Rheology Solutions established a dedicated OnLine Rheometer Group in July 2011. The goal of this group is to develop and commercialise an OnLine Rheometer (OLR) to meet the process monitoring, process control and quality control needs across various industry applications

The OLR has been developed and manufactured by Rheology Solutions and is designed to continuously measure, plot and report the flow properties of process liquids in the pipe.

The OLR is designed to continuously measure, plot and report the flow properties of process liquids in the pipe. The OLR will provide instant and accurate rheological data in real time so that manufactured and processed products are produced and maintained within specification.

The OLR is designed for use in a process pipe, and it continuously measures and relays the data to the process operator through SOLR, their proprietary software for the OLR. Rheology Solutions have expanded their product portfolio too include:
• Product Development
• Manufacturing
• International Distribution.

THE OLR HISTORY AND PROJECT BACKGROUND
The Rheology Solutions OLR is an on-line process monitoring and control instrument that delivers real-time data to achieve and maintain better quality control for production processes.

The OLR continuously measures and disseminates the flow properties of a liquid in a pipe, in real-time. The market need for this instrument is acute, and there are no direct competitors for the instrument. The OLR technology is now patent protected internationally.

The OLR technology was a development from work undertaken by the CSIRO*, who developed a functional α-prototype. Their early experiments and theoretical investigations demonstrated the technical possibilities, but applications development and refinement of the existing hardware and software were critical for the instrument to be commercialised. With this in mind, the CSIRO licensed the technology to Rheology Solutions to refine the OLR and take it to market.

*CSIRO, the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation, is Australia’s national science agency and one of the largest and most diverse research agencies in the world

The OLR is now a commercial reality and a significant new direction for Rheology Solutions. As a part of the commercialisation strategy strategic partnerships with companies have been sought out which has significantly accelerated the development and marketing of a commercial OLR. These partners are:

• Industry Partner: GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) – The central engineering resource for global GSK production facilities is at Brentford, UK and this has provided processing expertise, a processing plant test-sites, and direct feedback on the performance of the instrument and software, to develop the OLR, also allowing GSK to build a greater understanding of their product process.

• Academic Partner: University of Queensland (UQ) – UQ have an internationally recognised centre for rheology and materials characterisation, with distinguished researchers and excellent facilities. UQ provides independent verification of the OLR through testing and comparisons with existing technologies and a thorough examination of the theoretical basis for the OLR. UQ are also conducting further fundamental research around the OLR core technology, to enhance the features and benefits of subsequent OLR models.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION

Company Profile
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