Low Cost Automation Research Articles

DESIGN, DEVELOPMENT AND SIMULATION OF LOW COST AUTOMATION FOR SPECIAL PURPOSE TURNING MACHINE

The project has been carried out at Rane Engine Valve Ltd. (REVL), Chennai. The main aim of the project is to design, development and simulation of Low Cost Automation (LCA) for Special Purpose Turning Machine, which is now a major area of research. The machine is a SPM and is useful for machining (undercut, turning head diameter, fillet, chamfering) operations of engine valves used in automobile industry. The objective is to reduce rejections and cost, maintain quality and to achieve high volume production. The methodology of design, development and simulation of Low Cost Automation for the twin spindle special purpose turning machine involves collection of data regarding pneumatic, electro pneumatic and low cost automation, enhanced concept design anddevelopment of various component of automation, electro pneumatic circuit design and simulation using Fluid SIM software. The design is based on LCA principles rather than pneumatic and PLC principles. A 3D model of the machine is also created using Pro-Esoftware to represent implemented components after the design and development process.

Small Modular Infrastructure

In this article we argue that advances made in automation, communication, and manufacturing portend a dramatic reversal of the “bigger is better” approach to cost reductions prevalent in many basic infrastructure industries; for example, transportation, electric power generation, and raw material processing. We show that the traditional reductions in capital costs achieved by scaling up in size are generally matched by learning effects in the mass production process when scaling up in numbers instead. In addition, using the U.S. electricity generation sector as a case study, we argue that the primary operating cost advantage of large unit scale is reduced labor, which can be eliminated by employing low-cost automation technologies. Finally, we argue that locational, operational, and financial flexibilities that accompany smaller unit scale can reduce investment and operating costs even further. All of these factors combined imply that with current technology, economies of numbers may well dominate economies of unit scale. Yet realizing the full potential of small unit scale will require technologists and business leaders to develop a new ability to “think small.”

Indigenous development amongst challenges

PurposeThe global manufacturing industry is becoming more competitive. Munjal Showa, a shock absorber manufacturer in India, is using indigenous development of technology by incorporating concepts of lean manufacturing, total productive maintenance (TPM) and low cost automation techniques to increase their competitiveness. This new approach helps the company to reduce cost of manufacturing and to increase the productivity by reducing cycle time and down time. The aim of this paper is to offer an in depth study of the four phases of indigenous development of machines at Munjal Showa Ltd.Design/methodology/approachThe paper offers an in depth study of the four phases of indigenous development of machines at Munjal Showa Ltd with the benefits and results.FindingsProper understanding of process requirements and tool designing in accordance with process requirement are the two major factors which help to down size the machine and to identify unnecessary parts. By applying these techniques on BC‐21 machine, Munjal Showa is able to reduce the space used by 68 percent, break downs by 93 percent, cycle time by 48 percent and an increase in productivity by 52 percent.Research limitations/implicationsThe paper is looking at only one company as an example which is a limitation and cannot be generalized for all industries.Practical implicationsIndigenous development enables company to reduce costs and service machines quickly as they themselves have developed the machines.Social implicationsPhysical fatigue of incumbents at the shop floor is considerably reduced by using concepts like cockpit layout and combining of processes on a single machine. Improves job satisfaction and productivity of shop floor employees.Originality/valueIn India, this is one of its kind initiatives taken up by the business excellence team at Munjal Showa Ltd.

An Optimal Multiple Stopping Approach to Infrastructure Investment Decisions

The energy and material processing industries are traditionally characterized by very large-scale physical capital that is custom-built with long lead times and long lifetimes. However, recent technological advancement in low-cost automation has made possible the parallel operation of large numbers of small-scale and modular production units. Amenable to mass-production, these units can be more rapidly deployed but they are also likely to have a much quicker turnover. Such a paradigm shift motivates the analysis of the combined effect of lead time and lifetime on infrastructure investment decisions. In order to value the underlying real option, we introduce an optimal multiple stopping approach that accounts for operational flexibility, delay induced by lead time, and multiple (finite/infinite) future investment opportunities. We provide an analytical characterization of the firm's value function and optimal stopping rule. This leads us to develop an iterative numerical scheme, and examine how the investment decisions depend on lead time and lifetime, as well as other parameters. Furthermore, our model can be used to analyze the critical investment cost that makes small-scale (short lead time, short lifetime) alternatives competitive with traditional large-scale infrastructure.

