Development of step-compliant system for turn-mill operations

Today with the latest technology the information beyond tool movement and switching instruction such as tooling, manufacturing features and process sequences are needed to support global adaptability for manufacturing with a specific focus on CNC-based manufacture. This research focuses on the use of the new standard; ISO 14649 (STEP-NC), to address the process planning and machining of discrete turn/mill components and proposes a STEP Compliant NC structure for generation of ISO 14646 code which can be used for turning component manufacture. The novel application of this work is STEP-NC compliant process control where the research will utilise and extend the standard for in process measurement at the machine and also explore the application and integration of the STEP-NC standards. The major contribution of this research is the review of a computational environment for a STEPNC compliant system for turn/mill operations by focusing the outlines of the three major CAD/CAM frameworks to support the implementation of the standard with various levels of STEP compliant architecture. Issues related to the implementation of these frameworks and their use with STEP compliant NC controllers provide a major change in the current day use of CAD, CAPP, CAM and CNC systems. This change will bring new challenges to industrial users and software vendors to identify the new boundaries and define intelligent CNC manufacture in the 21st century

Chemistry by Mobile Phone (or how to justify more time at the bar)

By combining automatic environment monitoring with Java smartphones a system has been produced for the real-time monitoring of experiments whilst away from the lab. Changes in the laboratory environment are encapsulated as simple XML messages, which are published using an MQTT compliant broker. Clients subscribe to the MQTT stream, and produce a user display. An MQTT client written for the Java MIDP platform, can be run on a smartphone with a GPRS Internet connection, freeing us from the constraints of the lab. We present an overview of the technologies used, and how these are helping chemists make the best use of their time

Numerical and Computational Strategy for Pressure-Driven Steady-State Simulation of Oilfield Production

Within the TINA (Transient Integrated Network Analysis) research project and in partnership with Total, IFP is developing a new generation of simulation tool for flow assurance studies. This integrated simulation software will be able to perform multiphase simulations from the wellbore to the surface facilities. The purpose of this paper is to define, in a CAPE-OPEN compliant environment, a numerical and computational strategy for solving pressure-driven steady-state simulation problems, i.e. pure simulation and design problems, in the specific context of hydrocarbon production and transport from the wellbore to the surface facilities

Compliant Multi-Link Vehicle Suspensions

One of the goals of automotive lightweight engineering is to achieve reduction in mass, cost, and complexity of vehicle components, subsystems and systems without sacrificing functionality and expected performance. This thesis addresses functionally integrated suspension systems that could lead to reduction in part count and mass and save packaging space. It deals with the analysis of multi-link suspensions that combine the function of energy storage and the mechanism of wheel location and guidance within individual compliant links and members. To explore possibilities, a generic kinematic model of an independent five-link suspension was built in the MSC.ADAMS multi-body dynamics simulation environment. Models of the compliant energy storage and kinematic guidance members were created using a finite element analysis package and interfaced with the MSC.ADAMS environment. Then, the main spring, and individual and multiple rigid links of the reference suspension were replaced with compliant members, and subsequently, the resulting kinematic characteristics of the compliant multi-link suspension were compared against those of the reference rigid multi-link suspension. Under certain achievable assumptions and a suitable choice of the dimensions of the compliant links, it was found that similar kinematic characteristics as the reference suspension could be achieved by variants of the compliant multi-link suspension consisting of compliant links. The analysis was also applied to the development of a compliant suspension concept for an existing high performance vehicle. Model validation data were obtained from actual tests conducted on a kinematic and compliance test rig. Evaluation of possible compliant variants of the rear suspension for this vehicle led to the replacement of the upper control arm of the original suspension with a ternary-link compliant member. The kinematic and compliance characteristics of this modified suspension were thoroughly analyzed through simulations and some of the characteristics were validated with tests conducted using a test-fixture employing many parts of the actual suspension and an aftermarket composite member for the compliant ternary-link. The compliant suspension concepts evaluated in both phases use fewer parts, and therefore exhibit reduced mass and complexity. Further research and development is required to comprehensively optimize the design of the compliant links for certain desired response attributes, such as better toe control