Manufacturing of Full Automatic Carwash Using with Intelligent Control Algorithms

In this paper the intelligent control of full automatic car wash using a programmable logic controller (PLC) has been investigated and designed to do all steps of carwashing. The Intelligent control of full automatic carwash has the ability to identify and profile the geometrical dimensions of the vehicle chassis. Vehicle dimension identification is an important point in this control system to adjust the washing brushes position and time duration. The study also tries to design a control set for simulating and building the automatic carwash. The main purpose of the simulation is to develop criteria for designing and building this type of carwash in actual size to overcome challenges of automation. The results of this research indicate that the proposed method in process control not only increases productivity, speed, accuracy and safety but also reduce the time and cost of washing based on dynamic model of the vehicle. A laboratory prototype based on an advanced intelligent control has been built to study the validity of the design and simulation which it’s appropriate performance confirms the validity of this study.

The Effect of Multipass Cutting in Grinding Operation

Grinding requires high specific energy and the consequent development of high temperature at tool-workpiece contact zone impairs workpiece quality by inducing thermal damage to the surface. Finishing grinding process requires component to be cut more than one pass. This paper deals with an investigation on the effect of multipass cutting on grinding performance in term of surface roughness and surface defect. An experimental set-up has been developed for this and a detailed comparison has been done with a single pass and various numbers of cutting pass. Results showed that surface roughness increase with the increase in a number of cutting pass. Good surface finish of 0.26μm was obtained for single pass cutting and 0.73μm for twenty pass cutting. It was also observed that the thickness of the white layer increased with the increased in a number of cutting pass.

An Approach for Optimization of Functions and Reducing the Value of the Product by Using Virtual Models

New developed approach for Functional Cost Analysis (FCA) based on virtual prototyping (VP) models in CAD/CAE environment, applicable and necessary in developing new products is presented. It is instrument for improving the value of the product while maintaining costs and/or reducing the costs of the product without reducing value. Five broad classes of VP methods are identified. Efficient use of prototypes in FCA is a vital activity that can make the difference between successful and unsuccessful entry of new products into the competitive word market. Successful realization of this approach is illustrated for a specific example using press joint power tool.

Chatter Stability Characterization of Full-Immersion End-Milling Using a Generalized Modified Map of the Full-Discretization Method, Part 1: Validation of Results and Study of Stability Lobes by Numerical Simulation

The objective in this work is to generate and discuss the stability results of fully-immersed end-milling process with parameters; tool mass m=0.0431kg,tool natural frequency ωn = 5700 rads^-1, damping factor ξ=0.002 and workpiece cutting coefficient C=3.5x10^7 Nm^-7/4. Different no of teeth is considered for the end-milling. Both 1-DOF and 2-DOF chatter models of the system are generated on the basis of non-linear force law. Chatter stability analysis is carried out using a modified form (generalized for both 1-DOF and 2-DOF models) of recently developed method called Full-discretization. The full-immersion three tooth end-milling together with higher toothed end-milling processes has secondary Hopf bifurcation lobes (SHBL’s) that exhibit one turning (minimum) point each. Each of such SHBL is demarcated by its minimum point into two portions; (i) the Lower Spindle Speed Portion (LSSP) in which bifurcations occur in the right half portion of the unit circle centred at the origin of the complex plane and (ii) the Higher Spindle Speed Portion (HSSP) in which bifurcations occur in the left half portion of the unit circle. Comments are made regarding why bifurcation lobes should generally get bigger and more visible with increase in spindle speed and why flip bifurcation lobes (FBL’s) could be invisible in the low-speed stability chart but visible in the high-speed stability chart of the fully-immersed three-tooth miller.