Decoupled control for internal combustion engines research test beds

This article presents a solid and robust automation model which has been developed and implemented in two different research engine test beds which were instrumented, one for diesel and the other one for spark ignition engines. The model, programmed in Matlab, is based on transfer functions with a decoupled (two single input single output systems) independent proportional and integral action controller that allows setting the desired engine speed and torque under stationary operation conditions. It was implemented in a Freescale HC08 family microcontroller external to the PC in order to avoid the risk of losing control during undesirable communication delays on the computer. The model has been validated in a wide range of engine operating modes, from low to high speeds and loads showing a good response. The first order transfer functions with delay have proven to be a good approximation even during the nonlinearities caused by turbocharger and electronic control unit incorporated in the engines. This low cost automation system has been tested for the last three years in a university engine laboratory showing a good performance.

Transforming ABC Co- Through Lean Management & Agile Manufacturing

ABC co. was established in Delhi in 1980, which produced electrical switchgears & appliances. The company had manual operations initially; quality was not a thrust area having about 16% process rejections. The demand for electrical appliances/switchgears was rising with increase in urbanization/ construction activities. The warranty return was as high as 6% and more competitors entered in the market making it difficult to improve sales. After brainstorming session, management implemented various techniques of TQM tools (5S, SQC, TPM, etc.). Investment in new technology including installation of few new machines and few low cost automation of equipment was made.ABC co. expected the payback period of three years for the new installed capacity. The internal rejections came down and as also cost and thereby market demand rose significantly. The major contribution was: a) Improving quality, b) Inventory reductions, c) BOM cost reduction, d) reduced order to supply time.

An Investigation into Work Postures of Workers Engaged in Casting Industry: A Study in India

Casting industry in India is appreciably providing employment to more than 5 million people. These are various jobs which may cause musculoskeletal disorders among the working generation. Awkward posture, lifting, forceful movements and manual work at rapid rate contribute to musculoskeletal disorders. Present study is focused on assessing the work posture of workers engaged in different actives of casting units. A video film was recorded in real postures during the various actives performed by the workers. Snaps were cropped after an interval of 10second for each of the activity. The work postures were evaluated using OWAS, RULA and REBA tools. As per the OWAS assessment, 17% workers required immediately corrective measures and 46% workers needed to correct their postures as soon as possible. In RULA assessment reveals that workers at high and medium risk levels were 64% and 22% respectively. In REBA assessment 27% workers were at very high, 34% workers were high and 32% workers were at medium risk levels. This paper is restricted to only posture analysis on observation based, however application of ergonomics posture could was suggested to the workers. Awkward postures and manual material handing in the workplace should be eliminated. These industries must adopt ergonomics techniques and low cost automation so that workload can be reduced and efficiency can be increased to affect the organizational cost and the society as a whole.

The Propeller Experiment Controller: Low-Cost Automation for Classroom Experiments in Learning and Behavior

Summary The use of the Propeller Experiment Controller to create inexpensive teaching laboratories in behavior is described. Pre-written programs are provided for unique classroom experiments in habituation and classical conditioning. Several programs are also provided to recreate the traditional student operant conditioning laboratory. Video tutorials are also available to guide the user to effectively use the Propeller Experiment Controller for behavioral experiments.

LQR control for speed and torque of internal combustion engines

AbstractThis paper presents a robust automation model for internal combustion engines test beds. A Linear Quadratic Regulator (LQR) allows setting the desired engine speed and torque on both compression and spark ignition engines. With this methodology, the user can change the engine by another one of different characteristics with few adjustments on the controller parameters. The controller was implemented using a microcontroller in order to guarantee operation in real time.The LQR controller performance has been validated in a wide range of engine operating modes, from low to high speeds and variable loads showing a good response. The description of the model using first order transfer functions with delay has proven to be a good approximation, despite of the nonlinearities caused by the turbocharger and the electronic control unit (ECU) incorporated in the engines. This low cost automation system has been tested for the last three years in a test rig at a university laboratory showing a good performance.

Low cost automation and poka yoke devices: tools for optimising production processes

Low cost automation and poka yoke philosophy assure good results when applied to manufacturing processes with a high incidence of human operators, with a low availability of time for solution implementation and with expensive effects associated with errors in executing operative procedures. Hence, their joint adoption is addressed in order to access the benefits they both guarantee. Specifically, in this paper, the case of a manufacturing line for heat exchangers is studied. Operative tools are redesigned in accordance with both low cost automation and poka yoke philosophy principles. Furthermore, since poka yoke solutions are subdivided between those preventing errors and those detecting them, the former are preferred. It emerges that LCA and poka yoke solutions adopted induce consistent improvements in the line productivity.

