1D Measurement Beam - Stage 1

This Procurement is divided into two distinct stages, with evaluations undertaken separately at the conclusion of each stage. This is to ensure that Stage 1 responses provide a complete design proposal that demonstrates the bidder's ability to meet the full project requirements.

Subject to the outcome of the Stage 1 evaluation, NPL reserves the right to award the design study to up to two suppliers. NPL intends to appoint and remunerate the two successful Stage 1 suppliers to undertake the design study.

NPL are looking for the supply of a high precision motion control stage mounted to a structural beam with an operating envelope of greater than 2.3m with 2 integrated carriages. This will be used as part of a Dimensional Metrology Instrument.

The system will be supplied to NPL to use and operate internally as an operational piece of equipment to be installed into a larger assembly. The supply will be required to support physical interfacing and design analysis and advise how the measurement beam will be mounted.

The system is to come with its own control system to be supplied with the system able to support the requirements. The final system will be installed with the expectation of a minimum 20-year life, and the supplier shall provide all information to show design suitability.

Within the main instrument there are other small motion control stages that are available from other suppliers, however an integrated solution from a control system perspective would be seen as advantageous. Refers to point 16 of Stage 2 Technical Specifications.

The final instrument is intended to be UKCA marked and a technical file for the motion stage and control system must be shared with NPL along with showing compliance to the relevant standards and legislation. Refers to point 19 of Stage 2 Technical Specifications.

The supplier will need to be able to support installation of the equipment and integration with the main instrument. The following is a high-level set of requirements for the system: • An integrated slide/Motion axis/Motion Stage on a structural beam with appropriate mounting arrangements. • A very stable slide or motion axis with in-position noise levels of 1 nanometre rms. • slide should have pitch and yaw errors of maximum 50+/- microradians. • There should be 2 carriages on the motion stage/slide, each having an operating envelope of 2300 mm or more. • The carriages should be controlled to an incremental motion of 1 micron or less, with an integrated linear encoder to detect position into the nanometer scale. • The carriages are expected to carry a payload of 10 kgs. • All cable management should be integrated into the solution with the ability to add up to 4 additional signal cables. • The carriages will move at low speeds in the range of 1 micron to 25mm per second and accelerations of at least 1 m/s2 • The slide to include an inbuilt linear encoder with a 1 nanometre resolution. • The controller for the system should be provided with an interface be controlled via LabVIEW software.