| Fall 06: Research: Strength in Numbers
CATS uses industry partnerships to generate energy savings
The
Center
for Automation Technologies and Systems (CATS) recognizes the worldwide
significance of energy in this century, so it’s working closely with
industry to improve the quality, efficiency, and reliability of energy use
in manufacturing through increased automation.
Industrial manufacturing requires huge amounts of energy. CATS has effectively partnered with many companies to obtain New York State Energy Research and Development Authority (NYSERDA) funding to improve energy efficiency. Among the successes in this partnership are improvement of the high-temperature process that forms titanium parts with Dynabil, and more efficient microwave heating for ceramic parts with Ceralink. Other highlights include a program to optimize bus engine heating with Brown Coach and energy-efficient automated pattern assembly for investment casting with MPI.
“We’ve sponsored research at CATS because we see a rigorous pursuit of valid technical information that has near-term use,” said Dana Levy, NYSERDA program manager for industrial research. “I was impressed when the RPI team achieved a Eureka! moment with the laboratory proof-of-principle confirmation of an effective wax welding technique on the MPI project. This discovery propelled the rapid development of a commercially viable product.”
Since 1988, CATS has contributed $118 million to New York’s economy. It generally works directly with industry to integrate automation technologies into manufacturing in ways that add value to business. There’s a great deal of fuel cell research happening at Rensselaer now, and CATS is contributing valuable industrially driven efforts. The center partnered with fuel cell membrane manufacturer Celanese (later PEMEAS) to generate a successful proof-of-principle system, then developed the engineering specs and evaluated the automation vendor for a pilot facility in Germany. Rensselaer is helping to develop new plants for PEMEAS now, because demand outstripped the original facility’s ability to produce.
When fuel cells are manufactured today, the assembly is manually stacked, with flexible parts precisely aligned and tightly packed. Automation can increase throughput, reduce costs, and improve quality. In fact, CATS is holding a symposium on October 18 for component, equipment, and system manufacturers, users, NYSERDA, and the Departments of Energy and Defense. The goal is to present the needs, the state of the art, and Rensselaer’s research agenda. If everything gels, the Fuel Cell Stack Assembly Automation Consortium will arise, led by CATS’s program director in industrial automation, Ray Puffer.
The blackout that struck the East Coast a few summers ago inspired Rensselaer to create a consortium of power system operators from New York, the mid-Atlantic states, New England, and Canada, as well as Virginia Polytechnic Institute and the University of Wyoming. CATS is actively supporting the new Power System Research Consortium (PSRC), led by Associate Dean and Professor of Electrical, Computer, and Systems Engineering Joe Chow.
“Large swings in demand or voltage together with subsystem failure can shut the system down,” CATS Director John Wen explained. “The consortium will develop and implement systems that report potential trouble to the operators to decide how to address such situations.”
Wen sees great value in partnerships of industry, university, and government. “There needs to be a theoretical underpinning,” he said. “We don’t use a cookbook, so we're in a position to see opportunities and have the freedom to act.”
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