Low-cost and portable automatic sheet cutter

Process automation is crucial to increase productivity, more efficient use of materials, better product quality, improved safety, etc. In small-medium enterprise (SME) businesses related to household retailing, one of the process automation needed is the measurement and cutting of the mat or sheet, made of rubber or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) materials. Most of the household retailers that selling the sheet, the process of measuring and cutting according to the customer’s requirements are manually performed using a measuring tape and scissors. These manual processes can cause inaccuracy in length, inefficient use of material, low productivity and reduce product quality. This paper presents a low cost and portable automatic sheet cutter using the Arduino development board, which is used to control the process of measuring and cutting the materials. The system uses a push-button where the user can set the required length and quantity of the sheet. Once the required information is set, the stepper motor rolls the sheet until the required length is satisfied. Subsequently, another stepper motor moves the cutter horizontally and cut the sheet. With the automatic sheet cutter, the material is cut with acceptable precision. The design of the automatic sheet cutter is low cost and portable which significantly suitable to be used by SME household retailers

A comparison of processing techniques for producing prototype injection moulding inserts.

This project involves the investigation of processing techniques for producing low-cost moulding inserts used in the particulate injection moulding (PIM) process. Prototype moulds were made from both additive and subtractive processes as well as a combination of the two. The general motivation for this was to reduce the entry cost of users when considering PIM. PIM cavity inserts were first made by conventional machining from a polymer block using the pocket NC desktop mill. PIM cavity inserts were also made by fused filament deposition modelling using the Tiertime UP plus 3D printer. The injection moulding trials manifested in surface finish and part removal defects. The feedstock was a titanium metal blend which is brittle in comparison to commodity polymers. That in combination with the mesoscale features, small cross-sections and complex geometries were considered the main problems. For both processing methods, fixes were identified and made to test the theory. These consisted of a blended approach that saw a combination of both the additive and subtractive processes being used. The parts produced from the three processing methods are investigated and their respective merits and issues are discussed

Reducing risk in pre-production investigations through undergraduate engineering projects.

This poster is the culmination of final year Bachelor of Engineering Technology (B.Eng.Tech) student projects in 2017 and 2018. The B.Eng.Tech is a level seven qualification that aligns with the Sydney accord for a three-year engineering degree and hence is internationally benchmarked. The enabling mechanism of these projects is the industry connectivity that creates real-world projects and highlights the benefits of the investigation of process at the technologist level. The methodologies we use are basic and transparent, with enough depth of technical knowledge to ensure the industry partners gain from the collaboration process. The process we use minimizes the disconnect between the student and the industry supervisor while maintaining the academic freedom of the student and the commercial sensitivities of the supervisor. The general motivation for this approach is the reduction of the entry cost of the industry to enable consideration of new technologies and thereby reducing risk to core business and shareholder profits. The poster presents several images and interpretive dialogue to explain the positive and negative aspects of the student process

The evolution and change of building facades: A research for developing alternative composite surface materials

Thesis (Master)--İzmir Institute of Technology, Architecture, İzmir, 2007Includes bibliographical references (leaves: 107-110)Text in English; Abstract: Turkish and Englishxi, 110 leavesCladding of buildings is an important and commonly applied activity area of building sector. As it is known major purpose of cladding is to separate the indoor environment from the outdoors in such a way that indoor environment conditions can be maintained at level suitable for the buildings intended use. Therefore from the functional point of view it can be defined as, the part of the building that is non load bearing exterior wall that must defend the interior spaces against invasion by water, wind, sun, light, heat and cold, and all the other forces of nature. Besides this it must also fulfill the aesthetic, economic and security consideration. The design of the building façade has become much more complicated with development of new methods of construction, the requirements for a highly controlled interior environments, stress on energy efficiency, advent of materials and new production methods. But it seems that available technologies on ordinary building sector relay on the analog production methods. Analog production process depends on technical drawings and the interpretation of drawings. The human interpretation is the basics of the systems. On the other hand, new design tools that introduced by computer aided design programs proposes new conceptions of space that beyond the limits of Cartesian understanding of form and construction. It is known that computer aided design and production methods are applied pervasively in numerous different sectors. Articulation of computer aided design and manufacturing processes with digitally driven assemblage methods is an important task that is expected to be solved by the building sector. Building envelope systems as being one of the most important building component from the points of both identity and utility of buildings, is has to be reconsidered as a part of the adaptation of whole construction sector. It is also a measure of responsibility on the part of architects. Besides material design, production processes, and connection details of the components with the other parts of the building are the other important dimensions of the envelope systems

The historical development and basis of human factors guidelines for automated systems in aeronautical operations

In order to derive general design guidelines for automated systems a study was conducted on the utilization and acceptance of existing automated systems as currently employed in several commercial fields. Four principal study area were investigated by means of structured interviews, and in some cases questionnaires. The study areas were aviation, a both scheduled airline and general commercial aviation; process control and factory applications; office automation; and automation in the power industry. The results of over eighty structured interviews were analyzed and responses categoried as various human factors issues for use by both designers and users of automated equipment. These guidelines address such items as general physical features of automated equipment; personnel orientation, acceptance, and training; and both personnel and system reliability