Teledyne Impulse: Making Connections in San Diego
by Edward Lundquist
Teledyne Impulse Knows about Making Connections in San Diego’s Blue Tech cluster
Teledyne Impulse designs and manufactures high-reliability electrical and optical interconnection systems and connectors for a broad range of harsh environment applications. According to General Manager, Ray Hom, the company’s products are proven performers in the most demanding applications, which include oceanographic exploration, defense, oil and gas production, nuclear systems, and spacecraft and launch vehicles. Teledyne Impulse is a market-focused business unit of Teledyne Oil & Gas, an alliance of Teledyne Technology companies delivering engineered solutions for monitoring, sensing and interconnect applications.
“Teledyne Impulse delivers high-reliability engineered solutions for interconnect applications,” says Hom. “We address the current and future needs of the oceanographic, defense, and renewable energy markets through advanced technologies and world-class support. A variety of interconnect solutions and value-added systems are provided that guarantee reliable operation in all ocean environments — ‘from the surface to the sea floor.’ Teledyne Impulse uses a scientific approach to reliability engineering in the design and manufacture of complete technology solutions.” The foundation of these capabilities is Teledyne Scientific Company, a world-class materials science research laboratory with depth and experience to develop the technologies required for the most demanding subsea applications. “We provide a large variety of standard or custom designed solutions—from miniature dry-mate instrumentation connectors to subsea power and fiber optic wet pluggable connectors to suit any application or environment,” says Hom. “We also design and develop complex encapsulation and molding solutions for subsea components.”
“Our customers include companies that manufacture or use instrumentation, vehicles or systems that go subsea. We support original equipment manufacturers, research organizations, oil and gas companies and end users that operate products underwater. We design and manufacture the interconnect solution that forms a pressure proof barrier between the instrument’s electrical housing and the ocean outside to allow for the transmission of data. We may not be the most expensive component on an instrument, but our solutions are essential for successful performance of our customer’s products. For mission-critical systems, failure is not an option,” Hom says. Hom says customers can leverage a broad range of expertise, which leads to advances in low to high power interconnection, high data rate, fiber, optic and hybrid interconnection, and encapsulation/molding techniques. “A staged-gate new product development approach, together with rigorous reliability and qualification testing results in the production of high performance solutions validated through science.”
It’s no surprise that Teledyne Impulse benefits from being a part of San Diego’s Blue Tech community. Many companies that serve the oceanographic industry are located in the San Diego area. It is convenient for manufacturing, customers, and supplier relationships as we serve and understand the oceanographic industry.
Hom says the proximity to local businesses help get orders processed faster. And face-to-face communication can often be the best way to arrive at a solution. “When a customer needs something custom made for a special application, there’s a real benefit to being able to stop by, and sit down with the engineers and resolve the problem there and then.”
“We work closely with customers to identify challenges and provide application-specific solutions. We use these opportunities to introduce new materials and technology, which result in the highest reliability products,” says Hom.
“We do business with suppliers that understand the level of quality and reliability we need.
“There’s also a big benefit of being near the ocean,” he says.
“Making products for subsea is not a trivial endeavor,” he says. “You have to know what you’re doing and have others around who know what they’re doing. We have that here in San Diego.”
“We started as a small family owned business in San Diego because it is strategically located near Scripps Institute. We have worked closely with Scripps developing technology and solutions for various research projects since our business started.
“With the new technology and products we provide and the jobs it creates in San Diego we see ourselves as contributing to the Blue Tech community now and even more in the future,” Hom says.
Hom says San Diego’s Blue Tech companies in the high tech maritime manufacturing and services industry that contribute towards the economic activity of oceans, seas, harbors, ports and the coast, have become a community characterized by teamwork, and everyone working towards the same goal. “We all strive to improve the maritime community meanwhile creating jobs and opportunities.”
The skilled, educated workforce in and around San Diego provides an excellent pool of qualified talent for Blue Tech companies. “A number of our employees used to work for our customers. We look for people who understand and have experience in Blue Tech, and are aware of the challenges in the subsea environment. Having the Blue Tech cluster really helps.” Business is good, Hom says. “Over the last ten years we have grown every year. Even through the recession we’ve had double-digit growth. We’re in a good strong sector, and we’re doing well. ”
What’s the next big thing? Hom says the challenge is to make systems that can go deeper and last longer, and improving reliability is always a goal.
Hom says Teledyne’s heritage in aerospace has been helpful in building a company that serves the subsea sector. “There are a lot of similarities in terms of requirements. In some cases, the subsea environment is more challenging than outer space.”
(As published in the October 2014 edition of Marine Technology Reporter - http://www.marinetechnologynews.com/Magazine)
February 2024
