Company type | Private |
---|---|
Industry | Measurement technology |
Founded | 1959 |
Founder | Walter P. Kistler Hans Conrad Sonderegger |
Headquarters | , |
Area served | Worldwide |
Key people | Rolf Sonderegger (CEO) Valentin Vogt VR-Präsident) |
Revenue | 361 Mio. CHF (2019) |
Number of employees | around 2,050 (2020) |
Website | www.kistler.com |
Kistler Group (legal name: Kistler Instrumente AG), headquartered in Winterthur, is an internationally active Swiss group of companies specializing in the field of measurement technology. [1] The Kistler Group has around 2,200 employees at more than 60 locations worldwide. In 2023, it generated sales of 465 million Swiss francs Approximately 9% of revenue flows back into research and technology every year. [2]
The company was founded by Walter P. Kistler and Hans Conrad Sonderegger in 1959 as the Kistler Instrument Corporation, but the enterprise started in 1950 when Walter Kistler patented a charge amplifier he developed. Hans Conrad Sonderegger is the father of the current (2010) CEO. In 1959 the company became active on the stock market. Since 1961 the company started the in-house production of charge amplifiers and the development of other sensors. The company made several major innovations, some of which would be put to use in the Apollo manned spaceflights,[ citation needed ] and became a world leader in the development of quartz sensors. Walter Kistler left the company in 1970 and moved to Seattle, Washington.
Kistler develops, manufactures and distributes sensors for measuring pressure, force, torque and acceleration, as well as electronics and software. Kistler specializes in piezoelectric and piezoresistive measurement technology.[ citation needed ]
Kistler measuring systems allow measuring thermoacoustics phenomena in harsh environments with extreme temperatures up to 700 °C. Applications include monitoring of gas turbines and other turbomachinery, R&D of continuous detonation engines, monitoring, and control of pressure oscillations in pipes and acoustic thermometry. Kistler’s durable piezoelectric sensors based on proprietary PiezoStar® KI100 crystal material have been developed specifically for temperatures up to 700 °C. [3] KI100 crystals have no pyroelectric effect.
The piezoelectric sensors (named "channel sensors") from Kistler are also used by the Commission Internationale Permanente pour l'Epreuve des Armes à Feu Portatives (C.I.P.) for proof testing firearms ammunition. [4] These sensors require drilling of the cartridge case before firing the proofing cartridge in a specially made test barrel. For NATO EPVAT testing of military firearms ammunition NATO design EPVAT test barrels with Kistler 6215 and HPI GP6 transducers can be used. [5] [6] For testing shotshell ammunition Kistler produces one type of piezoelectric sensor (called "tangential sensor")'
In recent years, the Kistler Group posted strong organic and inorganic growth (achieved through acquisitions). The following companies are part of the Kistler Group:
Pressure measurement is the measurement of an applied force by a fluid on a surface. Pressure is typically measured in units of force per unit of surface area. Many techniques have been developed for the measurement of pressure and vacuum. Instruments used to measure and display pressure mechanically are called pressure gauges,vacuum gauges or compound gauges. The widely used Bourdon gauge is a mechanical device, which both measures and indicates and is probably the best known type of gauge.
Piezoelectricity is the electric charge that accumulates in certain solid materials—such as crystals, certain ceramics, and biological matter such as bone, DNA, and various proteins—in response to applied mechanical stress. The word piezoelectricity means electricity resulting from pressure and latent heat. It is derived from Ancient Greek πιέζω (piézō) 'to squeeze or press' and ἤλεκτρον (ḗlektron) 'amber'. The German form of the word (Piezoelektricität) was coined in 1881 by the German physicist Wilhelm Gottlieb Hankel; the English word was coined in 1883.
The 5.56×45mm NATO is a rimless bottlenecked centerfire intermediate cartridge family developed in the late 1970s in Belgium by FN Herstal. It consists of the SS109, L110, and SS111 cartridges. On 28 October 1980, under STANAG 4172, it was standardized as the second standard service rifle cartridge for NATO forces as well as many non-NATO countries. Though they are not identical, the 5.56×45mm NATO cartridge family was derived from and is dimensionally similar to the .223 Remington cartridge designed by Remington Arms in the early 1960s.
The Sporting Arms and Ammunition Manufacturers' Institute is an association of American manufacturers of firearms, ammunition, and components. SAAMI is an accredited standards developer that publishes several American National Standards that provide safety, reliability, and interchangeability standards for commercial manufacturers of firearms, ammunition, and components. In addition, SAAMI publishes information on the safe and responsible transportation, storage, and use of those products.
ZF Friedrichshafen AG, also known as ZF Group, originally Zahnradfabrik Friedrichshafen, and commonly abbreviated to ZF, is a German technology manufacturing company that supplies systems for passenger cars, commercial vehicles and industrial technology. It is headquartered in Friedrichshafen, in the south-west German state of Baden-Württemberg. Specializing in engineering, it is primarily known for its design, research and development, and manufacturing activities in the automotive industry and is one of the largest automotive suppliers in the world. Its products include driveline and chassis technology for cars and commercial vehicles, along with specialized plant equipment such as construction equipment. It is also involved in the rail, marine, defense and aviation industries, as well as general industrial applications. ZF has 162 production locations in 31 countries with approximately 168,700 (2023) employees.
