Application of an edge detection algorithm for surface determination in industrial X-ray computed tomography

Surface determination is an essential step of the measurement process in industrial X-ray computed tomography (XCT). The starting point of the surface determination process step is a single grey value threshold within a voxel volume in conventional surface determination methods. However, this value is not always found in the reconstructed volume in the local environment of the surface of the measurement object due to various artefacts, so that none or incorrect surfaces are determined. In order to find surfaces independently of a single grey value, a three-dimensional approach of the initial contour determination based on a Prewitt edge detection algorithm is presented in this work. This method is applied to different test specimens and specimen compositions which, due to their material or material constellation, their geometric properties with regard to surfaces and interfaces as well as their calibrated size and length dimensions, embody relevant properties in the examination of joining connections. It is shown that by using the surface determination method in the measurement process, both a higher metrological structure resolution and interface structure resolution can be achieved. Surface artefacts can be reduced by the application and it is also an approach to improved surface finding for the multi-material components that are challenging for XCT.

Implementing the Great American Outdoors Act in the Era of Sustainable Recreation: Time for a Mission 2030?

The Great American Outdoors Act (AGOA) fully and permanently funds the Land and Water Conservation Fund for the first time since it was created in 1964. This is a boon for purchasing conservation lands, but equally important, the act provides funding to address massive federal agency recreation infrastructure backlogs. The last major overhaul of the U.S. parks and outdoor recreation system was over 50 years ago, during the era of Mission 66 and related programs. Since that time, a host of environmental and societal changes necessitates new approaches for updating conservation and recreation opportunities. In addition to acquiring critical park and conservation lands, and developing and updating facilities, new park and recreation goals include increasing public use and visitor diversity and advancing environmental justice, public health, and large-scale conservation goals. Integrated systems analyses are needed to address these diverse concerns across landscapes, regions, and jurisdictions, and new interagency and interdisciplinary approaches will be needed. This is a bureaucratic crossroads: for the first time in decades we can truly advance public access, human health, and social equity values of public lands; the GAOA is a critical process step toward, but not the culmination of, this goal.

Optimized Cell Mixing Facilitates the Reproducible Bioprinting of Constructs with High Cell Viability

Bioprinting with cell-laden hydrogels (bioink) requires the careful mixing of cells with the hydrogel carrier to ensure that the bioink is homogeneous and functional, and the printing results are reproducible. Bioink preparation is therefore a critical process step that must accommodate the specific rheological properties of different bioinks. Here, we developed a reproducible method for the optimized mixing of cells and hydrogel carriers that can be integrated into current bioprinting processes. First, we tested and optimized different mixing devices for their effect on bioink homogeneity and rheological properties, resulting in a low-shear process for the preparation of homogenous bioinks. Based on these findings, we evaluated the impact of different cell densities on the rheological profile of bioinks according to shear and temperature, and estimated the impact of shear stress intensity and duration on 1.1B4 cells. Finally, we integrated the optimized mixing method into a current printing process and monitored the printed construct for 14 days to confirm cell viability. We found that the cell viability in the printed cell-laden constructs remained in excess of 91% after 14 days.

A Technical Tool for the Agricultural Machinery Performance Assessment

The features of continuous timing of operations during control shifts are described. An electronic universal chronometer has been proposed, which makes it possible to perform the timing of process steps for the performance assessment of agricultural units and to determine, using GPS, such indicators as the path traveled when performing the main process step and productivity.

Supporting Decommissioning/Conversion of Offshore Structures Applying Innovative Technological Solution INSURE project

