Rapid Control Prototyping for Reconfigurable Assembly Workstations

Department of System Design and Control EngineeringDiverse customer demands and rapid technology change have led to a paradigm shift in the manufacturing industry, from mass production to mass customization, and eventually to personalization. In the past, manufacturers have faced a challenge to produce a large volume of a product at low cost. Today, they should however produce a very small volume of a highly personalized product at mass production cost. In order to meet these challenges, rapid configuration or reconfiguration of manufacturing systems are crucial. Therefore, many studies have discussed reconfigurable manufacturing systems, emphasizing on dynamic scheduling and flexible shop floor logistics. However, little attention has given to the hardware control and the corresponding software development, although they are very important and time-consuming tasks for manufacturing system reconfiguration. Therefore, the main objective of this paper is to quickly design, test, and verify the control software both in a virtual and in a real environment. To do this, we propose a procedure of rapid control prototyping consisting of virtual factory construction, control software development and a final calibration procedure. Rapid control prototyping facilitates engineers to quickly develop control software including communication inputs and outputs, prior to constructing a real shop floor. The proposed simultaneous procedure of manufacturing system design and its control software development will significantly reduce the reconfiguration time of a manufacturing system.clos

Development of innovative cross-disciplinary engineering showcase

The development of engineering education relies substantially on interactive showcases and practical knowledge. The cross-disciplinary engineering showcase is designed to be fully interactive by having user input, producing a tangible output, and to understand distinct elements from each of the engineering disciplines such as, civil, mechanical and electrical (CME). The showcase operates from the input of mechanical rotational energy by the user pedalling the exercycle. Mechanical energy is then transferred to the pump via a gear train, which converts the user input of 30 rpm to the optimal pump operating speed of 2900 rpm. Further, it is used to pump water from the lower eservoir to the upper reservoir via one of the three flow paths, which the user can select by opening or closing flow valves. Once the water reaches a given height, it then flows back to the lower reservoir via a micro-hydro generator. As a result, it generates electrical energy stored in a power bank that can be used by the user to charge a digital device. Also, the showcase has a QR code to digital media, which will provide an additional explanation/exposition of the presented engineering principles to the user/students. The aim of this project is to develop a cross- disciplinary engineering showcase to enhance student learnings by interpreting the CME engineering principles in schools, institutes, and universities