{"id":1024,"date":"2025-03-13T11:53:15","date_gmt":"2025-03-13T10:53:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ull.es\/portal\/noticias\/2025\/03\/13\/el-servicio-de-electronica-del-segai-un-instrumento-polivalente-para-el-mantenimiento-de-la-infraestructura-cientifica\/"},"modified":"2025-03-13T11:53:15","modified_gmt":"2025-03-13T10:53:15","slug":"el-servicio-de-electronica-del-segai-un-instrumento-polivalente-para-el-mantenimiento-de-la-infraestructura-cientifica","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.ull.es\/portal\/noticias\/en\/2025\/03\/13\/el-servicio-de-electronica-del-segai-un-instrumento-polivalente-para-el-mantenimiento-de-la-infraestructura-cientifica\/","title":{"rendered":"The SEGAI Electronics Service, a versatile tool for the maintenance of scientific infrastructure"},"content":{"rendered":"

He General Research Support Service (SEGAI)<\/a> The University of La Laguna's Laboratory of Biomedical Engineering offers scientific, instrumental, and technical support to the institution's scientific structures and external entities (companies, public bodies, and research centers). It boasts over twenty specialized services distributed across the following areas: biomedical technologies, materials and surface characterization, electronics, mechanics, 3D printing, and elemental and molecular analysis.<\/p>\n

One of these is the Electronics Service, created in 1992, which maintains and repairs scientific equipment, avoiding the need to use services outside the Canary Islands. It also designs electronic prototypes and assembles simultaneous translation equipment.<\/p>\n

He Electronics Service<\/a> Its purpose is to reduce the high costs the institution had to bear to repair its equipment outside the archipelago. The islands' isolation made these processes more expensive, since having technical personnel on the mainland was costly, and sending equipment abroad was even more so due to temporary export procedures.<\/p>\n

With the aim of offering a local alternative with qualified personnel, the University of La Laguna established this service, whose main function is to maintain and repair the electronic equipment used in the scientific and practical work of the university community. Furthermore, the service maintains a close relationship with the manufacturers' official technical services. Thus, instead of competing with them, it has positioned itself as an ally, receiving technical information and advice that benefits both parties.<\/p>\n

Currently, the Electronics Service is located in the Physics and Mathematics Departments building and is part of the General Research Support Service (SEGAI). It holds ISO 9001 quality certification, awarded by AENOR and renewed annually. In addition to maintaining and repairing equipment, it designs electronic prototypes, both hardware and software.<\/p>\n

On the other hand, the service sets up simultaneous interpretation equipment when the academic center organizes international events, using infrared technology. If the event is held in a space without the necessary infrastructure, the service handles the installation, provides technical support, and resolves any issues that may arise. Currently, only one unit is permanently installed in the university's main auditorium. The simultaneous interpretation equipment in the auditorium is compatible with this service's equipment, so additional receivers can be provided if needed. Furthermore, this equipment can be installed in any other space, both inside and outside the institution.<\/p>\n

It is worth noting that the service has a collaboration agreement with SEGAI, which allows its research staff to use the facilities for their studies. Francisco Barreto, who is in charge, points out that, although most of the time the service is dedicated to repairing scientific instruments for the university, it occasionally also carries out repairs for external entities.<\/p>\n

Besides Barreto, other technicians in the service have worked for Coca-Cola, repairing the coin mechanisms of their vending machines. They have also collaborated with Disa on the repair of analytical equipment used to evaluate the quality of fuel arriving in Tenerife. For Metropolitano de Tenerife, they designed the circuit boards for their ticket booths. In addition, the service has repaired equipment for public organizations such as the Canary Islands Institute of Agricultural Research, the Spanish National Research Council (CSIC), and the Canary Islands Cancer Research Institute.<\/p>\n

Equipment <\/strong><\/p>\n

The equipment is designed for troubleshooting and fault diagnosis. Barreto assures that they strive to use state-of-the-art technology to enable them to perform their work efficiently. One of the essential instruments is the oscilloscope. The service aims for these devices to offer the widest range of features possible, such as the ability to perform Fourier transform analysis, a key function for studying filters. Furthermore, they must have a wide bandwidth to measure signals at both low and very high frequencies.<\/p>\n

They also have specialized equipment for the manufacture of printed circuit boards, using two techniques: mechanical milling, using a numerical control machine, and chemical etching, used for the creation of circuits with high precision.<\/p>\n

Regarding the post-production of circuit boards, they have a machine for positioning components in surface mount, another for metallizing holes, and soldering equipment for integrated circuits in BGA technology, used in mobile phones and video game consoles.<\/p>\n

Barreto emphasizes that these soldering machines are highly specialized, as they allow for the soldering and desoldering of high-density circuits using heat and precision optical systems. The Electronics Department generally stays up-to-date with the latest technology because electronics advances at a breakneck pace. \u201cIt\u2019s not enough to diagnose a fault if we can\u2019t then replace the damaged components with the right tools,\u201d he states.<\/p>\n

Financing<\/strong><\/p>\n

This service remains operational thanks to SEGAI's general budget, although, along with the Animal Shelter and Facility Service, it functions as a cost center, granting them a degree of autonomy in deciding how to invest their resources, always under the supervision of audits and controls. Furthermore, they have the option of applying for external funding through public calls for proposals, such as those from the Government of the Canary Islands or the European Union, primarily for the acquisition of equipment.<\/p>\n

The application process for this service is standardized within SEGAI and managed through a web platform. Users access the portal, select the service they require, and submit their application. While each service has its own specific requirements, the general procedure is the same for all SEGAI services and laboratories. Furthermore, a common software is used for managing and monitoring the work performed.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The General Research Support Service (SEGAI) of the University of La Laguna offers scientific and instrumental support\u2026<\/p>","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":1025,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,37,348,10,39],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1024","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-destacado","category-investigacion","category-noticias-segai","category-portada-ull","category-servicios"],"acf":[],"primary_category":null,"featured_image_thumbnail_url":"https:\/\/www.ull.es\/portal\/noticias\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/2\/2026\/10\/Francisco-Barreto-300x200.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ull.es\/portal\/noticias\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ull.es\/portal\/noticias\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ull.es\/portal\/noticias\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ull.es\/portal\/noticias\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ull.es\/portal\/noticias\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1024"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.ull.es\/portal\/noticias\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1024\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ull.es\/portal\/noticias\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1025"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.ull.es\/portal\/noticias\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1024"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ull.es\/portal\/noticias\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1024"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.ull.es\/portal\/noticias\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1024"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}