Dissertations / Theses on the topic 'Industrial Engineering'

Transketolase is a ubiquitous enzyme of the thiamine diphosphate-dependent (TPP) family involved in the Calvin cycle and the pentose phosphate pathway. Substrate-walking of E. coli transketolase progressively shifted the target acceptor substrate from phosphorylated aldehydes to non-polar aromatic aldehydes. However, its applicability as an industrial biocatalyst is limited by the lack of combination mutants exhibiting satisfactory substrate breadth and stability. The S385Y/D469T/R520Q variant, which had previously been thought to exhibit differential binding to aromatic substrates, was analysed. Three model substrates were docked into its active site thus revealing two binding pockets supporting π-π stacking interactions. Screening of this variant with other cyclic compounds revealed evolved activities towards valuable industrial building blocks including 4-(methylsulfonyl)benzaldehyde (4-MSBA), a precursor to thiamphenicol. A quadruple mutant was consequently engineered by recombining a stabilising mutation and used as a template for further evolution towards bulky aromatics. Site-directed mutagenesis of a key residue generated the H192P/S385Y/L466M/D469T/R520Q variant which exhibited 5.6-fold improved kinetics towards 4-MSBA compared to the triple mutant. The transition of TK from a model enzyme to a robust industrial biocatalyst however does not only rely on its ability to synthesise novel therapeutic molecules, but also on its thermo- and solvent-stability. 52 variants of TK across the tree of life were consequently aligned to engineer a consensus variant and reconstruct a common ancestor to TK speculated to have branched from proteobacteria, firmicutes and fungi. The resulting common ancestor exhibited trace levels of non-native activity towards non-phosphorylated sugars and provided an initial soluble enzyme to explore the stability/activity relationship of future de novo TKs.

This research is aimed at improving low-grade industrial ovens (less than 250°C) in the manufacturing industry. Industrial ovens have a significant bearing on the environmental and economic impacts of a manufacturing factory due to their excessive fossil fuel consumption and influence on product quality. Therefore, this thesis’ research question is: 'How can manufacturers improve the environmental and economic performance of industrial ovens?' Research on industrial oven improvement is under-developed and there are significant improvement opportunities within many industrial-heating processes. Manufacturers traditionally prioritise economic assessment when evaluating capital investment projects and it is important that systematic engineering of industrial ovens align energy saving and process enhancement with key business interests. Furthermore, there is a need to incorporate stakeholder perspectives when improving oven processes. This thesis consists of three bodies of research, which all develop ways to improve the environmental and economic performance of industrial ovens: 1) Energy saving through process optimisation, 2) Process enhancement considering both energy consumption and product quality, 3) Developing sustainable industrial ovens. The key research outputs from this thesis are shown below: • There are two options to reduce energy consumption; to optimise the process by changing parameters, or to innovate the process by changing the way the heat is supplied to an oven. • System airflow can often be reduced by up to 30%. This was demonstrated at two factories and three oven systems, and has reduced gas energy consumption by 4,536,000 kWh and cut carbon emissions by 836 tCO2e per year. This has delivered a combined annual cost saving of £121,000. • Installing sufficient control capability enables heating processes to be optimised throughout their life, to meet changing requirements. • A novel approach of polymer cure characterisation has been developed that combines DMTA and a free phenol/CIE-Lch test. This demonstrated that temperature variation within a festoon oven results in dramatically different cure conversion (complete conversion time ranges from 73 to 40 minutes depending on location) and product quality. • A novel multi-criteria analysis method incorporating sustainability indicators from stakeholder’s perspectives has been developed for oven optimisation. • Retrofitting gas-fuelled processes with biomass technology is not economically viable. Alternative schemes that negate capital cost from the business would significantly enhance biomass viability. • Biomass technology is more viable in newly-built processes than retrofit scenarios. • EU Emission Trading Scheme (ETS) is an effective tool to encourage uptake of biomass heating technology in the manufacturing industry. This study demonstrates that there is opportunity to improve low-grade heating processes in the manufacturing industry. The environmental and economic performance of industrial ovens can, and should, be improved to help the manufacturing industry move towards a more sustainable future.

The art of estimating and managing costs is commonly referred to as cost engineering which is a vital tool to counteract cost uncertainty. Current research within the area mainly focuses on the cost estimation techniques themselves and the strategic implications have not yet been studied in-depth, nor been set into relation to traditional sourcing strategies. This study investigates how cost engineering should be used strategically within industrial sourcing. The research is conducted as a three-staged case study at a manufacturing company, including a qualitative part consisting of a literature review, interviews and analysis of artefacts, and a quantitative part consisting of a multiple regression analysis and a Welch-ANOVA test. The results from this study include a list of procurement attributes that a↵ect cost uncertainty and an assessment of their impact as well as insights on how cost engineering usage affect negotiation dynamics and supplier relationships. As a part of the study’s discussion, a strategic framework for cost engineering focus within industrial sourcing during the different phases of the product life cycle is presented. The proposed strategy involves insights on what cost engineering actions that have to be taken, which types of components the efforts should be focused on and what prerequisites that have to be present. The study shows that inter-organisation sharing of cost data, supplier relationships, changes in purchasing volume and product life cycle phase are of central importance when focusing cost engineering resources.
Hantverket att uppskatta och hantera kostnader är vanligtvis benämnt kostnadsestimeringsteknik vilket är ett viktigt verktyg för att motverka kostnadsosäkerhet. Befintlig forskning inom området behandlar i huvudsak teknikerna för kostnadsestimering i sig och de strategiska implikationerna har varken utretts på djupet eller satts i relation till traditionella inköpsstrategier. Denna studie undersöker hur kostnadsestimeringsteknik ska användas strategiskt inom industriellt inköp. Forskningen är bedriven som en fallstudie i tre delar på ett tillverkande företag och innehåller en kvalitativ del bestående av en litteraturstudie, en intervjustudie samt en analys av artefakter. Detta kompletteras med en kvantitativ statistisk analys innehållande en multipel linjär regressionanalys samt ett Welch-ANOVA-test. Resultaten från denna studie inkluderar en lista med inköpsfaktorer som påverkar kostnadsosäkerhet och ett fastställande av deras påverkan. Detta kompletteras med insikter angående hur användandet av kostnadsestimeringar påverkar förhandlingssituationer och leverantörsrelationer. Som en del av studiens diskussion presenteras ett strategiskt ramverk för hur man bör fokuera arbetet med kostnadsestimeringsteknik under de olika faserna i produktlivscykeln. Den föreslagna strategin involverar förslag på hur kostnadsestimeringsteknik bör användas, vilken typ av komponenter insatserna bör fokusera på samt vilka förutsättningar som måste finnas på plats. Studien visar att interorganisationellt delande av kostnadsdata, leverantörsrelationer, förändring i inköpsvolym och fas i produktlivscykeln är centrala faktorer som påverkar hur resurser för kostnadsestimeringsteknik ska fördelas.

