Facilities

Laboratory for the analysis of phase change processes of coolant fluids in heat exchange devices used in the automotive industry.

Unique equipment:

• High-speed camera: Phantom Veo410, 5,200 fps @ 1,280x800 pixel.
• High-speed camera: AOS Technologies Q-PRI, 2,000 fps @ 900x700 pixel
• Closed circuit fluid coolant, working range: 250-3000kg/h, 1-5 bar abs, 25-100ºC, 25-100L.
• Thermal imaging camera: FLIR E60 IR resolution 320 × 240 pixel
• Flow analyzer: HI-5321 Research Grade EC/TDS Meter with USP for conductivity measurement
• Flow Analyzer: HI-5221 Research Grade pH/ORP/Temperature Meter
• Flow Analyzer: HI-96831 Digital Refractometer for Ethylene Glycol Analysis
• Lighting: High Power LED: GS VITEC MULTILED G8 SET
• Frameless modular DAQ system: IMC CRONOS flex CRFX-400 + CFRFX/DCB2-8; Up to 2000 kS/s per system and up to 100 kS/s per channel
• Laboratory for the analysis of phase change processes of coolant fluids in heat exchange devices used in the automotive industry.

Laboratory for the study and characterization of surfaces using non-invasive optical techniques mainly focused on the analysis of heat transfer surfaces.

Unique equipment:

• Sensofar profilometer (confocal microscopy +interferometric, objective10Xand20X, resolution up to 20 nm).
• Microscope: PLU Neox3D Optical Profiler + Objective DI 50X 0.55NA; 3-in-1 technologies, Active Illumination Focus Variation - Confocal - Interferometry; Vertical Resolution < 0.3 nm
• 3D Printing Equipment, 3dKreator, multi-material printing (ABS, PLA, FLEX, PET, Wood...)

Laboratory for testing biomass products and compounds, testing of process improvements, fouling and maintenance of equipment, verification of boiler technical specifications, optimization of combustion processes, and analysis of boiler designs.

Unique equipment:

• Biomass boiler: KWB Multifire 60kW pellet and chip biomass boiler.
• Biomass boiler: Ecoforest 24kW pellet boiler.
• Thermogravimetric equipment: SETARAM, Simultaneous Thermogravimetric Analyzer (TGA) and Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC).
• Experimental batch burner to analyze the velocity of the advancing front.
• Continuous feed burner to study combustion and fouling in boilers.

Laboratory for environmental temperature and humidity tests to study the behavior of corrosion phenomena, presence of high temperature gradients, thermal shocks or accelerated aging in different industrial processes.

Unique equipment:

• Climatic and Thermostatic Chamber: ACS Discovery DM600 C ES TT03743 equipped with a dehumidifier kit. Temperature range: from -75°C to +180°C

Laboratory for the investigation and tuning of combustion engines, under different conditions and fuels, within a controlled and fully sensorized environment.

Unique equipment:

• Three-cylinder diesel for biofuel testing.
• V-Twin gasoline with real-time control unit.
• Stirling engine.

Laboratory for the generation and analysis of combustion gas flows for the study of particulate matter and species present in the gas stream, in order to evaluate new emission control systems and develop cleaner technologies for the transportation sector.

Unique equipment:

• SMPS (Scanning Mobility Particle Sizer), TSI 3936 L75-N.
• Opacimeter
• Electrostatic precipitator.
• Hydrocarbon injection system.
• Multifunction I/O Device Manual NI USB-6343: 32 AI, 4 AO and 48 Digital I/O

Laboratory to prepare and perform multiphysics numerical simulations, using different simulation software and in multiple projects, mainly in the areas of energy, transportation and biomedical engineering.

Unique equipment:

• Simulation software licenses: Ansys (CFD & FEM), StarCD, Matlab, etc.
• Outside the building, an HPC (High Performance Computing) with a capacity of 80.5 TFLOPs made up of 1560 cores and 7.6TB of RAM linked by a low latency InfiniBand™ network is available to the Cintecx.
• In the building itself, there is another compute cluster, with a capacity of 14.5 TFLOPs, consisting of 18 compute servers with a total of 512 nodes and 2.12TB of RAM dedicated to code development and initial calculations.

High power lasers laboratory for materials processing at macrometric scale. In this laboratory, processes such as dissimilar metal A-metal B welding, additive manufacturing of metal alloys, laser plating, etc. are carried out.

Unique equipment:

• 3 kW Iterbium fiber laser. Wavelength: 1070 nm.
• Laser additive manufacturing station for metal alloys.
• Laser welding station with wire feeding for homogeneous or dissimilar metals welding. 

