A STUDY OF THE USE OF MIXED REALITY FOR CAPTURING HUMAN OBSERVATION AND INFERENCES IN PRODUCTION ENVIRONMENTS

Augmented and mixed reality is already considered as needful technology of the modern production systems. It is primarily employed to virtualize proper digital content, mainly related to 3D objects, into the human visual field allowing people to visualize and understand complex spatial shapes, their mutual relations, and positioning. Yet, the huge potential of the technology is waiting to be revealed in its usage for collecting and recording human observations and inferences about the context of the production environment. Its bi-directional interface makes it the most direct and the most efficient knowledge capturing means to date. The paper presents the challenges and benefits that come from the usage of a conceptual interface of an mixed reality application that is designed to collect data, semantics and knowledge about the production context directly from the man-in-process. As a production environment for the development, implementation, and testing of mixed reality applications for this purpose, various processes for the assembly and maintenance of medium-voltage equipment were used

Determining the Optimal Cutting Parameters for Required Productivity for the Case of Rough External Turning of AISI 1045 Steel with Minimal Energy Consumption

One of the most important challenges for every machining shopfloor, especially a small one, is to achieve the required productivity with minimal energy consumption and engaged power. The paper presents a way to determine the optimal combination of values of cutting parameters such as depth of cut, feed rate and cutting speed from the range of their recommended values, which are usually additionally limited by the real conditions of available machines and tools. The optimal combination is the one which ensures targeted productivity and maximum energy savings at the same time. As an example, a real practice case of external rough turning of an AISI 1045 steel workpiece is presented. The selection of the optimal combination of cutting parameter values is based on a model which is developed using in situ measurements of energy consumption and engaged power in an experiment that emulates the critical operation in terms of energy consumption. The results show that optimization of cutting parameter values that enables the minimum of total energy consumption while achieving target productivity, does not necessarily enable the maximum of energy savings for a given operation. In the example from real practice shown in the paper, this optimization approach can cause higher total energy consumption by as much as 15.9% compared to the combination of parameters that ensure maximum productivity

Adjustable Elasticity of Anatomically Shaped Lattice Bone Scaffold Built by Electron Beam Melting Ti6Al4V Powder

This study investigates the elasticity of specific lattice structures made from titanium alloy (Ti6Al4V), namely, anatomically shaped lattice scaffolds (ASLS) aimed for reinforcement of the bone tissue graft that substitute a missing piece of the previously injured bone during its recovery. ASLSs that were used for testing were fabricated using the Electron Beam Melting (EBM) method. The mechanical properties of the ASLS were examined through uniaxial compression tests. Compression testing revealed the complex non-linear behavior of the scaffold structure’s elasticity, with distinct compression stages and deformation dependencies. The ASLS structures exhibited quasi-elastic deformation followed by the rupture of individual struts. Results demonstrate that the ASLSs can be stiffened by applying appropriate compression load and accordingly achieve the target elasticity of the structure for the specific load range. The modulus of elasticity was determined for different compression stages of ASLS, allowing interpolation of the functional relation between the modulus of elasticity and compressive force that is used for stiffening the ASLS. This study enhances the understanding of the mechanical behavior of the specific lattice structures made of Ti6Al4V and provides insights for the development of mechanically optimized anatomically shaped lattice scaffolds