Companies that work in the decommissioning of platforms need tools to make smarter and informed business decisions, manage and analyse business data, increase the security of workers and operate under strict environmental protection regulations. INSURE aims at assessing the feasibility of a new service to support the decommissioning of offshore installations by means of technological innovation made available throughout each process’ step. In order to accomplish this, the project gathers high-impact Italian companies bringing together the best applicable technological and scientific know-how. INSURE foresees to combine these know-hows and create a novel tool at the service of the industry to promote a better and safer approach to the operations. Targets of the INSURE project are improving workers’ safety, enhancing environmental monitorings, increasing operations’ efficiency, reducing operational costs, offering a route for future sustainability. Project targets can be achieved through the realisation of an augmented virtual reality platform (AVRP) that will be operated in support of the decommissioning process where the data acquired/transmitted by a plurality of sensors will converge. A fleet control tool integrates information from sensors installed on autonomous aerial and underwater vehicles making use of the Global Satellite Navigation Systems (GSNS) and Satellite Communications (SatCom). The convergence of top-notch technologies (augmented/virtual reality, 3D, robotics, sensors, 5G and Satellite services), together with a cloud of infrastructure, enables a fast and complete access to real-time data at very high resolution. The proposal aims to bring the actual data and information access from the Internet of Things to the Internet of Knowledge paradigm. Confrontation with national and international possible end-users produced a set of user requirements guiding the design of a feasibility study for the realisation of one specific product. The study also includes the evaluation of economic, non-economic viability and possible regulatory constraints to its realisation. The INSURE feasibility study creates the intellectual background for the further step of the process: the realisation and development of a pilot project tailored for the purpose. This combined use of novel technologies represents an innovative integrated approach applied to the management of offshore structures undergoing decommissioning or reconfiguration for other purposes. In addition, it also involves the promotion of sustainable opportunities for commercial, social and educational exploitation of areas and assets (including, for example, the ambit of eco-tourism, renewable energies, carbon capture and storage).

STEP-NC-Compliant Implementation to Support Mixed-Control Technologies Applied to Stone-Processing Machines Based on Industrial Automation Standards

STEP-NC (Standard for the Exchange of Product Model Data–Numerical Control) for metal milling and turning is not implemented by industrial computer numerical controllers. Solutions reported are prototypes based on post-processing in G-code. Moreover, minority machining processes, such as stone cutting, have not yet been contemplated in the STEP-NC standard. This article takes that sector as a use case. An extended STEP-NC model for circular saw stone-cutting operations is proposed, and a prototype automation implementation is developed to work with this extended model. This article shows how modern technological resources for coordinated axes control provided by many industrial controllers for the automation of general-purpose machines can speed up the processes of implementing STEP-NC numerical controllers. This article proposes a mixed and flexible approach for STEP-NC-based machine automation, where different strategies can coexist when it comes to executing STEP-NC machining files, so controllers do not need to implement the standard in an exhaustive way for all the possible features, but only at selected ones when convenient. This is demonstrated in a prototype implementation which is able to process STEP-NC product files with mixed-feature types: standard milling and non-standard sawblade features for stone processing.

Characterization of Hermetically Sealed Metallic Feedthroughs through Injection-Molded Epoxy-Molding Compounds

Electronic devices and their associated sensors are exposed to increasing mechanical, thermal and chemical stress in modern applications. In many areas of application, the electronics are completely encapsulated with thermosets in a single process step using injection molding technology, especially with epoxy molding compounds (EMC). The implementation of the connection of complete systems for electrical access through a thermoset encapsulation is of particular importance. In practice, metal pin contacts are used for this purpose, which are encapsulated together with the complete system in a single injection molding process step. However, this procedure contains challenges because the interface between the metallic pins and the plastic represents a weak point for reliability. In order to investigate the reliability of the interface, in this study, metallic pin contacts made of copper-nickel-tin alloy (CuNiSn) and bronze (CuSn6) are encapsulated with standard EMC materials. The metal surfaces made of CuNiSn are further coated with silver (Ag) and tin (Sn). An injection molding tool to produce test specimens is designed and manufactured according to the design rules of EMC processing. The reliability of the metal-plastic interfaces are investigated by means of shear and leak tests. The results of the investigations show that the reliability of the metal-plastic joints can be increased by using different material combinations.

