Engineering ManufacturingOur lives depend on manufactured goods, whether it be for housing, medical care, steel for cars and bicycles, aluminium alloys for aeroplanes, or textiles for clothes. Almost human activity relies on manufactured goods in one form or another. Engineering Manufacturing at the University of Wollongong carries out research to improve manufactured products and manufacturing processes in a never-ending quest for greater accuracy, greater economy, improved performance and higher quality. For example, researchers are involved in:
- finding new ways of improving the quality of steel:
- developing methods to ensure quality of electricity supply is maintained to manufacturing processes
- helping Boeing to manufacture the next generation of aircraft
- assisting industry with its materials handling problems
- developing highly accurate machines and controls to assist surgeons in operations
- developing new actuators and sensors to improve control over fine operations and precision machines
- improving more accurate and 'intelligent' robots.
This research covers the full spectrum of disciplines, such as mechanical, mechatronic, electrical and computer engineering, which require physics and mathematics to understand and describe the fundamental theories underlying practical problems. It aims to design and develop the mechanisms, high-speed controls and computer systems necessary for modern manufacturing. It is supported by research grants from industry and from the Federal Government. Engineering Manufacturing also interacts with a number of universities and research institutes internationally. ROBOTIC DRILLING AND ASSEMBLY OF AEROSPACE MATERIALS Assembling an aeroplane is time consuming and costly. Drilling thousands of holes, for example, on a tight tolerance, where both the size of the holes and their positioning needs to be exact, involves the use of large, dedicated jigs - devices that guide the drill to ensure uniformity. Currently, drilling is performed by skilled operators who are specially trained to drill carbon composites. Inevitably, human fallibility can result in quality problems such as oversized holes, fibre breakouts from the composite, and premature tool wear. The aircraft industry has a significant interest in providing automated assistance to its personnel to improve productivity and consistency and this has motivated a Cooperative Research Centre for Intelligent Manufacturing Systems and Technologies (CRC IMST) project. The intelligent end effector project is a collaboration between the University of Wollongong , Boeing Hawker de Havilland, the University of NSW , RMIT, the University of SA , and Marand Precision Engineering. The major challenge is to provide a low-cost and flexible automation solution, or robot, for the drilling and assembly process by eliminating the expensive and cumbersome jigs and fixtures currently used, while still maintaining the high dimensional tolerances required. Marta Fernandes, who is part of the project team at the University of Wollongong , is working on the development, design and construction of a dedicated test bed for drilling, which is fully automated and controlled by a computer. "An automatic system needs to meet the requirements directly related to the nature of the material being drilled, in the same way that an operator does, says Ms Fernandes. "We are trying to put 'knowledge' into the system. There are many factors to account for, such as the properties of carbon fibre, the state of the drill bit and the required hole tolerances for each application." Ms Fernandes' research is one piece of the puzzle where using a robot can guarantee drilling accuracy. Other research at the University of Wollongong has recently demonstrated that a robot's accuracy can be improved to better than industry standard using the innovative intelligent end effector. These concepts are now reality at Hawker de Havilland and work is redirected at extending the automated solution to other difficult tasks around the plant. < Back to Contents | Next Article >
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