La tesi "Fuzzy Cognitive Maps tools for Industrial Engineering", riguarda la valutazione dell'applicazione di uno strumento quale la Mappa Cognitiva Fuzzy nell'ambito industriale. Ciò risiede nel fatto che, il suddetto strumento, nato nel settore delle scienze sociale, considera rilevante l'aspetto sociale ed umano associato ad un particolare problema. In tutti i problemi di ottimizzazione di un processo, o di risoluzione di un particolare problema, è possibile scegliere macchine che lavorino di più e meglio, oppure compiere azioni di correzione svariate, ma è necessario considerare che, chi lavora con tali macchine o esegue tali azioni è un individuo, soggetto a paure, insicurezze e stati d'animo differenti. Tutti aspetti che ne possono modificare le azioni comportamentali e di conseguenza anche la produttività. Con le Mappe Cognitive Fuzzy, si vuole quindi far interagire i diversi operatori nel processo decisionale di un'azienda. Punto focale di tale metodo è il lavoro in gruppi di esperti per l'identificazione e risoluzione di un dato quesito. Gruppo di esperti che deve, necessariamente, coprire tutte le aree di competenza associate al problema in questione. Ogni individuo ha modalità di approccio ad un problema in relazioni alle sue mansioni nello stesso. È proprio questa la potenza di tale strumento. La diversa astrazione mentale di un problema, condivisa con il gruppo, permette di evidenziare connessioni causali tra fenomeni, finora sconosciuti o conosciuti da pochi. Nell'elaborato presentato, tale strumento è stato impiegato per la gestione di quattro problemi differenti: Gestione del farmaco, Selezione dei fornitori, Analisi degli infortuni e Analisi criticità. In tutte e quattro le situazioni analizzate, gli esperti hanno individuato alcuni aspetti positivi della tipologia di approccio. Il coinvolgimento di tutti i livelli di operatività nel processo di decision making ha infatti prodotto una maggiore attenzione da parte degli operatori alla vita delle aziende prese in considerazione.
The proposed thesis highlighted the potential of cognitive maps in their explanatory and reflective functions and their value in support of decision making within organizations in a phase of any consolidation of the cognitive distances involved. Intelligent agents use mental models and have various “internal” processes (physical, mental, emotional) as they interact with other agents. Encourage group members to produce their own learning and cognitive maps represent their mental models that can have multiple functions in the formation, whether or not assisted by the network. The considered areas of study are characterized by complexity requiring the investigation of new advanced methods for modelling and development of sophisticated systems. In order to improve the communication between the different actors in relation to the factors, it becomes important to recognize that the mental models that characterize them influence the way they perceive the world and, consequently, the risks. The information collected through this analysis have been used both as a basis for the definition of strategies of risk communication, and as a guide for the negotiation process aimed at reducing existing levels of conflict and, at improving the mitigation measures to be taken. On the basis of the results obtained, it becomes important to encourage administrators to increase the dissemination of information about previous responsibilities relating to risk management, and the future ones relating to possible measures to be undertaken in a specific area. The proposed PhD thesis analyses some cases of study. It has been described the application of the FCM in the suppliers' selection sector, specifically, in the new product development process; in the analysis of injury events on workplace, where the social aspect has a great relevance; it has been analysed in order to define a new ranking method, in an Italian company, for defining a criticality indicator for the equipment and a proper maintenance program and, finally, the FCM has been applied in the Healthcare sector and, specifically, it has been used to define the main causes affecting the drug administration risk.

In collaboration with the construction company Skanska, a product intended to facilitate waste material transportation at construction sites was developed. The current solution, known as an industrial wheelbarrow, specializes in storing, transporting and disposing waste material. However, due to improper adaptation to human or machine use, this is frequently a problematic procedure causing time consuming countermeasures. The result of the development was therefore a solution adapted for both human and machine use in order to reduce resources required, which is uncommon on the current market.

Great competition drives the widespread application of lean value in many industries. Value identification and product delivery is challenging due to the various concerns of shareholders, the large number of disparate tasks, and the complex resource allocation process. The overall goal of this research, then, is to develop a value focused optimization process adopting an enterprise perspective by investigating value identification, decision support and resource allocation. Firstly, a multiple-attribute model is proposed to identify value covering all the important aspects of the decision objectives. Then, the large number of decision makers drives the development of a decision support method to determine value in an efficient and egalitarian way. Finally, the defined value is incorporated into a resource allocation procedure to optimize the value that is realized from limited resources. The research was validated through testing at an aerospace company.
La concurrence importante entraîne la mise en place des valeurs 'Lean' dans de nombreuses industries. L'identification de la valeur et la livraison du produit sont difficiles à cause des diverses soucis des parties prenantes, le nombre important des tâches distribuées et le processus complexe d'allocation des ressources. L'objectif global de cette recherche est de développer un processus d'optimisation basé sur le concept de valeur. Cela se fait en adoptant une perspective d'entreprise qui s'investit sur l'identification de valeur, l'aide à la décision et l'allocation des ressources.Tout d'abord, un modèle multi-attribut est proposé afin de définir la valeur comme étant un concept qui couvre tous les aspects importants des objectifs de décision. Puis, une méthode d'aide à la décision est développée à l'aide d'un grand nombre de décideurs pour déterminer la valeur d'une manière efficace et égalitaire. Enfin, la valeur définie est incorporée dans une procédure d'allocation des ressources, pour optimiser la valeur telle que réalisée à partir des ressources limitées. La recherche a été validée à travers une implémentation dans une entreprise aérospatiale.

Unternehmen stehen vor der Herausforderung, effizient und kostengünstig zu produzieren. In diesem Zusammenhang kommt dem Industrial Engineering (IE) eine hohe Bedeutung zu, denn es besitzt das Potenzial zum ganzheitlichen Produktivitätsmanagement über den gesamten Produktentstehungs- und herstellungsrozess sowie alle Unternehmensbereiche. Dieses Potenzial wird zwar mittlerweile von einer Vielzahl von Unternehmen erkannt, jedoch kaum genutzt, was insbesondere in einem fehlenden Konzept für das ganzheitliche Industrial Engineering im Unternehmen begründet liegt. Daher wird ein fundamentales „Reengineering“ des Industrial Engineerings notwendig, das im Kontext des Zusammenwirkens von Mensch, Technik und Organisation, den Mitarbeiter in den Fokus seiner Aktivitäten rückt. Im Rahmen der vorliegenden Arbeit wird deswegen erstmals eine Gestaltungssystematik für das Industrial Engineering vorgestellt. Diese gibt Hilfestellung für die Implementierung des Industrial Engineerings im Unternehmen und speziell an ausländischen Standorten, um durch eine geeignete Gestaltung der Aufbauorganisation dessen adäquate Einbindung im Unternehmen sicherzustellen. Zudem liefert die Gestaltungssystematik wertvolle Hinweise sowohl für die Personalauswahl als auch den Personaleinsatz im IE. Ferner unterstützt ein Leitfaden für das kulturadäquate Change Management die Durchführung von Gestaltungs- und Rationalisierungsvorhaben im Rahmen der eigentlichen Tätigkeit des Industrial Engineers im internationalen Kontext
To cope with tough international competition, companies are faced with the demand for highly efficient and productive manufacturing as well as service processes and the need to identify potential for rationalization in order to ensure the economic performance of the company. Industrial Engineering is playing a key role in planning and optimizing work systems and processes in ergonomic as well as economical terms to improve enterprise's productivity. Currently there is no common understanding of IE, of its specific functions as well as its organizational fixture in enterprise's praxis. Because of this lack between research and practice, enterprises waste the potential of IE for the increase in productivity. To overcome the problem of a missing holistic approach for the continuous productivity management, a systematic approach for the full potential utilization of IE will be introduced. This firstly facilitates the institutional configuration of a human-oriented IE in enterprises of the manufacturing and the service sector and secondly helps to realize measures of work design as well as work rationalization by means of a strong change management. Thus, the developed design approach systematically contains dimensions and parameters for the implementation of an overall Industrial Engineering enabling to unleash productivity potentials by considering the technology as well as the human factor and organizational conditions. Furthermore, for the first time the intercultural differences influencing the Industrial Engineering on the functional, structural and personnel level are explicitly considered in the novel approach. From a practice-oriented point of view, the approach helps to give concrete recommendations for the implementation of the Industrial Engineering as well as for the job of the Industrial Engineers being sent as expatriates to Poland or the Czech Republic

