Innovative configurable and collaborative approach to automation systems engineering for automotive powertrain assembly

Presently the automotive industry is facing enormous pressure due to global competition and ever changing legislative, economic and customer demands. Both, agility and reconfiguration are widely recognised as important attributes for manufacturing systems to satisfy the needs of competitive global markets. To facilitate and accommodate unforeseen business changes within the automotive industry, a new proactive methodology is urgently required for the design, build, assembly and reconfiguration of automation systems. There is also need for the promotion of new technologies and engineering methods to enable true engineering concurrency between product and process development. Virtual construction and testing of new automation systems prior to build is now identified as a crucial requirement to enable system verification and to allow the investigation of design alternatives prior to building and testing physical systems. The main focus of this research was to design and develop reconfigurable assembly systems within the powertrain sector of the automotive industry by capturing and modelling relevant business and engineering processes. This research has proposed and developed a more process-efficient and robust automation system design, build and implementation approach via new engineering services and a standard library of reusable mechanisms. Existing research at Loughborough had created the basic technology for a component based approach to automation. However, no research had been previously undertaken on the application of this approach in a user engineering and business context. The objective of this research was therefore to utilise this prototype method and associated engineering tools and to devise novel business and engineering processes to enable the component-based approach to be applied in industry. This new approach has been named Configurable and Collaborative Automation Systems (CO AS). In particular this new research has studied the implications of migration to a COAS approach in terms of I) necessary changes to the end-users business processes, 2) potential to improve the robustness of the resultant system and 3) potential for improved efficiency and greater collaboration across the supply chain... cont'

Sensor based real-time mechatronic control of computer integrated manufacturing

Thesis (M.Sc.Eng.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2008Industrial competition is characterised by increasing globalisation of markets, coupled wit

Application of MOKA informal knowledge models for building knowledge based engineering systems in aircraft wind tunnel test models

Knowledge based engineering (KBE) applications are softwares that rely on some well defined engineering rules, relationships and logics for performing generative engineering tasks. A generative function is a function that is responsible for performing and obtaining generative tasks and solutions based on the given rules, relationships and logics. Presently, it is considered that there is a lack of visibility, transparency, traceability and accountability when KBE applications are used. The present research programme aims to overcome this problem by developing and integrating the knowledge model with the design automation model of KBE applications. Thus, the inner working and design of the generative function with its engineering rules and relationships defined for the KBE application may be readily seen and understood by viewing the knowledge models. Consequently, this means a degree of visibility, traceability and accountability is achieved when KBE applications are used to perform generative engineering designs. The knowledge model has been developed in accordance with the European MOKA’s methodology and takes the form of an informal knowledge model (ICARE forms). The knowledge model (ICARE forms) serves the purpose of defining how products/assemblies/parts should be designed, processed and manufactured within a set of prescribed illustrations, constraints, activities, rules and entities. The CATIA (Knowledgeware) KBE application is used by the present study and the design automation model residing on the KBE application has been developed using the Knowledgeware programming language, VBScript, macros and CAA IDL API, which allow a series of modelling and design tasks to be automated. The research programme is validated by means of a case study involving an aircraft wing model supplied by industrial collaboration partners. The present study shows that KBE technology may be used to produce substantial commercial benefits in terms of time, cost and speed. The study believes that the MOKA’s methodology and ICARE forms may be used to capture knowledge for KBE applications but there is a limit on how well, easy and complete the ICARE forms can be used to depict the engineering rules and relationships that have been defined for the generative design function of KBE applications. Parts of the work presented in this study have been demonstrated to the industrial collaborators and included in a consortium confidential DTI’s research project grant report (DTI’s ref. no. CHAD/002/00008) [1] on the use of KBE systems.MRe

Acquisition and sharing of innovative manufacturing knowledge for preliminary design

This study investigates the identification, acquisition and sharing of innovative manufacturing knowledge for the preliminary design of complex mechanical components. Such components need to satisfy multiple, often conflicting design and performance requirements. Some degree of innovation may be required, involving the development of new manufacturing processes. The innovative nature of this manufacturing knowledge makes it difficult to define, codify and share, especially during preliminary design, where this can present significant risks in the design process. Current methods of knowledge sharing do not account for the immature nature of innovative manufacturing knowledge and the combined explicit and tacit elements needed to express it. A flexible interpretive research study with inductive and hypothesis testing elements was undertaken to explore this novel knowledge management problem. During the inductive phase, two data collection activities were undertaken to investigate the manufacturing knowledge required for the preliminary design of gas turbine engines. Using a data driven approach, the main findings which emerged were: the need to include an assessment of the maturity of the design process; the need to use a range of tacit and explicit knowledge to effectively share this and the need to manage knowledge across different domain boundaries. A conceptual framework of the findings was used to develop a hypothesis of knowledge requirements for preliminary design. For the hypothesis testing phase, a systematic methodology to identify, acquire and share innovative manufacturing knowledge for preliminary design was developed from the knowledge requirements. This approach allowed both explicit and tacit knowledge sharing. An evaluation of the methodology took place using three different industrial cases, each with a different component / manufacturing process. The evaluations demonstrated that using the range of knowledge types for transferring knowledge was effective for the specific cases studied and confirmed the hypothesis developed