Michael Vielhaber

Energy engineering in the virtual factory

Energy engineering is an emerging topic in manufacturing plants due to environmental and economic reasons. It is not enough to save energy during the utilization of products, but the production should be considered as well. Moreover, idle times during production should be taken into account by switching the systems and the subsystems into modes that require less energy inputs. Furthermore energy related properties should be considered as early-as-possible in the plant process development, because in this phase the influence on the later energy consumption is considerable. Hence, methods for energy optimization in production are combined with virtual plant engineering to consider energy aspects as early as possible in plant design. Both engineering domains contribute to an integrated process for energy engineering in the virtual factory.

Energy Efficiency Engineering—Towards an Integrated Method Framework for Energy-Oriented Product and Production Development

Energy efficiency in all areas of the product lifecycle gets more and more important. Besides the use phase that is often addressed through technological solutions, the production phase is also in focus as it determines the environmental impacts of a company to a high degree. Established operational methods that consider energy efficiency reactively are often already exploited. This contribution therefore focuses on methods that are applied in early phases of the product and production development process. On the basis of a correlation matrix that correlates the interrelationships between the three dimensions product, material and production, promising areas in the product creation process are analysed. This framework provides a general basis for the development and application of integrated analysis and improvement methods.

Early Development of Weight-Optimized Mechatronic Products

Existing process models for the development of mechatronic products are not considering the task of weight optimization – weight reduction and weight distribution – in a specific and sufficient way. The weight optimization is mostly applied at the end or in the late phases of the development process with the consequence that a large number of macro-iterations are necessary when design changes regarding the weight have to be done. These points result in an increase of development costs and time. In previous work, the authors propose a process model which exposes the task of weight optimization as an in-process development goal beside the goal of functionality.

Early System Simulation to Support EcoDesign of Vehicle Concepts

Environmental restrictions request new – potentially revolutionary – mobility concepts which simultaneously address both user requirements and efficiency aspects. Early system simulation within the development process is able to support new development projects on the conceptual level. In an overall effort to support ecodesign as early as possible in the development process, this paper introduces a process model for ecodesign-oriented product development which focuses on these specific aspects. Special focus is set on the use of modeling and simulation in the conceptual design phase to evaluate and compare the energy efficiency and lifecycle assessment on the example of vehicle concepts.

Process Model for Simulation-Based Mechatronic Design

Although simulation has become a very important aspect in product development today, a study of current design methodologies by Dohr and Vielhaber has shown that there is currently no methodology fully incorporating simulation within the context of mechatronic product development. The results of this study are used to derive specific needs of a simulation-based design process. Based on these requirements a process model for simulation-based mechatronic design is developed which is based on process steps of established design methodologies. In order to integrate simulation, the process model consists of two activity streams: analysis activities are linked to the specific design activities of mechatronic systems. Based on these two streams guidance is provided on which simulation technique should be used for specific activities and how the results from the simulation have to be handled in order to improve design without macro-iterations. With regard to mechatronic interdisciplinarity as well as data and model management, the use of a system model as a platform for the exchange of information and knowledge is integrated into the process model. Finally an outlook on future work regarding the detailing of the process model as well as on the application of the process model is provided.Copyright

CPM/PDD AS AN INTEGRATED PRODUCT AND PROCESS MODEL FOR A DESIGN-THINKING BASED, AGILE PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT PROCESS

This contribution describes an approach for an agile product development process for technical products considering the outputs of Design Thinking. As backbone serves the integrated product and process modelling theory CPM/PDD. The overall process reflects three different perspectives: stakeholder, product owner and development team. The approach transfers the agile development from software to hardware and focuses on solving the problems within the perspectives observed in practice.

Physics-Based Simulation for Energy Consumption Optimization of Automated Assembly Systems in the Automotive Industry

In this chapter a simulation based approach for optimizing energy consumption of automated assembly systems in the automotive industry from a production planning perspective is presented. Employing innovative simulation capabilities, originating from the computer gaming industry, automated assembly system’s energy consumption is prognosticated and visualized in virtual validation procedures, based on its corresponding digital models. Potential energy efficiency improvement measures (EEIMs) gathered from different fields of application are identified and exemplarily tailored to specific automated assembly system’s requirements. Considerations for suitable EEIM implementation to create energy-efficient system designs are proposed. Ultimately, a case study for improving energy-efficiency of automated assembly systems including preliminary results is presented.