.
CompoTech's advanced winding technology applies ultra-high modulus fibres with ‘true zero’ degree placement, which provides CF components with excellent structural stiffness and damping behaviour. Due to the low coefficient of thermal expansion (CTE) properties of the carbon fibres, a component, such as a beam or frame, has very low deformations under the thermal loading. Meopta has found that using this carbon fibre technology for optical assemblies and structural parts in high-precision measurement machines, such as for silicon wafer inspection, has opened up new possibilities in both design and application. As a result, Meopta has decided to purchase and install its own AFL machine, which will provide a dedicated in-house facility to produce unique CF composite parts for precision opto-mechanical devices.
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