Transient Three Dimensional FE Modeling for Thermal Analysis of Pulsed Current Gas Tungsten Arc Welding of Aluminum Alloy

This paper presents the results of a study aimed at establishing the temperature distribution during the welding of aluminum alloy plates by Pulsed Current Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (PCGTAW) and Constant Current Gas Tungsten Arc Welding (CCGTAW) processes. Pulsing of the GTA welding current influences the dimensions and solidification rate of the fused zone, it also reduces the weld pool volume hence a narrower bead. In this investigation, the base material considered was aluminum alloy AA 6351 T6, which is finding use in aircraft, automobile and high-speed train components. A finite element analysis was carried out using ANSYS, and the results of the FEA were compared with the experimental results. It is evident from the study that the finite element analysis using ANSYS can be effectively used to model PCGTAW process for finding temperature distribution.

Numerical Analysis of Fractured Process in Locomotive Steel Wheels

Railway vehicle wheels are designed to operate in harsh environments and to withstand high hydrostatic contact pressures. This situation may result in critical circumstances, in particular wheel breakage. This paper presents a time history of a series of broken wheels during a time interval [2007-2008] belongs to locomotive fleet on Iranian Railways. Such fractures in locomotive wheels never reported before. Due to the importance of this issue, a research study has been launched to find the potential reasons of this problem. The authors introduce a FEM model to indicate how and where the wheels could have been affected during their operation. Then, the modeling results are presented and discussed in detail.

CFD Study of the Fluid Viscosity Variation and Effect on the Flow in a Stirred Tank

Stirred tanks are widely used in all industrial sectors. The need for further studies of the mixing operation and its different aspects comes from the diversity of agitation tools and implemented geometries in addition to the specific characteristics of each application. Viscous fluids are often encountered in industry and they represent the majority of treated cases, as in the polymer sector, food processing, pharmaceuticals and cosmetics. That's why in this paper, we will present a three-dimensional numerical study using the software Fluent, to study the effect of varying the fluid viscosity in a stirred tank with a Rushton turbine. This viscosity variation was performed by adding carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) to the fluid (water) in the vessel. In this work, we studied first the flow generated in the tank with a Rushton turbine. Second, we studied the effect of the fluid viscosity variation on the thermodynamic quantities defining the flow. For this, three viscosities (0.9% CMC, 1.1% CMC and 1.7% CMC) were considered.

Development of Regression Equation for Surface Finish and Analysis of Surface Integrity in EDM

Electrical discharge machining (EDM) is a relatively modern machining process having distinct advantages over other machining processes and can machine Ti-alloys effectively. The present study emphasizes the features of the development of regression equation based on response surface methodology (RSM) for correlating the interactive and higher-order influences of machining parameters on surface finish of Titanium alloy Ti-6Al-4V. The process parameters selected in this study are discharge current, pulse on time, pulse off time and servo voltage. Machining has been accomplished using negative polarity of Graphite electrode. Analysis of variance is employed to ascertain the adequacy of the developed regression model. Experiments based on central composite of response surface method are carried out. Scanning electron microscopy (SEM) analysis was performed to investigate the surface topography of the EDMed job. The results evidence that the proposed regression equation can predict the surface roughness effectively. The lower ampere and short pulse on time yield better surface finish.

Optimal Placement of Piezoelectric Actuators on Plate Structures for Active Vibration Control Using Modified Control Matrix and Singular Value Decomposition Approach

The present work deals with the optimal placement of piezoelectric actuators on a thin plate using Modified Control Matrix and Singular Value Decomposition (MCSVD) approach. The problem has been formulated using the finite element method using ten piezoelectric actuators on simply supported plate to suppress first six modes. The sizes of ten actuators are combined to outline one actuator by adding the ten columns of control matrix to form a column matrix. The singular value of column control matrix is considered as the fitness function and optimal positions of the actuators are obtained by maximizing it with GA. Vibration suppression has been studied for simply supported plate with piezoelectric patches in optimal positions using Linear Quadratic regulator) scheme. It is observed that MCSVD approach has given the position of patches adjacent to each-other, symmetric to the centre axis and given greater vibration suppression than other previously published results on SVD. 

