NSF Award
9451342
9451342 Rahnamai This project initiates an integrated manufacturing and controls laboratory. The laboratory will have a major impact on manufacturing and control courses, and provide a means for developing an interdisciplinary senior laboratory exercise. The objectives of the integrated laboratory are: (1) to provide a laboratory environment where interdisciplinary experiments relating to integrated manufacturing and control can be performed, (2) to provide an opportunity for each of the engineering programs (electrical, industrial, mechanical, and bio) to conduct independent experiments relating to manufacturing and control, (3) to provide for the students necessary experience in the interdisciplinary nature of engineering practice, and (4) to provide a facility for the design, development, testing, and manufacture of plastic products. The laboratory is centered around an extrusion system consisting of a 3/4 inch, bench top extruder, a water trough, and a belt puller. The system also includes two additional extruder screws and dies to produce rods and strips. The extruder process will be controlled using a fast DSP board with: (1) Cockpit software which allows on-line interaction and modification of control algorithm parameters running on the DSP board, (2) trace software which is used for data acquisition and display of sensor signals and control variables; and (3) a C code generator which is required for automatic implementation of the control module generated using SIMULINK.