En studie av en mindre kraftstation har gjorts i samarbete med Exencotech som forskar inom energi-återvinning. Deras kraftstation behandlar återvinning av värme från uppvärmt vatten som annars inte hade använts utan ansetts som ren förlust. Den studie som genomförts har gjorts på ett 100kW system med en så stor möjlighet till modularitet som är möjligt för anpassning och flexibel installation. Studien har även innefattat en 5kW prototyp och en modulär version av 100kW systemet upp till 0,5MW. Applikationen har som krav att framför allt minska volymen och storleken på systemet. Studien innefattar även en ergonomisk och användarvänlig inriktning vilket har påverkat designen och konstruktionen hos systemet. För att finna lämpliga lösningar och koncept till projektet har flera konceptgenereringar gjorts, liksom utvärderingar av lösningar. Som en förstudie till projektet har andra kraftstationer undersökts liksom deras kontroll och övervakningssystem. Ett koncept har tagits fram där en energicells modul (delen som utvinner energi) är designad att ge 50kW (initialt, dock kommer detta öka i takt med optimeringar) och tar upp 9m3, denna används tillsammans med en vattendistributionsmodul och en hydraulmodul. Då underhåll ska kunna genomföras på systemet har en speciell applikation tagits fram vilken underlättar arbetet med att komma åt ochkunna byta ut delar utan att operatörens ergonomiska påfrestningar blir för stora. Modulen är konstruerad för att kunna producera energi även om en mindre del av den stängs av för reparation. Energicellsmodulens hållfasthet har studerats och analyserats för att klara de laster som systemet ger. Ett grafiskt gränssnitt har även konceptuellt tagits fram för att ge ett förslag på hur det skulle kunna designas för att förbättra användarvänligheten och förståelsen i kraftstationen.
A study has been made of a smaller power station on behalf of Exencotech who is researching energy-recycling possibilities. Their station extracts energy from heated water which otherwise would have been discarded as a loss. The study has been conducted on a 100kW system with a high option of modularity which makes the system flexible and adjustable when installing. The study also treats a 5kW prototype and a modular version of the 100kW system up to 0,5MW. The application is designed to minimze the volume and weight of the system. It has also been analyzed ergonomically and in ways of its usability which has affected the design. To define appropriate solutions for the project several concepts has been conducted as well as evaluations of solutions. As a prestudy for the project other power stations has been looked at as well as control and surveillance systems. A concept has been developed where the energy cell module (the module extracting energy) is designed to give 50kW (initially, though optimization will heighten this), using 9m3 volume, this is used together with a water distribution module and a hydraulic module. As maintenance is meant to be easily performed, a special application has been developed which helps the procedure of access and extraction of desired parts whitout causing the operator too large ergonomical stress. The system is designed to be able to operate even when a part of it is shut down for repairs. The module has been constructed and dimensioned to withold the loads it would cause into the system. A graphic interface has also been designed to improve the usability and understanding of the system.

Published Article
The development of innovative products and their realisation by means of advanced manufacturing methods and process combinations is more becoming a key issue in international competitiveness. The industrial production is subsequently influenced ever more by the possibilities that Rapid Technologies -Rapid Modelling and Reverse Engineering, Rapid Prototyping and Tooling, Rapid Manufacturing can offer. Reverse Engineering (RE) is the process of digitising a physical object to obtain computerised data for further development as opposed to manufacturing a product from a digital model, e.g. CNC machining. This paper reflects experiences gained in the use of RE approaches for industrial applications, comparing specifically the use of tactile methods and digitising techniques based on photogrammetry principles. Process capabilities and the internal process chain are scrutinised. Practical case studies are presented and discussed with an emphasis on project lead times and dimensional accuracy obtained. Particular attention is paid to challenges related to surface recreation and manufacture of tooling for various components. The purpose of the paper is therefore to highlight the capabilities and wide range of applications for Reverse Engineering, while at the same time outlining pitfalls and limitations of this remarkable technology.

Das Engineering unterliegt derzeit einem massiven Wandel. Smarte Systeme und Technologien, Cybertronische Produkte, Big Data und Cloud Computing im Kontext des Internet der Dinge und Dienste sowie Industrie 4.0. Der amerikanische Ansatz des „Industrial Internet“ beschreibt diese (R)evolution jedoch weitaus besser als der eingeschränkte und stark deutsch geprägte Begriff Industrie 4.0. Industrial Internet berücksichtigt den gesamten Produktlebenszyklus und adressiert sowohl Konsum- und Investitionsgüter als auch Dienstleistungen. Dieser Beitrag beleuchtet das zukunftsträchtige Trendthema und bietet fundierte Einblicke in die vernetzte Engineering-Welt von morgen, auf Ihre Konstruktionsmethoden und –prozesse sowie auf die IT-Lösungen.

Optimisation research is a vast and comprehensive field of study in academia, but its application to complex real life problems is much more limited. This thesis presents an exploration into the use of optimisation in the weight reduction problems of three industrial case studies. The work sought to find robust and practical solutions that could be exploited in the current commercial environment. The three case studies comprised the housing of a vertical axis wind turbine, a titanium jet engine lifting bracket and a casing for an aircraft cargo release system. The latter two were to be built using additive layer manufacture, while the housing, with initially no prescribed manufacturing method, was required to conform to British Standards for design. Based on commercially available optimisation and analysis packages e.g. Altair Optistruct, ANSYS, Microsoft Excel and MatLab, methodologies were developed to enable solutions to be found within realistic time-scales. Techniques to improve computational efficiency using the Kreisselmieier Steinhauser functions were also investigated. Good weight reduction was achieved in all cases. For the housing, a trend showing the relationship between the overall size of the housing and the material requirement was also developed. Extensive data for the lifting bracket was retrieved and analysed from a crowd-sourced design challenge. This highlighted important elements of design for additive layer manufacture and also gave an indication of the efficacy of different optimisation algorithms. The casing design methodology obtained simplified the material selection for the design. Build orientation software was developed to exploit the advantages of additive layer manufacture. The initial objective to solve the optimisation problems for all three case studies was accomplished using topology and size optimisation with both gradient-based and evolutionary methods. Data analysis and optimisation increased design capability for additive layer manufacture build and orientation.

Thesis (M.S.)--West Virginia University, 2009.
Title from document title page. Document formatted into pages; contains xi, 102 p. : ill. (some col.). Includes abstract. Includes bibliographical references (p. 77-79). WVU users: Also available in print for a fee.

Handling constraints in control system design is an important issue in most, if not all, real world problems. On the other hand, it is generally true that higher levels of performance are associated with operating on, or near, constraint boundaries. Thus, a designer really cannot ignore constraints without incurring a performance penalty. Several constrained control problems have been treated in this thesis. In the framework of linear systems with saturating actuators three issues have been considered: unbounded invariant strips and stabilization by means of linear feedbacks, robust stabilization via sliding mode control, explicit characterization of null controllable regions. Moreover an optimal control problem for cooperative multi robot localization in the presence of energy constraints has been studied.

