History of All Products and Future
The OFDA Technology has more than 30-year history and experience. BSC Electronics developed 3 generations of Measurement of diameter.
The OFDA instrument family allows rapid, very accurate measurement of fibre diameter on fibers including wool, cashmere, synthetic, glass, wire etc. Over 500 OFDAs have been sold worldwide and it is the only digital image processing system to receive an IWTO (International Wool Textile Organization) Test Method.
In 1999 IWG from Australia joined the OFDA group and received the worldwide exclusive rights to sell the OFDA 2000 portable model and has the exclusive right in some countries for sales of other OFDA models. Contact us to locate the correct distributor in your country.
The OFDA 100 (Manufacturing Year 1991 – 2007)
Mark Brims - the inventor of all OFDA products from BSC Electronics developed the OFDA 100 in the early 90’s. There was a need for a precise, accurate and a fast instrument for measurement diameter. Based on the feedback and input of the customers, he added a new parameter to the OFDA 100 – the measurement of medullation.
The OFDA 100 holds two IWTO Test methods.
More than 175 OFDA100s were installed in 29 countries. In 2007 production ceased because of the discontinuation of DOS computers and components.
After 16 years the OFDA 100 has gone into retirement and is replaced by the OFDA 2000. Some of the first ever sold are still in use in 2024.
The OFDA 2000 (Manufacturing Year 1999- 2024)
The OFDA 2000 was developed because the old operating system and computers were difficult to handle and buy. In 1998 BSC Electronics developed the OFDA 2000 portable model for Farmers. The new generation of computers and software doubled the performance of the equipment. The operation system was changed from DOS to Windows. For the Laboratory user BSC developed the OFDA 2000 Bench Top Model. This latest model runs 4 times faster than the original OFDA 100.
After years of development the OFDA 2000 got changed quite a bit, with new Motors processors. With around 20’000 Measurements per minute the OFDA 2000 is one of the fastest and most precise Instrument in the field of Textile measurement.
The OFDA 4000 (Manufacturing Year 2001 – 2024)
In 2000 BSC and HORNIK FIBERTECH commenced development of the latest generation of fiber diameter and length measurements. In 2001 we jointly presented the first prototype at the ITMA Asia in Shanghai. After 7 years of experience, we have sold more than 50 units around the globe.
The OFDA 5000 (Manufacturing Year 2003 –2005)
In 2003 BSC Electronics developed a new OFDA system to measure microfibers with diameters down to 0,5 microns. At the ITMA 2003 in Birmingham the unit was presented to the textile world.
In 2005 they started to develop the next generation called “Diamscope” and “Cottonscope”
The OFDA MFX (Manufacturing Year 2003 – present )
NEW MILE STONE IN 2003: OFDA goes ONLINE
In 2001 BSC started to develop an Online System for the Textile monofilament industry.
Our first customer was a French company that produced sun protections. The company needed the system to check the fibers in the weaving section. There was no cost effective way of measuring the diameter of extruded filaments simultaneously so the OFDA MFX was developed to allow the diameter of hundreds of monofilaments or wires to be measured much faster and at a fraction of the cost of the older laser technology.
A number of systems are now in use in Europe. The OFDA MFX will now be introduced to the world market.
The Cottoncsope and Diamscope (Manufacturing Year 2005 – present)
The senior developer Hy Wang dropped out of BSC – Electronics and started the company Fibermetrics
Fibermetrics and BSC Eelectronics worked closely togehter
Fibermetrics is focused in the delvelopment in OFDA MFX, Diamscope and Diamscope.