Deby & Co. C.I.P. Ballistic Systems

Presentation :

Deby & Co is a limited company established in Liege / Belgium.
The company is specialized in the design of ballistic systems used by cartridge manufacturers, proof-houses and other official organizations and relies on the experience of over 30 years of its founder in this area. 

Contact details :

Michel Deby - General Manager
French & English
Tel +32 484 27 40 64
Email : mdeby@debyco.com

Lita Schwab - Associate - Export Manager
French, English, German, Russian, Turkish
Tel : +32 496 78 95 20
Email : lita.schwab@debyco.com

A few photos :

Together with Mr Sterkhov - director of the Russian
Proofhouse and his team - while we were
making their C.I.P. ballistic installation
in Moscow

On the boat on our way to Hull in England
to make an installation at Steel Shot Co, Ltd

Detail of the main screen of
our ballistic software

Debriefing session in Idstein / Germany
on our way back after the
IWA exhibition in Nuremberg

Same

Test barrel shotshell caliber 12
with pressure sensor for
dynamic calibration

Typical test report under NATO
procedure

Same as above

Lita in Las Vegas / USA
(Shot show exhibition)

Complete view of an installation
at Fiocchi Lab / CFL in Italy

Rear view of the National Instruments / Emerson
acquisition electronics

Repeat monitor at Nobel Sport
factory in Anneyron / France

Complete view of the ballistic sofware main screen
in Turkish. Runs in French, English, German,
Russian and Turkish. Other languages available
upon request

Complete view of the ballistic system
at Nobel Sport Anneyron factory in France
(manufacturing of shotshell ammunition)

Our stand on the
Arms & Hunting at Gostinyy Dvor
exhibition hall in Moscow

Deby Bio :

Five generations in the arms industry.

Michel Deby is not really a gunsmith like everyone else, he realizes devices for measuring pressure in the arms and velocities of projectiles. It has been five generations Deby's name is attached to weapons and ammunition in one way or another. His grand-grandfather manufactured pistols and revolvers entirely by hand. His grandfather worked at the Liege foundry of cannon, his father worked in the restoration of tanks and now his son has joined the Belgian Army where he became also a specialist in ammunition !

Deby is recognized as one of the few specialist in the world who can provide modern and highly accurate ballistic systems that are both strictly compliant to standards and efficient to minimize the workload for the testing of ammunition at manufacturing plants where, sometimes, more than 1000 shots for testing are made per day ! Many professionals such as proof houses, propellant and ammo manufacturers appreciate the quality of Deby systems and remain loyal to the brand since more than 30 years now.

Software description :

Software for use in ballistic laboratories in connection with timer modules, National Instruments / Emerson Data Acquisition and other various equipments.

Standard procedures :

The software complies fully with :

• CIP decisions, text and tables, edition 2007.
• ANSI/SAAMI Performance Standards books Z.299, edition 1992-1993 (most recent).

Target applications :

• Official proofhouses of any C.I.P. member countries : United Arab Emirates, Austria, Belgium, Chili, Czech Republic, Germany, Spain, Finland, France, United Kingdom, Hungary, Italy, Portugal, Serbia, Russia, Slovakia.
• Ammunition manufacturers
• Schools & Research and Developments laboratories.

Compatibility with existing equipments:

Our software is compatible with the following type of equipments :

Velocity cells :

HPI, Oehler Research, Drello, Microbase or any kind providing a standard 0-10 V triggering signal. Connections with RG-58 cables and BNC plugs.
Signals adaptation upon request.

Action time: Typically using a ring with a camera, pressure transducer or a laser system.

Transducers :

Any type, generally HPI or PCB as long as they are connected to one of the charge amplifier listed below.

Charge amplifiers :

• PCB 462A, 462B53, 400A21, 421A25
• PM 2000
• Bruel and Kjaer 2635.
• Columbia Research 4601.
• Endevco 2721A, 2721B.

Other types available upon request.

Acquisition electronics:

The electronics is based on state-of-the-art National Instruments / Emerson acquisition boards and peripherals. Upgrade from older electronics is possible as long as the output signals are standard (please ask us for checking)

Signals conditioning :

National Instruments / Emerson signal conditioner with built in electronics for :

• Triggering on firing pin, pressure rise, muzzle flash or velocity1 start.
• Velocities signals crop to TTL level.
• Pressure channels connection and shielding.
• Forwarding of "chain ready" signal for proper timeout operations.
• Interfacing to acquisition board via USB to computer.
  