Co-feeding of vacuum gas oil and pinewood-derived hydrogenated pyrolysis oils in a fluid catalytic cracking pilot plant to generate olefins and gasoline

Background: The Waste2Road project exploits new sustainable pathways to generate biogenic fuels from waste materials, deploying existing industrial scale processes. One such pathway is through pyrolysis of wood wastes. Methods: The hereby generated pyrolysis liquids were hydrogenated prior to co-feeding in a fluid catalytic cracking (FCC) pilot plant. So-called stabilized pyrolysis oil (SPO) underwent one mild hydrogenation step (max. 200 °C) whereas the stabilized and deoxygenated pyrolysis oil (SDPO) was produced in two steps, a mild one (maximum 250 °C) prior to a more severe process step (350 °C). These liquids were co-fed with vacuum gas oil (VGO) in an FCC pilot plant under varying riser temperatures (530 and 550 °C). The results of the produced hydrocarbon gases and gasoline were benchmarked to feeding pure VGO. Results: It was proven that co-feeding up to 10 wt% SPO and SDPO is feasible. However, further experiments are recommended for SPO due to operational instabilities originating from pipe clogging. SPO led to an increase in the hydrocarbon gas production from 45.0 to 46.3 wt% at 550 °C and no significant changes at 530 °C. SDPO led to a rise in gasoline yield at both riser temperatures. The highest amount of gasoline was produced when SDPO was co-fed at a 530 °C riser temperature, with values around 44.8 wt%. Co-feeding hydrogenated pyrolysis oils did not lead to a rise in sulfur content in the gasoline fractions. The highest values were around 18 ppm sulfur content. Instead, higher amounts of nitrogen were observed in the gasoline. Conclusions: SPO and SDPO proved to be valuable co-refining options which led to no significant decreases in product quality. Further experiments are encouraged to determine the maximum possible co-feeding rates. As a first step, 20-30 wt% for SPO are recommended, whereas for SDPO 100 wt% could be achievable.

Process Water Recirculation During Hydrothermal Carbonization as a Promising Process Step Towards the Production of Nitrogen-Doped Carbonaceous Materials

Hydrothermal Carbonization (HTC) refers to the conversion of biogenic wastes into char-like solids with promising perspectives for application, but a process water (PW) results which is difficult to dispose untreated. Thus, a biorefinery approach including one or two recirculation steps with the additional objective of improving the physico-chemical characteristics of the solid was performed in this study. During HTC, constitutive molecules such as saccharides, proteins and lignin of Brewer’s Spent Grains decompose into hundreds of organic compounds, following complex reactions. To get deeper insights a combination of proximate, ultimate and structural analysis for solid products as well as liquid chromatography for liquid products were the choice. The main reactions could be identified by key compounds of low and high molecular weight resulting from hydrolysis, dehydration, decarboxylation, deamination as well as amide formation and condensation reactions. Their intensity was influenced by the feedwater pH and reaction temperature. Via reactions of Maillard character up to around 90% of the dissolved nitrogen of the recirculated process water at 200, 220 and 240 °C result in the formation of nitrogen containing heterocycles or rather Quartnernary nitrogen incorporated into the hydrochar (HC). Thus, already one recirculation step during HTC at 240 °C promises the fabrication of high added-value materials, i.e. nitrogen doped carbonaceous materials. Graphic Abstract

Development of a Digital Counterpart to Aid Decision Support on Energy Consumption of an Active Manufacturing Process

This research focused on the development of a Digital Model (DM) of a production line at a medical device company, with the objective of providing decision support to stakeholders based on their energy consumption. This model aims to reduce energy consumption by bringing operational data to process engineers, allowing them to make efficient improvement decisions while in production. In order to achieve this objective, the twin transition of digital integration and energy efficiency was enacted by organisations such as the International Energy Agency (IEA). This two-pronged approach involved working with process owners to understand the decision-making process that they undertook to streamline performance and develop the means to digitalise this data while also working with facilities and maintenance engineers to understand which equipment played the most important roles in the production process from an energy consumption perspective. By bringing the process data and energy data together in a digital model of the process, a decision support system could be developed which would unlock the potential to streamline operations not just from an output perspective, but also from an energy efficient perspective. When examining the process step with data catagorised as energy, operational and maintenance, it was found that only operational data was sufficient to support digital modelling in its current state. Therefore, the installation of a wireless energy metering network would be required to support digital modelling and further digital integration.