Zbigniew M. Bzymek

Virtual Truing and Dressing of Grinding Wheel

Truing and dressing are essential processes of grinding wheel preparation. They make the wheel geometry true with respect to its rotational axis and its cutting surface sharp. These factors significantly influence the quality of the final profile and surface produced from the grinding process. Prediction of the optimum wheel surface for grinding, defined as one which produces an accurate profile and cuts most efficiently can greatly minimize the time to optimize grinding wheel performance. This paper describes virtual dressing and truing operations, takes under account vibration of the dressing apparatus and shows how to generate wheel surface replica under different conditions.

Solving Problems With Contradictions: The Challenge of 21st Century Engineering Education, Research and Practice

In the fast growing world economy engineering design and production plays a more and more important role almost every day. The only chance for the advanced western nations to maintain their leading technological positions during the course of the current century is to invest in technology and education. This may help to retain the position which, according to predictions, they may lose by 2035 [1]. One of the key ways of keeping their leading technological positions is to develop problem solving research and education to the degree to which all the potential of their national economy and technology would be used. In this paper some aspects of problem solving research and practice using an algorithmic method called BTIPS (Brief Theory of Inventive Problem Solving) are discussed. The importance of problem solving in engineering education is also stressed, and an example of a university course in the subject is discussed.Copyright

A Search for Optimal Friction Resistant Material to Cover Contact Surfaces: A Case Study in the Senior Mechanical Engineering Design Student Project

The University of Connecticut Department of Mechanical Engineering has developed an industry recognized Senior Design Capstone course that provides students the opportunity for a major design experience. This paper will discuss the issues and challenges associated with project demonstrated on the base of the Search for Optimal Friction Resistant Material to Cover Contact Surfaces in an Electric Manual Switch.In order to determine the viability of potential substitute materials, the team produced custom testing rigs to evaluate material wear and corrosion performance. The construction of these rigs, the fabrication of the testing coupons, testing results and the final choice of the covering material were the primary deliverables of this project. The wear rig allowed the team to determine mechanical performance on the basis of mass loss. In the evaluation of mechanical performance, the coated test coupons were revolved on a testing plate while a flat coated column contacted the surface to wear the plating. After a certain number of cycles, the coupons were subjected to environmental testing. The corrosion rig was designed to provide aggressive corrosion on the worn coupons, and was modeled after the industry standard salt fog test. The worn test coupons were immersed in a humid salt fog test chamber and held at temperature until corroded. A series of calibration checks were completed to evaluate the UConn test severity to ASTM (American Society of Testing Materials) standard testing.The surfaces before and after the corrosion process were analyzed in a number of ways. Optical microscopy, profilometry, and surface metrology techniques were employed to determine which platings were likely to meet the consumer standards necessary for replacement. The large set of data on volume loss, mass loss, and surface degradation provided good metrics for the evaluation of material suitability.The project described in this paper is based on the contribution of the students’ team as well as is the result of consulting effort of the faculty who were directly involved in the course and also the other department’s faculty who were consulting the detail processes. General Electric (GE) especially its Industrial Solution Division that sponsored the project, is a company that provides a wide variety of services in electrical appliances, power, and home and business solutions. It has tasked the team with identifying a suitable replacement for Hexavalent Chromium Chromate passivation. This material is plated on many components in GE electrical appliances due to its resistance to abrasion and corrosion. However, because of changing regulations and the health risks that come from dealing with HCC, the sponsor has determined that it is necessary to remove the plating from production by 2019. In order to determine the viability of potential substitute materials, the team produced custom testing rigs to evaluate material wear and corrosion performance. The construction of these rigs and the fabrication of the 400+ testing coupons, the environmental and mechanical tests results and the final conclusions were the primary deliverables of this project.The team examined three different plating materials (JS 600, trivalent chrome, and zinc phosphate) and compared their performance to that of the original HCC plating. The resulting comparative analysis drove the final recommendation of the best candidate material for the sponsor on the basis of mechanical and environmental performance.Copyright

Solving Koffee Karousel Design Problems: A Case Study in the Senior Mechanical Engineering Design Student Project

