Sensor Coating Systems is an instrumentation company that develops temperature-sensing technologies. It was formerly part of Southside Thermal Sciences. At the beginning of 2018, SCS started a project with NASA and other companies working in the aerospatial industry. This project called CAUTION has the aim to increase the temperature range of the Thermal History Coating. Such improvements can help end-users to develop new jet engines with higher efficiency which are safer than previous iterations.
History
Sensor Coating Systems is located in London. It was spun out of Southside Thermal Sciences in 2012, as it became apparent that STS’ future product development focus should be on a smart offline temperature-sensing technology. Sensor Coating Systems' technology has received several awards as well as grants from governmental entities such as Innovate UK and the NationalAerospace Technology Exploitation Programme.
Technologies
SCS has developed two offline temperature measurements: thermal history coatings and thermal history paint. These technologies utilise the luminescent properties of materials to provide information on past temperatures that they experienced. This patented technologies allow for the readout of past temperatures from a continuous surface, enabling the thermal analysis of components, which have been operated in extreme conditions, such as jet engines and industrial gas turbines. The table below shows the differences between the Thermal History Coating and the Thermal History Paint:
A thermal history coating is a robust coating containing various non-toxic chemical compounds whose crystal structures irreversibly change at high temperatures. This allows for temperature measurements and thermal analysis to be performed on intricate and inaccessible components, which operate in harsh environments. THC provides protection from intense heat to the surfaces on which they are applied. The thermal history paint is less durable than the THC.The THP can be applied with an air spray gun.
User club
In February 2013 SCS announced the formation of an industrial “User Club” to promote the development of its patented temperature-sensing technology, the Thermal History Coating. The User Club was initially launched with four members in addition to SCS. The aim of the User Club is to catalyse the development of Thermal History Coatings, so that they can be applied in engine development programs to lower costs and accelerate the introduction of low-emission engines.
