Project Vision
This project aims to teach students about factory equipment and processes like robotic arms, conveyor belts, and PLC control systems. It uses a variety of different mechanical components, such as belts, pulleys, and bearings, as well as a wide range of electrical components like relays, microcontrollers, stepper drivers, and a PLC.
Project Requirements
Table of Contents
Computer Aided Design using SolidWorks and Matlab
Manufacturing
Machining
| Parts Made on the Milling Machine | Parts Made on the Lathe | Tapping Aluminum Extrusions on the Flex-Arm Tapping Station |
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Waterjet and Laser Cutting
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Electronics Prototyping
Pullup Resistor Array | Crimped Faston Connection for Limit Switch |
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Industrial Automation Showcase Meeting with Brock Solutions, Opto 22, and Inductive Automation Notes
Digital Twin
Brock Solutions recommends using Ignition to create the Digital Twin. This could be an excellent project for software students- it involves scripting, measurement of physical features, and testing. A digital twin can be useful for a number of things- simulating throughput, testing failure cases, and simulating machine events. For a system like the Industrial Automation project, things happen quickly, so a fair bit of optimization is required to accurately model the system.
Long Term Projects
Involving chemical engineering students is a long term goal - there are many employers in the region, and chemical engineering is not a current strong point of the ideas clinic.