Investigations of Natural Convective Heat Transfer in Rectangular Thermal Passages

The evaluation of the convective heat transfer of flow in passages with rectangular cross section is still of interest for the heat transfer investigators, as in the air heater solar collectors. The aim of this paper is to present investigation results on the natural convection heat transfer in a solar air heater. The effect of the channel length as heat transfer surface and the inclination of the passage were investigated. The results were obtained experimentally and theoretically. For that, an experimental test rig was fabricated with channel lengths of 1m, 1.5m, and 2m. For each length, the air outlet and inlet temperatures, absorber and cover temperatures, solar radiation intensity and air flow rate were measured at 10o, 30o, 50o, 70o, and 90o tilt angles. Measurements were recorded every 2 hours interval to investigate the transient behavior of the system. The experimental and theoretical results are presented in terms of Nu number versus Ra number and discussed. The percentages of differences between experimental and theoretical results are within the margin of 6% to 13%, effectively. It is recommended to extend the investigation to study the same configurations with different artificial surface roughing by ribs or pins.

Design of Speed and Power Control System for Wind Turbine with Reference Tracking Method

This paper is focusing on designing a control system for wind turbine which can control the speed and output power according to arbitrary algorithm. Reference Tracking Method is used to control the turbine spinning speed in order to increase its output energy.

Aeroelasticity Analysis of Rotor Blades in the First Two Stages of Axial Compressor in the Case of a Bird Strike

A bird strike can cause damage to stationary and rotating aircraft engine parts, especially the engine fan. This paper presents a bird strike simulated by blocking four stator blade passages. It includes the numerical results of the unsteady lowfrequency aerodynamic forces and the aeroelastic behaviour caused by a non-symmetric upstream flow affecting the first two rotor blade stages in the axial-compressor of a jet engine. The obtained results show that disturbances in the engine inlet strongly influence the level of unsteady forces acting on the rotor blades. With a partially blocked inlet the whole spectrum of low-frequency harmonics is observed. Such harmonics can lead to rotor blade damage. The lowfrequency amplitudes are higher in the first stage rotor blades than in the second stage. In both rotor blades stages flutter appeared as a result of bird strike.

Acoustic and Flow Field Analysis of a Perforated Muffler Design

New regulations and standards for noise emission increasingly compel the automotive firms to make some improvements about decreasing the engine noise. Nowadays, the perforated reactive mufflers which have an effective damping capability are specifically used for this purpose. New designs should be analyzed with respect to both acoustics and back pressure. In this study, a reactive perforated muffler is investigated numerically and experimentally. For an acoustical analysis, the transmission loss which is independent of sound source of the present cross flow, the perforated muffler was analyzed by COMSOL. To be able to validate the numerical results, transmission loss was measured experimentally. Back pressure was obtained based on the flow field analysis and was also compared with experimental results. Numerical results have an approximate error of 20% compared to experimental results.

Effect of Corrosion on Hydrocarbon Pipelines

The demand of hydrocarbons has increased the construction of pipelines and the protection of the physical and mechanical integrity of the already existing infrastructure. Corrosion is the main reason of failures in the pipeline and it is mostly produced by acid (HCOOCH3). In this basis, a CFD code was used, in order to study the corrosion of internal wall of hydrocarbons pipeline. In this situation, the corrosion phenomenon shows a growing deposit, which causes defect damages (welding or fabrication) at diverse positions along the pipeline. The solution of the pipeline corrosion is based on the diminution of the Naphthenic acid.

Design and Microfabrication of a High Throughput Thermal Cycling Platform with Various Annealing Temperatures

This study describes a micro device integrated with multi-chamber for polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with different annealing temperatures. The device consists of the reaction polydimethylsiloxane (PDMS) chip, a cover glass chip, and is equipped with cartridge heaters, fans, and thermocouples for temperature control. In this prototype, commercial software is utilized to determine the geometric and operational parameters those are responsible for creating the denaturation, annealing, and extension temperatures within the chip. Two cartridge heaters are placed at two sides of the chip and maintained at two different temperatures to achieve a thermal gradient on the chip during the annealing step. The temperatures on the chip surface are measured via an infrared imager. Some thermocouples inserted into the reaction chambers are used to obtain the transient temperature profiles of the reaction chambers during several thermal cycles. The experimental temperatures compared to the simulated results show a similar trend. This work should be interesting to persons involved in the high-temperature based reactions and genomics or cell analysis.