The University of Connecticut Department of Mechanical Engineering has developed an industry recognized Senior Design Capstone course. The course provides fourth-year students the opportunity for a “major design experience in which they apply the principles of engineering, basic sciences, and mathematics to model, analyze, design, and realize physical systems, components or processes, and it prepares students to work professionally” [1]. The course is taught by a class instructor and is supported by the faculty of the Mechanical Engineering department at UConn. In the 2013–2014 academic year there were over 40 projects in the course. This paper presents the issues and challenges that students faced when working on a project for Koffee Karousel’s coin-operated K-Cup vending machine. Work on the project began with the problem statement, and was followed by the generation of possible solutions (accepting the most promising ones) and finally, choosing the ideal solution. The subsequent steps involved preliminary and detailed design, structural analysis, creating a 3D CAD representation, generating drawings, and producing a prototype. The prototype was then tested to verify its capabilities. The example of switching from a coin-operated design, with its limited potential use, to an electronically operated solution is described in this paper. The objective of this senior design project was to implement a credit card reader onto the original Koffee Karousel design. To accomplish this goal, a redesign of the Koffee-Karousel’s coin mechanism was required. An electrical engineering team of four students worked independently on the credit card and display setup, while a mechanical team worked on a lever mechanism and gears activated by the validation of a credit card. The implementation of this new mechanism included designing a replacement face, a couple of brackets for electrical hardware, and several new parts, including an actuator and a mini-stepper motor. In addition, students designed the new cam that would interface with stepper motor. Some parts were accepted from the current design of the lever and ejector. The new design still allows the customer to choose which K-Cup flavor they want by hand by operating a rotating knob at the top of the carousel, but no longer requires the user to trigger the ejector mechanism manually. Students tested the new mechanism to ensure it was not only efficient, but also worked properly. The stresses on each individual part were calculated for the first design iteration to ensure the new design would not yield or fail over time due to fatigue.The project and its challenges are described in this paper, as well as the students’ contributions to the design of the Karousel mechanisms, switching it from a purely mechanical to a mechatronik solution.Copyright

Computer-Aided Modeling and Prototyping in Manufacturing Automation

The Manufacturing Automation course in a standard engineering education prepares students for the most contemporary production and technology challenges. This paper describes Rapid Prototyping and Modeling done as subtractive and additive manufacturing operations in the scope of the UConn Engineering program, as well as its integration into the Manufacturing Automation course. It is a companion paper with IMECE 2014-38355 [1] that reports how students of Manufacturing Automation are exposed to rapid prototyping. This is done in the UConn School of Engineering Machine Shop, Mechanical Engineering Machine Shop and Laboratory of the desk top modelers. Some experience students gain also in MEM Prototyping Laboratory and during class trips to Pratt & Whitney/ UConn Additive Manufacturing Research Laboratory and to CNC Software Inc Experimental Testing Shop. One of the objectives of the course is to introduce students to the processes of advanced Subtractive and Additive Manufacturing (SM and AM). The CAD/CAM cutting software such as CAMM-3 Micromodeler, G-code and Mastercam were used successfully in those operations. The elements of CAD/CAM software were integrated in the model cutting exercises. Full automation of integrated design and manufacturing data exchange was attempted but was found still not possible to accomplish. However the use of automation software in a sequence, tin tandem with data export and import, marks a significant step forward towards integrated manufacturing automation. The research to accomplish the next level of automation will be continued and the results will be applied to reinforce the teaching and practice of Manufacturing Automation. Significant role in helping students to understand the methods of subtractive and additive manufacturing has cooperation with two Connecticut companies that achieved outstanding results in modeling and prototyping. These are Pratt & Whitney in East Hartford and CNC Software Inc in Tolland, Connecticut. The class visits to their facilities and experience with their equipment played a significant role in understanding of the subtractive and additive machining processes. Efforts to introduce students to the concepts of subtractive and additive machining process are described. Conclusions about the teaching methods of product machining concepts and lessons learned are pointed out.Copyright

Problem Solving in Design of Machine Elements in Mechanical Engineering

The Design of Machine Elements course is one of the most difficult and complicated courses in the Mechanical Engineering program. It requires inventive concept generation, the knowledge of geometrical design, and basic knowledge of stress and deformation analyses. On those three elements, the machine elements design philosophy is established and further developed. The course material has to be chosen carefully since the time constrains will allow to cover design of only few essential machine elements. The material is covered by lectures, textbook readings, homework problems, and design projects. In addition to the textbook content the course contains five special elements: Idea Generation, Safety Considerations, Design of the Day (DoD), a Designer’s Liability study, and three projects including Final Project – Shaft Design. In the Idea Generation project, students generate an idea of machine or mechanical device. The Safety Consideration project is done by inspection and documentation of unsafe elements on campus. The Shaft Design Project had students design a shaft system under given constrains. In DoD students present existing advanced machines chosen using different sources or their own industrial internship experience. The Liability assignment addresses the designer’s legal responsibility in case of a defective product that caused an injury or accident. The material taught in the course is larger than conventional machine element design course. The elements added that are beyond the structural analysis bring better understanding of engineering problems during the Senior Design course and later during engineering practice. They allow the students to connect the theory with the real world of engineering challenges. This gives students more satisfaction during the learning process and cognitive benefits during engineering practice. The unconventional inventive design approach of the teaching team (course instructor and GTA) to problem solving is based on many years of instructor’s experience in teaching of engineering problem solving and design. The learning pattern in which students work in teams, both in problem solving and in design exercises, also helps to conduct the course. Thanks to all these elements the learning experience of the course is unique and engaging despite the high level of difficulty associated with it.Copyright