Laboratory of pulsed lasers for materials processing at micro and nanometer scale. In this laboratory, processes such as surface treatment of polymeric, metallic or ceramic materials, high-precision micro-cutting or micro-drilling, production of nanoparticles, etc. are carried out.

Unique equipment:

• Pulsed lasers with nanosecond pulses. Wavelengths: 1064 nm, 532 nm and 355 nm.
• Pulsed lasers with picosecond pulses. Wavelength: 1064 nm.
•  Various laser material processing chambers in controlled atmosphere.

The accesses are equipped for heavy vehicles, facilitating the transfer and acquisition of large scientific-industrial equipment in the building.

Test vehicle garage and area intended for supplying working fluids.

Unique equipment:

• Mobile laser system (Optech Lynx Mobile Mapper M1).

Workshop equipped with generalist equipment for maintenance operations of scientific-technical equipment. It is available to all areas and is for the specific use of a workshop technician.

Unique equipment:

• Beller LC 360/1000 lathe.
• Bandsaw. BELFLEX BF-200-SC
• Hydraulic press 20TN: Unicraft WPP 20 E
• FORTEX FTX-45-TFS mobile column milling machine.

Laboratory for 3D printing operations, by means of laser sintering printer, maintaining constant environmental conditions.

Unique equipment:

• Sinterit Lisa PRO printer, with mixing cabin and auxiliary equipment.

Datasheet: Additive Manufacturing Workshop

Rest area for the use of CINTECX members, consisting of a space with different atmospheres and equipped with an office kitchen.

Room adapted for holding group meetings, with capacity for 15 people, equipped with audiovisual devices for online conferences.

A space equipped for conferences and presentations with capacity for 30 people.

Space for the development of CINTECX's management and coordination activities.

This space is intended for carrying out CINTECX's administration and management tasks.

Transit and communication spaces between the different laboratories. Eventually used for coffee breaks and other events.

Transit and communication spaces between the different laboratories. Eventually used for coffee breaks and other events.

Transit and communication spaces between the different laboratories. They allow the passage of large machinery and equipment.

Transit spaces that allow the passage of large machinery and equipment.

Rock mechanics, cultural heritage conservation and cartographic engineering laboratory. It is used in areas such as mining and mine planning, rock mechanics engineering, cartographic engineering, cultural heritage conservation, environmental modeling and safety.

Unique equipment:

• Press model MES 200 with a load capacity of 2000 KN, servo-controlled and with rail system for sample introduction. Includes 2000 kN oleopneumatic compression frame and frame, pressure data acquisition system and data acquisition system for LVDTs.
• Sick ColorRanger E50 (Ranger-E50434), matrix camera, capable of performing a "MultiScan" and collecting 3D and RGB information in different parts of the CMOS sensor. Class IIIB white LED and Laser illumination system. Electromechanical platform of the prototype. PC with MVTec Halcon 12 software. 3D laser scanner camera and a 2D linear camera.
• Phoenix-300 Touch SEO goniometer equipped with an automatic dosing system and a CCD camera with 6.5x zoom.
• GEOSLAM handheld LiDAR system. This equipment, which is the latest generation of laser measurement and autonomous positioning systems by scan-matching,
• FARO terrestrial LiDAR system. This equipment allows the 3D digitalization of natural and built environments through the automatic generation of point clouds of very high quality and millimeter precision.

Laboratory of Geospatial Systems for environmental and built space modeling. Development of methods and tools based on the use of geospatial data (images of different nature and LiDAR), for efficient mobility, infrastructure resilience and intelligent management of the environment.

Unique equipment:

• Ground scanning lasers: Riegl's LMS-Z390i, LiDAR Faro Focus 330X, LiDAR Hokuyo UGR30, Hokuyo UTM-30LX, Velodyne.
• UAVs: MikroKopter Okto XL, 3DR, Foxtech. DJI Phantom 3.
• Photogrammetric cameras: Canon 5D, Canon 10D, Sony Nex 6, Sony Nex 7.
• Thermal imaging cameras: NEC TH9260, Gobi 640 GigE,
• Cubert ULTRIS hyperspectral camera.

Space dedicated to mechanical integration of prototypes (electro-mechanics, mechatronics, automation). Testing, tuning, control.  Experience in prototyping and carbon fiber assemblies.

Unique equipment:

• Faro Vantage laser-tracker. Range: envelope (horizontal: 360°; vertical: 130°) up to 80 m; resolution: 0.5um / 2''; sampling: 16000 Hz.
• Thermo-vacuum chamber. Range: 50 mbar - 6atm; usable volume: 1775 mm x D930 (1.2 m3); wide opening, service tray (1600 mm x 550 mm, 800 Kg); heater 18 kW; vacuum pump (12 m3/h).  
• Multiple sensors (load cells, accelerometers, temperature, vacuum).