National Instruments / Emerson acquisition board :

This board is mounted in the dedicated acquisition enclosure:

• Pressure sampling up to 1.25 MSamples/sec. Can be set into one of the following configuration :

• One channel 1.25 MSamples/sec for ultra high accuracy R&D measurements.
• Two channel 500 KSamples/sec for normal compliance testing.
• Two channels 500 KSamples/sec for analysis on secondary manometer (only for CIP laboratories).
• Four channels 250 KSamples/sec for various studies with multiple transducers.
• 8 to 12 channels - 250 KSamples/sec for various studies with multiple transducers ("flute mounting" 2 or 3 boards may be required required).
• One timer for action time - resolution 80MHz - Quartz accuracy 50ppm.
• Up to 3 velocity timers - resolution 80MHz - Quartz accuracy 50ppm. (up to 3 boards - 12 velocity channels for specific trajectories-velocities analysis).
• The board is delivered standard with National Instruments / Emerson NI-DAQmx drivers compatible with Microsoft Windows 7 or above.

Note : For fast maintenance and service, the entire electronic equipments described above are available from stock in any countries where National Instruments / Emerson is present or represented : United States, Canada, all of European Union countries, Switzerland, Russia, Slovenia, Romania, Israel, Jordan, United Arab Emirates, Australia, China, Hong-Kong, India, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New-Zeeland, Philippines, Singapore, Taiwan, South Africa, Turkey, Mexico, Brazil, Argentina, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Peru and Uruguay.

Computer characteristics:

The electronics described above and the measurement software are installed on robust industrial computers :

• CPU Intel or AMD 2 GHz or above
• 1 Gb RAM memory or above
• At least one USB 2.0 ports for connecting acquisition electronics
• One Ethernet connection for LAN/Internet connection
• 80 GB Hard disk or above
• Windows 10 or above in the local language but with the possibility to switch to English for maintenance by us
• Anti-virus/Anti-spyware, Microsoft Essentials recommended (other anti-virus are causing to heavy load on the CPU and must be avoided)
• One main monitor 24 inches 1920x1080
• One repeat monitor 19 inches at least
• Standard keyboard and mouse in the customer's language
• A permanent Internet connection
  (compulsory for installation, automatic security update by Microsoft and remote maintenance by us)

Specific hardware and software installed :

• Acquisition electronics as described above
• Own database system
• Own Standard executable
• Own ballistic software executable
• Teamviewer version 9 for remote maintenance by us
  
• Any custom application upon request

Note : Subject to our approval, any other useful software of good brand can be installed on the same computer without risk of interfering with the measurement application. Such application can include word processing & spreadsheets (Word, Excel, LibreOffice, etc.), ERP front end, electronic mail, internet navigators (Chrome, Edge, Firefox, etc.)

Detailed software description:

Upon request, provided to customers only.

Notice :

• The description above has no contractual value and is subject to changes without notice.
• Pricing and quotation upon request.
• All sales are subject to our terms and conditions provided with our first quotation to a new customer.

System upgrade

As of july 2009, we inform our customers that we have started a major upgrade of our ballistic system. Within weeks from now, we will be able to connect the system to the electronic acquisition boards of any older system from Canon Delcour or Exacom. Thus it will be possible to upgrade the computer only and recover a good support.

Further we proceed to a system totally paperless specially designed for high volume cartridges manufacturers. All reports are now PDF files fully searchable on the server. Connection to any ERP software is possible (currently running against SAP and Adonix)

CIP Testing

It is perhaps a good idea to sometimes remind what is CIP Testing.

"CIP" stands for "Commission Internationale Permanente". It was created in 1914 by the Director of the Liege Proofhouse. More: read here.

Reliability record reached

Yesterday we got an e-mail at 15:25 from a customer in France. Their system, including computer, acquisition boards and instruments that we installed in 1999 was down for the very first time in nearly 10 years of good operation. A complete reinstall was needed.

We started to assist the maintenance people over Internet yesterday 10 minutes later, immediately uploading all the necessary software right into the exact version that was delivered 10 years ago. On the way we recompiled it with very minor changes with our updated development tools.

The system was up and running today at 14:25 pm precisely. That is less than 11 workhours downtime.

Such maintenance work would not have been possible just a few years ago. For the occasion we used all possible tools available over Internet.

Again, we thank all our customers for their trust throughout the years.

Pressure transducers calibration - an innovative dynamic procedure

The picture above illustrate a custom program used to calibrate pressure transducers, more precisely to dynamically compare the behavior of a working transducer (daily used in production) against a reference transducer. Both are mounted on the assembly, measures take place just as usual but with both acquisition chains in parallel. Then the program computes the linear regression making it possible to apply correctors on the working transducer so that the highest accuracy is always achieved over the time. Calibrations can be compared from week to week (the frequency depends on the case). By doing this, we see when a transducer falls below limits and needs to be ditched.