Knowledge management is one of the current "buzzwords" gaining popularity on an almost-daily basis within the business world. Much attention has been paid to the theory and justification of knowledge management (KM) as an effective business and organizational practice. However, much less attention has been paid to the more specific issues of effective implementation of knowledge management, or to the potential financial benefit or payoff that could potentially result from an effective system implementation. As the concept of KM becomes more generally accepted, knowledge management systems (KMS) are becoming more prevalent. A KMS is often considered simply another information system to be designed, built, and supported by the IT department. In actual implementation, many KM system development efforts are not successful. There is frequently a perception that strict adherence to development processes produces an excessive time lag, rigor, and formality which will "disrupt" the desired free flow of knowledge. Professor Michael Stankosky of GWU has posited a more flexible variation of the usual systems engineering (SE) approach, tailored specifically to the KM domain and known as Enterprise Management Engineering^© (EME). This approach takes the four major pillars of KM as identified by GWU research in this area—Leadership, Organization, Technology, and Learning—and adapts eighteen key SE steps to accommodate the more flexible and imprecise nature of "knowledge".

Anecdotal study of successful KMS developments has shown that many of the more formal processes imposed by systems engineering (such as defining strategic objectives before beginning system development) serve a useful purpose. Consequently, an integrated systems engineering process tailored specifically to the KM domain should lead to more successful implementations of KM systems. If this is so, organizations that have followed some or all of the steps in this process will have designed and deployed more "successful" KMS than those organizations that have not done so. To support and refine this approach, a survey was developed to determine the usage of the 18 steps identified in EME. These results were then analyzed against a objective financial measurement of organizational KM to determine whether a correlation exists. This study is intended to test the validity of the efficacy of the EME approach to KM implementation.

For the financial measurement data, the subject list of organizations for this study used a measure of intangible valuation developed by Professor Baruch Lev of NYU called Knowledge Capital Earnings ^© (KCE). This is the amount of earnings that a company with good "knowledge" has left over once its earnings based on tangible financial and physical assets have been subtracted from overall earnings. KCE can then be used to determine the Knowledge Capital (KC) of an organization. This in turn provides two quantitative measures (one relative, one absolute) that can be used to define a successful knowledge company.

For this study, Lev's research from 2001 was updated, using more recent financial data. Several of these organizations completed a survey instrument based upon the 18 points of the EME approach. The results for the 18 steps were compared against each other and against each organization's KC scores. The results show that there is a significant correlation between EME and the relative KC measurement, and select EME steps do correlate significantly with a high KC value. Although this study, being the first validation effort, does not show provable causation, it does demonstrate a quantifiable correlation and association between EME and successful KM implementation. This in turn should contribute to the slim body of objective knowledge on the design, deployment, and measurement of KM systems.

Until the early 1900s, furniture was built by hand, one piece at a time. The industrial revolution and modern manufacturing technology has changed all of that. Today, as the furniture industry moves firmly into the next century, computerized systems and automated manufacturing have become more common to the industry. This thesis represents an effort to analyze the current practices in computer-aided design of upholstered furniture, specifically plywood frame furniture, and to develop new procedures for reducing the lead-time in upholstery product development. Different 3-D modeling techniques for designing plywood furniture frames and their features have been developed and implemented. A plywood frame feature library has been created, and geometric relations needed to fully constrain each feature type have been developed. This reduces modeling time and also increases consistency in the solid models. A new reverse engineering procedure, using an articulating arm, has been proposed, implemented, and tested for 3-D digitization of plywood frames. The proposed methodology eliminates some of the traditional processes currently followed in the industry, thus making the product development faster and more streamlined. Further, an algorithm has been developed, implemented and tested for automatically mirroring plywood upholstery frame assemblies in a CAD system. The algorithm considerably reduces the modeling lead-time in the product development process. Finally, some future work that considers currently available 3-D CAD technologies has been recommended which would help close the gap between upholstery designers and manufacturers.

Managing engineering changes is a critical task for organizations to remain competitive. In a manufacturing organization there are innumerable engineering change requests. This thesis is focused on the development of an information model that defines the engineering change process. This research developed an activity model in IDEF0, an object model in IDEF1X and a dynamic model using state diagrams. The activity model captures the business process for executing an engineering change in terms of its constituting activities and sub-activities. The object model defines each object and its attributes identified in the activity model. The dynamic model captures the status change of each object in the engineering change process. This study concludes with a summary, implementation issues and future work that can be done in the direction of implementing a system based \ on the information model developed.

Industrial surveying and photogrammetry are being increasingly applied to the measurement of engineering objects which have typical dimensions in the range 2-100 metres. Both techniques are examples of the principle of triangulation. By applying photocrammetric concepts to surveying methods and vice-versa, a general approach is established which has a number of advantages. In particular. alternative strategies for constructing and analysing measurement networks are developed. These should help to strengthen the geometry and simplify the analysis. The primary results concern the use of non-levelled theodolites, which have applications on board floating objects, and three new suggestions for controlling and computing relative orientations in photogrammetry. These involve reciprocal observations with theodolites. the photographing of linear scales defined by three target points and employing cameras which have been levelled. As a secondary result, some consideration Is given to automation, and instrument design. It is suggested that polarimetry could be successfully applied to improve the transfer of orientation in confined situations, such as in mining. In addition, the potential use of electronic cameras as photo-theodolites is discussed.

This study develops an integrated framework to improve understanding of network learning and value creation in global engineering services (GES). Network learning is the process that enhances firm performance through better knowledge and understanding. Prior research has developed GES network learning and value creation as a set of independent processes with customers, suppliers or intra-firm engineering units. Their practices have been fragmented, facilitating either inter- or intra-firm network learning and focusing on either GES efficiency or innovation. The absence of an integrated approach to network learning makes it difficult for researchers to understand, and for GES firms to manage. A more holistic understanding of GES network learning is urgently needed for firms to compete effectively in an ever-changing global market. This research develops the theory of integrated GES network learning and value creation through a multiple case study. It integrates existing insights from multiple streams of research, and builds on these to explore network learning within three GES firms. The empirical study reveals an integrated network learning process adopted across customers, suppliers and intra-firm engineering units which enhances GES efficiency, flexibility and innovation. It clarifies the interrelated knowledge acquisition and development processes and supporting boundary spanning mechanisms within network learning. These processes and mechanisms are integrated in a framework that offers a more holistic view of GES network learning. The framework contributes conceptually to the literature on network learning in GES and offers managerial implications for firms to facilitate integrated network learning for effective GES value creation.

