Official UK procurement notice
Mechanical Cryostat for Characterisation of Advanced Materials Down to 4K
Authority: National Physical Laboratory
What is being bought
Published requirement descriptionA cryogenic mechanical test station comprising of a 250 kN hydraulic test frame and a 250 kN load rated cryostat. The cryostat must be suitable for mechanical testing at 4K by immersing test rigs in liquid helium, at 20K in gaseous helium, at 77K in liquid nitrogen and room temperature. The mechanical test frame must have a top mounted hydraulic actuator with sufficient working distance to enable the halves of the cryostat to be separated on specimen removal and loading. Liquid helium and liquid nitrogen dewar feeds are required.
CPV: Laboratory, optical and precision equipments (excl. glasses)
The lotProcurement structure
single lot · no lot value publishedLot #1A 250 kN Servo Hydraulic Fatigue 2 column test system with actuator in crosshead with…
A 250 kN Servo Hydraulic Fatigue 2 column test system with actuator in crosshead with stroke of ±75mm. The test system should have a 1200 mm Tee slot table @590 mm from the floor. Height should provide at least 2690 mm working distance between table and underside of crosshead. Fitted with telescopic lift cylinders. Actuator displacement measurement accuracy of better than ±0.2% of transducer full travel.
Load measurement accuracy to 1/250th of loadcell full scale. Adaptive control system allowing continuous update of PID settings at 1 kHz. Control loop update (10 kHz) on call control axes and continuous synchronous data acquisition at 10 kHz on all sensor channels. Mixed-mode control technology allowing bi-modal and tri-modal control techniques to be used. Mechanical test system fitted with a 250 kN fully Reverse-Cycle-Fatigue-Cryostat consisting of a self-reacting load frame and cryogenic test chamber that mounts to the underside of the test machine’s upper crosshead.
The cryostat should be suitable for quasi-static and mechanical testing at fixed point temperatures of 295 K, 77 K and 4 K. The cryostat should include hardware necessary to conduct temperature-controlled tests at intermediate test temperatures in the range from 20 K to 300 K. Cryostat and test fixturing must be instrumented with temperature sensors and resistive heating elements. A four channel PID temperature controller should be provided to monitor the specimen and chamber temperature and to supply the heating power.
Procedure terms & legal framework
From the official record- Procedure method
- Award procedure without prior publication of a call for competition
- Legal basis
- CELEX · 32014L0024 Public Contracts Regulations 2015 (Directive 2014/24/EU)
- Procurement category
- Goods
- Notice status
- Awarded without competition
- Procurement threshold
- Unspecified in notice
- Regulatory regime
- Standard
- Commercial structure
- Stand-alone contract (no framework)
- Competition type
- Direct award (no call for competition)
- GPA / WTO covered
- Unspecified in notice
- Recurring procurement
- Unspecified in notice
- First published
- 31 Oct 2022, 10:49 GMT
- Last source update
- 31 Oct 2022, 10:49 GMT
- FTS notice number
2022/S 000-030628- Classification (CPV)
- Delivery area
- Official registry OCID
ocds-h6vhtk-037d8eFind a Tender
- Why no open competition
- The procurement falls outside the scope of application of the directive
- Published justification
Instron is the only vendor that can provide a servo-hydraulic test system that is fully compatible with the existing mechanical test infrastructure within the Mechanical Test Facility at NPL. This specifically relates to existing Instron hardware (test frames, adaptors, fixtures, fittings and load cells) and software, as well as coverage under existing maintenance and calibration contracts.
Unique features of the Materials Reliability cryostat include:
(i) the cryostat is thermally and economically efficient for cryogenic tests at 4 K. Its low mass and heat load are key elements responsible for its cryogenic thermal efficiency.
(ii) The RCF test cryostat is extremely versatile regarding types of materials and test specimens that can be tested and has common threaded adapters that provide simple adaptation to different specimen styles.
(iii) The cryostat is designed with concentric indexing, axial alignment and zero backlash features to meet the demanding requirements of fully-reverse-cycle fatigue test specifications.
(iv) The cryostat has a 4-channel commercial cryogenic temperature controller and hardware to provide specimen test temperature control to ± 1K at 20 K in gaseous helium environment
(v) The cryogenic chamber is designed to operate with specimen in a positive pressure (up to 0.5 bar) sealed environment. The proven pressure seals enable the efficient use of liquid or gaseous helium with a controlled vent system to enable the capture of spent helium gas.
(vi) The system has a feedthrough spool assembly with 6 ports;
a. (2) liquid cryogen ports (1 ea. fill and exhaust ports)
b. (2) 25 mm quick connect o-ring seal ports
c. (2) 38 mm dia clearance feedthroughs ports with KF flange seal-off
Commercial outcome & contract awards
Published awards, contracts and bid statistics, not a forecastContracting authority & participating public bodies
Dispute resolution & review bodies
- NPL Management LtdReview body
Bidders & participating suppliers
1 commercial party on the notice- InstronAwarded supplier
Official documents & specifications
Official links; attachments are not copiedNo document links were published on the notice.