A profile measurement system for rail quality assessment during manufacturing

Steel rails used in the transport sector and in industry are designed and manufactured to support high stress levels generated by high-speed and heavy-loaded modern trains. In the rail manufacturing process, one of the key stages is rolling, where fast, accurate and repeatable rail profile measurement is a major challenge. In this paper, a rail profile measurement system for rail rolling mills based on four conventional, inexpensive laser range finders is proposed. The range finders are calibrated using a common reference to properly express the point clouds generated by each range finder in the world coordinate system. The alignment of the point clouds to the rail model is performed by means of an efficient and robust registration method. Experiments carried out in a rail rolling mill demonstrate the accuracy and repeatability of the system; the maximum error is below 0.12%. All parallelizable tasks were designed and developed to be executed concurrently, achieving an acquisition rate of up to 210 fp

Infrared Thermography for Temperature Measurement and Non-Destructive Testing

The intensity of the infrared radiation emitted by objects is mainly a function of their temperature. In infrared thermography, this feature is used for multiple purposes: as a health indicator in medical applications, as a sign of malfunction in mechanical and electrical maintenance or as an indicator of heat loss in buildings. This paper presents a review of infrared thermography especially focused on two applications: temperature measurement and non-destructive testing, two of the main fields where infrared thermography-based sensors are used. A general introduction to infrared thermography and the common procedures for temperature measurement and non-destructive testing are presented. Furthermore, developments in these fields and recent advances are reviewed

A scaled-down conference model for courses covering ever-changing fields in computer science undergraduate degree programs

The ability to keep up to date in fast-evolving fields of knowledge is essential for all students, but it is especially important in computer science degree programs. However, few computer science curricula provide courses covering these skills. In this paper, the effectiveness of a scaled-down conference model approach aimed to develop these skills is analyzed. The proposed model was applied to a core subject in the third year of the computer engineering undergraduate program of the University of Oviedo: Technology of Computers. The model is intended as a platform for the activities related with creating a survey paper and a poster, and presenting them to a conference organized in the course, while encouraging teamwork, critical thinking, decision making, time management and communication skills. The model was applied in three academic years: 2007-2010, with 182 students, who voluntarily enrolled this methodology. The effectiveness of the model for driving TC activities has been evaluated based on the feedback provided by students and the quality of the papers and posters submitted to the conference. A slight improvement in overall student performance was noticed, and students assessed the methodology highly and reported that the new methodology had helped them to acquire the expected skills.La capacidad de mantenerse actualizado en campos de conocimiento de rápida evolución es esencial para todos los estudiantes, y más en informática. Sin embargo, en ocasiones esta habilidad pasa desapercibida en los programas que abarcan estos estudios. En este artículo se analiza la eficacia de un modelo de conferencia destinado a desarrollar esta habilidad aplicado a una asignatura de tercer curso de Ingeniería Técnica en Informática de la Universidad de Oviedo, Tecnología de Computadores. El modelo se utiliza como marco de trabajo para desarrollar un artículo y un poster, así como su presentación en una jornada de conferencia organizada en la asignatura, mientras se fomenta el trabajo en grupo, el razonamiento crítico, la toma de decisiones, la gestión del tiempo y la comunicación. El modelo ha sido aplicado en tres cursos académicos consecutivos, 2007-2010, en el que participaron un total de 182 alumnos inscritos de forma voluntaria. La eficacia del modelo ha sido evaluada en base a cuestionarios y a la calidad de los trabajos desarrollados. Se observa mejoría en el rendimiento de los estudiantes, que valoran la experiencia de aprendizaje de forma positiva, indicando que la metodología les ha ayudado a adquirir las competencias perseguidas en la asignatura

Profile measurement of rails in rolling mills: Integrating autonomic computing capabilities

IEEE Industry Applications Society Annual Meeting (IAS) (2018, Portland, USA

Detection of periodical patterns in the defects identified by computer vision systems

Proceedings of 11th IEEE International Conference on Intelligent Systems Design and Applications, vol. 1, p. 301-306, Cordoba (Spain), 2011The detection of periodical defects is of primary importance in the manufacturing of many long flat products. As an example, a thick steel block is rolled (passed through several pairs of rolls) to obtain a long steel strip. When a roll has a flaw, it provokes a periodical defect on the strip. If the defect is not detected promptly, a large number of manufactured strips will be marked with the periodical defect. The economic losses incurred when roll flaws are not detected are very high, because the strips can not be sold to the customers and all the resources consumed in their manufacturing are wasted. This paper presents an algorithm for detecting periodical defects by analyzing the single defects detected by an inspection system based on computer vision. Because these defects form a periodical pattern, pattern matching techniques can be used for their detection. The paper also contains an analysis of the metrics used to characterize the performance of the algorithm and the experimental methodology used to find the optimal values for its configuration parameters. The optimal configuration must maximize true detections, and also minimize false detections. False detections can shut the manufacturing line down unnecessarily to search for non-existent roll flaws. Finally, the results obtained are compared with those provided by the most widely used system in this field. In most cases, the results provided by the algorithm proposed were better

Aula abierta

Resumen tomado de la publicaciónLa capacidad de mantenerse actualizado en campos de conocimiento de rápida evolución es esencial para todos los estudiantes, y más en informática. Sin embargo, en ocasiones esta habilidad pasa desapercibida en los programas que abarcan estos estudios. En este artículo se analiza la eficacia de un modelo de conferencia destinado a desarrollar esta habilidad aplicado a una asignatura de tercer curso de Ingeniería Técnica en Informática de la Universidad de Oviedo, Tecnología de Computadores. El modelo se utiliza como marco de trabajo para desarrollar un artículo y un poster, así como su presentación en una jornada de conferencia organizada en la asignatura, mientras se fomenta el trabajo en grupo, el razonamiento crítico, la toma de decisiones, la gestión del tiempo y la comunicación. El modelo ha sido aplicado en tres cursos académicos consecutivos, 2007-2010, en el que participaron un total de 182 alumnos inscritos de forma voluntaria. La eficacia del modelo ha sido evaluada en base a cuestionarios y a la calidad de los trabajos desarrollados. Se observa mejoría en el rendimiento de los estudiantes, que valoran la experiencia de aprendizaje de forma positiva, indicando que la metodología les ha ayudado a adquirir las competencias perseguidas en la asignaturaUniversidad de Oviedo. Biblioteca de Formación del Profesorado y Educación; Calle Aniceto Sela s/n; 33005 Oviedo; Tel. +34985103215; Fax +34985103214; [email protected]