Technological development offers a wide range of new possibilities for implementation of
production processes. Continual production development is the main key to success and
competitiveness improvement, labour productivity and image-building for all manufacturing
companies. The article deals with designing of new workplace with implementation and
utilization of automated robot for faster and safer handling of cast stock. The new layout
of workplace is created in software Process Simulate.
The awareness of the growing importance of the complexity in creating a new type of a modern enterprise strategy and in introducing changes within planning, control and organizational structures contributed to undertaking studies on relationships occurring between the complexity of a modern enterprise and its flexibility in the sector of industrial automation, as well as filling the gap relating to the cognitive impact of poor complexity management on the flexibility of the company. The main objective of the research work is to check whether there is an important relationship between the complexity of the business and its flexibility in the industrial automation sector. Quantification of the relationship between these two quantities – the complexity and flexibility – happened by the use of the Multidimensional Correspondence Analysis (MCA) and Perceptual Maps. The study which has been carried out indicated that the flexibility and complexity functions in the enterprise management rise, however, the knowledge of these issues is highly insufficient. The research discovered that the obstacles which hamper striking a balance between the flexibility and complexity in their advanced stages exert a devastating impact on the quality of the process management. Reducing the flexibility at its higher levels generates a context in which the market risk is enhanced. Companies characterised by improper flexibility management bear higher workforce costs and their processes of decision-making last longer. Methodical and systematized study of flexibility and complexity will decrease the destructive influence of the interaction between these two categories.
Most of the developing countries economy largely depends on the agriculture. More than half of the population rely on agriculture related activities for their survival. In spite of dependency on agriculture, the technological development of agricultural work in developing country is not comparable to the countries like Australia or Israel. The main reason behind the lack of development is the small size of farms. Such farmers cannot afford expensive technology available in the market due to limited profit margins. The report describes an autonomous fertilization system that takes care of the fertilization requirements of the small scale farms at affordable rates. The system is divided in two parts namely User Interface and Control System. The user interface is designed using the state of the art Raspberry Pi board and a touch screen LCD. The control system is developed using the Arduino platform and can control five fertilizers at a time. The output of the system is the mix of the fertilizer, which is forced into the drip irrigation system of the farm. The system has built in data for the fertilization requirement for important crops and vegetation. The system also facilitates the customize fertilization requirements to be added in the system as per the user requirements.
The realization of digitalization in production companies – currently also referred to as Industry
4.0 – aims for reduction of internal value creation costs as well as costs for intercompany
collaboration and plays a key role in their current strategy development. However, related
strategy research still lacks to provide operationalized digitalization methods and tools to
practitioners with scientific rigor as well as real-world relevance. To challenge this status
quo, we present a scientifically grounded 14-step procedure model including 11 practically
tested tools, developed specifically for real-world application. The model leads practitioners
from their first contact with industrial digitalization, through the maturity assessment of
143 digitalization items, until the implementation of a KPI-monitoring system and a continuous
improvement process. We applied and re-worked the procedure model during three
years of application. Validation and Feedback from practitioners and scholars indicate, that
the model drives strategy development towards objective and data-based decision making
and increases stakeholder engagement in organizations considerably.
Ensuring the required quality of castings is an important part of the production process. The quality control should be carried out in a fast
and accurate way. These requirements can be met by the use of an optical measuring system installed on the arm of an industrial robot. In
the article a methodology for assessing the quality of robotic measurement system to control certain feature of the casting, based on the
analysis of repeatability and reproducibility is presented. It was shown that industrial robots equipped with optical measuring systems have
the accuracy allowing their use in the process of dimensional control of castings manufactured by lost-wax process, permanent-mould
casting, and pressure die-casting.
In recent decades, two different approaches to mine ventilation control have been developed: ventilation on demand (VOD) and automatic ventilation control (AVC) systems. The latter was primarily developed in Russia and the CIS countries. This paper presents a comparative analysis of these two approaches; it was concluded that the approaches have much in common. The only significant difference between them is the optimal control algorithm used in automatic ventilation control systems. The paper describes in greater detail the algorithm for optimal control of ventilation devices that was developed at the scientific school of the Perm Mining Institute with the direct participation of the authors. One feature of the algorithm is that the search for optimal airflow distribution in the mine is performed by the system in a fully automated mode. The algorithm does not require information about the actual topology of the mine and target airflows for the fans. It can be easily programmed into microcontrollers of main fans and ventilation doors. Based on this algorithm, an automated ventilation control system was developed, which minimizes energy consumption through three strategies: automated search for optimal air distribution, dynamic air distribution control depending on the type of shift, and controlled air recirculation systems. Two examples of the implementation of an automated ventilation control system in potash mines in Belarus are presented. A significant reduction in the energy consumption for main fans’ operation obtained for both potash mines.
Image-guided High Intensity Focused Ultrasound (HIFU) technique is dynamically developing technology for treating solid tumors due to its non-invasive nature. Before a HIFU ablation system is ready for use, the exposure parameters of the HIFU beam capable of destroying the treated tissue without damaging the surrounding tissues should be selected to ensure the safety of therapy. The purpose of this work was to select the threshold acoustic power as well as the step and rate of movement of the HIFU beam, generated by a transducer intended to be used in the HIFU ablation system being developed, by using an array of thermocouples and numerical simulations. For experiments a bowl-shaped 64-mm, 1.05 MHz HIFU transducer with a 62.6 mm focal length (f-number 0.98) generated pulsed waves propagating in two-layer media: water/ex vivo pork loin tissue (50 mm/40 mm) was used. To determine a threshold power of the HIFU beam capable of creating the necrotic lesion in a small volume within the tested tissue during less than 3 s each tissue sample was sonicated by multiple parallel HIFU beams of different acoustic power focused at a depth of 12.6 mm below the tissue surface. Location of the maximum heating as well as the relaxation time of the tested tissue were determined from temperature variations recorded during and after sonication by five thermo-couples placed along the acoustic axis of each HIFU beam as well as from numerical simulations. The obtained results enabled to assess the location of each necrotic lesion as well as to determine the step and rate of the HIFU beam movement. The location and extent of the necrotic lesions created was verified using ultrasound images of tissue after sonication and visual inspection after cutting the samples. The threshold acoustic power of the HIFU beam capable of creating the local necrotic lesion in the tested tissue within 3 s without damaging of surrounding tissues was found to be 24 W, and the pause between sonications was found to be more than 40 s.