2022 in Review
Our Organisation
In 2022 we established our laboratory, our new Durham Institute for Research, Development & Invention, and its Centre for Underwater Acoustic Analysis, which we signed the agreement for with the Royal Navy.
The resilience and dynamism of the company has shone through since March 2020 when COVID19 delivered the largest, systemic, global economic shock since 1945. Despite this we opened our laboratory co-located at the Department of Physics, Durham University in June 2021 and continued this proactive response since 24 February 2022’s invasion of Ukraine which added to COVID19’s disturbance of global markets and global supply chains.
At no stage have we entered anyone into furlough, whilst launching new instrumentation and systems, launching DIRDI in June 2022, won our 2nd Queen’s Award for Enterprise in International Trade and on 9 December 2022 signed, the agreement to establish the Centre for Underwater Acoustic Analysis for the Royal Navy as our “gift to the nation” to the Royal Navy Submarine Service.
Our Invention
In June 2020 we were grateful to win the Governments COVID19 Emergency Technology Innovate UK funding to design and manufacture a new instrument for NHS hospital staff to monitor and control infection from negatively-pressurised hospital wards, to the rest of a hospital building. Our R&D track was judged “outstanding” by Innovate UK and we completed the work in 28 weeks. Portascanner™ COVID19 is a world first and allows the NHS to ultrasonically identify leak sites, measure their extent through structures and generate an air flow rate and an air permeability factor so that remedial action to contain infection contagion can be undertaken.
Because of that last year we developed Portascanner™ Airtight 520 at our own risk, so that large commercial buildings can check their airtightness so that the building can properly ventilate with pathogen-free air to help secure “safe working” for its occupants. This too is a world first and is becoming part of the fabric of building’s transitioning to the passive house standard of airtightness and revitalising our technological place in the fire sector, specifically in regard to Fire Doors.
This work in air flow dynamics on land is underpinned by our global expertise in fluid dynamics at sea and specifically in watertight integrity monitoring. Sadly sinking remains a primary reason for ships being lost at sea. Coltraco Ultrasonics lead the world in the ultrasonic identification and measurement of leak sites in ships and marine structures and generating a water flow rate for damage control purposes with Portascanner™ Watertight PRO. We have not rested and, through Portagas™ and Permamass™ Featherweight are now the world’s only company to be able to monitor both liquefied and non-liquefied gaseous extinguishing systems and the 1st to monitor High Pressure NOVEC in the soon to be launched Portalevel® TOUCH.
Coltraco Ultrasonics are part of the global framework in flow, thickness, pressure, level and air & space monitoring. 2023 will see the launch of the Portascanner® WATERTIGHT PLUS, Portalevel® TOUCH, Portapipe®, Portasonic® PLUS and Portagauge® 6.