Vaisala Oyj is a Finnish company that produces products and services for environmental and industrial measurement.
A piezoelectric sensor is a device that uses the piezoelectric effect to measure changes in pressure, acceleration, temperature, strain, or force by converting them to an electrical charge. The prefix piezo- is Greek for 'press' or 'squeeze'.
PCB Piezotronics is a manufacturer of piezoelectric sensors.
Ultrasonic transducers and ultrasonic sensors are devices that generate or sense ultrasound energy. They can be divided into three broad categories: transmitters, receivers and transceivers. Transmitters convert electrical signals into ultrasound, receivers convert ultrasound into electrical signals, and transceivers can both transmit and receive ultrasound.
An electromagnetic acoustic transducer (EMAT) is a transducer for non-contact acoustic wave generation and reception in conducting materials. Its effect is based on electromagnetic mechanisms, which do not need direct coupling with the surface of the material. Due to this couplant-free feature, EMATs are particularly useful in harsh, i.e., hot, cold, clean, or dry environments. EMATs are suitable to generate all kinds of waves in metallic and/or magnetostrictive materials. Depending on the design and orientation of coils and magnets, shear horizontal (SH) bulk wave mode, surface wave, plate waves such as SH and Lamb waves, and all sorts of other bulk and guided-wave modes can be excited. After decades of research and development, EMAT has found its applications in many industries such as primary metal manufacturing and processing, automotive, railroad, pipeline, boiler and pressure vessel industries, in which they are typically used for nondestructive testing (NDT) of metallic structures.
The Commission internationale permanente pour l'épreuve des armes à feu portatives, commonly abbreviated C.I.P., is an international organisation which sets standards for safety testing of firearms. As of 2015, its members are the national governments of 14 countries, of which 11 are European Union member states. The C.I.P. safeguards that all firearms and ammunition sold to civilian purchasers in member states are safe for the users.
NATO EPVAT testing is one of the three recognized classes of procedures used in the world to control the safety and quality of firearms ammunition.
Brüel & Kjær is a Danish multinational engineering and electronics company headquartered in Nærum, near Copenhagen. It was the largest producer in the world of equipment for acoustic and vibrational measurements. Brüel & Kjær is a subsidiary of Spectris.
The CeramTec Group is a developer and manufacturer of products and components made of technical ceramics. The products are marketed through its own sales companies, among others. They are primarily used in medical technology, automotive engineering, electronics, equipment and mechanical engineering, environmental and energy technology, toolmaking, the chemical industry and the semiconductor industry. The company is headquartered in Plochingen in Baden-Württemberg, Germany.
Pepperl+Fuchs SE is a German multinational company headquartered in Mannheim, Germany. The company manufactures electronic products for fabrication and process automation. It is specialised in sensor manufacturing, such as sensors used in automatic doors in elevators, encoders, AS interfaces, RFID systems, barcode solutions, and explosion protection, as well as components for the automotive industry, and plant engineering.
SPX Corporation is an American manufacturing company, headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina. The company operates within four markets: heating, ventilation, and air conditioning (HVAC), detection and measurement, power transmission and generation, and engineered solutions. Examples of SPX’s products include cooling towers and boilers, underground pipe and cable locators, power transformers, and heat exchangers. Brands include Waukesha, Dielectric, Genfare, Fahrenheat, Radiodetection, and Pearpoint. SPX operates in 17 countries with a sales presence in 100 countries, and over 6,000 employees worldwide. In 2019, the company earned approximately $1.5 billion in annual revenue.
INCA is a measurement, calibration and diagnostic software published by ETAS. With its large installation base in the auto industry, this development software is deployed during all phases of the development of electronic control units (ECUs) and ECU software programs for measuring, calibration, diagnostics and programming.
Small arms ammunition pressure testing is used to establish standards for maximum average peak pressures of chamberings, as well as determining the safety of particular loads for the purposes of new load development. In metallic cartridges, peak pressure can vary based on propellant used, primers used, charge weight, projectile type, projectile seating depth, neck tension, chamber throat/lead parameters. In shotshells, the primary factors are charge weight, projectile weight, wad type, hull construction, and crimp quality.
INFICON, headquartered in Bad Ragaz (Switzerland), is a leading provider of innovative instrumentation, critical sensor technologies, and Smart Manufacturing/Industry 4.0 software solutions that enhance productivity and quality of tools, processes, and complete factories. These analysis, measurement and control products are essential for gas leak detection in air conditioning/refrigeration and automotive manufacturing.
Humanetics is the largest manufacturer of anthropomorphic test devices (ATDs), commonly known as crash test dummies, as measured by market share. Headquartered in Farmington Hills, Michigan, the company is a subsidiary of Humanetics Group, itself owned by Bridgepoint Capital, a private equity firm.