Newly formed company, Krans Ltd, launches at The EpiCentre

A company growing its global sphere of influence from a base in the East of England is helping to develop hi-tech sensors that elicit best practice from a range of industries, such as nuclear, and turn perceived hazard into potential opportunity – not just for engineering teams but also for the health of the planet.

Krans Ltd, based at The EpiCentre in Haverhill, is a newly formed business established to deliver innovative and bespoke inspection solutions specialising in the areas of Eddy Current Array inspection (ECA), Pulsed Eddy Current Testing (PEC), Magnetic Flux Leakage, Visual Inspection (VI) and Digital Microscopy (DM).

Its stated aim is to build a team of researchers and development engineers able to provide effective, non-destructive inspection solutions, expand and improve the use of Artificial Intelligence to support these activities in the interest of enhancing quality control, process efficiency and remove limitations due to the number of inspection specialists required in the process.

Krans is already influential through operations at Sellafield, a multi-function nuclear site on the Cumbrian coast. For Sellafield Ltd it provides improved measurement of flaw depth in nuclear storage canisters through the combined application of ECA and digital microscopy. It is currently developing software to facilitate data fusion and to support the operators in their interpretation of inspection results.

While the first nuclear power stations were not built until the 1950s, nuclear energy is experiencing a comeback with global generation set to reach an all-time high in 2025.

This is due to increased investment, supportive policies, technological advances like Small Modular Reactors and rising electricity demand. Key drivers for the revival include the need for stable, low-emission energy to meet climate goals, growing energy demand from sectors like data centres and a renewed focus on energy security and supply diversification. 

In another key sector, Krans is working for ITER/UKAEA on the remote deployment of ECA sensors in a radioactive environment for the inspection of welds as part of the ITER project – an international project with 33 nations collaborating to design, construct and operate a prototype nuclear fusion reactor in Southern France. This has required the development of radiation hardened sensors and for the sensors to operate some 60m from the data collection system.

Krans is also key to aerospace organisations, developing a bespoke inspection system for the in-service inspection of aircraft components. This entails the company designing component specific sensors, a deployment system and data interpretation software.

Influential players are driving the business to fresh successes. They include Dr. Rukhshinda Wasif – an engineer with hands-on experience in designing, developing and testing electromagnetic sensors, conversant with finite element modelling, computer-aided design and signal processing algorithms.

She developed AI-based algorithms for optimising the sensor and modified signal processing algorithms to detect and characterise corrosion defects.

Ivan Pinson has 40 years’ experience managing and participating in multidisciplinary inspection projects. He previously headed the NDT Department at The Welding Institute (TWI) in Cambridge, delivering consultancy services to companies within the oil & gas, power and aerospace sectors.

Also key to the operation is Dr. Juvaria Syeda, a PhD in Computer Engineering (in the field of Machine learning and Image analysis) and Masters in Advance Software Engineering MSc (Eng) from Sheffield University.

As part of her PhD Industrial Placement, she presented an automated inspection technique that is able to perform detection and measurements of on-surface micro-flaws caused by corrosion fatigue, including classification of pits and cracks using data-driven novel supervised and unsupervised machine learning methodologies. This was linked directly to railway standard requirements.

Krans was founded when the former parent company Innerspec Technologies decided to focus on equipment sales alone.  

The business is entirely self-funded, with each of the key players investing their own funds into the business. The company has applied for roles in a couple of collaborative projects and await the outcomes.

Krans is ambitious and plans to grow the client base for its R & D services, to have at least one new commercial inspection project incorporating the use of AI and to hire more people as the business expands.

With key customers already in the nuclear sphere, Krans envisages that the sector will continue to grow with the development of small modular reactors and research into nuclear fusion reactors. The company is also starting to work more in aerospace and, again, will explore further growth opportunities in the segment.

It has built a strong launchpad. While its customers are currently UK-based its major projects are all to be deployed internationally.

Being based at The EpiCentre is seen by the founders as key to this expansion strategy. It says: “The EpiCentre is not only convenient as we live locally but also offers us superior office space at a lower price than our previous base and we also have room to expand here without facing a lengthy commute.”