Research laboratory in the field of electric drives, converter control in distributed generation systems and power electronic conversion in industrial applications.

Unique equipment:

• Electric drives test bench consisting of electric machines, torque and speed sensors, power electronic converters.
• Distributed generation systems test bench consisting of power electronic converters, generation systems and energy storage systems.

Laboratory for the design, optimization and innovation of chemical, biochemical and environmental processes. Its activity is focused on the following lines of work:

• Circular economy and industrial waste valorization.
•  Soil and urban and industrial wastewater remediation.
• Biotechnology applied to the production and scaling of metabolites.
• Innovative strategies in separation processes.

Unique equipment:

• Pilot Plant consisting of 8 BRAUN BIOTECH 2 L Bioreactors, equipped with control and data acquisition system. Complemented with Selecta Autoclave
• Presoclave 75 L, thermostatized orbital incubators and Biological Safety Cabin BIO II ADVANCE 4
• Thermolyne Atmosphere Controlled Ashing Furnaces - F6030CM-33-60, with a working volume of approximately 14L.
• High-performance electrochemical equipment AUTOLAB model PGSTAT302N + FRA32M / ADC10M / SCAN / DYN.LOAD / VOLT.MULT / MUXMULTI
• Spectrofluorimeter Jasco FP-8300
•  Chromatography equipment HPLC 1100 and 1260 with DAD detector, GC-MS Agilent 6850 and GC-FID Agilent 7820

Laboratory specialized in the extraction, purification, characterization and application of biosurfactants as well as in the elaboration of bioadsorbents, both products based on the use of agro-industrial waste, circular economy and industrial symbiosis.

Singular equipment:

• High Performance Liquid Chromatograph (HPLC), with DAD, Fluorescence and Refractive Index detectors.
• Double beam UV/Vis spectrophotometer with thermostated multi-cell system.
• Multiskan FC microplate reader with incubator.
• Semi-automatic digital tensiometer.
• Brookfield programmable digital viscometer, LV version for low viscosities.
• Rotary evaporator with membrane pump and automatic vacuum control system.
• Bioreactor with agitation, pH, temperature and dissolved oxygen control.
• Laminar flow cabinet.
• Ultraturrax homogenizer.
• Telstar LyoQest -85ºC lyophillizer.
• Ultrafreezer of -86ºC Thermo 900 series.

Equipped for 8 design and calculation workstations. Space for work meetings.

Unique equipment:

• ANSYS research and commercial licenses.
• Intel Xeon W-2155 10Cores 3.3GHz-4.5Ghz QuadChannel, 64Gb DDR4, Quadro M6000 12Gb 12 Gb DDR5 workstation.
• Intel Xeon Gold 6242 2.8GHz, 192Gb DDR4 Workstation

Coworking room for researchers of the Novos Materiais group based on the concept of laboratory of ideas. It is a space that promotes collaborative work, the exchange of new ideas and encourages reflection, creativity and inspiration, all oriented to the development of new materials.

Unique equipment (in annexed laboratories):

• Laser Processing Laboratory (Clean Room ISO-7 Class Certification).
• Biomaterials Laboratory, equipped with 3D printers.
• In vitro Cell Culture Laboratory for materials testing.

The laboratory is dedicated to the characterization of materials for their physical, chemical and structural properties. The physical and structural properties are associated with the bulk material. The chemical properties are basically electrochemical, associated with the surface of the material, more specifically the metal-medium interface (corrosion).

Unique equipment:

• Thermal analysis equipment: differential scanning calorimeter (DSC) and thermogravimetric balance (TG). They allow observing the changes undergone by the material in a controlled atmosphere when subjected to a thermal cycle. 
• Mercury intrusion porosimeter (MIP), used to determine the porosity of ceramic materials, mainly cement and its derivatives. 
• Climatic chambers to control the relative humidity and temperature conditions, suitable for accelerated tests. 
• UV-visible spectrophotometer for the identification of substances and their concentration in solution.
• Moisture absorption analyzer, IGAsorp. For the determination of adsorption/desorption processes of the sample under highly controlled conditions of relative humidity and temperature.
• Scanning Electrochemical Scanning Microscope (SECM) to characterize at local level (micrometer range) the surface reactivity of the material.
• Potentiostat/galvanostat to perform different electrochemical interface characterization techniques, including cyclic voltammetry (CV) and electrochemical impedance spectroscopy (EIS).