Many software projects are failed due to the delivery decisions that were made without adequate requirements information. In addition, the project management process including agile-oriented requirement management process has been identified as one of the four success factors in the agile software projects. Having the clear rules for requirements engineering is, therefore, an important thing for agile software projects from their success point of view. In this study, the objective is to analyze agile requirements engineering and to find out practices that are used in it. The goal is to define a continuous process to identify customer needs and translate them into software requirements in the agile software development. This goal is going to be achieved by a systematic literature review on the agile requirements engineering. For the agile software development and the traditional requirements engineering, the theory has been gathered from some basic books of the theme. The primary research question for this study is: How the customer needs will be translated into requirements in the agile software project as a continuous process? There are also two secondary research questions: 1. What are the customer needs and how can they be identified? 2. What kind of practices are used in the agile requirements engineering? Generally, the requirements engineering process includes four separate steps. First, the business usefulness of the system should be evaluated (feasibility study). After that, the requirements are discovered (elicitation and analysis)and converted into some standard form (specification). Last phase includes checking that the requirements define the system as customer wants (validation). Agile requirements engineering includes four major practices. The high-level interaction between the development team and the customer, iterative approach for the requirements engineering, prioritizing the requirements based on their business value for the customer, and eliciting also the non-functional requirements. In addition, the documentation of requirements is minimalistic in agile approaches. Results of this study can generally be applied and the model created can be utilized as a guideline when doing requirements engineering in the agile software projects
Monet ohjelmistoprojektit epäonnistuvat, koska tieto vaatimuksista on riittämätöntä toimituspäätöksiä tehdessä. Lisäksi projektinhallinnan prosessi, johon sisältyy ketterä vaatimustenhallinnan prosessi, on tunnistettu yhdeksi neljästä ketterien ohjelmistoprojektien menestystekijästä. Tämän takia ketterien ohjelmistoprojektien onnistumiseksi on tärkeää, että vaatimusmäärittelylle on selkeät ohjeet. Tämän tutkimuksen tarkoituksena on analysoida ketterää vaatimusmäärittelyä ja löytää siinä yleisesti käytettyjä tapoja. Tavoitteena on määrittää jatkuva prosessi, jossa asiakkaan tarpeet tunnistetaan ja käännetään ohjelmiston vaatimuksiksi ketterässä ohjelmistokehityksessä. Tavoitteeseen pyritään tekemällä systemaattinen kirjallisuuskatsaus ketterään vaatimusmäärittelyyn. Ketterää ohjelmistokehitystä sekä perinteistä vaatimusmäärittelyä käsitellään muutaman perusteoksen pohjalta. Tutkimuksen ylätason tutkimuskysymys on: Kuinka asiakkaan tarpeet käännetään vaatimuksiksi jatkuvana prosessina ketterissä ohjelmistoprojekteissa? Lisäksi tutkimuksella on kaksi alatason tutkimuskysymystä: 1. Mitä asiakkaan tarpeet ovat ja kuinka ne tunnistetaan? 2. Minkälaisia tapoja ketterässä vaatimusmäärittelyssä käytetään? Yleinen vaatimusmäärittelyprosessi sisältää neljä vaihetta. Ensin arvioidaan järjestelmän liiketoiminnallinen tarpeellisuus (kannattavuusselvitys). Tämän jälkeen etsitään vaatimuksia (selvitys ja analyysi) ja käännetään ne johonkin standardimuotoon (spesifikaatio). Viimeisessä vaiheessa tarkistetaan, että vaatimukset määrittävät järjestelmän juuri asiakkaan haluamalla tavalla (validointi). Ketterässä vaatimusmäärittelyssä on neljä yleistä käytäntöä. Korkean tason kanssakäyminen asiakkaan ja kehitystiimin välillä, iteratiivinen eli toistava lähestymistapa vaatimusmäärittelyyn, vaatimusten priorisointi perustuen asiakkaalle syntyvään arvoon ja myös ei-funktionaalisten vaatimusten tunnistus. Lisäksi voidaan sanoa, että vaatimusten dokumentointi ketterissä menetelmissä on vähäistä. Tämän tutkimuksen tuloksia voidaan yleisesti ottaen hyödyntää ja kehitettyä mallia voidaan käyttää vaatimusmäärittelyn ohjenuorana ketterissä ohjelmistoprojekteissa

WLAN i form av standarden IEEE 802.11 används inte i större utsträckning i industriell miljö. Vi undersöker hur pass protokollet kan användas för datakommunikation i sådan miljö med avseende på störningskänslighet och datorkraftsbehov, i form av en empirisk undersökning. Dessa undersökningar har utförts på en industri med de tre vanligaste standarderna IEEE 802.11b/g/n. Syftet med denna uppsats är att kontrollera vad som stör signalerna samt om den nyaste standarden 802.11n har något nytt som kan revolutionera inriktningen. Tester och undersökningar har visat att 802.11b och 802.11n är bäst när det gäller signalstyrka med störningskällor i omgivningen. 802.11n är överlägsen när det gäller hög överföringshastighet.
WLAN in the form of IEEE 802.11 is not used to any wide extent in the industrial environment. We examine how the protocol can be used for data communication in such an environment with regard to noise immunity and computing power needs, in the form of an empirical investigation. These studies have been conducted in an industrial environment with the three most commonly used standards IEEE 802.11b/g/n. The purpose of this paper is to understand what it is in the environment that disturbs signals and if the newest standard IEEE 802.11n has something new to add to the table that could revolutionize the focus. Tests and studies have shown that 802.11b and 802.11n is the best in terms of signal strength with interference in the environment. 802.11n is superior in terms of high bit rate.

El presente trabajo plantea la fabricación de snacks rellenos y fritos para ser comercializados en el actual mercado limeño a través de un proyecto de vida útil de seis años, desde 2017 hasta 2022. Como tal, se justifica técnicamente por la disponibilidad en el mercado de su materia prima, la masa tipo wantan, y sus principales insumos, jamonada y queso.. Económicamente, se justifica también, ya que estudios de productos similares presentan resultados favorables. Socialmente, contempla la importancia del trabajador, del consumidor final y del rol que, como empresa, cumple en la sociedad.
Trabajo de investigación

Previous studies (Bhuiyan, 2001; Bhuiyan et al., 2003; Jaafar, 2001) used stochastic computer models to study concurrent engineering (CE) processes. This thesis used the same models, but modified the two main mechanisms used in CE, that is, functional interaction and overlap, in order to better understand how they contribute to process performance, i.e., how they affect product development effort and span time. The present study used more realistic development processes over previous research in addition to using the same uncertainty conditions, rework, learning, and communication techniques. Simulation results of the updated models were discussed in comparison to the baseline models in terms of effort versus span time and effort distribution during the process versus span time.
Research outcomes indicated that the use of CE was beneficial as long as the uncertainty of information during product development was moderate to low. When uncertainty was high, sequential engineering was best. Several cases were demonstrated.
The distribution of effort during product development was studied and it showed that processes should be designed to avert rework due to design versions (complete redesign of the product) and should emphasize churn (redesign in small steps during teamwork).

The House of Quality (HOQ) has been widely discussed as a mechanism for capturing the Voice of the Customer and guiding the process of converting the customer's voice into internal engineering specifications. However, the discussion of this process to date has tended to be qualitative rather than quantitative. Various heuristic practices have evolved with little substantiation of their value or evaluation of their impact other than illustration in a few case studies. Examples of practices promoted by several authors and practitioners include the inclusion of the relative magnitude of effects, but not direction, in the body of the matrix; the restriction of relationships to an integer scale of subjective, ratio values; and allocating available engineering resources to the hard-to-improve characteristics (because the easy ones will presumably take care of themselves). The process for setting target specifications given the HOQ data has not been well defined either. Design teams are required to develop their own ad hoc rules. When multiple engineering characteristics affect a single customer attribute or when an engineering characteristic impacts multiple customer attributes, the design problem becomes difficult and current procedures are of little use to the design team. This is particularly true when some interactions are negative. The result may be lost opportunity from the selection of non-optimal designs. This research takes a scientific approach to optimally specifying the target values for engineering characteristics in a competitive marketplace. A methodology for building linear or nonlinear statistical models of customer preference (value) for each customer attribute followed by an optimization routine that will obtain the optimal specification of engineering characteristics is proposed. The optimization model considers economic and technological constraints as well as customer preferences. The process results in optimal, feasible design specifications. In addition the effect of variability in parameter estimates on the ability to correctly identify the key engineering characteristics for optimizing customer value is investigated. Model performance is also analyzed through random generation of 320 problem instances of varying linearity, size, density, monotonicity and correlation. Finally, the methodology is applied to a problem from industry and the results are compared with an actual, subjectively-derived design.

