Capital Equipment in Support of the National Research Facility for Lab X-ray CT

实验室X射线计算机断层扫描（CT）的国家研究设施（NRF）旨在为英国学术界和工业界提供世界一流的X射线成像设施和相关专业知识，使：（1）为没有扫描仪的用户提供3D/4D非破坏性X射线成像，（2）用户超越传统的吸收CT，具有相衬衍射和彩色CT，（3）用户探索材料在负载或极端环境下的行为，（4）用户能够获得NRF将通过增强的计算硬件、软件、支持和培训提供的非常大的数据集的更多信息，（5）工业用户通过有关部件、设备及其制造工艺的内部信息获得竞争优势。为了实现这一目标，NRF汇集了4个卓越中心（曼彻斯特、南安普顿、伦敦大学学院和沃里克的辐条设施）。NRF将于2020年11月1日正式启动，并将带来新设备，以补充合作伙伴设施的现有设备。这里要求的物品将进一步支持我们帮助用户和最佳利用工作人员时间的使命，并将侧重于扩大现有设施的能力，以更好地补充即将到来的新设备。他们还将确保我们的设备能够提供最高质量的结果并支持大量用户。4个轮辐中的每一个都为NRF的多尺度和原位主题做出了贡献，提供互补的设施和专业知识，并领导一个技术主题：曼彻斯特将领导“丰富的层析成像”的主题，利用高光谱和基于衍射的层析成像以及多尺度/多模式成像。南安普顿将在大样本扫描和生命科学方面处于领先地位。UCL将在相位对比成像和电化学设备方面处于领先地位。沃里克将引领快速成像和X射线CT计量。总之：曼彻斯特的探测器将使我们现有的高通量舱（HFB）可供用户进行原位实验。南安普顿的可定制机械加载台将扩展部署原位驱动/测试的范围和速度，支持测试更大工程样品/系统的定制性质。UCL的辐射外壳将使相位对比系统运行两条光束线而不是一条光束线成为可能，最大限度地提高NRF设备的实用性。这将带来新的附加功能，并扩大我们可以针对相位对比成像的用例范围，帮助更多用户。沃里克的高级重建工作站将使重建吞吐量增加4倍，并将能够处理稀疏/有限角度投影。这将大大有助于数据吞吐量和高质量的重建交付从高速/嘈杂的数据。总之，我们相信这些具有成本效益的增强将建立在我们现有的互补优势，并将带来显着的好处，我们的用户现在和未来。独立的X射线成像指导委员会（XISC）的NRF代表（a）物理科学用户，（B）生物医学，（c）环境和地球科学，以及（d）工程将监测向用户的交付，并建立在公平、透明和快速的访问模式基础上，该模式将由设施董事会（FB）执行和评判，该董事会由设施董事、首席仪器科学家和来自辐条的联合董事组成，一个具有代表性的钻石光源（从而确保设施为英国的利益而共同努力）、NPL和EPSRC以及3个用户。将持续监控用户反馈和关键绩效指标（KPI），以保持用户体验和研究的质量，并在必要时进行改进。

The National Research Facility (NRF) for Lab X-ray Computed Tomography (CT) aims to provide the UK academic and industrial community with access to world class X-ray imaging facilities and the associated expertise enabling:(1) Access to 3D/4D non-destructive X-ray imaging for users without a scanner of their own,(2) Users to go beyond conventional absorption CT with phase contrast diffraction and colour CT,(3) Users to explore the behaviour of materials under loading or extreme environments,(4) Users to be able to get more information for the very large datasets that the NRF will provide through, enhanced computational hardware, software, support and training,(5) Industrial users to gain a competitive advantage through inside information about components, devices and their manufacturing processes.To achieve this the NRF brings together 4 centres of excellence (Spoke facilities at Manchester, Southampton, UCL and Warwick). The NRF officially starts on 1st November 2020 and will bring new equipment to complement the existing equipment available across the partner facilities. The items requested here will further support our mission of helping users and making the best use of staff time, and will be focused on extending the capabilities of the current facilities to better complement the incoming new equipment. They will also ensure our equipment is able to deliver the highest quality results and support the large number of users. Each of the 4 Spokes contributes to the multiscale and in situ themes of the NRF providing complementary facilities and expertise as well as leading a technical theme: Manchester will lead the theme of 'rich tomography' exploiting hyperspectral and diffraction based tomography as well as multiscale/multimodal imaging. Southampton will lead on large sample scanning and life sciences. UCL will lead on phase contrast imaging and electrochemical devices. Warwick will lead on fast imaging and X-ray CT metrology.In summary:The detector at Manchester will make our existing high-flux bay (HFB) available to users for in situ experiments.The customisable mechanical loading stage at Southampton will extend the range and rapidity of deploying in situ actuation/testing, supporting the often bespoke nature of testing larger engineering samples/systems.The radiation enclosure at UCL will make it possible to run two beam lines instead of one from the phase contrast system, maximising the utility of the NRF equipment. This will bring new additional capability and enhance the range of use cases we can target for phase contrast imaging helping more users.The advanced reconstruction workstation at Warwick will increase reconstruction throughput by 4x and will enable handling of sparse/limited angle projections. This will significantly help with data throughput and the delivery of good quality reconstructions from high speed/noisy data.Altogether we believe these cost-effective enhancements will build upon our existing complementary strengths and will bring significant benefit to our users now and into the future.The independent X-ray Imaging Steering Committee (XISC) of the NRF with representation from (a) physical science users, (b) biomedical, (c) environmental & earth sciences, and (d) engineering will monitor delivery to users and be built upon a fair, transparent and rapid access model, which will be implemented and judged by the Facilities Board (FB) comprising the Directors of the Facility, the Principal Instrument Scientist and the Co-Directors from the Spokes, a representative Diamond Light Source (thereby ensuring that the Facilities work together for the benefit of the UK), NPL and EPSRC as well as 3 users. User feedback and key performance indicators (KPIs) will be continuously monitored to maintain the quality of the user experience and the research that is undertaken and make improvements where necessary.