Design and implementation of low cost automation system in heavy vehicle brakes assembly line

The brake drum assembly is an essential component in the automobiles. With increasing demand for heavy-duty automobiles, like trucks and buses, there is an increasing demand for these components. With a typical assembly rate of about 400 units a day using manual assembly tools, there is enormous pressure on the operator, prohibiting the company from enhancing their production rates to meet the market demand with existing resources. Keeping in mind the volatility of the market, it is preferred to resort to low cost automation, a technology that creates some degree of automation around the existing resources, using mostly standard components available in the market with very low investment. The method reported here presents such a low cost automation solution. It has been implemented in the real production line and its effectiveness has been proved in terms of planned objectives of increased productivity and reduced operator fatigue.

Automation Finish Processes of Sword Surface Using Burnishing Assistance

A new method of automated finishing that employs a nonconductive stone as the burnishing tool to execute burnishing assistance in electrochemical finishing following sword machining is investigated. The submitted processes can be used for various sword-form operations. Among the factors primarily discussed is the performance of electrochemical finishing combined with burnishing. In the experiment, an electrode is used with continuous and pulsed direct current. The controlled factors include the material of burnishing tool, the geometry of burnishing tool, and the chemical composition and concentration of the electrolyte. The experimental parameters are flow rate of electrolytes, feed rate of electrode and burnishing tool, electrical current rating, and pulsed period. Higher current rating with a quicker feed rate of the finishing tool effectively reaches the fast improvement of the surface roughness of the workpiece. The use of a large electrolytic flow rate is advantageous to the finish effect. The finish effect is better with longer off-time because discharge of the finish dregs becomes easier. The use of pulsed current, however, raises the machining time and cost. The design change of the electrochemical finishing to the electrochemical finishing and burnishing performs the best finishing make the surface of the swords smooth and bright. An effective and low-cost automation and the continuity finish processes through the design tool and using the burnishing assistance in the electrochemical finishing are high efficiency and low-cost means.

Metodología Basada en Proceso de Jerarquía Analítica (AHP) para Seleccionar Cadenas Productivas que Buscan Soluciones de Automatización a Bajo Costo

This paper presents the methodology used in order to identify and select three production chains, based in a set of 20 possible chains (17 of them so called Priority and the rest of them called promissory Chains). The document is framed into the project called By means of Competitive Intelligence methodologies and asociativeness schemas, to develop a supply in assets and services of low cost automation which satisfy the requirements of modernization on three productive chains, potentially clients of the Electro Electronic Industry Cluster of Bogota and Cundinamarca; the project has been financed by Colciencias and developed by CIDEI (Center of Investigation and Technological Development of the Electro Electronic and Informatics Industr y, for his Spanish abbreviation) and the Cundinamarca University. These chains will be boarded in the close future in order to select companies in which will be made a process destined to generate low cost automation solutions whose will generate highest productivity levels. The set of variables that served like as criteria for the selection was defined by the group of researchers and to determine the relative importance of each criterion in the weighted average was used the Analytical Hierarchy Process or AHP, by using the qualifications assigned in several rounds on the part of a group formed by experts, researchers and industrialists of the Electronic sector. Having the relative weight of each criterion, those will be described as qualitative or quantitative form, by their nature and according to researchers' scale, presenting the priority order in which the chains had to be boarded according to the defined criteria to fulfill the project objective. At the end of the investigation, the productive chains of Foods with added value, Textiles and Dressmaking and Flowers were elected.

A STATE-BASED APPROACH FOR DECENTRALIZED FAULT DIAGNOSIS IN DISCRETE-EVENT SYSTEMS

The fault diagnosis is a real requirement for the low cost automation as it can detect any system's fault and avoid the accompanying lost of productivity. We propose in this paper a decentralized fault diagnosis approach in order to reduce the complexity of the model proposed by centralized fault diagnosis approaches, which increases exponentially with the number of system's components. This allows reducing the expensive exploitation cost.