This thesis aims to build a working design-analyze-optimize methodology for Alstom Power Sweden AB at Växjö, Sweden. In order to be profitable in today’s competitive industrial product market, it is necessary to engineer optimized products fast. This involves CAD design and FEA analysis to work within an optimization routine in a seamless fashion which will result in a more profitable product. This approach can be understood as a model-based design, where the 3D CAD data is central to the product life cycle. The present approach provides many benefits to a company because of the use of a central database ensure access to the latest release of the 3D model. This allows for a streamlined design to fabrication life cycle with inputs from all departments of a product based company. Alstom is looking into automating some of their design process so as to achieve efficiency within their design department. This report is the result of a study where an industrial silo is taken as an example. A design loop involving CAD design and FE analysis is built to work with an optimization routine to minimize the mass and also ensure structural stiffness and stability. Most engineers work with a lot of constraints with regard to material stock size and other design codes (e.g. Euro Codes). In this report an efficient way to design an industrial product in a 3D CAD (CATIA) program so as to stay within these constrains and still obtain credible computation results within an optimization loop will be discussed.

Existing statistical software fails to explain the meaning of their output. Practicing engineers, in areas of application where statistics is heavily used, have to deal not only with the nuances of different statistical packages but also with learning what the results from their analyses mean. An Architecture and a prototype for a knowledge-based statistical output interpreter has been designed. CLIENS integrates different heterogeneous components and it uses object oriented design principles to enable modularity and package independence. Outputs from several statistical packages were analyzed to discover common patterns. A heuristic was developed to search automatically for these patterns in the output files. An in-depth study of a small set of statistical techniques resulted in the derivation of descriptive and inferential knowledge, which is used by CLIENS to interpret statistical outputs. Experimentation with the prototype indicates that autonomous interpretation is feasible and that package independence is achievable. However, issues pertaining to natural language need to be resolved before a commercial CLIENS exists.

Doutoramento em Engenharia Química - Bioengenharia
Hoje em dia, há uma necessidade urgente de reinventar os processos industriais a partir dos quais a nossa sociedade subsiste, tornando-os mais sustentáveis. A União Europeia (UE) estabeleceu um conjunto de pacotes com medidas que abrangem todo o ciclo: desde a produção ao consumo e à gestão de resíduos, e quanto ao mercado de matérias-primas secundárias. Pretende-se, com isto, caminhar em direção a uma economia circular, dando um destino diferente a todos os resíduos gerados. Em Portugal, umas das maiores e principais atividades económicas diz respeito à indústria papeleira. Consequentemente, grandes quantidades de resíduos são geradas. Estes são aproveitados para a produção de energia ou químicos para betumes e colas. Contudo, outras vias de valorização devem ser exploradas. São dois os principais métodos usados para a produção de papel: Kraft ou Cozimento ao Sulfito Ácido. O último dá origem ao licor de cozimento ao sulfito ácido (LCSA), rico em lenhosulfonatos (LS), compostos fenólicos e derivados, açúcares, como xilose e glucose, e ácido acético. Apesar da fração significativa de compostos recalcitrantes e inibidores, o LCSA pode ser valorizado através de processos microbiológicos. Biopolímeros, como polihidroxialcanoatos (PHA), substratos microbianos, e building-blocks, como ácidos orgânicos de cadeia curta (AOCC), podem ser produzidos. Os PHA são um grupo promissor de polímeros degradáveis com potencial para substituir alguns dos termoplásticos mais comuns. Nos últimos anos, a investigação tem-se focado no desenvolvimento de alternativas à produção deste polímero, incluindo o uso culturas microbianas mistas (CCM) e de resíduos industriais como substrato. O uso de CCM faz com que não sejam precisas condições de esterilidade e permite o uso de equipamento mais barato. O ponto fulcral para a produção de PHA a partir de CCM é a seleção da cultura. Normalmente, esta é feita submetendo a cultura a períodos de alternância de disponibilidade de carbono, designada alimentação aeróbia dinâmica (AAD). Os AOCC são monoácidos alifáticos com uma vasta gama de aplicações na indústria alimentar, farmacêutica e química. Desempenham, também, um importante papel enquanto compostos intermediários em processos biológicos, como a produção de PHA. Neste trabalho, o processo de produção de PHA a dois e três passos, usando o LCSA, foi estudado. O processo a dois passos incluiu (1) o enriquecimento da CCM em microrganismos (MO) acumuladores de PHA, usando diretamente o LCSA, seguido de (2) maximização da produção, usando a cultura selecionada e o LCSA. No processo a três passos, um passo preliminar de acidificação foi introduzido antes da seleção, com vista à conver-são dos açúcares do LCSA em AOCC. Todos os passos, e respetivos impactos nos passos seguintes, foram estudados. Paralelamente, a caracterização da comunidade microbiana do passo de seleção foi realizada, de forma a afinar os parâmetros operacionais para melhorar a produção de PHA. O processo a dois passos levou à seleção de uma cultura com baixa capacidade acumulativa, apesar da estabilidade do reator. Para além disso, os longos períodos necessários à estabilização (250 dias) constituem um obstáculo à viabilidade do processo. Posteriormente, uma extensa caracterização microbiológica revelou uma população paralela incapaz de acumular PHA. Esta população pode ter subsistido graças à fração de açúcares, a qual uma CCM não consegue converter em PHA. Para reduzir o tempo de estabilização do reator de seleção e entender o efeito dos AOCC na seleção de MO acumuladores de PHA, o LCSA foi suplementado com ácidos sintéticos. Obteve-se, assim, uma cultura estável com apenas 25 dias de operação. Adicionalmente, a cultura selecionada conseguiu acumular um máximo de 47.1%, 7 vezes mais elevado do que aquele obtido nas condições anteriores. A comunidade microbiológica era dominada por Betaproteobacteria, nomeadamente, Acidovorax (71%). Uma vez provada a relação entre estabilidade do reator e a presença de ácidos, o passo seguinte focou-se na fermentação acidogénica do LCSA. Ao invés do uso de uma típica cultura anaeróbia, foi possível selecionar MO acidogenos, capazes de converter os açúcares em AOCC, a partir de uma cultura aeróbia. O processo decorreu num reator contínuo de mistura perfeita (RCMP) sem controlo de pH. Obteve-se, desta forma, um máximo de 7.45 gCOD L-1 de ácidos, correspondendo a um grau de acidificação de 38.0%. Na produção de AOCC, a influência do pH e da conformação do reator foi analisada. Controlando o pH a 6, 7 e 8 num RCMP obteve-se perfis variados de ácidos com uma concentração de 2.36, 2.38 e 2.27 gCOD L-1, respetivamente. Alterando a conformação do reator para reator contínuo de leito fixo, obteve-se um perfil de ácidos dominado pelo ácido butírico. Caracterizou-se, igualmente, por uma maior estabilidade do que o RCMP sem controlo de pH. Por fim, o processo a três passos foi estudado. O efluente recolhido dos reatores de acidogénese foi usado para selecionar uma CCM. Uma vez mais, não demorou mais que 25 dias a alcançar uma fase estável de cada vez que os parâmetros operacionais eram manipulados (tempo de retenção hidráulico, carga orgânica e/ou duração do ciclo). Uma cultura robusta foi obtida com uma boa capacidade acumulativa de PHA usando diferentes resíduos. Um máximo de 74.4% de PHA foi alcançado sob limitação por azoto. Diferentes copolímeros e homopolímero foram produzidos através do uso de diferentes resíduos.
Nowadays, there is an urgent need to reinvent the industrial processes in which our society relies, making them more sustainable. The European Union (EU) established a set of packages with measures covering the whole cycle: from production and consumption to waste management and the market for secondary raw materials. It is intended to move from a “cradle-to-grave” tendency, and start to give a different destination to all residues and wastes generated. In Portugal, one of the main and biggest activities is the pulp and paper industry. Consequently, large quantities of residues are generated and are usually burnt for energy or chemicals recovery and for concretes additives and adhesives, but other ways to valorize them are needed. Two main process are used for pulp making: kraft and acidic aulfite pulping. The latter originates hardwood sulfite spent liquor (HSSL) which is characterized for having significant amounts of lignosulphonates (LS), phenolic extractives compounds and derivatives, sugars such as xylose and glucose and acetic acid. Despite its considerable fraction of recalcitrant and inhibitory components, HSSL can be valorized through microbial conversion. Biopolymers such polyhydroxyalkanoates (PHA) and microbial substrates and building blocks like short-chain organic acids (SCOA) can be produced. PHA are a promising group of eco-efficient biodegradable polymers with potential to replace some of the most commonly used thermoplastics. In recent years, research focused on the development of alternative PHA production processes, including the use waste/surplus based feedstocks and mixed microbial cultures (MMC). MMC do not require sterilization and expensive equipment, thereby reducing costs. The key point of PHA production by MMC is culture selection, which is generally carried out by subjecting cultures to alternate periods of carbon availability, designated as aerobic dynamic feeding (ADF). SCOA are aliphatic monocarboxylic acids, with a vast number of applications in food and beverages industry, pharmaceutical and chemical fabrication fields. Also, they have an important role as intermediates in many biological processes, such PHA production. In this thesis, two and three-stage PHA production processes from HSSL were studied. The two-stage process included (1) the enrichment of an MMC in PHA-storing microorganisms (MO) direct from HSSL, followed by (2) maximization of PHA production using the selected culture and the HSSL. In the three-stage, a preliminary step of acidification, where the sugars fraction is converted into SCOA was introduced before the selection step. All stages were studied and the respective impact of each stage on subsequent ones was also assessed. In addition, microbial community characterization of the selection stage was done to tune operational parameters towards the improvement of PHA accumulation. The two-step process led to a culture with low PHA storage performance, despite the stability of the selection reactor. Furthermore, the long stabilization time of the process (250 days) required could be a significant obstacle to the viability of the process. Later, an extensive microbial characterization revealed a side population that might be responsible to hinder the selection step stopping the dominance of PHA-storing MO. Such fact, could be due to the sugars fraction that MMC are not able to convert into PHA. To decrease the stabilization time and understand the effect of SCOA in the PHA-storing MO selection, HSSL was supplemented with synthetic SCOA. A stable MMC was reached after only 25 days. Additionally, the selected MMC reached a maximum PHA content of 47.1%, which was 7 times higher than in the previous condition. The selection step led a community dominated by Betaproteobacteria, namely Acidovorax (71%). Once proved that the single addition of SCOA led to stable cultures, the next step focused on the acidogenic fermentation of HSSL. Instead of using a typical anaerobic culture, from an aerobic MMC inoculum was possible to successfully select acidogenic microorganisms able convert sugars into SCOA without pH control in a continuous stirring tank reactor (CSTR). The maximum concentration of SCOA produced was 7.45 gCOD L-1, corresponding to a degree of acidification 38.0%. In SCOA production, pH and reactor conformation influence was also assessed. Controlling pH at 6, 7 and 8 in the CSTR resulted in diverse SCOA profiles with average productions of 2.36, 2.38 and 2.27 gCOD L-1, respectively. Changing the reactor conformation from CSTR to moving bed biofilm reactor (MBBR) led to a profile dominated by butyric instead of acetic acid, with a more stable production than the CSTR without pH control. Finally, the three-stage process was applied. The effluent collected from the acidogenic fermentation was used to enrich an MMC. It took no longer than 25 days to reach a stable phase every time an operational parameter (HRT, OLR and/or cycle length) was changed. A robust culture was obtained, that despite being selected with only one of the previous effluents, it could accumulate PHA when different streams from the pulp industry were fed. A maximum of PHA accumulation of 74.4% was reached, under ammonium limitation. Moreover, different copolymers and homopolymer were obtained through the feeding of the different streams.

