MALVERN technology company Metrasens has received a top award for its work to improve MRI scanners and contraband detectors.

The specialist based at Beauchamp Business Centre in Sparrowhawk Close won an innovation award from the Institute of Physics for its Ferromagnetic Detection Systems, which can significantly reduce dangerous projectile and pacemaker failure accidents in the scanners and also combat mobile phones being smuggled into prisons.

Dr Mark Keene, chief technology officer at Metrasens, said: “Metrasens is proud to receive this award as it recognizes the valuable contribution that our products are making in important areas including patient safety and prison security. Our unique technology is being used to keep patients safe in Magnetic Resonance Imaging facilities around the world, by preventing steel items becoming projectiles as they approach the powerful magnet in the scanner. We are also proud to have created the world’s most sensitive and versatile contraband detector which is being used in prisons to combat the curse of smuggled mobile phones.”

Under the strong magnetic attraction of an MRI scanner, ferromagnetic objects such as scissors or medical gas cylinders may become dangerous projectiles, while unexpected implants such as pacemakers, brain stimulators and shunt valves may have their functions severely affected, leading to patient harm. FMDS can sensitively detect tiny fluctuations in large ambient magnetic fields caused by ferromagnetic moving objects and so detect the presence of such ferromagnetic "risk items" before they approach the MRI and result in a serious patient accident.

This technology is also being used successfully for contraband detection in prisons. FMDS have superior detection performance for mobile phones and can be used flexibly anywhere within a prison, in contrast to conventional metal detectors and X-ray technologies.

Metrasens has successfully created markets in MRI safety and prison security and as a result has seen a strong consistent annual revenue growth since the company was founded in 2005.

Frances Saunders, president of the IOP, said: “Congratulations to Metrasens Ltd for a great application of physics. Innovations like these show how physics can be applied successfully to such a wide range of challenges and help society become a safer place to live in.”

Metrasens will be showcasing its innovation at a parliamentary reception on October 28 and will also be attending an awards ceremony in London on November 5.