Design, Machining and Production Integration Problems in Manufacturing Automation

This paper describes the process of integrating engineering design, manufacturing, and production in the area of manufacturing automation. The work was done within the scope of a Mechanical Engineering senior course that’s objective was to introduce students to the processes of advanced manufacturing and to solving practical engineering problems in manufacturing automation. The students’ efforts at integration covered automation of conceptual and geometric designs, automation of machining process, and machine sequence optimization. The CAD/CAM software, CAMM3 Micromodeler, G-code, NX8, Solid Works, DELMIA/QUEST, and Mastercam were used successfully in a sequence. A survey of the students’ opinions about the effectiveness and user friendliness of the software was summarized at the end of the semester. The elements of the course were integrated in the Final Project. Full automation of integrated design and manufacturing data exchange were found to be too difficult to accomplish. However, the use of the automation software in a sequence, together with data export and import, marks a significant step forward towards integrated manufacturing automation. The research to accomplish this will continue and the results will be applied in order to reinforce the teaching and practice of Manufacturing Automation.Copyright

Integrating the Case Method and Design Projects in the Industry-Sponsored Academic Education

This is a companion paper to IMECE 2013 - 63278. The paper describes a course in which practical designing of industrial products and processes is supported by the analysis of operations management cases taken from actual manufacturing companies. Through the case method, students assume the role of decision-makers who have to use their engineering and business knowledge to deal with real-life problems. Such an approach helps to support and complement the students’ senior design experience and cover those subjects left out from their sponsored design projects. The cases emphasize operations management concepts; economic analysis of manufacturing processes; process analysis, design, and improvement; integration of experimental analysis and research methodologies in diverse manufacturing industries; as well as the interaction between manufacturing technologies and the competitive strategy of the firm. This way, students not only practice solving manufacturing problems, but also develop a framework for dealing with practical situations they are likely to face in their career development. We provide teaching recommendations and practical examples of the case method in this context.Copyright

Solving Conflicting Engineering Problems in Education, Research and Practice: Enhanced Approach

The nature of engineering is problem solving. The challenge of ongoing design research is to develop a tool that would support the most difficult phase of design — solving problems with contradictions and finding the best possible idea for conceptual design of products. The Brief Theory of Inventive Problem Solving (BTIPS) is a prospective tool for performing such a task. Derived from TRIZ, TSIP and TIPS, BTIPS slightly differs from those methods. Principles, Effects and Prediction modules in BTIPS are enhanced to meet the newest challenges of engineering pedagogy and technology development. To meet those challenges principles of Size Reduction, Miniaturization, Nanotechnology and Biotechnology were added. Design principles and technological effects were enriched with new developments based on nanotechnology and biotechnology. Furthermore the procedure of the Virtual Element approach was added to the Prediction module. The tests of functions’ separation and minimum information contents to evaluate the derived end solution are also the new additions. BTIPS is living and developing; it is taught and used, and, thus, constantly improved. This paper points out the enhancements and shows some ways of BTIPS application in solving problems with conflicting constraints in conceptual design.Copyright

Application of Advanced Problem Solving Software in Conceptual Design

This paper is devoted to the application and evaluation of the software supporting the problem solving in engineering conceptual design. This is a companion paper with IMECE 2012 [1]. Though the situation is slightly better now than in previous years, there is still no software suitable for a completely satisfactory automation of the engineering conceptual design process. However there are some program packages that could be the most helpful and would greatly influence the quality of the designed product, especially in cases of contradicting constraints. In this paper some results of research on the use and effectiveness of Invention Machine (IM™) software products are presented. As reported before such packages as Invention Machine V.2 for Windows, TechOptimizer V. 3.5, and TechOptimizer V.4 were used extensively giving excellent results in teaching, research and practical applications. In this paper some experience in use of Goldfire V. 6.5, Goldfire V.7 and Goldfire V.7.5, that was recently introduced is reported and evaluated. The content and effectiveness of the programs in teaching are discussed. Examples of applications are given, conclusions are derived, and the recommendations for the future use of the software are offered.Copyright