Industrial Control Systems (ICSs) are used to monitor and control critical infrastructure such as electricity and water. ICS were originally stand-alone systems, but are now widely being connected to corporate national IT networks, making remote monitoring and more timely control possible. While this connectivity has brought multiple benefits to ICS, such as cost reductions and an increase in redundancy and flexibility, ICS were not designed for open connectivity and therefore are more prone to security threats, creating a greater requirement for adequate security engineering approaches. The culture gap between developers and security experts is one of the main challenges of ICS security engineering. Control system developers play an important role in building secure systems; however, they lack security training and support throughout the development process. Security training, which is an essential activity in the defence-indepth strategy for ICS security, has been addressed, but has not been given sufficient attention in academia. Security support is a key means by which to tackle this challenge via assisting developers in ICS security by design. This thesis proposes a novel framework, the Industrial Control System Security Engineering Support (ICS-SES), which aims to help developers in designing secure control systems by enabling them to reuse secure design patterns and improve their security knowledge. ICS-SES adapts pattern-based approach to guide developers in security engineering, and an automated planning technique to provide adaptive on-the-job security training tailored to personal needs. The usability of ICS-SES has been evaluated using an empirical study in terms of its effectiveness in assisting the design of secure control systems and improving developers’ security knowledge. The results show that ICS-SES can efficiently help control system designers to mitigate security vulnerabilities and improve their security knowledge, reducing the difficulties associated with the security engineering process, and the results have been found to be statically significant. In summary, ICS-SES provides a unified method of supporting an ICS security by design approach. It fosters a development environment where engineers can improve their security knowledge while working in a control system production line.

Includes abstract.
Includes bibliographical references.
Industrial wastewater contains many soluble inorganic and organic components and solid particles. This study focused on inorganic industrial hypersaline brines. Chemical engineering presents a variety of mechanical, thermal, biological and chemical processes capable of treating hypersaline brines to the standard required by legislation. However, some of these technologies are inefficient, costly and outdated and are not applicable in solving modern brine accumulation problems.

Combustion is widely used for materials processing, propulsion, and power production. Understanding the temporal and spatial variations within practical combustion systems can help to optimize their stability, uniformity, emissions, and/or efficiency. Wavelength modulation spectroscopy (WMS) provides quantitative, non-intrusive, time-resolved measurements of line-of-sight thermodynamic properties in a gas sample. This dissertation describes the development and application of novel WMS sensors for measurements in industrial flame environments. After an overview of WMS, we describe the development of the first WMS sensor to measure OH radical near 1491 nm. We perform the first dual-comb spectroscopy measurement above a premixed flame in order to develop accurate models for the H₂O absorption that interferes with OH absorption at elevated temperatures. The model improves the absolute OH measurement accuracy. We apply the OH sensor in conjunction with temperature and H₂O mole fraction WMS sensors to characterize a premixed ribbon burner interacting with an industrial chilled-roller polymer-treatment system. Measurements at the surface of the polymer, together with post analysis of the surface oxidation, provides the first experimental demonstration of the connection between concentrations of OH radical in a premixed flame and the level of oxidation of polypropylene film in flame processing. The WMS sensors are used to probe the temporal, vertical and 2D variation in the heated, buoyant jet above an iron-chromium alloy catalytic combustor, which could be used for industrial materials processing. We develop a new pathlength correction method that uses computational fluid dynamics simulations to account for the effect of the narrowing and billowing of the heated gases on the measured water vapor mole fraction. The vertical profiles of temperature and H₂O mole fraction show a high likelihood of additional combustion above the catalytic surface under certain operating conditions. Finally, we extend the WMS technique to measure high-density gases by performing the first large amplitude wavelength modulation spectroscopy with a MEMS-Tunable Vertical Cavity Surface-Emitting Laser (MEMS-VCSEL). We demonstrate the technique on high-pressure mixtures of CO₂ in air that are 2.5 times higher density than previously published WMS measurements (equivalent to greater than 255 atm at 1500 K). Together, these measurements demonstrate the utility of WMS sensors in optimizing and characterizing industrial combustion systems.