Spatial Objects Shaping with High-Pressure Abrasive Water Jet Controlled By Virtual Image Luminance

The paper presents a novel method for the 3D shaping of different materials using a high-pressure abrasive water jet and a flat target image. For steering movement process of the jet a principle similar to raster image way of record and readout was used. However, respective colors of pixel of such a bitmap are connected with adequate jet feed rate that causes erosion of material with adequate depth. Thanks to that innovation, one can observe spatial imaging of the object. Theoretical basis as well as spatial model of material shaping and experimental stand including steering program are presented in. There are also presented methodic and some experimental erosion results as well as practical example of object-s bas-relief made of metal.

Model Predictive Fuzzy Control of Air-ratio for Automotive Engines

Automotive engine air-ratio plays an important role of emissions and fuel consumption reduction while maintains satisfactory engine power among all of the engine control variables. In order to effectively control the air-ratio, this paper presents a model predictive fuzzy control algorithm based on online least-squares support vector machines prediction model and fuzzy logic optimizer. The proposed control algorithm was also implemented on a real car for testing and the results are highly satisfactory. Experimental results show that the proposed control algorithm can regulate the engine air-ratio to the stoichiometric value, 1.0, under external disturbance with less than 5% tolerance.

Numerical Simulation and Experiment of a Lifting Body with Leading-Edge Rotating Cylinder

An experimental and simulation flight test has been carried out to evaluate the longitudinal gliding characteristics of a lifting body with blunted half-cone geometry. The novelty here is the lifting body's pitch control mechanism, which consists of a pair of leading-edge rotating cylinders. Flight simulation uses aerodynamic data from computational fluid dynamics supported by wind-tunnel test. Flight test consists of releasing an aluminum lifting body model from a moving vehicle at the appropriate wind speed while measuring the lifting body's variation of altitude against time of flight. Results show that leading-edge rotating cylinder is able to give small amounts of improvement to the longitudinal stability and pitch control to the lifting body.

Simulation of a Sustainable Cement Supply Chain; Proposal Model Review

In recent years, sustainable supply chain management (SSCM) has been widely researched in academic domain. However, due to the traditional operational role and the complexity of supply chain management in the cement industry, a relatively small amount of research has been conducted on cement supply chain simulation integrated with sustainability criteria. This paper analyses the cement supply chain operations using the Push-Pull supply chain frameworks, the Life Cycle Assessment (LCA) methodology; and proposal integration approach, proposes three supply chain scenarios based on Make-To-Stock (MTS), Pack-To-Order (PTO) and Grind- To-Order (GTO) strategies. A Discrete-Event Simulation (DES) model of SSCM is constructed using Arena software to implement the three-target scenarios. We conclude with the simulation results that (GTO) is the optimal supply chain strategy that demonstrates the best economic, ecological and social performance in the cement industry.

Improving Injection Moulding Processes Using Experimental Design

Moulded parts contribute to more than 70% of components in products. However, common defects particularly in plastic injection moulding exist such as: warpage, shrinkage, sink marks, and weld lines. In this paper Taguchi experimental design methods are applied to reduce the warpage defect of thin plate Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) and are demonstrated in two levels; namely, orthogonal arrays of Taguchi and the Analysis of Variance (ANOVA). Eight trials have been run in which the optimal parameters that can minimize the warpage defect in factorial experiment are obtained. The results obtained from ANOVA approach analysis with respect to those derived from MINITAB illustrate the most significant factors which may cause warpage in injection moulding process. Moreover, ANOVA approach in comparison with other approaches like S/N ratio is more accurate and with the interaction of factors it is possible to achieve higher and the better outcomes.