A method for representation of component geometry using discrete pin for reconfigurable moulds

Moulding plays a paramount role in our daily life. Traditional moulding is often dedicated and expensive. As the current market trend moves from mass production towards small batch and large variation production, the demand for a mould that can reconfigure itself for different components is greater than ever. The reconfiguration of mould is often realized through discrete pins. Previous research in that field had focused on the hardware of pin actuation in order to move pins up or down to represent different components and lock the pins at certain positions. Little research has been conducted into support software development that enables rapid reconfiguration of discrete pins to represent component geometry.This paper addresses a new method of software development for the reconfigurable mould utilising discrete pins. The overall aim of the method is to provide an interface for generic discrete pin tooling in order to enable quick reconfiguration of the mould to represent component geometry. The software is composed of three parts: part discretization, pin matrix construction and adjustment and pin matrix verification

An enterprise engineering approach for the alignment of business and information technology strategy

Information systems and information technology (IS/IT, hereafter just IT) strategies usually depend on a business strategy. The alignment of both strategies improves their strategic plans. From an external perspective, business and IT alignment is the extent to which the IT strategy enables and drives the business strategy. This article reviews strategic alignment between business and IT, and proposes the use of enterprise engineering (EE) to achieve this alignment. The EE approach facilitates the definition of a formal dialog in the alignment design. In relation to this, new building blocks and life-cycle phases have been defined for their use in an enterprise architecture context. This proposal has been adopted in a critical process of a ceramic tile company for the purpose of aligning a strategic business plan and IT strategy, which are essential to support this process. © 2011 Taylor & Francis.Cuenca, L.; Boza, A.; Ortiz, A. (2011). 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Modulating Pharmacokinetics, Tumor Uptake and Biodistribution by Engineered Nanoparticles

Inorganic nanoparticles provide promising tools for biomedical applications including detection, diagnosis and therapy. While surface properties such as charge are expected to play an important role in their in vivo behavior, very little is known how the surface chemistry of nanoparticles influences their pharmacokinetics, tumor uptake, and biodistribution.Using a family of structurally homologous nanoparticles we have investigated how pharmacological properties including tumor uptake and biodistribution are influenced by surface charge using neutral (TEGOH), zwitterionic (Tzwit), negative (TCOOH) and positive (TTMA) nanoparticles. Nanoparticles were injected into mice (normal and athymic) either in the tail vein or into the peritoneum.Neutral and zwitterionic nanoparticles demonstrated longer circulation time via both i.p. and i.v. administration, whereas negatively and positively charged nanoparticles possessed relatively short half-lives. These pharmacological characteristics were reflected on the tumor uptake and biodistribution of the respective nanoparticles, with enhanced tumor uptake by neutral and zwitterionic nanoparticles via passive targeting

Experimental design and investigation of a pin-type reconfigurable clamping system for manufacturing aerospace components

This paper presents an experimental design and evaluation of a pin-type universal clamping system. The clamping system is designed for holding complex-shaped aerospace components, such as turbine blades, during machining processes. The experimental investigation is performed by comparing the pin-type clamping system with a dedicated clamping system during the machining of aluminium and steel parts. Force signals are monitored during machining. The experimental results are presented and compared with a dedicated clamping system. From the comparison, the performance of the clamping system is discussed. The results provide an evaluation of the designed pin-type clamping systems for machining operations. The results prove that the pin-type clamping system can be reconfigured for machining different complex shaped components with performance comparable with a dedicated clamping system

An integrated framework for reconfiguration of cellular manufacturing systems using virtual cells

Reconfiguration of manufacturing systems is discussed and all integrated framework which is mainly based on multiple objective simulation optimization is proposed for reconfiguration of manufacturing cells. The possibility of using virtual (logical) cells as a reconfiguration strategy in order to achieve performance targets of manufacturing cells facing changing production requirements is investigated. Creation of virtual cells is decided based on the overall performance of the system that is determined by the proposed integrated framework. In the framework generic capability units which are known as Resource Elements (RE) are used to define processing capabilities of virtual cells and processing requirement

A new integrated system for loading and scheduling in cellular manufacturing

In this paper, a multiple objective optimization technique, based on simulation, and a taboo search algorithm are proposed for loading and scheduling Cellular Manufacturing systems (CM). Machine independent capability units known as Resource Elements (REs) are used to define the processing capabilities of machines and the processing requirements of parts. The loading problem is formally represented by a Goal Programming formulation with the objectives of system performance measures that are obtained by a simulation-based scheduling system. The problem is solved by a taboo search based algorithm. The proposed integrated system is implemented in C/C++ programming language and simulation. A practical case study is also explained and reported in detail

Adil Baykasoglu and Nabil N.Z. Gindy LOADING FLEXIBLE CELLS: TABU SEARCH BASED SIMULATION OPTIMISATION APPROACH

In this work a tabu search-based "multi-objective simulation optimisation model " is proposed for loading flexible cell production systems. The problem is formally stated as a goal-programming model hybrid in nature. Some objectives and parameters are determined analytically others are determined from the developed simulation model. The model is solved utilising a tabu search algorithm developed by the author. In the developed methodology parts are assigned to the cells to achieve required performance levels. A capabilitybased approach is used to define processing requirements of products and processing capabilities of production resources. Parts are assigned to cells such that load is balanced between cells and individual production resources within the cells, cell interactions are kept to a minimum, required system performance levels satisfied (when feasible). Example application is provided to explain the developed methodology. 1