Innovation in composite additive manufacturing

This master thesis contains an overview of existing additive manufacturing methods and considers possible new methods. The purpose being to develop a method for additive manufacturing that can create 3D objects with composite material and/or out of metal. Further this method should work on a low cost additive manufacturing machine. A development process is used in order to select an appropriate method. The method is then divided into parts that are individually analysed in order to produce a proof of concept model. Initially an overview of existing patents regarding additive manufacturing was conducted in order to see if the devised problem was addressed and how. A patent search regarding both additive manufacturing of composites and of metallic objects was performed. The next phase was conducting a market overview of existing low cost 3D printers and selecting one model that was appropriate for purchase. The purchased 3D printer was then assembled and tested to build up a general experience of properties and limitations of low cost printers. These properties regard both control parameters, mechanical properties (such as eigen frequencies, resolution) and print limitations (typical errors, materials etc.). Concept generation took place by brainstorming a wide range of possible ideas to address the project goal. Existing manufacturing methods and processes that inspired the concepts are described in the theory. The final concept was selected by a process of first concept screening followed by concept scoring and selection. After screening the bulk of four concepts remained. One mainly addressed the goal of manufacturing metallic parts and the others composites. Further literary study of material properties and manufacturing processes relevant to these methods was conducted for the scoring step. Also appropriate retailers of materials and parts and machines were contacted for relevant cost information. The selected concept uses photopolymers cured by UV radiation. In order to finalise the proof of concept a print head was constructed and several tests were conducted in order to observe possible fill rates and required radiation levels in order to achieve a required flow rate and curing times respectively. Finally suggestions for further development and studies is summarised.This project aimed to look at low cost 3D manufacturing technologies and develop a method to expand existing material options. Existing manufacturing methods for sets of materials were conducted in order to map out possible manufacturing steps. A review of existing models of 3D-printers was done and one was purchased and assembled. Design concepts were developed inspired by existing manufacturing methods and one method was selected using a pre-mixed compound and UV curing matrix material extruded through a nozzle and solidified with directed UV-LEDs in order to allow for manufacturing of composites. The method was verified to work and suggestions for further improvements and studies were made

Examining the use of visualisation methods for the design of interactive systems

Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) design has historically involved people from different fields. Designing HCI systems with people of varying background and expertise can bring different perspectives and ideas, but discipline-specific language and design methods can hinder such collaborations. The application of visualisation methods is a way to overcome these challenges, but to date selection tools tend to focus on a facet of HCI design methods and no research has been attempted to assemble a collection of HCI visualisation methods. To fill this gap, this research seeks to establish an inventory of HCI visualisation methods and identify ways of selecting amongst them. Creating the inventory of HCI methods would enable designers to discover and learn about methods that they may not have used before or be familiar with. Categorising the methods provides a structure for new and experienced designers to determine appropriate methods for their design project. The aim of this research is to support designers in the development of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI) systems through better selection and application of visualisation methods. This is achieved through four phases. In the first phase, three case studies are conducted to investigate the challenges and obstacles that influence the choice of a design approach in the development of HCI systems. The findings from the three case studies helped to form the design requirements for a visualisation methods selection and application guide. In the second phase, the Guide is developed. The third phase aims to evaluate the Guide. The Guide is employed in the development of a serious training game to demonstrate its applicability. In the fourth phase, a user study was designed to evaluate the serious training game. Through the evaluation of the serious training game, the Guide is validated. This research has contributed to the knowledge surrounding visualisation tools used in the design of interactive systems. The compilation of HCI visualisation methods establishes an inventory of methods for interaction design. The identification of Selection Approaches brings together the ways in which visualisation methods are organised and grouped. By mapping visualisation methods to Selection Approaches, this study has provided a way for practitioners to select a visualisation method to support their design practice. The development of the Selection Guide provided five filters, which helps designers to identify suitable visualisation methods based on the nature of the design challenge. The development of the Application Guide presented the methodology of each visualisation method in a consistent format. This enables the ease of method comparison and to ensure there is comprehensive information for each method. A user study showing the evaluation of a serious training game is presented. Two learning objectives were identified and mapped to Bloom’s Taxonomy to advocate an approach for like-to-like comparison with future studies

OPENMENDEL: A Cooperative Programming Project for Statistical Genetics

Statistical methods for genomewide association studies (GWAS) continue to improve. However, the increasing volume and variety of genetic and genomic data make computational speed and ease of data manipulation mandatory in future software. In our view, a collaborative effort of statistical geneticists is required to develop open source software targeted to genetic epidemiology. Our attempt to meet this need is called the OPENMENDELproject (https://openmendel.github.io). It aims to (1) enable interactive and reproducible analyses with informative intermediate results, (2) scale to big data analytics, (3) embrace parallel and distributed computing, (4) adapt to rapid hardware evolution, (5) allow cloud computing, (6) allow integration of varied genetic data types, and (7) foster easy communication between clinicians, geneticists, statisticians, and computer scientists. This article reviews and makes recommendations to the genetic epidemiology community in the context of the OPENMENDEL project.Comment: 16 pages, 2 figures, 2 table

Information Outlook, July 2001

Volume 5, Issue 7https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_io_2001/1006/thumbnail.jp