The design and implementation of a low-cost and programmable home automation module

This paper presents a home automation module with programmable control instructions (PCIs). Although it is implemented by using a low-cost 8-bit microcontroller with only 8 Kbytes of ROM spaces, a time-sharing task scheduler and 10 PCIs are included in the firmware. Timer and counter control, logic functions, and temperature control are examples of PCIs. Thanks to the design of pseudo nodes, these PCIs can also be combined to implement more complex functions that home automation needs. These modules, up to 65536 theoretically, share the same IP address, and can be found over the network via different port numbers. No dedicated home server is necessary because the network communication (TCP/IP) is handled by the module. A remote control and monitoring software is also developed to let users control the home automation modules on the Internet. The programmable home automation module has a lower cost and better cost/performance ratio than current home automation modules

ENERGY INTERFACES FOR MIXED REALITY

A general concept of interfaces between physical and virtual systems based on a continuity of energy-flow, introduced as hyper-bonds, will be extended. Power (effort ***x flow) can be bi-directionally transferred from the physical energy-level to the virtual signal/information-level and vice versa. In mixed reality systems, using these hyper-bonds, power connections of relevant phenomena can be described by bond graph theory. Two improvements of the hyper-bond concept are presented: 1. the explicit description of both, continuous-time dynamics of real subsystems and discrete-time dynamics of virtual subsystems in bond graphs and 2. the definition of a hyper-bond subsystem in terms of bond graphs and control-block diagrams, which can perform a power connection and conversion of continuous-time/discrete-time signals between real/virtual subsystems. An example of modeling mixed reality systems with energy interfaces (haptic ball manipulator) is demonstrated, showing the potentiality for low cost automation.

CONTROL WITH ON/OFF SENSORS AND ACTUATORS: AN ELLIPSOID OBSERVER PLUS SLIDING-MODE CONTROL APPROACH

Control with binary sensors and actuators is an appealing possibility for low-cost automation setups in mechatronic systems. In this paper, a set-valued observer is designed to allow state estimation on a plant with sensors whose output is an interval, i.e., the actual plant output is assumed to lie inside it. The observer uses ellipsoidal approximations of the estimated state set. Then, sliding control is used to close the loop using a three-position actuator. A mechanical system simulation illustrates the possibilities of the approach.

Fourier Methods for Kinematic Synthesis of Coupled Serial Chain Mechanisms

Single degree-of-freedom coupled serial chain (SDCSC) mechanisms are a class of mechanisms that can be realized by coupling successive joint rotations of a serial chain linkage, by way of gears or cable-pulley drives. Such mechanisms combine the benefits of single degree-of-freedom design and control with the anthropomorphic workspace of serial chains. Our interest is in creating articulated manipulation-assistive aids based on the SDCSC configuration to work passively in cooperation with the human operator or to serve as a low-cost automation solution. However, as single-degree-of-freedom systems, such SDCSC-configuration manipulators need to be designed specific to a given task. In this paper, we investigate the development of a synthesis scheme, leveraging tools from Fourier analysis and optimization, to permit the end-effectors of such manipulators to closely approximate desired closed planar paths. In particular, we note that the forward kinematics equations take the form of a finite trigonometric series in terms of the input crank rotations. The proposed Fourier-based synthesis method exploits this special structure to achieve the combined number and dimensional synthesis of SDCSC-configuration manipulators for closed-loop planar path-following tasks. Representative examples illustrate the application of this method for tracing candidate square and rectangular paths. Emphasis is also placed on conversion of computational results into physically realizable mechanism designs.

COST ASPECTS OF PLANT AUTOMATION – COST OF OWNERSHIP

At a first glance low cost automation could be regarded as cheap hardware (sensors, actuators and controller). That is of course an important point to consider. But today we are looking for a cost effective life cycle of an automation system: design, production, operation, maintenance, refitting or recycling, and also human skill are important factors to consider. Despite relative expensive components the complete automation system can be cost effective with respect to operation and maintenance. The contribution exemplifies these considerations on automation systems in plants.

Manufacturing with low cost automation

Low cost automation could be regarded as cheap hardware with a low performance. But the cost effective life cycle of an automation system: design, production, operation, maintenance, refitting, and human skill has to be considered. Despite relative expensive components the complete automation system can be cheap with respect to operation and maintenance. As examples are discussed numerical controls of machine tools embedded in a work organization with a flat hierarchy, shop floor control with distributed information processing and decentralized decision making and retrofitting of automation systems. Low Cost Automation is a cross sectional area benefiting from methodologies and developments of other fields of automatic control.