This thesis presents the design, fabrication and testing of novel grating based Optical Fibre Sensor (OFS) systems being interrogated using “off the shelf” interrogation systems, with the eventual development of marketable commercial systems at the forefront of the research. Both in the industrial weighing and aerospace industries, there has been a drive to investigate the feasibility of using optical fibre sensors being deployed where traditionally their electrical or mechanical counterparts would traditionally have been. Already, in the industrial weighing industry, commercial operators are deploying OFS-based Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) systems. Likewise, in the aerospace industry, OFS have been deployed to monitor such parameters as load history, impact detection, structural damage, overload detection, centre of gravity and the determination of blade shape. Based on the intrinsic properties of fibre Bragg gratings (FBGs) and Long Period Fibre Gratings (LPFGs), a number of novel OFS-based systems have been realised. Experimental work has shown that in the case of static industrial weighing, FBGs can be integrated with current commercial products and used to detect applied loads. The work has also shown that embedding FBGs in e-glass, to form a sensing patch, can result in said patches being bonded to rail track, forming the basis of an FBG-based WIM system. The results obtained have been sufficiently encouraging to the industrial partner that this work will be progressed beyond the scope of the work presented in this thesis. Likewise, and to the best of the author’s knowledge, a novel Bragg grating based systems for aircraft fuel parameter sensing has been presented. FBG-based pressure sensors have been shown to demonstrate good sensitivity, linearity and repeatability, whilst LPFG-based systems have demonstrated a far greater sensitivity when compared to FBGs, as well the advantage of being potentially able to detect causes of fuel adulteration based on their sensitivity to refractive index (RI). In the case of the LPFG-based system, considerable work remains to be done on the mechanical strengthening to improve its survivability in a live aircraft fuel tank environment. The FBG system has already been developed to an aerospace compliant prototype and is due to be tested at the fuel testing facility based at Airbus, Filton, UK. It is envisaged by the author that in both application areas, continued research in this area will lead to the eventual development of marketable commercial products.

The use of low-power wireless sensors and actuators with networking support in in-dustry has increased over the past decade. New generations of microcontrollers, new hardware for communication, and the use of standardized protocols such as the Internet Protocol have resulted in more possibilities for interoperability than ever before. This in-creasing interoperability allows sensors and actuator nodes to exchange information with large numbers of peers, which is beneficial for creating advanced, flexible and reusable systems.The increase in interoperability has resulted in an increase in the number of possible attacks from malicious devices or users. For this reason, the use of encryption techniques to protect client and server communications has become mandatory. However, even with state-of-the-art encryption mechanisms, there is no protection that can control access to each particular service with fine-grained precision. The nodes within an industrial network of wireless sensors and actuators are resource-constrained embedded devices, and increasing interoperability therefore requires a higher level of computation capabil-ities. The nodes’ intrinsic limitations of memory and processing exert an adverse effect on power consumption and communication delays, resulting in a shorter battery life-time. Therefore, the standard computing solutions for Internet communications are not directly applicable, and new mechanisms to achieve security, scalability, dependability, interoperability and energy efficiency are needed.Sensor and actuator networks can transmit sensed data, but they also offer access to the actuators. Such accesses, presumably provided via services, require an access protection scheme. For this reason, the use of access control mechanisms is mandatory. Access control assists in the creation of customized services and access policies. These access policies can isolate access permissions to devices with different roles, such as production and maintenance.The main contribution of this thesis is a novel, efficient IoT framework for industrial applications, including design, implementation, and experimental validation. The frame-work includes features for communication protection, authentication, fine-grained access control, zero-configuration networking, and run-time reconfiguration. These technologies and their corresponding energy consumption data clearly demonstrate the feasibility of integrating a battery-operated IoT concept into a functional System of Systems. The provided data also pinpoint the most critical areas for improvement.

Includes sysnopsis.
Includes bibliographical references (p.93-106).
This thesis aims to demonstrate the application of industrial ecology (IE) theory to understand environmental sustainability problems relating to the accumulation of saline wastes and to study the potential for integrated technology interventions which take multi-party engagements and effects into account.

Mathematical and stochastic computer models were built to simulate concurrent engineering processes (CE) in order to study how different process mechanisms contribute to new product development (NPD) performance. Micro-models of various phenomena which occur in concurrent engineering processes, such as functional participation, overlapping, decision-making, rework, and learning, were included, and their effects on the overall NPD process were related to process span time and effort. The study focused on determining under what conditions CE processes are more favorable than sequential processes, in terms of expected payoff, span time, and effort, as dependent variables of functional participation and overlapping, and the corresponding trade-offs between more upfront effort versus span time reduction.

The two topics at the heart of this thesis are how to improve control of industrial manipulators and how to reason about the role of models in automatic control. On industrial manipulators, two case studies are presented. The first investigates estimation with inertial sensors, and the second compares control by feedback linearization to control based on gain-scheduling. The contributions on the second topic illustrate the close connection between control and estimation in different ways. A conceptual model of control is introduced, which can be used to emphasize the role of models as well as the human aspect of control engineering. Some observations are made regarding block-diagram reformulations that illustrate the relation between models, control and inversion. Finally, a suggestion for how the internal model principle, internal model control, disturbance observers and Youla-Kucera parametrization can be introduced in a unified way is presented.

This thesis is concerned with the engineering design requirement and the process by which it is elicited, evolved and recorded. The purpose of the research reported in the work is to achieve a more complete understanding of the engineering design requirement, and to apply that understanding to the better support of designers during the design requirement capture phases of the design process. Two perspectives dominate the approach to the research. The first concerns the relation between the design process and human cognition. The research subject is seen as being fundamentally a product of the human mind and that such things as knowledge, language and meaning – the things commonly associated with cognition – are crucial to its proper understanding. The second perspective is informed by the view that the development of the design requirement can be seen as a knowledge-intensive process of communication. Thus, understanding communication between humans and some aspects of communication failure can assist in understanding and remedying failure in design requirement capture.

Almost no software is exempt of vulnerabilities. Penetration testing or ethicalhacking can be used to identify them. This thesis conducts a series of testsfollowing the penetration testing method on a large scale industrial controlsystem. The goal is to discover which kind of vulnerabilities exist in thesesystems, focusing on attacks from inside of their network. Several approacheswere taken in relation on how to attack the servers and services that form thenetwork, both from outside and inside the machines. Critical vulnerabilitieswere found in relation to using services unauthenticated and disruptingcommunication between servers, which should be mitigated correctly in orderto prevent further potential attacks.
De flesta av programvaror har sårbarheter. Penetrationstest eller etiskhacking kan användas för att identifiera dem. Denna avhandling utför testerenligt penetrationstestmetoden i ett industriellt kontrollsystem i stor skala.Målet är att upptäcka vilka sårbarheter som finns i dessa system, med fokuspå attacker från deras nätverk. Flera tillvägagångssätt användes för attattackera servrar och tjänster på nätverket, både från in- och utsidan avmaskinera. Kritiska sårbarheter hittades i samband med autentisering ochstörande kommunikation mellan servrar, som bör åtgärdas för att förhindraytterligare potentiella attacker.